Zendesk Alternatives: Top 7 Competitors in 2024

When it comes to managing customer queries and ensuring a smooth support flow, Zendesk has often been the go-to. But let’s face it — not every tool fits every team like a glove. For various companies, the quest for Zendesk alternatives has led them to explore beyond the familiar, prompted by a few sticking points with Zendesk that just can't be ignored. 

Why consider alternatives to Zendesk? Some find Zendesk’s pricing a bit steep, especially when budgets are tight. Others grapple with its setup, which can feel like piecing together a complex puzzle that takes months to complete. These hurdles can make the search for Zendesk alternatives not just necessary, but urgent. 

If this sounds like your current crossroads, you’re in the right spot. This blog will guide you through 7 Zendesk competitors, each scrutinized for how they stack up in terms of ease of use, cost and customer satisfaction. Let’s get into it. 

Why consider alternatives to Zendesk? 

Zendesk is a household name when it comes to naming the leading customer service solutions in the market. However, it might not be the best fit for some businesses that might benefit more from other tools similar to Zendesk, but free of its limitations. Let’s look at the reasons why you can consider Zendesk alternatives. 

🏷️ Steep pricing and expensive add-ons 

Zendesk’s support solution does not come cheap. In fact, it is one of the most commonly reported downside of using the tool. Moreover, adding features to Zendesk can really drive up the cost. If you're trying to stick to a budget, each add-on, like advanced reporting or better support, adds more to your bill. It's important to think about whether these extras are truly essential for your needs. For its most popular plan, Suite Professional, users are required to pay $115 per agent per month which might not fly well with teams having modest budgets. 

🔐 Basic features behind paywalls 

While Zendesk does seem to offer a myriad of features, the complete capability of the tool is often not enjoyed by users that are starting out with basic plans. For example, besides the expensive add-ons, basic reporting is a feature that users report not being available in beginner plans, as put forward by a user: 

“Pricing can get pretty steep as you add on features. Most of our clients are small businesses in a stage of growth—so while the features make perfect sense for their teams, sometimes the bill ends up pricing our people out. They also recently removed basic reporting from their basic Support Team plan (used to be included) which is a HUGE bummer, as well as removing quick live support (have to send an email instead).” 

😓 Not intuitive  

Zendesk can be a bit of a tough nut to crack, especially if you're a new user of customer service software. Its features aren't exactly newbie-friendly and figuring it all out can really slow you down when you're just getting started. Even with demos and training, if you're not too techy, it might feel like you're wrestling with it more than using it. This can end up eating into your time and money. 

🧑‍💻 Sub-par customer service 

Poor service experience is a resounding reality for many users, which might prompt one to look for Zendesk alternatives. Customers often report lengthy average resolution times which seem to delay set-up timelines. And this has consistently been an issue with Zendesk. Here’s what a customer says in a 2021 review: “Medium to small-sized businesses seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to support and account management.” 

Which only seems to corroborate with what another had to say in 2024: “It's difficult to cancel your contract. It's difficult to get through to a human in their support team.” 

⚙️ Siloed operations 

For seamless CX at each touchpoint, you need to ensure all your data and processes stay intact and accessible in one place, which becomes a task with Zendesk. “Customers that attempt to use Zendesk as their primary customer database oftentimes need to take additional measures to keep user data in sync with other systems...,” notes a user struggling to consolidate all their customer data.  

7 Best Zendesk Alternatives 

️Based on 2024 research, here’s a list of the top 7 Zendesk alternatives any business can prefer: 

Zendesk Alternative #1: Sprinklr

Presently, Sprinklr is one of the top alternatives to Zendesk in the market as it outperforms the tool in many areas. Built atop a Unified Customer Experience Management (Unified-CXM) platform, Sprinklr empowers teams to view and manage customer interactions from 35+ customer service channels on one unified console, integrating data and insights seamlessly. While a common gripe amongst users is Zendesk’s inability to offer true omnichannel customer experience, Sprinklr easily seems to take the reins. 

🚀 Key features 

1. Agent Console 

Sprinklr outshines Zendesk when it comes to equipping agents with a wider reach through a customizable agent console that is armed with productivity features such as:  

• Broad channel coverage 
  Sprinklr Agent Console allows your agents to manage interactions across 35+ channels, whereas Zendesk only covers 18 channels. Whether your customer has interacted with you on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram or WhatsApp, Sprinklr Agent Desktop unifies all kinds of engagement in a single-view format, giving full context at one glance.
  
• Limitless customization 
  While Sprinklr offers no-code set-up with customizable widgets for easy implementation, Zendesk users often report needing deep technical nuance and guidance to set up processes.  
  
• Intelligent routing logic 
  Sprinklr is equipped with Smart Pairing to improve CX, an AI logic that uses available customer data to smartly match open cases with the right agents, making sure everyone gets the help they need from the best person for the job. Zendesk lacks this and users report finding the routing glitchy at times. 
• Guided workflows for routine problem-solving 
  Sprinklr’s Guided Workflows come in handy to ensure every interaction feels seamless and on-brand, keeping things consistent no matter who’s assisting your customer. Zendesk lacks this AI-driven functionality that makes your customer self-service a lot more cohesive, standardized and on-brand across channels.  

2. Chatbot maturity 

Sprinklr chatbots are built on a proprietary AI framework that powers all customer communication. 

• Detects intent switch: Unlike Zendesk, Sprinklr chatbots can not only detect multiple intents in a single customer message, but also any intent switches that may occur mid-conversation.  
• Multilingual support: Moreover, while Zendesk’s language support is limited, Sprinklr’s multilingual chatbots support over 100 global languages ensuring nothing is lost in translation.  
• Image processing: Sprinklr bots are also self-evolving, consistently refining their performance with AI-driven insights and closed feedback loops. Sprinklr bots also support Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for smooth and accurate image processing, which Zendesk bots lack. 

3. Analytical reporting 

Sprinklr Insights is capable of delivering in real-time intel on your competition and market with over 90% accuracy. Where Zendesk falls short in conducting root cause analysis (RCA) of the reasons why your customers are contacting you, Sprinklr RCA also analyzes the associated metadata to surface the underlying cause of friction they face. 

On the other hand, Zendesk customers even report not being able to leverage customer service reporting --- especially when done retrospectively.  

Sprinklr Reporting and Analytics not only gives you performance insights on concurrent conversations but also multi-level dashboards that stealthily report on past and present customer experience metrics.  

Many Zendesk users struggle to move and access their reporting data because the interface just isn't that user-friendly.  

Sprinklr counteracts this with its ability to present data in engaging, consumable visuals. With Sprinklr Presentations, you can data in on-brand presentations all decked up with customizable widgets, advanced tables and charts. Such data democratization across teams also helps you reduce brand risk. your customer experience management data in on-brand  data in on-brand presentations all decked up with customizable widgets, advanced tables and charts. Such data democratization across teams also helps you reduce brand risk.tables and charts. Such data democratization across teams also helps you reduce brand risk. 

Customer testimonials 

💪 What works best 

“I appreciate having a designated representative that we meet with weekly who serves as our point of contact with the company. It's great customer service. I also enjoy the product, which allows us to accomplish most of our publishing needs all in one place.” Source 

💡 What could be better 

“I think the cost per license can be decreased if Sprinklr makes a leaner version of the care license without the entire bells and whistles would be helpful.” Source 

Verdict: Sprinklr really streamlines your work by keeping campaigns, asset management and customer interactions all in one spot, so you don't get buried under a mountain of tabs. It’s particularly slick for customer service, making the flow of cases way smoother than on native platforms. Sprinklr’s responsive and knowledgeable customer service team gives it a solid edge as an alternative to Zendesk.

Plus, its generative AI is pretty neat — Sprinklr AI crafts content that fits your brand, sharpens up agent responses and even handles some of the tedious admin stuff like summarizing cases and pulling insights from your knowledge base.  

Price: Starting at $199/user/month. Check full pricing.  

Free trial: Sprinklr offers a 30-day free trial 

Zendesk Alternative #2: Help Scout

Help Scout is a customer support tool ideal for growing businesses. It streamlines managing customer inquiries across email, live chat, social media and self-service — all from one unified platform. Plus Help Scout is quick to set up, which again makes it a good choice on this list to get your operations up and running. 

🚀 Top features 

• Shared inboxes equipped with real-time collision detection ensure no two team members respond to the same query at once 
• Strong live chat solution integrated with knowledge base for quicker dissemination of resolutions 
• Case management capabilities ensure all inbound calls, emails and tickets are handled and routed efficiently 

Customer testimonials 

💪 What works best 

“Having worked with Zendesk before, the difference was night and day. Our team enjoys Help Scout because of the ease of use, user-friendly platform, reporting and more!” Source 

💡 What could be better 

“I would say mobile interface and user friendliness should be improved. Every time I have to use HS on my phone I struggle a lot. Reporting (email) isn't familiar with public holidays in my country so SLA aren't accurate enough.” Source 

Verdict: There are various reasons why Help Scout stacks competitively against Zendesk.  

First, Help Scout is affordable. Basic plans priced at $22 per user per month when billed annually include 100+ integrations with external apps.  

Second, users consistently speak highly of Help Scout’s customer service. One such customer shared an impactful experience, noting how Help Scout's support team went the extra mile when the user was transitioning from a for-profit to a non-profit and had to pause the service.  

Third, a very cool reason why Help Scout could be a great alternative to Zendesk is because of its “Beacon” feature. This tool lets you save and access replies and codes directly within the interface. It enables you to launch chats, display help docs, announce new features or send customer surveys based on specific user actions like visited URLs or time spent on a page. 

Price: Starts at $20 per user/month (25 seats). Offers multiple plans.  

Free trial: Available for 15 days   

Zendesk Alternative #3: Freshdesk

Freshdesk features a shared inbox that consolidates messages from multiple channels into one streamlined platform. It’s customizable, allowing you to tailor your knowledge base to suit your needs. Plus, its marketplace apps facilitate easy integration with other systems. Freshdesk is great for small to medium-sized businesses as it offers a feature-rich suite at competitive rates. 

🚀 Top features 

• Robust ticket routing system that allows to categorize, prioritize and deflect calls efficiently 
• Compared to Zendesk, Freshdesk has a fairly easy-to-navigate analytical reporting system that can be filtered to display daily, weekly and monthly reports  
• Generative AI-powered Freddy AI automates most of admin tasks, resolve routine queries and assist agents with real-time interactions 

Customer testimonials 

💪 What works best 

“What I like best about Freshdesk is its intuitive user interface, which makes it easy to manage and track customer inquiries. The automation features save time by handling repetitive tasks, and the robust reporting tools provide valuable insights into team performance.” Source 

💡 What could be better 

“The number of integrations available is limited and integration support is minimal. Many a times, non-availability of a single point of contact - especially during initial setup can derail things a bit.” Source 

Verdict: One of the top reasons why Freshdesk stands as a great alternative is its low time-to-market. While poor UX and technical heavy lifting are widely reported issues with Zendesk, Freshdesk consistently gets praised for powerful automations and an interface you can glide through. This makes change management much simpler with users even reporting how agents require little to no training to use it. 

Another way Freshdesk makes up for a good Zendesk alternative is its watertight unification of communication. However, some users report finding limited dispositions in after-call work (ACW) a challenge with Freshdesk. 

Did you know? Sprinklr’s Auto-Wrap feature makes ACW stress-free by automatically filling in the necessary details for your agents if they are running tight on time after a call. This functionality applies predefined values to fields if an agent doesn't get around to submitting the after-call work manually. It ensures everything stays smooth and efficient, keeping the workflow on track without any hiccups. 

Pricing: Offers a free plan. The most popular is the Pro plan - $48.99/per agent/month - billed annually  

Free trial: Available for 14 days 

Zendesk Alternative #4: Intercom

Intercom is not a new name when we talk about business messengers in the market. Over time, the tool has evolved to offer many features and tools to help users deliver smooth customer service.

For example, the platform also lets you create help centers in different languages and manage team tasks effectively, ensuring queries are directed to the right agents. However, for users looking for a holistic, full-stack customer service suite, many other tools on this list might have more to offer. 

🚀 Top features 

• Highly customizable business messenger that seamlessly integrates with your website and mobile apps 
• AI Copilot gives agents instant information from all connected data and systems, speeding up training and helping them find what they need fast. 
• Strong logic-based case routing and workflow automation ensures effective case handling. 

Customer testimonials

💪 What works best 

“The best thing about intercom is that you can make possible any ideas that you have in mind for your business. You can create custom features and implement them on intercom, alongside the workflows that customize the customer experience. Intercom has been the key to developing a self-service support for our users and improving the quality of the content we provide. Also, one of the most useful things about the platform is that the support specialist can always customize their interface and work in the best way for them. The platform’s customization options, the possibility and flexibility of connecting external apps, are quite helpful.”

Source 

💡 What could be better 

“We cannot chat with the client on behalf of other team members, if I need to transfer the chat midway to my colleague, customer gets to know that person who is handling a chat is now changed. Sometimes, chatbot fails to assign chats to any of the available team members and chat remains unassigned without any notification.”

Source  

Did you know?

With Sprinklr’s Supervisor Console you can keep an eye on your team's chats and spot conversation heading south when they do. And when that happens, you get an instant alert and you can jump right into the action. You can subtly guide your agent with whispers, drop some quick advice with internal notes or take over the chat control if need be. A powerful supervisor dashboard works as a safety net, ensuring that every customer interaction can be steered back on track smoothly. 

Sounds like something worth exploring? Take a personalized tour of it today with our experts at Sprinklr. 

Book a Demo

Verdict: Intercom is very easy to configure and often praised by users for its nimble deployment timeline, which stands starkly against Zendesk’s. It is also known for continuously innovating its suite with an aggressive product roadmap loaded with new features that smooth out road bumps users report. When it comes to daily operations, Intercom also renders lower downtimes and quick rebound, if there’s any. 

Unlike Zendesk, which can sometimes lead to fragmented customer experiences, Intercom excels at integrating all necessary tools into a cohesive platform. This integration ensures that every customer interaction is both personal and conversational, making it highly effective across various customer service scenarios. Intercom stands out as a superior alternative to Zendesk for handling customer inquiries. 

Price: $39 per seat/month  

Free trial: Available for 14 days   

Zendesk Alternative #5: HubSpot

HubSpot is a well-known name in the CRM space, especially with its slick new helpdesk workspace that’s makes managing customer interactions quite easy. More than just mostly automating emails like Zendesk does — HubSpot lets you pop videos right into your website and social media, making your content way more engaging. HubSpot offers smooth email automation capability that doesn’t need any coding.  

🚀Top features 

• HubSpot's Smart CRM integrates service, sales and marketing with powerful automation and seamless third-party app integrations 
• Workspace for proactively managing customer relationships, tracking health and spotting growth opportunities through detailed feedback surveys. 
• Ticketing system equipped with HubSpot AI to help agents track, engage and manage customer tickets with custom views and smart routing 

Customer testimonials 

💪 What works best 

“I like the split view of active conversations in an inbox (we're on the Help Desk beta) versus the historical tickets which are not only helpful for those of us in the support team, but also our product managers to easily see old ticket data for research. Pipelines and channels are easy to create and separate out workflows. The analytics sold me as they are so easy to use and quickly create new reports. I could never get things this easy in Zendesk. We are a smaller business, but it was very easy to implement and get set up quickly, transitioning away from other software. The customer team is great and usually has the answer.” Source 

💡What could be better 

“For me the most inconvenient thing is that the search engine cannot read the document attached in a pdf format, an improvement in that detail would make the system work in its entirety for me.” Source 

Verdict: HubSpot’s Service Hub stands out from Zendesk by offering a multi-faceted approach to customer support. While Zendesk offers a solid agent workspace with various channels and unified support, you might find yourself paying extra for their advanced AI features.

HubSpot, on the other hand, includes these powerful AI tools right off the bat, with no additional fees. You get things like conversation summaries, a content assistant for crafting replies and an AI chatbot as part of your standard package. If you’re looking for a customer support solution that’s ready to go with all the bells and whistles, HubSpot could be a good Zendesk alternative. 

Zendesk Alternative #6: Front

Front is a customer service platform that sports a familiar, email-like interface that teams love because it’s so simple to use. It started out as a neat way to handle both personal and team emails in one place, but it’s really come into its own lately. Now, Front lets you manage all sorts of communication — from emails to live chats and social media messages — all from a shared inbox. 

What’s cool is that it doesn’t just handle the basics. Front has features packed for collaboration, automation and even AI to help speed things up. It integrates smoothly with other tools you might be using. So, if your team wants a communication hub that feels like second nature to use and really ties everything together, Front might just be tool you could be looking for. 

🚀Top features 

• Standout management of SLAs to avoid breaches and keep things running on track  
• Built-in collaboration enables team discussions and draft sharing to scale communications efficiently 
• Solid contact center reporting on customer queries and agent performance metrics like time to respond, SLA breaches, handle times and satisfaction scores for better troubleshooting and workforce planning 

Customer testimonials 💪 What works best 

“Front does exactly what it sets out to help you with, it allows my team to retain a personable approach with our clients, avoiding a faceless ticketing platform experience for them which would've been the case if we opted for a platform like Zendesk for example. Front is easy and intuitive to use, it makes assigning emails within the team incredibly efficient and creates a good sense of visibility for us all. The analytics feature within Front is also a huge plus and really allows us to delve deeper into the workload we're dealing with each month and helps us identify patterns with particular clients or areas for improvement.” Source 

💡What could be better 

“The only real downfall I've been able to find is that it can get a little tricky in creating rules. Some rules will fire and they're simple to understand but if I can create a filter in the search bar that returns results, the same filters for a rule should yield the same and it sometimes doesn't.” Source 

Engines that actually rule 

Sprinklr’s Rule Engine is all you need to automate your workflows. By setting conditions, it changes manual tasks into automated actions — tagging messages, routing inquiries or leading escalations as needed. It’s akin to programming “If-This-Then-That” logic, where assets trigger specific actions based on your criteria. While it boosts your efficiency, it also improves audience profiling and media strategies, allowing your support team to focus on relationship building rather than repetitive tasks. 

Want to see this live in action? Take a personalized tour of the Sprinklr Platform with us. 

Book a Demo

Verdict: Front really simplifies task assignment; just tag a teammate and hit "Assign." It's a help desk software that brings together SMS, email, social media and live chat into one neat dashboard. What sets Front apart is its commitment to transparency with pricing — no surprises like you might find with Zendesk. Its modern, email-like interface is super user-friendly, cutting down on the usual learning curve, which makes onboarding new hires effortless. 

Price: Starts at $19/seat/month, billed annually. 2 seat purchase is mandatory. 

Trial: Offers 7-day trial 

Zendesk Alternative #7: Hiver

Hiver turns your Gmail into a full-fledged customer support hub, making it super easy to get up and running. Right from the get-go, you're guided with handy in-app notifications that introduce you to all the needed features. What’s great about Hiver is how it seamlessly blends into Gmail, so there’s practically no learning curve. You can delegate emails with just a click and keep track of them without the mess of CCs or forwards.

Hiver also costs half as much as Zendesk and takes way less time to set up. It’s a straightforward, cost-effective solution for teams looking to manage their customer support directly from their inboxes. 

🚀Top features 

• Enables you to organize emails with IDs, tags and labels, engage your team using notes and @mentions and boost efficiency with auto-assignments and canned responses 
• Hiver’s AI bot, Harvey, quickly summarizes support-related emails, suggests templates and automatically closes conversations that require no further action 
• Alongside email customer support, Hiver offers robust self-service portals like knowledge base that empowers customers to solve their own queries 

Customer testimonials 

💪 What works best 

“We love the functionality within Google Workspace. It makes communication so much easier for our team. We switched from Zendesk and it has been a huge improvement. What took us 3 months to set up when we started Zendesk took us about 6 hours to set up in Hiver. Customer service is literally the best team in software. They respond almost instantly and will happily jump on a Google Meet call with you so you can walk through your issue.” Source 

💡What could be better 

“Not much to dislike, except the live chat icon for our websites is not customizable and it cannot be positioned on the page to match our designs, so it impedes user experience a little bit.” Source 

Verdict: Hiver is perfect for teams looking for a simple, customer-focused support system that works right out of Gmail. It's great at keeping everything on track across different teams, making sure you deliver stellar customer service every time.

While it may not have as many customization or advanced features as some alternatives, the biggest perk of using Hiver over Zendesk is its dependable 24/7 support and hands-on help from onboarding specialists — all without needing to upgrade your plan. If you’re after an uncomplicated yet powerful tool, Hiver stands out as a strong Zendesk alternative. 

Price: Lite package priced at $19/user/month (Up to 10 users) 

Free trial: Offer 7-day trial 

How to evaluate Zendesk competitors 

Let’s consider a few questions you need to ask yourself while choosing a Zendesk alternative that truly meets your needs and delivers where Zendesk falls short. 

1. Is it easy to set up and use? 

Look for an alternative that promises a quicker, more intuitive setup process. It’s no news that Zendesk can be complex and time-consuming to set up, so prioritize platforms that offer straightforward onboarding, ensuring that your team can hit the ground running without the lengthy learning period. 

2. Does it burn a hole in your pocket? 

Zendesk can be costly, especially for smaller teams or those just scaling up. When evaluating alternatives, consider the total cost of ownership, including set-up, subscriptions and any extra fees for features you may need for your contact center operations. Aim for transparent pricing models that avoid unpleasant surprises. 

3. Does it offer multi-channel support? 

Zendesk handles multiple channels but often at extra cost. Ensure your chosen alternative includes comprehensive multi-channel support — like email, social media, live chat and phone —as part of the standard package, so you can deliver omnichannel customer service from one place efficiently. 

💡 Good to know: While black-and-white pricing is a key buying consideration, so is adopting new customer service channels. It helps optimize your spending. Watch this video to learn more. 

4. How quick is its customer support? 

Given Zendesk’s sometimes offers sluggish support, confirm that your new choice offers speedy and proactive customer service. Test their customer response time and problem-solving skills by contacting their support during your decision-making process. 

5. Does its UI leave you scratching your head? 

Opt for a solution with a modern, user-friendly interface that your team can navigate easily. A good UI/UX enhances your team’s productivity and reduces agent frustration which can cascade down into customer frustration. Users reported Zendesk’s interface to lack the ergonomics needed for smooth operations, so evaluating this factor should be a priority for you. 

6. How well do your teams receive this choice? 

Since different roles will interact with your chosen tools differently, have them all vet the tool during the trial period, to catch usability issues well in time. Team members from various levels, from front-line agents to managers should use the tools for all their use cases and flag glitches if any. 

Final thoughts 

When looking for a Zendesk alternative, think about what really matters for your team and customers. You'll want something that's not just affordable but also easy to use and packed with powerful features that can grow with your business without the hefty price tag. It’s important that your new platform meshes well with your current tech stack and offers support that helps when you need it. 

If you’re on the hunt, take a peek at Sprinklr Service. A complete ensuite that brings everything together — data, AI, channels and functions — all on one platform. It’s designed to manage and measure customer interactions everywhere they happen, aiming to make every customer feel like they belong.  

What really sets Sprinklr apart, according to The Forrester Wave™: Digital Customer Interaction Solutions, Q2 2024, is the absolute unification of everything it offers. Take a look at what Forrester has to say about Sprinklr and book a demo with us if you like what you read 😊