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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Gist

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AGist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.

    $29

    per month

    SherpaDesk

    Score8.4 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    SherpaDesk is a help desk / ticketing platform with time tracking, invoice generation, and business intelligence capabilities.

    $0

    per agent

    Pricing
    GistSherpaDesk
    Editions & Modules
    Professional
    $29.00
    per month
    Premium
    $99.00
    per month
    1st Tech Free
    $0
    per agent
    Adventure Package
    $39
    per agent
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    GistSherpaDesk
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    GistSherpaDesk
    Considered Both Products
    Gist
    No answer on this topic
    SherpaDesk
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    19 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    20 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    GistSherpaDesk
    Chat Analytics and Reports
    Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Gist and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gist
    8.9
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    SherpaDesk
    -
    Ratings
    Chat history and transcripts8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat reporting8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat and web analytics8.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Gist and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    SherpaDesk
    8.5
    3 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings6.82 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings8.93 Ratings
    Ticket response00 Ratings8.93 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of Gist and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    SherpaDesk
    7.3
    1 Ratings
    9% below category average
    External knowledge base00 Ratings5.51 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Gist and SherpaDesk
    Feature
    Gist
    -
    Ratings
    SherpaDesk
    9.1
    2 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Customer portal00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
    Email support00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    GistSherpaDesk
    Small Businesses
    Olark
    Score10 out of 10
    Help Scout
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    GistSherpaDesk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.5
    (112 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    6.7
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.6
    (9 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    GistSherpaDesk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Gist
    If your marketing model is selling products, services, or SAAS where you are doing inbound marketing and your website will do most of the lead generation and conversion, this is a great product. From live chat, support, event tracking, and automation, you could almost put your entire business on autopilot. If your marketing model is mostly outreach to cold leads and conversion, this software currently does not have any type of sales stages or task generation. I would still use Gist for website inbound but use another software for outreach and cold leads then when they become a lead put them into Gist for marketing automation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    [It's] well suited for cloud support applications as there's no installation or maintenance required.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Gist
    • Customer service via a unified inbox so you dont have to separately monitor your twitter, Facebook or IG account for consumer communication there. Gist unified all into one inbox, better than anyone else I've seen in the market. They archive all communications and tie them back to a single user so you get unified customer history / data.
    • Marketing segmentation and automation: they track user history and behavior across the site and have super detailed segmenting capability, on par with ActiveCampaign's, but better I'd say. Better UI for the marketing admin person, and more unified data than in AC.
    • Live chat and chatbot. Usually it's either one or the other but with Gist you can do both seamlessly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    • Ticketing is very fast & easy
    • Tracking time is fast
    Read full review
    Cons
    Gist
    • Plan limits can be confusing. For example, there is a monthly charge for support and a monthly charge for "growth," plus there's a separate charge depending on how many contacts and seats you have. Perhaps this is normal in the industry, but it can make it a little challenging to understand the bill every month.
    • The vast amount of features means development will never be as fast as you'd like it to be (even though they release updates all the time). This may not actually be a valid concern, and it certainly isn't unique to Gist (who doesn't have a wishlist they're waiting on their favorite SaaS to get to?), but I do believe the likelihood of being stuck without your desired feature being developed goes up a lot as the product gets bigger and bigger.
    • Email deliverability has been less than perfect in the past, but it has improved drastically in the last year.
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    • Its ability to switch between tickets, assets, etc., is a little clunky. A static menu bar would be helpful.
    • The ability to see the latest update in the ticket view.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Gist
    Gist is a quite reliable service with a lot of added values. We don't need to pay for different Saas for these important features. If I had an issue the team was super responsive and helpful, that is essential for every business. The email delivery is great, so virtually no email has landed into spam folder
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Gist
    It’s pretty simple, but it does a lot so there are more complicated features which depend on an individuals ability for software implementation. I am not an IT expert and I’ve managed to implement everything myself, others that are more tech-minded may find everything easier.
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Gist
    Fantastic support. Ask a question, get an answer within 24 hours every time. And sometimes within a few minutes. They've always come through for me, helpful and, even when it's an issue on my end, they point me in the right direction.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Gist
    Gist combines all our previous products into one application and adds many more features that would require more apps. Gist is excellent and a no-brainer all-in-one application when compared to having to manage multiple applications at higher cost. The support from the whole Gist team has been extremely responsive.
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    When looking for solutions for our business, I personally looked at Aautotask. I am not the decision maker so I don't know what my boss looked at in full. Autotask seems good. It looked like it got a bit complicated and may be for very large enterprise customers. Just lots of features that we don't need.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Gist
    • They are perfect for me as a someone who needs a lot of bang for the buck. The chat messenger device on my website alone has brought me new prospects that I did not have to spend money recruiting.
    • I am able to save hours of time with the automated emails that are GDPR compliant.
    • I don't have to pay for a designer to have excellent looking emails either.
    Read full review
    SherpaDesk
    • As a single freelance consultant Sherpadesk has exceptional ROI because it's free but if my company had more support people I would definetly go with SherpaDesk again.
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Gist Screenshots

    Screenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of Email MarketingScreenshot of Marketing Automation WorkflowsScreenshot of Knowledge BaseScreenshot of Meetings

    SherpaDesk Screenshots

    Screenshot of Techs get instant access to what needs to be done and how they are performing against their teamScreenshot of Manage all open tickets and sort by priority on what needs to be completed firstScreenshot of Track and enter all billable and non-billable timeScreenshot of Review project progress and profitabilityScreenshot of Create flexible rate plans and compile invoices that can be sent out through QuickBooks or FreshBooks integrationsScreenshot of Update customer requests, add time and expenses remotely