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Zendesk vs. Front

Software focused on the customer experience (CX) can help you provide exceptional support now and in the future. Learn how Zendesk vs. Front compare.

Zendesk vs. Front: A comprehensive guide

Last updated July 25, 2024

In the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2023, 70 percent of business leaders expect agents to increase their roles and responsibilities. With increased capacity comes the need for scalability—and a solution that grows with your support team.

Compared with Front, Zendesk offers a more complete customer service solution, with built-in best practices to help you deliver a differentiated customer experience (CX) at scale. Plus, Zendesk is exclusively focused on the CX—meaning we have the expertise to understand which tools simplify serving customers while boosting the agent experience.

Let’s compare Zendesk with Front and see which software comes out on top.

Reasons to pick Zendesk over Front

Zendesk is a proven leader in customer service

Zendesk has more than 15 years of experience specializing in customer service and is trusted by 160,000+ companies, like Uber and Four Seasons. Additionally, Gartner ranked Zendesk #1 in Digital Customer Service.

Front doesn't exclusively focus on CX, meaning its customer base of around 8,000 businesses won't get the same level of customer service expertise as they do with Zendesk.

Zendesk offers a more scalable product

Zendesk is backed by multiple proof points and customer success stories from many of our paying customers. From startups and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to large enterprises, Zendesk scales seamlessly with your business as it grows.

Front’s limited integration marketplace and lack of fundamental tools makes it difficult to extend the capabilities of your product, hindering scalability.

Zendesk can deliver a better ROI

Zendesk offers everything you need to deliver great customer support from day one. By investing in software that’s built to last, Zendesk eliminates costs associated with switching products. Our specialized community of thought leaders and dedicated support are also there to help you continuously maximize your ROI with best practices.

Front’s lower ROI results from lack of scale, limited native integrations, and customers switching to a different product to meet their needs.

More in this guide:

At-a-glance comparison: Zendesk vs. Front

Our chart breaks down benefits, features, and capabilities so you can compare Zendesk and Front at a glance. Our analysis is based on user reviews, our customers' experiences, and deep research by our product team.

What you need to deliver the best customer experience
Critical capabilities
Zendesk
Front

Vendor performance

Analyst rating

Leader

N/A

Focus

Best of breed in customer service

Broad focus

High customer satisfaction at scale

Time to value and total cost of ownership (TCO)

Easy setup

Easy adoption

Low implementation cost

Low short-term TCO

Long-term value

Low long-term TCO

Unified omnichannel experience

Unified omnichannel status + workflows

Unified omnichannel customer experience

Unified omnichannel agent interface

Unified omnichannel analytics

Frictionless agent experience

Real-time agent workspace

Customizable agent workspace

Customizable agent workspace

Single browser tab agent experience

Powerful workflow/automation tools

Sophisticated automation + workflows (SLAs, OLAs)

Flexible routing/assignment options

Intelligent triage

Intelligent self-service content gap identification

Sophisticated self-service content management + workflows

Actionable insights

Custom metrics

Custom reports

Custom dashboards

Custom attribution

Custom correlation

Robust integrations

Highly rated integrations

Reliability

Customer proof points

Broad set of API endpoints

Only server-side CTI app necessary

Success + support

Leading customer community + events

Support

Designated success

Local account resources

Reliable + secure platform

Reliability + scalability

HIPAA compliant

Data locality

3-tiered GDPR protection


Zendesk vs. Front: Features comparison

Features can be the differentiator between good software and the right software for your business. See how Zendesk vs. Front compare.


Pricing plans: Front vs. Zendesk

Compare the pricing plans of Front vs. Zendesk.

Zendesk vs. Front: Pricing plans

Zendesk
Front
  • Support Team: $19 per agent/month
  • Support Professional: $55 per agent/month
  • Support Enterprise: $115 per agent/month
  • Starter: $19 per seat/month
  • Growth: $59 per seat/month
  • Scale: $99 per seat/month
  • Premier: $229 per seat/month

*Plans are billed annually.

Zendesk and Front have similar pricing tiers, so focusing on factors like hidden costs, ease of implementation, and scalability can surface the total cost of ownership.

With Zendesk, businesses get an intuitive system that sets up quickly, allowing agents to use it from day one. When business needs change, Zendesk allows you to adapt with plug-and-play integrations and no-code customizations. Plus, we offer an elite support team that helps you get the most out of your software.

Businesses looking for a solution focused on customer service often outgrow platforms limited to shared inboxes. This can lead to a “rip and replace” situation, adding additional unplanned costs. As previously mentioned, Front can be challenging to scale because it lacks certain capabilities that fast growing teams need, such as limited channels, missing fundamentals, and limited pre-built integrations, which drives up costs.

Customer stories

See what customers say about switching to Zendesk.

Feed

Feed's Customer Service Happiness Manager quote

Who is Feed? Feed. is a smart food company that makes it easy for customers to get nutritious, high-quality meals on the go.

What were the pain points? Feed. used Front to manage customer requests. Front’s shared inbox made it challenging to respond to customers quickly, with replies often taking up to one week.

Why did Feed. pick Zendesk? Feed. chose Zendesk to help provide omnichannel support to customers, especially proactive live chat. The food company also liked the flexibility of the Zendesk API, which makes it easy to plug in third-party tools and apps for a customized support experience.

What were the results?

  • €180,000 in chat sales conversion
  • 94% average customer satisfaction (CSAT) across channels
  • 25% improvement in CSAT

Georgia Housing Voucher Program (GHVP)

Georgia Housing Voucher Program's Director, Office of Supportive Housing quote

Who is Georgia Housing Voucher Program (GHVP)? GHVP is a state-funded program that provides permanent supportive housing for unsheltered people with psychiatric disabilities.

What were the pain points? GHVP's program is complex, with many moving parts and collaborators. It relied on email and shared inboxes to manage requests that required careful coordination and crucial, time-sensitive communication.

However, instead of streamlining the process, their shared inbox created a disorganized and chaotic communication environment that lacked transparency and resulted in information gaps, losses, and errors.

Why did GHVP pick Zendesk? GHVP chose Zendesk to streamline and centralize communications in a single view. Additionally, Zendesk supported GHVP with benefits such as:

  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Ease of implementation
  • Adaptability and agility
  • Ability to meet state and federal security and compliance (including HIPAA)

What were the results?

  • Increased oversight and full visibility of internal and external communications
  • Improved collaboration
  • Eliminated missed emails
  • Modernized GHVP’s service system

Sendcloud

Sendcloud's Co-founder and COO quote

Who is Sendcloud? Sendcloud is a software as a service (SaaS) business that automates the shipping process for online retailers with plug-and-play tools, integrations, and APIs.

What were the pain points? Sendcloud’s customer service platform could not keep up with its sudden growth, requiring a solution that could help deliver an exceptional customer service experience.

Why did Sendcloud pick Zendesk? Zendesk scaled seamlessly with Sendcloud, allowing it to easily adapt to constantly evolving business needs. With Zendesk, the SaaS business can offer omnichannel support, provide self-service options, boost internal collaboration, and integrate with third-party apps to increase functionality.

What were the results?

  • 18K tickets resolved per month
  • 92% CSAT score
  • Faster response time

Adslot

Adslot's Head of Client Services quote

Who is Adslot? Adslot is a media-trading platform aiming to improve how brands, agencies, and publishers collaborate.

What were the pain points? Adslot needed to upgrade from its shared inbox. The tool lacked visibility, reduced efficiency, and made managing customer communications challenging for global teams.

Why did Adslot pick Zendesk? Zendesk provided a scalable solution that integrated easily with the applications Adslot already used. The platform also uses Zendesk for its phone system, praising the easy setup and streamlined ticket management.

What were the results?

  • Achieved 95% CSAT score
  • Identified gaps through automated customer feedback
  • Increased visibility of team performance metrics

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Check out our FAQ section for more information on Zendesk.

Ready to try Zendesk?

Zendesk is a proven leader in CX, offers a more scalable product, and can deliver a better ROI than Front. That makes us the right customer service solution to take your business to a new level.

Zendesk offers a risk-free, 14-day trial that lets you unlock the entire suite of features. That way, you can experience our software's benefits and ease of use from day one—so you can feel confident creating a lifelong relationship with Zendesk.

See how Zendesk can level up your customer service