Shopify vs. Zendesk Suite

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Shopify
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Shopify is a commerce platform designed for both online stores and retail locations. Shopify offers a professional online storefront, a payment solution to accept credit cards, and the Shopify POS application to power retail sales.
$39
per month
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
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Editions & Modules
Basic Shopify
$39
per month
Grow
$105
per month
Advanced
$399
per month
Shopify Plus
2,000
per month
Shopify Plus
2,300
per month
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
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsA 25% discount is offered for annual billing.20% discount available with annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Considered Both Products
Shopify
Chose Shopify
It’s better than WooCommerce, in my opinion, and the best opinion overall for e-commerce
Chose Shopify
Shopify seemed to be more intuitive and more customizable. It seemed to fit a little more in what the company sought, and ended up being our choice, even despite a higher price. The company ended up opting for Shopify by putting everything in the balance and deciding that its …
Chose Shopify
WooCommerce seems to have a more robust e-commerce store management suite--in regards to inventory management, processing, and shipping, WooCommerce has the upper hand. On the other hand, Shopify shines in its breadth of features--it's more powerful when it comes to …
Zendesk Suite
Chose Zendesk Suite
Gorgias is easier to set-up and use on a basic level, however doesn't offer as many customizations. Zendesk Suite is a better choice for our scale, and the needs of reporting.
Chose Zendesk Suite
Overall, the ease of system admin that is done within the Support team, the reasonable license cost for multi-channel support and ability to create custom brand dashboards and needed reports, along with the helpful client support we get- made it an easy decision to purchase and …
Chose Zendesk Suite
In my experience, I prefer Zendesk Support Suite over Salesforce. I feel that it's much more user friendly across the board. My biggest complaint is the user navigation frustrations that I run into with Salesforce. I feel like Zendesk Support Suite is much more intuitive on …
Chose Zendesk Suite
Zendesk has been easy to implement and evolve over time. They have launched more online Client learning sessions and occasionally offer in-person local client group sessions to aid in our learning. They offer their training modules for free. The key is we can create the needed …
Chose Zendesk Suite
They are complimentary, we use both, as each has its own features.
Chose Zendesk Suite
Zendesk is more established than these two companies and provides a more robust solution for multi-channel support. Intercom is better suited for chat support and Freshdesk doesn't offer as many features and Zendesk does.
Features
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.4
149 Ratings
8% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Product catalog & listings8.8149 Ratings00 Ratings
Product management8.2147 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk product upload8.3125 Ratings00 Ratings
Branding8.5146 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile storefront9.1142 Ratings00 Ratings
Product variations8.0139 Ratings00 Ratings
Website integration8.7140 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual customization8.6146 Ratings00 Ratings
CMS7.6118 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.5
141 Ratings
11% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Abandoned cart recovery8.2131 Ratings00 Ratings
Checkout user experience8.8139 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
9.4
143 Ratings
12% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
eCommerce security9.4143 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.3
146 Ratings
8% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Promotions & discounts8.6140 Ratings00 Ratings
Personalized recommendations8.432 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO8.0135 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.1
147 Ratings
1% above category average
Zendesk Suite
-
Ratings
Multi-site management6.719 Ratings00 Ratings
Order processing9.0144 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory management7.6143 Ratings00 Ratings
Shipping8.4135 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom functionality8.7136 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.8
173 Ratings
7% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.3172 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings8.2118 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings8.7119 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.2122 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings9.4173 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings9.2172 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.2
157 Ratings
2% above category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings8.1151 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings8.3144 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
Zendesk Suite
8.8
169 Ratings
10% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings9.1138 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings8.471 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings8.4112 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings9.3166 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings9.0128 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Small Businesses
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
SysAid
SysAid
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(161 ratings)
9.1
(208 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(16 ratings)
10.0
(43 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(15 ratings)
8.8
(82 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(14 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(11 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
5.6
(31 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
6.4
(10 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(19 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ShopifyZendesk Suite
Likelihood to Recommend
Shopify
Shopify allowed us to handle matrix items and combined listings. Both of which we could not do on our previous platform. There was some customization involved but overall, it did what we needed it to. The one downside was that if we want to change anything we would have to reload the entire set of matrix items manually.
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
Shopify
  • It's base security and integration with trusted security partners (such as NoFraud) is a game-changer when it comes to reliability and a "hands off approach" for our IT department. The up-time is also very good.
  • It offers a wide range of verified plugins that are (for the most part) easy to install and use for any specific scenario you're looking for.
  • It's Analytics area in the admin is actually nice and offers a wide variety of reports that you can run.
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
Shopify
  • I would love it if Shopify built an in house app which helped us post UGCs and social proof from platforms such as Instagram, Youtube etc. more seamlessly on our website. Right now, we are able to do it through third party apps but the look and feel is just okay.
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
Shopify
Nothing we have used in the past or have seen thus far even comes close to offering what we get with Shopify Plus, especially for the price. You cannot even come close to getting what we are getting at the price we pay. We are beyond thrilled and Shopify Plus meets and exceeds all of our needs and expectations. We love it!
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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
Shopify
It is fairly easy to use Shopify regardless of what task you are attempting to perform. Most things are customizable to a degree without requiring coding ability. I have very limited coding experience and have still been able to navigate my way around changing features of the website that require edits to the code with the use of AI and trial-and-error. This previously wasn't possible with the WooCommerce platform.
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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
Shopify
Shopify support is always available when you need them.
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.
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Performance
Shopify
Shopify website speed is quite impressive. Even if we integrate couple apps, it does not hamper the site speed.
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.
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Support Rating
Shopify
In terms of support I give Shopify a 9 out of 10 because they're always very friendly and thorough, and they personally can't solve my problem for me they always point me in the proper direction with the proper information I need to move forward
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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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Online Training
Shopify
Shopify offered us several trainings to setup a Shopify store, how to build a brand, SEO, product photography etc. All this content have been super helpful in our journey.
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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
Shopify
Just start now and make the switch, the sooner the better. You will love it and it is really a simple process
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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
Shopify
Big Commerce and SAP Hybris are two other platforms we've investigated and Shopify is by far easiest to use and customize. While it doesn't do everything out of the box, the apps do fill in many gaps. The cost however, is probably the biggest selling point against these other two options.
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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.
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Scalability
Shopify
Shopify has basic to high-end plans. The plans grow with the brand`s growth and I love that about Shopify.
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Zendesk
WHY we will use Zendesk in HR and PD internally
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Return on Investment
Shopify
  • It got the store up quickly so the client could start selling. She was previously selling products on Etsy and Facebook and wanted to consolidate everything onto one website, so the main thing Shopify solved was to reduce the store owner's time in managing all her products on multiple sites. Also, we had previously built a website on Wix with all the custom functionality and branding she needed - a truly great, high-end website - but it performed so slowly that it was unusable. So the speed at which Shopify can be set up and then works on the page is appreciable.
  • The website was manageable by the client - she could figure the system out herself after a while so she saved money on costs for hiring developers. She did have to hire developers to customize some of the plug-ins but costs are all relative; it wasn't a high investment compared to building a full e-commerce website. With the complexity and size of her product base and the functionality and branding she wanted to have in a website, and the potential of her business, she would have needed to invest well over $10,000 to get to where she really needs to be. In the end she kept the budget under $5000.00.
  • Costs kept climbing with plug-ins having to be added with everything. My client became more involved in building the website and began to try multiple plugins, and she did not have the skill base to evaluate the plugins functionalities so she chose plugins that did not do everything she needed, and then ended up paying the plugin developers to customize the plugins. So on one hand, it's pretty amazing to be able to bring up an e-commerce website as quickly as a week or so, but on the other hand if you need anything customized or deeper functionality in regards to product searching and filtering on the web page, and management on the backend, it quickly goes beyond the skills of the average person to manage, and above their expected budget as well. In the end my client really did not get anything close to the functionality for the website we had originally envisioned.
  • Shopify was the easiest way we could find to bring the client's products to a global market. We evaluated several other platforms and the functionality simple did not seem to be adequate, so Shopify seemed like the only solution that could do enough of what we needed and still stay within this client's budget. Really the problem in this project was not platform per se but that the budget wasn't large enough. Shopify managed to provide a solution for an ecommerce store with thousands of products on a tiny budget, so in the sense of pure functionality it provided the best value of all the platforms we evaluated. The solution still isn't big enough for this client's business though so, without having insights into this client's post-build sales results, my guess is that because her new website did not make her products easier to sort through, and she likely didn't have much more budget left to invest in SEO and other marketing of the website, her sales probably didn't increase substantially as a result of having built the website. So I think this project all in all did not likely have a high ROI.
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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

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