Helpscout

Help Scout is a versatile help desk software designed to enhance customer support experiences through its intuitive interface and robust features. One of its standout capabilities is the ability to integrate with Active Directory, streamlining user management for organizations with multiple agents. This feature, combined with Single Sign-On (SSO), simplifies access for team members, ensuring a seamless workflow. Additionally, Help Scout offers customizable options like Custom Fields and Design Customization, allowing businesses to tailor their support environment to meet specific client needs and brand standards.

To further improve customer interactions, Help Scout provides tools such as Canned Responses and a built-in Knowledge Base, which enable teams to deliver prompt and consistent support. The software also includes powerful Reports and Analytics, helping support managers track performance metrics and customer satisfaction. By utilizing features like Workflow Automation and Third-party Integrations, Help Scout empowers teams to create efficient processes that enhance productivity and foster a more engaging customer relationship. Whether accessed via mobile apps or desktop, Help Scout equips businesses with the tools needed to provide effective, scalable support.

Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a versatile help desk software designed to enhance customer support through its comprehensive feature set and user-friendly interface. With an intuitive Activity Dashboard, support teams can easily track and manage tickets across multiple channels, ensuring that no customer query goes unanswered. The inclusion of ITIL compliance helps organizations align their services with industry standards, fostering efficient service delivery and customer satisfaction.

One of the standout features of Zoho Desk is its Knowledge Base, which empowers customers to find answers independently, reducing the volume of incoming support tickets. Canned Responses streamline communication by allowing agents to quickly address common inquiries with pre-defined replies, saving time and improving response consistency. Additionally, the software's robust Reporting and Analytics capabilities enable teams to monitor performance metrics, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to enhance service quality. With options for Design Customization and Mobile Apps, Zoho Desk provides a flexible solution that adapts to the unique needs of any organization, fostering a collaborative and responsive customer support environment.

	Helpscout	Zoho Desk	Jitbit
	A simple help desk focused on email.	Good helpdesk app that tightly integrates with Zoho ecosystem	Help Desk Software built for email. Trusted by thousands of companies across 50 + countries.
Pricing: 3 years / 5 agents	$6300	$1200	$3897
Pricing: 3 years / 10 agents	$12600	$2400	$8367
Active Directory	✅ Only Azure AD is supported	❌	✅ Integration via a script for your server or ADFS and SAML
Activity Dashboard	❌	✅ Displays some performance metrics. Not customizable.	✅ 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	✅ It is called Macros and works the same way as canned responses.	✅ You can also assign canned responses to specific ticket categories if you need to
Community Forums	❌	❌	✅ Ideas Forum comes out of the box
Custom Fields	✅ Up to ten custom fields per mailbox	❌	✅ Many custom field types, including dependant fields. Various privacy options.
Custom Statuses	❌	❌	✅ 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	❌	✅ Optional CSATs in email notifications and a report
Design Customization	✅ Customize Knowledge Base with externally hosted CSS files	✅ Allows you to use custom colors and logos	✅ Unlimited customization options. Change colors with a live preview, add custom CSS and JS
Email Notification Templates	❌	✅ YYou can customize the email content of each event	✅ You are able to completely change a template for any notification type
Escalation	❌	✅ Includes an ability to create automated SLAs and escalation	✅ Possible to set up various escalation scenarios via automation
Exchange Integration	❌	❌	✅ Native EWS support instead of IMAP. oAuth support for Office 365
Import and Export	✅ Can be done via API	✅ Only export to CSV files	✅ Import and Export tickets via CSV files
Internationalization	✅ You can manually translate some parts of the app	❌	✅ Available in 16 different languages
ITIL Compliance	❌	✅ Comes with ITIL workflows	✅ Support for most ITIL processes
Knowledge Base	✅ It's called Docs and it is highly customizable	✅ Multi-brand customizable knowledge base	✅ Customizable Knowledge Base optimized for search engines
Live Chat	❌	❌	✅ A free live chat component in the web widget
Mobile Apps	✅ iOS and Android	✅ Offers apps for iOS and Android	✅ iOS and Android
Multi-channel support	❌	✅ Includes email, social media, live chat, etc.	✅ Possible to add unlimited channels via integrations and API
On-premise Version	❌	❌	✅ A full on-premises version that runs on Windows Server
Reports and Analytics	✅ Most must-have reports are included	✅ Allows creation of custom reports	✅ 13 reports with an ability to build your own and to export everything to Excel
REST API	✅ Sparate APIs for KB and tickets	✅ Fully featured API on all plans	✅ API covers all the app features
Single-Sign-On	✅ Separate add-on for $5 per user per month	✅ Most standard SSO options are available	✅ SAML, Google login, Windows-integrated etc.
SLA Management	❌	✅ Supports SAML	✅ Full SLA automation via actions/triggers
Support Widget	❌	❌	✅ Two different versions of a web widget
Third-party Integrations	✅ 80+ apps	✅ Many integrations, especially with the other Zoho apps	✅ 30 native integrations and 500 more via Zapier
Ticket Collaboration	❌	✅ Light agents, side conversations and CCs and followers	✅ See when other techs are viewing tickets in real-time, assign multiple people to a ticket
Workflow Automation	✅ Very basic automation features are available	✅ A lot of automation options with a great editor	✅ 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.