The 17 Best IT Ticketing Software for 2026
Our experts have tested over 50 different ticketing systems; here are our favorites.
The best help desk ticketing system helps IT teams manage, track, and resolve employee or customer support requests by turning each issue into a “ticket” that can be prioritized, assigned, and resolved efficiently. As your business grows and more customers come on board, such a system becomes essential.
We’ve tested and compared over 50 ticketing systems to see which ones truly deliver. Each was evaluated on core features, pricing, and its ability to help IT teams resolve issues efficiently. Above all, we were looking for the platforms that make IT support easy, scalable, and stress-free.
To choose the best IT support software, 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 helpdesk ticketing, we think the key ones to look out for are automation, knowledge base, reporting and analytics, and mobile accessibility:
- Automation: Efficiency is vital in managing support requests, and automation is how you can achieve it. We’ve selected helpdesk ticketing systems 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 picked ticketing software tools 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 ticketing system software gives you real-time data 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 ticketing systems, or better yet, ones with dedicated mobile apps, as these 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.
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 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.
NHS, M&C Saatchi, TeamViewer, Honda, Judson University
Freshservice offers four pricing tiers: Starter at $19 per agent per month, Growth at $49 per agent per month, and Pro at $99 per agent per month, along with an Enterprise plan with custom pricing.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
They have Whatsapp integration which comes with free 1000 messages/month whereas other competitors charge for this service independently
Good for support operators.
May not be good for the sales team.
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 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.
Mailchimp, Uber, Khan Academy
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
As a software engineer and support operator, I help the team deploy the software and train them on how to use it. I also integrate the software through API and provide technical assistance to both clients and the internal team. The tool is in my everyday workflow and has helped me to work remotely and be more productive.
I like the software interface because it is quite polished and quick to navigate. Secondly, the pricing of the software favors smaller businesses to use the solution to communicate with clients. Lastly, the software does not require a lot of technical knowledge to understand.
We bought Zendesk to ease the way our clients reach us. Zendesk allows us to communicate with clients from different channels like WhatsApp, email, and live chat or social media like Twitter and Facebook Messenger. We had issues sorting tickets and merging them within teams which this tool has helped us solve. I have used the solution for three years.
At times, Zendesk Talk would be too slow to make calls and will keep the call buffering which interferes with communication goals between the business and the clients, the tool would not work well in other browsers like Mozilla, where it would perfectly work well in Chrome and on Safari for apple and hence a challenge to users who might not be using such browsers
They have kept the pricing of the software favorable and cheap to enable businesses of all sizes to use the solution
I would recommend and advise any person to purchase this software to consider the size of the business as this tool might not be good for smaller businesses, and the team because some modules require technical knowledge like setting up a knowledge base on a custom URL would require you to know DNS settings
It has introduced the Zendesk AI, which detects the intent of the user questions and provides assistance to their questions through automations as this saves a lot of time you spend on solving tickets manually.
Support team
Sales team
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 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.
Fiverr, HP, Decathlon, Panasonic, NYU, Henkel, Pearson, Thai Union, American Express.
Freshdesk offers a Free plan for up to two agents for six months, covering core ticketing, a knowledge base, basic analytics, and team collaboration. Paid plans are split by support channel.
- Freshdesk Omni supports multiple channels (email, web, SMS, messaging apps) and starts at $29 (Growth). Higher tiers include Omni Pro ($79) for custom portals and advanced features, and Omni Enterprise ($119) for audit logs, skills-based routing, and advanced security.
- Freshdesk Email & Ticketing starts at $19 (Growth) for email-only support. Pro ($55) adds advanced routing and custom portals, while Enterprise ($89) includes compliance and security features. Both paid tracks offer a 14-day free trial.
- Freddy AI features are available as add-ons. AI agents and the Email AI Agent cost $49 per 100 sessions after the initial 500 free sessions. The AI Copilot suite is $29 per agent/month.
Best For
Companies of all sizes looking for a comprehensive customer support solution.
I use the software every day to communicate with clients of our software, when they land on our website or when they send us an inquiry on our email and social media, we receive the ticket in our inbox and then respond to the email through the tool which this helps me to stay organized and monitoring communication amongst team to avoid disorganizations.
I like the knowledge base integration, it is easy to set the knowledge base that clients can use to find solution articles to their problems, as the pricing of the software is cheaper compared to other software tools providing the same services and products
I have used Freshdesk for two years to chat with clients through live chat on social media platforms about their issues with our services and products. Our company bought Freshdesk because it supports integration with more tools than other software and is easy to adapt to and understand. Lastly, managing agents becomes much easier with this tool.
It does not provide instant notification in my browser which makes it hard for me to stay on track with communication and at times makes us miss live chats from clients or delayed in getting back to our clients. Besides that, there are no other issues.
They provide enough support that makes you feel easy with the tool and their Whatsapp integration is direct and does not require technical skills. This reduces the time you use to deploy the Whatsapp channel in the tool.
They should consider the pricing of the software and the use case, this tool might be suitable for bigger businesses considering using the knowledgebase and would not suit smaller businesses therefore, pricing should be considered and the use case
They have improved the user interface for tickets, it is now easy to create tickets, find tickets, and solve them from the dashboard, and you can easily filter the tickets that are solved by other agents. Also, they introduced chat history which helps other agents catch up with communication of other agents with clients to avoid confusion in case a ticket is being transferred.
Organizations providing online services like software purchase
Smaller businesses with low-volume messages
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
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.
Disney, Honda, ABC, Etihad Airways, RBS, Dell, Siemens
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.
As an operations manager, I use ServiceDesk Plus for various problem-solving tasks. If a service is needed in the facility, employees can submit a ticket to ensure a service professional is notified to address the issue. Internal issues, such as technical problems, can also be reported. The help desk provides useful information, and managers are able to report incidents that occur.
Requesting help on ServiceDesk Plus is time-efficient. It minimizes phone interaction, which could slow down productivity. Being able to track the workflow based on requests already submitted is helpful for follow-up. The search bar allows quick keyword searches, providing fast feedback for solutions.
Working as an operations manager required a lot of collaboration inside and outside the location. ServiceDesk Plus creates a line of communication on all sides. ServiceDesk Plus is key to communicating with IT and service professionals quickly. When a problem occurs, ServiceDesk Plus is available to notify the appropriate party to help solve the issue without slowing down production.
When reporting an issue, it can be hard to find help for your exact problem if you are unfamiliar with the system. Although it is convenient to submit tickets and report issues online, getting a response can sometimes take longer than expected. Requests can also be difficult to modify once they are sent.
ServiceDesk Plus offers more detailed assistance compared to other tools, which tend to be more vague.
Before buying this tool, a buyer should consider who will use it and their comfort level with technology. It's also important to evaluate the primary features the tool will be used for.
ServiceDesk Plus has helped operations managers find solutions or submit tickets with ease, allowing productivity to remain consistent.
ServiceDesk Plus is ideal for organizations that are operationally focused and for those with service professionals at different locations or using third-party servicing.
ServiceDesk Plus may not be a good fit for companies that are not ready to transition reporting, help desk, and other support systems to an online database.
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.
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.
McAfee, Daimler, LycaMobile, Rogers, Siemens Energy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?
I have only used the platform for a year but have seen great response time for my inquiries. They consistently fix bugs quickly.
Zoho is good for small-medium sized organizations and an effective option for more IT focused teams.
I would not recommend Zoho Desk to large companies or businesses that can track their ticket items effectively through more comprehensive programs.
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 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.
Clutter, Epic Games, Oxford Business Group, NYU, Funding Circle
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.
My company uses Hiver daily to manage shared inboxes, streamline workflows, and enhance collaboration while responding to customer emails.
Previously, managing shared inboxes caused delays and missed responses, negatively impacting customer satisfaction. Hiver removed the need for third-party ticketing systems by providing a smooth way to allocate, monitor, and manage emails directly within Gmail. Its automation and reporting capabilities allowed us to streamline workflows and better understand team performance.
I have been using Hiver for two years, and it has significantly improved both team coordination and the efficiency of our email management.
- Hiver’s easy integration with Gmail eliminates the need for an additional ticketing system.
- Features such as internal notes and email assignment make collaboration more seamless.
- Automation tools simplify the process of prioritizing and categorizing emails, saving significant time.
My organization adopted Hiver to streamline collaboration for emails and enhance customer support efficiency. We have been using it for two years.
My company sought a solution to decrease response times and improve teamwork while responding to customer emails. Customer satisfaction had suffered due to the disarray caused by managing shared inboxes, leading to missed emails and delayed responses.
Hiver eliminated the need for third-party ticketing systems by providing a seamless way to allocate, monitor, and manage emails directly within Gmail. Workflows became more streamlined, and team performance was better understood thanks to its automation and reporting capabilities.
I have personally been using Hiver for two years, and it has significantly improved our team coordination and email management efficiency.
- Hiver’s reporting capabilities are limited and suited only to basic analytical requirements.
- Some features available on the desktop version are missing from the mobile app, which requires improvement.
- The pricing is relatively high, which may not be ideal for smaller organizations with tighter budgets.
Unlike standalone helpdesk systems, Hiver offers a familiar and user-friendly interface by integrating directly with Gmail.
When considering a tool like Hiver, it’s important to assess how easily it integrates with your existing email platform to avoid workflow disruptions. Look for features such as automation, analytics, and email assignment to improve productivity and teamwork. Scalability is crucial to ensure the tool can grow with your organization’s needs.
Additionally, compare the pricing to your team size and budget while evaluating the vendor’s customer service quality.
Hiver has introduced robust automation features, enhanced its analytics capabilities, and improved collaboration tools such as email assignment and internal notes. Updates have improved speed and provided deeper Gmail integration.
The platform has expanded its functionality to support larger teams while remaining simple and effective for small and mid-sized companies.
Hiver is an excellent choice for customer service departments and businesses that rely heavily on Gmail for managing group emails.
Hiver might not be suitable for organizations with complex customer care processes that extend beyond email management and require a comprehensive ticketing system.
Monday.com
Monday Service is the recently launched ticket management system from Monday.com, one of the key names in modern business and productivity software. Their product integrates service management features with advanced automation, AI-driven ticket classification, and customizable workflows.
PROS
- AI-driven ticket classification is one of their stand-out features. This essentially leverages artificial intelligence to pre-classify tickets as they come in, and you can even set automatic outcomes based on this, such as setting a priority and assigning to an agent without any human involvement.
- We also love how it integrates with existing email systems, letting users create tickets simply by emailing a designated address, for example.
- Like all Monday products, the workflows are remarkably customizable. For example, you can set whichever stages you need in a ticket's processing and decide which information gets inputted and visualized for each type of incoming piece.
- Free plan available, and affordable, scalable plans for small to midsize businesses
- Easy to learn and use
- Customizable dashboard
- Collaborative document creation with the ability to turn content in docs into tasks in projects with a few clicks
- Gamified progress tracking with visual celebrations for users
- Workflow automation for repetitive tasks
- Built-in communication tools reduce reliance on email
- Customized forms for in-house or client use that can be easily turned into projects
CONS
- Naturally, Monday Service is limited to Monday.com’s ecosystem. Also, even if you are already a Monday.com user, there are no price discounts if you also use the Service product.
- There is no free version of the product yet, only a fortnight-long free trial. The free-forever 2-person plan that lots of teams use for Monday Work Management is not available for this product.
- Monday Service is still in the beta stage, so it’s probable that some features might change in the future, potentially altering the workflows you set up if you start using it now.
- 3+ users are required to get on any of the paid plans
- Limited storage on the Basic plan
- Could be too complex for simple project management needs
- No phone customer support
- Tracking different conversations can be difficult because of all the clutter
We have reviewed Monday’s products for Human Resources and Project Management in the past, so we weren’t all that surprised when they released an ITSM. Although, as of this writing, it’s still in Beta mode, we’ve had a demo of the product and did the 14-day free trial. While tinkering with the tool, we couldn’t help but think, why didn’t they release something like this years ago? It seems very logical because the Monday ecosystem adapts beautifully to the ticketing system landscape.
Any users of Monday.com’s work management and HRIS products will know that the tools are remarkable for their customization options and intuitive interface. Monday Service brings all that into the ticketing sphere. Although it primarily targets IT service teams, it’s made to adapt to all kinds of service operations.
In our view, what really sets Monday Service apart from modern ticketing systems are their AI capabilities. As previously mentioned, the system has the ability to automatically classify incoming tickets. We were able to set a priority level to each incoming task, which would assign the ticket to a specific person in the team without requiring any manual intervention.
We also like that you get a high-level view of the whole operation with reports and dashboards that you can customize to your liking. Its analytics dashboard stands out for providing insights into operational performance, identifying trends, and spotting opportunities for service improvements.
While Monday Service is still in Beta, it’s a fully functional product in terms of stability and one that’s likely to improve over time. While this is a potential drawback in terms of possibly changing workflows and having to get used to new features as you use the tool, we were told by their team that the full product rollout is happening by the end of the year or early next.
Service teams have already adopted Monday Service at places like Vimeo, Fiverr, KPMG, Sodastream, and Superhuman.
Monday Service is currently offered on a per seat / per month basis through the following plans:
- Standard: $29 per seat per month when billed monthly, though you can save 18% if paying yearly. This includes an unlimited amount of tickets, 2-way email integration, 1 email server, and 100 AI actions per month.
- Pro: At $44 per seat per month, this raises the automated actions to 5,000 per month and offers premium features like dynamic auto-responses, more ticket boards, service analytics, and more.
- Enterprise: Monday offers a custom-priced plan for larger operations with even more capabilities and features like advanced analytics, unlimited ticket boards, and enterprise support.
Best For
Monday Service is ideal for mid to large-sized companies looking for a versatile, AI-driven ITSM solution. It suits organizations that require robust ticket management, extensive customization, and seamless integration within the Monday.com ecosystem.
I use Monday.com almost every day. The main thing we use it for is our People Operations ticketing system but we also use it for personal projects. It is very useful for creating a survey where people can submit their choices and it will automatically sort their results into different categories. You can assign people to an item and it will notify them. It can also keep track of how long an item has been opened/unanswered which is a useful metric.
- It makes it easy to create a survey/form and sort results by category.
- It can integrate with popular apps including Slack, which is very valuable for our organization.
- You can set up integrations so that if x happens, it will trigger y to happen.
Our organization has used Monday.com for 3 years. I have personally used it for 2 years. Our organization bought the tool because we did not have a project management tool and we were lacking one. We use this tool for our People Operations ticketing system, so if employees have a question for HR, they can submit a ticket and we can respond. It provides metrics on how many tickets we get, how long it takes for us to respond, and the end result. It also integrates into Slack which is very useful for our team.
- It can be hard to understand integrations and some of the other important functions.
- It can be easy to "lose" a board and there is no easy way to search for it.
- You cannot share content (even just to view) with someone who is not a paid Monday.com user.
I have never used a competitor of Monday.com
I think the key buying criteria for this tool is what your desired outcome is. We use the product for our ticketing system and it is great for that. Each project management tool is slightly different so I suggest taking demos/utilizing free trials to see what fits your needs best.
Monday.com has not made any noticeable changes since I started using it.
It is great for an organization that is looking for a ticketing system that can provide metrics. It is also good for those looking to implement project management tools as it provides templates for different types of projects.
I think this tool would be good for anyone looking for a project management tool. It just depends on what type of project management tool you prefer.
Hubspot
Hubspot is not an overly advanced ticketing system, but it covers all the basics very well and makes doing those things easy. The helpdesk platform also excels in usability and is very wallet-friendly for SMBs. In fact, you can take advantage of this system without spending a penny by using its timeless free plan.
PROS
- Fast and easy setup with no credit card.
- User-friendly interface that requires little to no training.
- Kanban-style board for clear ticket tracking and workload visibility.
- Effective automation for tagging, task assignment, and escalation.
- Shared inbox consolidates email, chat, and social media tickets
- CRM integration provides full context on customer history.
- Predefined replies/snippets save time on repetitive responses.
- Built-in reporting tracks key support metrics (e.g. resolution time, volume).
- Fast and easy setup with no credit card.
- User-friendly interface that requires little to no training.
- Kanban-style board for clear ticket tracking and workload visibility.
- Effective automation for tagging, task assignment, and escalation.
- Shared inbox consolidates email, chat, and social media tickets
- CRM integration provides full context on customer history.
- Predefined replies/snippets save time on repetitive responses.
- Built-in reporting tracks key support metrics (e.g. resolution time, volume).
CONS
- Limited email customization for branding or advanced triggers.
- Free edition is up to 2 users and is too lightweight for complex or SLA-heavy environments.
- Client portal setup can be tricky for teams with multiple domains.
- Minimal setup support for free-tier users.
- Limited email customization for branding or advanced triggers.
- Free edition is up to 2 users and is too lightweight for complex or SLA-heavy environments.
- Client portal setup can be tricky for teams with multiple domains.
- Minimal setup support for free-tier users.
It’s no surprise Hubspot’s ticketing system is among the most popular brands in the market. Throughout our tech tests, the platform stood out as a thoughtfully designed, user-friendly platform that strikes a balance between accessibility and functionality. While it may not be ideal for highly complex or technical support environments, it’s a strong option for small to mid-sized teams or any organization already working within the HubSpot ecosystem.
One of the first things that stood out was how quick and intuitive it was to get started. We could configure our support inbox, create ticket pipelines, and begin responding to customer inquiries almost immediately. No credit card is required, and no formal training is needed either. The UI is clean, approachable, and doesn’t overwhelm you with options. For most teams, especially those not very tech-savvy, that’s a big win.
During testing, the ticket tracking features proved to be well structured. Tickets can be categorized by stage, owner, or priority, and the Kanban-style board gives a clear visual of workload distribution. Automation such as tagging, task assignment, and escalation rules helped route tickets efficiently. You can also reply directly from within a ticket and trigger workflows like email updates or survey requests.
The shared inbox is another useful feature. Being able to field customer requests from email, chat, and even social media (via integrations) in one place kept our agents more focused. One of our favorite features was the ability to create reusable snippets and predefined replies for common questions.
We also appreciated the built-in reporting and analytics, which helped us track metrics like ticket volume, resolution times, and agent performance. What’s more, if you’re already using Hubspot’s CRM, the system can make it even easier to see the bigger picture of each support case. Every ticket, conversation, and customer detail is neatly tied into the CRM, meaning you don’t have to scramble through separate platforms to understand a customer’s history. We can imagine this will be especially helpful when switching between team members: everyone has access to the same full-picture view, including prior conversations, notes, tags, and related deals or contact activity.
That said, if your brand has strict email design guidelines or wants more advanced triggers for notifications, you might find email customization within tickets limited. Similarly, while it works well with email-based channels, those managing more complex multi-channel or SLA-driven support environments may find the system too lightweight.
Other minutes include the fact that setting up the client portal can be quite tricky for teams managing multiple domains or legacy setups and that there’s not much support provided around this step for free users. Still, once configured, it opens the door to better self-service: Clients can track their tickets, which reduces inbound update requests.
228,000+ companies, including Reddit, WWF, Eventbrite, and Doordash.
HubSpot offers a free help desk ticketing system for up to two users. Additionally, there are multiple paid plans starting at $15 per user per month, catering to small to mid-sized businesses and enterprises, and include a 14-day free trial.
Best For
HubSpot's help desk ticketing system is ideal for support teams already using HubSpot CRM, SaaS businesses handling a moderate ticket volume, and teams prioritizing automation and metrics without extensive training. It also caters to organizations requiring easy JIRA integration.
Tidio
Tidio earned a top spot in this category for its robust AI agent Lyro, which supports over 50 languages and can handle everything from order tracking and returns to lead qualification and password resets. Plus, the helpdesk system integrates smoothly with Shopify and several popular CRMs, giving it broad appeal across support and sales teams.
PROS
- Lets users build multi-step automations with a no-code visual workflow editor.
- Supports over 50 languages through the Lyro AI agent for global coverage.
- Includes an Agent Copilot that suggests real-time responses from data sources.
- Offers a Suggestions dashboard to help improve resolution rates over time.
- Offers a free plan and a free trial.
- Tidio allows users to build a single multichannel communicator by connecting different channels like website live chat, email inbox, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger to their platform. This means that you can always respond to your customers' queries irrespective of which platform they reach out to you on.
- Building a chatbot using Tidio is a fairly simple process. You can either use their existing templates or build one using their visual flow builder and drag-and-drop templates.
- If you’re a small business that just wants to keep track of your chatbot performance, then Tidio’s analytics dashboard outlines that information very well. You can view the number of conversations, leads, and messages easily without having to dig too deep.
CONS
- Lyro AI usage is limited to 50 lifetime conversations on the Free plan.
- Removing Tidio branding requires a subscription to the Growth tier or a higher plan.
- Live chat support is only available on the two highest-tier plans.
- According to some users, chat notifications can sometimes be unreliable. This means that you may not always get notified when you get a message.
- While you can create a chatbot in a different language, translating messages based on a user’s input is extremely difficult and requires manual effort.
We tested Tidio’s help desk system with an eye toward workflow automation, integrations, and ease of use, and for the most part, it impressed us.
One interesting feature we found during evaluation was the built-in AI agent named Lyro. It supports over 50 languages and, importantly, can handle multiple real-time tasks, including updating customer details, triggering password resets, and initiating return requests.
We also spent time using the Smart Actions builder, which lets you create multi-step workflows without writing any code. We built a workflow to manage subscription changes and found the setup to be intuitive, and users we spoke with shared the same experience. One person told us they liked how easy it was to set up on a website without needing advanced technical skills.
Agent Copilot also made a good impression. It suggests real-time replies during live chats based on connected data sources, which, according to several users, helped them respond more quickly and consistently. When Lyro couldn’t answer a visitor’s question, the system logged it in the Suggestions dashboard so we could follow up and improve our knowledge base.
One trade-off we noticed, however, is that the Free plan only includes 50 lifetime Lyro conversations. That limit doesn’t reset unless you upgrade, which means you can hit a wall quickly if you’re testing the platform or handling moderate support volume. Support access also depends heavily on your pricing tier. Only Plus and Premium users get live chat support from Tidio’s team. Everyone else, including Free, Starter, and Growth plans, has to rely on email support.
Lastly, for larger teams that want more control over branding, note that you must be on the Growth plan or higher to remove the “Powered by Tidio” label from the chat widget.
Integratec, Cove, Procosmet Italy, ADT.
Custom.
We’ve seen Tidio continue to expand its automation and AI capabilities, most recently with the addition of macros that let support teams pair canned responses with automated actions. On the roadmap, Tidio is preparing major upgrades to its AI agent, Lyro, including the ability to edit order details from external systems, qualify and sync leads with CRMs, generate pricing quotes, and run custom workflows. The company is also developing predefined action templates and deeper customization for Lyro’s tone and escalation logic, signaling a clear move toward a more flexible, enterprise-ready AI IT helpdesk platform.
Best For
Tidio is best for fast-growing e-commerce and SaaS teams that want to automate help desk and sales support with multilingual AI, without needing deep technical resources.
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 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.
Huawei, BMW, Yamaha, O2, Slido, Forbes, AirBus.
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.
We use the solution to offer live chat on our website and to respond to customer questions through emails and social media.
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.
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.
Pricing of the software does not favor smaller businesses.
They have more integrations like emails, social media, and knowledge base than other tools.
Consider the modules that come with the solution and whether they cover your needs or not.
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.
Support agents and sales teams
Marketing teams
Other Ticketing Systems Worth Checking Out
- JitBit — Best for fast and simple help desk setup
- Vision Helpdesk — Best for multi-deployment flexibility
- Jira Service Management — Best for ITSM and deep integrations
- HappyFox — Best for customization capabilities
- Kayako — Best for customer journey-focused support
- SolarWinds Service Desk — Best for feature-rich IT service management
- Spiceworks — Best free help desk ticketing system
Benefits of Using a Help Desk Ticketing System
Investing in a good help desk ticketing system enables you to boost team productivity, increase customer satisfaction and retention, and provide accurate data for continuous support operation improvement.
- 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.
Common Mistakes Made When Buying a Help Desk Ticketing System
Some of the most common mistakes businesses make when choosing a help desk solution are overspending on unnecessary features, failing to account for future scalability, buying an entire suite when only one solution is needed, and making long-term commitments without thorough testing.
- 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.
How Much Does Help Desk Software Cost?
Help desk software typically ranges from $7 to $39 per user per month, depending on the vendor, features, and team size. Most vendors provide a free trial, while free helpdesk systems like Spiceworks remain popular among smaller organizations. To give you an idea:
- Budget-friendly options like Zoho Desk start at $7/month, making them ideal for startups and SMBs.
- Mid-range tools such as Freshdesk, Freshservice, LiveAgent, Vision Helpdesk, Hiver, and Monday.com fall between $15–$26/month.
- High-end solutions like Kayako and SolarWinds Service Desk begin at $39/month and often come with advanced customization and enterprise-grade functionality.
- Custom pricing is standard with enterprise platforms such as ServiceDesk Plus and HappyFox, where costs vary by deployment and global support needs.
While costs typically range from $7 to $39 per user/month, the pricing model determines how you’ll actually be billed.
- Per Agent (most common): You pay a monthly or annual fee for each support agent using the system. Some vendors bundle seats (e.g., up to 5 or 20 agents). This is the most cost-effective model for small teams.
- Per Device: Pricing is based on the number of devices using the help desk, rather than agents. It works best for companies where only certain machines need access.
- Per Ticket: A few vendors charge based on ticket volume per month. This model requires a clear estimate of your average ticket load to avoid surprise costs.
- Per License (one-time fee): Mostly found with on-premise systems, where you buy a perpetual license once. While this avoids monthly costs, you’ll likely pay for upgrades and maintenance down the line.
Features of a Help Desk Ticketing System
Key features of help desk ticketing software include multi-channel support, workflow automation, a knowledge base, and reporting.
- Multi-Channel Support: Customers should be able to easily reach you through email, live chat, phone, social media, and more. A good ticketing system should integrate well 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 monitor multiple channels and devices.
- Workflow Automation: Most ticketing systems let you create workflows and automate processes. You can set ticket status and priority automatically, assign and escalate tickets, send automated responses and follow-ups, and notify customers and agents of updates. Some systems also allow tagging for easier search and quick data retrieval for reports.
- Knowledge Base: A knowledge base is an online library of information about your products and services that customers can access anytime. It connects to your website and ticketing system so customers can quickly find answers to their questions, features, and processes. It also helps your staff by providing access to product docs, FAQs, internal guides, and playbooks at any time.
- 3rd Party Integrations: Not only should a good ticketing system integrate with several contact channels, but it should also offer integrations with popular customer relationship management (CRM), asset management, and team collaboration tools 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: Your company’s size may double within a short period of time, and it's crucial for all of your daily-used tools to continue to support you. Thus, 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: Through accurate, real-time data, help desk software allows you to monitor your team's performance against SLAs, response times, and ticket resolution times. It should also include methods for collecting customer feedback through NPS and CSAT surveys, which can be automatically sent after tickets are closed.
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 covers all the needs of your business. 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 fee can range anywhere from $7 to $39 per user per month.
Is there a free ticketing system?
Yes, there are some excellent free ticketing systems available, such as Freshdesk, Jira, Zoho Desk, and Spiceworks. For more details, see our free helpdesk software buyer guide.
Which is the best ticketing platform?
The choice largely depends on your business needs and budget, but often, Freshservice, Freshdesk, LiveAgent, and Zendesk are considered leading ticketing systems in the market.
What are the types of ticketing systems?
There are three main types of ticketing systems:
- Email-Based Ticketing Systems generate tickets from customer emails.
- Web-Based Systems allow ticket submission via an online portal for better tracking and categorization.
- Phone Support Systems create tickets from customer calls.
What is the difference between ITSM and ticketing system?
ITSM (IT service management) is a broad strategy for managing all IT services, while a ticketing system is a tool used within ITSM to manage individual IT issues and requests. Essentially, ITSM is the overall framework, and a ticketing system is a specific part of that framework.
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 the Author
About Us
- Our goal at SSR is to help HR and recruiting teams to find and buy the right software for their needs.
- Our site is free to use as some vendors will pay us for web traffic.
- SSR lists all companies we feel are top vendors - not just those who pay us - in our comprehensive directories full of the advice needed to make the right purchase decision for your HR team.
