8 Zendesk Alternatives to Scale Customer Support in 2024

When companies talk about customer support, SaaS is the go-to thought. While it’s a thought well-founded in facts, that doesn’t mean it can’t be dated. If you’re thinking of SaaS and customer support, Zendesk is most certainly one of the prime tools anyone will consider. 

It’s true because Zendesk is a “household” name. That being said, since you’re looking for alternatives to Zendesk it’s probably because some of their offers don’t fit your business requirements. 

Let’s get you set up for choosing the right support tool for your business. We’re going to look at some alternatives both SaaS and self-hosted, why people (like yourself) might not want to use Zendesk in the first place.

Why do companies love (or hate) Zendesk? 

Zendesk is a popular customer service platform, no doubt about that. They’re known for their user-friendly interface and versatile admin panel, attracting notable clients like Uber, Siemens, and Khan Academy. Their platform offers a suite of tools for both B2B service and B2C service, including live chat, a ticketing system for efficient client issue management, and automation with AI-driven canned answers to enhance agent productivity. 

With a plethora of integrations (over 1000) and a knowledge base, Zendesk aims to centralize business tools and data, providing up to 20 pipelines for streamlined management. They even include a dashboard for comprehensive team performance analysis, which is arguably an industry standard.

Despite its strengths some users still seek alternatives because there are some unique challenges associated with Zendesk. Integration implementation is somewhat difficult for starters and the initial setup might be complex for some.

Some users have also complained of slow service, which is ironic if you think about it. Additionally, the growth tax minded pricing can be a huge red flag for some businesses.

Zendesk alternatives: WordPress Help Desks

Yes, we’re looking at alternatives for a SaaS product, but hear me out! Self-hosted help desks are better than you might think. Before making the decision try out some of these free tools and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Fluent Support

Fluent Support, is the newest and yet the most powerful solution for customer support, racking up 6000 users in just over a year! With both web-based and email inboxes, unlimited customers, and support agents – it’s like having a ticketing solution that’s just OP!

Fluent Support plays pretty nicely with FluentCRM, integrating seamlessly for that real-time CRM+Ticketing magic. Manage your staff permissions effortlessly, and dip your toes into advanced reports world of evaluating support efforts with. 

Managing tickets becomes a breeze, making life simpler for support agents without a learning curve. If you love the WordPress dashboard, Fluent Support is your perfect team tool!

The Pro version allows Fluent Support to become the powerhouse of the help desk space. Automatic workflows, webhooks for subdomains, and collaborative ticket tracking with CC and BCC in your email chain can completely revolutionize your support workflow. 

Auto-draft feature saves your ticket content from urgent meeting chaos, and the ability to add maximum-sized files from the cloud – Google Drive and Dropbox makes Fluent Support a true enterprise solution.

Take private notes for seamless communication visible to agents only. No limitations on tickets, agents, or product number so your business can grow without limits.

Fluent Support doesn’t just stop at simplicity; it brings affordability too! Plans start from a pocket-friendly $129 per site per year. 

Awesome Support

Awesome Support is a WordPress ticketing system that’s been weaving its magic since 2016. Boasting a thriving community of global contributors, this self-hosted option has garnered the trust of over 10,000 users.

At first glance, the best part of Awesome Support is it allows unlimited users to create a limitless stream of tickets. Multiplying your efficiency is as simple as hiring agents to handle your ticket influx. Navigating through the ticket inbox is effortless with their robust ticket filtering system. You can also tailor your support system by setting up routing for specific tickets, ensuring every query is handled promptly.

Managing multiple sites and products from a single system can seem like chaos, but Awesome Support handles it quite efficiently. Awesome Support also lets you align your support desk seamlessly with your brand style. Adding that touch of personalization on par with your unique identity is pretty simple.

Another key aspect of Awesome Support is it helps foster teamwork with the capability for two or more agents to seamlessly collaborate on a single ticket. Not to mention the power of data-driven decisions with custom and advanced reports. While the functionality is mostly reliable, some users find the dashboard interface a bit dated. The user flow, while comprehensive, might still pose a steep learning curve.

Plans starting from a mere $148 annually. The free version, available in the WordPress repository, offers essential features to get you started. Compared with Zendesk the differences are pretty obvious. But if you’re sold on self-hosted Awesome Support is a good enough option to get started.

JS Help Desk

JS Help Desk is a WordPress support plugin born in 2017 and rapidly gained ground with 5,000 active installations. One of the first cool things about JS Help Desk is it empowers your support team with unlimited tickets and agents. Users and agents receive prompt email notifications for ticket creation, updates, or closures which honestly makes things simpler than most other tools. Team collaboration is made effortless with features like CC list.

The unique feature they have is guests can effortlessly create tickets without cumbersome account creation. You can track ticket progress for individual queries with customizable status options, providing you with a transparent support workflow. JS Help Desk doesn’t just manage tickets; it creates detailed reports, offering a panoramic view of your support service. 

JS Help Desk offers a plethora of features out of the box, but to unlock its full potential, you might need to invest in premium add-ons. These enhancements while not completely on par with Zendesk provide enough advanced functionalities to manage customer support efficiently

Plans start from a modest $69 per site per year. 

SupportCandy

SupportCandy, is another long-time player in the WordPress support game boasting over 10,000 active installations. This plugin is designed for teams who crave simplicity without compromising on functionality.

With SupportCandy, as with the previous WordPress plugins, you get the freedom of handling unlimited tickets. SupportCandy’s unique offer is their rich text editor that allows you to customize your ticket responses, making communication more organized and visually appealing.

SupportCandy lets your agents take private notes visible only to them, ensuring smooth behind-the-scenes collaboration.

You can navigate the tickets effortlessly with advanced filtering options. Along with that you can keep agents in the loop with automated email notifications for modifications or closures.

The interface is crafted for ease of use, making it an ideal choice for both seasoned support agents and those just stepping into the support game.

While SupportCandy excels in core functionality, some premium add-ons can enhance your support journey even more. Which isn’t really a drawback if you were already willing to go for Zendesk. Email piping, WooCommerce integration, canned replies, the whole works are available to make the customer support process easy for you. 

SupportCandy brings affordability to the support scene. Plans start from a wallet-friendly $79 per year, offering a cost-effective solution for businesses seeking reliable support without breaking the bank

Zendesk alternatives: SaaS

Since Zendesk is a SaaS product we have to consider similar support desks that can work just as well with some very necessary upgrades.

Intercom

Intercom is best known for its messaging platform, offering live chat, email, and in-app messaging for personalized customer interactions. They also include automated chatbots that can handle routine queries, providing instant responses and freeing up support agents for more complex issues.

Moreover, Intercom allows businesses to send targeted messages based on user behavior and preferences, enhancing personalization. Comprehensive user data goes along perfectly to enable personalized interactions, helping businesses understand and meet individual customer needs. Intercom makes a big point out of proactive customer engagement, allowing businesses to reach out to customers with relevant information and offers. Compared to Zendesk their offer is focused on a different suite of tools but their core still revolves around making the customer support experience effective.

ThriveDesk

ThriveDesk is a cloud-based customer service platform designed to streamline customer support for startups and small businesses. It provides a unified inbox for managing all customer interactions across email and live chat from one centralized platform. ThriveDesk leverages conversational AI with intelligent chatbots to answer common questions, qualify leads, and deflect routine tickets – freeing human agents to focus on more complex issues. Powerful automation capabilities allow businesses to streamline repetitive tasks like ticket routing, notifications, and canned responses for increased efficiency.

Beyond ticketing, ThriveDesk offers a highly customizable live chat for real-time website assistance, extensive eCommerce integrations (WordPress, WooCommerce etc), it offers knowledge base integration for self-service support, and also a self-service portal for WordPress users (WP Portal), collaboration tools for seamless internal communication, detailed reporting/analytics on support metrics, and mobile apps for on-the-go access. Built with robust security features, ThriveDesk ensures GDPR compliance and prioritizes data privacy for customers. Its user-friendly interface and rich feature set empower startups to deliver exceptional omnichannel support experiences. 

Pricing is also pretty reasonable. The base package starts at $25/month and includes 4 agents.

FreshDesk

Freshdesk is an obvious and powerful Zendesk alternative, offering hassle-free support management across multiple touchpoints. From startups to legacy enterprises, Freshdesk provides extensive team collaboration features, integrations, and customization options for delivering stellar customer experiences. 

They provide a comprehensive ticketing system that retains customer queries from various channels like email, chat, phone, and social media. Additionally, they incorporate automation features and AI capabilities to streamline repetitive tasks, improve response times, and enhance overall efficiency.

Freshdesk also includes a knowledge base that allows businesses to create a repository of articles and FAQs to empower customers to find answers independently. Their reporting for tracking performance metrics and gaining insights into customer interactions.

Help Scout

Designed with simplicity and personalization in mind, Help Scout is a compelling alternative to Zendesk for customer-centric support teams. Its clean interface, live chat, shared inboxes, and knowledge base contribute to efficient customer inquiry management.

Help Scout focuses allowing teams to collaborate effectively on customer support emails. Their automated workflows help streamline processes and ensure efficient handling of customer communications.

A major feature they showcase is collision detection to prevent multiple team members from responding to the same customer query, avoiding confusion and waste of time.

Help Scout also gives you a robust knowledge base and empowers customers to find solutions independently, reducing the volume of repetitive inquiries coming into your inbox. Last but not the least, they provide analytics tools for tracking performance metrics and gaining insights into customer interactions.

Front

Front is the newest among the Zendesk alternatives we want to cover. In broad terms, Front serves as a collaborative inbox that consolidates emails, chat, and social media messages in one platform for efficient team communication. Their automation features help you manage routine tasks, allowing your agents to focus on more complex issues.

One of their coolest features is internal comments that facilitate team collaboration, enabling members to discuss and resolve customer issues within the platform. Front also integrates with other tools, ensuring a seamless flow of information between different applications Advanced reports provide performance insights, helping teams monitor and improve their customer communication strategies. Customizable workflows also allow you to tailor Front to your specific needs and processes.

Wrapping up

Picking the right help desk management system is a big deal for businesses aiming to give awesome customer support. While Zendesk is a go-to, these other options bring cool stuff to the table and suit different business needs. Whether it’s making tickets easy, boosting teamwork, or offering support on all channels, these alternatives are solid choices for all kinds of businesses. 

Look at what you really need, see which features match your goals, and start rocking efficient and customer-friendly support. Until next time, happy serving!