Help Desk systems make customer communication easy for any business size or industry.
However, the price of support service platforms and their toolsets is essential for growing the customer base and raising revenue. Therefore, in most business environments, the implementation and usage of help desk solutions are not negotiable, but it’s a must.
The budget set for digital services differs from company to company. The sum depends on the feature set and the number of agents, or tickets, or chats. The second part of the bill depends on the vendor’s offer.
Are you hunting for the best price-feature balance help desk software? Then, this is the right place to figure out an alternative option for a comparably affordable cost.
Spoiler alert: here is compared the 7 popular help desk solutions. The check-up is based on their cost per agent or conversation and a list of serving industries.
The point is to give a brief sum up and help to choose your next help desk solution.
1. Zendesk
This customer service platform has gained popularity long ago. Zendesk delivers features and opportunities to fulfill nearly any business need in ensuring the best customer experience.
Thus, it has a strong competitor, and heads of customer support and customer success departments often can’t decide Zendesk vs Freshdesk. Yet, let’s get back to Zendesk’s overview.
What Industries Does It Serve?
Many companies use Zendesk and deliver outstanding customer experiences. In this list, you will find:
- IT and software development
- retail and eCommerce
- financial services
- education
- governmental
- construction, etc.
The types of companies vary from SMBs to SMEs and large enterprises. So Zendesk has different features and price tiers that suit such different requirements.
Pricing
Up until 2021, some of the Zendesk services were free and provided under the category of freemium. Then they decided to restructure their pricing system in 2021.
Now you can opt for the service according to your needs, no need to pay extra money for unnecessary services.
They have two systems: Foundational support and Zendesk Suite.
Foundational support further has three tiers: Support Team, Support Professional and Support Enterprise. They have all the essential services of a help desk solution in foundational support. But, it does not include help centers and live chatting. So, you have to upgrade it to Suite.
Their suite plan has four tiers: Team, Growth, Professional, Enterprise, Plus some custom Enterprise plans.
The pricing policy might look complex, but it is up to the time you select features you need for your team. Every tier is packed with all the necessary valuable services.
Let’s design a situation: you have a five-employee company and choose the professional suite. That will cost you $495 per month. But if you decide to buy some custom themes or integrate with a paid third-party tool – your budget should expand a bit.
2. Freshdesk
Often seen and tagged as Zendesk rival, Freshdesk delivers a rich-featured toolbox for support agents too. Yet, it might cost you less than Zendesk. Let’s find out if it is so.
What Industries Does It Serve?
Freshdesk’s customer base is large enough too. It serves
- computer software and IT companies
- retail
- education
- healthcare
- manufacturing
- banking
- logistics, etc.
The average customers are SMBs, SMEs, and freelancers.
Pricing
They have five pricing tiers: Sprout, Blossom, Garden, Estate, and forest. The cheapest one is Sprout, which is free and offers a basic support system if you are a startup.
Forest, the most expensive $99 /agent/month, has the best services in single-channel and omnichannel environments.
The best thing is that Freshdesk does not have any extra price for any other service; all the plans have fixed costs.
3. Intercom
The rich help desk tool includes various features (i.e., lead generation, email campaigns, live chat, etc.) and the most unpredictable and unclear pricing.
Because they charge for features, agent’s seats, and the number of conversations, but let’s go slowly and match the details according to our list.
What Industries Does It Serve?
Intercom has a well-established toolbox and serves
- eCommerce
- manufacturing
- communication
- financial services
- software development
- newsagencies, etc.
Most of Intercom’s customers are small companies based in the UK, Canada, and United States.
Pricing
Intercom’s pricing system is complex. It has a starter pack, which is $79 per user/month, and for every new seat, you have to pay $19 per user. The other plans are customizable, and therefore their prices vary as well.
In general, they offer two tiers: for small businesses and medium or significant businesses.
So, for a ten-user service, you’ll have to pay $250 per month for a starter pack. And for every 1000 people per month, you’ll pay an additional $50.
4. Salesforce Service Cloud
Service Cloud offers web-to-case functionality that gives you a 360-degree view of your customers and enables you to deliver smarter, faster, and more personalized customer service.
What Industries Does It Serve?
Salesforce Services are widely used by
- financial services
- healthcare
- software development
- life sciences
- communications
- consumer goods
- public sector, etc.
Salesforce has customers in big, medium, and small companies too. More than 60% of their customers are US-based.
Pricing
First thing first, Salesforce is comparatively expensive. They have four tiers: Essential, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited.
Essential being the cheapest has vital features like case management, service console apps, knowledge, and CTI. With upgrades in every plan, you’ll get one or two extra features. Unlimited includes all the features of Salesforce, with API control and 24/7 support.
So, if you choose a professional tier with a team of 10 agents, it’ll cost you $750 per month. And for Salesforce advance Add-on, to get all the benefits of Salesforce services, you’ll have to pay $100/user/month.
5. Kayako
What Industries Does It Serve?
Kayako is well known among
- computer software
- telecommunication
- retail
- consumer companies, etc.
Small and medium businesses mostly use this service.
Pricing
They have a simple pricing system with only three tiers: Inbox, Growth, and Scale.
Starting at $15/agent/month, Inbox meets all the necessities of a help desk with email, live chat, help center, performance report, support plan, and single view.
Upgrading to Growth will give you additional tools for automating the workflow and management of multiple brands. And Scale gives you options for customization to create custom roles, upgrade security policies, and more.
So, if you choose Scale for a ten-agent team, it’ll cost you $600/agent/month. Plus additional $39 for integration of Kayako with other tools in their system.
6. Help Scout
What Industries Does It Serve?
For short, the Help Scout service is used by
- computer software and IT
- consumer goods
- retail
- Healthcare, etc
Pricing
They have four tiers: Basic, Standard, Plus, and Company. With every upgrade in the tier, you’ll get advanced services. For startups, essential has a good package. Because this software has HIPAA compliant, it is acceptable for operating in healthcare systems.
Their Company tier comes up with customizable features, and pricing is based on the features.
So, for a five-agent team, if you choose the Plan tier for a five-agent team, you’ll have to pay $175/agent/month. You might have to pay some extra fee for additional features.
7. Zoho Desk
What Industries Does It Serve?
Zoho Desk serves such industries as
- software development
- eCommerce
- customer goods
- telecommunication
- manufacturing, etc.
Zoho Desk is also well known in Marketing, retail, education, and computer hardware companies. In addition, Zoho Desk is operating in both small and medium businesses.
Pricing
Zoho Desk also has four tiers: Free, Standard, Professional, and Enterprise. So, they offer a free plan with some basic features, but they do not meet all the necessities of a help desk.
And with every upgrade in plans, you’ll get better features. For example, their Enterprise plan has over 200 help desk services. Isn’t that a lot?
For a standard plan, you’ll have to pay $14/agent/month. So, for ten agents, you’ll pay $140/agent/month.
Summary
One thing to keep in mind is that all these services are billed annually. So, if your current help desk is not as efficient as you want it to be, or maybe it is costly, you have plenty of options to choose from.
Every help desk solutions have a different pricing system for your requirements and budget. Choose a solution that has the best plan for your needs.
