Helpscout

Help Scout is a robust help desk software designed to streamline customer support and enhance team collaboration. With features like Active Directory and Single-Sign-On, it simplifies user management, ensuring that your support team can focus on delivering exceptional service without the hassle of complicated login processes. The platform supports workflow automation, allowing teams to efficiently manage repetitive tasks and prioritize customer inquiries, which ultimately leads to improved response times and customer satisfaction.

One of Help Scout's standout features is its Knowledge Base, which empowers customers to find answers independently, reducing the volume of incoming support requests. Additionally, the software offers customizable options such as Canned Responses and Custom Fields, enabling teams to tailor their communication to meet specific customer needs. Robust reporting and analytics tools provide valuable insights into team performance and customer satisfaction, helping organizations make data-driven decisions. With mobile apps and third-party integrations, Help Scout ensures that support teams can operate seamlessly, regardless of their location, enhancing both productivity and customer engagement.

LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a comprehensive help desk software designed to enhance customer support across multiple channels, ensuring a seamless experience for both agents and users. One of its standout features is the robust Activity Dashboard, which provides real-time insights into team performance, helping organizations identify bottlenecks and improve efficiency. With tools like Canned Responses, agents can quickly address common inquiries, allowing them to focus on more complex issues and ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction.

In addition to its intuitive interface, LiveAgent offers the flexibility of Custom Fields and Custom Statuses, enabling businesses to tailor the software to their specific workflows and reporting needs. The platform supports multi-channel communication, integrating live chat, email, and community forums, which helps streamline interactions and ensures that no customer query goes unanswered. With features such as SLA Management and Customer Satisfaction Surveys, organizations can effectively measure their service quality and make informed decisions to enhance their support strategy. Overall, LiveAgent's combination of customization options and analytical tools makes it a valuable asset for businesses aiming to elevate their customer service standards.

	Helpscout	LiveAgent	Jitbit
	A simple help desk focused on email.	Powerful support suite with ticketing and chat	Help Desk Software built for email. Trusted by thousands of companies across 50 + countries.
Pricing: 3 years / 5 agents	$6300	$5220	$3897
Pricing: 3 years / 10 agents	$12600	$10440	$8367
Active Directory	✅ Only Azure AD is supported	✅ AD catalog integration, but no Windows-integrated authentication	✅ Integration via a script for your server or ADFS and SAML
Activity Dashboard	❌	✅ There's a dashboard report, but it's not live-updated	✅ Live overview dashboard
Asset Management	❌	❌	✅ A complete asset management module tightly integrated into the rest of the app
Canned Responses	✅ They are called Saved Replies. You can insert them in ticket replies	✅ 'Canned answers' are available on the $15/mo/user plan	✅ You can also assign canned responses to specific ticket categories if you need to
Community Forums	❌	✅ Customer forum is included with all plans	✅ Ideas Forum comes out of the box
Custom Fields	✅ Up to ten custom fields per mailbox	✅ Multiple custom field types available	✅ Many custom field types, including dependant fields. Various privacy options.
Custom Statuses	❌	✅ Custom statuses are available, but no permission control	✅ Add custom statuses, customize how your customers see them and assign different colors to them
Customer satisfaction survey	✅ Comes with CSATs and a Happiness report	✅ For chats only	✅ Optional CSATs in email notifications and a report
Design Customization	✅ Customize Knowledge Base with externally hosted CSS files	✅ You can customize customer portal and knowledge base but not the ticketing system	✅ Unlimited customization options. Change colors with a live preview, add custom CSS and JS
Email Notification Templates	❌	✅ Editing email templates available on paid plans only	✅ You are able to completely change a template for any notification type
Escalation	❌	✅ Escalating manually or via routing rules	✅ Possible to set up various escalation scenarios via automation
Exchange Integration	❌	✅ IMAP only	✅ Native EWS support instead of IMAP. oAuth support for Office 365
Import and Export	✅ Can be done via API	✅ Tickets CSV export, users CSV import	✅ Import and Export tickets via CSV files
Internationalization	✅ You can manually translate some parts of the app	✅ Yes, with the ability to add custom languages	✅ Available in 16 different languages
ITIL Compliance	❌	✅ Yes	✅ Support for most ITIL processes
Knowledge Base	✅ It's called Docs and it is highly customizable	✅ Knowledge Base and customer portal	✅ Customizable Knowledge Base optimized for search engines
Live Chat	❌	✅ Live chat button is included	✅ A free live chat component in the web widget
Mobile Apps	✅ iOS and Android	✅ Both iOS and Android	✅ iOS and Android
Multi-channel support	❌	✅ Email, chat, social networks	✅ Possible to add unlimited channels via integrations and API
On-premise Version	❌	✅ Downloadable license available	✅ A full on-premises version that runs on Windows Server
Reports and Analytics	✅ Most must-have reports are included	✅ Multiple reports and analytics included	✅ 13 reports with an ability to build your own and to export everything to Excel
REST API	✅ Sparate APIs for KB and tickets	✅ API covers all the app features	✅ API covers all the app features
Single-Sign-On	✅ Separate add-on for $5 per user per month	✅ Custom-built PHP solution	✅ SAML, Google login, Windows-integrated etc.
SLA Management	❌	✅ Full SLA management	✅ Full SLA automation via actions/triggers
Support Widget	❌	✅ Chat widget for websites	✅ Two different versions of a web widget
Third-party Integrations	✅ 80+ apps	✅ API and Integrations on $15/mo/user plan and higher	✅ 30 native integrations and 500 more via Zapier
Ticket Collaboration	❌	✅ Reply-history, CC	✅ See when other techs are viewing tickets in real-time, assign multiple people to a ticket
Workflow Automation	✅ Very basic automation features are available	❌	✅ Automation Rules are very powerful and can go beyond simple if-this-then-that logic

Looking for help desk software? Check out Jitbit. We offer a fully-featured app at a very affordable price. It comes with all the must have features like knowledge base, two-way email integration (including native Exchange and Office 365 support), automation, hundreds of integrations with third-party apps and much more. Available both as a hosted "SaaS" version and an on-premises version you can install on your own server.