Gainsight CS vs. Zendesk Suite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gainsight CS
Score 8.4 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Gainsight’s customer-centric technology aims to drive the future of customer success. The company’s Customer Cloud offers a set of solutions focused on customer success, product experience, revenue optimization, customer experience, and customer data, that together are designed to enable businesses to put the customer at the center of everything they do. The vendor states that companies that use Gainsight grow net retention by up to 33 percent. Learn how leading companies like Okta, SAP Concur,…
$2,500
Per Company Per Month
Zendesk Suite
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
The Zendesk Support suite is a cloud-based customer support software built for better customer relationships. Designed to improve customer satisfaction and to support customers on any channel: text SMS, web, mobile app, phone, email, social media. The vendor states more than 200,000 companies such as Uber, Groupon, Box, Airbnb, and Slack are using Zendesk to lower their support costs, raise productivity, and increase customer satisfaction. Zendesk offers a full suite of products to meet customer…
$55
per month agent
Pricing
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Editions & Modules
Subscription
$2,500
Per Company Per Month
Support Team (Foundational Support Only)
$19
per month agent
Suite Team
$55
per month agent
Support Professional
$55
per month agent
Suite Growth
$89
per month agent
Suite Professional
$115
per month agent
Support Enterprise
$115
per month agent
Suite Enterprise
$169
per month agent
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Considered Both Products
Gainsight CS
Chose Gainsight CS
We have used other products to serve our customers, but none have been as feature-rich as what Gainsight can provide. My experience is with well-known software as well as some in-house solutions that I even participated in designing. Some things are worth subscribing to, and …
Chose Gainsight CS
I have not used or evaluated any other products like Gainsight. In the past, I was using Wrike to store my client notes and use keep tabs on their onboarding process. I also synced my email to Salesforce so that the account managers could see my activity with customers. I know …
Chose Gainsight CS
There's really nothing like it that I've experienced, as this is one of my first positions within a Customer Success org. I've had quite a bit of experience in Adobe Creative Suite, and just how the features in those are complex, Gainsight has similar vibes-- that it takes a …
Chose Gainsight CS
I love that there are so many customer success related activities that can all be streamlined in one interface using Gainsight. These activities include training survey responses, tracking our product's API data (usage data), incorporating with the sales process in Salesforce, …
Chose Gainsight CS
I can't speak to how Gainsight measures up against competition. I was not part of the decision making process, nor have I seen demonstrations of the competitor tools.
Zendesk Suite

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
7.1
165 Ratings
21% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Role-based user permissions7.1165 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
7.7
206 Ratings
11% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
API6.8123 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com7.9205 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Marketo7.749 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Eloqua8.219 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Data Extraction / Integration
Comparison of Customer Data Extraction / Integration features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
6.8
206 Ratings
24% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Product usage8.5195 Ratings00 Ratings
Help desk / support tickets5.2166 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Success Management
Comparison of Customer Success Management features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
6.3
218 Ratings
28% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
NPS surveys7.9171 Ratings00 Ratings
Sponsor tracking4.8161 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer profiles6.2195 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated workflow7.8209 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal collaboration5.1196 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer health scoring6.9211 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer segmentation5.1178 Ratings00 Ratings
CSM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CSM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
7.0
216 Ratings
16% below category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Customer health trends6.9198 Ratings00 Ratings
Engagement analytics7.1175 Ratings00 Ratings
Revenue forecasting7.3108 Ratings00 Ratings
Dashboards6.7213 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.2
114 Ratings
4% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings8.6113 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings7.370 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings7.376 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.072 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings9.2114 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings8.9113 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.0
101 Ratings
3% above category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings7.997 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings8.090 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Gainsight CS
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
7.8
112 Ratings
2% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings7.486 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings7.837 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings7.068 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings8.5110 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings8.380 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Small Businesses
Intercom
Intercom
Score 8.7 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CustomerSuccessBox
CustomerSuccessBox
Score 9.5 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Webex Experience Management (discontinued)
Cisco Webex Experience Management (discontinued)
Score 8.8 out of 10
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(223 ratings)
8.3
(152 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
6.8
(14 ratings)
10.0
(40 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(24 ratings)
7.7
(25 ratings)
Availability
8.2
(1 ratings)
8.6
(13 ratings)
Performance
6.4
(1 ratings)
8.0
(10 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(134 ratings)
9.0
(29 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
5.5
(2 ratings)
7.9
(9 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.3
(6 ratings)
9.0
(18 ratings)
Configurability
6.4
(1 ratings)
9.3
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.4
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Gainsight CSZendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
Gainsight
Well suited for: consolidated and organized note taking tracking stakeholders contact information if properly configured - identifying and categorizing risk categories less appropriate setting up customer journey takes quite a bit of work to implement and make use of - want best practices baked into the product - "customer journey wizard" reporting is robust but clunky to set up reports and get meaningful data
Read full review
Zendesk
Inbound messaging it is top notch, it does it well and couldn't imagine anyone's program doing it better. Like I said before been using ZenDesk for over 7 years and absolutely love it. We use the talk feature with the phone very limited so Zen works fine for us, but if I was running an inbound or outbound call center I don't believe Zen has all the functions I would want as a manager. For limited phone use and mostly email, text, and even web chat, ZenDesk works great. Having the iOS App is so great and flexibility with notifications allows my team to be "on call" anytime without unnecessary interruptions
Read full review
Pros
Gainsight
  • Gainsight's Data Designer is a powerful tool that allows you to create new tables/data sets from different sources (Create a new table by merging Snowflake, SFDC and Gainsight data that you can use for reporting or be the engine of calls to actions)
  • The health score is great! with good data and the right workflows in place, you can easily create automated health scores by your desired segmentation
  • Journey Orchestrator is the best 1:M outreach tool I have seen from any CSP. Very flexible and comprehensive. Can also support surveys! JO can be used for all segments, not just your digital segments!
  • Gmail/Outlook integration - Our CSMs love that you can send an email and attach it to the gainsight account. You can also create a meeting note in Gainsight and email it to your customers!
  • Calls to Action/Playbooks are very customizable, interoperable with SFDC and a great way for CSMs to keep on top of their work and also a great tool for reporting outcomes and CSMs work throughout the year
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Reporting and Analytics
  • Ease of Agent Training and Use
  • Able to add multiple brands with related custom reports and dashboards
  • Adding a new brand and basic help center is easy to do without the need of an expert or web team
  • Ability of agents and supervisors to see customer history across multiple channels
Read full review
Cons
Gainsight
  • Sometimes tying Salesforce Data into Gainsight objects can be challenging. (I don't believe this is a true Gainsight limitation)
  • I would love to see the ability to create a dashboard directly from JO Analytics, to help save time recreating measure the program analytics already provide. (Since the JO program analytics aren't extensible to everyone, a dashboard needs to be created )
Read full review
Zendesk
  • I think the Graphical User Interface could use a facelift. It not the most aesthetically pleasing platform in my experience.
  • Particular things like where the default is when you click on each and every dropdown menu.
  • The macro integration could be a little more simplified.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Gainsight
Gainsight offers a level of support that I've not experience before. They will work with you to come up with a solution to a problem - or help match you with another client that has a similar setup as you to get their feedback. Also the functionality that we have built within the software works for us. It's 'easy' to use (once you get the hang of it) and our users rather enjoy working in the software.
Read full review
Zendesk
Zendesk is super easy to use and navigate. I really enjoy the sleek layout, the ability to tailor tickets, the macro option, and the quick key guide they have to make your use of time even more effective. My whole team loves working with Zendesk and rarely ever has problems.
Read full review
Usability
Gainsight
I give it this score based on the implementation at my current employer. I don't know if it could be higher based on if the implementation went better, or if there is something on the vendor side that could help. If this were asked at my previous employer, I would have given it a score of 9 or 10.
Read full review
Zendesk
As an agent it's very simple to use. As an admin it's also easy to use, but sometimes lacks some functionality that would be nice to have such as expanded native 2 way sync functionality for many major apps that are commonly used today like HubSpot and Salesforce. The ability to add followers to tickets to they get updates and are in the know without the customer seeing this agent cc'd is a nice touch. This ensures additional visibility and easily following the communication without having to appear as a CC to the customer, who could accidentally remove that person in a response, thus breaking the visibility
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Reliability and Availability
Gainsight
No answers on this topic
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
Gainsight
There are some times when it can take almost a minute to load some of our reports or the rules engine. Within a rule it can also take time to load the actions as they each load one at a time when scrolling. The ability to scroll without waiting would be ideal
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Zendesk
There has been minor performance degradation on a very few days out of the two years I have been using the product.
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Support Rating
Gainsight
The CSMs are very hands-on and helpful, both Elaine and Lane have provided a lot of guidance and value over the years. Support is responsive and will jump on things as needed. The thought leadership and community is probably the most valuable part of our support from Gainsight.
Read full review
Zendesk
Every time I contacted them they were not only very responsive and knowledgable, but always seemed to have a positive upbeat attitude. It probably helps that we did not have significant service outages or sev 1 level issues, but even my lower severity issues were quickly answered. And the positive and upbeat attitude really made things feel comfortable.
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Online Training
Gainsight
The online videos are very good for basic tasks in the platform, but it isn't very descriptive or helpful trying to make your own specific variables fit the simple example that is typically used. Typically, I'll watch a video, try on my own and still have to get help from support or Customer Success team
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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
Gainsight
I was not part of the implantation (I took over later). However, based on what was passed to me, the tool was not well implemented at our org. I think this had to do with complexity, wrong person assigned in our org, and org buy-in. I think it would have been very successful if we had a better assignment process internally.
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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
Gainsight
Our Salesforce admin is constantly pushing us to adopt more of the features of Salesforce. However, we find that Gainsight is a stronger tool for customization and enhanced interdepartmental communications. Timeline makes it easy to understand where we stand in a customer lifecycle, which is far superior to reviewing an activity history related list in Salesforce.
Read full review
Zendesk
If spoken honestly Intercom is a level-par with any nearest competitor, Tools like Zendesk has to catchup with them in speed. However, there is an advantage to Zendesk with its simple and easy-to-get software which falls in every mid and small-size business pocket wherein Intercom is way too expensive and needs a tech admin to customize the product. The kick-starting feature with negligible configuration made Zendesk the ideal choice of our organization + the budget fell under our expenses.
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Return on Investment
Gainsight
  • We increase account coverage by more than 20% through the tools within Gainsight CS to generate actions for our CSMs to prioritize accounts.
  • Now that we are using Success Plans, we are seeing 65-75% of customer outcomes realized within a 12-month period. This was something we weren't able to track before.
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Zendesk
  • The positives weigh more than the negatives here, as it gives us a one-stop portal where we can tend to customer needs using one web app
  • It has also helped us identify areas of improvement based on the reporting feature
  • The value it provides outweighs any missing or lacking features that I'm sure will be available in the future
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ScreenShots

Gainsight CS Screenshots

Screenshot of Get notified when your sponsor moves with our social media tracker - Sponsor TrackingScreenshot of Get more face time with your customers with 60 second videos - GsnapScreenshot of Automate Calls-to-Action on customer risks, opportunities and lifecycle events, better prioritize tasks with AI-driven priority scoring and follow a step-by-step playbook to deliver a consistent, best-in-class customer experience.Screenshot of Our collection of best practice-based solutions can be deployed within your Gainsight instance to help you move quickly and realize value fasterScreenshot of Design dynamic, multi-step customer journeys that blend human and digital touchpoints to deliver personalized engagement at scale. Analyze data at every step and adjust to each customer's behavior to more effectively deliver the outcomes your customers desire.Screenshot of Organize your team’s activities around your customer's key objectives. Collaborate directly with customer stakeholders to realize their desired outcomes and demonstrate how your efforts translate to results.

Zendesk Suite Screenshots

Screenshot of 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