Zendesk vs Salesforce Service Cloud

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Our analysts compared Zendesk vs Salesforce Service Cloud 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
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Salesforce Service Cloud, a help desk software from Salesforce.com, streamlines customer service operations for businesses of all sizes. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing customer inquiries, tracking cases, and providing personalized support across multiple channels.

Salesforce Service Cloud is particularly suited for organizations looking to enhance customer engagement, improve efficiency, and gain a 360-degree view of customer interactions. Its key benefits include automated case management, self-service portals, knowledge base management, and real-time reporting.

The software's user experience is highly customizable, allowing businesses to tailor it to their specific needs. It seamlessly integrates with other Salesforce products and third-party applications, providing a unified platform for customer relationship management.

Pricing for Salesforce Service Cloud varies based on the number of users, support level, and additional features required. Businesses can choose from a range of subscription plans, with monthly or annual payment options available.

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$55/User, Monthly
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$25/User, Monthly
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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. 
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  • Accelerated Issue Resolution: Salesforce Service Cloud streamlines communication and automates workflows, enabling teams to respond to customer inquiries swiftly and effectively.
  • Personalized Customer Experiences: The platform captures customer data and preferences, allowing agents to tailor interactions and provide personalized support.
  • Improved Agent Productivity: Automated tasks, such as case routing and knowledge management, free up agents' time, enabling them to focus on complex customer issues.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: Service Cloud facilitates seamless collaboration between agents, allowing them to share knowledge, escalate cases, and provide real-time support to customers.
  • Increased Customer Satisfaction: By resolving issues promptly and efficiently, Service Cloud enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty, leading to improved brand reputation.
  • Actionable Insights: The platform provides comprehensive reporting and analytics, enabling managers to identify trends, measure performance, and make data-driven decisions to improve customer support operations.
  • Seamless Integration: Service Cloud integrates with other Salesforce applications, such as Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud, providing a unified view of the customer journey.
  • Mobile Accessibility: The mobile app allows agents to access customer data and provide support on the go, ensuring uninterrupted service.
  • Scalability and Flexibility: The platform can be customized and scaled to meet the unique needs of businesses, accommodating growth and changing requirements.
  • Cost Savings: By automating processes and improving efficiency, Service Cloud helps businesses reduce operational costs associated with customer support.
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  • 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. 
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  • Lightning Console: Boost agent productivity and optimize team workflows with easy access to information, including knowledge base, customer profiles and subject matter experts via responsive and dynamic dashboards. 
  • Case Management: Help agents resolve cases faster by keeping them connected to answers, activities and intel while assigning issues to the most appropriate sales representative with an AI-powered routing system. 
  • Service Cloud Voice: Equip agents with better insights and tools through Einstein Intelligence for delivering world-class customer support. Simplify setup, purchasing and rollout of contact center telephony with Amazon Connect and Service Cloud Voice integration. Solve customer issues quickly with tools such as IVR, intelligent cloud telephony, CRM data and call routing and storage. 
  • Knowledge Base: Allow customers and agents to get answers through a suite of readily available knowledge bases and articles. Ensure the accuracy of content with robust incident management solutions and KCSv5 verified knowledge management. 
  • Service Process and Automation: Eliminate repetitive and manual chores by automating internal procedures and processes. Design a point-and-click interface to update and create call logs and records, send emails and launch workflows. 
  • Omnichannel Routing: Engage with customers through various support channels such as web, phone, email, mobile Live Agent chats, social media, community sites and video chats. Route cases from different channels to appropriate agents based on priority, complexity and the agent’s availability, capability and capacity.  
  • Telephony Integration: Lower handle times and boost customer satisfaction rates by knowing the history before receiving the call. Automatically log the notes taken during the chat and associate them with related details such as customer records. 
  • Social Customer Service: Manage customer responses and problems from social media platforms through Salesforce Social Studio and service cloud integration. Route social cases to the appropriate agents by using classifiers, language detection and keywords. 
  • Service Analytics: Help agents make informed decisions and offer personalized support to customers by accessing service cloud data and the latest trends and patterns discovered by Einstein. Stay ahead of business issues and concerns by identifying customer and product issues and churning risks with predictive insights. 
  • Visual Remote Assistant: Troubleshoot setbacks and user queries from anywhere through video call assistance along with screen sharing capabilities. Leverage AI-powered character recognition and stay connected even with low bandwidth and offline. 
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Product Ranking

#3

among all
Help Desk Software

#43

among all
Help Desk Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

91
80
92
75
87
60
100
67
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Dashboards and Reporting
Platform Security
Integrations and Extensibility
Ticket Management
Platform Capabilities
Mobile Capabilities
Platform Security
Team Collaboration
Live Chat Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Zendesk
Salesforce Service Cloud
+ 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 75 60 67 76 89 100 77 94 79 0 25 50 75 100
83%
0%
17%
67%
0%
33%
83%
0%
17%
0%
100%
0%
100%
0%
0%
33%
50%
17%
86%
0%
14%
57%
29%
14%
73%
0%
27%
82%
0%
18%
80%
0%
20%
100%
0%
0%
83%
8%
9%
63%
21%
16%
67%
0%
33%
83%
0%
17%
88%
6%
6%
76%
0%
24%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

95%
0%
5%
74%
0%
26%
100%
0%
0%
89%
11%
0%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 5221 reviews
Great User Sentiment 2232 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.

83%
of users recommend this product

Salesforce Service Cloud has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 83% when considering 2232 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (32)
5.0 (12)
4.2 (2286)
4.1 (1537)
4.4 (2528)
n/a
n/a
4.4 (509)
4.3 (51)
4.5 (43)
3.9 (324)
3.9 (131)

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

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Salesforce Service Cloud and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Mobile Capabilities.

Mobile Capabilities 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.
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Intuitive User Interface: Salesforce Service Cloud's user-friendly interface makes it easy for support agents to quickly find the information they need to resolve customer issues.
Comprehensive Case Management: The platform provides robust case management capabilities, allowing agents to track and manage customer cases efficiently, ensuring timely resolution.
Seamless Integration with Salesforce Ecosystem: As part of the Salesforce ecosystem, Service Cloud seamlessly integrates with other Salesforce products, such as Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Analytics Cloud, providing a unified view of customer interactions.
Robust Reporting and Analytics: Service Cloud offers advanced reporting and analytics capabilities, enabling businesses to gain insights into customer behavior, identify trends, and measure agent performance.
Customization and Flexibility: The platform's customizable features allow businesses to tailor the solution to their specific needs, creating a personalized experience for both agents and customers.
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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.
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Complexity: Salesforce Service Cloud is a comprehensive tool, but its complexity can be overwhelming for some users. The learning curve can be steep, and the user interface can be difficult to navigate.
Customization: While Salesforce Service Cloud is customizable, the process can be time-consuming and complex. Users may need to hire a consultant or developer to help them customize the software to meet their specific needs.
Cost: Salesforce Service Cloud is a paid software, and the cost can be a barrier for some businesses. The cost of the software depends on the number of users and the features that are needed.
Reporting: Salesforce Service Cloud provides a variety of reporting options, but some users find the reports to be difficult to understand. The reports can also be slow to generate, which can be frustrating for users who need to access information quickly.
Integration: Salesforce Service Cloud can be integrated with other software, but the process can be complex. Users may need to hire a consultant or developer to help them integrate the software with their other systems.
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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.

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Salesforce Service Cloud is widely praised for its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other Salesforce products, which enables businesses to manage all customer interactions in one place. However, some users have reported occasional performance issues and limitations in customizing certain features, which can hinder the software's ability to fully adapt to specific business needs. Compared to similar products, Salesforce Service Cloud is often regarded as a more comprehensive solution, offering a wider range of features and functionalities. Its strengths lie in its robust reporting and analytics capabilities, which provide valuable insights into customer behavior and agent performance. Additionally, its mobile app allows for remote access and real-time updates, enhancing the flexibility of customer support operations. Salesforce Service Cloud is best suited for medium to large-sized businesses that require a comprehensive and scalable help desk solution. Its robust feature set, ease of use, and integration capabilities make it an ideal choice for organizations seeking to improve customer satisfaction and streamline their support processes.

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