Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk Comparison 2024: Which Is Better?
Freshdesk and Zoho Desk are big names in the help desk world. If you're wondering which one to pick, you're not alone.
Many businesses find it tough to choose.
In this Zoho Desk vs Freshdesk comparison, we'll break down their features and prices in simple terms and in depth. Both tools have a lot to offer, but the right one for you depends on your specific needs.
Ready to get a clearer picture? Let's dive in.
What is the difference between Zoho Desk and Freshdesk?
The main difference between Freshdesk and Zoho Desk is in their features and price. Freshdesk has more tools and capabilities but is pricier. Conversely, Zoho Desk is more wallet-friendly but might offer fewer features. Zoho Desk suits the Zoho community, while Freshdesk is tailored for Freshworks users.
If you come across any Freshdesk review or Zoho Desk review online, you’ll see that the two platforms actually have more similarities than differences.
Freshdesk is an excellent fit for small to mid-sized businesses, and with its complimentary plan, it can be an attractive choice for freelancers and budding startups.
Zoho Desk, offering its own free plan, also serves as a viable pick for startups or freelancers. Medium-sized businesses searching for robust automation tools might find Zoho Desk particularly appealing.
What’s more, both are part of a larger ecosystem of products. Freshdesk is part of Freshworks, and Zoho Desk is part of the Zoho universe. They both come with similar features, including ticket management, omnichannel support, self-service, workflow automation, and agent productivity, among others.
Zoho Desk vs Freshdesk comparison chart
The table below presents the conclusive scores from our comparative analysis of these two popular help desk software.
Comparison | Zoho Desk | Freshdesk | Winner |
Pricing | 5 | 4 | |
Free version | 4 | 5 | |
Customer support and knowledgebase | 4 | 5 | |
Ease of use | 3 | 4 | |
Online versions | 5 | 5 | Tie |
Desktop versions | 0 | 0 | Tie |
Ticketing | 4 | 5 | |
Omnichannel support | 5 | 4 | |
Integrations | 5 | 5 | Tie |
Self service | 4 | 3 | |
Workflow automation | 3 | 4 | |
Agent productivity | 5 | 4 | |
AI features | 3 | 3 | Tie |
Customization | 4 | 3 | |
Reports and analytics | 5 | 4 | |
Overall winner | 59 | 58 |
Zoho Desk vs Freshdesk pricing
Freshdesk breaks its pricing into three main categories.
Their Growth plan is offered at $18 per user each month, but if you choose to bill annually, it's discounted to $15. Moving up, their Pro plan costs $59 per user monthly, with an annual billing rate of $49.
At the top end, the Enterprise plan comes in at $95 per user every month, but with a discounted yearly rate of $79.
Zoho Desk, meanwhile, provides a broader array of pricing options.
Their most affordable, the Zoho Desk Express, is priced at $7 per user per month if billed annually or $9 for monthly billing.
They also have three additional premium packages priced at $14, $23, and $40 per user per month with annual billing, or if you prefer monthly billing, they are priced at $20, $35, and $50, respectively.
Winner:
Zoho Desk emerges as the winner in this category, presenting a more affordable option for businesses, especially with their $7/agent Express plan.
Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk free versions
Freshdesk's free plan supports up to ten agents.
Within this plan, users can benefit from essential features such as an email ticketing system, shared canned responses, tools to create a knowledge base, contact forms, and the added bonus of 24/7 email support from Freshdesk's dedicated customer service team.
On the other side, Zoho Desk's free version is designed for smaller teams, accommodating up to three customer service agents.
This plan includes features like email ticketing tools, feedback widgets, advanced web forms, and some other functionalities aimed at boosting agent productivity.
Winner:
When directly comparing the two, Freshdesk's ability to support up to 10 agents in its free plan gives it an edge over Zoho Desk in this category.
Customer support and knowledge base
Freshdesk provides all its users with access to a knowledge base and community forums where they can find solutions to common queries.
Additionally, they offer multiple channels for direct customer assistance, including email, phone, and chat support. However, the accessibility to these services varies based on your subscription plan.
Zoho Desk has free email and phone support across all its plans, while chat support is only available for the Professional and Enterprise plans.
There’s also an extensive help center you can use for free. Here, you can find information around topics like documentation, integrations, and webinars, and learn the latest product updates or features.
Winner:
While both tools come equipped with great customer support and knowledge base tools, Freshdesk's 24x7 email support combined with 24x5 phone and chat support gives it a slight advantage.
Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk features & functionality
Having discussed the essentials like pricing, support, and free plans, let's now dive into the actual tools. We'll be exploring these functionalities today:
Ease of use
Online versions
Desktop versions
Ticketing
Omnichannel support
Integrations
Self-service
Workflow automation
Agent productivity
AI features
Customization
Reports and analytics
Zoho Desk or Freshdesk for ease of use?
Freshdesk boasts an intuitive and polished interface. At first glance, everything seems organized and easy to navigate.
The tool is built to manage a high volume of daily requests without overwhelming users. Agents have the convenience of quickly sorting customer tickets with clear options, such as priority, tags, and date.
Zoho Desk, while user-friendly, has a design that feels a bit more traditional.
Agents can get a comprehensive view of the conversation thread on each ticket, including attachments, approvals, tags, and history. Features like chats, community links, and social media integrations are easily accessible from the main screen.
Winner:
When comparing the two, Freshdesk's streamlined design and straightforward setup give it a slight advantage.
Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk online versions
Both Freshdesk and Zoho Desk are cloud-based software. This means your data is securely stored with them. You won't have the hassle of managing updates or maintenance.
Winner:
Comparing their online versions, it's clear that this category is a tie.
Zoho Desk vs Freshdesk desktop versions
Both Freshdesk and Zoho Desk don’t have desktop apps, or an on-premise version. The two apps have mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Winner:
This round is another tie as both systems don’t have desktop versions, only mobile apps.
Ticketing
Freshdesk offers a shared team inbox that simplifies ticket tracking. Its features include a ticket field suggester, custom ticket status, and automatic ticket dispatch.
One of its standout tools is the intelligent ticket assignment. Additionally, with its Collision Detection feature, agents can immediately see if someone else is viewing or responding to the same ticket.
Freshdesk also offers the ability to merge similar tickets, track time spent by agents on tickets, ticket templates, and more.
Zoho Desk, on the other hand, boasts a multi-channel ticketing system. This means it can pull in support tickets from various sources like email, phone, live chat, and even social media, consolidating them into a unified interface.
With Zoho Desk, agents can effectively filter tickets based on urgency, customer type, priority, or status. Applying these filters brings the most pressing tickets to the forefront.
When paired with Zoho CRM, agents can access relevant customer data directly within their ticketing system.
Winner:
Both Freshdesk and Zoho Desk offer robust ticketing capabilities. Freshdesk has more ticket management features than Zoho Desk, which gives it a slight edge in this category.
Omnichannel support
Freshdesk offers a centralized system for interactions from channels like email, social media, and live chat.
However, a slight downside is that agents might find themselves switching between different interfaces for phone, chat, and email support.
While it does provide an array of channels, options like Instagram, telephony, and LINE come with conditions—they're either part of a specific bundle or available as add-ons. And for channels like Telegram and WeChat, you'll need to rely on external integrations.
On the other hand, Zoho Desk presents a more integrated approach.
It's equipped with built-in features for email, live chat, phone, social media, and more. A highlight is its consolidated dashboard that allows agents to view and respond to interactions from all channels in one cohesive space.
Winner:
Weighing both options, Zoho Desk edges ahead with its streamlined omnichannel capabilities, which makes it the preferred choice in this category.
Integrations
Freshdesk integrates seamlessly with other products in the Freshworks family, like Freshsales, Freshchat, and Freshmarketer.
Not stopping there, it also connects with popular third-party apps like WhatsApp, Slack, Shopify, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, and MailChimp. The Freshworks Marketplace allows for more integration with Google products like Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts.
Zoho Desk also integrates seamlessly with its other Zoho applications, including CRM, Books, and Projects. It also connects with third-party platforms, including Google Workspace, Jira, Slack, and Salesforce. Through Zapier, it can connect to hundreds of additional apps.
Winner:
Considering their wide-ranging integration options, it's hard to pick a clear winner. Freshdesk and Zoho Desk tie in this category.
A note on Zoho Desk Freshdesk integration
Unfortunately, there’s no native Freshdesk Zoho Desk integration. However, the two apps can be connected via a connector app like Zapier. With Zapier, you can create Zaps (automated workflows) that connect your apps and automate tasks.
Self-service
Freshdesk boasts a robust set of self-help tools. Some key features include an embeddable contact form and solution articles, customizable widgets to fit the brand's appearance, and tools like frustration tracking to monitor the customer's experience.
Freshdesk also understands the global nature of businesses with its multilingual knowledge base and ticket fields.
On the other hand, Zoho Desk introduces "ASAP," a dynamic self-service widget designed for fast customer help. By integrating this widget on your website or help center, you essentially create a one-stop shop for customer inquiries.
ASAP seamlessly houses features like a knowledge base, community forums, contact forms, and live chat. What's even more impressive is the inclusion of Guided Conversations and the Zia bot within the ASAP widget at no additional cost.
Winner:
When weighed side by side, Zoho Desk's holistic approach with the ASAP widget, which consolidates numerous features into one efficient tool, gives it an edge.
Workflow automation
When it comes to workflow automation, Freshdesk focuses on simplicity. It routes tickets using keywords, manages ticket properties, and ensures prompt ticket follow-ups. Its most notable edge is the user-friendly nature of setting up these automations.
Zoho Desk offers load-balancing ticket assignments, custom workflow functions, and time tracking. Its Blueprints feature stands out for allowing businesses to craft systematic process flows, ensuring timely ticket resolutions.
Winner:
When balancing depth against ease of use, Freshdesk's straightforward automation configuration gives it a slight edge in this category.
Agent productivity
In Freshdesk, you'll find features tailored to boost productivity.
You can easily sort through tickets based on specific criteria and save these settings for future use. Once you sign in, you immediately see the tickets assigned to you, making it easy to dive right into resolving issues. A
nd if you're worried about forgetting follow-ups, Freshdesk lets you set reminders and craft to-do lists. Plus, its unique collaboration features ensure you and your team always stay on the same page.
On the flip side, Zoho Desk provides varied ticket views to organize based on aspects like priority or CRM status automatically.
Craft your responses with the Advanced Response Editor and speed up replies using the Snippets tool. Want advice from external partners? Mark the thread as 'Private' and share for insights.
And if you're unsure about which agent should handle a ticket, simply tag the appropriate team and let them decide.
Winner:
Considering the array of tools Zoho Desk offers to make your tasks both efficient and intuitive, it seems Zoho Desk takes the lead in enhancing agent productivity.
AI features
Freshdesk's AI bot, Freddy, zeros in on support. Freddy actively helps your team by addressing customer queries by pulling answers directly from your knowledge base.
Moreover, you have the flexibility to refine Freddy's performance, optimizing its responses and linking relevant solution articles.
Zoho Desk steps it up with Zia, their AI assistant, designed to cater to various stakeholders.
Zia aids agents with sentiment analysis and response suggestions, streamlines ticket searches with auto-tagging, and ensures managers stay informed with anomaly notifications about incoming ticket spikes.
Winner:
This round is a tie. It’s also important to note that Zia is available only on the highest plan. As for Freshdesk's Freddy Self-Service, you receive a trial of 500 sessions, but this is a one-time offer per account. If you use up these sessions, you'll have to purchase more according to your needs.
Customization
Freshdesk emphasizes visual customization with full CSS capabilities and ready-made themes. It also allows role-based agent permissions and the integration of custom apps.
On the other hand, Zoho Desk provides detailed agent categorization by departments and teams, along with personalized settings like Night Mode and font adjustments. It also offers department-specific layouts to organize service tasks better.
Winner:
Considering the range and depth of options, Zoho Desk has the edge in customization.
Reports and analytics
Freshdesk gives a comprehensive look at your support operations. It highlights unassigned tickets and allows support managers to track first response times and ticket resolutions based on SLAs. Agents can also easily customize reports with drag & drop widgets.
Zoho Desk, meanwhile, dives deeper into team performance analytics. The Reporting Overview showcases key help desk metrics and ticket trends.
Agents get insights into their pending tickets and customer feedback, while managers can analyze customer preferences and compare response times.
Winner:
Despite Zoho Desk's robust analytics, it's worth noting these features are primarily available in their priciest Enterprise plan. Given its expansive analytics, Zoho Desk comes out ahead in this category.
Is Zoho Desk better than Freshdesk? Our conclusion
In wrapping up our in-depth comparison between Zoho Desk and Freshdesk, it's evident that both are closely matched, with Zoho Desk scoring 59 points and Freshdesk 58. This close margin, however, doesn't universally suggest one as better than the other.
If you're on a budget but still need enterprise features, Zoho Desk may suit you. It offers most of what Freshdesk does, but typically at a reduced cost.
On the flip side, if you're willing to invest more for added features and strong customer support, consider Freshdesk. It's especially beneficial if you're already using other Freshworks products.
For smaller businesses or startups aiming to expand their customer service, Freshdesk seems apt. It even offers a free plan that's slightly more feature-rich than what Zoho Desk provides.
Remember, it's all about what best aligns with your business needs. And if you're curious about other options, explore our list of best helpdesk CRM software to see how these two contenders compare to others in the market.
