Jacob Morrow
2025-03-20 14:47:36
If you have ever searched for a customer service and support platform, you must have come across Zendesk. It is one of the most popular names in the customer support industry, and businesses of different types and sizes use it to manage customer inquiries and tickets. With a revenue of over USD 2 billion ， Zendesk has managed to capture a massive market share of the customer support industry.
Nevertheless, there is still a lot of appetite for customer service platforms and Zendesk alternatives due to the huge types and sizes of businesses all over the world.
So, if you are interested in knowing more about Zendesk's competitors and finding the best alternative, you are in the perfect place!
Why is there a need for a Zendesk alternative?
The exact reason why you might be looking for a Zendesk alternative is dependent on your specific type of business and requirements. Generally, users opt for an alternative to Zendesk for the following reasons:
- Complexity: Zendesk is a massive platform that has different tools and features. Navigating all of these features can be complex, especially for single users and startups.
- Technical Support: Other than the massive size, using the Key Features of Zendesk also often requires technical help from the engineering or development department, which is not always possible for the support teams.
- Training: Using all the features of Zendesk requires significant training, so businesses have to allocate a significant amount of time and money toward training the support team.
- Implementation time: The average time to implement Zendesk is up to 4 weeks or even more if you have multiple sales and support agents. Therefore, if you are looking for a customer support platform immediately, you will have to explore Zendesk alternatives.
- Pricing: The massive popularity of Zendesk also has a huge drawback: higher pricing. Most of the advanced features are restricted to the higher-priced plans, which means small-sized businesses and organizations often cannot afford to implement Zendesk in their workflow.
Considering these reasons, it is evident that there is a significant need to explore Zendesk alternatives.
Top 15 Zendesk Alternatives for Different Businesses
Here's a summary of the top 15 Zendesk alternatives for businesses of varying sizes operating in different industries:
| Tool Name | Suitable Industry | Target Business Size |
|---|---|---|
| EngageLab | Marketing and Customer Engagement | Small to Medium Businesses It also provides customized services for large teams |
| Jira | Software Development | Small to Enterprise |
| Groove | Customer Support | Small Businesses |
| Drag | Email Management and Collaboration | Small Teams |
| Gorgias | E-commerce | Small to Medium Businesses |
| eDesk | E-commerce | Small to Medium Businesses |
| Kustomer | Customer Relationship Management | Medium to Large Businesses |
| HappyFox | Customer Support | Medium to Large Businesses |
| Hiver | Email-Based Customer Support | Small to Medium Businesses |
| Zoho Desk | Customer Support | Small to Enterprise |
| LiveAgent | Multichannel Customer Support | Small to Medium Businesses |
| HubSpot Service Hub | CRM and Customer Service | Small to Enterprise |
| Salesforce Service Cloud | Customer Relationship Management | Medium to Enterprise |
| ServiceNow | IT and Enterprise Services | Large Enterprises |
| Kayako | Customer Support | Small to Medium Businesses |
Let's explore the top Zendesk alternatives and competitors in detail.
1. EngageLab
EngageLab is an omnichannel customer engagement platform that acts as an excellent alternative to Zendesk. The platform is making its name in the customer service, support, and engagement industry through its user-friendly features and the ability to engage customers across multiple channels, including SMS, email, web push notifications, app push notifications, and WhatsApp.
The centralized nature of EngageLab means you can handle everything from sending bulk marketing messages to answering customer inquiries from the same dashboard. Most importantly, these features are supported with high security, stability, and speed via the modern IT infrastructure behind EngageLab.
Key Features
- A unified and user-friendly dashboard to reach users as well as potential customers through the same dashboard.
- High delivery rate to ensure you can resolve customer issues quickly via multiple channels without any delays.
- EngageLab is capable of sending billions of messages daily, so you can expect high concurrency, reliability, and efficiency from this Zendesk alternative.
- EngageLab is not limited to any one specific channel. Instead, it offers comprehensive lifecycle management to track customer messages, analyze their performance, and create a high conversion funnel.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Unlike Zendesk, integrating EngageLab is quick and easy, as the entire process can be completed within a few minutes. | EngageLab has a usage-based pricing structure, but understanding it can be difficult, especially for businesses that are not fully clear about their requirements. |
| The versatile features of EnagegeLab make it a suitable platform for all sizes and types of businesses, including finance, e-commerce, news, entertainment, gaming, travel, and much more. | Lack of support for phone calls |
| You can handle all major channels to engage customers from the same dashboard instead of switching platforms. | |
| Unlike Zendesk and most other alternatives, EngageLab has a user-friendly interface to ensure you are not overwhelmed by its extensive features. |
Starting Price
Free plan.
2. Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management is one of the best Zendesk alternatives for technical support teams. It builds upon the functionalities of JIRA, a project management and issue-tracking platform. The addition of AI-powered features in JIRA service management also makes it a reliable modern tool to help businesses resolve technical inquiries quickly and easily.
Key Features
- Jira is a well-known name in the IT industry, so its Service Management product is perfect for organizations looking to improve their IT service management.
- The incident management section of Jira provides multiple tools to track, prioritize, and resolve incidents.
- If a company is already using Jira for software development, using the service management platform is a no-brainer.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Extensive customization features to create relevant workflows | A complex set of features, especially for beginners |
| Excellent issue-tracking features, especially for developers and engineers | Jira is a resource-intensive platform that can impact your system's performance |
| Extensive integration capabilities | Higher pricing plans are likely to be unaffordable for startups and small businesses |
Starting Price：A free plan that supports three agents.
3. Groove
Groove is a reliable Zendesk alternative meant for small-scale businesses. Its user-friendly interface provides basic customer support features to speed up the process of resolving customer inquiries and issues.
Key Features
- Agents can offer customer service via multiple channels, including email, live chat, SMS, phone, and social media.
- Multiple agents can collaborate on a single support in real-time.
- A comprehensive ticketing system for better organization.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ability to create a customized knowledge base and customer portal | Advanced integrations are behind a paywall of expensive plans. |
| Create a support widget with Groove to integrate it into the website. | Only basic analytics are available, and there are no detailed reporting insights. |
| Basic automation options to create customizable workflows | Advanced automation options are missing |
Starting Price：$29 per month with a 90-day free trial
4. Drag
If you want to offer support to your customers primarily via email, you don't have to opt for a complex solution like Zendesk. Instead, it is recommended that you go for a simpler alternative to Zendesk, like Drag .
Key Features
- Drag streamlines the email customer support workflow from the same dashboard without having to constantly switch tabs or screens.
- It has a shared inbox that allows you to turn your Gmail into a collaborative workspace and streamline workflows with the team.
- Reliable automation features, including auto-tagging, auto-ticket assigning, etc.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Supports integration with 5,000+ apps via Zapier | Limited to Gmail |
| Quick and easy collaboration features | Managing lots of emails, along with multiple customer inquiries, can make the interface look cluttered. |
Starting Price:$12 / month
5. Gorgias
The importance of customer service in e-commerce and retail businesses cannot be underestimated. This is the reason why there are so many Zendesk alternatives specifically meant for e-commerce stores and online businesses. Gorgias is one such alternative that integrates with all leading e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce, Adobe Connect, and Shopify.
Key Features
- Provide customized support by connecting with all leading e-commerce platforms.
- Automate responses to customer inquiries and speed up the issue resolution time.
- Keep a comprehensive and organized record of the revenue generated from customer support interactions.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Supports communication across multiple channels, including email, SMS, and live chat. | The cost of Gorgias is dependent on the number of tickets, so larger businesses have to pay a higher cost. |
| Ecommerce businesses are easily able to gather critical customer data and keep it secure. | Navigating different features and integration options of Gorgias makes it a difficult tool to use for beginners. |
| Saves time through automation features | Limited reporting features |
Starting Price:$360 per month
6. eDesk
eDesk is another popular Zendesk alternative that is specially meant for online businesses and sellers. It has a unified dashboard where you can manage all of the tickets from multiple sales channels. Therefore, if you have an online business that operates on multiple platforms, you'll find eDesk to be a reliable customer support solution.
Key Features
- Combines customer queries from multiple websites and platforms for easy support management.
- Use AI to automate repetitive tasks and suggest relevant responses to customer queries.
- Properly organize and display the customer order details, along with the queries, to provide relevant responses.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Quick and user-friendly interface | While the interface is user-friendly, the initial setup has a steep learning curve |
| Reliable analytics to improve customer support strategies | Advanced features, such as automation, come at a higher cost |
| Efficient automation features | Features like detailed reporting and comprehensive integrations are missing |
Starting Price:$89/agent/month
7. Kustomer
Kustomer is one of the most popular Zendesk's competitors. Just like Zendesk, Kustomer targets all types and sizes of businesses, but it is mainly suitable for large-sized businesses and enterprises. The core features of Kustomer revolve around making customer service personalized and reliable for the customers.
Key Features
- Organize all of your customer service messages from social media and email in one dashboard.
- AI integration helps the customer support team analyze the customer messages quickly and give relevant responses.
- Kustomer also helps organizations keep track of the agent's performance and minimize ticket volume.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Automate repetitive tasks and workflows to save time. | Kustomer's pricing is significantly higher than most of Zendesk's alternatives. |
| Real-time analytics to monitor the customer experience as well as agent performance. | Kustomer has lots of features that have also made the platform a difficult tool to understand and use. |
| Ability to create a self-service portal for customers | Supports integration with many third-party applications, but such support is limited compared to other alternatives to Zendesk. |
Starting Price:Kustomer has a usage-based pricing model with an average Starting Price of $89 per month
8. HappyFox
HappyFox significantly extends the role of a customer support platform by providing advanced features related to project management. It also stands out among Zendesk alternatives by offering unique features, such as SSL support, shared inboxes, and advanced automation.
Key Features
- Unified interface to manage customer inquiries from multiple channels, including email, chat, call, and social media.
- A wide range of features, including ticketing, automation, knowledge base management, etc.
- HappyFox is a highly scalable customer support solution with multiple pricing options.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| HappyFox puts special emphasis on a user-friendly interface to ensure all types of organizations can use it. | Limited customization features, especially when compared to other Zendesk competitors |
| Speed up the ticket resolution process through automation. | Limited analytics without detailed reporting |
| Collects customer feedback after ticket resolution. |
Starting Price:$9/agent/month for basic functionalities
9. Hiver
If you have ever wanted to turn your Gmail into a customer support and ticketing solution, you can do it with Hiver . Since Hiver is limited to Gmail, it is suitable for small businesses that only use Gmail for customer support. It integrates with Gmail to help you directly manage tickets from the inboxes.
Key Features
- Simplify and speed up the team workflow by managing support emails from Gmail directly.
- Set suitable rules to automate ticket routing.
- Provides basic but highly useful analytics related to support performance and satisfaction.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Hiver has a simple and user-friendly interface that anyone familiar with Gmail can navigate | The level of customization possible in Hiver is suitable only for small-scale companies |
| Quick and easy integration with leading platforms like Slack and even Zendesk. | A complex pricing model that can be quite expensive for a high volume of tickets |
| Basic automation features | Hiver's functionalities are too limited as it supports Gmail only. |
Starting Price:Free plan
10. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a cloud-based help desk software suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. More specifically, the sales teams will find Zoho Desk to be a great tool for keeping track of support tickets and resolving them through automated responses.
Key Features
- Zoho Desk integrates well with the overall Zoho ecosystem.
- A centralized dashboard is present to help users manage all customer interactions from the same place without switching dashboards.
- AI-powered features, including the ability to implement an AI chatbot.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Integration with 800+ apps is possible in Zoho Desk to extend its functionalities | Availability of multiple products, services, and third-party apps within the Zoho ecosystem can be confusing |
| Transparent and flexible pricing model | While many integration options are available, the actual integration process is often complex and time-consuming |
| A variety of features that you would expect from a reliable customer support platform |
Starting Price:$9/user/month
11. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a simple and user-friendly alternative to Zendesk that is suitable for small businesses and startups. The platform has become known for its ability to send quick messages for effective communication with customers.
Key Features
- LiveAgent supports resolving tickets and answering customer queries through email, live chat calls, and social media.
- Live chat feature to provide quick help to the users.
- Organize the customer tickets and prioritize them to ensure every query is answered.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive features, including live chat, ticketing, and knowledge base creation in one place | Expensive pricing plans |
| The hybrid ticket system within LiveAgent helps you handle email ticketing and live chat from the same dashboard | The interface is a little complex to understand and navigate |
| Quick and easy setup | Limited analytics |
Starting Price:$19/agent/month
12. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot is one of the most popular CRM tools and marketing automation software. If a business is already using HubSpot, then it should consider using HubSpot Service Hub for ticket resolution and customer support.
Considering the complexity and vastness of the HubSpot solution, it is more suitable for medium and large-sized organizations.
Key Features
- A comprehensive ticketing system will be used to prioritize complaints, inquiries, and requests.
- Store information, including FAQs, knowledge base, and other resources.
- Features to monitor and track key metrics for effective customer service performance.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Numerous marketing, sales, and support tools under the same platform | The pricing of HubSpot Service Hub keeps increasing with more features |
| User-friendly interface | Steep learning curve |
| A wide range of resources to properly use the platform. | Limited customization features |
Starting Price:Free plan for basic customer support requirements
13. Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud is an alternative to Zendesk for enterprises and organizations that are focused on building strong customer relationships. It offers a complete view of each customer to ensure you can interact with them on a personalized level.
Key Features
- Advanced CRM features for managing customer interactions quickly and easily.
- An extensive knowledge base to provide quick support.
- Omnichannel routing to route requests to relevant team members
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Multiple customization options to support different types of businesses | Salesforce Service Cloud can be quite expensive, especially for small businesses |
| Reliable and scalable solutions to support growing business needs | Small businesses and growing teams are likely to find the platform's interface complex |
| Extensive third-party integration options | Steep learning curve |
Starting Price:$25/user/month
14. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is one of Zendesk's top competitors, especially among enterprise solutions. It is capable of connecting multiple departments for quick and reliable resolution of customer issues as well as facilitating the employees.
Key Features
- Omni-channel support to ensure businesses can manage and interact with customers across various channels.
- Workflow automation to streamline repetitive tasks and save time.
- Self-service portal to facilitate customers in finding answers to common queries.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cross-department communication for unified operations | Expensive, especially with advanced features |
| Automate workflow to save time and improve customer satisfaction | Complex interface, especially automation |
| Comprehensive analytics and reporting | Steep learning curve |
Starting Price:Custom usage-based pricing
15. Kayako
Kayako has gained significant popularity as a customer service platform similar to Zendesk. Nevertheless, its cheaper pricing structure has made it a formidable competitor to Zendesk. It supports integration with 700+ apps via Zapier and also offers collaboration features for larger customer support teams.
Key Features
- The unique SingleView technology to Kayako allows you to send personalized customer responses.
- Various features to help agents track and improve their performance.
- A large and robust community to facilitate the users.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple and user-friendly interface | Limited analytics |
| Scalable pricing structure to support small, medium, and large-sized businesses | While Kayako targets large businesses, it has scalability issues |
| Omnichannel support to provide a unified dashboard | Advanced features are inexpensive pricing plans |
Starting Price:$49 per month
What factors need to be considered when choosing a suitable Zendesk alternative?
When it comes to choosing a suitable Zendesk alternative to properly engage your customers and provide them with reliable service, you have to consider many different factors, such as:
- Essential Features : Create a list of all the features you need in the help desk software or a comprehensive customer engagement solution.
- Supported Channels: Be clear about the channels you are targeting to ensure you choose an alternative to Zendesk that supports these channels.
- Scalability: Make sure the tool of your choice is scalable enough to support your current business goals and also grow along with your business.
- Customization Options: The customer service tool of your choice should have customization options to integrate into your existing workflow and also support business needs.
- Implementation Timeline: As discussed before, the average time to implement a tool is dependent on its scale and complexity. So, you should be aware of your own expected timeline to make sure you are choosing a solution that fits into the timeline.
- Pricing: The cost and pricing model of the customer service platform can be the make-or-break factor when choosing the right solution. So, have a specific budget in mind so you can easily narrow down the Zendesk competitors and choose the right one.
Considering these factors and the discussion throughout the article, it is evident that the top alternative to Zendesk is EngageLab. It fulfills the customer support and engagement requirements of businesses of all types and sizes.
There are other platforms like Jira for IT customer support, Salesforce for enterprises, and Hiver for Gmail-specific support. However, these are specific to one aspect of customer support and engagement.
Therefore, if you are looking for a comprehensive all-in-one solution, try EngageLab and enjoy new solution provider!
