Kustomer vs Zendesk Comparison 2024: Which Is Better?

Well, well, well, you are looking for a help desk and ticketing solution and want a comparison between two great options?

In this article, we'll do a thorough Kustomer vs Zendesk comparison. We're talking pricing, customer support, ease of use, and more. After that, let us look into specific tools for help desk and tickets, support agent productivity, mobile apps, and integrations.

So, if you're ready, so are we. Zendesk or Kustomer, bring it on!

What is the difference between Kustomer and Zendesk?

The main difference between Zendesk and Kustomer is that Kustomer focuses on customer service with some CRM functions and a bit of AI, while Zendesk splits up its package between a sales module and a customer service module. They have many overlapping tools as well.

Maybe you think it's a wise idea to read a Kustomer review and a Zendesk review separately. That's not a bad idea, so go ahead. There, you can find more in-depth breakdowns of these individual platforms and their respective pros and cons.

Kustomer vs Zendesk comparison chart

Here's a quick summary of our comparison in table form.

Kustomer vs Zendesk - Pricing

We shall begin by comparing the prices of both of these help desk platforms. Starting with Kustomer.

The company offers two pricing tiers for its customer service system. The first is the Enterprise plan, which goes for $89 per user per month, billed annually. The Ultimate plan is $139 per user per month billed annually. 

There is an eight-seat minimum on all plans. Plus, there are extra add-ons for additional fees. For example, with API limit increases or data warehousing.

Next is Zendesk for Service, which is split between basic plans for individuals and small teams, as well as more robust suites.

The basic Support plans go for $19, $55, and $115 per user per month, billed annually. There's a five-agent minimum here. Zendesk Suite has three pricing tiers plus a bespoke package for enterprise. 

Suite Team is $55, Suite Growth is $89, Suite Professional is $115, all per agent per month billed annually, with a minimum of 5 agents. Zendesk also offers add-ons, like advanced AI tools and data protection.

Winner: Zendesk

Zendesk for Service has more options and a more affordable low-end package.

Zendesk vs Kustomer - Customer support

For those who use Kustomer, here are your support options. There is email support and chat support. The premium package offers 99.9% Uptime SLA. Support hours are 24/7. Kustomer Ultimate users also get issue prioritization and a customer success manager. 

Zendesk provides most of its customer service as add-ons. This includes 24/7 proactive support and professional services. On all the plans, there is basic digital support during normal weekday office hours. 

Winner: Kustomer

The fact that basic Kustomer support is 24/7 while the basic Zendesk support is limited to strictly business hours means that Kustomer is just slightly more available to help its users. 

Kustomer and Zendesk - Knowledgebase & learning

Let's talk about self-service options now. Zendesk gives users access to a help center and community portal. There are also resources for help with digital onboarding and adoption. There are on-demand training modules and guided learning paths as well.

Likewise, Kustomer also gives users access to a community forum. There is also thorough help desk documentation and something called Kustomer University.   

Winner: Tie

After perusing the knowledge base, forums, FAQs and guides, we've determined this category to be even.

Zendesk or Kustomer - Ease of use

On to the question of simplicity. You really do not need to be a software pro to learn the ins and outs of Kustomer. The tools and interface are designed in a very intuitive way.

Same could be said about Zendesk. However, with Zendesk, you might at first feel that there are an overwhelming number of features. In the end, most users will discover that figuring everything out is not too much of a struggle.

Winner: Kustomer

Spend some time playing around with both SaaS, and we are sure you will agree, Kustomer just feels quicker to get started with than Zendesk. But not everyone will agree. That's OK.

Zendesk vs Kustomer features & functionality

Here's a list of features that our internal and external teams of critics will use to pit Zendesk against Kustomer:

• Help desk channels

• Agent productivity

• AI tools

• Data storage

• Workflow and automation

• Mobile apps

• Integrations

Help desk channels

Running a help desk ticketing system depends a lot on how many channels you offer your customers to reach out and connect, whether with regular user issues or technical ones.

Kustomer offers the following channels. Email with Postmark or Gmail, chat with web, Android or iOS, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter all via DM and public comments. And there are SMS text messaging options as well.

Zendesk tickets can be created through these channels. You have email, messaging and live chat, social media business channels, text, voice, and even voicemail. There are a lot of great telephone extras like call recording, call blocking, and callback requests.  

Winner: Kustomer

When it comes to multi-channel communication or omnichannel communication, you have a few extra options with Kustomer over Zendesk,

Agent productivity

Customer engagement is all about your people. Empowering them with the best CRM and service tools is a neat way to improve the customer experience.

The Kustomer agent productivity feature set gets you the ability to split or merge conversations, and to snooze conversations. There are team features where you can group your reps together by department. 

Conversation routing really speeds up early support triage by getting the user to the best suited agent. Other team collaboration tools include total internal access to all help desk and customer relationship data. 

As for Zendesk, here are some nifty features to help streamline your agents' workload. They get keyboard shortcuts and automated translations. You can also group agents together by department. 

Managers can chime in with a whisper mode, and there is also the ability to do warm transfers. As for smart conversational routing, with Zendesk, you have skills-based routing options. Finally, you can set up a custom agent status, but only with the premium package.

Winner: Zendesk

In the category of agent productivity, Zendesk has most of the exact same features as Kustomer, but perhaps a few extra ones as well.

AI tools

Artificial intelligence is a great way to undertake more complex tasks and allow your staff to achieve more with less effort.

Zendesk has many intelligent tools. For instance, you get AI bots that are pre-trained, though it is also easy to build their response sequences. The performance of these bots can be further refined with AI-powered intent suggestions. 

There is advanced intelligent triage for a more precise approach to sorting out incoming issues. Finally, you get intelligent insights and suggestions that makes for a more efficient way to manage interactions faster.

Most of the similar tools that Kustomer offers are simply add-ons. For example, there are conversational assistants like chatbots. These feed off customer data for context and engagement timelines.

Winner: Zendesk

The details don't lie. Zendesk functions best with the use of a fair amount of artificial intelligence. More so than Kustomer.

Data storage

Kustomer prides itself on generous data storage allowances. At the basic plan, you get 10 GBs of object limitations with 20 GBs for attachment limitations. The sizes get bigger on the more expensive plans if you need to expand your data storage space.

Turning our focus to Zendesk now. The Team plan allows for 50 MBs per agent of data storage and 2 GBs for file storage. If every day you are uploading more content, you can always upgrade to a better plan for double or quadruple those storage capacities. 

Winner: Kustomer

We've gone ahead and crunched the numbers, and it seems it adds up that Kustomer offers more data space per dollar.

Workflow and automation

Both of these cloud-based customer support platforms aim to deliver a holistic experience to users which includes a mix of hard work and automated workflows to lighten the load. Workflows are often best for taking over repetitive admin tasks.

Zendesk automation is the complete package. You have custom business rules and triggers, predefined macros, and workflows to help with ticket sharing between accounts. Another treat here is the business rules analysis feature that provides actionable insights based on sales and service statistics.

As for Kustomer, you have your time-based business rules, conditional branching, and there are even workflows that reference other workflows for more complex automations.

Winner: Kustomer

Another close call here, but when it comes down to it, Kustomer's workflow builder feels easier and more dynamic than Zendesk's.

Mobile apps

Zendesk has created mobile apps for all its products, including Zendesk for Sales and Zendesk for Service. It's a standard mobile app with a nice interface design. The most useful features are all there and easy to use. 

The apps are available from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Now, sadly, it does not seem like Kustomer has dedicated mobile apps. 

This does not mean you cannot access the web browser version from the app on your phone, whether it is Safari or Chrome, or Firefox. In this case, the screen size will adapt to the smaller dimensions.

Winner: Zendesk

Dedicated mobile apps beat out responsive screen sizes. So Zendesk walks away with this win.

Integrations

Finally we turn to integrations, the best way for any app to expand its functionality by connecting with other apps.

Kustomer has a decent integrations library. There is Shopify, BigCommerce, Amazon Connect, Twilio, and Gmail. Not all the integrations on the list are built by Kustomer, however.

The Zendesk Marketplace for integrations is much bigger than Kustomer's. You get a lot of the same apps as Kustomer and more, for example, Intercom, Slack, or Mailchimp. 

Winner: Zendesk

Count up the native integrations on offer with both platforms, and it is obvious, Zendesk has more variety and choices.

A note on Kustomer Zendesk integration 

Now, there is no native Zendesk Kustomer integration. If you are like people who need to integrate apps, you can always use a tool like Zapier for added functionality between Kustomer and Zendesk.

Is Kustomer better than Zendesk? Our conclusion

So we have come to the end of this Kustomer or Zendesk article. As you have already noted from the above table, Zendesk wins by a hair's breadth. Congrats to Zendesk. And yet, we are open to accepting that some people will disagree. They think Kustomer is better. Fair enough. Such is life. 

Kustomer stands out due to its 24/7 customer support, user-friendly design, and emphasis on dynamic workflows, making it a prime choice for businesses prioritizing ease of communication across multiple channels. 

In contrast, Zendesk boasts a diverse range of pricing options, advanced AI capabilities, and a vast library of integrations. Additionally, its dedicated mobile apps give it an edge for businesses that operate on the go.

Both platforms are leaders in their respective domains, and the right choice largely depends on a business's specific priorities. Before committing, you should consider trialing both systems to truly understand which one aligns more closely with your operational and customer support needs.

Also, keep in mind that these are not the only two help desk ticket tools on the market. The big question is, are they useful for remote work management? Neither Zendesk nor Kustomer show up on this RMM software text, but so what? Freshdesk isn't there either.

Ultimately, you are clever enough to figure it out on your own. Kudos!