AI & Automation
Is Zoho MCP Free? What Zia Agents Really Cost in 2026
If you are budgeting for AI on Zoho, the headline from Zoho is simple: Zoho MCP costs $0 and Zia Agents are free. That is accurate as far as it goes, and it matters, because you are not adding a licence line for the connection layer or the agent builder. But a free platform still has meters running underneath it, and a budget that ignores them will be wrong by the second month.
This article sets out what Zoho charges, what it does not, and what is left for you to manage: API quotas on the Zoho services involved, and the cost of the language model your agent uses. Every figure comes from Zoho's own published pages, and each page is listed at the end so you can verify it before you commit.
Pricing checked 2 November 2026. Zoho can change these terms without notice, so confirm the figures on the source pages listed at the end before you commit budget.
What you pay for, layer by layer
| Layer | What Zoho charges | What still limits you |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho MCP | $0 licence. No per-user charges and no feature tiers. | Your existing API quota on each Zoho service involved. Third-party services use their own quotas. |
| Zia Agent Studio (build, deploy, manage) | Free. | API access is restricted to the subscription you hold for the apps the agent uses. |
| Zoho-hosted models, Standard tier | Free up to 30 million tokens a month, then $1.00 per 1 million tokens (1 credit per 1,000 tokens). | The free allowance resets on the 1st of each month and does not roll over. |
| Zoho-hosted model, Pro tier (GLM 5) | Free up to 20 million tokens a month, then $3.00 per 1 million tokens (3 credits per 1,000 tokens). | Available on request, and not listed for the EU data centre. |
| OpenAI models through Zoho's keys | No free allowance. Vendor rates with no markup, deducted from your prepaid wallet from the first token. | Not listed for the EU data centre. |
| Your own key (BYOK), including Anthropic Claude | Nothing on the Zia Agents side. | Your vendor bills you directly at its own rates. |
How the pricing works in practice
Zoho MCP: no licence fee, but it uses your API quota
Zoho describes MCP as included at no additional cost for all Zoho users, with no per-user charges and no feature gates. It adds no new billing logic. Each action runs through the standard API of the service involved and counts against that service's existing daily or monthly allocation. If an agent updates a CRM record and then a Desk ticket, each service uses its own quota. Zoho points to your service level agreement for the exact limits, so pull those figures for your editions before you design anything high volume.
Zia Agents: free to build, billed by model
Zoho states that every agent built, deployed and managed in Zia Agent Studio is free, and that you pay only for model usage. Models bill in tokens, the small chunks of text a model reads and writes. Where the model runs decides your bill. On Zoho-hosted models you get a monthly free token allowance, and your prepaid wallet only starts to drain once you exceed it. Credits convert at 1 USD to 1,000 AI Credits, and credits you buy roll over from month to month.
Bring your own key: Claude, OpenAI or Gemini on your own terms
With BYOK you connect an API key from your own vendor, and Zia Agents charges nothing for the connection. Zoho's model configuration page lists Anthropic among six supported BYOK vendors. Its own worked example is a team that connects an Anthropic key and runs Claude Sonnet 4.6: the cost on Zia Agents is zero and Anthropic bills the team directly. The trade-off is data handling. With Zoho-hosted models your data stays within Zoho's infrastructure, whereas with BYOK it is processed by the vendor you connect.
The licence is free. The meters that remain are API calls and model tokens, and you choose who bills you for the second one.
Four worked examples from Zoho's own documentation
Zoho's example runs Qwen 3.5 35B MoE and uses 25 million tokens in a month. That sits inside the 30 million free allowance, so the model cost is zero.
Zoho's example runs GLM 5 for 25 million tokens in a month, with the first 20 million covered by the free allowance. The remaining 5 million tokens cost 15,000 AI Credits, which is $15.00.
Zoho's example asks MCP to create a lead in Zoho CRM. The cost is one CRM API call from your existing quota, and Zoho adds no MCP charge on top.
Zoho's example updates CRM, triggers Stripe and sends an invoice in one run. Zoho counts it as one CRM call plus one Stripe action, and Stripe applies its own quota under its own terms.
How to cost an AI build on Zoho before you start
Map each action your agent or MCP client will take to the Zoho service it touches, then compare the monthly volume with the API limits for that edition in your service level agreement.
Decide between a Zoho-hosted model, OpenAI through Zoho's keys, or your own key. Check that the model you want is available on your data centre.
Multiply tokens per task by tasks per month. Compare the total with the 30 million (Standard) or 20 million (Pro) free allowance, then price any excess at 1 credit per 1,000 tokens on Standard or 3 credits on Pro.
Zoho shows your credit balance and usage by model and agent under Settings, then Plan & Billing. Review it monthly while usage settles.
What this means for UK and Irish businesses
Check your data centre first. Model availability depends on the data centre your Zoho organisation sits on. On Zoho's model configuration page, the EU data centre lists the Zoho-hosted Qwen models and GLM 4.7 Flash, plus BYOK for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek and Cohere. OpenAI through Zoho's keys and GLM 5 are not listed for the EU. Zoho also says support for more data centres, including the UK, is on the way, so recheck the list before you design around it.
Budget in the right currency and add VAT. Zoho publishes these rates in US dollars and says local taxes such as VAT are charged on top. For a UK or Irish finance team, that means some exchange rate exposure and a VAT line on any credits you buy. Both belong in the business case from the start.
Our position: plan around API quota, and treat the model as a choice rather than a given. We are a Zoho Authorized Partner and a Zoho AI Enabled Partner, and we favour Claude for most of our customers' Zoho work. We say so openly, and the cost logic above applies to whichever model you pick. If you want a second opinion on an AI design before you build it, we are happy to have that conversation without the sales pressure.