Help Scout vs Freshdesk vs Zendesk

Help Scout Logo

Help Scout

21 reviews
Freshdesk Logo

Freshdesk

7 reviews
Zendesk Logo

Zendesk

6 reviews
description

Overview

Help Scout Logo Help Scout
Help Scout is a cloud-like customer service platform being able to scale its toolset for businesses of any range and field. What makes it different from the systems on the market i...s no ticketing or portals for managing customer requests. Help Scout is built in an alternative way - as a shared mailbox that enables providing your customer service in the most human-like manner. However, it but doesn’t forget about your business management needs as well.
Platforms supported
  • macOS
  • Linux
  • iOS app
  • Android app
Support Options
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Phone Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • Chat
Training Options
  • Live Online
  • Documentation
  • In Person
  • Videos
  • Webinars
Screenshots
Freshdesk Logo Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a cloud-hosted platform that helps businesses of all sizes deliver a quality support service. It unifies conversations from email, phone, web widgets, chat, and social...media to help agents resolve issues across channels smoothly. With Freshdesk, you can stay on top of customer support by automating workflows, offering self-service options, and managing SLAs.
Platforms supported
  • macOS
  • Linux
  • iOS app
  • Android app
Support Options
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Phone Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • Chat
Training Options
  • Live Online
  • Documentation
  • In Person
  • Videos
  • Webinars
Screenshots
Zendesk Logo Zendesk
Zendesk is the industry-leading customer service solution that equips you to deliver quality customer service. It covers nearly every business aspect: from managing a help desk to ...the IT service with ITSM best practices. Its varied functionality comes in a product line: Zendesk for sales, Zendesk for service, and Sunshine Platform.
Platforms supported
  • macOS
  • Linux
  • iOS app
  • Android app
Support Options
  • FAQs/Forum
  • Knowledge Base
  • 24/7 (Live rep)
  • Phone Support
  • Email/Help Desk
  • Chat
Training Options
  • Live Online
  • Documentation
  • In Person
  • Videos
  • Webinars
Screenshots
attach_money

Pricing

Help Scout Logo Help Scout
  • Help Scout Standard $22
  • Help Scout Plus $44
  • Help Scout Pro $65
  • Free trial
Freshdesk Logo Freshdesk
  • Freshdesk Sprout $0
  • Freshdesk Blossom $15
  • Freshdesk Estate $49
  • Freshdesk Forest $79
  • Free trial
Zendesk Logo Zendesk
  • Support Team $19
  • Support Professional $55
  • Support Enterprise $115
  • Free trial
featured_video

Feature comparison

Help Scout Logo Help Scout

5.5/10
  • Agent collision prevention
  • Auto Bcc
  • Bulk actions
  • Edit/hide threads
  • Email signatures
  • Filtered Search
  • Group your agents
  • Interaction History (Ticket activities)
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Macros
  • Mobile app
  • Multilingual (Multiple) content
  • Personal canned responses
  • Private Comments within tickets
  • Responsive, mobile-friendly Help Center
  • Shared canned responses
  • Tags
  • Traffic cop
  • Add reminders on to-dos
  • Canned forms
  • Contextual Workspaces
  • Custom & Group Views
  • Dynamic content
  • Occasional agents
  • Restricted conversation views
  • Session replay
  • Skills-based routing
  • Summary app
  • To-dos
  • Email scheduling
  • Essentials Card
  • Guided Mode
  • Light Agents

2.5/10
  • Collaboration
  • Contextual collaboration with Freshconnect
  • Linked tickets
  • Parent-child ticketing

3.8/10
  • Contact Form
  • Contacts & Accounts Management
  • Contacts & ticket history
  • Customer 360
  • Customer profiles
  • Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
  • Custom user and organization fields
  • Customer journey
  • Customer segments
  • Group contacts by organization
  • Identify contacts using external ID
  • Organization profiles
  • Customer Lists
  • Device data log
  • Net Promoter Score® Surveys (Feedback)
  • Satisfaction Prediction

8.9/10
  • Auto reply
  • Automatic ticket assignment using Dispatch'r
  • Custom business rules (triggers & automations)
  • Event-triggered workflow automations
  • Multi-task workflows with one-touch Scenarios
  • Time-based Rules
  • Time-triggered automations
  • Workflow automations
  • Round robin ticket assignment

4.2/10
  • Business Hours
  • Custom ticket fields
  • Set your Time Zone
  • Ticket file attachment size
  • Ticket sharing
  • Custom status
  • Dynamic ticket forms
  • Multiple Ticket Forms
  • Sandbox test environment
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
  • SLA reporting
  • Premium Sandbox

2/10
  • Auto-suggest Solutions
  • Form templates
  • Multiple SLA Policies
  • Task Management
  • Approval Workflows

7.1/10
  • Branding removal (email)
  • Complete portal customization
  • CSS customization
  • Custom domain mapping
  • Public portal customization
  • Branding removal (Help Center)
  • FreshThemes gallery

7.8/10
  • 301 Redirection
  • Internal Help Center
  • Knowledge base
  • Related articles
  • Rich text Help Center articles
  • SEO
  • Unlimited data
  • Community forums
  • Help Center insights

7.3/10
  • API rate limit
  • Cloud telephony integration app
  • Email integration with Outlook
  • Google Apps (G Suite)
  • HubSpot Integration
  • Integration with Atlassian Jira
  • Integrations
  • Salesforce integration
  • Slack integration
  • Webhooks
  • Zapier integration
  • Gamification
  • Private custom apps
  • Public apps (Marketplace)
  • Custom objects

10/10
  • Beacon builder
  • Javascript API
  • Open tracking
  • Update conversations remotely

4.8/10
  • Analytics
  • Custom Reports
  • Export reports
  • Google Analytics for Help Center
  • Helpdesk in-depth report
  • Performance distribution
  • Save reports
  • Ticket drill down in reports
  • Tickets closed reports
  • User-specific reporting
  • Advanced Insights
  • Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
  • Overview dashboard
  • Schedule Data Export
  • Schedule Reports
  • Support Performance dashboards
  • Team Dashboards
  • Ticket lifecycle report
  • Ticket volume trends
  • Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
  • Zendesk Benchmark

6.8/10
  • Ability to configure for HIPAA
  • Business rules analysis
  • Custom roles and permissions
  • Digitally signed emails (DKIM/DMARC)
  • Disaster recovery
  • Domain Whitelisting
  • Encryption: data at rest and in motion
  • GDPR compliance
  • Guaranteed availability SLA (1 Hour Support SLA)
  • Independently Tested
  • Log in with Google
  • Network access restriction (IP Whitelisting)
  • PCI compliance (Level 1)
  • Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor compliant
  • Single sign on with SAML
  • Single sign-on (SSO) for web and mobile
  • SPF(Sender Policy Framework)
  • SSL encryption
  • Two-Factor Authentication
  • Advanced password policy for agents and customers
  • Audit logs
  • Custom email servers
  • Custom SSL certificates (default free)
  • Data center location
  • Agent device management
  • Automatic redaction
  • Content Delivery Network
  • Email compliance archive

3.1/10
  • Calling
  • Live chat
  • Multibrand Support
  • SDK
  • Chat Support (in English)
  • Email Support
  • Facebook
  • Phone Support (in English)
  • Support Bot
  • Twitter
  • Web Widget
  • Guidance Program
  • Professional Services

3.5/10
  • Email forwarding
  • Mailboxes (inboxes)
  • Merge tickets
  • Outbound email
  • Outgoing SMTP settings
  • Public and private notes in tickets
  • Spam filtering
  • Annotated image attachments
  • Assume identity
  • Custom Email Templates
  • Email tickets
  • Satisfaction surveys - Customizable
  • Sort ticket conversations
  • Split tickets
  • Support workflow
  • Ticket export
  • Ticket templates
  • Time tracking
  • Undo send
  • Watch tickets

7/10
  • Automatic sitemap generation
  • Backup
  • Date comparisons
  • Notifications
  • Printer-friendly
  • Unlimited End Users
  • Voicemail integration
  • Announcements
  • Community forums
  • Facebook in-sync app

0/10
  • Problem Management
Freshdesk Logo Freshdesk

8.2/10
  • Agent collision prevention
  • Auto Bcc
  • Bulk actions
  • Edit/hide threads
  • Email signatures
  • Filtered Search
  • Group your agents
  • Interaction History (Ticket activities)
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Macros
  • Mobile app
  • Multilingual (Multiple) content
  • Personal canned responses
  • Private Comments within tickets
  • Responsive, mobile-friendly Help Center
  • Shared canned responses
  • Tags
  • Traffic cop
  • Add reminders on to-dos
  • Canned forms
  • Contextual Workspaces
  • Custom & Group Views
  • Dynamic content
  • Occasional agents
  • Restricted conversation views
  • Session replay
  • Skills-based routing
  • Summary app
  • To-dos
  • Email scheduling
  • Essentials Card
  • Guided Mode
  • Light Agents

10/10
  • Collaboration
  • Contextual collaboration with Freshconnect
  • Linked tickets
  • Parent-child ticketing

7.5/10
  • Contact Form
  • Contacts & Accounts Management
  • Contacts & ticket history
  • Customer 360
  • Customer profiles
  • Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
  • Custom user and organization fields
  • Customer journey
  • Customer segments
  • Group contacts by organization
  • Identify contacts using external ID
  • Organization profiles
  • Customer Lists
  • Device data log
  • Net Promoter Score® Surveys (Feedback)
  • Satisfaction Prediction

8.9/10
  • Auto reply
  • Automatic ticket assignment using Dispatch'r
  • Custom business rules (triggers & automations)
  • Event-triggered workflow automations
  • Multi-task workflows with one-touch Scenarios
  • Time-based Rules
  • Time-triggered automations
  • Workflow automations
  • Round robin ticket assignment

9.2/10
  • Business Hours
  • Custom ticket fields
  • Set your Time Zone
  • Ticket file attachment size
  • Ticket sharing
  • Custom status
  • Dynamic ticket forms
  • Multiple Ticket Forms
  • Sandbox test environment
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
  • SLA reporting
  • Premium Sandbox

8/10
  • Auto-suggest Solutions
  • Form templates
  • Multiple SLA Policies
  • Task Management
  • Approval Workflows

10/10
  • Branding removal (email)
  • Complete portal customization
  • CSS customization
  • Custom domain mapping
  • Public portal customization
  • Branding removal (Help Center)
  • FreshThemes gallery

6.7/10
  • 301 Redirection
  • Internal Help Center
  • Knowledge base
  • Related articles
  • Rich text Help Center articles
  • SEO
  • Unlimited data
  • Community forums
  • Help Center insights

9.3/10
  • API rate limit
  • Cloud telephony integration app
  • Email integration with Outlook
  • Google Apps (G Suite)
  • HubSpot Integration
  • Integration with Atlassian Jira
  • Integrations
  • Salesforce integration
  • Slack integration
  • Webhooks
  • Zapier integration
  • Gamification
  • Private custom apps
  • Public apps (Marketplace)
  • Custom objects

0/10
  • Beacon builder
  • Javascript API
  • Open tracking
  • Update conversations remotely

7.6/10
  • Analytics
  • Custom Reports
  • Export reports
  • Google Analytics for Help Center
  • Helpdesk in-depth report
  • Performance distribution
  • Save reports
  • Ticket drill down in reports
  • Tickets closed reports
  • User-specific reporting
  • Advanced Insights
  • Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
  • Overview dashboard
  • Schedule Data Export
  • Schedule Reports
  • Support Performance dashboards
  • Team Dashboards
  • Ticket lifecycle report
  • Ticket volume trends
  • Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
  • Zendesk Benchmark

6.4/10
  • Ability to configure for HIPAA
  • Business rules analysis
  • Custom roles and permissions
  • Digitally signed emails (DKIM/DMARC)
  • Disaster recovery
  • Domain Whitelisting
  • Encryption: data at rest and in motion
  • GDPR compliance
  • Guaranteed availability SLA (1 Hour Support SLA)
  • Independently Tested
  • Log in with Google
  • Network access restriction (IP Whitelisting)
  • PCI compliance (Level 1)
  • Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor compliant
  • Single sign on with SAML
  • Single sign-on (SSO) for web and mobile
  • SPF(Sender Policy Framework)
  • SSL encryption
  • Two-Factor Authentication
  • Advanced password policy for agents and customers
  • Audit logs
  • Custom email servers
  • Custom SSL certificates (default free)
  • Data center location
  • Agent device management
  • Automatic redaction
  • Content Delivery Network
  • Email compliance archive

8.5/10
  • Calling
  • Live chat
  • Multibrand Support
  • SDK
  • Chat Support (in English)
  • Email Support
  • Facebook
  • Phone Support (in English)
  • Support Bot
  • Twitter
  • Web Widget
  • Guidance Program
  • Professional Services

10/10
  • Email forwarding
  • Mailboxes (inboxes)
  • Merge tickets
  • Outbound email
  • Outgoing SMTP settings
  • Public and private notes in tickets
  • Spam filtering
  • Annotated image attachments
  • Assume identity
  • Custom Email Templates
  • Email tickets
  • Satisfaction surveys - Customizable
  • Sort ticket conversations
  • Split tickets
  • Support workflow
  • Ticket export
  • Ticket templates
  • Time tracking
  • Undo send
  • Watch tickets

9/10
  • Automatic sitemap generation
  • Backup
  • Date comparisons
  • Notifications
  • Printer-friendly
  • Unlimited End Users
  • Voicemail integration
  • Announcements
  • Community forums
  • Facebook in-sync app

0/10
  • Problem Management
Zendesk Logo Zendesk

6.4/10
  • Agent collision prevention
  • Auto Bcc
  • Bulk actions
  • Edit/hide threads
  • Email signatures
  • Filtered Search
  • Group your agents
  • Interaction History (Ticket activities)
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Macros
  • Mobile app
  • Multilingual (Multiple) content
  • Personal canned responses
  • Private Comments within tickets
  • Responsive, mobile-friendly Help Center
  • Shared canned responses
  • Tags
  • Traffic cop
  • Add reminders on to-dos
  • Canned forms
  • Contextual Workspaces
  • Custom & Group Views
  • Dynamic content
  • Occasional agents
  • Restricted conversation views
  • Session replay
  • Skills-based routing
  • Summary app
  • To-dos
  • Email scheduling
  • Essentials Card
  • Guided Mode
  • Light Agents

2.5/10
  • Collaboration
  • Contextual collaboration with Freshconnect
  • Linked tickets
  • Parent-child ticketing

8.8/10
  • Contact Form
  • Contacts & Accounts Management
  • Contacts & ticket history
  • Customer 360
  • Customer profiles
  • Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
  • Custom user and organization fields
  • Customer journey
  • Customer segments
  • Group contacts by organization
  • Identify contacts using external ID
  • Organization profiles
  • Customer Lists
  • Device data log
  • Net Promoter Score® Surveys (Feedback)
  • Satisfaction Prediction

8.9/10
  • Auto reply
  • Automatic ticket assignment using Dispatch'r
  • Custom business rules (triggers & automations)
  • Event-triggered workflow automations
  • Multi-task workflows with one-touch Scenarios
  • Time-based Rules
  • Time-triggered automations
  • Workflow automations
  • Round robin ticket assignment

9.2/10
  • Business Hours
  • Custom ticket fields
  • Set your Time Zone
  • Ticket file attachment size
  • Ticket sharing
  • Custom status
  • Dynamic ticket forms
  • Multiple Ticket Forms
  • Sandbox test environment
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
  • SLA reporting
  • Premium Sandbox

6/10
  • Auto-suggest Solutions
  • Form templates
  • Multiple SLA Policies
  • Task Management
  • Approval Workflows

5.7/10
  • Branding removal (email)
  • Complete portal customization
  • CSS customization
  • Custom domain mapping
  • Public portal customization
  • Branding removal (Help Center)
  • FreshThemes gallery

7.8/10
  • 301 Redirection
  • Internal Help Center
  • Knowledge base
  • Related articles
  • Rich text Help Center articles
  • SEO
  • Unlimited data
  • Community forums
  • Help Center insights

10/10
  • API rate limit
  • Cloud telephony integration app
  • Email integration with Outlook
  • Google Apps (G Suite)
  • HubSpot Integration
  • Integration with Atlassian Jira
  • Integrations
  • Salesforce integration
  • Slack integration
  • Webhooks
  • Zapier integration
  • Gamification
  • Private custom apps
  • Public apps (Marketplace)
  • Custom objects

0/10
  • Beacon builder
  • Javascript API
  • Open tracking
  • Update conversations remotely

9.5/10
  • Analytics
  • Custom Reports
  • Export reports
  • Google Analytics for Help Center
  • Helpdesk in-depth report
  • Performance distribution
  • Save reports
  • Ticket drill down in reports
  • Tickets closed reports
  • User-specific reporting
  • Advanced Insights
  • Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
  • Overview dashboard
  • Schedule Data Export
  • Schedule Reports
  • Support Performance dashboards
  • Team Dashboards
  • Ticket lifecycle report
  • Ticket volume trends
  • Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
  • Zendesk Benchmark

8.9/10
  • Ability to configure for HIPAA
  • Business rules analysis
  • Custom roles and permissions
  • Digitally signed emails (DKIM/DMARC)
  • Disaster recovery
  • Domain Whitelisting
  • Encryption: data at rest and in motion
  • GDPR compliance
  • Guaranteed availability SLA (1 Hour Support SLA)
  • Independently Tested
  • Log in with Google
  • Network access restriction (IP Whitelisting)
  • PCI compliance (Level 1)
  • Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor compliant
  • Single sign on with SAML
  • Single sign-on (SSO) for web and mobile
  • SPF(Sender Policy Framework)
  • SSL encryption
  • Two-Factor Authentication
  • Advanced password policy for agents and customers
  • Audit logs
  • Custom email servers
  • Custom SSL certificates (default free)
  • Data center location
  • Agent device management
  • Automatic redaction
  • Content Delivery Network
  • Email compliance archive

9.2/10
  • Calling
  • Live chat
  • Multibrand Support
  • SDK
  • Chat Support (in English)
  • Email Support
  • Facebook
  • Phone Support (in English)
  • Support Bot
  • Twitter
  • Web Widget
  • Guidance Program
  • Professional Services

6/10
  • Email forwarding
  • Mailboxes (inboxes)
  • Merge tickets
  • Outbound email
  • Outgoing SMTP settings
  • Public and private notes in tickets
  • Spam filtering
  • Annotated image attachments
  • Assume identity
  • Custom Email Templates
  • Email tickets
  • Satisfaction surveys - Customizable
  • Sort ticket conversations
  • Split tickets
  • Support workflow
  • Ticket export
  • Ticket templates
  • Time tracking
  • Undo send
  • Watch tickets

8/10
  • Automatic sitemap generation
  • Backup
  • Date comparisons
  • Notifications
  • Printer-friendly
  • Unlimited End Users
  • Voicemail integration
  • Announcements
  • Community forums
  • Facebook in-sync app

10/10
  • Problem Management
reviews

Reviews

Help Scout Logo Help Scout
4 of 5
PROS: Help Scout offers a well-designed interface that is easy to use. The Saved Auto Replies feature helps us to respond quickly to cu...
Review avatar of Dorothy
3 of 5
Help Scout offers wonderful customer support and a community experience. Our company has 80 employees using this software, and they are...
Review avatar of Charles
5 of 5
An admirable aspect is the vendor keeps improving the software by constantly releasing new features. One feature I love is “Edit this a...
Review avatar of Margaret
Freshdesk Logo Freshdesk
4 of 5
The call center integrated with Freshdesk works great - the call is turned into a ticket right away after the agent has finished a conv...
Review avatar of Maria C
4 of 5
Freshdesk delivers lots of useful options. To be more precise, it enables dealing with multiple customers at the same time without any ...
Review avatar of Katherine M
5 of 5
The fast and quality service become an obligation if you want to retain a customer. How to handle multiple tickets? The answer is in he...
Review avatar of Antonio P
Zendesk Logo Zendesk
5 of 5
The key goals to deliver fast and quality responses to ticket and communicate on multiple channels are smoothly fulfilled with Zendesk....
Review avatar of Gift S
4 of 5
Zendesk proved to be efficient in a quick issue resolution on multiple channels on time. The collaboration features enhanced and improv...
Review avatar of Anonymous
5 of 5
Zendesk provides a comprehensible UI and a lot of useful capabilities. It is worth to mention the outstanding features of customer sati...
Review avatar of Technical support