21 Zendesk Alternatives & Competitors to consider in 2021
The recent times have shown that companies are setting new standards of customer support everyday and making it imperative for you to improve yours as well.
Zendesk is the largest company in the help desk space and as a market leader dictates pricing.
To help businesses find better and more suitable help desk softwares we created a detailed list of some amazing Zendesk alternatives.
Keeping in mind, the different types of businesses that need a help desk solution. We have divided this article into 2 parts. Part 1 suggests Zendesk alternatives that are suitable for startups and solopreneurs. The platforms mentioned in Part 1 offer a free trial and provide a clear pay-as-you-grow pricing which makes it a lot easier for you to decide as a young company.
Part 2 of the article are for more serious and matured companies. These platforms are ideal for established businesses and the onboarding can be done only via a Demo.
(We mention the hidden gems π on top of our list, to give them more exposure, over the already popular ones)
Part A – Zendesk alternatives for Startups
π HIDDEN GEMS
1. Gorgias

Have an eCommerce store? Gorgias is the all-in-one customer support software that you need. Decked up with a comprehensive set of features, it is the first choice for many online businesses.
Pros
βοΈ Shared database for one-click data access.
βοΈ A holistic view of the customer’s buying journey.
βοΈ Convert visitors to buyers, guiding them through the app.
βοΈ Live chat support to increase sales.
Cons
β Doesn’t support integration with Amazon or eBay.
β User interface is not streamlined or easy to use
Pricing
π° Basic: $60/month
π° Pro: $300/month
π° Advanced: $750/month
π° Enterprise: Custom
What is it best known for?
Streamlined user interface that is easy to integrate into any website. Gorgias helps facilitate data driven decisions with advanced analytics.
2. HelpDesk

Known to be the ticketing system for all of your teams, HelpDesk helps you manage all your emails under a single head. The platform is equipped with fascinating features including tagging, ticket assignment, adding private notes, etc. With end-to-end encryption, HelpDesk will keep all of your customer data safe and Private.
Pros
βοΈ Simplifies tracking issues and fixing customer problems.
βοΈ An affordable solution that can be used by all business types.
βοΈ User-friendly interface with a steeper learning curve.
βοΈ One-click setup and onboarding process.
Cons
β Faces problems when integrating the option of LiveChat.
β Doesn’t support report generation.
Pricing
π° Starter – $5/month/agent
π° Team – $24/month/agent
π° Custom Pricing for Enterprises
What is it best known for?
Tagging, responding, and getting feedback, HelpDesk’s end-to-end collaboration makes team communication swift and easy. The ticket management features in the helpdesk platform are also very advanced.
3. GrooveHQ

With 8000+ customers and a super responsive portal, GrooveHQ is all you need to enhance your customer service. It offers promising results and has a knack to reduce customer-conversion cost with their software.
Pros
βοΈ Has an exceptional knowledge base.
βοΈ An organized dashboard to keep you updated with all the tickets raised, solved, and in operation.
βοΈ Fast customer support.
βοΈ Enables canned response fostering quicker QnA.
Cons
β Requires significant training to work over the software.
β Faces issues in handling requests.
Pricing
π° Starter: $12/month/user
π° Plus: $25/month/user
π° Pro: $34/month/user
π° Company: Custom Plan
What is it best known for?
Optimizing communication and collaboration which enables reduction in the cost of conversion. Additionally, the user-friendly dashboard is streamlined and boosts efficiency.
4. Hiver

Primarily an email collaboration tool, Hiver enables its clients to chalk out an exceptional customer service journey. With Hiver, your in-house team can effectively share different inboxes, facilitating all-round collaboration. The tool allows you to assign, access, and track your email list on the go. You will never miss an update and stay updated 24/7 with push notifications from the same.
Pros
βοΈ Integrated communication tools to collaborate seamlessly with your customers and teams.
βοΈ Allows you to delegate emails easily
βοΈ Easily automate everyday mundane activities.
βοΈ Robust analytics features.
Cons
β Too many updates create a mess.
β Lack of customer support
Pricing
π° Lite: $11 per user per month
π° Growth: $27 per user per month
π° Pro: $47 per user per month
π° Elite: $69 per user per month
What is it best known for?
Hassle-free email integration enhances productivity and intelligent automation leads to streamlining of tasks while reducing errors.
π₯ TOP PERFORMERS
5. Zoho Desk

Placed at the core of customer service, Zoho Desk is an excellent alternative to Zendesk. What sets Zoho Desk apart from the rest is its context-awareness and multi-channel capabilities. Whatβs more is that it will unite all your apps on a single platform for smoother workflows and hassle-free smart integrations, managed effortlessly by Zoho.
Pros
βοΈ Simple interface
βοΈ Easy to set-up for your sales funnel.
βοΈ It has a classic UI and embeds complete transparency.
βοΈ Zoho Desk is equipped with powerful automation features promoting productivity.
βοΈ Ticket response powerful.
Cons
β Complicated email features.
β Lack of analytics features compared to peers
Pricing
π° Free: Up to 3 agents
π° Standard: $18/agent/month
π° Professional: $30/agent/month
π° Enterprise: $45/agent/month
What is it best known for?
Being part of the Zoho One software suite, Zoho Desk is suitable for all kinds of organizations, but it has extra merits for those who use Zoho CRM and know how that software works. The transparent user interface and one-click response feature accounts for its widespread popularity.
6. Teamwork Desk

Known to be a powerful ticketing platform, Teamwork Desk offers a 360Β° view of your customer support journey. It provides total visibility of all the interactions and engagements, enabling customer executives to deliver exceptional customer service. With Teamwork Desk, leaders can easily organize their end-to-end tasks and boost productivity.
Pros
βοΈ Turn email into tickets and keep an eye on all your customer engagement.
βοΈ Declutter your email box to organize customer support and emphasize out-of-box customer experience.
βοΈ Centralize all of your customer information, removing silos.
βοΈ A holistic view of organizational data.
Cons
β Complicated learning curve.
β Desk tickets do not have app support
Pricing
π° Starter: $8.75/month Per user
π° Pro: $16.25/month Per user
π° Premium: $31.25/month Per user
π° Enterprise: Custom pricing
What is it best known for?
The feature-rich and customer-centric approach makes it an ideal customer support tool. It’s capability to offer a holistic view of the entire customer journey adds to the brand value.
7. Help Scout

A one-stop-shop solution to all your customer interaction and engagement needs, Help Scout offers quick solutions with ease. They allow 50+ integration of enterprise applications within the platform making your end- to- end business communication simple and straightforward. To top this, Help Scout is a Zendesk competitor that has an intuitive dashboard facilitating creation of reports and significant insights.
Pros
βοΈ Simple to use with loads of features giving a personal touch to customer communication.
βοΈ The entire application is customer-centric.
βοΈ Appealing interface with attention to detail.
βοΈ Advanced enterprise security features
Cons
β Email support seems clumsy.
β Lack of admin and HR features
Pricing
π° Standard Plan – $25/month/user
π° Plus Plan – $40/month/user
π° Custom pricing available too
What is it best known for?
Clutter-free features help you provide top-notch quality customer experience. What sets Help Scout apart from others is the integrated intelligence that makes comprehension a simple task.
8. Kayako

Designed to provide customer loyalty and improve productivity, Kayako is an integrated cloud-based customer support tool. The platform tailors to the needs of small and medium-sized business organizations, giving them an opportunity to keep up with customer expectations.
Pros
βοΈ Out-of-the-box features to improve customer conversion rates.
βοΈ Live chat support to never miss an issue from your customers.
βοΈ An all-round view of customer data for an improved experience.
βοΈ Shared inbox to boost conversion and increase team collaboration.
Cons
β Doesn’t allow staff and admin to use the channel at the same time.
β Very basic HR and Admin features
Pricing
π° Inbox: $15/month/agent
π° Growth: $30/month/agent
π° Scale $60/month/agent
What is it best known for?
Budget friendliness that leads to better engagement. Apart from this, Kayako offers tons of features in a small pricing window.
9. Front

Designed to deliver exceptional customer service, Front is a tool made by the customer, for the customer, and of the customer. Sticking to customers and their needs, Front has the ability to transform your inbox into an organized customer support channel. One-click chat integration, personalized messages, simplified collaboration, Front is a Zendesk alternative that gives you everything you need to improve your customer service.
Pros:
βοΈ A straightforward interface with an easy onboarding process.
βοΈ Easy to understand.
βοΈ Build custom routing rules and personalize your workflow.
βοΈ Support 50+ apps integration.
βοΈ Interdepartmental collaboration for better engagement.
Cons
β Lacks significant automation.
β Knowledge base features are limited compared to peers
Pricing
π° Starters: $12/user/month
π° Plus: $29/user/month
π° Prime: $65/user/month
π° Enterprises: Custom Pricing
What is it best known for?
Converting the email window to an organized Front dashboard, businesses find the overall interface appealing. Much of the functionality is attributed to its straightforward and intuitive interface.
π RISING STARS
10. DeskPro

With its flexible features and powerful interface, Deskpro has one of the best helpdesk software packages and has a community of thousands of users. From email to chat and voicemail, DeskPro provides an omnichannel approach to make customer support smooth and convenient.
Pros
βοΈ Embedded with intelligent tools fostering automation.
βοΈ Insights and information to make data-driven decisions.
βοΈ Enables workflow customization with third-party app integration.
βοΈ Effective team collaboration with a shared inbox.
Cons
β Time logs are not merged making it difficult to integrate multiple companies.
β Glitches and bugs are common on the portal
Pricing
π° Cloud: $30/month/agent
π° On-premise: $1800 USD/10 agents/year
What is it best known for?
Multilingual support with built-in templates, intelligent automation and an omni-channel presence, which leads to better reach.
11. HelpCrunch

Whether itβs sales, marketing, finance or IT, HelpCrunch is one of the best help-desk platforms that provides features for every department. The tools brings every communication feature under a single roof, improving end to end customer support service.
Pros
βοΈ Process automation increases efficiency.
βοΈ 24/7 chat and email support.
βοΈ User-friendly interface with all of the needed features.
βοΈ Automatic lists and popups to keep you apprised.
βοΈ Customizable dashboard to meet business requirements.
Cons
β Lacks drip marketing campaigns.
β Lack of HR and admin features
Pricing
π° Standard: $15/month/team member for livechat, $29/month/member for livechat and emails
π° Premium $25/month/team member for livechat, $49/month/member for livechat and emails
π° Enterprise: Custom
What is best known for?
The ability to work as a live chat software & increase collaboration, while the ability to automate end to end processes fuels engagement.
12. Live Agent

With an influential customer support portal, Live Agent is an alternative to Zendesk that helps you stand out in the crowd of competitors.
Pros
βοΈ Email ticketing system to track emails.
βοΈ Integration support for Viber.
βοΈ Greater support and collaboration to improve customer loyalty.
βοΈ End to end automation saves time and reduces efforts.
Cons
β Lack of admin and IT features.
β Very basic mobile app interface
Pricing
π° Free
π° Ticket: $15/agent/month
π° Ticket+chat: $29/agent/month
π° All-inclusive: $39/agent/month
What is it best known for?
The ability to transfer chats to the appropriate online, along with integration and automation features, helps boost efficiency and streamline business processes.
13. Loop Email

Generating automatic replies and responses, Loop Email allows you to manage your customer e-mails like a pro. Integrating every e-mail from the different departments into a single head, Loop Email makes it easy to communicate with everyone from the single app, saving your time and efforts.
Pros
βοΈ Has an integrated view of the system.
βοΈ Keeps an eye on your customer executives and knows who is working on what.
βοΈ Side chat with emails for better collaboration.
Cons
β Doesn’t have mobile support.
β Lack of automation features
Pricing
π° Studio: $9.1/user/month
π° Business: $15.7/user/month
π° Enterprise: Custom Pricing
What is it best known for?
The best part of Loop email is that it enables sharing of public account emails. This provides an integrated view optimizing operations.
These were some great help desk softwares ideal for younger companies. Let’s now dive into Zendesk competitors for SMEs
Part B – Zendesk alternatives for SMBs
π HIDDEN GEMS
1. AtSpoke

Founded by 3 former Google employees, this high tech start up uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate workplace service and information requests. Atspoke offers IT, HR, Sales and Enterprise solutions for small businesses. It is also fully compatible with Slack and offers 100+ integrations.
Pros
βοΈ Auto resolution of 40% of all requests using AI.
βοΈ Provides advanced analytics for workplace trends and automation
βοΈ Robust case management features for HR teams
βοΈ Convenient conversational ticketing features
Cons
β Limited campaign and conversion features
β Knowledge base features are limited compared to peers
Pricing
π° $4 for the standard plan
π° $6 for the plus plan
π° Customised pricing is also available for enterprise plans
Best known for
AtSpoke specialises in AI and machine learning. Due to this, 40-50% of all tickets get resolved without any manual intervention. Additionally, machine learning features will help improve automated ticket resolution rates even further over time.
2. Richpanel

One of the newer names in the help desk area, Richpanel offers a versatile customer service platform for small businesses. Primarily designed for e-commerce teams, Richpanel is a Zendesk alternative that offers helpdesk, ticketing, and self-service features through a convenient and easy to use platform.
Pros
βοΈ AI driven self-service to reduce agent-handled interactions
βοΈ Multiple communication and data channels combined into one platform
βοΈ Robust tools to monitor and manage team performance
βοΈ Customer conversion tools that help boost sales
Cons
β Lack of integration options
β Lack of enterprise and admin features
Pricing
π° $100/month starter plan
π° $300/month regular plan
π° $750/month pro plan
π° Custom pricing is also available for enterprise solutions
Best known for
Richpanel is geared towards e-commerce platforms; hence it has a streamlined and easy to use dashboard. This reduces the need to switch between different tabs and platforms to carry out routine tasks.
π₯ TOP PERFORMERS
3. Freshdesk

Falling under the umbrella of Freshworks, Freshdesk is one of the more established business solutions providers in the customer support space. Along with ticketing, their platform also provides security and automation features for their clients. With a truly global reach, Freshdesk is only second to Zendesk.
Pros
βοΈ Streamlined ticket management and self-service features
βοΈ Gamification and automated reporting to help with teamwork and collaboration
βοΈ Ample options for customization or branding
βοΈ Unification of all communication channels into one platform through Omnichannel
Cons
β Lack of customisation for dashboard
β Prices can be hefty for teams with a considerable number of agents
Pricing
π° Blossom plan ($19/month/agent)
π° Garden plan ($45/agent/month)
π° Estate plan ($69/agent/month)
π° Forest Plan ($125/agent/month)
π° Omnichannel Estate plan ($99/agent/month)
π° Omnichannel Forest plan ($169/agent/month)
Best known for
Freshdesk is best known for its Omnichannel features, which combine multiple communication channels into a single platform. Also, because it comes under the Freshworks umbrella, clients can integrate other Freshworksβ products into Freshdesk without any hassle.
4. Podium

Focussing mainly on local businesses, Podium provides communication tools and enterprise solutions that are geared towards customer interaction. Along with reviews and payments, Podium is a Zendesk competitor that is rapidly expanding as a complete customer support solution with its lead generation and collaboration features.
Pros
βοΈ Multiple communication and feedback channels combined into a streamlined dashboard
βοΈ Advanced features to generate reviews across multiple forums and websites
βοΈ Responsive and interactive feedback features
βοΈ Effective lead generation features
Cons
β Lack of administrative features
β Lack of integration options with other platforms
Pricing
π° Customised pricing plans based on customer requirements, no set pricing plan.
Best known for
Podium, as a platform, is focussed on improving the way businesses network with their customers, and thatβs where their features excel. Whether itβs the all-in-one communication feature, or robust lead generation and feedback, interacting with customers becomes easy with this help desk software.
5. HappyFox

Another formidable help desk solutions provider with many large multinational clients, HappyFox offers ticketing and help desk solutions for businesses of all sizes. Along with customer support, HappyFox also offers many enterprise features related to asset management, task management, automation, and HR.
Pros
βοΈ Multiple integration options into different platforms, including Slack
βοΈ Multi-channel ticketing with automation features
βοΈ Detailed agent activity reporting features to boost performance
βοΈ Advance features to track and manage hardware and software assets
Cons
β Lack of knowledge base features
β Rule based system makes automation rigid
Pricing
π° Customised monthly plans, starting from $24/agent/month
π° Unlimited agent plans start from $1049/month
Best known for
HappyFox is a comprehensive business solutions provider, with products for customer support, IT support, HR, and facilities management. What makes Happyfox a great alternative to Zendesk is its ticketing system, with features such as bulk replies and canned actions, that can smoothen the process of ticket management effectively.
6. Gladly

Gladly is different from other help desk solutions. Instead of solely focussing on efficiency through ticket management, Gladly aims to make customer support a personal affair between clients and agents. Along with multiple communication channels, the platform also offers features that help with workforce and task management.
Pros
βοΈ Multiple integration options
βοΈ Multiple communication channels streamlined into one platform
βοΈ Workforce management features that are powered with customer-centric data
βοΈ Easier collaboration through features that bring together cross functional teams
Cons
β Lack of automation features
β Very basic enterprise features
Pricing
π° Free trial plan available
π° $38/month/user for task based users
π° $150/month/user for customer facing user
Best known for
Gladly has positioned itself as a very customer-centric help desk software. Interactions between agents and clients become highly personalized through its messaging features, and automated responses are not used widely. For service and customer centric businesses, such as hotels, spas and luxury brands, this help desk solution can be a huge asset.
7. Dixa

This Danish start up aims to differentiate itself from other customer support softwares through βconversational customer engagementβ. Dixa provides communication, team management and reporting tools that are customer centric, with an emphasis on the European market.
Pros
βοΈ Customized integration options available
βοΈ Multiple communication channels available on one platform
βοΈ Automated workflows to prioritize and route all incoming queries
βοΈ Streamlined dashboard that is easy to use
Cons
β Lack of enterprise features for HR or admin teams
β High pricing compared to peers with similar products and services
Pricing
π° Professional plan (99/agent/month)
π° Premium plan ($139/agent/month)
π° Platinum plan ($179/agent/month)
Best known for
Dixa is known for features that are built for high customer engagement, which help improve agent efficiency and effectiveness. This platform can be very useful for businesses such as luxury brand and hotels, which are very customer-centric.
π RISING STARS
8. Talkative

Talkative is a website driven help desk platform. It embeds features such as live chat, voice and video calls into the online platforms of their clients, that helps integrate their clientsβ help desk platform and contact centres.
Pros
βοΈ Easily configurable and customizable features
βοΈ Customised integration options
βοΈ In-depth platform reporting and analytics features
βοΈ On-site training and developer assistance offered to clients
Cons
β Lack of enterprise features for HR or admin teams
β Limited automation features
Pricing
π° Basic business plan (($248/month)
π° Enterprise and Salesforce plans have customised pricing.
Best known for
Talkative specialises in providing help desk infrastructure for online businesses. Talkative is also well known for its customer care, and they provide on-site training and SLA support to all their enterprise clients.
Conclusion
We have tried to make this article as comprehensive as possible and not miss out any good product. But if you think we have missed anything, mention them in the comments.