Top 22 Zendesk Alternatives in 2024: Features, Pricing, and More

Improvement has become a necessity for business. And with the kind of tech-world we live in, we can see why not. A good CRM and helpdesk CRM is a game changer. This post will review the top Zendesk alternatives in 2024. It will compare their features, pricing, and benefits. Whether you’re looking for a cheaper option, more automation or an industry specific solution, there’s one out there for you.

Zendesk, a top customer service software company, is now facing tough competition. Zendesk competitors are CrmOne, Hubspot, Freshdesk, Salesforce, and Active Campaign. Zendesk has over 50,000 clients. But, it has faced post-acquisition, consumer dissatisfaction. Customer feedback has highlighted issues with Zendesk’s service, prompting many to seek alternatives.

Has Zendesk lost its edge?

Zendesk, once a king of customer service software, has been facing fierce competition in recent years. It still maintains a strong market presence, but questions have arisen about its ability to retain its edge. AI-powered chatbots, growing demand for omnichannel support, emergence of newer, more agile competitors have challenged Zendesk.

Additionally, some customers have expressed concerns about the platform’s user interface and pricing, potentially hindering its growth. Ultimately, whether or not Zendesk has lost its edge will depend on its ability to continue adapting to the evolving customer service landscape and delivering innovative solutions.

So, what happened that customers are looking for alternatives to Zendesk’s customer service platform?

Is it their price, their UI, their automation process, or something else?

When we went through the reviews, it was quite clear that these were the areas where zendesk needed improvement. But why do businesses have to suffer? Users of Zendesk faced high fees, limited support, and a lack of care for clients. These issues became major stumbling blocks.

Customer data management has also been a significant issue for Zendesk users, with many struggling to gain complete visibility and simplify data migration for better customer support experiences.

While Zendesk touts its stability as a reason to switch, it comes at a cost. The company has been consistently increasing its prices, only to customers who commit to annual contracts. This pricing strategy has left many customers feeling undervalued and frustrated. Excellent customer service is vital. Zendesk’s failures here have caused customer churn.

Users have turned to online forums to voice their worries. Many find it hard to contact support and feel ignored by the company. These issues have led many customers to seek better support systems. They want more responsive and personalized help. We have tried to give you a clear view about the alternatives of zendesk, that can be implemented in your business.

So, it’s zendesk vs other companies.

Zendesk Alternatives are:

1. CrmOne: A customer relationship management tool

CrmOne provides a comprehensive customer relationship management tool to manage all customer relationships. It won’t sacrifice any sales or marketing features, and it won’t break the bank.

A key feature of CrmOne is its Email Marketing. You can send bulk emails. This will boost sales and build a loyal customer base.

CrmOne has a versatile toolset for businesses in various industries. It covers lead management, sales pipeline tracking, customer support, and analytics.

This is the perfect zendesk alternative CRM software. Most trial users have enjoyed their unique, high-tech features. What CrmOne does is it un-burdens your work and streamlines the whole process.

From investing your capital to checking if your ROI is good or not. Creating detailing report for you to take further actions accordingly.

Features:

Contact & Account Management
Partner Relationship Management (PRM)
Opportunity & Pipeline Management
Email Marketing
Social Network Integration

Pricing:

Free: 1 User per month
Start-up: $9.99 = 1 User per month
Professional: $14.99- 1 User per month
Enterprise: $19.99 – 1 User per month

Reviews:

Users find CrmOne to be the best alternative to Zendesk, praising its interface, features, and competitive pricing. They gave it good reviews. Many users find it easy to use, others like that it caters to their business needs. Users praise CrmOne’s support. They say the team is responsive and helpful.

Boost Your Business Performance with CrmOne

Our experts will guide you through the most effective ways to use CrmOne, ensuring you fully leverage its features for maximum impact on your business.

2. Hubspot: Hubspot Service Hub

HubSpot CRM has all the tools to manage customer relationships. It covers lead generation to customer support. HubSpot’s easy-to-use interface and powerful tools help you grow by streamlining sales and marketing. What signifies Hubspot is its reputation it has built over the years. If you are looking for a free Zendesk alternative, then HubSpot is just what you are looking for.

HubSpot Service Hub is a comprehensive customer service software designed to streamline and improve support operations for businesses of all sizes. It integrates seamlessly with the HubSpot ecosystem and offers features such as live chat, knowledge base management, and automation capabilities that enhance customer engagement.

Features:

Opportunity & Pipeline Mgmt.
Territory & Quota Management
Marketing ROI Analytics
Social Collaboration Features
Forecasting

Pricing:

Free: 1 User per month Sales Hub
Starter: $20 per month Sales Hub
Professional: $100 per month Sales Hub
Enterprise: $150 per month

Reviews:

HubSpot CRM has good reviews for its interface and features. It is also praised for its integrations, pricing, and customer support. Many users like the ease of use especially for those new to CRM.

The platform has many features. They include contact management, deal tracking, and email marketing. Its automation makes it a good solution for businesses of all sizes.

3. Salesforce

Features:

Territory & Quota management
Campaign Management
Forecasting
Desktop Integration
Email marketing

Pricing:

Starter: $25- 1 User per month
Professional: $80 – 1 User per month
Enterprise: $165- 1 User per month
Unlimited: $330- 1 User per month

Reviews:

As it is cloud based, it depends on internet connection and sometimes runs slow. There are difficulties in understanding customer preferences, behavior patterns and historical interactions. But customization is easy and takes time to get used to it.

4. Activecampaign

ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform. It helps businesses improve their marketing and customer engagement. It has tools for email marketing, lead gen, sales automation, and CRM. Additionally, ActiveCampaign provides robust customer support tools that streamline communication, improve customer interactions, and support internal collaboration.

Features:

Data Import & Export Tools
Manage Email Deliverability
Dynamic content
Online Behavior Tracking
Segmentation

Pricing:

Starter: $15- 1 User per month
Plus: $49- 1 User per month
Professional: $79 – 1 User per month
Enterprise: $145- 1 User per month

Reviews:

Some users find it expensive. It has a steep learning curve. Certain features are missing. Pages load slow when you have grand email automation set-ups. But customer support and in-built features make it a good alternative to Zendesk.

5.Keap

Keap lets you organize contacts, create targeted campaigns, and automate tasks. You can also track your sales progress. It’s a versatile solution for businesses of all sizes from small startups to established enterprises. Keap also supports customer support teams by providing effective and user-friendly tools to streamline customer support processes, enhance communication, and foster collaboration among team members.

Features:

Building and Personalizing Emails
Landing pages and forms
Automated Alerts and Tasks
CRM Lead Integration
Sending Outbound Emails

Pricing:

Ignite: $249- 1500 Contacts per month
Grow: $329- 2500 Contacts per month
Scale: $499 – 500 Contacts per month

Reviews:

Keap CRM has a user friendly interface that makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to get started. Automation features can save you a lot of time. They include email marketing, follow-ups, and task scheduling.

But some users may find the learning curve steep especially for those new to CRM. Also Keap has a lot of features but may be limited compared to other full blown CRM. Some users reported issues with email delivery.

6. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a popular CRM for sales teams of all sizes. It is known for its intuitive design and powerful features. Pipedrive is a top choice for teams wanting a CRM. It streamlines sales processes and drives results. If it comes in the list of alternative to zendesk, then pipedrive holds a strong position. Pipedrive also effectively manages customer requests through its robust ticketing system, which categorizes and prioritizes these requests to ensure efficient handling and resolution across multiple communication channels.

Features:

Product & Price list management
Campaign Management
Mobile User Support
Reporting
Call Center features

Pricing:

Essential: $24- 1 Seats per month
Advanced: $44- 1 Seats per month
Professional: $64 – 1 Seats per month
Enterprise: $79- 1 Seats per month

Reviews:

Pipedrive CRM has a user friendly interface that’s easy for businesses of all sizes to adopt. The platform is highly customizable so you can tailor it to your needs. It also integrates seamlessly with other tools like email marketing platforms and calendars.

Some features may be missing that are required for your business. Pipedrive can be expensive especially for larger businesses. While the learning curve is gentle, new users may take some time to fully get the hang of it. Integration issues can occur.

7. Freshsales

Freshsales is a software that helps businesses manage their customers and sales. It’s a digital assistant. It tracks your customers’ info, helps you communicate with them, and automates tasks to boost sales. It’s designed to be user friendly even for non techy people.

Freshsales also optimizes customer service operations by simplifying ticketing, improving automation, and facilitating integration across various departments, helping businesses enhance their support processes.

Features:

Case management
Forecasting
Products & Price list management
Task/Activity management
Opportunity & pipeline management

Pricing:

Starter: $9- 1 User per month
Pro: $39- 1 User per month
Enterprise: $59- 1 User per month

Reviews:

Freshsales has Ease of adoption, user friendly interface. Their support team is helpful and provides detailed information. More features compared to other CRM pricing range.

Task board isn’t user friendly. Tracking the leads sometimes becomes difficult. There is no built in way to review all tasks for a group of individuals for a manager. Overall functionality is good but can be better.

8. Instantly

If you are looking for zendesk free alternative, then Instantly CRM is queued up first in line among various help desk software options. The Global presence of instantly is not statistically good. But, there are fewer complaints from users who have implemented this system. What Instantly does best is keeping the process easy to understand, even for beginners. But, the complex process can sometimes become hectic.

Features:

User, Role, and Access Management
Data Import & Export Tools
A/B Testing
Building and Personalizing Emails
High-Volume Sending

Pricing:

Free: Free Trial for 1 month
Growth: $37- 1 Workspace per month
Hypergrowth: $97 – 1 Workspace per month
B2B Leads Database: $47- 1000 Verified leads per month

Reviews:

Instantly CRM is a user-friendly platform that simplifies sales operations and customer relationships. Real-time analytics gives insights into sales performance. You can then make data-driven decisions.

Instantly CRM has a solid sales management base. However, some users say it has limited customization and a steep learning curve for complex workflows.

9. Zoho

Originated with limited resources, Zoho has come a long way. It’s simple layout and easy adaptability is what drives in more customers. Zoho One is an Operating System for business that brings all your business processes in one place, under one subscription. It cuts down on the ways to communicate and manage your data.

Zoho also offers multi-channel support, allowing businesses to engage with customers across various platforms such as email, chat, phone, and social media. This capability ensures that teams can coordinate effectively to address customer issues in a streamlined manner, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Features:

AI-Powered Insights
Integrations
Sales Automation
Omnichannel Engagement
360-Degree Customer View

Pricing:

All employee pricing: $45- 1 User per month
Flexible user pricing: $105- 1 User per month

Reviews:

The software is user friendly, provides a seamless experience for users of all levels. Its helpful features and strong data management make it a great tool for many tasks. The software’s integration with other apps and its feature set makes it more appealing.

Despite the pros, the software has poor customer support. This frustrates users who need help. The software’s reports and interface can be improved. They should be more complete and visually appealing.

10. HelpScout

Help Scout is a help desk solution for growing businesses. It sets up fast, is easy to use, and lets teams manage all support interactions—email, live chat, social media, and self-service—in one place.

Features:

User, Role, and Access Management
Live Chat Support
Searchable Articles
Ticket Creation User Experience
Email to Case

Pricing:

Standard: $22- 1 User per month
Plus: $44- 1 User per month
Pro: $65- 1 per User per month (10+ users) per month

Reviews:

Helpscout CRM is praised for its user friendly interface so it’s accessible to users of all levels. The ticket management system is very efficient. Users can easily organize, prioritize, and track customer inquiries. Customer support is generally great.

Integration with other apps can be tricky, users reported compatibility issues. This can disrupt workflows and data sharing. The feature set is big but limited compared to some competitors.

11. Intercom

Intercom is a customer service platform that uses AI to deliver amazing experiences. Intercom helps businesses by automating boring tasks. It gives smart recommendations and personalises chats. This boosts customer satisfaction, efficiency, and support at scale.

Jira Service Management is another robust IT service management (ITSM) solution. It is ideal for organizations needing comprehensive incident and request management. It integrates well with Atlassian products and serves as a strong Zendesk alternative, especially for small to mid-size companies.

Features:

Ticket Response User Experience
Notifications
In-App Messaging
Customer Profiles
Attachments/Screencasts

Pricing:

Essential: $39-1 Seat per month
Advanced: $99- 1 Seat per month
Expert: $139 – 1 Seat per month
Proactive Support Plus add-on: $99 per month

Reviews:

Intercom has been a total game changer for our support team. The AI features have cut response times and customer satisfaction down to size. The live chat is seamless and the automation tools have streamlined our workflows.

While Intercom has a lot of features, we found the pricing to be quite expensive. For smaller businesses the cost might be out of reach. And the learning curve is a bit steep especially if you’re new to support platforms.

12. Yellow.ai

Yellow.ai empowers enterprises to create memorable customer conversations through our generative AI-powered customer service automation platform. Their vision is to fully autonomous customer support that unlocks unparalleled efficiency and significantly reduces operational costs.

Features:

Customization
Sequencing (Messenger)
Natural Language Understanding (NLU)
Customization Interface
In-App Messaging

Pricing: Varies according to requirements

Reviews:

The platform allows you to build chatbots that integrate seamlessly with existing communication channels (like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger). Their customer support team is very knowledgeable.

One user said- Generating detailed reports on customer interactions and chatbot performance was a pain. And the platform has limitations on historical data access so you can’t analyze trends over longer periods.

13. Kustomer

Kustomer is the first customer service CRM platform built for managing high support volume by optimising experiences throughout the customer service journey. Kustomer helps brands resolve conversations on all digital channels.

Features:

Ticket Creation User Experience
Ticket Collaboration
Pop-up Chat
Customer Profiles
Seamless Escalation

Pricing:

Enterprise: $89- 1 User per Month
Ultimate: $139- 1 User per month

Reviews:

The software is very user friendly, has a lot of features and prioritises simplicity and helpfulness. The interface is intuitive and the design is straightforward so it’s accessible to all skill levels and caters to a wide range of use cases.

While it has a lot of good things, it might be missing some essential features which can cause ticketing issues and delays. And the user experience could be improved with a more consistent and intuitive design.

14. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a customer service platform that allows businesses to manage interactions across multiple channels. With omnichannel universal inbox, real-time live chat, built-in call center and customer service portal, LiveAgent is a central hub for handling customer inquiries and communication and support experiences.

Features:

Automated Response
Ticket Response User Experience
Attachments/Screencasts
Social Media Integration
Customization

Pricing:

Small: $9- 1 agent per month
Medium: $29- 1 agent per month
Large: $49 – 1 agent per month
Enterprise: $69- 1 agent per month

Reviews:

With many built-in communication channels you can have one on one conversations with customers to increase service sales; the ticketing system’s internal notes and comments feature keeps everyone in the loop so there’s no miscommunication; and it works with any website.

Some users find the interface complex and hard to use at first. While LiveAgent has customization options, some might not be enough for their use case.

15. Tidio

Tidio comes another one in the list of zendesk free alternatives, where you can test the system for a month and examine if its aligning with your business or not. Tidio is an all-in-one customer service platform that increases your customer support and helps you to generate more sales. A live chat widget is at your customers’ fingertips 24/7 and AI chatbots engage with your customers in real-time so you can sell more.

Features:

Knowledge Base
Route To Human (Responses)
Conversation Archiving
Targeted Emails
In-App Messaging

Pricing:

Free forever: Free per month
Customer Service: $29 per month
Lyro AI Chatbot: $39 per month
Flows: $29 per month

Reviews:

The software is user friendly, has powerful chatbot features and is helpful. Easy to set up and has many useful features to increase productivity and customer satisfaction.

While it has a lot of good things, the software can be expensive and has limited features or usage restrictions. It might be missing some features that are standard in other competing products.

16. Front

Front is a customer service platform that allows businesses to deliver amazing experiences. By simplifying workflows, real-time collaboration and a unified inbox for all customer interactions Front helps companies to delight their customers, engage their teams and grow their business.

Features:

Tagging System
Assignments and Tasks
Unified Inbox
Calendar
Desktop Application

Pricing:

Starter: $19- 1 User per month
Growth: $59- 1 User per month
Scale: $99- 1 User per month
Premier: $229- 1 User per month

Reviews:

The platform is great for communication, team collaboration and email management. It’s a robust environment for interactions, teamwork and email automation. The conversational features of the platform also enhance communication and engagement between users.

While the platform has good features it has email management issues like email delivery, missing features and reply functionality. Users will have difficulties in managing their email workflows and might get frustrated.

17. Hiver

Hiver is easy to use and has zero learning curve. Its world class security and compliance ensures your data is always protected. With 24×7 top rated support Hiver is the software of choice for companies worldwide and provides unparalleled reliability and support. Hiver is substantially growing, but when we talk about CRM, it’s the longevity and reliability that matters. Though Hiver is included in the list of alternatives to Zendesk, there has been online debates about it replacing Zendesk.

Features:

Tagging System
Predefined Rules
Performance Tracking
Unified Inbox
Email Automation

Pricing:

Lite: $ 19 Per month
Pro: $49 Per month
Elite: Not disclosed

Reviews:

Hiver’s user friendly interface and simple design is easy to learn and use. Its email management features, team collaboration tools and communication features are highly rated by users.

While Hiver has many good features, some users have reported technical issues, missing features, bugs and slow performance.

18. Gorgias

Gorgias is a customer service platform designed for e-commerce businesses to deliver amazing customer service at every stage of growth. Using automation and AI Gorgias changes the way online stores support their customers omnichannel.

Features:

Customer/Contact Database
Ticket Response User Experience
Notifications
Macros (Process)
Automation

Pricing:

Starter: $10 per month
Basic: $50 per month
Pro: $300 per month
Advanced: $750 per month

Reviews:

Gorgias is a good CRM for e-commerce. It’s easy to use, integrates well, and has many features.

Gorgias can be expensive, and some users have reported missing features and ticketing issues.

19. Helpjuice

Users can create new content directly in the editor or upload content in multiple formats so that important information is available anytime and anywhere. The powerful Google-like search functionality allows users to find what they need quickly and easily.

Features:

Versioning and Version History
Decision Trees
Permissions
Advanced Search
Browser Extension

Features:

Starter: $120 per month (up to 4 users)
Run Up: $200 per month ( up to 16 users)
Premium Limited: $289 per month ( up to 60 users)
Advanced: $659 per month (Unlimited users)

Reviews:

Helpjuice’s knowledge base and support is great. Its customisation options are good and users can adapt the software to their needs and increase productivity.

Some users are not satisfied with the limitations especially on missing features. Some users find the customisation options limited and others have software bugs and editing restrictions.

20. HappyFox

HappyFox CRM makes managing customer interactions, leads and sales pipelines easy. This software enables teams to deliver amazing customer service by providing insights, automating tasks and collaboration across the organisation.

Features:

Automates repetitive tasks
Ticket routing:
Custom workflows:
Integration with third-party applications
Seamless User Interface

Reviews:

Starter: $29 per month for unlimited agents and 500 chats per month
Growth: $49 per month for unlimited agents and 1,000 chats per month
Scale: $149 per month for unlimited agents and 5,000 chats per month
Scale Plus: $299 per month for unlimited agents and 20,000 chats per month

Reviews:

The platform has all the features businesses of all sizes need. Its simple interface and robust functionality makes it easy to manage projects, collaborate with team members and track progress.

While it has many features some users may find the learning curve steep especially for those who are new to project management tools. The pricing may also be too high for small businesses or individuals.

21. LiveChat

LiveChat is a complete customer service platform with live chat and web analytics. It’s designed to deliver amazing customer service and fuel sales. This all-in-one customer service platform is used by many companies.

Features:

Offer real-time help to customers
Targeted messages
Canned responses
Embed live chat across customer touchpoints
Chat Analytics

Pricing:

Starter: $20 per month
Team: $41 per month
Business: $59 per month
Enterprise: Not disclosed

Reviews:

The software is easy to use, has all the essentials and enables good communication and collaboration. It’s also compatible with other tools.

It’s good but may lack customisation options and advanced features for some users. Also performance issues and steep learning curve for some features.

22. Crisp

Crisp is the all-in-one multichannel customer support platform that helps businesses connect instantly with their customers or leads waiting for support. With its rapidly growing set of tools Crisp is leading companies through the customer-driven revolution by using conversations to unlock hypergrowth. Crisp is zendesk alternative free of cost but just for chats

Features:

Live Chat Support
Co-Browsing
Conversation Archiving
Customer Profiles
In-App Messaging

Pricing:

Basic: $0 per month (Just chats)
Pro: $25 per month
Unlimited: $95 per month
Enterprise: Not disclosed

Reviews:

Crisp’s customer support is good, fast and helpful. It has all the features businesses need and is designed to be efficient.

Customization options are limited and Crisp sometimes has time delays and bugs.

Conclusion

With so many Zendesk alternatives out there, make sure to consider your business needs and budget before making a decision. Compare the features, pricing and reviews of the CRMs above and find the one that suits you best to streamline your customer support and customer satisfaction. The speculations of having the best CRM software implemented in your business is always going to be debatable. We have tried to diversify your thought process and creating an easy way to choose what’s best for you. There are various Zendesk alternatives free in the market, but it depends on the type of business you own, that the CRM will be compatible with yours or not.

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