Freshdesk vs Zendesk Comparison 2023: Which One Is Better?

Are you trying to choose between Freshdesk vs Zendesk in 2023? 

It's not an easy decision! 

Both are popular choices for customer support software, and each has its own strong points and special features.

In this article, we'll closely examine both, comparing them side by side. We'll check out everything from pricing to key features. 

Whether you're on a tight budget or after the most features, we'll help you figure out which one is the best fit for you. 

So, let's get started and find out who wins in this Freshdesk vs Zendesk showdown!

What is the difference between Freshdesk and Zendesk?

The main difference between Zendesk and Freshdesk is who they're best for and the features they offer. Zendesk is great for big businesses needing lots of features and ways to connect with customers. Freshdesk is a good starting point for any business, as it even has a free plan.

Zendesk has more plans and features compared to Freshdesk. It supports more customer service channels right from the start. Plus, users often find it easier to use because of its simple layout.

Freshdesk, however, is a budget-friendly choice. It's especially good for new or small businesses because it has a free plan. It might not have as many features as Zendesk, but it still has plenty to help your business.

In the end, choosing between Freshdesk and Zendesk depends on what your business needs and can afford.

Want to dig deeper into each platform? Check out our comprehensive reviews to get a better idea of which might be the best fit for you. 

Take a look at our Freshdesk review to learn more about its features, pricing, and user experiences. If you're leaning more toward Zendesk, our Zendesk review provides a thorough breakdown of its capabilities, cost, and customer feedback. 

For businesses interested in Zendesk's broader sales platform, our Zendesk Sell review offers valuable insights. Understanding these platforms in detail will help you make the best decision for your business needs.

Freshdesk vs Zendesk comparison chart

Now, let's make the comparison between Freshdesk vs Zendesk even easier. We've put together a handy comparison chart for you. This chart clearly outlines the main features, pricing, and other key factors of each platform. It's a quick way to see how they stack up against each other.

Freshdesk vs Zendesk pricing

Both Freshdesk and Zendesk offer affordable pricing and several subscription levels to choose from. Freshdesk has six pricing plans that range from $15 to $99 per agent per month, billed annually. 

There are three Support Desk plans: Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. Then, there are also three Omnichannel Suite plans, which also includes Growth, Pro, and Enterprise options. The Support Desk plans are more budget-friendly but don't include some of the advanced features. With these plans, you can interact with your customers only through email and social media, and your offline support is limited to a knowledge base. 

On the other hand, the Omnichannel plans cost more but provide more features. These plans support customer service through phone, website live chat, and instant messaging, on top of email and social media. They also offer more offline support options, including a self-service portal, customer forums, and a website chatbot.

Zendesk offers eight different monthly plans. There are three Support plans, three Suite plans, and two Enterprise, ranging from $19 to $215+ per agent per month. The three Support plans - Team, Professional, and Enterprise - are more basic than the Suite plans. They offer only email, website live chat, and social media support through Facebook and Twitter. 

The Suite and Enterprise plans give you more for a similar cost. They include instant messaging and phone support, along with a variety of ticketing channels like SMS, chatbots, and forums. You'll also get offline support features like knowledge bases and forms so that you stay connected with your customers.

Winner: 

Both Freshdesk and Zendesk offer a range of pricing options to suit different budgets and needs. However, when it comes to overall affordability, Freshdesk pricing plans seem to have an edge. Given the range and cost of plans, Freshdesk may provide better value for businesses on a tighter budget or those needing fewer advanced features.
 

Zendesk vs Freshdesk free versions

Freshdesk offers a free version. With this free plan, you get features like email and social media ticketing, ticket dispatch, and a knowledge base tool. It also includes good reporting on ticket trends and useful built-in analytics. 

Moreover, the plan comes with tools to help your team collaborate and communicate. And if you need help, there's 24x7 email customer support available.

Unfortunately, Zendesk doesn’t have a free plan, only a free trial. 

Winner: 

Freshdesk takes this round as it’s the only one with a free plan. 
 

Customer support

Zendesk gives users of all plans access to digital support, help center, community forum, digital onboarding and adoption resources, on-demand training, and guided learning paths. Paid services include 24/7 Proactive support & engagement, Professional Services, and Hands-on help with Zendesk Assist.

Users of the Freshbooks free plan have access to 24/7 email support, and can also get help in the community forum and knowledge base. The Growth plans introduce 24x5 phone support, while 24x5 chat support is available for the users of the Pro plans. 

Winner: 

When comparing customer service, Freshdesk comes out ahead. Unlike Zendesk, which charges extra for superior support services, Freshdesk provides 24/7 email support to all users, even on the free plan, and 24x5 phone support to users of all paid plans. 
 

Knowledgebase & learning

Zendesk has a rich knowledge base with help resources where you can learn how the software works. There are also digital onboarding and adoption resources, getting started on-demand training, and guided learning paths.

Freshdesk also offers a large collection of knowledge base articles and tutorials to help you master the features. They also provide a video library and a Freshworks community, where you can get advice from other users.

Winner: 

While both Freshdesk and Zendesk offer articles, tutorials, and user communities, Zendesk goes a step further by including digital onboarding and adoption resources, on-demand training for beginners, and guided learning paths.
 

Freshdesk or Zendesk for ease of use?

Freshdesk is widely known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design. Its dashboard is clean and well-organized to make it easy for users to navigate through different features and functions. 

Getting started with Freshdesk is also quite straightforward. You can quickly set up your helpdesk, thanks to the guided onboarding process. The ticketing system is simple and efficient. You can easily track, prioritize, and assign tickets to ensure no customer query is left unanswered.

Zendesk's interface is slightly smoother and more intuitive. This can save you valuable time and reduce the learning curve, especially if you’re new to customer support software. 

Additionally, Zendesk's superior support and training systems play a significant role in enhancing ease of use. Their comprehensive knowledge base, on-demand training, and guided learning paths provide you with the resources you need to understand and use the software effectively.

Winner: 

While Freshdesk is also user-friendly and easy to use, Zendesk's slightly smoother interface and more extensive support and training resources give it an edge in terms of ease of use.

Zendesk vs Freshdesk features & functionality

Now, let's dive deeper into the core functionalities and features of Zendesk vs Freshdesk. This section will provide a comprehensive comparison, helping you understand how each platform can enhance your customer support operations. From ticketing and automation to reporting and analytics, we'll explore what each of these powerful tools brings to the table.
 

Zendesk vs Freshdesk online versions

Zendesk's online version (Saas) is known for its intuitive interface and wide range of features. You can easily manage your customer interactions across multiple channels from a single platform. 

Similarly, Freshdesk's online version is feature-rich and user-friendly, offering tools such as omnichannel support, automation, reporting, and team collaboration. 

Both platforms provide robust security measures to ensure the safety of your customer data in their online versions. Their cloud-based nature also means that all updates and new features are automatically implemented so that you always have access to the latest functionality.

Winner: 

Both Zendesk and Freshdesk offer strong online versions of their platforms. Your choice between them would depend on your specific business needs and preferences.
 

Freshdesk vs Zendesk desktop versions

It seems that Freshdesk and Zendesk don’t have desktop apps for Windows or Mac devices at this time. 

Winner: 

This round is a tie. 
 

Mobile apps

Freshdesk comes with dedicated mobile apps for both iOS and Android. Key features of the mobile version include an instant summary of all your customer service activities, detailed views of open tickets, and ticket prioritization tools. 

The app also allows for efficient ticket routing to the most suitable representatives, execution of one-click automation scenarios, and tracking and logging of ticket times.

The Zendesk Support mobile apps let agents and team leads manage Zendesk tickets directly from their mobile device or tablet. The app is designed for quick and efficient handling of support tickets on the go. It allows you to sort, filter, and search tickets and ticket views, as well as create new tickets. It also lets you comment on and update existing tickets.

What’s more, the app provides ticket notifications to keep you updated on any changes. 

Winner: 

This round is a tie as both tools have powerful mobile apps.
 

Ticket management 

Zendesk offers robust ticket management features to ensure personalized, timely customer responses. Any customer contact, whether via live chat, phone, email, or social media, creates a detailed ticket in Zendesk. 

Agents can collaborate on tickets, share notes, and assign tickets manually or automatically. Admins can create workflows, assign responsibilities, and limit permissions for team members. 

Additionally, Service Level Agreement (SLA) functionality helps agents prioritize urgent tickets. Once issues are resolved, customers are notified via their preferred communication channel.

Freshdesk makes handling customer problems easy with a shared email for the team. All support issues go to this email, and the team can work together to fix them. Customer support agents can also communicate with one another directly inside a ticket. 

If a customer sends the same issue more than once, Freshdesk can combine them into one. It also keeps a full record of what's happened with each issue. You can organize issues by how important they are, and who should handle them. There are also templates to make this easier.

Winner:

Zendesk is better at ticket management. It has more powerful tools that make it easier to manage customer problems.
 

Integrations

Zendesk has over 1,200 third-party app integrations available in its marketplace. This includes popular tools for CRM, marketing, IT, and project management. With its powerful API, you can even build custom apps. 

Zendesk also integrates smoothly with Slack and Microsoft Teams, allowing real-time ticket updates. An integration with Zoom lets agents start customer meetings directly from a Zendesk ticket.

Freshdesk has a good number of integrations too. It works seamlessly with other Freshworks products like Freshsales, Freshchat, and Freshmarketer. It also integrates well with apps like WhatsApp, Slack, Shopify, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, and MailChimp. 

The Freshworks Marketplace allows for more integrations with Google products like Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts. Plus, Freshdesk offers an open API for even more customization options.

Winner: 

This round is a tie as both tools offer great integration options. 

A note on Zendesk Freshdesk integration

Unfortunately, there’s no native Freshdesk Zendesk integration. However, the two apps can be connected via a connector app like Zapier. With Zapier, you can create Zaps (automated workflows) that connect your apps and automate tasks. 
 

CRM

Zendesk has the ability to store crucial customer details on its platform. This feature helps support agents quickly understand the customer they're dealing with, along with any past data that might aid in providing assistance. 

Zendesk Sunshine is an additional feature that focuses on creating a complete view of each customer.

Freshdesk also has CRM capabilities. It enables you to store customer information, including contact details and interaction history, which can help your support team provide more personalized service. 

Moreover, Freshdesk is part of the Freshworks suite of products, which includes Freshsales, a full-featured CRM solution.

Winner: 

Both Freshdesk and Zendesk offer strong customer relationship management features.
 

Zendesk or Freshdesk for chatbot features

Zendesk has an AI chatbot, known as Answer Bot. Answer Bot uses machine learning to find relevant articles from your knowledge base that can answer customer questions. If you wish to design a custom chatbot, Zendesk allows that too with the help of its Chat Conversations API.

Freddy is Freshdesk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. It's designed to provide automated customer support, helping businesses deliver faster and more efficient responses to customer queries. Freddy can handle simple questions on its own, and it can also direct more complex inquiries to the right human agent. It uses machine learning to improve its responses over time.

Winner: 

Zendesk has a slight edge here as it lets you develop your own custom chatbot. 
 

Self-service portal

Zendesk offers customizable knowledge base software, allowing you to create various types of knowledge bases such as internal, external, IT, and agent-only. These bases can contain numerous help articles, available in over 40 languages, which help customers answer their questions independently. You can also create community forums where customers can discuss and find solutions. 

Freshdesk provides a robust Knowledge Base functionality where businesses can create and publish articles, FAQs, and guides to help customers find answers to common queries. In addition to this, Freshdesk also features a community forum module. This space allows customers to engage in discussions, share ideas, and solve each other's issues.

Winner: 

While Freshdesk also provides a solid knowledge base and community forum, Zendesk's more diverse and customizable features make it the better choice in terms of self-service capabilities.
 

Omnichannel support

Zendesk provides an omnichannel/multichannel customer experience. It allows customers to communicate seamlessly across email, phone, live chat, and messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Line, and WhatsApp. 

If a customer starts a conversation on live chat, they can choose to receive a follow-up via email or communicate directly with an agent via Zoom for urgent issues. All customer interactions are centralized, giving agents the necessary context for customer support. This unified platform allows agents to manage channels and integrate bots as needed.

Freshdesk also comes with omnichannel support capabilities. This includes email and phone support, live chat support, ticketing through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, self-service options on the website such as a knowledge base, and even SMS support via platforms like WhatsApp.

Winner: 

This round is a tie. Both Zendesk and Freshdesk offer strong omnichannel support capabilities.
 

Voice and phone tools

Zendesk Support provides various telephone features such as voicemail, text messages, embedded voice, and caller ID. It also offers call routing, customized greetings, call recording, muting and holding, conference calling, and call blocking. 

Additional tools include callback requests, call monitoring, and call quality notifications to enhance your support experience.

Freshdesk Contact Center, previously known as Freshcaller, is a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) solution designed to help businesses handle incoming customer phone calls. With support for agents in over 90 countries, it offers the flexibility to use your existing carrier if you have one. 

Contact Center features automatic call recording and transcription so that you can capture important conversations. Additionally, agents have the ability to seamlessly switch a phone call to a live chat session for a more interactive support experience.

Winner: 

It seems that Zendesk covers a wider range of functionalities, including text messages, embedded voice, and comprehensive call management options such as call blocking and call routing.
 

Workflows and automation

Regardless of the Zendesk Suite plan you choose, workflow triggers are included to simplify various tasks based on simple business rules. The platform offers pre-built workflows that assist in ticket sharing and conversation routing based on metrics like agent skills or availability. 

Additionally, automations are available to facilitate service level agreement (SLA) management, such as sending notifications for impending deadlines. These features enhance efficiency and ensure timely actions within the support system.

Freshdesk offers a range of workflow automation features, including automations triggered by ticket creation and specific events, as well as time-based triggers on custom statuses.

It supports round-robin and skill-based ticket assignment, agent shifts, load-balanced ticket assignment, and an out-of-office scheduler. These features optimize ticket management, streamline workflows, and ensure efficient agent allocation based on skills and availability.

Winner: 

Although Freshdesk also offers a variety of workflow automation features, including round-robin and skill-based ticket assignment, Zendesk's functionalities are more comprehensive and robust.
 

Analytics and reporting

Navigating through data can be daunting, but Zendesk simplifies this by offering reporting and analytics features that give you access to valuable customer insights. For example, you can track customer satisfaction scores, internal KPIs, and more.

Freshdesk also comes with a good deal of analytics and reporting tools for evaluating customer satisfaction and assessing your team’s performance. It includes satisfaction surveys, specialized reporting tools, dashboards that present real-time data about tickets, teams, groups, or ticket trends, along with the ability to schedule automatic reporting.

Winner: 

This round is a tie. 

Is Freshdesk better than Zendesk? Our conclusion

To bring the Freshdesk vs Zendesk discussion to a close, the better choice relies on your company's unique needs and preferences.

Consider Freshdesk if:

• You're exploring online help desk platforms for the first time, especially for small to medium-sized businesses.

• A user-friendly interface is crucial for easy adoption and usage.

• Budget is a significant factor, and you're looking for a free or cost-effective solution.

• You're interested in strong AI-powered chatbot features.

Consider Zendesk if:

• Your company is larger or manages multiple brands, and you need advanced features.

• Integrations with a wide array of third-party applications are crucial for your operations.

• You require robust ticket management and self-service features.

• Omnichannel service is a high priority.

It's best to try out Freshdesk's free plan and free trials Zendesk offers. This will allow you to get a hands-on experience and see if it aligns with your business requirements. Remember, the perfect help desk solution for your business is one that meets your specific needs and fits seamlessly into your operations.

Want to check out more options? Take a peek at how Zendesk and Freshdesk stack up against others like Zoho Desk and Hubspot Service Hub in this list of the top 20 help desk tools for 2023.