TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Help Scout

    Score9.3 out of 10
    N/AHelp Scout is help desk software. The vendor’s value proposition is that that their solution reduces time spent on training users because Help Scout is simple to use and set up and scales like any enterprise product. This solution includes multiple mailboxes to support as many email addresses as needed in order to work collaboratively across teams, and manage several products or brands from one account. Reports on conversation trends, team performance, productivity, and customer happiness are…

    $30

    per month starts with 100 contacts

    Zendesk Chat

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AZendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is a live chat tool developed by the Singaporean company also called Zopim, acquired by Zendesk in April 2014.

    $11.20

    per month

    Pricing
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Editions & Modules
    Standard
    $30
    per month starts with 100 contacts
    Plus
    $90
    per month starts with 200 contacts
    Company
    Contact sales team
    Lite
    $0
    per user
    Basic
    $14
    per user
    Advanced
    $25
    per user
    Premium
    $55
    per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsThe pricing above is price per user per month. You will get a discount when you opt for annual payment.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Considered Both Products
    Help Scout
    Chose Help Scout
    This is tricky because there's helpdesk apps and chat apps (now Help Scout offers both).

    We first used just an email inbox (of course not scalable but we were very small), then we turned to Freshdesk, which was painful to use. It had some cool features but in general it was …
    Incentivized
    Zendesk
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    8 Answers
    94%
    Would buy again
    15 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    8 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    15 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    12 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    93%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Features
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Help Scout and Zendesk Chat
    Feature
    Help Scout
    8.7
    23 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Zendesk Chat
    -
    Ratings
    Organize and prioritize service tickets9.123 Ratings00 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications8.113 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Ticket response9.522 Ratings00 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of Help Scout and Zendesk Chat
    Feature
    Help Scout
    8.5
    21 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Zendesk Chat
    -
    Ratings
    External knowledge base8.720 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base8.219 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Help Scout and Zendesk Chat
    Feature
    Help Scout
    8.5
    23 Ratings
    6% above category average
    Zendesk Chat
    -
    Ratings
    Email support9.623 Ratings00 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration7.415 Ratings00 Ratings
    Chat Analytics and Reports
    Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Help Scout and Zendesk Chat
    Feature
    Help Scout
    -
    Ratings
    Zendesk Chat
    8.4
    5 Ratings
    3% below category average
    Chat history and transcripts00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
    Chat reporting00 Ratings8.65 Ratings
    Chat and web analytics00 Ratings8.54 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Small Businesses
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Olark
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Zoho SalesIQ
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Genesys DX (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.6
    (23 ratings)
    8.6
    (23 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (6 ratings)
    7.0
    (5 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.4
    (3 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Help ScoutZendesk Chat
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Help Scout
    Small businesses that want a conversational type of customer support experience. Nothing wrong with support tickets, but it does make you feel like a number. Also, we needed to get up and running quickly so the "inbox" feel of the dashboard was already familiar with the team so they could adopt the new software quickly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    Zendesk Chat is suited for all the support teams that provide real-time assistance. Like if someone wants to block the debit/credit card, it is a high-priority case that needs real-time assistance. Whereas issues like close my account, and invoice request doesn't need real-time assistance, where Zendesk tickets support will be perfect.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Help Scout
    • Extremely simple to use and understand as a user - treats communications like human beings and provides a much more personal feel to communication (as opposed to making people feel like numbers).
    • The email newsletter.
    • They are super responsive. They are pretty rad and transparent: if something goes wrong on their end they are not afraid of admitting fault. Which leads me to trust them because I can believe them. I know that tells you very little about the product, but as leadership, that's something that I really need
    • Help Scout does exactly what it needs to (facilitate organized, efficient conversations between customers and support people) without getting in the way.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    • Extremely fluid chat interface allows for easy communication.
    • It can be used directly on a website page or as a widget.
    • Allows the end user to translate the chat into their own native language.
    • Notifies you with pending chats via on-screen notifications and sound effects.
    Read full review
    Cons
    Help Scout
    • Trying to group tickets is a bit unflexible. You can create folders which can be part of a workflow (automatic trigger) but you can't create a folder based on tags. This needs to be improved because there's a need to create smarter segments and mix them.
    • Metrics are useful but there needs to be more details about them. You can drill down in some but others are still not very actionable or visible (ok, that number went down, but what was the cause? what's the criteria with what you measure that?)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    • Linking with a telephone, so the agent is only working on 1 channel at a time
    • More simplified way to create and use templates
    • Link users who may have provided us a new/different email from what we have on file for them
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Help Scout
    We are receiving feedback from the organizational level that they may want us to transition to a different solution to provide consistency across the company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    Due to staffing issues, we have temporarily stopped offering chat as an available channel. We're also interested in the best ways to integrate chat with our FAQs and AI to provide quick responses, either during off-hours or prior to speaking with a live agent. I've also found that reporting is rather limited where some of the interesting and useful data made available and visible during the chat cannot be pulled post-chat; it would be great to pull a high-level report so we can analyze this data.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Help Scout
    Help Scout is a great solution for support teams. There are many articles and webinars to help you learn how to use Help Scout. There are also many features to help make your workflows easier and more efficient. I would readily recommend Help Scout to any small or medium-growing support teams.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    As mentioned previously, it's a clunky product that lacks user-friendliness. It feels old and behind the times compared to other products we have used. The inability to have a wrap-up time before a new chat comes in is also a big issue for our team.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Help Scout
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    Getting assistance and/or troubleshooting anything with Zendesk can be quite frustrating. In my years of experience with Zednesk, I have almost never found the answer to my question without going through multiple articles, ultimately getting frustrated and reaching out to our contact for more assistance. So for a consumer, the support is not as relieving as Zendesk Chat is to our customers in getting the questions answered by us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Help Scout
    Only have minimal experience with G-Suite for a much smaller company. This worked well for that organization but did not have similar specialization functions that suite our larger organization very well. Help Scout's pricing makes sense, and continues to service our needs well. Minimal usage of other programs, but have no need to explore alternatives at this time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    Zendesk Chat is far more user friendly than some of the other competitors on the market. It has a very all the features that you require to ensure your customers are contacted in 'real time'. Its main tools include a live chat interface for quick communication, customisable chat widgets to fit your brand, mobile responsiveness for all devices, and canned responses for common questions. The platform can also start chats based on visitor actions, like time on a page or exit intent. A real must for any leading company
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Help Scout
    • We are able to retain our customer base due to the outstanding customer service our Customer Experience department provides. Without an organized tool like Help Scout, this would not be possible. We pride ourselves in quick response times to customers and are able to do so by effectively routing tickets to the right agents.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    • Positive impact - Compared to our old system, this newly updated system provides features and functionality that has increased our agent productivity and provided customer insight like we've never had before. This has resulted in fewer hold times and higher customer satisfaction.
    • Negative impact - Our reporting team still struggles with obtaining the right information from time to time with the chats. This leads to loss of productivity and more resources dedicated to reporting.
    • Positive impact - Due to Zopim's embed, we are able to more successfully place them on the appropriate self-service portals and pages, reaching a larger audience, and being more readily available to answer our client's questions. This has resulted in an increase in our self-service portal usage, driving down the phone and email support channels, which in turn reduces support costs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Help Scout Screenshots

    Screenshot of Build better relationships with your customers, and work together better as a teamScreenshot of Tools designed specifically for team collaboration on customer supportScreenshot of Docs Knowledge Base provides self-service that sets your customers up for successScreenshot of The conversation report can change the conversation with your customers from problems to praise by pinpointing what they write in about and when.Screenshot of Productivity Reports track your team's customer-helping velocity and identify sticking points to push through with even greater momentum.Screenshot of Happiness Reports are the closest you can get to your customer's true feelings without hiring a telepath.

    Zendesk Chat Screenshots

    Screenshot of How Zopim Chat Widget looks on the website.Screenshot of This is how the chat window looks like to your visitorsScreenshot of This is a screenshot of the visitor list.Product screenshot