13 Zendesk Alternatives & Competitors with Free Trial to consider in 2022
Recent times have shown that companies are setting new standards of customer support every day 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 software we created a detailed list of some amazing Zendesk alternatives that are suitable for startups and solopreneurs. The listed platforms 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.
The Best Zendesk alternative:
- Gorgias
- HelpDesk
- GrooveHQ
- Hiver
- Zoho Desk
- Teamwork Desk
- Help Scout
- Kayako
- Front
- LiveAgent
- DeskPro
- HelpCrunch
- Loop Email
(We mention the hidden gems on top of our list, to give them more exposure, over the already popular ones)
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
✔️ Shared database for one-click data access.
✔️ A holistic view of the customer’s buying journey.
✔️ Convert visitors to buyers, guiding them through the app.
✔️ Live chat support to increase sales.
Cons
❌ Doesn’t support integration with Amazon or eBay.
❌ User interface is not streamlined or easy to use
Pricing
– Basic: $60/month
– Pro: $360/month
– Advanced: $900/month
– Enterprise: Custom
The above plans exclude the Automation add-on
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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.7/5
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
✔️ Simplifies tracking issues and fixing customer problems.
✔️ An affordable solution that can be used by all business types.
✔️ User-friendly interface with a steeper learning curve.
✔️ One-click setup and onboarding process.
Cons
❌ Faces problems when integrating the option of LiveChat.
❌ Doesn’t support report generation.
Pricing
– Team – $34/month/agent
– 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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.6/5
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
✔️ Has an exceptional knowledge base.
✔️ An organized dashboard to keep you updated with all the tickets raised, solved, and in operation.
✔️ Fast customer support.
✔️ Enables canned response fostering quicker QnA.
Cons
❌ Requires significant training to work over the software.
❌ Faces issues in handling requests.
Pricing
Only one plan is available after a 14-day free trial;
– Unlimited Everything: $22/month/user
What is it best known for?
Optimizing communication and collaboration which enables a reduction in the cost of conversion. Additionally, the user-friendly dashboard is streamlined and boosts efficiency.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.6/5
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
✔️ Integrated communication tools to collaborate seamlessly with your customers and teams.
✔️ Allows you to delegate emails easily
✔️ Easily automate everyday mundane activities.
✔️ Robust analytics features.
Cons
❌ Too many updates create a mess.
❌ Lack of customer support
Pricing
– Lite: $15 per user per month
– Pro: $39 per user per month
– Elite: $59 per user per month
– Custom: Price calculated after 50 users
What is it best known for?
Hassle-free email integration enhances productivity and intelligent automation leads to streamlining of tasks while reducing errors.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.6/5
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. What’s 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
✔️ Simple interface
✔️ Easy to set-up for your sales funnel.
✔️ It has a classic UI and embeds complete transparency.
✔️ Zoho Desk is equipped with powerful automation features promoting productivity.
✔️ Ticket response powerful.
Cons
❌ Complicated email features.
❌ Lack of analytics features compared to peers
Pricing
– Free: Up to 3 agents
– Standard: $14/agent/month
– Professional: $23/agent/month
– Enterprise: $40/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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.6/5
Teamwork Desk
Known to be a powerful ticketing platform, Teamwork Desk offers a 360° 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
✔️ Turn email into tickets and keep an eye on all your customer engagement.
✔️ Declutter your email box to organize customer support and emphasize out-of-box customer experience.
✔️ Centralize all of your customer information, removing silos.
✔️ A holistic view of organizational data.
Cons
❌ Complicated learning curve.
❌ Desk tickets do not have app support
Pricing
– Starter: $8.50/month per user
– Pro: $15/month per user
– Premium: $29.50/month per user
– 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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.5/5
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
✔️ Simple to use with loads of features giving a personal touch to customer communication.
✔️ The entire application is customer-centric.
✔️ Appealing interface with attention to detail.
✔️ Advanced enterprise security features
Cons
❌ Email support seems clumsy.
❌ Lack of admin and HR features
Pricing
– Standard Plan: $25/month/user
– Plus Plan: $40/month/user
– Company Plan: $60/month/user only available on an annual basis
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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.5/5
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
✔️ Out-of-the-box features to improve customer conversion rates.
✔️ Live chat support to never miss an issue from your customers.
✔️ An all-round view of customer data for an improved experience.
✔️ Shared inbox to boost conversion and increase team collaboration.
Cons
❌ Doesn’t allow staff and admin to use the channel at the same time.
❌ Very basic HR and Admin features
Pricing
– One simple plan: $60/month/agent for minimum 5 agents.
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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.6/5
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:
✔️ A straightforward interface with an easy onboarding process.
✔️ Easy to understand.
✔️ Build custom routing rules and personalize your workflow.
✔️ Support 50+ apps integration.
✔️ Interdepartmental collaboration for better engagement.
Cons
❌ Lacks significant automation.
❌ Knowledge base features are limited compared to peers
Pricing
– Starter: $19/user/month
– Growth: $49/user/month
– Scale: $99/user/month
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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.6/5
LiveAgent
With an influential customer support portal, LiveAgent is an alternative to Zendesk that helps you stand out in the crowd of competitors.
Pros
✔️ Email ticketing system to track emails.
✔️ Integration support for Viber.
✔️ Greater support and collaboration to improve customer loyalty.
✔️ End to end automation saves time and reduces efforts.
Cons
❌ Lack of admin and IT features.
❌ Very basic mobile app interface
Pricing
– Free
– Ticket: $15/agent/month
– Ticket+chat: $29/agent/month
– All-inclusive: $49/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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.4/5
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
✔️ Embedded with intelligent tools fostering automation.
✔️ Insights and information to make data-driven decisions.
✔️ Enables workflow customization with third-party app integration.
✔️ Effective team collaboration with a shared inbox.
Cons
❌ Time logs are not merged making it difficult to integrate multiple companies.
❌ Glitches and bugs are common on the portal
Pricing
Following are the plan options excluding add-ons
– Team: $29/month/agent
– Professional: $59/month/agent
– Enterprise: $99/month/agent
What is it best known for?
Multilingual support with built-in templates, intelligent automation and an omni-channel presence, which leads to better reach.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.4/5
HelpCrunch
Whether it’s 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
✔️ Process automation increases efficiency.
✔️ 24/7 chat and email support.
✔️ User-friendly interface with all of the needed features.
✔️ Automatic lists and popups to keep you apprised.
✔️ Customizable dashboard to meet business requirements.
Cons
❌ Lacks drip marketing campaigns.
❌ Lack of HR and admin features
Pricing
– Standard: $15/month/team member
– Premium $25/month/team member
– 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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.5/5
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
✔️ Has an integrated view of the system.
✔️ Keeps an eye on your customer executives and knows who is working on what.
✔️ Side chat with emails for better collaboration.
Cons
❌ Doesn’t have mobile support.
❌ Lack of automation features
Pricing
– Studio: $11/user/month
– Business: $21/user/month
– 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.
⭐ Our Rating – 4.3/5
These were some great help desk softwares ideal for younger companies. Let’s now dive into Zendesk competitors for SMEs
The best Zendesk alternative
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.
If you are looking for a help desk solution suited for SMBs. Check this article out
