13 Best Zendesk Alternatives for 2025 (Pros, Cons & Pricing)

With over 160,000 customers around the globe, Zendesk is a go-to platform in the customer support world. From ticketing and helpdesk tools to automation, self-service portals, and beyond, it’s built to help businesses deliver top-tier support experiences.

But here’s the thing—Zendesk isn’t a perfect fit for everyone. After diving into reviews on G2, Capterra, and other trusted platforms, we found a pattern: users love its power but often struggle with the steep learning curve, high cost, and lengthy setup process.

If you’re feeling the same way, you’re not alone—and you’re in the right place.

In this blog, we analyze Zendesk and its performance as an AI-powered customer support automation platform. Using this information, together with customer reviews, we’ve collected 13 Zendesk alternatives worth your time. Sounds like a plan? Let’s begin!

What is Zendesk?

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer service and engagement platform that helps businesses manage support interactions across multiple channels, including:

• Email
• Chat
• Social
• Voice

It turns these interactions into tracked “tickets” and centralizes them in one workspace. Let’s go over some of the main features Zendesk promises to its customers.

Main Zendesk features

• Ticketing system: For the longest time, Zendesk has been known as a ticketing platform. It converts customer queries from email, chat, phone, and social into tracked “tickets” that can be assigned, routed, escalated, and resolved.
• Omnichannel support: It lets support teams handle interactions from multiple channels—like email, live chat, phone, messaging apps, and social media—in one unified workspace.
• Self-service knowledge base and help center: The platform enables customers to help themselves via FAQ articles, knowledge base content, and community forums, reducing ticket volumes. You can customize it for your business to provide customers with a seamless, on-brand self-service experience. However, one of the reasons why customers opt for alternatives to Zendesk chat and other self-service options is their difficult setup and customization.
• Analytics, reporting, and automation features: Like most ticketing and helpdesk platforms, Zendesk also provides dashboards, insights into support performance, SLA tracking, and workflow automation to boost efficiency. 

Zendesk pricing

One of the main reasons people are searching for alternatives to Zendesk is its hefty pricing. Zendesk’s customer service annual plans start at $19 per agent per month. The prices for enterprise plans jump quickly, with the Suite Enterprise—the most advanced plan—costing $169 per agent per month, billed annually.

4 Main reasons why look for a Zendesk alternative

When you’re choosing tools to supercharge your customer support, you can’t risk a poor experience. But you might not even know your customers are unhappy! As many as 56% of customers ghost a business after just one bad experience. They don’t complain or write a bad review—they just go straight to a competitor. So, let’s go over some reasons to look for Zendesk alternatives and what people are saying about Zendesk.

1. Steep learning curve

Zendesk’s wide feature set and complex configuration can make it difficult for teams to get comfortable quickly, especially without dedicated admins. This slows onboarding and reduces adoption. That’s why most Zendesk customers are mature, enterprise-sized companies that have the resources and teams to make the implementation easier.

2. Difficult to contact support

When you have a steep learning curve, one way to overcome it is by having a support team on your side whenever you have a question. However, Zendesk users often report delayed or unhelpful responses, particularly on lower-tier plans. When you’re struggling to set up workflows or troubleshoot, a lack of timely help becomes a major blocker.

When a platform is hard to learn and support isn’t easily accessible, you can get stuck mid-rollout. That leads to frustration, partial adoption, and ultimately, poor ROI.

3. Expensive as you scale

Many key capabilities, like advanced reporting, multiple channels, or add-ons, are locked behind higher-priced plans. Total costs can grow quickly as your needs increase. Many users complain that plans become very expensive, even with basic options.

4. Long implementation timeline

Configuring ticket routes, integrations, automation, and knowledge bases can take significant time. Businesses needing fast time-to-value may find this too slow. You might need a dedicated account manager or partner to help set up the system. In fast-paced industries like retail, healthcare, and finance, you can’t wait months for the system to start working—you need results fast.

What to look for in a Zendesk alternative

Many companies choose to contract certain business tools because they’re well-known in the market. That’s often the case with platforms like Zendesk. However, it’s not always the best choice, because every organization is different and needs to consider various features and aspects of a tool to make the right decision. So, let’s explore some of the key features you’ll want to have in a customer support automation platform.

Low-/ no-code interface

Roughly six out of ten organizations save between $100,000 and $200,000 every year thanks to no-code platforms.

A strong Zendesk alternative should empower non-technical teams to configure and maintain the system without relying on developers or complex admin tools. Proper customer support requires multiple teams to be on board. That means if your sales team needs to send warm leads to a CRM system or your marketing team must adjust its email outreach, they should be able to do so without involving the tech team.

When you can use features like drag-and-drop, you get:

• Faster setup and quicker onboarding for new agents
• The ability to adjust workflows, forms, and automations on the fly
• Reduced implementation and maintenance costs
• Higher overall adoption because the tool feels intuitive and accessible

This is especially important for smaller teams or organizations without a dedicated IT function.

Instant company knowledge

Support agents should be able to access relevant customer information and historical context without toggling between multiple tools. A great platform should offer quick and convenient access to unified company knowledge. That also means it should connect data across your website, documentation, internal chats, third-party integrations, and other sources to provide your team and customers with accurate information. Unified company knowledge is also the key to agentic AI and personalized customer experience.

Having unified knowledge enables:

• Faster and more accurate responses
• Personalized interactions (knowing the customer’s profile, past issues, sentiment, etc.)
• Decreased agent frustration and training burden
• Fewer repeated questions that frustrate customers

Dedicated support team

When switching from Zendesk (where users often report challenges getting help), strong, accessible support from the vendor becomes a key differentiator. Implementing a customer service platform changes many of your current customer support and related processes. No matter how easy the setup is, the service provider you choose must offer timely and responsive support to help you get started.

This way, you can expect:

• Faster resolution during onboarding and technical issues
• Higher confidence in rollout success and long-term value
• Consistent guidance in evolving workflows and scaling
• A partner relationship—not just a software subscription

What is the best Zendesk alternative? Top 13 customer support automation platforms to try in 2025

We always like to emphasize that the best alternative to Zendesk—or any other business tool, for that matter—will be the one that meets your unique business goals and needs. There’s no need to chase famous names to get more for less. 

We’ve gathered the top 13 Zendesk alternatives to try in 2025 and beyond to transform your customer service and make your team’s life easier.

Alternatives to Zendesk chat and other features stand out with:

• More affordable pricing
• Unified knowledge management
• Conversational AI features
• Omnichannel support
• Internal and external support automation

Let’s dive in!

1. Capacity

If you’re looking for a solution that leans hard into AI-powered automation and knowledge reuse, Capacity is a strong contender. This Zendesk alternative uses machine learning and natural language processing to answer FAQs, pull in company knowledge, and automate many repetitive support tasks so agents can focus on more complex issues. The best part is that Capacity offers white-label automation for both internal and external support.

Main features:

• AI Helpdesk: The system uses natural language processing to interpret user queries and either provide immediate answers or automatically route and escalate issues without manual intervention. Capacity’s omnichannel helpdesk connects customer inquiries across web, social, apps, voice, and other channels to provide a unified experience.
• Centralized knowledge base: Capacity aggregates information from disparate internal systems, like documents, databases, and wikis, and presents it as a corporate search engine where agents and users can find the right information fast.
• Integrations and automation: It connects with your existing tech stack—like CRMs, ticketing systems, chatbots, and 250+ other tools—and enables triggered actions such as alerts, task creation, or hand-offs based on rules or AI detection.
• Analytics and reporting: With Capacity, you gain insights into support trends, unanswered questions, FAQ gaps, and agent performance—all through dashboards that help you continuously improve your support knowledge and operations.
• Agent assist: Capacity provides many features to make your internal teams’ work easier, including on-the-spot coaching, real-time tips and help during customer interactions, and summaries afterward, reducing manual labor and improving productivity.
• Intelligent virtual agents: Capacity lets you build and deploy intelligent virtual agents across your web, social, app, voice, and other channels to automate support. They act just like your human agents, maintaining context and a conversational, polite style, as well as being able to handle FAQs and more advanced tasks like bookings, scheduling, cancellations, account management, and more.

Pros:

• Strong automation and over 90% ticket deflection
• Great if you have lots of internal knowledge and want to unify it
• Integrates with existing systems

Cons:

• Might be overkill if your support needs are basic

Starting price: Capacity offers custom pricing based on the products and features you wish to integrate. You can book a demo or try it free for 14 days.

2. Freshdesk

Freshdesk presents itself as a broad, scalable support platform with modern features like agentic AI, but it aims to be relatively easy to set up and use. Freshdesk vs. Zendesk is a common debate as they offer similar features and functionality. It’s positioned for teams of various sizes. 

While easier to use, some users report that for highly advanced customization or complex workflows, it may not match the most elite enterprise options. If that’s your goal, make sure to check the best Freshdesk alternatives.

Main features:

• Omnichannel support: Freshdesk lets you manage customer conversations across email, chat, phone, and social channels from a single interface, so agents don’t have to jump between tools.
• AI-powered agent tools and automation: With the Freddy AI module, Freshdesk offers smart suggestions, automated replies, and ticket triage to increase agent efficiency and reduce response times.
• Customizable workflows and ticketing system: You can tailor ticket-routing rules, statuses, escalations, macros, and SLA policies in Freshdesk to mirror your business processes and support model.
• Self-service and knowledge base options: Freshdesk includes a built-in knowledge base feature so you can publish FAQs and articles that let customers find answers themselves and relieve your support team.

Pros:

• Good balance of features vs. usability
• Strong AI and automation features to boost productivity

Cons:

• Customization for very niche use cases may be less flexible
• Some users mention performance issues like long loading times

Starting price: Their most affordable plan starts at $15 per agent per month, billed annually.

3. Intercom

Intercom puts the conversation front and center. You’ll find features like live chat, in-app messaging, bots, and automation all wrapped up in a unified experience. If you want to engage proactively, not just react, Intercom is a strong alternative to Zendesk.

But because it focuses heavily on messaging and conversational support rather than classic large-scale “ticketing” workflows, it might feel less ideal for companies with very heavy “traditional” support loads and complex case management. If you’re looking for something more comprehensive, check out Intercom alternatives.

Main features:

• Live chat and messaging: Intercom lets you engage customers in real time via website chat, mobile in-app messaging, or social channels, creating a seamless conversational experience.
• AI agent and automation integrated into chat flows: Built-in bots and automation in Intercom handle common questions, route conversations, and assist agents, freeing up human resources for higher-value tasks.
• Shared inbox and unified view of conversations: Intercom provides a central inbox where team members can view, assign, and collaborate on customer dialogues across all channels in one place.
• Integrations with many apps and tools: Intercom connects with CRM systems, analytics platforms, product data, and more, giving agents rich context about users and enabling smarter, data-driven responses.

Pros:

• Great for conversational support and real-time engagement
• Strong automation and AI to handle routine interactions
• Good for companies aiming to use support as an engagement tool, not just reactive

Cons:

• Might be less suitable for organizations that rely on structured ticketing, SLAs, and heavy case workflows
• Cost may climb significantly as you scale or add many features

Starting price: Intercom Suite pricing starts at $0.99 per Fin resolution and $29 per seat per month, billed annually.

4. PolyAI

If you’ve ever been frustrated with rigid call-center IVRs or chatbots that feel robotic, PolyAI offers a fresh alternative: truly conversational voice agents that handle complex customer calls and even shift channels smoothly.

While very capable for voice and phone interactions, it may not cover the full breadth of traditional ticketing or multi-channel workflows in the same way a full helpdesk platform does, so it may be worth it to explore some PolyAI alternatives.

Main features:

• Multilingual, voice-first AI assistants for inbound calls: PolyAI’s voice agents can interact in multiple languages and handle spoken conversations naturally, enabling customers to use their voice channel effortlessly.
• Seamless integration with existing tech stack: The platform connects easily with your current systems and telephony infrastructure, so you don’t need to rip and replace your stack.
• Real-time analytics and conversation monitoring: Agents and managers get immediate visibility into call flows, transcripts, intent trends, and performance metrics to optimize operations.
• Natural language understanding and generative AI: PolyAI uses advanced NLU and generative models so conversations feel human, can handle topic switches, interruptions, and complex requests.

Pros:

• Excellent at automating high-volume voice interactions
• Works in multiple languages and complex domains like billing

Cons:

• If you need a full ticketing system across email/chat/voice, and many workflows, you may need additional tooling

Starting price: They offer custom pricing.

5. Medallia

Medallia is less a traditional support ticketing tool and more a full experience management platform. Companies opt for Medallia to capture feedback across channels, drive insights, empower front-line teams, and orchestrate customer experience end-to-end.

Because of its broad scope, it may be too heavyweight, complex, or expensive for teams primarily looking for lean helpdesk tools. If that’s your case, you might want to check out the top Medallia competitors.

Main features:

• Real-time feedback capture and analytics: Medallia collects signals from mobile apps, web sessions, surveys, voice, and chat in real time and analyzes them so you can act quickly.
• AI and text analytics: The platform uses AI and natural-language and text analytics to identify sentiment, root causes, and patterns in unstructured feedback so you know what to prioritize.
• Agent coaching, quality management, and contact center optimization modules: Medallia includes tools for agent performance evaluation, coaching insights, and contact center optimization to improve service at the frontline.
• Experience orchestration: It connects experience signals to business processes, metrics, and next-best actions—so feedback doesn’t just sit in dashboards but drives change.

Pros:

• Very strong for organizations wanting to tie support and experience to business results and insights
• Enterprise-grade features

Cons:

• Less focused on basic ticketing workflows
• Might be overkill for smaller support teams

Starting price: They offer custom pricing.

6. Help Scout

Help Scout aims for simplicity and human-centered support. It’s about making your team’s job easier with a clean shared inbox feel, knowledge base, and chat, but without overwhelming complexity.

However, because of its simpler focus, it may lack some of the ultra-advanced automation, enterprise-scale customization, or workflow depth of more heavyweight platforms.

Main features:

• Shared inbox across agents and departments: Help Scout provides a unified inbox where teams can handle emails and chats collaboratively, with clear ownership and visibility to avoid duplicate work.
• Knowledge base and self-service options: It offers built-in functionality to publish FAQs, articles, and a help center so customers can find answers on their own, reducing ticket volume.
• Automation and workflows: Help Scout supports simple automations like saving responses, scheduling follow-ups, and snoozing conversations, helping agents work more efficiently.
• Integration with many apps and tools: Designed for ease of use, Help Scout connects smoothly with common tools, like CRMs, chat apps, reporting, etc., and can be configured quickly, even by non-technical users.

Pros:

• Very user-friendly, quick to get started
• Pricing and seat model can be friendlier for smaller teams

Cons:

• Not as strong if you’ve got very heavy volume, very complex routing and SLAs, or need advanced analytics

Starting price: Their most basic plan is free.

7. Kustomer

Kustomer is a strong Zendesk alternative, a CRM-stacked customer service platform built for modern support workflows. It brings together omnichannel messaging, unified customer profiles, and AI automation and puts the service agent’s context front and center.

But at the same time, its broad scope and feature-rich nature mean it may require more setup and investment than very lightweight tools. Also, smaller teams may find it more than they need.

Main features:

• Unified customer view and timeline of interactions across all channels: Kustomer provides agents with a complete, chronological history of every email, chat, social message, order, and touchpoint so they have full context.
• Omnichannel messaging and routing: The platform lets you support customers across email, live chat, social media, phone, and more from one interface, and intelligently routes conversations to the right team.
• AI-powered automation and agent assistance: Kustomer uses AI to help with tasks like routing, suggesting replies, automating responses, and assisting agents so they can work more efficiently.
• Workflow and integration flexibility: You can build custom data models, workflows, and integrate with CRMs and other data systems so the platform adapts to your business, not the other way around.

Pros:

• Very strong for support teams that need rich context, personalized service
• Good scalability and enterprise-style capabilities

Cons:

• Setup and configuration may take more resources
• May be more expensive or more complex than simpler alternatives

Starting price: Their plans start at $89 per seat per month.

8. ServiceNow

This is less a simple helpdesk and more a full-service management platform. If your organization has complex operations, back-office, field service, ITSM, and support all intertwined, ServiceNow offers deep workflows and automation.

However, it might be overkill for small teams or simpler support needs, as it involves longer implementation cycles and higher costs.

Main features:

• Omnichannel customer service: ServiceNow lets customers reach support through any channel while giving agents a unified view of interactions, so cross-departmental hand-offs and silos are reduced.
• Workflow automation: Its case management engine, playbooks, and automated workflows span from customer-facing issues to internal tasks, ensuring hand-offs across departments are seamless.
• Self-service portals, knowledge, and field service support: The solution includes a self-service portal for customers, knowledge-base integration, and field-service modules so issues can be resolved online or via mobile and field teams as needed.
• Analytics, routing, SLA management, and enterprise-grade customization: ServiceNow provides dashboards, SLA tracking, advanced routing and assignment logic, and deep configuration and customization to meet large enterprise requirements.

Pros:

• Excellent for large organizations
• Helps break down silos and connect support with operations/IT/field service

Cons:

• Higher cost, longer setup, more resources required
• Might be too complex if your needs are basic

Starting price: They offer custom pricing.

9. HappyFox

A robust, all-in-one helpdesk platform built for teams that need structure, automation, and scalability in their customer support operations. HappyFox centralizes support requests from multiple channels, like email, chat, social media, and phone, into a unified ticketing system.

Main features:

• Omnichannel ticketing: It consolidates customer queries from email, chat, web forms, social media, and phone into one dashboard. Each message becomes a ticket that can be categorized, prioritized, and assigned to agents automatically.
• Automation and workflows: With HappyFox, you can automate repetitive tasks like ticket assignment, escalation, and follow-ups using rules, SLAs, and smart workflows to improve response time and consistency.
• Self-service and knowledge base: Companies can enjoy branded help centers and FAQs so customers can find answers independently, reducing incoming tickets and boosting customer satisfaction.
• Reporting and analytics: It provides advanced insights on ticket volume, response times, agent productivity, and customer satisfaction with prebuilt and customizable reports.

Pros:

• Comprehensive ticketing and workflow automation
• Strong analytics and reporting
• Suitable for teams that need structure and scalability

Cons:

• The interface, while clean, can feel more traditional compared to modern chat-based tools
• Pricing can increase quickly with add-ons

Starting price: Their agent-based pricing starts at $29 per agent per month, billed monthly.

10. Thena

Built for modern teams, especially B2B, Thena integrates support into collaboration hubs like Slack and Microsoft Teams, using AI to auto-triage and turn messages into support tickets, especially useful for teams that live in messaging channels.

However, you might not get the full omnichannel ticketing or advanced support experience some larger organizations need.

Main features:

• Ticketing and request tracking: Thena allows customer requests from Slack, Microsoft Teams, web chat, and widgets to automatically become tickets that are visible and manageable in one place.
• AI-assisted triage: Its AI analyzes incoming messages for urgency, sentiment, and content, then routes or assigns them appropriately within Slack and Teams or to the right team.
• Unified dashboard: Thena provides leadership and support teams with a consolidated view of tickets, metrics, team performance, and customer communication across channels.
• Integrations with CRM and other systems: It connects with your CRM and other backend systems so that when a request comes in via messaging, agents have relevant customer data and history immediately available.

Pros:

• Native in Slack and Teams 
• Lets teams manage support in tools they already use

Cons:

• Might not replace full-scale helpdesk or enterprise support platforms
• Has fewer integrations and custom workflows

Starting price: They offer a free plan.

11. ProProfs

ProProfs offers a helpdesk solution with an emphasis on simplicity and seamless ticketing, knowledge base, and automation, making it appealing for small to medium teams seeking a straightforward support platform.

However, keep in mind that it might lack the more advanced enterprise-grade features, deep automation, or omnichannel capabilities of larger rivals.

Main features:

• Ticketing system with email-to-ticket, ticket routing, and tracking: ProProfs helpdesk converts emails and other incoming requests into tickets, which can be automatically routed, prioritized, and tracked throughout the resolution process.
• Built-in knowledge base and self-service portal: The platform includes a knowledge base module and self-service portal so customers can find answers themselves, reducing incoming support volume.
• Automation tools: It supports rule-based automation such as canned responses, auto-assignment, triggers, and SLA management to enforce service standards and improve efficiency.
• Reporting dashboards: ProProfs delivers real-time reporting and dashboards that show ticket volumes, agent response and resolution times, customer ratings, and other key support metrics.

Pros:

• Quick to implement and less intimidating for smaller teams
• Strong value for money relative to simpler needs

Cons:

• Customization may be limited compared to top-tier enterprise platforms
• Might not scale as smoothly in very high-volume, multi-channel scenarios

Starting price: They offer a free plan for one user.

12. Gorgias

Gorgias is geared particularly toward e-commerce brands. It ties support across email, chat, and social closely to orders, shipping, and customer profiles, allowing support teams to act and respond directly from within the tool in the context of the purchase.

If your business is not e-commerce-centric or you need heavy backstage workflows, you might find a more general support platform better.

Main features:

• Omnichannel support tailored for e-commerce: Gorgias allows e-commerce brands to manage customer inquiries coming in via email, chat widgets, Instagram, Facebook, and other social channels—all from a unified interface.
• Deep integration with e-commerce platforms: The system links directly to your store’s backend, so support agents can see order history, shipping status, and customer profile inside the ticket, reducing inaccuracies.
• Automation: Gorgias supports automation like pre-written responses (macros), auto-tagging of tickets, and routing rules based on order or channel, helping agents respond faster and consistently.
• Unified dashboard: It enables support agents to handle different channels in one view. Agents work within a single dashboard that displays conversations across all channels where customers interact with the business, eliminating the need to switch between disparate apps or tabs.

Pros:

• Highly effective for online retail companies
• Helps unify support and business operations

Cons:

• Less ideal for non-e-commerce or more generic helpdesk use cases
• Might lack depth in large enterprise support or complex back-office integration

Starting price: Their Starter plan costs $10 per month, billed monthly.

13. Front

Front rethinks the shared inbox by turning email, chat, and social workflows into a collaborative workspace with power tools for routing, team workflows, customer context, and automation. It sits between a helpdesk and a collaborative workspace, suited to teams that do a lot of “email as support” but want more coordination.

While excellent for shared inbox and collaboration, you might miss the built-in knowledge base, ticketing complexity, or heavy automation that some dedicated helpdesk platforms provide.

Main features:

• Shared inbox for teams: Front lets all team members collaborate on a common inbox where messages from email, chat, and social channels can be assigned, tagged, and worked through with clear ownership.
• Internal collaboration features: Inside each conversation, teammates can leave internal notes, mention others, share draft replies, and coordinate responses without leaving the inbox.
• Automation and routing: Front supports setting rules to auto-assign incoming requests, create priority queues, and track SLAs so support workflows stay organized and timely.
• Analytics and reporting: The platform provides dashboards and analytics that reveal team response performance, workload distribution across agents, and insights into customer communication patterns.

Pros:

• Excellent for teams that primarily interact via email and want more collaboration and oversight
• Lets support, sales, and success teams all work in one interface, improving visibility

Cons:

• Might lack some of the advanced helpdesk features
• If your support volume and channel diversity scale aggressively, you may find limits compared to full-sized helpdesk suites

Starting price: Their Starter plan costs $25 per seat per month, up to 10 seats, billed annually.

Zendesk alternatives worth your time

Zendesk offers great features for customer support automation. But if your team needs something more customizable, less pricey, and more geared to unified internal and external support automation, then we hope these alternatives to Zendesk chat and other features helped you find your favorites.

Just a quick recap, the best 13 Zendesk alternatives for 2025 include:

1. Capacity
2. Freshdesk
3. Intercom
4. PolyAI
5. Medallia
6. HelpScout
7. Kustomer
8. ServiceNow
9. HappyFox
10. Thena
11. ProProfs
12. Gorgias
13. Front

One of the tools in the list can automate customer support, improve utilization of your service agents, connect to your existing business infrastructure, save time, and cut costs by deflecting 90%+ of tickets without human involvement.

Yes, you read that right! Capacity offers all this and more. Want to try it for yourself? Book a demo today to see how true automation works.

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