The main difference between Zendesk and Help Scout lies in their approach to customer support. Zendesk offers a comprehensive, feature-rich platform suitable for larger enterprises with a focus on scalability and customization. Its robust integrations and automation capabilities cater to complex workflows. On the other hand, Help Scout simplifies support processes and makes it a more user-friendly option for small to mid-sized businesses. It emphasizes a human-centered approach that fosters personal and meaningful customer interactions. So, the choice between the two depends on company size, needs, and the level of customization required.
In this versus, we compare Zendesk vs Help Scout in-depth to help you choose one of them. If you want to know more details, we recommend you to read our Zendesk review and Help Scout review.
However, you can also directly find the Best Knowledge Base Software, we list them by ranking (based on our review rating), you can find all the comparisons we made and we explain how you should choose the proper one.
Here is what we will talk about in the rest of this article:
Quick overview
Zendesk vs Help Scout at a Glance
To make your choice quick and efficient, here is a short summary about our comparison of Zendesk vs Help Scout. Find out their ratings, features, prices and then discover the winner of the versus.
Pros and Cons comparison
Zendesk Review – A Great Customer Support Tool
Specifications comparison
| Details | Zendesk | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Analytics / Knowledge Base / Live chat | Integrations / Live chat / Real-time messaging |
| Best suited for | Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Large enterprises | Small businesses, Mid size businesses, Large enterprises |
| Website languages | English | English |
| Website URL | Visit official website | Visit official website |
| Support link | Support page | Support page |
| Support email | contact@zendesk.com | contact@helpscout.com |
| Live chat | No | Yes |
| Company address | San Francisco, California | Boston |
| Year founded | 2007 | 2011 |
Pricing comparison
Compare the price between Zendesk vs Help Scout
Find out which software has the best valuable pricing, which one offers a free trial and money back guarantee.
| Pricing comparison | Zendesk | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing range | From $19/month to $215/month | From $20/month to $65/month |
| Pricing types | Annual subscription / Monthly subscription | Annual subscription / Monthly subscription |
| Free plan | No | No |
| Free trial | Yes, 14 days | Yes, 15 days |
| Money back guarantee | No | Yes, 30 days |
| Pricing page link | See plans | See plans |
Zendesk Pricing details
Zendesk has two pricing options:
- Zendesk for service: This includes plans for everyone and plans for enterprises.
- Zendesk for sales: This includes Zendesk Sell Team, Zendesk Sell Growth, Zendesk Sell Professional and Zendesk Sell Enterprise
The detailed pricing plans are as follows.
Zendesk for service Plans for everyone:
1. Suite Team – US $49 per agent per month, billed annually
- Industry-leading ticketing system
- Messaging across web, mobile and social
- Email, voice, SMS, and live chat support
- Help center – SINGLE
- Easy-to-set up automation & workflows
- AI-powered automated answers – UP TO 50
- Unified agent workspace
- Reporting and analytics – PREBUILT
- Data and file storage – STANDARD
- 1,000+ apps and integrations – PREBUILT
- Robust APIs – STANDARD RATE LIMIT
- Online support from the Zendesk team
- Onboarding and adoption guidance
2. Suite Growth – US $79 per agent per month, billed annually
- Industry-leading ticketing system
- Messaging across web, mobile and social
- Email, voice, SMS, and live chat support
- Help center – MULTIPLE
- Easy-to-set up automation & workflows with additional options
- AI-powered automated answers – UP TO 100
- Unified agent workspace
- Reporting and analytics – PREBUILT
- Data and file storage – INTERMEDIATE
- 1,000+ apps and integrations – PREBUILT & CUSTOM
- Robust APIs – ADVANCED RATE LIMIT
- Online support from the Zendesk team
- Onboarding and adoption guidance
- Self-service customer portal
- AI-powered knowledge management
- Customizable ticket layouts
- Light access licenses – UP TO 50
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
- Multilingual support and content
3. Suite Professional – US $99 per agent per month, billed annually
- Industry-leading ticketing system
- Messaging across web, mobile and social
- Email, voice, SMS, and live chat support
- Help center – MULTIPLE
- Easy-to-set up automation & workflows with additional options
- AI-powered automated answers – UP TO 500
- Unified agent workspace
- Reporting and analytics – PREBUILT & CUSTOM
- Data and file storage – INTERMEDIATE
- 1,000+ apps and integrations – PREBUILT & CUSTOM
- Robust APIs – ADVANCED RATE LIMIT
- Online support from the Zendesk team
- Onboarding and adoption guidance
- Self-service customer portal
- AI-powered knowledge management
- Customizable ticket layouts
- Light access licenses – UP TO 100
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
- Multilingual support and content
- Conversation routing based on agent skill
- Integrated community forums
- Private conversation threads
- Customizable and shareable dashboards
- Advanced voice capabilities
- Data Location Options
- HIPAA compliance
- Events Connector for Amazon Web Services
Zendesk for service Plans for the enterprise
Suite Enterprise – US $150
- Advanced knowledge management
- Custom team roles and permissions
- Customizable agent workspaces
- Customizable branding for web conversations
- Light access licenses – UP TO 1000
- Live data and external dashboard sharing
- Sandbox environment for change management
- Robust APIs – ENTERPRISE RATE LIMIT
Zendesk Sales Pricing
- Zendesk Sell Team
- Customizable sales pipeline
- Email integration with tracking
- Calendar integration
- Task and appointment setting
- Document storage—2GB/user
- Call tracking and recording and text messages
- Offline mobile access
- Pre-built sales dashboards
- Public apps and integrations
- Robust APIs—core
- Onboarding and adoption resources
- Zendesk Sell Growth
- Customizable sales pipeline
- Email integration with tracking + bulk emailing and unlimited templates
- Calendar integration
- Task and appointment setting
- Document storage—5GBuser
- Call tracking and recording and text messages
- Offline mobile access
- Pre-built sales dashboards
- Public + private apps and integrations
- Robust APIs—core + premium
- Onboarding and adoption resources
- Custom sales reports and dashboards
- Sales forecasting and goals tracking
- Advanced activity reports
- Product and price book
- 1000 enrichment credits per user/month
- 25 prospecting credits per user/month
- Zendesk Sell Professional
- Customizable sales pipeline
- Email integration with tracking + bulk emailing and unlimited templates
- Calendar integration
- Task and appointment setting
- Document storage—10GB/user
- Call tracking and recording and text messages
- Offline mobile access
- Pre-built sales dashboards
- Public + private apps and integrations
- Robust APIs—core + premium
- Onboarding and adoption resources
- Custom sales reports and dashboards
- Sales forecasting and goals tracking
- Advanced activity reports
- Product and price book
- 3500 enrichment credits per user/month
- 150 prospecting credits per user/month
- Lead and deal scoring
- Task automation
- Advanced roles and permissions
- Company hierarchy
- Zendesk Sell Enterprise
- Account Management
- Sales Tracking
- Automation and Activity Tracking
- Sales engagement tools
- Communication
- Mobile
- Collaboration
- API, apps and integrations
- Reporting and Analytics
- Data
- Support
Help Scout Pricing details
There are two pricing for Help Scout: Monthly and Annually.
Monthly plan:
- Standard $25 per user per month
- Plus $50 per user per month
- Pro – Contact them in a link
Annual plan:
- Standard $20 per user per month
- Plus $40 per user per month
- Pro $65 per user per month
Monthly Plans:
Standard: $25 per user per month
- 2 Mailboxes
- 1 Doc site
- Up to 25 users
- Live chat
- In-app messaging(See Pricing)
- Beacon help widget
- Custom reports
- Automated workflows
- Customer properties
- API and 50+ integrations
Plus: $50 per user per month
- 5 Mailboxes
- 2 Docs sites
- No maximum user count
- 25 light users
- Custom fields
- Teams
- Advanced permissions
- Unlimited reporting history
- Advanced API access
- Salesforce, Jira, HubSpot apps
- HIPAA compliance
- Enterprise security
Pro Plan:
Available only for annual payments.
Annual Plans:
Standard: $20 per user per month
- 2 Mailboxes
- 1 Doc site
- Up to 25 users
- Live chat
- In-app messaging(See Pricing)
- Beacon help widget
- Custom reports
- Automated workflows set up rules to filter emails and automate actions
- Customer propertiesEnrich customer profiles with custom attributes
- API and 50+ integrations
Plus: $40 per user per month
- 5 Mailboxes
- 2 Docs sites
- No maximum user count
- 25 light users
- TeamsAssign
- Advanced API (access400 API calls per minute and access reporting endpoints)
- HIPAA compliance
- Enterprise security
Pro: $65 per user per month
- 25 Mailboxes
- 10 Docs sites
- 50 light
- Enterprise security
- HIPAA compliance
- API rate limit increase
- Concierge onboarding service
- Dedicated account manager
Zendesk and Help Scout had different pricing structures. Zendesk offers two different pricing structures, one is complete suite and other is for sales only. The Zendesk suite plans start from $55 per agent per month and the Zendesk sell plans start at $19 per agent per month. Suite plans are expensive but they fulfill the needs of larger enterprises. On the other han, Help Scout offers simpler pricing with only three plans which Standard, Plus, and Pro. It offers more transparent and cost-effective pricing which starts at around $20 per user per month for the Standard plan. So, if we compare it to the sell plan of Zendesk, we can see that Zendesk offers lesser pricing which makes it winner.
🏆 Winner: Zendesk
Learn more in the section below with our comparison of the different features of Zendesk vs Help Scout .
Features comparison
We highlight the main differences between Zendesk vs Help Scout
Here is a quick summary of the differences between the features and services offered by Zendesk vs Help Scout:
Features overview
In this section, we will compare only the big differences between Zendesk and Help Scout, and we will assign a winner for each feature or service.
So we will compare first:
- Pricing and Affordability
- Customer Support
- Automation
- Integration
- Reporting and Analytics
Pricing and Affordability
Zendesk offers more budget-friendly options, that are less costly and are especially designed for all kinds of businesses. Whereas Help Scount has expensive pricing plans as compared to Zendesk. So, in terms of pricing and affordability, Zendesk has a clear edge as it is less costly as compared to Help Scount.
🏆 Winner: Zendesk
Customer Support
Zendesk offers a number of customer support tools, including ticketing, live chat, knowledge base, etc. It provides advanced features for managing and scaling customer support operations. On the other hand, Help Scout focuses on providing a simpler and more user-friendly customer support solution. It offers features such as shared email inboxes, knowledge base, and a strong emphasis on personal and meaningful customer interactions. So, Zendesk is the winner.
🏆 Winner: Zendesk
Automation
Zendesk provides extensive automation capabilities and allows you to set up rules and workflows. This feature is well-suited for large organizations with complex support needs. On the other hand, Help Scout offers basic automation features, primarily focusing on email automation. It’s more user-friendly but may not have the depth of automation options that Zendesk provides.
🏆 Winner: Zendesk
Integration
Zendesk offers a wide range of integrations with third-party tools and applications which makes it highly adaptable to various business environments. Whereas Help Scout also provides integrations, but its selection may be more limited compared to Zendesk.
🏆 Winner: Zendesk
Reporting and Analytics
Zendesk offers comprehensive reporting and analytics tools that allow you to track various metrics related to your customer support operations. On the other hand, Help Scout provides basic reporting and analytics features, which are more straightforward and user-friendly.
🏆 Winner: Zendesk
User Reviews
Find out what current users think about Zendesk and Help Scout
If you need some external reviews of Ciroapp, you can read the reviews written by their users. Feel free to add your own on these platforms once you are an experienced user of Zendesk or Help Scout, to help our community to choose.
Zendesk Reviews
Zendesk Review – A Great Customer Support Tool
Help Scout Reviews
Now that you have read everything and know all the differences between Zendesk and Help Scout, it’s time to define a winner! Find out in the following whom the winner of this versus is ⚡.
Winner
Zendesk vs Help Scout: Who is the winner?
In comparison for both Zendesk and Help Scout, Zendesk is the winner as it offers a more budget-friendly pricing structure. It also excels in providing a comprehensive set of features, including multichannel support, advanced automation, deep reporting and analytics.
On the other hand, Help Scout is the runner-up as its simplicity and user-friendliness makes it an ideal choice for small to mid-sized businesses that are looking for a more human-centered approach to customer support.
Poll
Help Scout vs Zendesk: Which one will you use?
At Ciroapp, we are always striving to provide the best possible experience for our readers. We understand that making a decision between two software can be a difficult task. That’s why we want to hear from you! Your valuable opinion can help us improve our future versus articles and guide our readers in making informed decisions. By casting your vote, you not only help us, but also the community of readers who rely on our content. So, share your thoughts with us and let us know which software you prefer!
