Front and Zendesk both offer robust customer service platforms but differ in focus. Front emphasizes team collaboration within a unified inbox for managing digital channels, appealing for its simplicity and perceived value. Zendesk provides a more extensive suite with specialized tools like voice support, workforce management, and quality assurance, catering to businesses needing a wider range of customer service functionalities beyond shared inbox model, making it suitable for teams prioritizing efficient handling of email, chat, and social media.
Front is better for you if your primary need is streamlining communication across email, chat, and social media within a highly collaborative team environment, and you value straightforward pricing.
Zendesk Support Suite is better for you if you require a broader range of customer service tools, including native phone support (Voice), workforce management (WFM), dedicated quality assurance (QA) features, or extensive integrations, even if it comes at a potentially higher or less flexible cost.
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Front is a customer service platform designed to help businesses manage customer interactions efficiently. It offers a shared inbox that combines email, chat, social media, and other channels into one place. This allows teams to collaborate, automate tasks, and access customer information easily. Front also provides analytics and insights to help businesses improve their customer service operations and measure performance. It's suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline customer support and enhance team collaboration.
Zendesk Support Suite is a customer service software solution designed to help businesses of all sizes provide excellent customer support. It offers a range of tools, including messaging, live chat, AI-powered automation, and a self-service help center. It aims to improve agent productivity, personalize customer interactions across various channels (like social media and email), and streamline workflows to increase efficiency. Zendesk emphasizes data-driven decision-making and boasts a user-friendly interface that integrates with numerous other business applications.
Summary
Main difference
Front centralizes communication in a collaborative shared inbox, ideal for teams managing email, chat, and social media together. Zendesk Support Suite offers a broader set of distinct customer service tools, including dedicated modules for voice, help desk, and analytics.
Relative strengths of Front (compared to Zendesk Support Suite)
Superior Team Collaboration: Front excels with features like internal comments and easy assignments within a shared inbox, making teamwork on customer messages more seamless than Zendesk.
Better Value Perception: User sentiment suggests Front offers better pricing transparency and value compared to Zendesk, which receives criticism for inflexible billing and upselling.
Focused User Experience: Front provides a potentially simpler, more focused interface centered around the unified inbox, which can be easier for teams primarily managing digital communication channels like email and chat.
Relative weaknesses of Front (compared to Zendesk Support Suite)
Lacks Native Voice Channel: Zendesk includes integrated voice capabilities for phone support, a feature not natively available in Front.
Missing Workforce Management Tools: Zendesk offers dedicated tools for managing agent schedules and productivity (WFM), which Front does not include.
No Built-in Quality Assurance Features: Zendesk provides specific features for monitoring and scoring agent interactions for quality assurance, which are absent in Front.
Front helps teams manage customer conversations by bringing emails, chats, and social media into one shared inbox. We've noticed users really appreciate features like snoozing emails and internal commenting for better team collaboration, especially for remote teams. It seems particularly useful for businesses aiming to streamline support and make sure no customer message gets lost, although some users find the rule automation and search function could be improved.
We see Zendesk Support Suite as a solid choice for businesses needing a wide range of customer service tools like messaging, chat, and help centers. Teams appreciate its integration capabilities and automation features which can streamline support. However, it's worth noting that many users report issues with confusing pricing structures and difficulties getting timely help from customer support, which can be a significant drawback for some businesses depending on their needs and resources available resources available service levels of concern for potential buyers evaluating this platform for your needsmajor point
In our experience, Front works well for businesses of all sizes, from small teams just starting out to large enterprises needing coordination.
While Front is versatile across industries, we find it's particularly strong for Software, IT, and Telecommunications companies needing unified support.
We find Zendesk Support Suite is designed to fit businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises looking for comprehensive tools.
In our experience, Zendesk works across many sectors but has a strong presence in tech, retail, finance, education, and healthcare.
Front and Zendesk Support Suite features
Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
AI-powered assistance
10
sources
Supported
Front offers AI-powered features like automated summaries, suggested replies, and task automation.
Supported
Zendesk Support Suite uses AI to automate tasks, suggest replies, and prioritize conversations.
Project Tracking
10
sources
Partially supported
Project tracking is supported via integration with project management tools like Trello, Asana, and ClickUp.
Partially supported
Zendesk can be integrated with project management tools for enhanced tracking but lacks native support.
AI Agents
10
sources
Supported
Front offers AI features like AI Compose, Summarize, and Answers, automating tasks and assisting users within the platform.
Supported
Zendesk Support Suite uses AI-powered virtual assistants to automate tasks and provide support.
Helpdesk integration
10
sources
Supported
Front integrates with helpdesk systems like Zendesk and has API for custom integrations.
Supported
Zendesk Support Suite supports the ability to integrate with helpdesk systems through its integration capabilities and the Zendesk Marketplace.
Slack integration
10
sources
Supported
Front supports connecting its ticketing system with Slack for enhanced communication and notifications.
Supported
Zendesk Support Suite supports the integration with Slack, enabling the connection of the ticketing system with Slack for better communication and notifications.
Shared inbox
10
sources
Supported
Front supports the ability to have a shared team inbox for emails.
Supported
Zendesk Support Suite offers a shared team inbox within its Support product.
Zendesk offers a suite of customer support plans billed per agent, monthly or annually, with a 20% discount for annual billing. They offer a free trial for their Suite Professional plan. Additional add-ons are available to enhance functionality.
Plans
£15Support Team
Get up and running fast with streamlined email support.
£45Suite Team
Automate service with multichannel support and AI.
£89Suite Professional
Optimise operations with data and customisations.
CustomSuite Enterprise
Adapt service safely with change management tools.
The "Snooze" feature is great for clearing the inbox and prioritizing emails.
Tagging rules are very helpful for filtering and organizing emails.
Internal commenting allows for collaboration without cluttering the email thread.
Easy to assign emails to team members for efficient task management.
Seamless integration with a range of other products and platforms.
Strong automation features and configurable workflows.
The platform helps to expedite customer support procedures.
Provides strong automation features and configurable workflows.
Users dislike
Rules can be confusing and don’t always seem to work consistently.
Emails are sometimes missed due to the assigned teammate archiving conversations.
The search function is not very effective, requiring users to sift through many emails.
Mobile app lacks functionalities available on the online version.
Payment methods and structure are convoluted and inflexible.
Account managers are solely focused on making money rather than helping customers.
Unresponsive and evasive support team, often citing vacations as a reason for delays.
Inability to downgrade user numbers in a timely manner, leading to unnecessary charges.
Front and Zendesk Support Suite Ratings
G2
4.7/5
(2121)
Glassdoor
4.5/5
(226)
G2
4.3/5
(2589)
Capterra
4.4/5
(2473)
Glassdoor
3.6/5
(1913)
Company health
Employee growth
35% increase in the last year
13% increase in the last year
Web traffic
56% increase in the last quarter
8% decrease in the last quarter
Financing
January 2022 - $204M
May 2022 - $86M
How do Front's and Zendesk's AI-powered automation features compare in practice?
Both Front and Zendesk offer AI-powered automation features designed to improve efficiency. Front's AI assists with suggesting replies, prioritizing conversations, and automating tasks through rules, though some users report these rules can be confusing or inconsistent in practice. Zendesk provides AI Agents and broader automation tools, which users frequently highlight as strong and configurable, effectively expediting customer support procedures. Based on user feedback, Zendesk's automation capabilities appear to be perceived as more robust and reliable in practical application compared to Front's.
Which product offers more reliable and consistent rule-based automation workflows?
Based on user feedback, Zendesk Support Suite appears to offer more reliable and consistent rule-based automation workflows. Users specifically praise Zendesk's strong automation features and configurable workflows. Conversely, Front users report that its rules can be confusing and do not always seem to work consistently, indicating potential issues with the reliability and predictability of its automation.
What are the advantages of Front?
Front generally receives higher user satisfaction ratings on review sites like G2 and Glassdoor compared to Zendesk Support Suite. It is perceived more positively regarding value, pricing transparency, customer service, and scalability, which are areas where Zendesk faces criticism. Users specifically appreciate Front's features designed for team collaboration within the shared inbox, such as internal commenting and tagging rules, which facilitate efficient communication and task management. Front also benefits from a more positive sentiment surrounding its pricing structure.
What are the disadvantages of Front?
Based on user feedback and non-functional aspects, Front's disadvantages include potential confusion and inconsistency with its automation rules, which can lead to missed emails if teammates archive conversations improperly. Users also report that the search function is not very effective, making it difficult to locate specific emails, and the mobile app lacks some features found in the web version. Furthermore, Front scores poorly on reliability, performance, and ease of implementation.
Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT
management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs
of any business and find solutions to its problems.
TT
Tymon Terlikiewicz
CTO at Gralio
Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech
department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX,
HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.
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