Zendesk vs Front

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Zendesk vs Front based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Help Desk Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

Zendesk For Service is a scalable platform offering streamlined customer and sales support. Agents can resolve problems efficiently, and track and prioritize support tickets. Omnichannel support allows users to centralize customer interactions across phone, chat, email and more. Its built-in intelligent routing reduces resolution time by automating ticketing queues and ensuring an appropriate customer-to-agent fit.

Customizable, shareable and pre-built dashboards help users gain actionable insights through real-time data. Teams can leverage the integrated knowledge base management tools to empower customers to resolve issues by themselves. AI-powered bots optimize engagement by providing 24/7 support, answering FAQs, collecting information, delivering chat transcripts and auto-filling ticket fields. Its other offerings include a self-service portal, reporting and analytics, an IT service desk and more.

To explore other popular solutions offered by Zendesk, visit our Zendesk company page.

Pros
  • Easy to use
  • Scalable
  • Multi-channel
  • Integrations
  • Customization
Cons
  • Costly
  • Limited reporting
  • Learning curve
  • Collaboration limitations
  • Integrations limitations
read more...
Front is a customer communication platform offering tailor-made services at scale. With the simplicity of the email inbox combined with the insights and automation of CRM, it helps agents work to provide world-class support and send professional replies faster. It allows users to keep conversations organized across channels while maintaining a personal touch, efficiency and quality.
read more...
$55/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$19/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Unified Workspace: Get a coherent workspace experience with a digital contextual interface. Get benefits when agents work in shifts. Pass around tickets and work orders get passed around within the team. 
  • Omnichannel Support: Bridge support and service teams with customers across multiple modules. Get omnichannel support embedded in the product’s context-preserving workspace. Continue conversations with customers regardless of the channel and resolve issues without losing context. 
  • Better Support From Anywhere: Offer 24/7 support with AI-powered chatbots that help customers answer common queries without agent intervention. 
  • Enhanced Agent Productivity: Route tickets according to agent availability, capacity, priority and skill to ensure better resolution times. Rank agents based on performance and gamify work to further encourage productivity 
  • Better Reporting: Custom dashboards enable better data visualization and performance tracking. Track a range of different KPIs through custom and pre-built reports. Schedule automated reports at regular intervals to keep track of KPIs.
  • Improved Security and Compliance: Encrypt communication data between customers and support agents using industry best practices. GDPR compliance, HTTPS security and Transport Layer Security (TLS) keep private data secure.
  • Streamlined Workflows: Leverage AI to automate and enhance operations through tools like AI-based ticket routing, ticket sentiment analysis and automated response suggestions. 
read more...
  • Clean Interface: Get everyone on board with a clean and intuitive functionality.  
  • Improve Team Efficiency: Create automatic workflows that work for the team, from assigned tasks to message escalation. 
  • Actionable Data: Get insights to improve performance, customer satisfaction and communication. 
  • Smarter Collaboration: Draft responses together with peers without losing time, duplicating tasks and missing context. 
  • Unmatched Service: Work together on messages, see which agent owns what and share context with real-time collaboration. Create custom workflows that automatically triage, route and escalate messages to please customers.  
  • Full Administration Control: Serve customers best by controlling permissions, access rights, provisioning and more. 
  • Improved Security: Take advantage of a platform built using industry-standard encryption. Ensure performance never slips and deliver unique enterprise identifiers with backups.  
  • Compliance: Protect data with SOC 2 and GDPR. Serve customers best by controlling permissions, access rights, provisioning and more.  
read more...
  • Ticketing System: Offer high-quality customer support across various channels with pre-built dashboards, automation, customer ticket fields and dynamic forms. Avoid misplacing tickets, produce faster resolution and boost the bandwidth via robust tools such as CSAT ratings, routing, service-level agreements and time tracking. 
  • Omnichannel Support: Offer quick and seamless customer support through multiple channels including email, phone, chat, customized chatbots, a website, WhatsApp, messaging, Facebook and Twitter to ensure faster resolutions 
  • Messaging and Live Chat: Engage in long-term, personalized conversations with customers to deliver instant support without any repetitions. Help customers get instant answers via bots and integrated programs with the ability to turn to a live agent whenever needed. 
  • Help Center: Give customers access to knowledge base articles and automated suggestion pop-ups to enable a streamlined and efficient self-service. Convert essential issues in the community into resolvable tickets and update reusable content from help centers and articles through content blocks. 
  • Voice Support: Deliver instant support to customers with a cloud-based voice solution, plug into 90+ telephone providers. Extend voice capabilities with services including redaction, quality assurance and advanced call transcriptions. 
  • Community Forums: Create a platform for customers to collaborate, provide feedback, review the product, and answer other user’s questions. Help them reach out for the most relevant services. 
  • Reporting and Analytics: Analyze how customers use websites, products, services and various support channels. Determine ways to improve the experience by getting instant access to insights and identifying problem areas via customizable, pre-built dashboards. 
  • Knowledge Base: Help customers get to know the services and products better by creating easy-to-read articles with rich formatting and translations to 40+ languages for a localized customer experience. 
read more...
  • Integration: Connect with over 100 different apps to manage projects and view all communication modules right in the inbox. 
  • Team Collaboration: Give team confidence and accountability without dropping the ball or missing messages. Keep everyone on the same page by giving agents a shared perspective on email for visibility. Route messages automatically to teammates, based on sender, keywords and time of day or month. 
  • Analytics: Get detailed insights into email activity, understand where workflows must improve and fuel positive changes. 
  • Customer Experience: Automate all the busy work to deliver quick and seamless customer responses. Route messages by creating if-then workflows to focus. Get insights into communication through email analytics, spot scope of improvements and share key results with clients. 
  • Universal Inbox: Keep messages in email, live chat and SMS text actionable and organized in one platform. Deliver messages correctly with assignments and workflow rules based on sender, keywords, time of day and more. 
  • Workflow Management: Track the volume for agents and customers, balance workload and understand performance to grow your business intelligently. Measure and achieve response time goals with automation, timing and other triggers. 
  • Remote Team Collaboration: Stay aligned, motivated and connected with built-in team accountability and collaboration features. Empower teams to work from anywhere and anytime and deliver consistent results. 
  • Multi-Channel Communication: Reduce browser tabs and manage multiple customer communication channels in a single platform. Connect SMS, email, live chat and Facebook to one collaborative hub.  
  • Email Management: Organize the inbox and make it actionable to avoid important messages slipping through the cracks. Know who’s working on what to cut down on the back and forth.  
  • Shared Inbox: Manage support, contact and info and collaborate on all customer communication channels to respond faster. Plug in group email accounts such as team into a shared inbox and offer a shared view of every email to the team. Allow agents to collaborate on email to move through the queue faster. 
  • Email Delegation: Choose a delegate from teammates and collaborate in real time. Comment internally on an email. Work together on email drafts before hitting send to get the right response every time.  
  • Help Desk: Assign a number to every customer message and manage support without the ticket numbers to offer a personal reply to every customer. 
  • CRM: Reference a shared view of client information easily from the inbox by bringing CRM into the help desk system. Set up automation that escalates, routes, and assigns work depending on customer data to help teams align and serve critical customers effectively.  
read more...

Product Ranking

#3

among all
Help Desk Software

#44

among all
Help Desk Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

91
75
92
87
87
50
100
67
Show More Show More
Dashboards and Reporting
Platform Security
Integrations and Extensibility
Ticket Management
Platform Capabilities
Email Management
Integrations and Extensibility
Team Collaboration
Agent Productivity

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Zendesk
Front
+ Add Product + Add Product
Agent Productivity Call Center Management Dashboards And Reporting Email Management Live Chat Management Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Team Collaboration Ticket Management 92 87 100 92 74 81 93 85 95 87 50 67 95 81 50 66 88 79 0 25 50 75 100
83%
0%
17%
67%
17%
16%
83%
0%
17%
0%
0%
100%
100%
0%
0%
50%
0%
50%
86%
0%
14%
86%
0%
14%
73%
0%
27%
73%
0%
27%
80%
0%
20%
40%
0%
60%
83%
8%
9%
54%
0%
46%
67%
0%
33%
83%
0%
17%
88%
6%
6%
71%
12%
17%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

95%
0%
5%
79%
0%
21%
100%
0%
0%
78%
0%
22%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 5221 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 1252 reviews
86%
of users recommend this product

Zendesk has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 5221 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

92%
of users recommend this product

Front has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 1252 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (32)
4.9 (11)
4.2 (2286)
4.6 (968)
4.4 (2528)
n/a
n/a
4.5 (211)
4.3 (51)
n/a
3.9 (324)
4.5 (62)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Zendesk and concluded it deserves the award for the Best Overall Help Desk Software available today and earns best-in-class honors for Dashboards and Reporting and Platform Security.

Analysts' Pick Award
Dashboards and Reporting Award
Platform Security Award

Front stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Ticket Management: 83% of users who talked about Zendesk’s ticket management features had a positive experience and praised the platform.
Ease of Use: 64% of users who talked about their onboarding and general experience using the platform said Zendesk was easy to use and learn.
Integrations: 57% of reviewers who mentioned integrations were happy with the range and variety of integrations available.
Knowledge Management: 83% of users who mentioned using the knowledge management and help center tools said they had a positive experience.
Collaboration: 92% of users who talked about Zendesk’s collaboration tools said that the platform made external and internal collaboration and communication easier.
Show more
Intuitive Interface: Front's user-friendly interface makes it easy for teams to quickly get up to speed and collaborate effectively.
Shared Inbox: The shared inbox allows multiple team members to work together on customer emails, ensuring faster response times and better collaboration.
Automation: Front's automation features, such as auto-replies and canned responses, help streamline workflows and save time.
Integrations: Front integrates seamlessly with popular CRM and productivity tools, providing a centralized platform for customer communication.
Mobile Accessibility: The mobile app allows teams to stay connected and respond to customer inquiries from anywhere, at any time.
Show more
Reporting: 55% of users who talked about the platform’s reporting and analytics tools complained about the lack of advanced reporting tools, especially on cheaper plans.
Customer Support: 70% of users who talked about contacting Zendesk customer service expressed dissatisfaction with their experience.
Cost: 100% of users who talked about pricing said that the cost of the platform was quite high for small businesses and businesses in developing countries.
Show more
Clunky Interface: Front's user interface can be cumbersome to navigate, with users reporting difficulties finding specific features and settings.
Limited Customization: Front offers limited customization options, making it challenging for users to tailor the software to their specific needs.
Poor Ticket Management: Front's ticket management system lacks advanced features such as automated ticket routing and escalation, which can lead to inefficiencies in ticket handling.
Integration Issues: Front's integration with other business tools can be unreliable, resulting in data inconsistencies and workflow disruptions.
High Cost: Front's pricing structure is perceived as expensive compared to competing help desk software, especially for small businesses with limited budgets.
Show more

Zendesk For Service offers streamlined tools for businesses of all sizes. It excels in features like ticket management, collaboration and knowledge management. Its interface is easy to use and understand, and there are plenty of onboarding resources for new users. The platform also offers numerous integrations with programs like CRM systems, project management tools and collaboration tools like Slack.While users praised the comprehensive features and level of customization offered by the platform, they also said that this can make the learning curve steeper. Some customers were also disappointed by the lack of advanced reporting tools, the unresponsiveness of customer support and high cost for small businesses. All in all, Zendesk is a scalable and feature-rich solution for businesses looking for an efficient ticketing and support tool.

Show more

Front has received a multitude of positive reviews in the last year. Users commend its intuitive interface, robust feature set, and seamless integration with other applications. They also appreciate its ability to automate tasks, track customer interactions, and provide comprehensive reporting. In comparison to other help desk software, Front stands out for its collaborative capabilities, which allow multiple team members to work on the same ticket simultaneously. Additionally, Front's focus on customer experience is evident in its customizable workflows and personalized communication options. These strengths are important because they enhance productivity, improve customer satisfaction, and provide valuable insights for businesses. Front is most suited for businesses that prioritize customer service and seek a comprehensive help desk solution. Its collaborative features, robust functionality, and focus on customer experience make it an ideal choice for teams that need to manage a high volume of support requests efficiently and effectively. Whether you're a small business just starting out or a large enterprise with complex support needs, Front offers a scalable and customizable solution that can grow with your business.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Help Desk Software


Freshdesk

Front

Gorgias

HappyFox

Help Scout

HubSpot Service Hub

Intercom

Jira

Jitbit

Kayako

LiveAgent

LiveChat

Salesforce Service Cloud

ServiceNow

TeamSupport

Teamwork Desk

Vision Helpdesk

Zoho Desk

Related Categories

Head-to-Head Comparison

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings