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Top IT Help Desk Ticketing Systems

14 Best IT Help Desk Ticketing Systems (Q1 2024)

The best help desk ticketing systems reviewed & compared by HR tech experts. See features, pricing info guidelines, recommendations and more below.

Huda Idris
Written by
Huda Idris
Technical writer, B2B software advisor, and marketing strategist
Contributing Experts
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Last Updated: Dec 13, 2023
TOP
Highly Scalable Support Solution
Freshdesk
4.6
Popularity Score
4.2
User Score
4.6
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Highly Scalable Support Solution
Freshdesk
4.6
Popularity Score
4.2
User Score
4.6
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Widely-Used Support Platform
Zendesk
4.7
Popularity Score
4.3
User Score
4.6
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Widely-Used Support Platform
Zendesk
4.7
Popularity Score
4.3
User Score
4.6
Product  Score
Learn More
TOP
Full-Stack ITSM Suite
ServiceDesk Plus
4.1
Popularity Score
4.3
User Score
4.4
Product  Score
Visit Website
TOP
Full-Stack ITSM Suite
ServiceDesk Plus
4.1
Popularity Score
4.3
User Score
4.4
Product  Score
Learn More
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Introduction to Help Desk Ticketing Systems

As your business and customer base expand, having a help desk ticketing system becomes increasingly necessary for your customer support operation to run successfully. Without one, your team simply cannot swiftly and efficiently handle customer queries, requests, and incident reports that continue to pile up on different channels.

While help desk software is not in the HR space, we find that many of our readers are asking us about these solutions and so wanted to provide some research so they can find and buy the right ticketing system :)

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Top IT Help Desk Ticketing Systems

Freshdesk

: Highly Scalable Support Solution

Zendesk

: Widely-Used Support Platform

ServiceDesk Plus

: Full-Stack ITSM Suite

Freshservice

: Remarkably User-Friendly ITSM

Zoho Desk

: Good Bet for Multiple Support Channels

LiveAgent

: Affordable & Easy-to-Use ITSM

JitBit

: Notable for its Seamless Setup

Hiver

: Help desk that works within your Gmail

Vision Helpdesk

: Good Choice for Multiple Deployments

Jira Service Management

: Top-Notch Integration Capabilities

HappyFox

: Highly Customizable Support Solution

Kayako

: Interesting Customer Journey Features

SolarWinds Service Desk

: Very Wide Range of Features

Spiceworks

: Best Free Ticketing System

Our Criteria: Here's How We Chose The Top IT Help Desk Ticketing Systems

To choose the best IT help desk ticketing systems, we’ve attended demos with several vendors, interviewed industry experts, listened to what end users had to say, and leveraged the experience of our in-house team. As for the features and capabilities of IT help desks, we think the key ones to look out for are automation, knowledge base, reporting and analytics, and mobile accessibility:

  • Automation: Efficiency is paramount in managing support requests, and automation is how you can achieve it. We’ve selected help desks that support automated ticket routing, categorization, and canned responses, all of which boost the productivity of your support agents and ultimately lead to faster resolution and improved customer satisfaction.
  • Knowledge base: Do you want customers to find solutions to common issues on their own? We’ve made sure the help desks on this list are equipped with robust knowledge bases, promoting customer self-service and reducing the number of support tickets your agent would otherwise have to resolve.
  • Reporting and analytics: The best IT help desks pack powerful reporting and analytics capabilities. Through them, you can track and get valuable insights on several metrics, including response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction, so you can pinpoint problems early on and solve them in time.
  • Mobile accessibility: This isn't exactly a dealbreaker, but we were on the lookout for mobile-optimized IT help desk ticketing systems, or better yet, ones that come with dedicated mobile apps as they enable your support agents to stay connected, respond to customers on time, and reach resolution faster.

For an in-depth understanding of our selection process and guiding principles, check out our editorial guidelines.

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Compare the Top IT Help Desk Ticketing Systems

Popularity Score
Best for
Key Differentiator
Pricing
Free Trial
Customers
Users Score
Product Score

Freshdesk

Most Popular
4.6
Companies of all sizes
User-friendly, feature-rich and affordable help desk
Starts at $15/user/month
Yes
60,000+ companies
4.2
4.6

Zendesk

Most Popular
4.7
Medium and large companies
Widely-used, powerful help desk
Starts at $19/user/month
Yes
100,000+ companies
4.3
4.6

ServiceDesk Plus

Most Popular
4.1
Medium and large companies
Full-stack, cloud & on-prem ITSM available in 37 languages
Custom Pricing
Yes
641 companies
4.3
4.4

Freshservice

Most Popular
4.5
Medium and large companies
Intuitive and extensive ITSM
Starts at $19/user/month
Yes
60,000+ companies
4.5
4.7

Zoho Desk

Most Popular
4.1
Companies of all sizes
Budget-friendly and scalable help desk
Starts at $14/user/month
Yes
100,000+ companies
4.4
4.3

LiveAgent

Most Popular
4.0
Companies of all sizes
Affordable help desk with robust live chat
Starts at $9/user/month
Yes
30,000+ companies
4.6
4.5

JitBit

Most Popular
4.1
Medium and large companies
Help desk with over 500 built-in integrations
Starts at $24.92/month
Yes
3000+ companies
4.4
4.4

Hiver

Most Popular
4.0
Small and medium-sized businesses
Gmail-based help desk
Starts at 15/user/mo
Yes
8000+ teams
4.4
4.1

Vision Helpdesk

Most Popular
4.0
Companies of all sizes
SMB-friendly help desk with multiple deployment options
Starts at $12/user/month
Yes
20,000+ companies
4.7
4.3

Jira Service Management

Most Popular
4.1
Companies of all sizes
Comprehensive ITSM that's a go-to for most tech teams
Starts at $22.05/user/month
Yes
260,000+ customers
4.2
4.1

HappyFox

Most Popular
4.0
Medium sized companies
Customizable and multilingual support solution
Starts at $26/user/month
Yes
12,000+ companies
4.5
4.4

Kayako

Most Popular
4.0
Companies of all sizes
Help desk with cloud-based and on-premise deployment options
Custom Pricing
No
131,000 customer support personnel
3.9
4.1

SolarWinds Service Desk

Most Popular
4.1
Medium and large companies
ITSM with extensive range of features
Starts at $39/user/month
Yes
809 companies
4.4
4.2

Spiceworks

Most Popular
4.1
SMBs and startups
Completely free-of-charge cloud-based help desk
All plans/features are free
Yes
10,124 companies
4.4
4.2
Phil Strazzulla
HR Tech Expert, Harvard MBA, Software Enthusiast

Need Help? Get Custom Recommendations for Top IT Help Desk Ticketing Systems

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Detailed Reviews of the Best Help Desk Ticketing Systems

Freshdesk

Visit Website
Freshdesk
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.6 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5

Why we picked Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a scalable solution for companies of any size. It packs strong features, including one for gamification to encourage agents to improve their output.

PROS

  • Freshdesk enables your customer service team to offer proactive support across multiple channels, including Facebook, Twitter, email, and website, to engage your customers.
  • Freshdesk is incredibly user-friendly. Your agents don’t need any specialized coding or technical knowledge to use it. Plus, it offers diverse templates with formatting components to simplify ticketing.
  • Freshdesk's free plan is comprehensive, offering you all the features you would need as a small business and then some.
  • With Freshdesk, your team can collaborate with each other and resolve issues faster.
  • The platform comes with a mobile app that enables agents to provide support on the go. It’s available for both iOS and Android devices.
  • In addition to a generous free plan, Freshdesk's paid plans provide great value for money. It gives you several advanced features like gamification at affordable rates.

CONS

  • Freshdesk’s marketing is slightly confusing. Most of its advanced features require an upgrade to the highest pricing tears, which users don’t realize until after signing up. Here’s a free vs. paid plan breakdown, so you don’t find yourself making wrong decisions.
  • You cannot provide temporary access to seasonal hires, part-time workers, or other team members in the Free plan. While this feature is available, you’ll have to upgrade to the premium plans.
  • Freshdesk doesn’t offer dedicated technical support. As a result, complicated issues take longer to resolve.
Freshdesk dashboard screenshot - one of the best ticketing systems

Freshdesk Review

Freshdesk is a highly scalable, cloud-based help desk system for businesses of all sizes. It features a shared inbox where all customer support tickets from several channels are collated, customizable workflows, automated pop-ups that help deflect common customer queries, and comprehensive dashboards to monitor quality metrics. Freshdesk also offers a team huddle feature that allows you to bring in experts to resolve complex tickets, as well as a gamification feature to motivate agents and improve their performance.  

Freshdesk Customers

Fiverr, HP, Decathlon, Panasonic, NYU, Henkel, Pearson, Thai Union, American Express.

Freshdesk Pricing

Freshdesk offers the following plans:

  • Free – This includes integrated ticketing across email and social, knowledge bases, ticket trend report, analytics, and 24x7 email support.
  • Growth – This costs $15 per agent, per month. Expect everything in the Free plan, automation, SLA management and business hours, in-depth helpdesk reporting, collision detection, and custom email servers and ticket views,
  • Pro – This costs $49 per agent, per month. Expect the ability to include up to 5000 collaborators, round-robin routing, custom reports and dashboards, and CSAT surveys & reports — and everything in the Growth plan.
  • Enterprise – This costs $79 per agent, per month. Expect everything in the Pro plan, along with a sandbox functionality, assist and email bots, and canned response suggester.

Best For

Companies of all sizes looking for a comprehensive customer support solution.

Freshdesk in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

We use it every time to chat, engage, and support our customers. The chatbot powered by Freddy AI enables the delivery of automated messages and precise answers to our customers' questions which leads to faster resolution. We also use it for custom reports and scheduled reports.

What do you like about this tool?

It is easy to integrate with our social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. It is also cheap to purchase and offers the best chat features with AI-powered chatbots.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We needed a software that would help us communicate effectively with our customers and deliver personalized support quicker. It has not been so long since we started using Freshdesk in our company and it has really been helpful to us.

What do you dislike about this tool?

It requires a trained person to set up the chatbots and the navigation of the software requires someone with computer knowledge.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

Freshdesk is cheap and easy to implement. It is also supported on all devices which allows us to work remotely on any device.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

The number of customers a company has, the number of employees who offer customer support, and the price of the plan a company needs depending on the number of agents available.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

It has helped us communicate easily with our customers and increase our sales due to improved customer care.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

A growing organisation that has many customers.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Not good for businesses that do not operate online but Freshdesk is good for any business that has customers that need online services

Zendesk

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Zendesk
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.7 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.6 / 5

Why we picked Zendesk

Zendesk is arguably the most well-known customer support software available today. Among its features are integrated surveys to measure customer satisfaction and analytics dashboards to monitor your team’s performance.

PROS

CONS

Zendesk dashboard screenshot - one of the best best help desk ticket software

Zendesk Review

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer support solution that allows you to receive, prioritize, and handle customer support requests from different channels including email, chat, and social media, all in one centralized and shared location. 

With the help of triggers, you’re able to automatically assign and escalate tickets to specific groups, send automated responses and follow-ups, notify customers and agents of certain updates and tag certain tickets for easy reporting and information retrieval. Among Zendesk’s features are also integrated surveys to measure customer satisfaction and analytics dashboards to monitor your team’s performance.

Zendesk Customers

Mailchimp, Uber, Khan Academy

Zendesk Pricing

Zendesk offers three paid plans: Team, Professional, and Enterprise. These plans cater to different business sizes and range from $19 to $115 per agent per month, billed annually.

To find out which plan suits your business, visit Zendesk's pricing page. You can sign up for a free 14-day trial or contact Zendesk's team for a demo.

Best For

Zendesk in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

I use Zendesk as a help desk at work where clients can send us messages, complaints, and feedback and we respond to them while we troubleshoot the issues they face with our products. The software is our center of communication with clients all the time.

What do you like about this tool?

I like the Macros, because they help me a lot in resolving tickets faster than usual especially when more clients frequently ask the same question or report the same incident, secondly I love the user interface of the software, it is easy to adapt to and to work with it on every device size

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

Zendesk is a powerful tool when it comes to solving clients' issues through different channels like Live chat, Zendesk Talk, and emails, we opted to purchase the software to create a way we can collaborate with clients without losing data and across different platforms like Whatsapp, Messenger, Twitter and on live chat widget. Implementing the tool has enabled us to achieve more. It has helped us to be more productive and supportive of clients by responding to their questions on time. I have used the solution for 3 three years and has helped me grow customer relationship skills.

What do you dislike about this tool?

The support portal takes a lot of time to load data especially when you are connected to a poor internet connection, the support team at times takes a longer time to respond to technical questions and incident reporting hence affecting my work.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

They have enough documentation and video guides to help you get started using the solution, the tool has more features in one place which prevents Interswitch and multiple logins to different software to perform the same task, like you can use the Zendesk support, and Zendesk Talk in one dashboard and hence saving more time.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

They should think of the pricing of the tool, the best plan I would recommend is $49/month per agent. However, smaller businesses with a bigger size of operators may not get good ROI from this tool, therefore pricing should be more considered before buying the software.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

They have introduced AI which can help support operators in crafting good guides, posts, and responses hence saving more time.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Support operators

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Sales teams

ServiceDesk Plus

Visit Website
ServiceDesk Plus
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.3 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked ServiceDesk Plus

ServiceDesk Plus is a very comprehensive ITSM solution that’s trusted by some of the thousands of businesses, including 9/10 of Fortune 100 companies.

PROS

CONS

Our reviewer took screenshot of ServiceDesk Plus Help Desk Ticket Software during the demo

ServiceDesk Plus Review

ServiceDesk Plus is a full-stack service management platform with both cloud and on-premise deployment options. With features for incident management, problem management, change management, and much more, ServiceDesk Plus provides midsize and large companies with great visibility and control over their IT issues to ensure that they suffer no downtime.

ServiceDesk Plus Customers

Disney, Honda, ABC, Etihad Airways, RBS, Dell, Siemens

ServiceDesk Plus Pricing

ServiceDesk Plus has 3 plans: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise. The pricing of those plans isn’t disclosed upfront. Contact ServiceDesk Plus’ sales team to get a custom quote.

Best For

ServiceDesk Plus is best for midsize and large companies.

ServiceDesk Plus in action
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Freshservice

Visit Website
Freshservice
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.5 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.7 / 5

Why we picked Freshservice

Like most products within the Freshworks Inc. family, Freshservice is a robust, comprehensive, and easy-to-use product with a very intuitive interface.

PROS

CONS

Freshservice dashboard screenshot - one of the best it ticketing system

Freshservice Review

Freshservice is a cloud-based IT service management (ITSM) solution with a modern and user-friendly interface. Made specifically with enterprises in mind, Freshservice is ideal for companies looking for an ITIL-compliant solution with features for change management, incident management, release management, and much more.

Freshservice Customers

NHS, M&C Saatchi, TeamViewer, Honda, Judson University

Freshservice Pricing

  • Starter: This plan costs $19 per agent per month and is billed annually.
  • Growth: This plan costs $49 per agent per month and is billed annually.
  • Pro: This plan costs $95 per agent per month and is billed annually.
  • Enterprise: This plan costs $119 per agent per month and is billed annually.

Best For

Freshservice can be used by companies of all sizes due to their tiered pricing but it is mainly geared towards enterprises. Small and medium-sized companies with less complex needs are recommended to use Freshdesk, Freshworks’ help desk solution.

Freshservice in action
Reviewer's Rating
9/10

I use this tool at a customer service desk where I can respond to their questions through live chat, emails, and WhatsApp because it is easy to use, I also use it as a marketing tool where I send promotions and offers to our clients through Whatsapp channel to increase our brand interactions and to inform our clients about ongoing promotions, offers, and product updates. The software is easy and faster to use helping me to stay in touch with our clients all the time they contact us

What do you like about this tool?

I like the integration with the caller center, you can easily make calls and receive calls within the tool without multiple logins to different tools, and calls are secure and faster,

There is enough customer care who responds to all questions on time when you contact them. Lastly, the software can be integrated with Facebook and Twitter without any technical knowledge and at no extra cost.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We had used a lot of tools in the past and none was delivering services to our expectations. We needed software that had all communication channels and marketing features in one place and that is why we bought the freshservice. It is helping us reach back to our clients anytime from any channel they use to contact us. The tool is also helping us in marketing where we can reach to our clients through email campaigns and WhatsApp campaigns, I have used the solution for five years and seven months

What do you dislike about this tool?

It is hard to transfer a chat and a call to another operator or to another department which is challenging us more often because it always fails to get transferred. The mobile application does not sync with the web application and hence you end up losing the chat history you had with the clients from the web application when you decide to use the mobile application. They have very limited payment methods where you can use a prepaid card to make payments towards your subscription.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

They have Whatsapp integration which comes with free 1000 messages/month whereas other competitors charge for this service independently

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?
How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?
What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Good for support operators.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

May not be good for the sales team.

Zoho Desk

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Zoho Desk
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5

Why we picked Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a budget-friendly option that has one of the most extensive feature sets of any help desk and ticketing system in the market. Plus, this solution comes with a scalable pricing structure plus a free version with pretty decent offerings.

PROS

  • Among the most extensive feature-rich tools in the space.
  • Flexible pricing that can accommodate various business sizes and requirements.
  • Supports 22 different languages.
  • Lets users provide support across multiple channels.
  • With Zoho Desk, you get one of the most extensive feature lists of any help desk and ticketing system in the market. 
  • Zoho Desk is very flexible when it comes to pricing, as you can switch plans as you go if your team member count or necessities grow. 
  • It’s available in 22 languages. 
  • Lets you provide support across multiple channels.

CONS

  • Some customizations aren’t very user-friendly.
  • Some users find the UX/UI dated.
  • Integrating the tool with several apps can be cumbersome.
  • Some of the product customizations can be hard to figure out, according to some users.
  • The UX/UI can seem dated at times.  
  • Several users have reported that integrating the tool with several apps can be problematic. 
Our reviewer took screenshot of ZohoDesk Help Desk Ticket System during the demo

Zoho Desk Review

Zoho Desk offers multi-channel support. At an affordable price, the solution can offer customer care via email, live chat, phone, and several social media platforms. Having all client inquiries in one location has made tracking and cooperation easier, some users noted.

Another great feature of Zoho Desk is the knowledge base. There are many articles and FAQs there, which are often used by agents for faster customer service. Based on the keywords in the tickets that customers submit, Zoho Desk's auto-suggest can suggest agents relevant articles from the knowledge base in a matter of seconds.

We also like the scalable pricing model of the tool. Besides providing transparent pricing, Zoho Desk offers a free version with some decent features, like email ticketing, a private knowledge base, a multi-language help desk, mobile apps, and 24x5 email support. Plus, the Enterprise plan's features are comparable to top-tier plans from other competing providers but relatively more affordable.

When we tested Zoho Desk, we uncovered a few possible downsides. While the software has a number of adjustable capabilities, they are not always user-friendly. A few customers stated that tailoring the program to their needs was challenging. The abundance of built-in functions also means it could take a while for users to get familiar with all the tools. Lastly, integrating Zoho Desk with some well-known sales and marketing platforms can be challenging.

Zoho Desk Customers

McAfee, Daimler, LycaMobile, Rogers, Siemens Energy.

Zoho Desk Pricing

Zoho Desk offers four pricing plans:

  • The Free version is available for three agents and includes features like email ticketing, customer management, a help center, a private knowledge base, predefined SLAs, macros, a multi-language help desk, mobile apps, and 24x5 email support.
  • The Standard bundle costs $14 per user per month and includes everything on the Free bundle, plus social and community channels, product-based ticket management, and 24x5 phone support.
  • The Professional bundle costs $23 per user per month and has everything on the Standard bundle and features like multi-department ticketing, team management, telephony, and automatic time tracking.
  • The Enterprise bundle costs $40 per user per month and includes everything on the Professional bundle, plus a live chat, an AI-powered assistant, and multi-brand help center, and more.

Best For

Zoho Desk is a great fit for businesses that need an all-inclusive yet inexpensive customer support solution. It is also a good addition for teams that are already using other Zoho products.

Zoho Desk in action
Reviewer's Rating
7/10

I use Zoho Desk daily. It can be a challenge to keep track of other calls/emails when I am on-site with a client. Zoho Desk helps my clients submit requests with the assurance they will be responded to in a timely manner. The platform allows my team to support each other efficiently while tracking client requests. The platform is a great repository of guides for my team.

What do you like about this tool?

I enjoy using the AI feature. Zoho Desk is a great tracker for employee issues. The platform is web based and that makes it easy to access.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

I purchased Zoho Desk to manage my remote team of consultants. I use the service to assign tasks, correlate calls and improve client satisfaction. Zoho Desk’s AI feature allows us to direct the customer experience more effectively . It helps my team avoid being overwhelmed. I have used Zoho Desk for 1 year.

What do you dislike about this tool?

It has a lot of features which can be overwhelming for a small team. Zoho Desk is not compatible with all platforms. It also might be more suited to IT focused organizations.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

Zoho Desk is an affordable option for employers and consultants that need feedback on customer satisfaction and response time. It's a simple product with a lot of features, some of which I have not had a reason to use yet.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

What is the size of your organization? Can you accomplish the goal of creating guides in a free platform like Google Docs? Do you want a program that is user friendly but occasionally has integration problems with other CRM platforms?

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

I have only used the platform for a year but have seen great response time for my inquiries. They consistently fix bugs quickly.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Zoho is good for small-medium sized organizations and an effective option for more IT focused teams.

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

I would not recommend Zoho Desk to large companies or businesses that can track their ticket items effectively through more comprehensive programs.

LiveAgent

Visit Website
LiveAgent
Learn More
Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.6 / 5
Product Score
4.5 / 5

Why we picked LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a simple customer support solution. Their native live chat is easily accessible via a widget that integrates smoothly with your websites and apps, allowing you to connect with customers instantaneously.

PROS

  • LiveAgent’s modern user interface looks aesthetically pleasing while being easy to navigate.
  • LiveAgent is super easy to implement and use. Even if your team isn’t tech-savvy, the time to productivity is quick.
  • LiveAgent empowers small support teams to easily handle large volumes of queries. Critical features like a universal inbox, a live chat widget, and a knowledge base enable you to address all tickets with greater efficiency.
  • For LiveAgent, every user is a valuable client. Expect 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, or email. The support agents are also in-house and not outsourced, which further ensures you’re given accurate answers to all your queries.
  • LiveAgent takes feedback seriously and is constantly trying to improve the software, so you’re assured of a reliable tool.

CONS

  • LiveAgent needs to work on its mobile app interface. While convenient to work with, it isn’t as at par with the competitors.
  • LiveAgent offers limited integrations, which may be a hindrance for companies wanting to significantly boost support effectiveness and visibility.
  • LiveAgent’s Free plan doesn’t allow for integrations with social networks like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Viber — you’ll have to upgrade to the paid plans to get access. Therefore, you can’t offer customers omnichannel support and have to stay limited to email, live chat, and call center support.
LiveAgent dashboard screenshot - one of the best Help Desk Ticket System

LiveAgent Review

LiveAgent is a customer service solution with a clean and user-friendly interface. It features a unified inbox where all customer support tickets are collected from different channels then assigned and prioritized according to your predefined workflows. Its native live chat is easily accessible via a widget that integrates smoothly with your websites and apps, allowing you to connect with customers instantaneously. LiveAgent also offers a knowledge base that empowers customers to self-serve, a built-in call center with IVR and unlimited call recording storage, and over 40 third-party integrations with popular solutions.

LiveAgent Customers

Huawei, BMW, Yamaha, O2, Slido, Forbes, AirBus.

LiveAgent Pricing

LiveAgent offers a free plan with some limitations on the features that can be accessed and three paid plans with feature increases, competitively priced as follows: 

  • Ticket: $15 per agent per month for LiveAgent’s ticketing solution.
  • Ticket+Chat: $29 per agent per month for access to LiveAgent’s ticketing solution and live chat. 
  • All-inclusive: $39 per agent per month for all of LiveAgent’s features without any limits.

Best For

Companies of all sizes looking for an affordable and easy to use customer support solution.

LiveAgent in action
Reviewer's Rating
10/10

We use the solution to offer live chat on our website and to respond to customer questions through emails and social media.

What do you like about this tool?

I like the user interface, which is smooth and easy for anyone to use. The tool also provides good notifications so you never miss client chats.

Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We bought the software to communicate with our website users and clients through live chat and support emails. We have used the solution for two years and it has helped us build strong customer relationships because of how fast we now respond to their questions and requests.

What do you dislike about this tool?

Pricing of the software does not favor smaller businesses.

How is this tool different than their competitors?

They have more integrations like emails, social media, and knowledge base than other tools.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

Consider the modules that come with the solution and whether they cover your needs or not.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

They have developed more modules like Knowledgebase where the user can go and read more documentation which cuts down on the number of tickets clients open.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Support agents and sales teams

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Marketing teams

JitBit

Visit Website
JitBit
Learn More
Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked JitBit

JitBit is a provider of both self-hosted and cloud-based help desk ticketing solutions that are feature-rich, easy to use and very friendly to third-party integrations.

PROS

CONS

Our reviewer took screenshot of JitBit Help Desk Ticket Software during the demo

JitBit Review

JitBit is a customer service software with a clean user-interface that’s very easy to navigate; it has an inbox for all incoming tickets, a knowledge base for customers and agents to self-serve, and a reporting section with detailed dashboards, providing insights into all of your activities. Amongst JitBit’s features are automation rules and categories that allow you to stay organized and optimize a good number of tedious processes.

JitBit Customers

Microsoft, VMware, Adobe, Xerox, General Electric, HP, ESPN, Dell, Vodafone.

JitBit Pricing

When billed annually, JitBit’s cloud-based software plans cost as follows:  

  • Freelancer: costs $24.92 and is capped at 1 agent only.
  • Startup: costs $58.25 for up to 4 agents.
  • Company: costs $108.25 for up to 7 agents.
  • Enterprise: costs $208.25 for up to 9 agents, with $29 per extra agent. 

JitBit’s self-hosted version is a single-time purchase starting at $1699 for small companies, $3499 for medium-sized businesses (up to 20 agents), and $4999 for enterprises with an unlimited number of agent accounts. This on-premise solution can be trialed with a 30-day moneyback guarantee.

Best For

Medium to large sized companies looking for a self-hosted customer service solution.

JitBit in action
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Hiver

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Hiver
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Hiver

Hiver seamlessly integrates multiple support channels into Gmail for efficient query management, team collaboration, and data-driven insights to deliver exceptional customer service.

PROS

  • Hiver works right within Gmail, an interface almost everyone is familiar with.
  • You can easily assign emails, share drafts, leave notes, and tag team members, ensuring efficiency and driving collaboration.
  • Automation features like auto-tagging and auto-assignment save a considerable amount of time and decrease manual labor.
  • Users praise Hiver’s customer support for being highly responsive. The platform is also well-documented, with tutorials and help articles that provide clear guidance on how to use features.
  • Hiver works right within Gmail, an interface almost everyone is familiar with.
  • You can easily assign emails, share drafts, leave notes, and tag team members, ensuring efficiency and driving collaboration.
  • Automation features like auto-tagging and auto-assignment save a considerable amount of time and decrease manual labor.
  • Users praise Hiver’s customer support for being highly responsive. The platform is also well-documented, with tutorials and help articles that provide clear guidance on how to use features.

CONS

  • There are occasional glitches and loading speed issues.
  • Users reported that it is difficult to find closed tickets, especially ones closed long ago.
  • Hiver exclusively works on Gmail. If your company uses a different provider, Hiver won’t work for you.
  • The mobile app is lacking in functionality and can be buggy at times.
  • There are occasional glitches and slowness, and tickets at times get assigned to the incorrect team.
  • Users reported that at times, new emails come in closed status, which can cause confusion and delays in support delivery.
  • Hiver exclusively works on Gmail. If your company uses a different provider, Hiver won’t work for you.

Hiver Review

Hiver makes customer support seamless by bringing all communication channels together directly inside Gmail. Agents can manage email, live chat, and voice support without switching between platforms, allowing them to handle queries faster. The familiar Gmail interface means no complex training is required to get started.

One of Hiver's standout features is its ability to drive collaboration. Agents can loop in colleagues on customer emails just by @mentioning them, enabling smooth handovers and continuity of context. Hiver also helps teams work smarter through automation. Repetitive tasks like assigning certain query types to the appropriate agents can be automated based on keywords and rules. This saves agents time they would otherwise spend on routing tickets. For instance, all tickets related to technical bugs could automatically be assigned to the engineering team.

The platform provides extensive analytics on performance indicators like first response time, resolution time, and customer satisfaction. Bottlenecks can be identified and processes optimized using built-in reports. Managers get insight into individual agent productivity to inform coaching and training needs. Custom reports can also be created to track KPIs specific to the business.

By centralizing multiple channels into Gmail and providing collaboration tools, automation, and actionable analytics, Hiver empowers agents to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Its thoughtful integration and intuitive interface make it easy for teams of all sizes to streamline support operations.

Hiver Customers

Clutter, Epic Games, Oxford Business Group, NYU, Funding Circle

Hiver Pricing

Hiver has three plans. When billed annually, they cost:

  • Lite: $15 per user per month.
  • Pro: $39 per user per month.
  • Elite: $59 per user per month.

Best For

Hiver is best suited for SMBs looking to efficiently run customer support ops without the learning curve.

Hiver in action
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Vision Helpdesk

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Vision Helpdesk
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.7 / 5
Product Score
4.3 / 5

Why we picked Vision Helpdesk

Vision Helpdesk’s support solutions are offered over several pricing tiers and different deployment option, covering the diverse needs of companies large and small.

PROS

CONS

Our reviewer took screenshot of Vision Helpdesk Ticketing System for IT Helpdesk during the demo

Vision Helpdesk Review

Vision Helpdesk is an affordable ticketing solution that companies of all sizes can derive value from. It collects customer queries and incident reports from multiple sources and pools them - in the form of tickets - into a shared inbox that your support agents can respond to and solve. Among Vision Helpdesk’s features are task management, gamification, workflow automation, SLA and escalation rules, knowledge base creation, community forums, and surveys. It also features a collaboration tool called Blabby, for agents to communicate, share knowledge, files, presentations, and collaborate on ticket issues.

Vision Helpdesk Customers

Vision Helpdesk has been used by over 20,000 companies, including Thomas Cook, Invest India, Baroda Mutual Fund, Quick Heal, AxisRooms, and more. 

Vision Helpdesk Pricing

Vision Helpdesk has four products: Help Desk Software (a multi-channel help desk), Satellite Help Desk (a multi-brand help desk), Service Desk (an IT service management solution), and Live Chat Software (an online chat solution). The pricing of those products depends on how you choose to deploy them. For the cloud-based version, the 4 products are priced as follows:

1- Help Desk Software:

  • Starter: $12 per agent per month billed annually / $15 per agent billed month to month
  • Pro: $ 20 per agent per month billed annually / $25 per agent billed month to month

2- Satellite Help Desk Software:

  • $24 per agent per month billed annually / $30 per agent billed month to month

3- Service Desk Software: 

  • Pro: $32 per agent per month billed annually / $40 per agent billed month to month
  • Ent: $48 per agent per month billed annually / $60 per agent billed month to month

4- Live Chat Software: 

Visit Vision Helpdesk’s pricing page to learn how much the above products cost if you opt for the self-hosted (on-premise) version, available on a per-agent per month bases or single license per agent (one-time purchase).

Best For

Vision Helpdesk can be used by companies of all sizes.

Vision Helpdesk in action
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Jira Service Management

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Jira Service Management
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.2 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Jira Service Management

Created by Atlassian, Jira Service Management is a fantastic customer service solution with thousands of integrations, ensuring it can fit well in any tech stack.

PROS

  • Effortless issue tracking and great collaboration are what Jira is known for. It helps teams provide faster, more efficient customer service.
  • Jira has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. You can also customize elements of the UI to reflect your company’s brand.
  • Features like sprint planning, backlogs, and scrum/kanban boards are purpose-built to support agile frameworks.
  • Users appreciate the ability to customize workflows, particularly around ticket assignment and escalation to suit their team’s needs.
  • Jira can integrate seamlessly with third-party apps and services like GitHub, Slack, and more.
  • A free plan as well as free trials of paid plans are available.
  • Easy issue tracking and great collaboration are the core features of Jira Service Management to provide customers faster, more efficient customer service.
  • Jira Service Management allows customers to rate the quality of a knowledge base article, helping you identify improvement areas and update accordingly.
  • Jira Service Management has a customizable user interface. You can also change the feel and look of the help desk center and portal to reflect your company’s branding.
  • Incident and problem management is prompt and easy, thanks to Jira Service Management‘s alerts and email notifications.
  • Jira Service Management’s mobile app support ensures you’re notified instantly about breached SLAs and all assigned, reported, watched, and mentioned requests.
  • In addition to Jira Service Management's internal features, you can use its diverse range of integrations to further maximize functionality.

CONS

  • While Jira’s UI is intuitive, there is still a learning curve just because of the sheer number of features it offers.
  • Jira’s email notifications cannot be customized; your email can easily get flooded. Modifying notifications per user or having them sent in batches isn’t an option either.
  • With its current pricing model, the platform can get expensive for larger teams and multiple projects.
  • Users felt that reports aren’t as customizable as they should be.
  • Jira Service Management’s Free plan doesn’t offer customizable charts and dashboards.
  • Jira Service Management has a rigid email notification system, so you cannot customize it, and your notification system may get easily cluttered. Modifying notifications per user or sending by batch isn’t an option either.
Jire Service Management dashboard screenshot - one of the best service desk ticketing system

Jira Service Management Review

Created by Atlassian, Jira Service Management is a collaborative IT service management (ITSM) solution that enables your support team to create multiple projects to track and handle customer support requests and incidents.

Jira Service Management Customers

Dominos, Square, Puppet, Twitter, Airbnb, Square, Sotheby’s, The Telegraph.

Jira Service Management Pricing

Jira Service Management offers a three-tiered pricing structure with its Free, Standard, and Premium plans. The Free plan offers access to a good number of the platform’s features and is capped at three agent accounts. The Standard and Premium plans start at $10 and $40 per agent per month and can be trialed for up to 7 days for free. Visiting Jira Service Management’s pricing page for more information.

Best For

Companies of all sizes looking for a robust customer service and project management system.

Jira Service Management in action
Reviewer's Rating
5/10

We use Jira for project management across teams, departments and geographies. Different users require different levels of permissions. Jira provides transparency in workflows and communications. We leverage customization option regularly. Configuration and integration is definitely a value add that we use regularly.

What do you like about this tool?
  • Integrates all portfolios and information in one place.
  • Mobile access
  • Excellent ability to track project progress
  • Comprehensive ticket/task management
Why did your organization buy this tool, and how long have you used it for?

We were in need of project management software and were already utilizing Atlassian suite. We were specifically seeking a solution for teams working in different parts of the project. We also needed a solution that is easily accessible across remote geographies. Ease of collaboration was a "must have" for our selection. Transparency across the project was also a mandatory need to be met.

What do you dislike about this tool?
  • Reports are difficult to configure.
  • Jira is difficult for non-tech savvy users.
  • This is not a good stand-alone product - it needs to be integrated.
How is this tool different than their competitors?

Jira is about average; we have found it is best utilized by out software/dev ops teams.

What Instructions should people think about when buying this type of tool?

There should be non onsite "Jira guru" that is able to train and direct people--it can be very complicated and difficult to work with for non-tech teams. There is a high "learning curve" with this tool.

How has this tool changed or evolved over time to meet users needs?

Jira has not evolved much since we've been using it. Issues have remained issues for many months.

What specific type of user or organization is this tool very good for?

Software/Dev Ops/Data Science

What specific type of user or organization would this tool not be a good fit for?

Jira is not a good fit for any non-tech organizations.

HappyFox

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HappyFox
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
4.5 / 5
Product Score
4.4 / 5

Why we picked HappyFox

Geared mostly towards medium and large companies, HappyFox is a customer support solution that's highly customizable, easy to use and quick to set.

PROS

CONS

Our reviewer took screenshot of Happyfox Ticketing System for IT Helpdesk during the demo

HappyFox Review

HappyFox is a web-based help desk that’s most notable for its easy and quick set-up. It integrates with several points of contact to collect tickets and organize them neatly on its Ticket List page. Tickets can be automatically assigned to available agents or specific groups and escalated to experts as needed. 

HappyFox offers users customizability options to create workflows, views, canned actions, tasks, reports, and more. It also offers a self-service portal that’s connected to your knowledge base and an AI-powered Chatbot that helps customers with common questions, taking a considerable weight off your support agents’ workload.

HappyFox Customers

Lowe’s, Whirlpool, LeapFrog, Harbour Air Seaplanes, Planned Parenthood.

HappyFox Pricing

HappyFox offers four pricing plans, Mighty, Fantastic, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus. Mighty and Fantastic target small and medium-sized businesses and start at $29 and $49 per agent per month, while Enterprise and Enterprise plus are more geared toward larger operations.

Best For

Medium to large sized companies looking for an easy to use customer service solution.

HappyFox in action
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Kayako

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Kayako
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Popularity Score
4 / 5
User Score
3.9 / 5
Product Score
4.1 / 5

Why we picked Kayako

With standout features such as customer journeys and collaboration, Kayako is a great choice for companies of all sizes to gain better context about customers.

PROS

CONS

Our reviewer took screenshot of Kayako IT Ticketing System dashboard during the demo

Kayako Review

Kayako is a user-friendly customer support solution with cloud-based and on-premise deployment options. It packs many of the common features of ticketing systems such as omnichannel support for incident logging, live chat, a help center for self-service, an analytics dashboard, integrations with social media channels, and popular third-party tools, customizable business logic rules for workflow creation, process automations and more. 

Kayako also offers some standout features such as customer journeys, a detailed record of everything the customer has been up to before logging a support ticket, which allows you to provide context-driven customer service. Another notable feature is the ability to add collaborators, i.e. other employees besides your customer support agents and managers that can access customer data.

Kayako Customers

GeneralElectric, Warner Bros, Toshiba, FedEx, Sega, Peugeut, MTV.

Kayako Pricing

Kayako offers three plans: Inbox, Growth, and Scale. The Inbox plan starts at $15 per agent per month, while the Growth and Scale plans cost $30 and $60 respectively per agent per month. 

Kayako also offers free 14-day trials for all of its plans as well as demos upon request. Check out Kayako’s pricing page for more information on their available plans and features.

Best For

Companies of all sizes looking for an easy to use customer support solution.

Kayako in action
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SolarWinds Service Desk

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SolarWinds Service Desk
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked SolarWinds Service Desk

SolarWinds Service Desk has one of the widest feature sets in IT service management, complete with a 30 day free trial to ensure you like it before you buy.

PROS

CONS

Our reviewer took screenshot of SolarWinds Service Desk Ticketing Software dashboard during the demo

SolarWinds Service Desk Review

SolarWinds Service Desk is an IT service management (ITSM) solution that goes beyond just ticketing and incident management. Besides allowing you to assign, prioritize and escalate tickets collected from different sources, it offers features for self-service, live chat, scheduled reporting, asset management, change management, network discovery, API access, and more.

SolarWinds Service Desk Customers

Adler Planetarium, The Bloc, DPR Construction, Betfred.

SolarWinds Service Desk Pricing

SolarWinds Service Desk offers a tiered pricing model of four plans that can be tested for free for up to 30 days. When billed annually, SolarWinds Service Desk’s plans cost as follows:

  • Team: $19 per agent per month with an additional $0.10 per device per month 
  • Business: $39 per agent per month with an additional $0.30 per device per month
  • Professional: $69 per agent per month with an additional $0.50 per device per month
  • Enterprise: $89 per agent per month with an additional $0.70 per device per month

Best For

Medium to large companies looking for an ITSM solution with asset management capabilities.

SolarWinds Service Desk in action
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Spiceworks

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Spiceworks
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Popularity Score
4.1 / 5
User Score
4.4 / 5
Product Score
4.2 / 5

Why we picked Spiceworks

Spiceworks is perhaps the only vendor in this space to offer both cloud-based and on-premise versions of their help desk ticketing system, completely free of charge.

PROS

  • With Spiceworks, you can offer your customers omnichannel query collection to submit queries and share concerns across channels. You don't have to worry about how much it costs, thanks to the free service.
  • Spiceworks offers both cloud-based and on-premise versions of its free helpdesk ticketing system, which is quite rare in the customer support niche.
  • Spiceworks’ help desk isn’t only limited to your desk — it’s also available as an app for Android and iOS users. Thanks to this, you can manage support tickets on the go.
  • Spiceworks provides an unlimited number of service tickets for each user. You can create as many decades as a situation needs, eliminating the need to delete tickets and allowing you to retain chat history. This also gives your team a reference point that they can go back to whenever similar issues or topics resurface.
  • Spiceworks‘ large community is backed by dedicated IT professionals, specialized tech vendors, and other kinds of individuals willing to share their expertise when it comes to IT-related issues and help each other out. This ensures every member receives accurate and prompt responses to all their queries.

CONS

  • Due to Spiceworks’ limited feature set, it isn’t very flexible. It lacks some of the more desirable features, such as knowledge base management, interaction tracking, and prioritization.
  • Spiceworks doesn’t offer advanced reporting options, which restrict your view into agent productivity and the kind of support your customers are receiving. Additionally, you have to streamline reports to remove redundancy.
  • To enjoy Spiceworks’ free help desk, be ready to view forceful ads and receive promotional emails — lots of them.
  • Spiceworks' direct customer support is limited to email. So you don't get chat, phone, and social media assistance options.
Our reviewer took screenshot of Spiceworks IT HelpDesk Ticketing System during the demo

Spiceworks Review

Spiceworks is a free of charge ticketing system with cloud-based and on-premise deployment options and mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. Spiceworks packs all the features you’d expect from a help desk ticketing system, like omnichannel support, automatic ticket assignment and management, a self-service portal, and more - all without any limitations on the number of agent accounts, customers tickets, data storage, etc.

Spiceworks Customers

Spiceworks Pricing

As far as pricing goes, Spiceworks stands out from competitors by offering all of its products for free. The company makes its profit from ads that appear in the backend and are sponsored by numerous IT vendors.

Best For

Small and medium sized companies looking for a FREE customer support solution with cloud-based and on-premise versions.

Spiceworks in action
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Benefits of Using a Help Desk Ticketing System

Investing in a good ticketing system allows you to: 

  • Improve your team’s productivity: Help desk ticketing systems offer a host of features to save you time and enhance your team’s performance. They integrate with all of your customer contact channels to collect tickets then route them to a centralized location for your agents to pick up and resolve right away without needing to constantly monitor several channels and devices. Help desk solutions also allow you to customize workflows and automate many of your team’s manual tasks such as assigning, escalating, prioritizing, and categorizing tickets.
  • Increase customer satisfaction, retention, and ROI: It’s a well-known fact in business that great customer service retains customers, and bad customer service drives them away. You might have a fantastic range of products, but it won’t mean much to your bottom line when your customers are unhappy because you’ve been taking too long to respond to their queries and incident reports or worse, missing their messages completely due to your overwhelming ticket influx from several contact points.
    Using a help desk allows you to stay on top of all your customer interactions and deliver speedy support, which not only enhances customer experience and retention rate, but also turns your customers into your promoters, spreading the word about your reliability as a provider and eventually earning you more leads and successful signups.
  • Continuously fine-tune your support operations through accurate data: Manually monitoring your customer support KPIs is an impossible job and luckily, you don't have to do it. The majority of ticketing systems available today offer powerful analytics dashboards that provide you with detailed insights into what your team is doing well and what needs to be improved for you to continue observing your service level agreements (SLAs), drive customer satisfaction and deliver world-class service.

Pro Tips on Help Desk Ticketing Systems

Common Mistakes Made When Buying a Help Desk Ticketing System

It’s very easy to make mistakes when choosing a help desk solution if you don’t thoroughly research what's available on the market and carefully consider the needs and budget of your business. Here are some of the most common mistakes businesses make:  

  • Spending money on features you don’t need: ‘Premium’ doesn’t always mean ‘better’. Many small and medium-sized businesses select a premium, enterprise-grade plan because of all the feature additions they usually come with, but in reality, only half of the features end up being used. We advise that you always invest selectively and wisely. 
  • Not accounting for future circumstances: Your business may see exponential growth within just a matter of months. It may also experience financial hardships, requiring you to downsize your operation. No matter what the future holds for your business, you’ll definitely need your help desk plan to grow or shrink accordingly. Buying a help-desk solution that isn’t very scalable can be a costly mistake in the long run. 
  • Buying an all-in-one suite when all you need is just one or two specific solutions: This one is quite self-explanatory; if you only need a ticketing solution, opt for a provider that offers just that or selectively purchase a ticketing solution from an all-in-one suite vendor; never buy the whole suite. 
  • Making long-term commitments before thoroughly testing a solution: Some help desk vendors offer perpetual licenses that are purchased once only. While this cuts down on recurring costs and can save you a significant amount of money over time, you should only do this after thoroughly testing the help desk solution and verifying that it’s the one for you. Otherwise, you will end up going back and forth with the vendor on their cancellation and refund policy.

Pricing Models

Just as the cost varies from help desk vendor to another, pricing models can vary too. Here are some of the most common help desk pricing models you can expect:

  • Per agent: The most common pricing model for help desk ticketing systems is a ‘per agent account per month’ fee, billed either on a monthly basis, or annually for a decent price reduction. Some help desks charge fixed fees in scales, e.g. ‘$$ for up to 5 agents’, “$$$ for 15-20 agents’ and so on. The per agent pricing model is the most cost-effective option for small businesses that are new to using a help desk system.
  • Per device: This pricing model is most ideal for businesses that don’t require all employees to have access to their help desk software. Before opting for a help desk with a per-device pricing model, make sure you have an accurate estimate of the number of devices your customer support team uses. 
  • Per ticket: Though very few, some help desk vendors use a ‘per ticket per month’ pricing model. Before selecting a provider that charges per ticket, ensure you have an accurate estimate of your ticket volume and that you select a scalable help desk vendor that can provide you with more ticket coverage should you need it in the future.
  • Per license: Some on-premise help desks offer perpetual licenses that are purchased once only, without limits on agent accounts or customer tickets. While this cuts down on recurring costs, it’s long term commitment that needs to be thought through before making a decision. It’s also important to note that while you only have to pay once for the license, you may have to pay additional fees down the line for product maintenance and upgrades.

Features of a Help Desk Ticketing System

Help desk ticketing solutions on the market today come with different selling features and price points. Though the exact number of features may vary from one solution to another, here are the main ones you can expect:

  • Multi-Channel Support: Customers should be able to easily reach you through different channels including email, live chat, phone, social media, and more. A good ticketing system integrates seamlessly with all of your contact points to collect tickets and pool them into a single shared inbox. This way, your agents are able to instantly receive and work on tickets on one platform, without needing to frequently monitor several channels and devices.
  • Customizable Workflows and Process Automation Options: The majority of ticketing systems offer features for you to create an efficient workflow and automate processes, eliminating a considerable chunk of your tedious tasks. Often with the help of triggers, you’re able to automatically set a ticket’s status and priority, assign and escalate tickets to specific groups within your organization, send automated responses and follow-ups, and notify customers and agents of certain updates. Some ticketing systems also allow you to create tags for tickets, which comes in handy with search optimization and enables you to instantly retrieve specific data for report creation.
  • Knowledge Base: A knowledge base functions as an extensive library of information on your products and/or services that customers can access 24/7. It integrates with your website and ticketing system for customers to find answers to their questions as well as information on particular features and processes.
    Studies conducted on the efficacy of help centers have shown that over half of all customers prefer self-service options for convenience and speedy resolution. This is also great because the more customers self-serve, the more you’re able to deflect tickets, which frees your agents to focus on other tasks that are more urgent or of higher importance. Additionally, a knowledge base is also a valuable resource for your in-house staff too to access product documentation, FAQs, internal guides, and playbooks at any time. 
  • 3rd Party Integrations: Not only should a good ticketing system integrate with several contact channels, i.e. email, social media, phone support tools, live chat, etc, but it should also offer integration options with popular customer relationship management (CRM), asset management and team collaboration tools such as Salesforce, Slack and more to further enhance your operations. You can usually find out if a help desk integrates with your favorite products by checking their pre-built integration modules, usually listed on their websites.
  • Scalability: Scalability entails whether or not a software product can grow with you as your business does. Your company’s size may double within a short period of time and it's crucial for all of your daily-used tools to still accommodate you. Besides being mindful of a help desk’s cost for bigger teams, it’s important to consider its ability to store large data records, the maximum number of user accounts that can be created on it as well as the maximum number of teams and customers it can handle.
  • Reporting: Reporting is a crucial function of a help desk software. Through accurate, real-time data, a good help desk software allows you to monitor how your team is performing against your predefined service level agreements (SLAs) as well as the average time it takes them to respond to customers and resolve their tickets.
    Furthermore, a good help desk solution should offer some methodologies for you to collect feedback from customers and measure their satisfaction. The good news is, several solutions offer net promoter score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys that can be automatically sent to customers upon ticket closure.

Demo Questions

Before deciding on a help desk for your business, it’s recommended that you schedule demos with different vendors to make sure their solution has all the needs of your business covered. Here are a few questions you can ask during your demo sessions: 

  • What communication channels does your solution integrate with?
  • What customer support processes can I automate through your software?
  • How does your software facilitate self-service?
  • How does your solution measure customer satisfaction?
  • How can I track my team’s performance through your software?
  • Can I charge my customers for support given per ticket through your software?
  • How much does the software cost for my team size?

Implementing a Help Desk Ticketing System

The majority of help desk ticketing systems are cloud-based, delivered through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) infrastructure. Getting started with a cloud-based solution is very quick and easy as they all allow you to create an account and start configuring your instance right away once you’ve purchased a plan. On the other hand, on-premise help desks take longer to set up, and depending on your chosen vendor, you may need to consult them regarding their solutions’ compatibility with your current hardware and installation process or better yet, have them do the installation on your behalf.

Help Desk Ticketing Systems FAQ

What is a help desk ticketing system?

A help desk ticketing system is a software solution that gathers customer questions, requests, and incident reports from different channels and pools them into a single inbox for customer support agents to respond to in a swift and efficient manner.  

Who needs a help desk ticketing system?

Any company that wants to streamline their customer service operations and offer speedy support to their customers needs a help desk ticketing system. 

What are the benefits of using a helpdesk ticketing system? 

Using a helpdesk ticketing systems allows you to:

  • boost your team’s productivity by automating manual tasks such as ticket routing and assignment, 
  • resolve tickets faster which in turn, increases customer satisfaction and retention, and
  • continuously fine-tune your support operations through accurate performance metrics data.

What are the features of a help desk ticketing system?

The most common features of a helpdesk ticketing system are: 

  • Multi-channel support (email, live chat, phone, social media integration)
  • Automatic ticket routing and assignment
  • Canned responses
  • Knowledge base
  • Performance analytics
  • SLA management 
  • CSAT surveys 

What is the best help desk ticketing system for small businesses?

Zoho Desk and Freshdesk are two robust ticketing systems with free tiers as well as affordable plans that startups can use without breaking the bank. Both Freshdesk and Zoho desk are also quite scalable, meaning that you can upgrade to more extensive plans as your business grows. 

How much does a help desk ticketing system cost?

The majority of help desk ticketing systems use a ‘per agent per month’ pricing model. Depending on which help desk you use and the features you require, the ‘per agent per month’ fee can range anywhere from $5 to $199.

Final Advice

Choosing a help desk ticketing system can be a long process, but we’re confident you’ll make a good selection if you: 

  • Carefully consider your needs and budget and make purchases accordingly. 
  • Sign up for a trial period to experience the help desk first-hand and see if it’s the right fit for you. 
  • Schedule demos with different help desk vendors to get all of your questions answered

About Us

  • Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
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