Among hundreds of help desk software in the market, the competition is stiff between two dominant players —Zoho Desk vs. Freshdesk. But why?
Since both these tools offer identical features and are priced similarly, choosing one over the other can prove to be the most grueling decision you will ever make.
Well, no need to scratch your head in confusion.
To settle this long battle and help you make the right decision, I’ve created this Freshdesk and Zoho Desk comparison blog. I’ll compare their overall capabilities, features, and pricing to help you understand which software may work best for you. Let’s go!
What Is Freshdesk?
Image Source: Freshdesk
Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy launched Freshdesk in 2010 under the parent company Freshworks. Girish’s frustration with poor customer support led him to create a platform that simplifies customer service.
The Freshdesk software offers an all-in-one help desk solution to handle customer queries via multiple channels like email, phone, live chat, social media, and more. Its core features include ticket management, automation, and built-in Freddy AI for intelligent routing and response suggestions. These features simplify support processes, enabling teams to respond faster and manage customer relationships effectively.
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What Is Zoho Desk?
Image Source: Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is part of Zoho Corporation, a company founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu. Zoho Desk was introduced in 2016 to help businesses align customer support with sales, marketing, and IT processes.
Zoho Desk is a cloud-based help desk platform that helps teams manage customer interactions efficiently. It offers features like ticketing automation, multi-channel support, and seamless integration with other Zoho products such as CRM, Projects, and Analytics. Its user-friendly interface, customizable dashboards, and extensive self-service options make it an ideal choice for businesses seeking to enhance their customer service operations.
Freshdesk vs. Zoho Desk: Key Features Head-to-Head
As a support manager, I’ve had the opportunity to use Zoho Desk and Freshdesk to track support tickets and enhance the service experience.
When I saw that many people were confused between the two, I decided to use my experience and create this detailed comparison. From AI capabilities to pricing—I’ve compared these tools from head to toe.
1. Omnichannel
Freshdesk
I find Freshdesk’s omnichannel capabilities impressive. It allows me to manage emails, phone calls, live chat, and social media (even WhatsApp) from one platform.
The integration across channels is seamless, ensuring that I never miss a customer interaction, no matter where they reach out from.
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk’s omnichannel support is also quite robust. It covers email, phone, social media, live chat, community forums, and other channels.
What stands out to me is the seamless integration with Zoho’s CRM. It creates a unified customer view, making tracking conversations across different channels easier without jumping between platforms.
2. AI & Automation
Freshdesk
Image Source: Freshdesk
Freshdesk has a built-in AI called Freddy AI, which can quickly learn from past tickets and automatically take action on new ones. I like how its AI is smart enough to automate time-consuming help desk processes like ticket categorization, prioritization, and routing.
The best part is that Freddy AI can quickly summarize issues, generate responses, draft articles, and even proactively suggest ways to optimize support and improve the customer experience. However, one major disappointment is that the AI capabilities are only available in top-tier plans. If this makes you unhappy, feel free to check out some top Freshdesk alternatives.
Zoho Desk
Image Source: Zoho Desk
Just like Freshdesk, Zoho Desk has tried to give its AI a human touch by naming it Zia. Who knew AI could have such cool names?
I feel Zoho Desk’s AI is more context-driven. For example, Zia can quickly identify customer sentiments right at the moment when a ticket is raised. This allows customer service agents to get better context and personalize experiences from the start. Also, Zia Answer Bot can scan through your knowledge base and recommend relevant solutions to agents and customers.
3. Customization
Freshdesk
Image Source: Freshdesk
Freshdesk allows me to customize various elements of our support portal. For instance, I can choose from ready-made themes or go deeper with full CSS customization.
The platform also makes it easier to embed customizable web forms on the website or help center. I can easily add and modify the ticket form fields to capture the most relevant information. I can also use custom permissions to determine the roles and responsibilities of agents.
Zoho Desk
Image Source: Zoho Desk
With Zoho Desk, I can easily customize ticket statuses. In addition to the default ticket statuses like open, in progress, escalated, etc., I can add a custom status like “Waiting on Customer” to better organize customer issues.
If I compare Freshdesk with Zoho Desk, creating custom fields is much easier with the latter. For example, I can create a Mobile Number field for new tickets or contacts. Also, I can customize and save email templates sent to customers and agents when specific alerts are triggered.
4. Reports & Analytics
Freshdesk
Image Souce: Freshdesk
When it comes to analytics, Freshdesk provides a solid dashboard that allows me to monitor ticket trends, help desk performance, and customer satisfaction metrics in real-time. For instance, I can quickly scan metrics like the average first response time, average resolution time, tickets received, unresolved tickets, etc.
The report scheduling feature is a big plus for me. It enables me to receive reports in PDF or CSV format directly in my inbox.
Zoho Desk
Image Source: Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk excels with its advanced analytics, especially its integration with Zoho Analytics. It gives me deeper insights into trends and patterns within the support system.
Both Freshdesk and Zoho Desk offer similar metrics capabilities. However, I find Zoho Desk’s Agent Availability report quite unique. It helps me track each agent’s active working hours and see when they log in and out of work.
5. Customer Support
Freshdesk
Image Source: Freshdesk
Freshdesk is better than Zoho Desk when it comes to offering self-service options to users. As a Freshdesk user, I can access relevant information through a vast video library. I can view interactive videos on topics such as creating knowledge base articles, setting up a multilingual knowledge base, using canned responses, and much more.
Also, if you are a new Freshdesk user, you can enroll your support agents in the Freshworks Academy, where they can hone new skills, get certified, and become a part of their community. Users can even ask questions, post tips, or interact with other users on the Freshworks community forum.
Zoho Desk
Image Source: Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk offers human support on three channels—email, phone, and live chat. However, live chat support is only available for users who have opted for the Professional and Enterprise plans. If this is a concern for you, feel free to check out some top Zoho Desk alternatives.
Even though I’m required to opt for an expensive plan to get live chat assistance, I can refer to Zoho’s extensive help center for free anytime. It offers relevant information around topics such as getting started, ticket management, mobile apps, etc., and also helps me find the latest product updates or features.
6. Integration
Freshdesk
Image Source: Freshdesk
Honestly, Freshdesk’s integration options are quite extensive. A wide range of third-party integrations make it easy for me to streamline workflows and ensure all my tools work in sync.
Over the last few months, I’ve connected Freshdesk with multiple apps, such as Slack, Salesforce, and Razorpay. The Shopify integration also allows me to assist my online shoppers more effectively.
Zoho Desk
Image Source: Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is no less when it comes to integrations either, especially within the Zoho ecosystem.
I’ve integrated it with Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, and other apps, which has made managing customer interactions and project workflows more efficient. It also supports multiple third-party tools, such as Jira, RingCentral, Mailchimp, Slack, etc.
7. Deployment Options
Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a cloud-based solution that’s easy to deploy, especially for a globally distributed team like mine. I appreciate that it’s fully web-based, so I don’t have to worry about hardware or server maintenance. The smooth deployment has allowed me to focus more on customer service and less on technical overhead.
Zoho Desk
Unlike Freshdesk, Zoho Desk offers flexible deployment options, whether you need cloud-based or on-premise solutions. I use the cloud version, and it has been extremely easy to set up and maintain, with no need for additional IT support. The frequent updates ensure that I always have access to the latest features.
8. Ease of Use
Freshdesk
Freshdesk has a very intuitive interface, and I got my team up to speed quickly. The layout is clean, and everything is easy to navigate. Even agents with less technical experience found it straightforward, which meant we didn’t waste time on training.
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is equally user-friendly, in my opinion. It has a straightforward design, and the customization options allow me to set up the dashboard just how I like it. The learning curve was minimal, and my team quickly became comfortable using it daily.
9. G2 Rating ⭐
Freshdesk
Rating: 4.4
As of the latest G2 ratings, Freshdesk is highly rated, with a score of 4.4/5.
Zoho Desk
Rating: 4.3
Zoho Desk also holds strong ratings on G2, scoring around 4.3/5.
10. Pricing
Freshdesk Pricing:
Free: Forever-free plan with limitations
Growth: $15/user/month
Pro: $49/user/month
Enterprise: $79/user/month
Freshdesk offers a 14-day free trial that lets you explore the tool’s interface and features and determine whether it meets your needs.
The basic plan, Growth, starts at $15/user/month and offers basic features such as help desk reports, collision detection, time tracking, and more.
Although the basic plan starts at a reasonable price, Freshdesk’s top-most plan, Enterprise, can be quite expensive at $79/user/month. For a hefty price, you can get features such as skilled-based routing, Freddy Copilot, custom reports, and more.
Zoho Desk Pricing:
Free: Forever-free plan with limitations
Standard: $14/agent/month
Professional: $23/agent/month
Enterprise: $40/agent/month
Zoho Desk’s pricing is simple and transparent, and you can even enjoy a 15-day free trial to get the look and feel of the tool.
Zoho’s Standard plan starts at $14/agent/month and offers features such as social and community channels, SLAs, customer happiness ratings, and more. With the Enterprise plan ($40/agent/month), you can get Zia (AI), multi-level IVR, multi-brand help center, scheduled reports, and more.
Final Verdict: Which Is Better?
It’s finally time to reveal the winner!
From the above Zoho Desk and Freshdesk comparison, it is clear that both tools have unique strengths. I think the choice of the “best” tool really depends on your business’s specific needs.
Freshdesk is ideal for teams looking for a highly customizable solution with advanced AI capabilities. If your organization handles customer support across multiple channels like social media, live chat, and email, and you need intelligent automation to reduce manual effort, Freshdesk is the way to go.
On the other hand, Zoho Desk is the better choice for businesses already using other Zoho products or looking for an affordable, integrated platform. It’s particularly suited for small to mid-sized teams that need strong CRM integration, allowing seamless coordination between sales and support teams.
Do you wish there was a better alternative?
I’m glad you asked. ProProfs Help Desk is another solution that deserves your attention. To start with, it isn’t as expensive as Freshdesk and offers more features than Zoho Desk. For instance, you can automate your support with AI, centralize all interactions from multiple channels, and reduce ticket volume with a dedicated knowledge base and customer portal.
Also, there is a forever-free plan for small teams that offers all premium features. Now, that sounds like a good deal to me!
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