Zendesk

Deliver beautifully simple service with Zendesk AI Agents

Customer Support Platforms
★★★★☆ 4.4
2007 Founded
5001-10000 Employees
100,000+ Customers
San Francisco, CA, USA Headquarters
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Quick Facts

✓ Free Trial
Website
zendesk.com →
Starting Price
19
Pricing Model
per-user
Free Trial
14 days
Company Type
private
Social
LinkedIn Twitter/X

About Zendesk

Zendesk is a leading customer service and experience platform that helps organizations manage and resolve customer and employee requests across every digital and voice channel. Delivered as SaaS, Zendesk brings email, chat, social messaging, phone, and self-service into a single workspace so agents have the full context they need to respond quickly and personally. Its native AI agents, Copilot assistance, and workflow automation are built on billions of CX interactions, enabling teams to deflect routine inquiries, recommend next best actions, and maintain consistent service quality as they grow.

The company was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007 by Mikkel Svane, Alexander Aghassipour, and Morten Primdahl and later relocated its headquarters to San Francisco, California. Over the years, Zendesk expanded from a simple help desk tool into a full customer service suite, adding capabilities for messaging, knowledge management, quality assurance, workforce management, and employee service. It went public in 2014 and was acquired in 2022 by a private equity consortium led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira, returning Zendesk to private ownership while continuing to invest heavily in AI and product innovation.

Zendesk’s flagship offering, now positioned as Zendesk for Customer Service and Zendesk Suite, is used by more than 100,000 companies worldwide, from digital-native startups to large global enterprises. The platform is known for its balance of out-of-the-box ease of use and deep configurability, allowing teams to start quickly and then tailor workflows, automations, and integrations as complexity increases. A large marketplace of 1,800+ apps and prebuilt connectors extends Zendesk into CRM systems, collaboration tools, telephony platforms, BI tools, and more.

In the modern CX landscape, Zendesk is considered a best-of-breed alternative to broader CRM suites, frequently evaluated against solutions like Freshdesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow, Intercom, and HubSpot Service Hub. Its strengths lie in omnichannel support, mature workflows, and a rapidly evolving AI stack; tradeoffs include premium pricing at scale and administrative complexity for very advanced deployments.

Key Features

Unified agent workspace - Centralizes email, chat, messaging, social, and voice conversations in a single interface with full customer context.

AI agents and bots - Automates common requests using pre-trained service AI to resolve issues, propose answers, and deflect tickets before they reach agents.

Agent Copilot and AI assistance - Suggests replies, summarizes conversations, and recommends next actions to help agents work faster and maintain quality.

Ticketing and case management - Tracks, prioritizes, and routes support requests with custom fields, views, macros, triggers, and automations.

Knowledge base and help center - Provides branded self-service portals and internal knowledge bases, including generative search to surface relevant answers.

Messaging and live chat - Enables real-time and asynchronous conversations on web, mobile, and in-app widgets with proactive outreach and bots.

Integrated voice and call center - Offers cloud telephony with IVR, call routing, voicemail, call recording, and phone-to-ticket workflows.

Routing, SLAs, and business hours - Supports skills-based routing, multiple ticket forms, SLAs, business hours, and escalation rules for complex operations.

Analytics and reporting - Delivers dashboards and reports on volume, SLAs, CSAT, agent productivity, and channel performance with advanced analytics on higher tiers.

Quality assurance and workforce management - Optional add-ons to score interactions automatically, forecast demand, schedule agents, and monitor real-time performance.

Marketplace and integrations - Connects with 1,800+ apps and prebuilt integrations for CRM, collaboration, telephony, ecommerce, and analytics tools.

Open APIs and extensibility - REST APIs, webhooks, and the Zendesk platform enable custom apps, integrations, and data models for advanced use cases.

Employee and IT service management - Provides templates and workflows for internal HR and IT ticketing to support employees with the same tools as customers.

Multi-language and multi-brand support - Supports dozens of languages and multiple branded help centers, forms, and workflows for global and multi-brand organizations.

Security and compliance controls - Includes SSO, role-based access, audit logs, data residency options, and HIPAA enablement on qualifying plans.

Pros & Cons

👍 Pros

  • Intuitive, user-friendly interface that makes it easy for agents to learn and manage large ticket volumes.
  • Robust omnichannel support that consolidates email, chat, social, and phone into a single, consistent agent workspace.
  • Powerful automation, macros, and triggers that streamline workflows, reduce manual effort, and improve response times.
  • Extensive integration ecosystem and marketplace with prebuilt apps for leading CRM, telephony, collaboration, and analytics tools.
  • Highly scalable platform that can support small teams and complex global enterprises with advanced configuration, multi-brand, and multi-language support.

👎 Cons

  • Pricing can become expensive as you add agents, advanced features, and paid add-ons, especially for smaller teams.
  • Initial setup and ongoing administration for complex workflows, SLAs, and reporting can be challenging and may require technical expertise.
  • Advanced reporting and dashboard customization are sometimes viewed as less flexible or harder to configure than expected.
  • Some customers report inconsistent or slow responses from Zendesk's own support team, particularly on lower tiers.
  • User interface and navigation, while functional, are occasionally described as cluttered or dated and could benefit from modernization.

User Reviews

G2
4.3
★★★★☆
Capterra
4.4
★★★★☆
TrustRadius
8.7
★★★★★

Integrations

Salesforce Sales Cloud Salesforce Platform HubSpot Service Hub HubSpot Sales Hub HubSpot Marketing Hub Shopify Shopify Plus Slack Microsoft Teams Microsoft 365 Microsoft Outlook Google Workspace Google Cloud BigQuery Jira Jira Service Management Confluence Twilio Flex Talkdesk Aircall Dialpad Okta Zoom Workplace Zoom Phone Zapier Facebook Instagram for Business WhatsApp Business Platform Snowflake Qualtrics Customer Experience

Best For

Company Size

smb mid-market enterprise

Industries

SaaS Technology Ecommerce & Retail Financial Services Telecommunications Healthcare

Use Cases

Omnichannel customer support and ticket management Self-service help center and knowledge base Contact center and voice support operations IT and employee service desk for internal teams Customer success and account management support Case management for B2B SaaS and subscription businesses

FAQ

What is Zendesk?

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Zendesk is a cloud-based customer service and experience platform that helps businesses manage support requests across email, chat, messaging, social media, and phone in a single workspace. It combines ticketing, knowledge bases, AI agents, analytics, and workflow automation so teams can resolve issues faster and deliver consistent, personalized service at scale.

How much does Zendesk cost?

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Zendesk pricing is per agent, with entry-level Support Team plans starting around $19 per agent per month when billed annually. For full omnichannel and AI capabilities, most organizations choose Zendesk Suite, where Suite Team starts around $55 per agent per month (billed annually), Suite Growth around $89, and Suite Professional around $115. A 14-day free trial is available, but there is no permanent free plan, and larger enterprise deployments with advanced add-ons are typically priced through sales.

What are the main features of Zendesk?

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Key features of Zendesk include unified ticketing across channels, AI agents and Copilot-style assistance, live chat and messaging, integrated voice and call center, customizable knowledge bases and help centers, skills-based routing and SLAs, extensive automation with macros and triggers, analytics and reporting, quality assurance and workforce management add-ons, multi-language and multi-brand support, and a large marketplace of integrations and custom apps.

Who are Zendesk's main competitors?

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Zendesk's main competitors in the customer support and contact center space include Freshdesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow Customer Service Management, HubSpot Service Hub, and Intercom. Depending on requirements, teams may also evaluate platforms like LiveAgent, Help Scout, Dixa, or Gmail-based tools such as Hiver.

Is Zendesk good for small businesses?

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Zendesk can be a strong option for small and midsize businesses that expect to grow and want professional, omnichannel support tools from the start. The Support Team and Suite Team plans provide solid capabilities for smaller teams, and the interface is generally easy for new agents to learn. However, very small or budget-constrained businesses may find Zendesk's per-agent pricing and add-ons costly compared to simpler or free alternatives, and they may not need the full depth of features that Zendesk offers.

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