Selecting the right customer service software can be a tough call, especially when comparing two giants like Freshdesk and Zendesk. This freshdesk vs zendesk review explores their features, pricing, and pros and cons to make your decision easier.
Whether you’re a booming e-commerce business or a passionate digital marketer, both platforms offer comprehensive customer service solutions, but figuring out the best fit for your needs requires a close look. Choosing between them often boils down to specific requirements, budget, and the needs of your customer support team.
Zendesk, with its roots in a cozy Copenhagen loft back in 2007, boasts the title of one of the industry’s pioneers. It now supports over 100,000 clients from global giants like Uber to fast-growing Shopify stores. Freshdesk entered the scene in 2010, openly inspired by Zendesk’s own story and offering a compelling alternative, attracting over 60,000 customers, including brands like Honda and Cisco.
Freshdesk vs Zendesk Review: Feature Face-off
Both platforms excel in core features like ticketing systems, turning emails, chats, and even social media messages into organized tasks. But this freshdesk vs zendesk review highlights their distinct strengths.
Ticketing and Collaboration
Freshdesk emphasizes collaborative features like auto-assigning tickets to specific support agents. It gives your team real-time insights into who’s handling a given ticket, preventing overlaps. This proves particularly useful when handling a high volume of customer inquiries.
However, Zendesk goes beyond with its “Side Conversations” feature, allowing your agents to have internal discussions within a ticket via email, Slack, or even as separate sub-tickets.
Everything stays within the primary ticket but remains hidden from the customer’s view, making internal communication about complex customer issues super streamlined. Zendesk users have confirmed that this feature contributed to an increase in their customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, indicating its effectiveness in delivering better service.
AI Capabilities
Freshdesk’s Freddy AI is their friendly chatbot, a multi-tasker that extends across the entire Freshworks product suite. It’s good at automating conversations and providing context cues to support agents. This can be especially helpful when dealing with a large customer base.
Zendesk focuses on AI tools that solve specific pain points like agent assistance, generative AI, and help-center optimization. These advanced AI features contribute to Zendesk’s reputation as a service management powerhouse.
Zendesk users on G2 have commented on the seamless integration of Zendesk with existing systems and its ease of communication through both chat and email. These built-in tools, working quietly in the background, lead to quicker response times and fewer agent headaches, ultimately benefiting both the team and the customer.
Zendesk offers a robust agent workspace designed to enhance efficiency and streamline support operations.
Knowledge Bases and Self-Service
Both platforms let you create self-service knowledge bases, internal and customer-facing. Freshdesk allows the creation of knowledge bases on every plan, even their free one. In contrast, Zendesk reserves this feature for their Suite and Enterprise plans.
This distinction in pricing plans is something to consider when comparing Zendesk and Freshdesk.
This means, for those on a budget or starting out, Freshdesk offers an immediate way to empower customers with information, potentially reducing ticket volume and freeing up agents for complex tasks.
Providing self-service options through a well-structured knowledge base is a key to improving customer experience and reducing the workload on your support team.
Multichannel Support and Integrations
Both Freshdesk and Zendesk allow interaction with clients on major channels (email, Twitter, chatbots). Freshdesk also integrates well with its own suite of products like Freshchat (for website chat) and Freshcaller, a cloud-based phone system. These cloud-based systems eliminate the need for bulky hardware and streamline communication.
Zendesk, although requiring separate subscriptions for its chat features, takes the lead with a wider array of supported channels, including text messaging, WhatsApp, and even Line, providing a more comprehensive multichannel approach right from the get-go. This includes offering a live chat widget for real-time support.
Customization and Branding
Freshdesk boasts a highly user-friendly interface that prioritizes customization. Businesses can modify their portal’s branding to match their logo and colors, including changes to headers, footers, and other visual elements.
Freshdesk’s UI is often praised for its intuitive design. On the other hand, Zendesk’s customizability is robust but primarily geared toward more advanced users, relying heavily on their API for extensive modifications.
This difference might be significant for small businesses or those without dedicated developers on hand, where Freshdesk’s easy-to-navigate customization offers a quick and painless way to get a personalized look and feel.
Zendesk users often rely on their technical expertise or the support of Zendesk support to navigate the complexities of customization. However, the ability to create custom integrations and tailor the platform to specific business needs makes Zendesk a favorite among larger companies.
Freshdesk vs Zendesk Review: Digging into Pricing
In the realm of freshdesk vs zendesk review, the discussion always leads to pricing. Freshdesk shines in affordability, especially for budget-conscious startups and smaller companies. It starts with a completely free plan, offering a solid set of features, accommodating up to 10 agents.
This allows small teams to get a hands-on experience with the platform without financial commitment, perfect for evaluating if it’s the right long-term choice.
On the other hand, Zendesk doesn’t have a free tier. Their suite plan starts at $69 per agent each month, billed annually. This may appear like a significant investment, but many Zendesk users feel that the more robust reporting features and wider native channel support are worth the higher cost, particularly for companies prioritizing detailed data insights or extensive customer interaction methods.
When comparing Zendesk to Freshdesk, keep in mind that Zendesk often caters to companies with more complex needs.
Freshdesk users on G2 have often praised it for making daily tasks both fun and easy, but acknowledge that it might not be the ideal choice for companies needing complex customization or needing in-depth reporting, aspects that Zendesk typically excels in.
Freshdesk offers basic analytics and reporting tools suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. For those seeking more advanced reporting, Zendesk might be a more appropriate choice. This is especially true if your company relies on data-driven decision-making to improve customer experience and streamline support operations.
| Feature | Freshdesk | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, up to 10 agents | No |
| Starting paid plan (annual billing) | $15 per agent/month | $19 per agent/month |
| Knowledge base on all plans | Yes | No |
| Number of integrations | 1000+ | 1200+ |
| Multi-brand support on one account | Limited | Yes |
| Ease of customization for beginners | Higher | Lower |
Dario`s Conclusion
When comparing Zendesk to Freshdesk, it’s clear that both excel at streamlining your customer interactions, just with different strengths. For budget-conscious companies valuing ease of use and a quick start, Freshdesk takes the cake with its friendly interface and attractive free plan.
Freshdesk offers a comprehensive customer service solution that is well-suited for growing businesses with limited budgets. If robust analytics, customizability via API, and multi-brand support are crucial, Zendesk emerges as a powerful choice.
Zendesk is often the preferred choice for larger companies and enterprises due to its advanced features, scalability, and the ability to handle a high volume of customer queries.
Ultimately, testing out both platforms, using their free trials, and listening to what users say can be incredibly valuable in helping to figure out what works best for your team.
Consider factors like the size of your customer base, your team’s technical expertise, your budget constraints, and your customer expectations to make an informed decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Freshworks and Zendesk?
While both platforms handle customer support efficiently, Freshdesk aims for simplicity and affordability. They offer a free plan and emphasize ease of customization, making them perfect for smaller teams.
Zendesk focuses on powerful analytics, a wider range of native integrations, and extensive customizability via its API, catering to those seeking robust features and in-depth control, typically a good fit for bigger businesses with more resources. Ultimately, the best choice depends on your specific needs and priorities.
Why choose Freshdesk?
Freshdesk is often a popular choice because of their commitment to intuitive user experiences. G2 users highlight how simple it is for their agents to use. Its robust basic ticketing system and highly responsive support team add to its appeal, especially for teams wanting straightforward setup, friendly pricing, and easy access to help when needed.
If a quick setup and friendly user experience are priorities for your team, then Freshdesk fits the bill, as reviews consistently highlight these strengths.
What are the benefits of Freshdesk’s ticketing system?
It goes beyond just collecting and organizing inquiries. Features like intelligent ticket routing and real-time visibility into who is handling each case help to minimize delays and prevent multiple agents from working on the same ticket, improving team collaboration.
Their free plan makes this system accessible to even the smallest teams, a bonus that Zendesk doesn’t offer. Users particularly appreciate their responsive and helpful customer success team, so getting help is rarely an issue, which makes Freshdesk a great stepping stone for companies new to ticket management systems.
What is the difference between Freshdesk and Freshdesk Customer Service Suite?
While Freshdesk itself focuses on ticketing and knowledge management, the Customer Service Suite encompasses a wider set of tools for customer interaction. You get Freshchat for live website chat, Freshcaller for handling phone calls, and even Freshsuccess for analyzing data to boost customer engagement.
The suite also offers advanced AI capabilities, including AI-powered bots and canned responses to automate repetitive tasks. Think of the suite as a fully equipped toolbox with Freshdesk as its powerful central component. If your focus extends beyond basic email and social ticketing, the suite is a logical upgrade.
