Help Scout vs SolarWinds Service Desk
Overview
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
SolarWinds Service Desk
For starters, we need to define what a help desk system is in the first place. Why you might be asking? It will give you a better idea of what to expect, as well as you will know h...ow to use one more effectively. So, a help desk system is a piece of software that is designed to accelerate work, eliminate mundane tasks, and push more sales. There are many different iterations of the same software and each of them has a distinct set of characteristics/functions that help businesses achieve certain results.
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
Pricing
Help Scout
- Help Scout Standard $25
- Help Scout Plus $50
- Help Scout Company $65
- Free trial not available
SolarWinds Service Desk
- SolarWinds Service Desk Team $39
- SolarWinds Service Desk Business $79
- SolarWinds Service Desk Professional $99
- Free trial not available
Feature comparison
Help Scout
7.8/10
- 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
- Custom & Group Views
- Restricted conversation views
- Skills-based routing
- To-dos
10/10
- Collaboration
6/10
- Contact Form
- Contacts & Accounts Management
- Contacts & ticket history
- Customer 360
- Customer profiles
- Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
- Custom user and organization fields
- Device data log
- Group contacts by organization
- Organization profiles
10/10
- 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
6.3/10
- Business Hours
- Custom ticket fields
- Set your Time Zone
- Ticket file attachment size
- Ticket sharing
- Custom status
- Multiple Ticket Forms
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
1.7/10
- Auto-suggest Solutions
- Approval Workflows
- Customize Incident Lifecycle
- Form templates
- Service Catalog
- Task Management
10/10
- Branding removal (email)
- Complete portal customization
- CSS customization
- Custom domain mapping
- Public portal customization
8.8/10
- 301 Redirection
- Internal Help Center
- Knowledge base
- Related articles
- Rich text Help Center articles
- SEO
- Unlimited data
- Community forums
9.2/10
- 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
- Public apps (Marketplace)
6.7/10
- Beacon builder
- Javascript API
- Open tracking
- Update conversations remotely
- Mobile Devices
- People Shared Services Ready
6.7/10
- 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
- Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
- Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
- Overview dashboard
- Schedule Reports
- Zendesk Benchmark
7.9/10
- 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 SSL certificates (default free)
- Data center location
- User provisioning
5/10
- Calling
- Live chat
- Multibrand Support
- SDK
- Chat Support (in English)
- Email Support
- Guidance Program
- Phone Support (in English)
5.8/10
- Email forwarding
- Mailboxes (inboxes)
- Merge tickets
- Outbound email
- Outgoing SMTP settings
- Public and private notes in tickets
- Spam filtering
- Custom Email Templates
- Email tickets
- Support workflow
- Ticket export
- Time tracking
7.8/10
- Automatic sitemap generation
- Backup
- Date comparisons
- Notifications
- Printer-friendly
- Unlimited End Users
- Voicemail integration
- Announcements
- Community forums
0/10
- Asset Relationship Mapping
- ITSM Process Integration
0/10
- Asset Auto-discovery
- Asset Lifecycle Management
- Contract Management
- IT Inventory Management
- Managed Assets
- Purchase Order (PO) Management
- QR and Barcode Asset Scanner
- Risk Management
- Software Asset Management
- Software License Management
- Warranty Information
0/10
- Change Management
- Problem Management
- Release Management
SolarWinds Service Desk
7.4/10
- 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
- Custom & Group Views
- Restricted conversation views
- Skills-based routing
- To-dos
10/10
- Collaboration
9/10
- Contact Form
- Contacts & Accounts Management
- Contacts & ticket history
- Customer 360
- Customer profiles
- Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
- Custom user and organization fields
- Device data log
- Group contacts by organization
- Organization profiles
7.5/10
- 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
10/10
- Business Hours
- Custom ticket fields
- Set your Time Zone
- Ticket file attachment size
- Ticket sharing
- Custom status
- Multiple Ticket Forms
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
8.3/10
- Auto-suggest Solutions
- Approval Workflows
- Customize Incident Lifecycle
- Form templates
- Service Catalog
- Task Management
10/10
- Branding removal (email)
- Complete portal customization
- CSS customization
- Custom domain mapping
- Public portal customization
5/10
- 301 Redirection
- Internal Help Center
- Knowledge base
- Related articles
- Rich text Help Center articles
- SEO
- Unlimited data
- Community forums
6.7/10
- 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
- Public apps (Marketplace)
3.3/10
- Beacon builder
- Javascript API
- Open tracking
- Update conversations remotely
- Mobile Devices
- People Shared Services Ready
6.7/10
- 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
- Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
- Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
- Overview dashboard
- Schedule Reports
- Zendesk Benchmark
6.7/10
- 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 SSL certificates (default free)
- Data center location
- User provisioning
5/10
- Calling
- Live chat
- Multibrand Support
- SDK
- Chat Support (in English)
- Email Support
- Guidance Program
- Phone Support (in English)
7.5/10
- Email forwarding
- Mailboxes (inboxes)
- Merge tickets
- Outbound email
- Outgoing SMTP settings
- Public and private notes in tickets
- Spam filtering
- Custom Email Templates
- Email tickets
- Support workflow
- Ticket export
- Time tracking
6.7/10
- Automatic sitemap generation
- Backup
- Date comparisons
- Notifications
- Printer-friendly
- Unlimited End Users
- Voicemail integration
- Announcements
- Community forums
10/10
- Asset Relationship Mapping
- ITSM Process Integration
10/10
- Asset Auto-discovery
- Asset Lifecycle Management
- Contract Management
- IT Inventory Management
- Managed Assets
- Purchase Order (PO) Management
- QR and Barcode Asset Scanner
- Risk Management
- Software Asset Management
- Software License Management
- Warranty Information
10/10
- Change Management
- Problem Management
- Release Management
Reviews
Help Scout
4 of 5 December 10, 2020
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...
3 of 5 December 8, 2020
Help Scout offers wonderful customer support and a community experience. Our company has 80 employees using this software, and they are...
5 of 5 December 8, 2020
An admirable aspect is the vendor keeps improving the software by constantly releasing new features. One feature I love is “Edit this a...
SolarWinds Service Desk
4 of 5 March 15, 2018
The service desk was easy to implement and frankly, it meets all of our needs. With it, we can post various solutions in an easy to dig...
4 of 5 March 13, 2018
Samanage is a powerful tool that is made to track assets, keep IT in order, and most importantly, manage work orders. It is a perfect s...
5 of 5 January 20, 2018
The best part of Samanage is that it allows you to track the entire life-cycle of a ticket. Ever since we started to use Samanage our p...