Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Zendesk comparison

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Salesforce Sales Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Salesforce Sales Cloud and Zendesk compete in the CRM and customer service solutions category. Salesforce appears to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set and extensive customization capabilities.

Features: Salesforce Sales Cloud offers extensive customization, robust CRM tracking, and flexible integration capabilities into the platform. Zendesk's valuable features include ease of use, intuitive ticket management, and integration with various SaaS products.

Room for Improvement: Salesforce Sales Cloud is criticized for its complexity, steep learning curve, and high cost. Challenges with integration and data management are noted. Zendesk needs improvements in pricing, enhanced analytics, and better integration flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Salesforce Sales Cloud is primarily deployed on the public cloud, offering varied levels of technical support. A strong community is available for assistance. Zendesk offers flexible deployment with praised customer service and technical support, providing both hybrid and private cloud solutions.

Pricing and ROI: Salesforce Sales Cloud is a premium solution with high licensing costs, offering significant productivity and efficiency boosts to large enterprises but challenging for smaller organizations. Zendesk's pricing is competitive, focusing on user satisfaction and efficiency gains though positioned high-end for enterprise solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: February 2025).

Salesforce Sales Cloud vs. Zendesk

February 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

ROI

Sentiment score

7.2

Salesforce Sales Cloud enhances adoption, decision-making, efficiency; benefits include ROI, productivity, visibility, collaboration, and non-profit fundraising.

Sentiment score

7.3

Zendesk enhances productivity and cost-efficiency with flexible licensing, valuable features, and significant financial gains for various organizations.

No quotes available

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No quotes available

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Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.1

Salesforce Sales Cloud's varying support quality depends on subscription, with premium options preferred and community resources enhancing user experience.

Sentiment score

7.0

Zendesk support is generally praised for responsiveness and efficiency, though some users prefer more personalized assistance over documentation.

No quotes available

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No quotes available

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Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.8

Salesforce Sales Cloud scales well for various business sizes, though challenges and costs may arise with over 3,000 users.

Sentiment score

7.5

Zendesk is praised for scalability and customization but faces challenges with complex changes; some switch to alternatives like Salesforce.

Salesforce is highly scalable and operates efficiently.

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AWS Cloud Engineer at Accenture

No quotes available

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Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.2

Salesforce Sales Cloud is highly stable and reliable, with minor issues often related to configuration rather than the platform.

Sentiment score

7.9

Zendesk is largely reliable, though occasional hangs and misclassification issues highlight room for improvement in performance.

I have not experienced any degradation in Salesforce's performance.

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AWS Cloud Engineer at Accenture

No quotes available

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Room For Improvement

Salesforce Sales Cloud needs simplified functionality, improved UI, better integration, more customization, and enhanced performance, automation, and analytics.

Zendesk struggles with performance, integration, customization, communication, mobile app delays, pricing, reporting, and training, affecting overall efficiency.

Compared to AWS, it is slower, which could be a hindrance.

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Sales Cloud report

AWS Cloud Engineer at Accenture

No quotes available

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Setup Cost

Salesforce Sales Cloud is costly but offers extensive capabilities; price negotiation is advised for large-scale deployments.

Enterprise buyers experience varying Zendesk pricing, from $70-$200 per agent, and should negotiate for features and value.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Sales Cloud report

No quotes available

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Valuable Features

Salesforce Sales Cloud provides comprehensive CRM features, customizable tools, and integrations to enhance productivity, reporting, and sales management.

Zendesk offers comprehensive ticket management, integrations, analytics, and security, enhancing productivity and providing seamless, multi-channel support for businesses.

Its easy-to-navigate interface aids in delivering clear vision and organization, especially for sales and business management.

For more quotes and insights, download the Salesforce Sales Cloud report

AWS Cloud Engineer at Accenture

No quotes available

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Categories and Ranking

Salesforce Sales Cloud

Ranking in CRM

1st

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

114

Ranking in other categories

Opportunity Management (1st), Conversation Intelligence Software (2nd)

Zendesk

Ranking in CRM

20th

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (7th), Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (7th), Reporting (13th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), Community Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of Salesforce Sales Cloud is 9.0%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 1.4%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM

Featured Reviews

Richard Mottershead

Enterprise Architect at a non-profit with 501-1,000 employees

Infinitely customizable, good end-to-end sales and customer management processes but lacks good documentation

Essentially, it's the CRM solution for managing customers and leads. The features that had the most significant impact on our sales efficiency include flexibility, regular updates, and very good end-to-end sales and customer management processes. AI and machine learning are on the agenda for next year. Initially, it will be very silo-based, but eventually, we'll be integrating MIBI data into our solution. Sales Cloud's reporting and analytics capabilities influenced our sales strategy quite a lot. We can build every report as a dashboard, and there are various sorts of things. We are using Tableau as our MIBI analytic solution, which is also owned by Salesforce these days.

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Ahmed Nassar

Technical Consultant at Spectrum Group

Stable tool, making it reliable for handling tasks but difficult initial setup

It has a huge problem regarding the price. The price increases every year. Every year, they raise the price of the licenses, which makes a lot of limitations, and you have to pay more. So that's some conditions. Actually, most of the companies that use Zendesk need a customer experience or customer care department. However, Zendesk only works with chatbox or emailing services, but it can also use Genesys, VoIP, or voice sensors. Additionally, Zendesk needs the administration panels to be easier because it's a very complex panel. You need to search for a lot of things to do, like a small job. So you have to do a lot of setup regarding the integration, and it's a little bit challenging to integrate any software in the vendor.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

77%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

23%

Educational Organization

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Salesforce Sales Cloud?

The features of Sales Cloud most useful for testing and running email campaigns are highly valuable.

What needs improvement with Salesforce Sales Cloud?

Improving system performance and processing speed would enhance productivity and allow for even smoother workflows according to my view. Additionally, introducing faster data retrieval and real-tim...

What is your primary use case for Salesforce Sales Cloud?

My primary use case for Salesforce is to streamline sales strategies, define key sales parameters, and manage focus areas effectively. I leverage Salesforce to record, track, and optimize our sales...

What do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

I am not currently aware of the exact pricing, but since we are still using Zendesk, it appears to be at a reasonable price point.

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

Report generation is still slightly tricky and not very customizable as per my inquiries. It would be advantageous to have an AI layer that can analyze incoming requests and generate summaries, as ...

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Product Reports

Download Salesforce Sales Cloud product report

Salesforce Sales Cloud

March 2025

Download Zendesk product report

March 2025

Also Known As

Sales Cloud, SFDC, Salesforce

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

Salesforce Sales Cloud is a comprehensive CRM platform designed for efficient lead management, sales forecasting, and customer engagement, offering extensive customization and cloud-based accessibility.

Aimed at enhancing business efficiency, Salesforce Sales Cloud supports core business processes like CRM, lead and opportunity management, sales forecasting, and customer engagement. Its robust integration capabilities allow seamless connectivity with ERP systems and various applications. The platform offers pipeline tracking, process automation, and advanced sales cycle management. Users appreciate its cloud-based accessibility, allowing teams to operate remotely and manage sales operations effectively. However, users highlight concerns about its complexity, cost, and the need for a more intuitive interface.

What features does Salesforce Sales Cloud offer?

Customization: Tailor the CRM to meet specific business requirements.
Robust Reporting: Comprehensive analytics and data insights.
Lead Management: Efficiently manage and convert leads.
API Integration: Seamless connectivity with multiple applications.
Cloud Accessibility: Work from anywhere with cloud-based access.

What benefits should be evaluated in Salesforce Sales Cloud reviews?

Enhanced Productivity: Streamline sales processes with automation.
Improved Collaboration: Facilitate team coordination and client engagement.
Accurate Forecasting: Make informed decisions with reliable sales forecasts.
Flexibility: Accommodate diverse industry needs with ease.
Legacy System Integration: Efficiently update and integrate with existing systems.

Salesforce Sales Cloud is widely implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail, supporting sales teams in tracking and managing sales operations. Its use extends to reporting, collaboration, and enhancing client interactions, allowing companies to tailor Salesforce to meet industry-specific requirements efficiently.

Salesforce

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Sample Customers

Coca-Cola Enterprises, Kuoni Global Travel Services, Financial Times, Just Eat, Jobsite, H.R. Owen, PlayerLayer, O2, DMGT, Philips, Xtreme.ie, Business Stream, Remote Asset Management, Dialogue Group

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber