The 7 Best Zoho Desk Alternatives on the Market Today
Most people’s introduction to Zoho is through their flagship CRM tool. Though their CRM may be their most well-known tool, they also create solutions for other use cases. One of those is their help desk software called Zoho Desk.
Zoho has offered its help desk solution for a number of years, and it does have a lot to offer for certain teams, especially if they’re already using another Zoho product. However, depending on your team’s specific needs, there might be a Zoho desk alternative on the market that’s better suited for your specific use case.
7 best Zoho Desk alternatives
Whether you’re a current Zoho Desk user or simply searching for other options to check out, we have a list of seven Zoho Desk alternatives for you to consider. As all of the tools below are in the same product category — help desk software — there is some feature overlap. That said, each option does have differentiating qualities that make it better suited to certain use cases.
1. Help Scout
Best Zoho Desk alternative for growing teams.
Help Scout is a customer communication platform built for growing teams to deliver a best-in-class customer experience. When you sign up, you get access to a curated suite of communication tools built specifically to serve growing teams.
Our shared inbox includes features like private notes and @mentions to improve team collaboration, and collision detection helps reduce duplicate work by showing when someone is actively working on a specific conversation. You can even automate routine tasks like conversation sorting with workflows and get additional context with customer profiles.
You can empower customers to find answers on their own terms by creating a knowledge base using Docs. The WYSIWYG editor makes creating help center content a breeze, and built-in search functionality and organization features ensure customers can find the content they need. Lastly, Docs-specific reports show which content is doing best. You can also see what topics customers are searching for to make sure you have answers to all their questions.
You also get access to Beacon, which offers live chat capabilities and proactive support options through an embeddable widget. Customers can search help documentation or submit a question to your support team right from the widget, helping them get answers when and where they need them most.
Help Scout also comes loaded with pre-built performance dashboards. Reports help you better understand individual and team performance, and you can also create custom views to focus on the metrics most important to you.
For teams focused on AI, Help Scout offers several features to help your team do its best work:
AI summarize can help you get caught up on a conversation more quickly by summarizing it into a few succinct bullet points with a single click.
AI assist is a writing assistant that can help polish your prose before publishing or hitting send. Use it for spelling and grammar checks, to modify tone or length, or to translate text into another language.
AI drafts can create AI generated drafts based on your Docs articles and conversation history. All you have to do is review and hit send.
AI answers (coming soon) is a search assistant that can easily respond to customer questions in plain language, easy to understand language.
Finally, if you ever have any questions you need answered, our world-class support team is ready to assist you 24 hours a day, six days a week, through email.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $50 per month.
2. HubSpot Service Hub
Best Zoho Desk alternative for teams using HubSpot.
Similar to Zoho, HubSpot is best known for its marketing software, but in the last few years, they’ve started offering support software with their Service Hub product. Service Hub is a help desk software that includes a number of tools like a shared inbox, live chat software, and knowledge base software to create a self-service resource for customers.
Along with those tools, they also have productivity features like internal notes to collaborate on and add context to customer conversations. Collision detection helps reduce duplicate work, and analytics provide insight into team performance. Last, if you use HubSpot’s CRM, the two integrate seamlessly, giving your team even more insight into who they’re talking to.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $45/month.
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3. TeamSupport
Best Zoho Desk alternative for B2B teams.
TeamSupport is a customer support tool for B2B teams. They offer some standard features like a shared inbox, basic automations, and reporting. However, they have some more B2B-focused tools like the ability to build out customer portals to serve clients individually.
Another standout feature is their live chat tool. With it, you can do standard text chat, voice calls, video calls, and even screen sharing for more complex issues. However, video calls and screen sharing are only offered on their higher-cost plans, and since TeamSupport is already on the higher end cost-wise, it might be out of reach for some teams.
Price: Starting at $49/agent per month, plus their platform fee.
4. Freshdesk
Best Zoho Desk alternative for phone-centric teams.
Freshdesk is a customer support platform with an emphasis on phone support. All of their omnichannel services include phone minutes, meaning you don’t have to find an additional phone support tool, which could potentially save you money.
Along with their phone support tools, they also have a shared inbox tool, a live chat tool, and a knowledge base builder tool. There are also features like automations and bot-assisted responses to improve team productivity. Freshdesk also has some more advanced features like co-browsing and holiday routing, though those are limited to their higher-cost plans.
Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $15/agent per month.
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5. Zendesk
Best Zoho Desk alternative for enterprise teams.
If there’s one help desk tool you know by name, chances are it’s Zendesk. They have two distinct plan types: foundational and suite. Foundational plans are more bare-bones and only include tools for email and social support. It’s a lower cost, but in truth, there are more complete tools on the market for the same price ($19/agent per month).
Their suite plans are really their flagship offering and include true omnichannel support. Those plans also have things like advanced analytics, AI-assisted automated responses, and the ability to build out customer portals. Though impressive, all those features mean a longer setup time and somewhat complicated onboarding for staff. Unless you really need all those advanced features, there’s probably something better suited for you and your team.
Price: Starting at $19/agent per month (suite plans starting at $49/agent per month).
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6. Gorgias
Best Zoho Desk alternative for teams using Shopify.
Gorgias is a customer support platform specifically built for companies working in eCommerce. They have a lot of the usual tools like a shared inbox, a knowledge base builder, and live chat software. They also have productivity features like basic automations to reduce manual work and saved replies to respond to routine requests quickly.
The biggest differentiator is their eCommerce integrations, especially their Shopify integration. With it, you can see order details and even process refunds without ever leaving the help desk. That said, the major downside with Gorgias is that they charge based on ticket volume, making it hard to predict what your costs will be month to month.
Price: Starting at $50 per month.
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7. Front
Best Zoho Desk alternative for teams using personal email addresses.
Most support teams operate as a unified front. By virtue of that, they generally all respond from a centralized email account – usually something along the lines of support@companyname.com. However, for teams where agents have specific clients they work with, they may prefer to communicate through a personal email address. In those cases, Front is a great option.
With Front you get access to a lot of the tools we’ve mentioned previously like a shared inbox, a live chat tool, and a knowledge base builder. Features like internal notes and automations help with team productivity, and there are a handful of integrations that let you connect to other tools in your support stack. However, some basic functionality like reporting is limited to their higher-cost plans.
Price: Starting at $19/person per month.
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Making the right choice
Purchasing new software or switching from a current solution is a big decision. To find the right tool for you, make sure you have a clear understanding of your wants and needs. With that list, you can find the tool that aligns best with your team.
Jesse Short
After spending a few years working as a support agent, Jesse made the switch to writing full-time. He is a Help Scout alum, where he worked to help improve the agent and customer experience.
