Brianna ParkerZendesk is a service-first software company based in San Francisco, California, which offers a CRM, helpdesk, and knowledge management platforms. It was founded in Denmark in 2007 by Morten Primdahl, Alexander Aghassipour, and Mikkel Svane.
A few months after launching, Zendesk’s SaaS product had about 1,000 trial customers. Startups and tech giants adopted Zendesk in 2008, including social networking guru Twitter. In 2017, Zendesk adopted an AI bot to improve machine-customer conversations.
The company expanded its AI capabilities in 2019 to help users predict customers’ needs more accurately. In 2021, Zendesk’s revenue increased by 30% year-over-year to $1.339 billion. The company has 5,921 employees. [1]
Zendesk expanded its offering beyond customer service through strategic acquisitions, including Base, Smooch, Zopim, and BIME. The company used Base to create a Sell Marketplace, rebranded Smooch as Sunshine Conversations, and leveraged Zopim to strengthen live chat functions.
In Aug 2021, Zendesk acquired AI startup Cleverly to expand its customer service capabilities. Its product portfolio includes Zendesk Support, Zendesk Talk, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Explore, Zendesk Gather, and Zendesk Sell.
The company faces stiff competition in each sector from new and old rivals, such as Zoho, Freshworks, Oracle, Salesforce, and SAP. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of top Zendesk’s competitors and alternatives:
1. Zoho Desk
Year founded: 1996
Headquarter: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Zoho is a software company that offers a cloud-based CRM and customer service desk. Over 250,000 businesses across 180 countries use Zoho CRM to create, manage, and organize customer and sales data. The company has around 12,000 employees and operates globally.
In 2021, Zoho witnessed over a 20% rise in its revenue to $697 million. The company’s profits for FY2021 more than doubled to $255.7 million (Rs 1,918 crore).
Both Zoho and Zendesk offer helpdesk and sales management. But Zoho CRM is more robust due to its cutting-edge lead generation automation. The company’s portfolio includes over 45 products, such as Zoho Sheet, Zoho Finance, Zoho Social, Zoho Creator, Zoho Meeting, and Zoho Docs.
Zoho reinvests around 50% of profits into its platform and new projects. This approach can help Zoho increase its competitive advantage and stay ahead of the pack. Zoho is the top Zendesk competitor and alternative for many reasons. [3]
2. Freshworks
Year founded: 2010
Headquarter: San Mateo, California
Freshworks is a SaaS company that offers solutions for managing customer interactions, workflow, and processes. Its Freshdesk Omnichannel software provides a unified support experience to users through e-mail, social, chat, and phone. In 2021, Freshworks’ full-year revenue increased by 49% to $371 million. [4]
The main advantage for Freshworks is its unified approach. Freshdesk allows users to manage all customer support initiatives in a single helpdesk software.
Businesses can leverage Freshsales to streamline lead generation, customer engagement, communications, and activity capturing. The company uses a tiered pricing model with four plans; Blossom, Garden, Estate, and Forest. This flexible model caters to businesses of all sizes. Freshworks is one of the best Zendesk alternatives for SMBs.
3. Salesforce Service Cloud
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Salesforce is a cloud-based software company that offers CRM, marketing, sales, and analytics. The company has around 49,000 employees and serves more than 7.2 million customers across 23 territories globally. In fiscal 2021, Salesforce reported a 24% surge in revenue to $21.25 billion. For FY 2022, the company expects around $26 billion in revenue. [5]
Zendesk acquired Smooch and integrated it with other solutions to create Sunshine Conversations. This tool competes with Salesforce, renowned in CRM services. It is also the market leader in the global public cloud SaaS market.
The company acquired Slack Technologies in Dec 2020 to unify its platform, increasing its competitive advantage over Zendesk. Salesforce is a formidable Zendesk competitor.
4. SugarCRM
Year founded: 2004
Headquarter: Cupertino, California
SugarCRM is a leading software company that offers enterprise-level solutions, including Sugar Serve and Sugar Sell. The platform also provides Sugar Market and Sugar Discover that automate marketing and lead generation. In 2021, SugarCRM had around 500 employees and accumulated $106 million in revenue. [6]
SugarCRM competes against Zendesk in customer service with Sugar Serve. Its Sugar Sell product goes against Zendesk Sell in the sales automation sector. But Sugar Sell is more comprehensive than Zendesk Sell.
Businesses can also leverage Sugar Serve to streamline their customer service and support efforts. Both solutions are part of the SugarCRM platform and integrate with over 200 business systems. SugarCRM is a worthy Zendesk competitor.
5. Oracle Service
Year founded: 1977
Headquarter: Redwood City, California
Oracle is a multinational technology company that offers databases, cloud computing, and business software and hardware. Its Oracle Service solution competes with Zendesk’s customer service offering. In fiscal 2021, Oracle had around 136,000 employees and generated $40.5 billion in revenue. [7]
The main competitive advantage for Oracle is its comprehensive enterprise-level product portfolio. It competes with Zendesk across the board, including Oracle CX Sales vs. Zendesk Sell and Oracle Service vs. Zendesk Support.
Businesses can use Oracle CX Sales to extract insights from data or automate marketing processes using Oracle Eloqua. The platform serves around 4.6 million users. Oracle is one of the best Zendesk alternatives for customer service and sales automation.
6. ServiceNow
Year founded: 2003
Headquarter: Santa Clara, California
ServiceNow is a SaaS platform for customer service management and workflow automation. It has 12,500 employees and provides solutions that help streamline processes and boost efficiency for around 6,200 organizations. In 2020, ServiceNow generated $4.52 billion in annual revenue. The company expects $5.5 billion in subscription revenue for FY 2021. [8]
Both Zendesk and ServiceNow offer customer service management. But ServiceNow’s workflow automation increases its competitive advantage over Zendesk.
Basically, using ServiceNow’s customer service and workflow automation solutions together provides more value for money. In the first half of 2021, ServiceNow added 1,200 new customers and secured over $1 million in contracts. ServiceNow is one of the top Zendesk competitors in customer service management.
7. Microsoft Dynamics 365
Year founded: 1975
Headquarter: Redmond, Washington
Microsoft is the second most valuable company globally, with a $2 trillion market cap. This tech company provides enterprise-level solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics 365 competes against Zendesk . In 2021, Microsoft had 181,000 employees and generated $168 billion in revenue.
Zendesk recently released Zendesk Sunshine, a software that integrates CRM. This solution offers an alternative to Microsoft Dynamics 365. Zendesk Sunshine users get more data storage space than Microsoft Dynamics.
However, Dynamics 365 integrates with other Microsoft products, such as Outlook, Teams, and MS Project. Most companies already use Microsoft, so they are more likely to choose Dynamics 365 over Zendesk. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the best Zendesk alternative for large corporations. [9]
8. SAP CRM
Year founded: 1972
Headquarter: Waldorf, Germany
SAP is a software company specializing in enterprise-level solutions, including ERP and CRM. The company has around 110,000 employees and operates in 115 locations worldwide. In 2021, SAP’s revenue increased by 2% to $31.26 billion.
Like Zendesk, SAP CRM helps businesses manage customer relationships and interactions. But SAP CRM is best suited for corporations. Zendesk Sell competes against SAP Sales Cloud. This solution runs on SAP’s flagship S/4 Hana ERP system.
In 2021, S/4 Hana users increased by 18% to 18,800. SAP also offers SAP Marketing Cloud, Rise with SAP, Ariba, Success Factors, and Concur. Rise with SAP attracted more than 1,300 customers since launch in Jan 2021. All these offerings increase SAP’s competitive advantage over Zendesk. [10]
9. HubSpot
Year founded: 2006
Headquarter: Cambridge, Massachusetts
HubSpot is a tech company that offers five hubs for marketing, sales, customer service, CMS, and operations. The platform provides end-to-end business management for over 100,000 customers. In 2021, HubSpot’s full-year revenue increased by 47% to $1.3 billion. [11]
Both HubSpot and Zendesk offer solutions to help businesses manage customer service and sales. But HubSpot’s platform is more comprehensive than Zendesk. The company introduced the CMS Hub in 2020 and the Operations Hub in 2021, allowing businesses to manage everything in a single platform. The new hubs increase HubSpot’s addressable market and competitive advantage. HubSpot is a worthy Zendesk competitor. [12]
10. Pegasystems Inc.
Year founded: 1983
Headquarter: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Pegasystems is a software company that offers CRM, robotic process automation (RPA), and business process management (BPM). Like Zendesk, Pega CRM streamlines customer service to help businesses maximize customer lifetime value. In 2021, Pegasystems had 6,133 employees and generated $1.02 billion in annual revenue.[13]
Pega solutions leverage real-time AI and intelligent automation, running on scalable architecture and low-code platforms. This innovative approach offers advanced capabilities to help businesses adapt to rapid changes and transformations.
In Sep 2021, Pega was the highest-ranked vendor in Gartner’s Critical Capabilities for Salesforce Automation. Pegasystems is one of the best Zendesk alternatives for customer service automation. [14]
11. Creatio
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: Boston, Massachusetts
Creatio is a software company that offers a no-code platform for CRM and workflow automation. In Feb 2021, Creatio raised $68 million in a funding round led by Volition Capital. The company used this investment to scale its global team to over 700 employees, boost net retention by 132%, and accelerate growth. [15]
The company’s Service Creatio solution competes against Zendesk’s products. In 2021, Creatio released 8 products and added over 70 connectors and solutions to its Marketplace. Its platform simplifies more than 10 million workflows daily for clients across 100 countries.
In Dec 2021, G2 recognized Creatio in five categories, including the best no-code and low-code development platforms. Creatio is one of the best Zendesk alternatives for workflow automation. [16]
12. Jira Service Desk
Year founded: 2002
Headquarter: Sydney, Australia
Jira Service Desk is part of Jira’s project management and issues tracking platform, owned and operated by Atlassian. This solution streamlines workflows, communication, and collaboration. In 2020, Atlassian had 5,752 employees and generated $1.6 billion in revenues.
Zendesk and Jira Service Desk automate business processes and workflows. But Jira Service Desk is more user-friendly and integrates with Trello, Jira Core, and Jira Software.
Users can manage projects and software development, access IT support, and automate services in a single platform. Jira Service Desk is one of the best Zendesk alternatives. [17]
13. Bitrix24
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Alexandria, Virginia
Bitrix24 is a SaaS platform for sales and marketing campaigns. Teams can use collaboration tools and a virtual PBX that automates calls and manages communications across 53 countries. The company has 113 employees and makes around $8 million in revenue annually.
Bitrix24 competes against Zendesk Support Suite and Zendesk Sell. The platform integrates with accounting tools like Gantt charts and Kanban boards. Users can leverage BI reports and sync shared calendars with Outlook and Google .
They pay a flat monthly price for unlimited users to access these solutions and automate sales and marketing on a single platform. Bitrix24 is a worthy Zendesk competitor in sales automation. [18]
14. Help Scout
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: Boston, Massachusetts
Help Scout is a software company that offers a helpdesk and customer support platform. Its intuitive interface and features enhance ease of use and minimize the learning curve. In 2021, Help Scout had 171 employees and made around $2.3 million in revenue. The company has raised $6.8 million in funding.
Help Scout’s customer support platform offers several tools, including shared inboxes, docs for self-service, and Beacon for chat support. Users can create shared mailboxes to manage all customer conversations in one location.
They can use the Beacon feature to offer live chat services or the customer data management tool for personalized support. Help Scout’s feature-rich platform can poach some customers from Zendesk. [19]
15. Sage
Year founded: 1918
Headquarter: Newcastle, UK
Sage is a software company that offers an integrated CRM platform. Sage CRM provides marketing, sales, and customer service to over 15,000 businesses daily. In fiscal 2021, Sage reported an 8.2% increase in revenue to $2.32 billion. [20]
Sage CRM competes against Zendesk Sell and Zendesk Support Suite. But Sage is more flexible, allowing clients to use its integrated CRM or modules for sales and customer service. Sage’s flexible offering can attract SMBs from Zendesk.
References & more information
- Zendesk, Inc. (2022, Feb 11). Zendesk Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2021 Results. Yahoo Finance
- Kerner, M. (2021, Aug 26). Zendesk acquires AI automation startup Cleverly to advance customer service. TechCrunch
- Reddy, M. P. K. (2022, Feb 19). Zoho Success Story – How the Startup Scaled Sustainably with No Investors? Startup Talky
- Freshworks Inc (2022, Feb 10). Freshworks Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results. Globe Newswire
- Datta, T. (2021, May 27). Salesforce raises annual revenue profit outlook. Reuters
- Rae, J. (2021, Dec 15). SugarCRM’s 2021 Year in Review. SugarCRM
- Liu, S. (2021, Jun 23). Revenue of Oracle 2005-2021. Statista
- Dignan, L. (2021, Jul 28). ServiceNow delivers strong Q2, ups subscription revenue outlook. ZDNet
- Peter, B. (2021, May 3). Zendesk as a CRM – Enough to Replace Microsoft Dynamics? LinkedIn
- McKenna, B. (2022, Jan 27). SAP full-year 2021: Revenue nudges up 1%, cloud growth up 17%. Computer Weekly
- HubSpot, Inc. (2022, Feb 10). HubSpot Reports Q4 and Full Year 2021 Results. PRNewswire
- Withers, B. (2021, Jun 23). HubSpot Is Quietly Expanding Its Addressable Market. The Motley Fool
- Pegasystems (2021, Oct 27). Pega continues accelerated growth through Q3 2021. PRNewswire
- Pegasystems Inc. (2021, Sep 21). Pega Recognized as the Highest Ranked Vendor by Gartner in 2021. PRNewswire
- Creatio (2021, Dec 20). Creatio Announces Record Growth, Driven by Adoption of its Platform. Yahoo Finance
- Creatio (2021, Dec 15). Creatio Wins G2 Leader Awards in 5 Categories. PRNewswire
- Morpus, N. (2021, Jan 29). What Is Jira: An Overview of a Unique Project Management Tool. The Motley Fool
- Graw, M. (2021, Oct 28). Bitrix24 CRM review. TechRadar
- Sauer, J. (2021, Feb 18). Help Scout Review: How We Use Help Scout to Support Customers. Data Driven
- Eggspert (2022, Jan 18). Sage CRM Review. Crazy Egg
- Featured image by Justin Main
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