Best help desk software of 2024

Customer expectations are rising, and businesses need to implement systems that help their teams deliver outstanding customer experiences (CX). According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2024, 80% of customers expect chat agents and support representatives to assist them with everything they need. To achieve that, you need the right help desk software.

Help desk software empowers businesses to deliver more efficient and higher-quality service, whether managing customer conversations or handling IT support requests. Read on to learn about some options on the market so you can find the right fit for your needs.

More in this guide:

• What is help desk software?
• Help desk software comparison chart
• The 13 best help desk software solutions
• Key features of help desk systems
• Benefits of using help desk tools
• How to choose the right help desk software
• Frequently asked questions
• Elevate your help desk with Zendesk

Help desk software is a tool designed to assist support teams in tracking, prioritising, and resolving service queries from customers, employees, or business partners. The right help desk system empowers agents to collaborate on requests and personalise conversations across channels. Additionally, with AI and automation, help desk software can help teams automate resolutions, boost agent productivity, and optimise workflows.

Below is a brief overview of the help desk options on the list, including starting prices, key features, and free trial length, if applicable.

Software	Starting price	Free trial	Key features
Zendesk	$55 per agent/month (billed annually)	14 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
HappyFox	$9 per agent/month (billed annually)	14 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Help Scout	$22 per user/month (billed annually)	15 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
SolarWinds Service Desk	$39 per technician/month	30 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Jira Service Management	$1650 per year (1–3 agents)	7 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Salesforce Service Cloud	$25 per user/month	30 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
SysAid	Contact for pricing	Available	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Vivantio	$59 per user/month (billed annually)	14 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Zoho Desk	$7 per user/month (billed annually)	15 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Freshdesk	$15 per user/month (billed annually)	14 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
HubSpot Service Hub	$15 per seat/month (billed annually)	14 days	Omnichannel support Security AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk	Free	Not applicable	Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations
LiveAgent	$9 per agent/month (billed annually)	30 days	Omnichannel support Security Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Apps and integrations

Next, we’ll dive into more comprehensive product overviews. Below, you’ll find expanded product descriptions, pros and cons, and other information that can help you make your selection.

1. Zendesk

Best for customer and employee service

Zendesk provides a comprehensive help desk solution for the AI era. Designed specifically for service teams, it prioritises ease of use and scales to any use case, whether supporting customers, employees, or both.

Enable agents to provide fast, personalised service on any channel with the Zendesk Agent Workspace. This omnichannel ticketing system is fused with AI features like Agent copilot—a support agent’s second-in-command that can recommend what to say to customers, independently solve routine tickets like refund requests, and streamline the ticket resolution process.

Zendesk AI agents are pre-trained on over 18 billion real customer interactions and integrate with your business systems, enabling them to offer personalised support to complex customer requests like your human agents would. Generative AI can accelerate knowledge base content creation by helping you turn a few bullet points into a fully-fledged article. Routing and intelligence can automatically forward requests to the right agent based on their availability, workload, and expertise. Additionally, Zendesk QA can review 100 percent of your tickets to ensure your agents—both human and AI—are operating as efficiently as possible.

Zendesk seamlessly integrates with your existing tech stack and is easily customisable with the 1,500+ apps and integrations in the Zendesk Marketplace. Keeping your company and customer data is our top priority, and we have the compliance certifications and memberships to prove it.

Pricing: Plans start at $55 per agent/month. A 14-day free trial is available.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. HappyFox

Best for marketing teams

HappyFox is a cloud-based IT help desk solution designed to help support teams deliver customer service. The help desk features a ticketing system that creates tickets from email, voice, live chat, messaging, social media and web form requests and routes them to its shared inbox.

HappyFox’s help desk offers a few options for its self-service knowledge bases. These include an internal knowledge base for support teams and HR, an external knowledge base software for customers, and a multilingual knowledge base for global self-service.

Pros:

• Product support
• Customisable ticket forms
• Omnichannel support

Cons:

• Basic plan only supports three agents
• Large price jump from Basic plan to Team plan

Pricing: Plans start at $9 per agent/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

Recommended reading: Learn how HappyFox integrates with Zendesk.

3. Help Scout

Best for collaboration

Help Scout offers a customer help desk that enables support teams to collaboratively manage customer conversations. The tool consolidates requests from email, live chat, self-service portals and other channels into a shared inbox. All requests filter into this centralised location, where the system can tag, update, and assign tickets to agents or teams.

Other features of Help Scout’s help desk include a help centre, live chat and messaging software, automation, custom workflows, prebuilt reporting dashboards and collaboration tools. Help Scout also offers integration options in their app marketplace.

Pros:

• Unified customer communications
• Conversation history
• Integrations

Cons:

• Limited features in the Standard plan
• Low amount of total integrations

Pricing: Plans start at $22 per user/month, billed annually. A 15-day free trial is available.

4. SolarWinds Service Desk

Best for enterprise service management

SolarWinds Service Desk can help users manage and track support tickets in one centralised interface. It features reporting tools that allow users to analyse business metrics and agent performance. It’s also an incident management software, letting users manage tickets from different channels, including mobile apps, phone calls and live chats.

Finally, SolarWinds’ ITSM system enables businesses to standardise their service requests and processes. It helps teams manage daily IT tasks, collaborate internally and offer customer portals for self-service. SolarWinds also helps users automate ticket creation, escalation and routing.

Pros:

• 24/7 chat support
• Licensing flexibility
• Multichannel communication

Cons:

• Advanced support is only available with the most expensive plan
• SLA limitations

Pricing: Plans start at $39 per technician/month. A 30-day free trial is available.

Recommended reading: Learn how SolarWinds integrates with Zendesk.

5. Jira Service Management

Best for project management

Jira Service Management from Atlassian offers a help desk programme for project management and customer service. The software features a self-service portal that offers customisable request forms and gives customers and employees a place to create requests, find answers, and get help.

Jira offers conversational ticketing, meaning agents have a single view of requests from email, chat and its service desk. Users can triage, track and route incoming requests to agents or teams and use bulk ticket actions to group similar tickets.

Pros:

• Conversational ticketing
• Full integration with Slack
• Tracking features

Cons:

• Free plan only supports three agents
• Advanced security capabilities are only available with the Enterprise plan

Pricing: Paid plans start at $650 per year for one to three agents. A free plan and a seven-day free trial are available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Jira Service Management integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Jira compare.

6. Salesforce Service Cloud

Best for sales support

Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer service platform that provides a single view of customer information and history. It features automated workflows, AI-powered productivity tools and a single ticketing system for issue resolution.

Self-service options allow customers to find articles in the help centre. Teams can build their help centre via a no-code interface and customise it with their logo and branded colours. From there, the Einstein Service Agent chatbot can direct customers to relevant articles and solve problems.

Remember that Salesforce can be intricate, requiring a longer learning curve for first-time users. Salesforce isn't solely dedicated to customer experience, providing a comprehensive suite for sales and marketing. That means businesses seeking to enhance their customer service may find it easier to achieve their goals by opting for software specifically designed for CX.

Pros:

• Can link with sales processes
• Integrations
• Multichannel communication

Cons:

• The Basic plan is limited
• Self-service capabilities are only available in higher-tiered plan

Pricing: Plans start at $25 per user/month. A 30-day free trial is available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Salesforce integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Salesforce compare.

7. SysAid

Best for codeless interface customisation

SysAid’s help desk software offers a suite of ITSM capabilities. The platform provides ticketing functionality, allowing users to log, prioritise and track support requests. SysAid can help teams with asset management so businesses manage and monitor their IT assets throughout their life cycle.

The software includes a knowledge base with automation features to handle repetitive tasks, and its reporting and analytics tools provide metrics for help desk performance and customer support trends. SysAid is also customisable and offers integrations with third-party tools and applications.

Pros:

• Centralised IT assets
• Incident management
• Reporting features

Cons:

• Non-transparent pricing
• Automation is unavailable in the Basic plan

Pricing: Contact SysAid for pricing. A free trial is available.

8. Vivantio

Best for enterprise service management

Vivantio's help desk software assists businesses with service management. Teams can integrate Vivantio with a support mailbox to automatically tag and categorise incoming emails. It also offers email templates for automated responses, ensuring customers receive acknowledgment.

The product’s portal widget builder features custom themes and designs, and the software’s searchable online knowledge base comes with custom forms and fields. Its help desk also features pre-built and customisable reporting and analytics dashboards and a report builder that allows teams to create custom charts to display data and metrics.

Pros:

• Transparent feature list
• 360-degree customer view
• Unlimited ticket types

Cons:

• SLA limitations
• Fewer amount of integrations than other options

Pricing: Plans start at $59 per user/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

9. Zoho Desk

Best for mobile app issue resolution

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based help desk software that assists businesses with customer support operations. The platform offers a ticketing system, allowing users to create, categorise and prioritise support tickets. Zoho Desk features a knowledge base so users have access to self-service resources. The software enables omnichannel support for communication channels, including email, phone, live chat and social media.

Zoho’s help desk also features automation tools that allow users to set predefined rules and workflows for ticket routing. Additionally, its reporting and analytics tools track ticket volumes, response times, and agent performance. Zoho Desk offers integration with other Zoho applications and third-party tools.

Pros:

• Integrates with the wider Zoho system
• Customer reply editor
• Customer happiness ratings

Cons:

• The Basic plan can only support one brand
• Live chat is only available in the most expensive plan

Pricing: Paid plans start at $7 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available

Recommended reading: Learn how Zoho integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Zoho compare.

10. Freshdesk

Best for multichannel support

The Freshworks cloud-based help desk tool, Freshdesk, serves as a centralised platform for support teams to manage and respond to customer requests. Its ticketing system consolidates requests from various channels into a shared team inbox.

It offers automation capabilities and customisable ticket fields to help categorise and route incoming customer enquiries and requests. Omniroute™ automatically assigns tickets based on support agent bandwidth, time-triggered automation performs actions based on the time since an action has been completed, and event-triggered capabilities can initiate actions based on pre-defined criteria. Additionally, users can define customised ticket statuses for greater visibility into the ticket’s progress.

It’s worth noting that the Freshworks platform comprises three systems: Freshdesk, Freshchat and Freshcaller. Each system operates within its own workspace, requiring agents to navigate between multiple tabs to access customer information. This setup may impact customer service efficiency, potentially leading to delays and oversight of important information.

Pros:

• Team collaborations
• Analytics
• Can view multiple tickets at once

Cons:

• The free plan is limited to two agents
• Apps and integrations are only available in paid plans

Pricing: Paid plans start at $15 per agent/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 14-day free trial are available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Zendesk vs. Freshdesk compare.

11. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for teams using HubSpot’s CRM

HubSpot Service Hub provides a single dashboard that lets your support team log, organise and track all customer issues in one place. Agents can view customer data, ticket status, queue location, and the time it takes to resolve an issue. Reporting and analytics help you monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like ticket volume and first contact resolution time.

HubSpot Service Hub offers ticket routing and automation features that allow your team to automate tasks. The platform also automatically creates tickets when a customer submits a form, email or chat.

Pros:

• Access to the wider HubSpot system
• Omnichannel messaging
• Can access HubSpot sales and marketing capabilities with the starter plan

Cons:

• The free plan is limited
• Customer feedback capabilities only available with the most expensive plan

Pricing: Paid plans start at $15 per seat/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 14-day free trial are available.

Recommended reading: Learn how HubSpot integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. HubSpot compare.

12. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

Best for teams looking for a free product

Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk is a web-based ticketing system designed to assist IT professionals in managing and tracking support requests. The platform allows users to create, prioritise and assign tickets. Users can also set alerts and customise ticket attributes and rules to receive ticket activity and status notifications.

Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk supports email integration, automatically converting incoming customer emails into tickets. The software includes reporting tools for tracking ticket metrics, response times and overall support performance.

Pros:

• The platform is completely free
• Product support
• Mobile app accessibility

Cons:

• Limited features
• Lacking integrations

Pricing: Spiceworks is free to use.

Recommended reading: Learn how Zendesk vs. Spiceworks compare.

13. LiveAgent

Best for live chat support

LiveAgent is a help desk software that helps customer support teams manage enquiries across multiple communication channels. Its ticketing system supports channels like phone, email, live chat, knowledge base and social media, routing tickets into a shared team inbox. Its chat software allows agents to provide live support and features a real-time typing view so support agents can see what the customer is typing before they hit send.

The software includes automation tools like pre-written responses and automated ticket routing. Additionally, LiveAgent provides a knowledge base for help centre articles, FAQs and self-service resources. The platform also offers collaboration tools, reporting and analytics software, and integrations with third-party applications.

Pros:

• Multichannel support
• 130+ ticketing features
• Call centre capabilities

Cons:

• Fewer integrations than other options
• Limited features in the basic plan

Pricing: Plans start at $9 per agent/month, billed annually. A 30-day free trial is available.

Recommended reading: Learn how Zendesk vs. LiveAgent compare.

Here are a few key features to look for when comparing help desk software.

Omnichannel support

An omnichannel approach creates connected and consistent interactions across channels and touchpoints. With it, customers and employees can get convenient support over their preferred communication mediums, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, and live chat.

With Zendesk, context moves with the user from channel to channel and lives in the omnichannel Agent Workspace, which creates a unified view of conversation history and background information and can even bring in data from key business systems. Help desk software that prioritises omnichannel service allows agents to deliver efficient, personalised service at scale.

Security

Help desk systems have access to a tremendous amount of confidential customer and employee information, and you need to be sure that information is safe. Comprehensive security features protect data and can help organisations achieve security compliance. Look for options like Zendesk with comprehensive compliance certifications and memberships to know your information is in good hands.

AI-powered self-service

Customers can become angry, frustrated or stressed when they can’t complete simple tasks independently. Using customer service software with self-service capabilities allows them to quickly find relevant resources and resolve issues independently, reducing the number of support tickets.

Adding AI capabilities can supercharge the experience for your customers and employees. With AI, you can:

• Create and optimise new self-service articles through generative AI.
• Deploy AI agents to walk through and solve even the most complex user issues.
• Review existing content to identify knowledge gaps and articles that need to be updated.
• Provide advanced search capabilities that help your users find what they need faster.

With AI-powered software like Zendesk, you can empower customers and employees to help themselves. Just look at Unity, a development platform that used Zendesk AI-powered automations and self-service to save $1.3 million.

Workflow automation

Workflow automation uses technology to streamline business activities, eliminating the need for manual input. In the context of a help desk, workflows can help businesses establish predefined sequences of actions and rules that automate and guide the processing of support tickets.

For example, organisations can establish omnichannel routing to automatically direct customer or employee requests across multiple support channels, factoring in agent status, capacity, skill set, and ticket priority. Doing so can reduce wait times, increase agent productivity, and boost customer satisfaction.

Reporting and analytics

Help desk software that features reporting and analytics gives you fast access to valuable customer insights that can help you:

• Identify areas of improvement so you can provide better experiences.
• Monitor team and agent performance to see where they excel and where they need to improve.
• Understand your customers better so you can personalise interactions and improve their overall experience.

With a reporting and analytics solution that integrates data from every channel, you can measure how customers interact with your business and how you perform.

Apps and integrations

The right integrations can extend the functionality and capabilities of your help desk systems to get a 360-degree view of the customer and streamline your data across systems. This information can help you and your team gain a complete, accurate picture of your customers—and understand exactly what they need.

Consider help desk software that offers a variety of prebuilt third-party integrations. For example, the Zendesk Marketplace offers over 1,500 apps and integrations, complete with user reviews and ratings.

Help desk tools have benefits for customers and employees alike. Here are a few to consider.

Improved service efficiency

Help desk tools can streamline the process of providing fast and easy support options to internal and external customers. An omnichannel ticketing system, for example, consolidates customer requests and IT support tickets in a single location. This eliminates the need to toggle between systems and channels, enabling agents to deliver quick, efficient service.

Revamped service quality

Businesses can use help desk software to offer a higher standard of service. With this technology, teams can:

• Establish and maintain helpful knowledge bases.
• Reference information on customer and employee interactions to enhance personalisation.
• Provide comprehensive, 24/7 support with chatbots and AI agents.

The result is a faster and more effective experience for customers and employees.

Boosted cost savings

Investing in help desk tools can lead to significant cost savings for businesses. Teams can take advantage of self-service resources and workflow automation to reduce the pressure on support teams, leading to labour cost savings.

Additionally, organisations can use help desk software to spot inefficiencies in their support processes, leading to more efficient service and less time wasted on unnecessary tasks. Take Degreed, for example. The learning experience platform uses Zendesk to increase automation and self-service—leading to $1M in cost savings.

Refined collaboration

Help desk tools foster better team collaboration by providing a centralised platform where all team members can access and update information. They also help support reps better understand the customer journey so they can focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience at every touchpoint.

It also gives HR and IT teams a comprehensive view of the employee journey, facilitating seamless employee service. With context and data, tracking software, reporting and analytics tools, and easy-to-automate workflows all in one place, your business will stay in sync.

Enhanced optimisation

With help desk software, teams can quickly spot inefficiencies and implement improvement opportunities. For example, businesses can use these tools to track customer service key performance indicators (KPIs) like first reply time (FRT) or average resolution time. This information can help organisations stay agile and deliver outstanding service at every turn.

With the right help desk system, support teams are equipped with all the tools they need to provide quick, effective service. Here are a few common things to consider when choosing a partner:

• AI and automation: Generative AI, AI agents, and more can take your customer and employee support to the next level. Choose help desk options like Zendesk that emphasise these technologies to help provide more effective support.
• Lower total cost of ownership: The monthly fee isn’t the only cost associated with help desk software. Look for tools that can get you up and running quickly so you can realise the value of your investment as soon as possible. Also, choose an option with transparent pricing that doesn’t have endless add-ons.
• Fast ROI and ease of use: Help desk software with out-of-the-box functionality can help your business see a faster return on investment (ROI). Look for help desk software with an intuitive, agent-friendly interface, easy customisation options, and simple admin. For example, cosmetics retailer Lush used Zendesk to achieve a 369 percent ROI in less than one year.
• Scalability and agility: Consider an open, flexible, and agile help desk solution that easily integrates with the rest of your tech stack and helps you make changes at the speed of your business. It should scale with you and evolve with your customer needs.

Be sure to factor in these variables and the features that matter most to you.