SolarWinds Service Desk vs Kayako vs Help Scout
Overview
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
Kayako
Kayako offers cloud and on-premise solutions to 50 000 organizations around the world. The company bests competitors at putting all the merry bunch of chat, ticketing system, email..., calls, and even the self-service support in one place. While organizing unnecessary stuff they make a go for enabling stellar services without a hustle. Here, we refer to automating routines to create space for sophisticated things.
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
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
Pricing
SolarWinds Service Desk
- SolarWinds Service Desk Team $39
- SolarWinds Service Desk Business $79
- SolarWinds Service Desk Professional $99
—
- Free trial not available
Kayako
- Kayako Inbox $15
- Kayako Growth $30
- Kayako Scale $60
- Kayako Enterprise $100
- Free trial not available
Help Scout
- Help Scout Standard $25
- Help Scout Plus $50
- Help Scout Company $65
—
- Free trial not available
Feature comparison
SolarWinds Service Desk
6.1/10
- Add reminders on to-dos
- Agent collision prevention
- Bulk actions
- Custom & Group Views
- Edit/hide threads
- Email signatures
- Filtered Search
- Group your agents
- Interaction History (Ticket activities)
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Mobile app
- Multilingual (Multiple) content
- Private Comments within tickets
- Restricted conversation views
- Skills-based routing
- Tags
- To-dos
- Canned forms
- Dynamic content
- Essentials Card
- Light Agents
- Macros
- Occasional agents
- Personal canned responses
- Responsive, mobile-friendly Help Center
- Auto Bcc
- Shared canned responses
- Traffic cop
10/10
- Asset Relationship Mapping
- ITSM Process Integration
10/10
- Collaboration
8.2/10
- Contact Form
- Contacts & Accounts Management
- Contacts & ticket history
- Custom user and organization fields
- Customer profiles
- Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
- Device data log
- Group contacts by organization
- Organization profiles
- Customer 360
- Customer journey
7.5/10
- Automatic ticket assignment using Dispatch'r
- Custom business rules (triggers & automations)
- Event-triggered workflow automations
- Time-based Rules
- Time-triggered automations
- Workflow automations
- Auto reply
- Multi-task workflows with one-touch Scenarios
8.9/10
- Business Hours
- Custom status
- Custom ticket fields
- Multiple Ticket Forms
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
- Set your Time Zone
- Ticket file attachment size
- Ticket sharing
- SLA reporting
7.1/10
- Approval Workflows
- Customize Incident Lifecycle
- Form templates
- Service Catalog
- Task Management
- Auto-suggest Solutions
- Multiple SLA Policies
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
8.3/10
- Branding removal (email)
- Complete portal customization
- CSS customization
- Custom domain mapping
- Public portal customization
- Branding removal (Help Center)
4.4/10
- Community forums
- Knowledge base
- Rich text Help Center articles
- Unlimited data
- Help Center insights
- Internal Help Center
- Related articles
- 301 Redirection
- SEO
5.7/10
- API rate limit
- Google Apps (G Suite)
- Integration with Atlassian Jira
- Integrations
- Public apps (Marketplace)
- Salesforce integration
- Slack integration
- Zapier integration
- Email integration with Outlook
- Endpoints
- HubSpot Integration
- Private custom apps
- Webhooks
- Cloud telephony integration app
2/10
- Mobile Devices
- People Shared Services Ready
- Branding removal
- Live chat proactive engagement rules
- Shared organizations
- Two-way email processing
- Beacon builder
- Javascript API
- Open tracking
- Update conversations remotely
5.9/10
- Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
- Custom Reports
- Export reports
- Google Analytics for Help Center
- Helpdesk in-depth report
- Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
- Overview dashboard
- Save reports
- Schedule Reports
- Zendesk Benchmark
- Advanced Insights
- Analytics
- Performance distribution
- Schedule Data Export
- Ticket drill down in reports
- Tickets closed reports
- User-specific reporting
6.4/10
- Ability to configure for HIPAA
- Advanced password policy for agents and customers
- Audit logs
- Custom roles and permissions
- Custom SSL certificates (default free)
- Data center location
- Disaster recovery
- Domain Whitelisting
- Encryption: data at rest and in motion
- GDPR compliance
- PCI compliance (Level 1)
- Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor compliant
- Single sign on with SAML
- Single sign-on (SSO) for web and mobile
- SSL encryption
- User provisioning
- Business rules analysis
- Content Delivery Network
- Digitally signed emails (DKIM/DMARC)
- Guaranteed availability SLA (1 Hour Support SLA)
- Log in with Google
- Network access restriction (IP Whitelisting)
- SPF(Sender Policy Framework)
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Independently Tested
3.6/10
- Chat Support (in English)
- Email Support
- Guidance Program
- Phone Support (in English)
- Calling
- Customer Success Manager
- Facebook
- Live chat
- Multibrand Support
- SDK
- Twitter
6.9/10
- Custom Email Templates
- Email tickets
- Merge tickets
- Outbound email
- Outgoing SMTP settings
- Public and private notes in tickets
- Support workflow
- Ticket export
- Time tracking
- Email forwarding
- Mailboxes (inboxes)
- Satisfaction surveys - Customizable
- Spam filtering
6.7/10
- Announcements
- Backup
- Community forums
- Notifications
- Printer-friendly
- Unlimited End Users
- Automatic sitemap generation
- Date comparisons
- Voicemail integration
Kayako
6.8/10
- Add reminders on to-dos
- Agent collision prevention
- Bulk actions
- Custom & Group Views
- Edit/hide threads
- Email signatures
- Filtered Search
- Group your agents
- Interaction History (Ticket activities)
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Mobile app
- Multilingual (Multiple) content
- Private Comments within tickets
- Restricted conversation views
- Skills-based routing
- Tags
- To-dos
- Canned forms
- Dynamic content
- Essentials Card
- Light Agents
- Macros
- Occasional agents
- Personal canned responses
- Responsive, mobile-friendly Help Center
- Auto Bcc
- Shared canned responses
- Traffic cop
0/10
- Asset Relationship Mapping
- ITSM Process Integration
10/10
- Collaboration
8.2/10
- Contact Form
- Contacts & Accounts Management
- Contacts & ticket history
- Custom user and organization fields
- Customer profiles
- Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
- Device data log
- Group contacts by organization
- Organization profiles
- Customer 360
- Customer journey
7.5/10
- Automatic ticket assignment using Dispatch'r
- Custom business rules (triggers & automations)
- Event-triggered workflow automations
- Time-based Rules
- Time-triggered automations
- Workflow automations
- Auto reply
- Multi-task workflows with one-touch Scenarios
10/10
- Business Hours
- Custom status
- Custom ticket fields
- Multiple Ticket Forms
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
- Set your Time Zone
- Ticket file attachment size
- Ticket sharing
- SLA reporting
2.9/10
- Approval Workflows
- Customize Incident Lifecycle
- Form templates
- Service Catalog
- Task Management
- Auto-suggest Solutions
- Multiple SLA Policies
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
10/10
- Branding removal (email)
- Complete portal customization
- CSS customization
- Custom domain mapping
- Public portal customization
- Branding removal (Help Center)
7.8/10
- Community forums
- Knowledge base
- Rich text Help Center articles
- Unlimited data
- Help Center insights
- Internal Help Center
- Related articles
- 301 Redirection
- SEO
7.1/10
- API rate limit
- Google Apps (G Suite)
- Integration with Atlassian Jira
- Integrations
- Public apps (Marketplace)
- Salesforce integration
- Slack integration
- Zapier integration
- Email integration with Outlook
- Endpoints
- HubSpot Integration
- Private custom apps
- Webhooks
- Cloud telephony integration app
4/10
- Mobile Devices
- People Shared Services Ready
- Branding removal
- Live chat proactive engagement rules
- Shared organizations
- Two-way email processing
- Beacon builder
- Javascript API
- Open tracking
- Update conversations remotely
5.3/10
- Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
- Custom Reports
- Export reports
- Google Analytics for Help Center
- Helpdesk in-depth report
- Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
- Overview dashboard
- Save reports
- Schedule Reports
- Zendesk Benchmark
- Advanced Insights
- Analytics
- Performance distribution
- Schedule Data Export
- Ticket drill down in reports
- Tickets closed reports
- User-specific reporting
8.4/10
- Ability to configure for HIPAA
- Advanced password policy for agents and customers
- Audit logs
- Custom roles and permissions
- Custom SSL certificates (default free)
- Data center location
- Disaster recovery
- Domain Whitelisting
- Encryption: data at rest and in motion
- GDPR compliance
- PCI compliance (Level 1)
- Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor compliant
- Single sign on with SAML
- Single sign-on (SSO) for web and mobile
- SSL encryption
- User provisioning
- Business rules analysis
- Content Delivery Network
- Digitally signed emails (DKIM/DMARC)
- Guaranteed availability SLA (1 Hour Support SLA)
- Log in with Google
- Network access restriction (IP Whitelisting)
- SPF(Sender Policy Framework)
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Independently Tested
8.2/10
- Chat Support (in English)
- Email Support
- Guidance Program
- Phone Support (in English)
- Calling
- Customer Success Manager
- Facebook
- Live chat
- Multibrand Support
- SDK
- Twitter
9.2/10
- Custom Email Templates
- Email tickets
- Merge tickets
- Outbound email
- Outgoing SMTP settings
- Public and private notes in tickets
- Support workflow
- Ticket export
- Time tracking
- Email forwarding
- Mailboxes (inboxes)
- Satisfaction surveys - Customizable
- Spam filtering
5.6/10
- Announcements
- Backup
- Community forums
- Notifications
- Printer-friendly
- Unlimited End Users
- Automatic sitemap generation
- Date comparisons
- Voicemail integration
Help Scout
6.4/10
- Add reminders on to-dos
- Agent collision prevention
- Bulk actions
- Custom & Group Views
- Edit/hide threads
- Email signatures
- Filtered Search
- Group your agents
- Interaction History (Ticket activities)
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Mobile app
- Multilingual (Multiple) content
- Private Comments within tickets
- Restricted conversation views
- Skills-based routing
- Tags
- To-dos
- Canned forms
- Dynamic content
- Essentials Card
- Light Agents
- Macros
- Occasional agents
- Personal canned responses
- Responsive, mobile-friendly Help Center
- Auto Bcc
- Shared canned responses
- Traffic cop
0/10
- Asset Relationship Mapping
- ITSM Process Integration
10/10
- Collaboration
5.5/10
- Contact Form
- Contacts & Accounts Management
- Contacts & ticket history
- Custom user and organization fields
- Customer profiles
- Customer satisfaction ratings (CSAT)
- Device data log
- Group contacts by organization
- Organization profiles
- Customer 360
- Customer journey
10/10
- Automatic ticket assignment using Dispatch'r
- Custom business rules (triggers & automations)
- Event-triggered workflow automations
- Time-based Rules
- Time-triggered automations
- Workflow automations
- Auto reply
- Multi-task workflows with one-touch Scenarios
5.6/10
- Business Hours
- Custom status
- Custom ticket fields
- Multiple Ticket Forms
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
- Set your Time Zone
- Ticket file attachment size
- Ticket sharing
- SLA reporting
1.4/10
- Approval Workflows
- Customize Incident Lifecycle
- Form templates
- Service Catalog
- Task Management
- Auto-suggest Solutions
- Multiple SLA Policies
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
8.3/10
- Branding removal (email)
- Complete portal customization
- CSS customization
- Custom domain mapping
- Public portal customization
- Branding removal (Help Center)
7.8/10
- Community forums
- Knowledge base
- Rich text Help Center articles
- Unlimited data
- Help Center insights
- Internal Help Center
- Related articles
- 301 Redirection
- SEO
7.9/10
- API rate limit
- Google Apps (G Suite)
- Integration with Atlassian Jira
- Integrations
- Public apps (Marketplace)
- Salesforce integration
- Slack integration
- Zapier integration
- Email integration with Outlook
- Endpoints
- HubSpot Integration
- Private custom apps
- Webhooks
- Cloud telephony integration app
4/10
- Mobile Devices
- People Shared Services Ready
- Branding removal
- Live chat proactive engagement rules
- Shared organizations
- Two-way email processing
- Beacon builder
- Javascript API
- Open tracking
- Update conversations remotely
5.9/10
- Agent Dashboard (Agent Scorecard)
- Custom Reports
- Export reports
- Google Analytics for Help Center
- Helpdesk in-depth report
- Manager Dashboard (The Headquarters)
- Overview dashboard
- Save reports
- Schedule Reports
- Zendesk Benchmark
- Advanced Insights
- Analytics
- Performance distribution
- Schedule Data Export
- Ticket drill down in reports
- Tickets closed reports
- User-specific reporting
7.6/10
- Ability to configure for HIPAA
- Advanced password policy for agents and customers
- Audit logs
- Custom roles and permissions
- Custom SSL certificates (default free)
- Data center location
- Disaster recovery
- Domain Whitelisting
- Encryption: data at rest and in motion
- GDPR compliance
- PCI compliance (Level 1)
- Privacy Shield and Safe Harbor compliant
- Single sign on with SAML
- Single sign-on (SSO) for web and mobile
- SSL encryption
- User provisioning
- Business rules analysis
- Content Delivery Network
- Digitally signed emails (DKIM/DMARC)
- Guaranteed availability SLA (1 Hour Support SLA)
- Log in with Google
- Network access restriction (IP Whitelisting)
- SPF(Sender Policy Framework)
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Independently Tested
3.6/10
- Chat Support (in English)
- Email Support
- Guidance Program
- Phone Support (in English)
- Calling
- Customer Success Manager
- Facebook
- Live chat
- Multibrand Support
- SDK
- Twitter
5.4/10
- Custom Email Templates
- Email tickets
- Merge tickets
- Outbound email
- Outgoing SMTP settings
- Public and private notes in tickets
- Support workflow
- Ticket export
- Time tracking
- Email forwarding
- Mailboxes (inboxes)
- Satisfaction surveys - Customizable
- Spam filtering
7.8/10
- Announcements
- Backup
- Community forums
- Notifications
- Printer-friendly
- Unlimited End Users
- Automatic sitemap generation
- Date comparisons
- Voicemail integration
Reviews
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...
Kayako
4 of 5 August 20, 2018
Good overall experience. Kayako's customer support team is amiable. Yet, they need to think through their price policy from the custome...
5 of 5 June 22, 2018
It covers different handling activities, like ticketing, problem and complaint handling. If something is missing, it can be easily fill...
5 of 5 June 14, 2018
We used another helpdesk before Kayako. Kayako is very serious, but the prices could be better.
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...