Zendesk Support Suite vs Help Scout

by Gralio Feb 04, 2025

Zendesk and Help Scout are both customer service platforms but cater to different needs. Zendesk offers a wider range of features and integrations for complex support needs, while Help Scout provides a simpler, more affordable solution focused on email and chat.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 5675 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 8 hours, 1 minute of reading.

Logo of Zendesk Support Suite
Zendesk Support Suite
Logo of Help Scout
Help Scout

About

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.
Help Scout is a customer service platform designed for growing businesses. It provides a shared inbox to manage customer emails, live chat, and self-service tools like a knowledge base. Help Scout helps teams stay organized, respond faster, and track performance. It's known for being user-friendly and easy to set up, unlike more complex help desk software.

Summary

Main difference
Zendesk Support Suite is a better choice for businesses needing robust omnichannel support, extensive integrations, and advanced reporting. Help Scout is preferable for businesses prioritizing a simple, user-friendly platform with a focus on email and live chat support, especially those valuing ease of use and setup.

Relative strengths of Zendesk Support Suite (compared to Help Scout)

  • Stronger omnichannel support (social media, email, chat, etc.)

  • Extensive integrations with various business applications (Salesforce, Jira, etc.)

  • Advanced reporting and analytics with Zendesk Explore

Relative weaknesses of Zendesk Support Suite (compared to Help Scout)

  • More complex setup and potentially steeper learning curve

  • Higher cost, especially with more agents

  • Some users report issues with billing and support responsiveness

Who should use Zendesk Support Suite VS. Help Scout

Zendesk Support Suite is a customer service platform ideal for businesses prioritizing omnichannel support. Users praise its integrations and automation, while some dislike the pricing structure and support responsiveness. It offers tools like messaging, live chat, and AI-powered automation to improve agent productivity and personalize customer interactions.

Help Scout is a user-friendly customer service platform ideal for growing businesses. It offers a shared inbox, live chat, and self-service tools. Users praise its clean interface and ease of use, while some find the mobile app lacking. Perfect for small to medium businesses seeking an affordable, email-centric solution.

  • Best for small to enterprise-level businesses seeking streamlined customer service.

  • Ideal for industries like tech, retail, finance, education, and healthcare that prioritize multi-channel customer service.

  • Best for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) seeking affordable and user-friendly customer service software.

  • Suitable for various sectors, including e-commerce, retail, healthcare, and more.

Zendesk Support Suite and Help Scout features

Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
  • Shared Inbox
    Supported

    Zendesk Support Suite provides a shared inbox for emails, and potentially social messages via integrations.

    Supported

    Help Scout offers a shared inbox for emails, social messages, and team collaboration.

  • Automated Email Organization
    Supported

    Zendesk Support Suite automatically sorts, labels, and assigns emails using triggers and automations.

    Supported

    Help Scout supports automatic sorting, labeling, and assigning of emails.

  • Team Alignment
    Supported

    Zendesk supports team alignment with customizable workflows, canned responses, and a knowledge base.

    Supported

    Help Scout keeps teams organized with customizable workflows, canned responses, and articles.

  • Helpdesk integration
    Supported

    Zendesk Support Suite supports the ability to integrate with helpdesk systems through its integration capabilities and the Zendesk Marketplace.

    Supported

    Help Scout integrates with helpdesk systems, offering features like shared inbox and integrations with knowledge bases.

  • Slack integration
    Supported

    Zendesk Support Suite supports the integration with Slack, enabling the connection of the ticketing system with Slack for better communication and notifications.

    Supported

    Help Scout integrates with Slack, allowing for notifications about tickets and customer interactions.

  • Real-time dashboards
    Supported

    Zendesk Support Suite supports real-time dashboards for monitoring key performance indicators such as current ticket volume, agent availability, and chat activity, both natively and through integrations.

    Partially supported

    Help Scout does not natively support real-time dashboards but can be integrated with third-party tools like Plecto, Geckoboard, and Numerics to achieve this functionality.

Qualities

  • Value and Pricing Transparency
    -0.71
    Strongly negative sentiment
    No data
  • Customer Service
    +0.49
    Rather positive sentiment
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Ease of Use
    +0.8
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.71
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Reliability and Performance
    +0.28
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.2
    Neutral sentiment
  • Ease of Implementation
    +0.24
    Neutral sentiment
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Scalability
    +0.03
    Neutral sentiment
    No data
Zendesk Support Suite and Help Scout Pricing
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

User sentiment

Strongly negative
-0.71

See full Pricing page

Help Scout offers a Free, Standard, and Plus plan for their customer service software. All plans include unlimited users, and pricing is based on the number of conversations per month. They offer a fair billing policy, prorating unused conversations when upgrading or downgrading plans.
Plans

See full Pricing page

Zendesk Support Suite and Help Scout review insights

5655 reviews analysed from and

Users love

  • 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.
  • Clean and simple user interface.
  • Easy to set up and use.
  • Excellent customer support.
  • Useful saved replies and workflows.

Users dislike

  • 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.
  • The mobile app is underwhelming with limited functionality.
  • The "previous conversation" on the right side isn\'t always accurate.
  • Saved replies are crippled: all images are stripped from the reply.
  • The integration with our CRM could be improved.

Zendesk Support Suite and Help Scout Ratings

  • G2
    4.3/5
    (2564)
  • Capterra
    4.4/5
    (2473)
  • Glassdoor
    3.6/5
    (1913)
  • G2
    4.4/5
    (404)
  • Capterra
    4.7/5
    (214)
  • TrustPilot
    3.8/5
    (20)
  • Glassdoor
    3.2/5
    (40)

Company health

Employee growth

10% increase in the last year
14% increase in the last year

Web traffic

11% increase in the last quarter
35% decrease in the last quarter

Financing

July 2022 - $86M
No data

How do Zendesk's AI-powered automations compare to Help Scout's workflows?

Zendesk's AI-powered automations are more robust and diverse than Help Scout's workflows. While Help Scout offers basic automation through workflows for tasks like assigning conversations and canned responses, Zendesk provides more advanced AI-driven capabilities like Answer Bot, which can automatically suggest relevant knowledge base articles to customers and agents, and advanced workflow configurations for complex routing and automation scenarios. Essentially, Help Scout's automation is simpler and focuses on streamlining routine tasks, while Zendesk offers more sophisticated AI-powered options for a wider range of automation needs.

Which product better integrates with existing tools for a growing business?

Zendesk offers more robust integrations with a wider variety of third-party applications, making it better suited for a growing business that likely utilizes diverse tools. While Help Scout is praised for its simplicity and ease of use, its integrations are less extensive than Zendesk's, potentially limiting its scalability and interoperability with other business systems as the company grows. Zendesk's emphasis on data-driven decision-making through its reporting and analytics features also provides valuable insights for scaling businesses.

What are the advantages of Zendesk Support Suite?

Zendesk Support Suite offers a broader range of features than Help Scout, including AI-powered automation, real-time dashboards, and a self-service portal, making it suitable for businesses needing robust automation and reporting capabilities. Zendesk also boasts wider integration options through its marketplace, allowing for greater flexibility and connectivity with other business applications. While Help Scout emphasizes simplicity and ease of use, Zendesk provides more advanced tools for managing and analyzing customer interactions, which can be crucial for scaling customer support operations and making data-driven decisions.

What are the disadvantages of Zendesk Support Suite?

Zendesk Support Suite users report convoluted and inflexible payment methods, unhelpful account managers focused on upselling, unresponsive support, and difficulty downgrading user licenses leading to unnecessary costs. Some users also find the pricing structure to be higher than alternatives for similar functionality.

Is Zendesk Support Suite cheaper than Help Scout?

No, Zendesk Support Suite is not cheaper than Help Scout. Zendesk's cheapest paid plan starts at £15 per agent per month, while Help Scout's paid plans start at $50 per month for unlimited users. Even with multiple agents, Help Scout's flat rate pricing could be considerably less expensive than Zendesk's per-agent cost.

Alternatives to Zendesk Support Suite and Help Scout

Logo of Freshdesk
Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a customer service software designed for businesses of all sizes. It brings together all customer interactions - like emails, chats, and social media - into a single platform. Freshdesk helps automate tasks such as assigning tickets and offers helpful insights through reporting and analytics. Its focus on automation and user-friendly design aims to make customer service smoother and more efficient.
Logo of HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot Marketing Hub is a comprehensive marketing platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It offers a suite of tools including email marketing, marketing automation, social media management, analytics, and SEO optimization, all within a single platform. This helps businesses streamline their marketing efforts, improve efficiency, and track results. Its focus on inbound marketing and lead generation makes it a popular choice for businesses looking to attract and convert leads into customers. HubSpot Marketing Hub integrates seamlessly with HubSpot's CRM platform for enhanced sales and marketing alignment.
Logo of Re:amaze
Re:amaze
Re:amaze is a customer service software that combines live chat, email, social media, and messaging into one platform. It helps businesses manage customer support across different channels, automate tasks like sending messages, and track customer interactions. Features include a knowledge base, customer satisfaction surveys, and integrations with popular business apps. Re:amaze is suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline their customer service and improve efficiency.
Logo of ClickUp
ClickUp
ClickUp is a comprehensive work management platform designed to consolidate various work processes into one centralized location. It offers a wide array of features including task management, project planning, document collaboration, communication tools, goal setting, and automation options. ClickUp aims to enhance team collaboration, improve visibility across projects, and streamline workflows for increased productivity regardless of team size or industry.
Logo of HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service platform designed to help businesses manage customer interactions and improve satisfaction. It offers tools like a shared inbox, live chat, and automation to streamline support processes. The platform focuses on providing a unified view of the customer journey and uses AI to automate tasks and provide insights. HubSpot Service Hub aims to help businesses scale their customer service operations efficiently, leading to improved customer retention and business growth.
Logo of ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a marketing automation platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It helps you create personalized customer journeys across various channels like email, SMS, and ads. You can automate repetitive tasks, track customer behavior, and improve your marketing campaigns with its CRM and sales automation features. ActiveCampaign integrates with over 900 popular business tools and offers a wide range of pre-built templates and automation recipes to streamline your marketing efforts.

How are we doing?

Is this information helpful to you? Is there anything we are missing?
Did this help you select your product?
Other issues? Vote & Let us know