15 best zendesk alternatives for exceptional customer support
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While Zendesk is a popular choice for customer support and ticketing systems, it’s not without its challenges. From a complex onboarding process to scalability issues and a complicated interface, some businesses find themselves seeking alternatives. And some more complexities like:
- The interface and workflows can be complex for new users, especially non-technical staff.
- Critical features often require purchasing costly add-ons, leading to higher-than-expected expenses.
- Complexity causes inefficiencies, increasing onboarding time and training costs.
- Zendesk’s AI often misclassifies tickets due to a lack of contextual understanding.
- Users report delays in Zendesk’s customer support response times and many users face difficulties resolving issues promptly, impacting operational continuity.
This blog explores 15 Zendesk alternatives, carefully selected based on customer reviews, user-friendliness, and value for money. If you’re looking for a customer support solution that better fits your needs and enhances your customer experience, read on.
15 Best Zendesk Alternatives
Company | Monthly Pricing | Best For | Standout Feature |
---|---|---|---|
DevRev | Starter: $19.99/agent/month; Pro: $59.99/agent/month; Ultimate: Custom pricing | SaaS and technology businesses of all sizes | AI-powered platform seamlessly integrating support and product development i.e. product-led approach integrating customer feedback directly into the development process. |
HelpScout | Standard: $55/agent/month; Plus: $83/agent/month; Company: Custom pricing | Only for small to mid-sized businesses | Simple, intuitive interface with powerful features like Docs for self-service support. |
Freshdesk | Growth: $18/agent/month; Pro: $59/agent/month; Enterprise: $95/agent/month | Businesses of all sizes | Comprehensive multi-channel support features boosting customer service efficiency. |
HubSpot Service Hub | Starter: $20/agent/month; Starter Customer Platform: $16/agent/months Professional: $100/agent/month; Enterprise: $150/agent/month | Businesses of all sizes seeking integrated CRM and support | Comprehensive CRM integration offering a 360-degree view of the customer. |
Intercom | Essential: $39/agent/month; Advanced: $99/agent/month; Expert: $139/agent/month | Enterprise businesses focusing on customer messaging | Proactive messaging and chatbots for real-time, personalized customer engagement. |
HappyFox | Mighty: $29/agent/month; Fantastic: $49/agent/month; Enterprise: $69/agent/month; Enterprise Plus: $89/agent/month | Growing teams needing flexible support solutions | Versatile ticketing system with robust automation and smart rules. |
Gorgias | Basic: $10/month; Customisable based on number of support tickets and level of support | E-commerce businesses | E-commerce-specific helpdesk with deep integrations for online stores. |
Front | Starter: $29/user/month; Growth: $79/user/month; Enterprise: Custom pricing | Teams requiring collaborative email management | Collaborative inbox merging email, chat, and social media communications. |
Zoho Desk | Express: $7/agent/month; Standard: $14/agent/month; Professional: $23/agent/month; Enterprise: $40/agent/month | Businesses seeking customizable support solutions | Context-aware help desk providing actionable insights for personalized support. |
Salesforce Service Cloud | Starter Suite: $25/user/month; Pro Suite: $100/user/month; Enterprise: $165/user/month; Unlimited: $330/user/month; Einstein 1 service: $500/user/month | Enterprises needing comprehensive CRM and support | Extensive customization and integration capabilities, offering a comprehensive CRM and support solution for enterprises. |
Hiver | Lite: $15/user/month; Growth: $34/user/month; Pro: $59/user/month; Elite: Custom | Teams using Gmail for support | Native Gmail integration for streamlined email-based customer support. |
Helpjuice | Starter: $120/4 users/month; Run-Up: $200/16 users/month; Premium Limited: $289/60 users/month; Premium Unlimited: $659/unlimited users/month | Companies focusing on knowledge management | Advanced knowledge base with powerful search and analytics features. |
Microsoft Dynamics 365 | Customer Service Professional: $50/user/month; Customer Service Enterprise: $105/user/month; Customer Servic | Enterprises seeking integrated business applications | Comprehensive CRM and ERP integration for holistic business management. |
Kustomer | Enterprise: $89/user/month Ultimate: $139/user/month | Businesses aiming for personalized customer service | Unified customer view with conversation-centric interface for personalized support. |
SugarCRM | Serve: $80/user/month | Companies needing a flexible CRM solution | Highly flexible and customizable platform with strong workflow automation. |
DevRev
4.5/5
DevRev is an AI-first Product CRM that unifies customer support and software development, enabling teams to build products that resonate with customer needs. Its GPT-powered AI copilot automates tasks like generating sprint updates and release notes, while auto-clustering customer tickets to identify new enhancements. By interconnecting customer, product, user, and employee data, DevRev fosters seamless collaboration and accelerates product development cycles.
Key features of DevRev:
- Unified platform: DevRev unifies customer support, product development, and engineering teams into a single, AI-driven platform. This unified approach breaks down silos, enabling seamless collaboration, real-time feedback loops, and faster issue resolution.
- AI-powered knowledge base: DevRev’s knowledge base automatically updates as customer queries are resolved, thanks to its AI-driven self-learning capabilities. It surfaces relevant answers to agents and customers, reducing the time spent searching for solutions.
- Ticket deflection: Using AI, DevRev predicts customer issues and proactively surfaces related knowledge base articles and self-help guides. This reduces support ticket volumes and ensures faster, self-service issue resolution for customers.
- AI chatbot: Powered by Turing AI, DevRev’s self-learning chatbot automates responses to customer queries, understanding intent and providing accurate, human-like answers that improve with each interaction.
- Bi-directional integrations: DevRev seamlessly integrates with key tools like GitHub, Jira, and Slack. This two-way data flow ensures that customer feedback is automatically linked with development tasks, creating a continuous feedback loop that drives product improvements.
- Workflows: DevRev employs large language models (LLMs) to automate workflows. It uses natural language understanding (NLU) to classify, tag, and route tickets automatically, significantly reducing manual intervention and speeding up the process.
- Omnichannel support: Customers can engage with support teams across multiple touchpoints, including chat, email, and in-app messaging. This omnichannel approach provides a consistent experience across all customer engagement platforms.
- SLA monitoring: DevRev tracks Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in real time. Teams are automatically notified when deadlines are at risk, allowing them to prioritize issues and avoid breaches, thereby improving SLA compliance rates and customer satisfaction.
- Analytics & reporting: DevRev’s AI-powered analytics offer deep insights into ticket trends, agent performance, and customer sentiment. Real-time dashboards help support leaders track performance metrics and identify areas for continuous improvement.
Pricing:
- Starter Plan: $19.99 per user/month
- Pro Plan: $59.99 per user/month
- Ultimate Plan: Custom Pricing
DevRev compared to Zendesk
Feature | DevRev | Zendesk |
---|---|---|
AI Capabilities | AI-first platform with native AI-driven ticket clustering, sprint planning, and a roadmap view, enabling smarter and faster decision-making. | AI capabilities are bolt-ons via third-party tools, leading to operational silos and requiring additional integrations at additional cost. |
Support | Unifies L1, L2, L3, and L4 support within a single platform, enhancing CSAT and SLA performance with end-to-end visibility and resolution. | Primarily optimized for L1 and L2 support. L3 and L4 support often require integration with Jira or other third-party tools. |
Search Type | Employs semantic search within the in-app chat and customer portal, providing context-aware, intelligent results that better understand intent. | Relies on syntactic (keyword-based) search, which matches exact terms only, often leading to less effective query resolution. |
Chatbot | Self-learning GPT-powered chatbot automates responses to user queries, instantly resolving them with an intent-aware, deep neural conversational interface. | Requires manual setup, with some users reporting the need to build the entire chatbot, highlighting a lack of user-friendly customization. |
Usability | Modern, intuitive interface with AI-native reporting, dashboards, and simple navigation designed for all technical skill levels. | Reporting features are reportedly restricted to 'Elite' users, limiting access to essential insights for other user tiers. |
Customer Support & Ticketing | Integrates customer feedback directly into product development, enabling real-time collaboration between support agents and developers. | Primarily focused on customer support, with no direct integration into product development workflows. |
Collaboration Across Teams | Facilitates cross-functional collaboration between support, product, and development teams, driving customer-driven product innovation. | Collaboration is limited to support teams only, with no direct link to product development, hindering cross-functional teamwork. |
Customizations & Integrations | Provides built-in automation and essential tools, minimizing the need for add-ons. Integrates with tools like GitHub, Jira, and Slack. | Relies heavily on add-ons for extended functionality, increasing operational complexity and third-party dependency. |
Pricing Transparency | Transparent, all-inclusive pricing with no hidden fees for core features, enabling predictable cost management. | Fragmented pricing structure with essential features offered as add-ons, making it difficult to estimate the total cost. |
Help Scout
4.4/5
Help Scout is an intuitive and affordable customer support platform designed to streamline customer inquiries, deliver personalized assistance, and enhance team collaboration. It offers a unified inbox for managing customer communications across various channels, including email and live chat, ensuring a seamless support experience. The platform’s knowledge base feature enables companies to create a centralized repository of helpful articles and resources, empowering customers to find answers independently and reducing support volume. With features like customizable reports, automated workflows, and an easy-to-understand dashboard, Help Scout equips support teams to efficiently manage tickets and improve overall performance.
Key features of Help Scout:
- Unified inbox to manage customer communications from multiple channels in a single, organized inbox.
- Live chat support provides real-time assistance through the Beacon feature, enhancing customer engagement.
- Create a knowledge base and develop a self-service portal with articles and resources to reduce repetitive inquiries.
- Create rules to automate repetitive tasks, improving team efficiency with automated workflows.
- Generate customized reports to evaluate team performance and customer satisfaction.
HelpScout compared to Zendesk:
- Help Scout has a user-friendly interface with straightforward setup, while Zendesk has a steeper learning curve.
- Help Scout allows for team collaboration with features like workflows, snippets, and tags.
- Help Scout’s Standard plan starts at $25 per user/month, making it more affordable than Zendesk.
- Help Scout’s Beacon feature allows for enabling/disabling chat support based on agent availability, which is not available in Zendesk.
- Help Scout offers a 15-day free trial (no credit card required), while Zendesk’s trial is limited to 14 days with restricted access to premium features.
Pricing:
Free: $0 up to 50 contacts per month and unlimited users
Standard: $55/month for 100 contacts per month and unlimited users
Plus: $83/month for 100 contacts per month and unlimited users
Freshdesk
4.4/5
Freshdesk is a versatile customer support platform designed to streamline ticket management and enhance team collaboration. It integrates seamlessly with various third-party applications, enabling businesses to manage multiple tasks within a single interface. Equipped with AI capabilities, Freshdesk automates ticketing processes and prioritizes inquiries, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. Its user-friendly interface and robust feature set empower support teams to deliver prompt and efficient customer service.
Key features of Freshdesk:
- Ticket management effortlessly categorize, prioritize, and assign tickets to appropriate agents for efficient ticket management.
- Thank you detector which prevents closed tickets from reopening due to customer gratitude responses.
- Shared ownership allows collaboration across teams without losing visibility on ticket status.
- Automated assignment distributes chats, calls, and emails to agents based on predefined criteria.
- Provides insights into support performance and areas for improvement.
Freshdesk compared to Zendesk:
- Reviewers find Freshdesk easier to use, set up, and administer compared to Zendesk.
- Freshdesk includes features like agent collision detection to prevent multiple agents from working on the same ticket, enhancing efficiency.
- Canned responses by offering templated replies for common inquiries, facilitating quicker response times.
- While Freshdesk provides essential features, it may lack the extensive customization options available in Zendesk.
- Freshdesk offers a free plan with basic features and paid plans starting at $15 per agent/month, accompanied by a 14-day free trial.
Pricing:
Free: $0, free forever up to 2 agents
Growth: $18/agent/month, billed monthly
Pro: $59/agent/month, billed monthly
Enterprise: $95/agent/month, billed monthly
Hubspot Service Cloud
4.4/5
HubSpot, renowned for its marketing and sales software, expanded into customer service with the introduction of Service Hub. This cloud-based platform is designed to manage customer inquiries and enhance client satisfaction by integrating support tools with existing marketing and sales functionalities. Service Hub offers features such as canned replies, video messaging, shared inboxes, and comprehensive reporting. Notably, it includes a knowledge base for self-service, automation capabilities to streamline workflows, and customer satisfaction surveys to gauge service effectiveness. This integration fosters seamless communication and efficient query resolution, making it a versatile solution for businesses aiming to unify their customer service operations.
Key features of HubSpot Service Hub:
- Direct incoming chats or emails to the appropriate team members automatically.
- Automate communications by sending scheduled emails and notifications to keep customers informed.
- Access a suite of marketing and sales tools within a single interface.
- Arrange up to 1,000 personal and team meetings efficiently.
- Utilize up to 5,000 templates to save time on repetitive communications.
- Manage customer service tickets seamlessly within the platform’s integrated help desk.
HubSpot Service Hub compared to Zendesk:
- Reviewers find HubSpot Service Hub easier to use, set up, and administer compared to Zendesk.
- Zendesk Support Suite is perceived to better meet specific business needs, while HubSpot Service Hub offers a more user-friendly experience.
- HubSpot provides a free version with basic features, whereas Zendesk offers only paid plans.
- Zendesk includes a self-service portal across all tiers; HubSpot’s equivalent is available only in Professional and Enterprise plans.
Pricing:
Service Hub Starter: US$20/mo/seat
Starter Customer Platform: Starts at US$16/mo/seat
Service Hub Professional: US$100/mo/seat
Service Hub Enterprise: US$150/mo/seat
Intercom
4.5/5
Intercom is a leading customer service solution that facilitates seamless communication between businesses and their customers across multiple channels, including in-app chat, email, and social media. Trusted by over 25,000 global organizations, Intercom emphasizes personalized and tailored support to enhance customer experiences. The platform is advancing towards an AI-enhanced workspace that unifies inboxes, tickets, and help centers, aiming to streamline support operations and improve efficiency.
Key features of Intercom:
- Convert visitors into customers with targeted messaging through personalized email and push notifications.
- Gather insights to continually improve the customer experience through customer feedback collections
- Utilize OpenAI’s GPT-powered features in Articles and Inbox for enhanced support.
- Share announcements and updates with customers through a dedicated channel.
- Intercom’s Fin AI agent offers advanced customer support automation, assisting customers with self-service resolutions and proactive suggestions.
- Intercom’s custom bots prioritize urgent issues and ensure customers are automatically connected to the right team members.
Intercom compared to Zendesk:
- Intercom leads with AI-powered features, such as custom bots, Fin AI, and GPT-driven Articles and Inbox, providing superior AI-driven support compared to Zendesk’s limited AI add-ons.
P.S: Fin AI is available on all Intercom plans, or integrates with your existing support platform but costs $0.99 per resolution.
- Enables businesses to address known issues proactively by sending outbound messages, enhancing customer satisfaction.
- Intercom’s bots can prioritize issues and provide live updates (e.g., order or payment status) to customers, which Zendesk lacks.
- Intercom offers a 14-day free trial, with a starter pack priced at $39/month for one user, positioning it as a more affordable alternative to Zendesk.
Pricing:
Essential: $39/seat/mo
Advanced: $99/seat/mo
Expert: $139/seat/mo
Legacy vs. AI-native and SaaS 2.0
Legacy Software is built on traditional, static architectures with limited adaptability. These systems rely on manual workflows, predefined rules, and rigid, siloed databases. Customization is often time-consuming, costly, and requires significant developer intervention. Legacy software typically operates in isolation, requiring multiple integrations to connect with other business tools, leading to fragmented workflows and operational inefficiencies. Updates and upgrades are slow, and new features are often bolt-ons rather than fully integrated enhancements.
AI-Native and SaaS 2.0 platforms, on the other hand, are born in the AI era with adaptability, intelligence, and continuous learning at their core. Unlike legacy software, AI-native solutions are built around Large Language Models (LLMs) and machine learning, enabling them to understand natural language, predict user needs, and automate workflows. These platforms are context-aware, able to learn from interactions and improve over time. They seamlessly connect customer support, product development, and engineering, eliminating silos.
SaaS 2.0 platforms are modular, composable, and always up-to-date, with continuous deployment of new features. Unlike legacy bolt-ons, new features are natively embedded, ensuring smooth workflows.
Happyfox
4.5/5
HappyFox is a versatile help desk and customer support software designed to enhance operational efficiency and return on investment (ROI). It offers customizable ticketing systems with features like custom fields and workflows, catering to various industries, with a particular focus on IT and ITES sectors. HappyFox integrates seamlessly with numerous popular tools, enabling businesses to manage multiple tasks within a single platform.
Key features of HappyFox:
- Develop comprehensive help and FAQ pages to empower customers to find answers independently with a self-service knowledge base.
- Convert customer inquiries from chat, email, phone, and web into manageable tickets through omnichannel ticketing.
- Access prompt assistance to resolve queries efficiently for responsive customer support.
- Explore and integrate applications across various categories to enhance functionality.
- Monitor and ensure that service level agreements are met, maintaining accountability and performance standards.
HappyFox compared to Zendesk:
- Users find HappyFox more intuitive and easier to learn compared to Zendesk, which often requires more extensive training.
- HappyFox offers free in-app training modules, facilitating quicker onboarding for support agents.
- Features like quick actions, preview, and customizable views provide an efficient and user-friendly ticketing experience.
- HappyFox requires a minimum of five agents per plan, with prices starting at $14 per agent/month, potentially leading to higher overall costs for smaller teams.
Pricing:
Basic: $14/agent/mo
Team: $69/agent/mo
Pro: $/119/agent/mo
Enterprise PRO: Custom
Gorgias
4.6/5
Gorgias is a premier customer service platform tailored specifically for e-commerce businesses, serving over 13,000 merchants worldwide. It seamlessly integrates with major e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce, consolidating customer communications across various channels—including live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, voice calls, and email—into a unified inbox. This centralization enables support teams to manage interactions efficiently, enhancing response times and customer satisfaction.
Key features of Gorgias:
- Customer feedback collection by utilizing survey forms to gather valuable customer insights.
- Monitor customer satisfaction through Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) ratings.
- Perform actions such as refunds, cancellations, or creating Shopify orders directly within Gorgias for direct order management.
- Automate repetitive tasks to deliver a more personalized customer experience.
- Evaluate support workflows to identify areas requiring agent intervention.
Gorgias compared to Zendesk:
- Unlike Zendesk, where support agents may respond with generic links, Gorgias emphasizes real-time, personalized customer support.
- Gorgias offers an intuitive interface, enabling teams to become proficient within seven days, whereas Zendesk often necessitates more extensive training.
- Gorgias allows conversion of social media comments into support tickets at no additional cost, a feature that incurs extra charges in Zendesk.
- Gorgias permits unlimited user invitations from various teams (e.g., product, marketing) to access customer feedback without extra fees, whereas Zendesk’s pricing structure may limit such collaborative access.
- Gorgias offers plans starting as low as $10 per month, with various subscription options to suit different business needs, potentially offering a more cost-effective solution compared to Zendesk.
Pricing:
No automation: $10/month with 50 helpdesk tickets
10% Automation: $40/month with 50 helpdesk tickets & 5 automated tickets
20% Automation: $40/month with 50 helpdesk tickets & 10 automated tickets
30% Automation: $40/ month with 50 helpdesk tickets & 15 automated tickets
Front
4.7/5
Front is a user-friendly customer communication platform that centralizes emails, social media messages, and other channels into a shared inbox with an email-like interface. This design enhances team collaboration and streamlines workflows, allowing for efficient management of customer interactions. Front offers features such as automated workflows, message templates, and integrations with over 80 third-party applications, boosting productivity and reducing response times. Its modern interface and collaborative tools make it a compelling alternative to traditional help desk solutions.
Key features of Front:
- Built-in collaboration to facilitate teamwork with shared inboxes and internal comments.
- Monitor service level agreements to minimize breaches.
- Access customer history and data to craft personalized responses.
- Gain a 360-degree view of business insights through detailed analytics for comprehensive reporting.
- Connect with various apps to enhance functionality for both developers and customers.
- Utilize the Front plugin to import and manage customer data within the platform.
Front compared to Zendesk:
- Front simplifies task delegation by allowing users to assign conversations to teammates with a single click, enhancing workflow efficiency.
- Both Front and Zendesk offer multichannel support; however, Front consolidates SMS, email, social media, live chat, and numerous app integrations into a single dashboard, providing a unified view of all communications.
- Front maintains transparent pricing with no unexpected cost changes, whereas Zendesk’s pricing structure can be more complex.
- Front features a modern, email-like interface that users find intuitive, while some users consider Zendesk’s interface to be more outdated.
- Front’s Growth plan starts at $29 per seat/month, requiring a minimum of 10 seats, which may be costlier compared to Zendesk’s offerings.
Pricing:
Starter: $29/seat/mo. Billed monthly, up to 10 seats
Growth: $79/seat/mo. Billed monthly, up to 35 seats
Scale: Only available on annual
Zoho Desk
4.4/5
Zoho Desk is a cloud-based customer support software designed to enhance service operations for businesses of all sizes. It centralizes customer interactions across various channels—including social media, chat, email, and phone—into a unified platform, enabling efficient tracking and management of support requests. The ticketing system allows teams to categorize and prioritize inquiries, ensuring timely resolutions. Automation features streamline repetitive tasks, reducing manual effort and minimizing errors. Additionally, Zoho Desk offers a knowledge base for self-service support, instant messaging channels for real-time communication, and Zia, an AI-powered chatbot that interacts with customers and tags incoming tickets appropriately.
Key features of Zoho Desk:
- Create and maintain a repository of articles and FAQs to empower customers with self-service options.
- Engage with customers instantly through integrated messaging channels.
- Utilize Zia (AI-powered chatbot) to interact with customers using the knowledge base and analyze incoming tickets for relevant tagging.
- Develop workflows to send alerts, add tasks, and perform various actions automatically.
Zoho Desk compared to Zendesk:
- Reviewers find Zoho Desk easier to set up and administer compared to Zendesk.
- Zoho Desk integrates with over 200 popular third-party applications and more than 45 native apps, offering extensive connectivity options.
- Zoho Desk provides transparent pricing, allowing access to multiple features at a single price point.
- Zoho Desk offers faster development and free migration services, enabling businesses to transition smoothly and focus on critical tasks.
Pricing:
Express: $7/agent/month
Standard: $14/agent/month
Professional: $23/agent/month
Enterprise: $40/agent/month
Salesforce
4.4/5
Salesforce, established in 1999, is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers a comprehensive suite of tools and services to help businesses effectively manage sales and customer relationships. Its extensive feature set allows for significant customization to meet diverse business needs. Salesforce is at the forefront of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into its offerings, enhancing predictive analytics and personalized customer interactions. The platform’s centralized database enables businesses to store and access customer information seamlessly, facilitating more personalized communication and fostering stronger client relationships.
Key features of Salesforce:
- Automates sales operations, streamlining processes and improving efficiency with sales cloud.
- Allows integration of various applications into Salesforce, enabling a unified platform for diverse business operations with open CTI API.
- Einstein AI, an AI-enabled predictive analysis tool that offers insights to inform strategic business decisions.
- Facilitates informed business strategy planning through detailed analytics across multiple departments.
Salesforce compared to Zendesk:
- Salesforce offers more accurate and varied reporting features compared to Zendesk, providing deeper insights into business operations.
- With Salesforce, businesses can send personalized emails and SMS, enhancing customer engagement.
- Salesforce’s drag-and-drop functionality increases user engagement and simplifies the customization process.
- Zendesk’s features are primarily aligned towards sales, whereas Salesforce provides 360-degree customer visibility, integrating marketing, sales, and customer service analytics into one platform.
Pricing:
Starter Suite: $25/user/month
Pro Suite: $100/user/month
Enterprise: $165/user/month
Unlimited: $330/user/month;
Einstein 1 service: $500/user/month
Hiver
4.6/5
Hiver is a customer service platform that seamlessly integrates with Gmail, allowing teams to manage support operations directly from their existing email interface. This integration minimizes the learning curve, enabling swift setup and immediate utilization. With over 10,000 users globally, Hiver is expanding its customer base by offering a user-friendly experience. New users are guided through its features via in-app product notifications, ensuring a smooth onboarding process.
Key features of Hiver:
- Provides instant answers to customers through a comprehensive repository of articles and FAQs.
- Allows assigning and tracking customer tickets directly within Gmail, streamlining workflow.
- Enables the use of pre-designed emails templates to save time on repetitive responses.
- Offers analytics, automation, and integration capabilities within a single solution.
- Facilitates instant replies to customers through automated response settings.
Hiver compared to Zendesk:
- Hiver’s integration with Gmail results in a minimal learning curve, whereas Zendesk’s interface can be more complex and challenging for new users.
- Hiver allows for customized emails that convey a human touch, addressing concerns that Zendesk interactions may feel impersonal.
- Hiver provides personalized training at no additional cost, with an average chat response time of 13 seconds, offering prompt support. In contrast, Zendesk’s personalized training services can incur extra costs, starting from $1,500.
- Hiver’s pricing begins at $15 per user per month, accompanied by a 7-day free trial to explore its features.
Pricing:
Lite: $15/user/month;
Growth: $34/user/month;
Pro: $59/user/month;
Elite: Custom
Helpjuice
4.6/5
Helpjuice is a specialized knowledge base software designed to empower users to find answers independently, reducing the need for direct human assistance. It enables organizations to create comprehensive self-service portals, allowing customers and employees to access information seamlessly. By centralizing resources such as guidelines, FAQs, and helpful content, Helpjuice facilitates efficient information retrieval, enhancing both customer support and internal collaboration. Its intuitive interface and robust features make it a valuable tool for organizations aiming to streamline knowledge management and improve user experience.
Key features of Helpjuice:
- Organize articles into categories and folders for enhanced visibility and easy navigation with content categorization.
- Drag-and-drop functionality to effortlessly import content directly into Helpjuice using a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
- Define access levels for articles, setting them as Public, Internal, or Private to manage visibility appropriately.
- Maintain a history of article revisions and restore previous versions when necessary.
- Utilize AI-driven search capabilities to deliver precise results instantly.
- Reach a global audience with support for over 300 languages, including AI-powered translation features for multilingual support.
Helpjuice compared to Zendesk
- Helpjuice is known for its simple and intuitive interface, allowing users to get started quickly, while Zendesk has a steeper learning curve.
- Helpjuice allows for full customization of the knowledge base, making it adaptable to an organization’s specific needs, unlike Zendesk’s more rigid structure.
- Multiple users can collaborate on a single document in real-time, streamlining the content creation process.
- Helpjuice is recognized for its prompt and effective customer support, surpassing Zendesk in terms of responsiveness and service quality.
- Helpjuice’s pricing starts at $120 per month for up to four users, and it also provides a 14-day free trial to help you explore its features.
Pricing:
Starter: $120/4 users/month
Run-Up: $200/16 users/month
Premium Limited: $289/60 users/month
Premium Unlimited: $659/unlimited users/month
Microsoft Dynamics 365
4/5
Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a comprehensive suite of cloud-based business applications, integrating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to streamline various business operations. Its modular design encompasses functionalities for sales, customer service, finance, marketing, and supply chain management, allowing organizations to tailor the platform to their specific needs. This flexibility enables businesses to select and combine the precise modules required, ensuring a customized and scalable solution.
Key features of Microsoft Dynamics 365:
- Leverage AI-powered insights to gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and behaviors.
- Utilize unified data from marketing, sales, and customer interactions to boost sales performance.
- Seamless integration with Microsoft tools to integrate effortlessly with Microsoft Office 365 and other tools to enhance productivity and collaboration.
- Employ advanced analytics to inform business strategies and improve customer engagement with data-driven decision making.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 compared to Zendesk
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides CRM and ERP capabilities, enabling seamless management of customer service, sales, marketing, and financial processes, whereas Zendesk primarily focuses on customer support and ticket management.
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 leverages advanced AI to predict customer behavior and automate routine tasks, giving it an edge over Zendesk’s more limited AI functionality.
- Unified business insights consolidates analytics across departments like customer service, sales, and marketing, while Zendesk’s analytics are largely support-focused.
- Dynamics 365 allows organizations to select and combine specific modules, offering a customized experience, unlike Zendesk’s more static support platform.
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 has a starting price of $50 per user/month, which may be higher than Zendesk, but it includes CRM, ERP, and AI-driven capabilities.
Pricing:
Customer Service Professional: $50/user/month;
Customer Service Enterprise: $105/user/month;
Customer Service Premium: $ 195/user/month
Kustomer
4.4/5
Kustomer is a customer service CRM platform that unifies customer interactions across various channels, including email, chat, social media, SMS, and voice, into a single timeline view. This consolidation enables support teams to deliver personalized and efficient service. The platform leverages AI-powered automation to streamline repetitive tasks, assess customer sentiment, and provide agents with comprehensive insights into customer history, thereby enhancing the overall support experience.
Key features of Kustomer:
- Consolidates customer interactions from multiple channels into a single timeline, providing agents with comprehensive context.
- Utilizes AI to automate repetitive tasks and assess customer sentiment, enabling agents to focus on complex issues.
- Supports various communication channels, including email, chat, social media, SMS, and voice, ensuring seamless customer interactions with omnichannel support.
- Allows businesses to automate sequences of tasks, enhancing efficiency and consistency in customer service processes.
- Provides insights into team performance and customer interactions, facilitating data-driven decision-making.
Kustomer compared to Zendesk:
- Reviewers find Kustomer easier to use and set up compared to Zendesk, with a more intuitive interface that simplifies agent training and onboarding.
- Kustomer offers a single-screen view of the entire customer journey, providing agents with comprehensive context, whereas Zendesk may require navigation across multiple tabs or interfaces.
- Kustomer integrates AI to automate tasks and assess customer sentiment, enhancing support efficiency, while Zendesk’s AI features may be less integrated.
- Kustomer’s pricing starts at $89 per user/month with a minimum of 8 seats and a one-year contract, which may be higher than Zendesk’s entry-level plans but includes a comprehensive set of features.
- Both platforms offer omnichannel support; however, Kustomer’s unified timeline provides a more seamless view of customer interactions across channels.
Pricing:
Enterprise: $89/user/month
Ultimate: $139/user/month
SugarCRM
3.9/5
SugarCRM is a comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) platform designed to assist organizations in managing and enhancing customer interactions across sales, marketing, and service departments. It offers a suite of tools that provide a unified view of customer data, enabling businesses to streamline processes and foster stronger customer relationships. With features like sales automation, marketing campaigns, customer support, and robust reporting, SugarCRM is adaptable to various business needs. Its flexibility allows for extensive customization, ensuring that the platform aligns with specific organizational requirements.
Key features of SugarCRM:
- Streamline sales processes with tools for lead and opportunity management, sales forecasting, and performance tracking.
- Design, execute, and analyze marketing initiatives to effectively engage target audiences.
- Manage customer inquiries and issues through case management, a self-service portal, and a knowledge base.
- Gain insights into business performance with customizable reports and dashboards.
- Customize with tailored modules, fields, and workflows to meet unique business processes.
SugarCRM compared to Zendesk:
- While Zendesk primarily focuses on customer support and ticket management, SugarCRM offers a broader suite encompassing sales, marketing, and customer service functionalities.
- SugarCRM provides extensive customization options, allowing businesses to adapt the platform to their specific needs. In contrast, Zendesk offers limited customization, which may not cater to all business requirements.
- Both platforms support integration with various third-party applications. However, SugarCRM’s open architecture facilitates more seamless and extensive integrations, enhancing its adaptability within diverse tech environments.
- Users have reported that SugarCRM’s interface is intuitive and user-friendly, whereas Zendesk’s interface can be more complex and challenging to navigate.
- SugarCRM offers a transparent pricing model with plans starting at $49 per user per month, requiring a minimum of three users. Zendesk’s pricing varies based on selected features and add-ons, which can lead to higher overall costs.
Pricing:
Serve: $80/user/month, Billed Annually
Elevate your customer support strategy
While Zendesk has long been a go-to solution, the evolving needs of modern businesses demand more. It’s time to look beyond the familiar and choose alternatives that can truly transform your customer support ecosystem.
Whether you’re seeking cost-effectiveness, intuitive user experiences, seamless integrations, or cutting-edge AI-driven insights, there’s a solution tailored to your unique needs and change how you interact with and serve your customers
It is important to note that the selection of an ideal Zendesk alternative for your business entirely depends on your business requirements and budget.
Why is DevRev the best Zendesk alternative?
DevRev is the best AI-native alternative to Zendesk, here’s why:
- Seamless dev-support: DevRev uniquely bridges the gap between development and support teams, enabling faster issue resolution and feature development driven by real customer needs.
- Transparent, value-driven pricing: No hidden fees or unexpected costs—just clear, competitive pricing that delivers exceptional ROI.
- Hyper-personalized support: DevRev being AI-native, leverage AI and comprehensive customer data to provide tailored support that delights and retains customers.
- Knowledge management: Empower both customers and support agents with an intelligent, self-learning knowledge base.
- Interactive UI: Boost productivity with an intuitive, user-friendly design that your team will love using every day.
- Customizable live dashboards: Get a real-time pulse on your support operations with flexible, data-rich dashboards.
- AI-Driven decision making: Predict trends, optimize resource allocation, and drive strategic decisions.
If you’re curious to experience its functionalities, there’s an option for a no-cost trial period. Yes, you can start your 45-day free trial and explore this software.
Frequently Asked Questions
The features you prioritize will depend on your business needs, but common considerations include multi-channel options, AI-based ticketing systems, self-service options, ease of use, and customer support quality.
Yes, customization is important in CRM software as it allows businesses to tailor the system to their unique needs, processes, and branding, enhancing user adoption and improving overall efficiency.
Many Zendesk alternatives like DevRev offer AI and chatbot integration options to automate routine customer inquiries and enhanced support efficiency. These features can significantly improve response times and customer satisfaction.
DevRev is a superior Zendesk alternative with AI-powered SLA management, seamless collaboration between support and development, rapid analytics for customer prioritization, and a modern interface for a better overall support experience.
Yes, DevRev is designed in a way that it is compatible with businesses of every size. No matter what size business you are handling, if you need customer support solutions, DevRev has got you covered.