SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS) vs. Zendesk Suite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
DameWare Remote Support from Austin IT company SolarWinds is remote administration software for the remote control of desktops, laptops, and servers behind or outside the firewall, allowing registry editing, restart services, logging activity, account and password management, and more. The mobile app also provides access from a phone or tablet. DameWare Remote Support licensing is per technician, the number of end-user remote machines is irrelevant; one technician may receive a license for…
$520
one-time fee
Zendesk Suite
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Zendesk is a customer support solution with built-in ticketing, conversational messaging, and live chat, designed to help businesses of all sizes and industries deliver personalized service at scale. Zendesk's AI agents are trained in CX to help Service teams resolve customer issues faster and more accurately while still providing a human-centered experience. Zendesk ultimately aims to help businesses improve time to value, reduce effort per ticket, and keep costs low.
$69
per month per agent
Pricing
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)Zendesk Suite
Editions & Modules
Dameware Mini Remote Control
$370
one-time fee
Dameware Remote Support
$520
one-time fee
Suite Team
$69
per month per agent
Suite Growth
$115
per month per agent
Suite Professional
$149
per month per agent
Suite Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)Zendesk Suite
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsDameWare Remote Support and Mini Remote Control are licensed based on the number of technician users that use the software for remote administration. There are no limits or restrictions for the number of end-users supported or the number of remote endpoints/computers supported. As you buy higher counts of licenses, the per-seat pricing goes down giving you a reduced total price.20% discount available with annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)Zendesk Suite
Features
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)Zendesk Suite
Remote Administration
Comparison of Remote Administration features of Product A and Product B
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
8.6
65 Ratings
9% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Screen sharing10.053 Ratings00 Ratings
File transfer10.050 Ratings00 Ratings
Instant message8.347 Ratings00 Ratings
Secure remote access with Smart Card authentication8.716 Ratings00 Ratings
Access to sleeping/powered-off computers9.035 Ratings00 Ratings
Over-the-Internet remote session8.548 Ratings00 Ratings
Initiate remote control from mobile9.025 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote management of servers & workstations9.158 Ratings00 Ratings
Remote Active Directory® management7.239 Ratings00 Ratings
Centralized management dashboard8.238 Ratings00 Ratings
Session record8.55 Ratings00 Ratings
Annotations7.94 Ratings00 Ratings
Monitoring and Alerts8.75 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-platform remote control7.131 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.8
179 Ratings
7% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.4178 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings8.0122 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings8.7125 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.1126 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings9.5178 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings9.2177 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.2
161 Ratings
2% above category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings8.2155 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings8.3148 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.8
174 Ratings
10% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings9.2142 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings8.273 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings8.2115 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings9.3171 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings8.9132 Ratings
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)Zendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(66 ratings)
9.2
(208 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(13 ratings)
10.0
(43 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(10 ratings)
8.8
(82 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(14 ratings)
Performance
8.5
(2 ratings)
9.1
(11 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(9 ratings)
5.6
(31 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
6.4
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(8 ratings)
9.1
(19 ratings)
Configurability
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.5
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS)Zendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
SolarWinds
I feel like this is a very robust solution that I would recommend to anyone who relies heavily on remote support. Most of the colleagues I work with already use SolarWinds products to one extent or the other. I feel the price for the solution is very fair and a good value for the product.
Read full review
Zendesk
Being a customer support agent, I found it very good when it comes to send an email or call or chat- with the user. I can do all that from the one single platform which is so easy and time saving for you. It does not take much time to use this, We can chat- with the user and at the same time we can send an email to them as well.
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Pros
SolarWinds
  • Troubleshooting computers remotely without the need for the user to even be around.
  • Install software that needs to be installed manually without having to travel.
  • Viewing what the user is doing specifically that triggers the issue, making replicating issues way simpler.
Read full review
Zendesk
  • UI/UX; mature macros and automations, slick and well thought out UI.
  • Reporting, reporting, reporting. With user, org, and ticket level tags, we can track every aspect of our ticket flow.
  • Extensibility; the app marketplace is a great resource for expanding functionality from the baseline offering.
Read full review
Cons
SolarWinds
  • It would be nice if the installed agent would be able to check in with the server so that I can connect to laptops, etc that have the agent pre-installed for when they are off network.
  • DameWare could do better with the mobile app. I cannot connect in from the outside with the mobile app to provide quick support if needed. This kind of defeats the purpose of a mobile app. If I am on the network, I probably have access to my workstation.
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Is there a way for AEs and CSMs to be informed in a weekly summary of all their accounts and any tickets? Example: Disney submitted a ticket on XYZ. Google has an urgent issue on X still unresolved.
  • Is there a way for CSMs or AEs to have a Dashboard that's specific to their accounts instead of seeing all the tickets in the queue that are not relevant to them?
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Likelihood to Renew
SolarWinds
This application is one of my most used tools when it comes to supporting end users and the network as well. I don't have to run all over the place to get things done when I can access multiple computers on the network at the same time to accomplish multiple tasks in a minimal amount of time.
Read full review
Zendesk
Zendesk is an amazing tool for communicating with your customers easily. The communication tickets from sellers to us or from us to sellers are stored, and there are statuses used to make communication easy. We have internal conversations between departments, linked with useful software such as Zingtree, Talkdesk, and Webs.
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Usability
SolarWinds
Because it has enhanced my ability to trouble shoot more issues during the day. Instead of having to go to each machine and spend time at the machine, I can remote in from my desktop and assist the person 90 per cent of the time. I also use it from home to remote in which saves me the time from having to return back to the workplace.
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Zendesk
Pros: The agent interface is sleek, contemporary, and relatively easy to learn compared to many other enterprise tools. For common tasks, admins are given point-and-click options- adding fields, modifying workflows, constructing macros. The knowledge base (Guide) editor is easy to use for non-developers. Drawbacks: Once you move past the initial things - complex automations, reporting/analytics in Explore, and/or customizations integrating the API, it requires much more advanced training to use successfully. Navigating between the different modules (Support, Explore, Chat, Guide) can feel very disconnected; often you are reminded that it really is a "suite" of products brought together -not really one unified platform. If you're using multiple brands managing simultaneous support tickets, or heavily customizing workflows to meet your brand, you may run into a bit of struggle with usability. So: it's a lot more user friendly than the palaces (Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow), but is not used as quickly or with as much streamlined flow as a product made for a small shop. So if you are looking for a great balance, this is a good option if you are a net new organization or an organization on their way to scaling from 15 - 50 employee. Expect some elbow grease from the admin team once learning, adapting, and working efficiently once you move past the basics with your support tickets and initial customizations.
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Reliability and Availability
SolarWinds
Yes, always available.
Read full review
Zendesk
In the past year, I'd say I have only noticed maybe two hours total of downtime in my own usage. Very minimal.
Read full review
Performance
SolarWinds
The application always seems responsive to me
Read full review
Zendesk
There has been minor performance degradation on a very few days out of the two years I have been using the product.
Read full review
Support Rating
SolarWinds
I use a Samsung mobile device; DameWare Mobile was working and then after an Android update it started crashing. I reported the issue to DameWare and worked with the technicians and developers to gather data for them to correct the issue. They quickly published a beta release for me to test (which corrected the crashes) and then published an update to the Google Play Store.
Read full review
Zendesk
We rarely need to contact their support team, but when we do they are responsive. However there have been notable times when communication between myself and the support rep was challenging despite me providing clear explanation of the issue, screenshots, and a thorough explanation of the goal we hope to achieve. It took several back and forth attempt, on a few occasions, to get resolution on an otherwise simple request
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In-Person Training
SolarWinds
It was excellent
Read full review
Zendesk
No answers on this topic
Online Training
SolarWinds
The videos were more than sufficient to learn the product
Read full review
Zendesk
Zendesk has tons of available material for training - videos, webinars, articles, etc. The only reason this is not a 10 is because it can be hard to figure out how to navigate to these things and find what you are looking for.
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Implementation Rating
SolarWinds
It helps greatly if you know someone already using DameWare Remote Support. I was fortunate as my tech support guys were using it at their hospital and assisted me through the purchase, download and implementation of remote support. As well as, knowing how many licenses to purchase at the time. You have to make sure that anyone assisting in IT can have access to the program with their own license.
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Zendesk
I was very satisfied. They have a free trial for 30 days and I recommend you do that and use it. It is very easy to get started with the basics and the build on over time.

The only thing technically complex was single sign-on and integration to Salesforce.com required some tweaks – otherwise setting up system was very easy
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Alternatives Considered
SolarWinds
We previously utilized LogMeIn. They increased the pricing of their solution which made us reconsider it. I inherited LogMeIn. I am not a big fan of hosted solutions for some vital IT processes. There was convenience in LogMeIn, but there were also risks about the solution that I was never completely comfortable with. I had utilized DameWare at a previous company, so I knew what I was getting with it. It was an easy decision for me to make. DameWare is an exceptional product.
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Zendesk
The customisable reporting every time. Our leadership reply on me to run my team and want to know what customers are telling us so they can elevate our products. We have extensive custom reports that tie up all aspects of our product and customer journeys. I've not found another product that allows me as much freedom as Zendesk Suite explore does, so far.
Read full review
Scalability
SolarWinds
You get an 8 because of the constant initial freeze on most connections. Takes a reconnect to have it work.
Read full review
Zendesk
WHY we will use Zendesk in HR and PD internally
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Return on Investment
SolarWinds
  • DameWare has allowed us to maintain our non-traditional approach to IT support. It allows our administrators to work from anywhere and has extended their reach to clients domestic and abroad.
  • Return on investment was realized as soon as we purchased the licenses. We don't have to maintain a large office space or overhead costs due to the flexibility it allows our administrators.
  • First call resolution has increased drastically since implementing DameWare company-wide. The user no longer has to wait to reproduce an error. We can screen share and view it as it happens and mitigate the issues.
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Zendesk
  • Integrating other AI solutions for an organization with high volumes can cost about USD5000 monthly. With Zendesk AI and by building onto the same with AI powered apps built for Zendesk Suite we save a projected USD4000 monthly.
  • Robust Zendesk APIs have enabled us to integrate our internal system with a customized app saving us hundreds of hours every quarter spent loading customer profiles that are not loaded instantly from the app.
  • Plug and play apps like Round robin save us weeks of sprint delay timelines as they do not require additional coding or developer support to install and start using.
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ScreenShots

SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support (DRS) Screenshots

Screenshot of DameWare Remote Support Management ConsoleScreenshot of Remotely Connect to Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X ComputersScreenshot of Over-the-Internet Remote Session via Secure Proxy ServerScreenshot of Connect to Remote Computers from iOS and Android Mobile Devices

Zendesk Suite Screenshots

Screenshot of the Zendesk Agent WorkspaceScreenshot of Omnichannel MessagingScreenshot of Zendesk TicketingScreenshot of Bots powered by Zendesk AIScreenshot of Tone shift with Zendesk AIScreenshot of Zendesk ticketing side conversations