What Are Zendesk Sunshine Conversations? The Messaging API Explained (2026)

Sunshine Conversations is Zendesk's omnichannel messaging platform and API: one REST API that carries conversations across WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, web, mobile, Apple Messages for Business, SMS and other channels, and it comes free at low volume (1,000 monthly active users) on Suite Professional and above. Most teams use it without realizing it, because Zendesk's everyday Messaging product is built directly on top of it. Facts below are checked against Zendesk's own documentation.

What is Sunshine Conversations?

Sunshine Conversations is a unified messaging platform and API. Instead of integrating WhatsApp one way, Facebook Messenger another and your mobile app a third, you connect to a single REST API and Sunshine Conversations translates to and from each channel's native format. Zendesk describes it as the platform that lets you "manage and automate your conversations across multiple channels," exposing one consistent set of objects (users, conversations and messages) across 14+ messaging channels.

It started life as Smooch, an independent messaging platform Zendesk acquired in 2019 and rebranded. That heritage explains the product's character: it's API-first and developer-oriented, designed for teams that want to build messaging into their own products and workflows rather than switch it on in a settings page.

What you can do with it programmatically:

• Create and manage users and conversations: full create/read/update/delete via the API, not just through an agent's screen.
• Send and receive rich messages: text plus carousels, quick replies, forms, list pickers and payment requests, where the channel supports them.
• Send proactive outbound messages: for example, a shipping update pushed to a customer on WhatsApp or SMS.
• Wire in third-party bots and systems: route a conversation through a custom bot, an external AI service or your own backend before (or instead of) a human.
• React to events in real time via webhooks: every inbound message or status change can trigger your code.

The mental model: Sunshine Conversations is infrastructure, not an app. It's the messaging plumbing; what you build on top is up to you.

Who is Sunshine Conversations for?

Because it's a platform rather than a point-and-click feature, it's aimed at a specific audience:

• Developers and enterprises building custom messaging: in-app chat, branded mobile messaging, automated commerce flows, or conversations that blend bots, agents and backend systems.
• ISVs and platforms embedding conversations: software vendors who want live omnichannel messaging inside their own product.
• Teams unifying fragmented channels: businesses where a customer starts on Messenger, follows up over SMS and finishes in a mobile app, and who want one continuous conversation rather than three threads.

If none of that sounds like you, you're the common case. Most Zendesk customers get everything they need from standard Messaging and never call the Conversations API directly.

How is it different from Zendesk Messaging?

Zendesk Messaging (the persistent chat you configure in Admin Center and deploy through the Web Widget, mobile SDKs or social channels) is itself built on Sunshine Conversations. When you switch on Messaging and drop the widget on your site, you're already using the Sunshine Conversations engine. You just never see it, because Zendesk wraps it in an admin UI and the Agent Workspace.

Think of it as two layers:

• Zendesk Messaging is the no-code layer: turn it on, style the widget, build a bot in the visual flow builder. We cover it in Zendesk Messaging vs. live chat, and its on-site surface is the Zendesk Web Widget.
• Sunshine Conversations is the platform layer beneath it: the API you drop down to when the no-code layer can't do what you need.

You go to Sunshine Conversations directly for things native Messaging doesn't offer: a channel that isn't natively supported, a fully custom conversation flow, programmatic control over routing, or messaging embedded somewhere the standard widget can't go. Agents still answer from the same place: channels connected through Sunshine Conversations land in the Agent Workspace alongside everything else.

What are the key concepts?

• The Conversations API. The REST API at the center of everything (developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/conversations). It models three core objects, users (the customer), conversations (the thread) and messages, and lets your code create, read and act on all of them.
• Channels and integrations. Each messaging surface (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Apple Messages for Business, Telegram, Viber, SMS via providers like Twilio or MessageBird, Web Messenger and the mobile SDKs) is connected as an integration. The platform normalizes them so your code talks to one API while customers use whichever app they prefer. Google Business Messages used to be on this list, but Google shut that channel down in July 2024.
• The switchboard. The routing layer (documented in the Conversations API reference). It decides which integration currently owns a conversation and hands control between them, for example from a custom bot to a human agent and back. It works through actions like pass control (route to the next handler) and release control (return to the default), which is how a bot triages first and a person steps in only when needed.
• Webhooks. Your real-time event feed. Subscribe to events (a new inbound message, a delivery status, a user joining) and Sunshine Conversations calls your endpoint the moment they happen.

When do you actually need Sunshine Conversations?

You probably don't need it directly if you want standard live chat or messaging on your website and apps, a visual bot for FAQs and handoffs, and the common social channels. Native Zendesk Messaging covers all of that, and going to the API only adds engineering work.

You do need it when you're building something custom: branded in-app messaging, programmatic outbound campaigns, interactive commerce flows (carousels, forms, payments), orchestration across several bots and backend systems, a channel Zendesk doesn't natively support, or conversations embedded inside a product you ship. In short: when the no-code layer hits a wall and you have developers to build past it.

How much does Sunshine Conversations cost?

The version most people have. Zendesk Suite Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus include a low-volume, self-service version of Sunshine Conversations at no extra license cost, with a baseline of 1,000 monthly active users (MAU) and 1,000 outbound notifications per month, plus platform and API access (Zendesk: platform access and support). For many custom builds, that baseline is enough to start.

Usage beyond the baseline. Per Zendesk's MAU documentation, a MAU is counted when a message or event occurs between a unique end user and an agent or bot in a calendar month. Several interactions by the same person in a month generally count as one MAU, though interactions across different channels or devices can count separately. Extra capacity is sold in increments of 2,500 MAU and 25,000 notifications.

The price caveat: Zendesk does not publish the per-pack price; its docs send you to your sales representative. Third-party guides (such as eesel's) cite roughly $50 per 2,500-MAU pack. Treat that as unofficial and confirm it with Zendesk for your account.

A rough, illustrative monthly estimate. This shows the structure of the bill, not a quote. Say you run a custom messaging build on Suite Professional with three agent seats and expect about 8,000 monthly active users:

• Suite Professional seats: 3 × $115/agent/month (Zendesk's published annual-billing price) ≈ $345/month. This is what unlocks the included Sunshine Conversations access.
• Included baseline: the first 1,000 MAU come with the plan, leaving ~7,000 MAU to cover.
• Extra MAU packs: 7,000 ÷ 2,500 = 3 add-on packs (you buy whole packs, so round up). At the unofficial ~$50/pack figure, that's ~$150/month.
• Rough total: ≈ $345 + $150 = ~$495/month for this hypothetical 8,000-MAU build.

The seat price is published; the pack price is a third-party estimate. Use the shape of the math (seats + included baseline + N extra packs) and get the real pack price from Zendesk before you budget.

(There was also a standalone, full-platform license with tiered Starter/Premium/Enterprise support, but it pre-dates April 2023 and is now legacy. New customers get Sunshine Conversations through the Suite plans above.)

Is Sunshine Conversations the same as Zendesk Sunshine?

No. "Sunshine Conversations" and "Sunshine" are two different products that share a brand name.

• Sunshine Conversations is the messaging platform/API: channels, conversations, the switchboard. It's about talking to customers.
• Sunshine (no "Conversations") was Zendesk's open CRM / customer-data platform, built on AWS: custom objects, custom events and unified profiles. It's about modeling and storing data.

The data side has largely faded as a brand. Zendesk announced the removal of legacy Sunshine custom objects in two phases (Zendesk's removal announcement): since January 15, 2026 you can't create new legacy custom objects, and removal of the legacy APIs, admin interface and records was scheduled for July 27, 2026. Migration to the newer Custom Objects framework was optional, not automatic, so if your account relied on legacy objects, check in Admin Center what survived. If someone says "we use Sunshine," ask which one they mean. If the question is about WhatsApp, bots or omnichannel chat, the answer is Sunshine Conversations.

Where does AI fit with Sunshine Conversations?

Sunshine Conversations is a natural place to plug in AI: the switchboard can route a conversation to an automated handler before a human sees it, and webhooks let an AI service react to messages in real time. Zendesk has native AI for messaging (see Zendesk AI explained), and there's also the option of an independent AI agent layer like Macha (our product) that sits on top of your Zendesk. It isn't a help desk or a Zendesk replacement; it connects to your conversations and knowledge to triage, draft replies, look up data and resolve routine conversations, handing harder ones back to a human with full context.

On cost: Macha is one plan priced by ticket volume, and a ticket is one conversation with one person, charged once however many steps it takes and whichever model the agent runs on. It isn't billed per resolution, so a twenty-step thread costs the same as a one-line answer. Pricing starts at $299 a month for up to 750 tickets, about $0.40 each, and the Macha team handles setup and monitoring. You can try it with $50 of free usage, no credit card required.

Frequently asked questions

Is Sunshine Conversations the same as Zendesk Messaging? No, but they're closely linked. Zendesk Messaging is the no-code chat experience you configure in Admin Center, and it's built on top of Sunshine Conversations. You use Sunshine Conversations directly only when you need custom, programmatic messaging that standard Messaging can't deliver.

Do I need Sunshine Conversations to use WhatsApp or Messenger on Zendesk? Not necessarily. The common social and messaging channels can be added through native Zendesk Messaging. You'd go to Sunshine Conversations directly for custom flows, unsupported channels, programmatic outbound messaging, or embedding conversations into your own app.

How much does Sunshine Conversations cost? Suite Professional, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus include a low-volume version free, with 1,000 monthly active users (MAU) and 1,000 notifications per month. Beyond that it's sold in increments of 2,500 MAU and 25,000 notifications. Zendesk doesn't publish the per-pack price; a third-party estimate puts a 2,500-MAU pack at roughly $50, so confirm with Zendesk.

What's the difference between Sunshine and Sunshine Conversations? Sunshine Conversations is the omnichannel messaging platform/API. "Sunshine" was Zendesk's open CRM/customer-data platform. Zendesk stopped the creation of new legacy custom objects on January 15, 2026 and scheduled full removal of the legacy framework for July 27, 2026; migration to the newer Custom Objects framework was optional, not automatic.

What is the switchboard in Sunshine Conversations? It's the routing mechanism that decides which integration (a custom bot, a human agent in the Agent Workspace, or an external system) currently controls a conversation, and hands control between them with "pass control" and "release control." It's how a bot handles a chat first and a person takes over only when needed.

Who should use Sunshine Conversations? Developers and enterprises building custom messaging, software vendors embedding conversations into their own products, and teams unifying many channels into one thread. If you just want standard chat and a bot on your website, native Zendesk Messaging is the simpler fit.

Does Sunshine Conversations still support Google Business Messages? No. Google shut down Business Messages in July 2024, so that channel is gone for every provider. WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Apple Messages for Business and SMS remain available.

Where should you start if you don't need the API?

Start with the no-code layer: Zendesk Messaging vs. live chat explains the Messaging product, and the Zendesk Web Widget guide covers putting it on your site. Come back to the Conversations API once you hit something Messaging can't do.

Checked against Zendesk's documentation on 24 September 2026. Zendesk changes products and pricing periodically, so confirm specifics, especially MAU add-on costs, in your own account.