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ServiceNow vs Zendesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
ServiceNow's support is praised for responsiveness but inconsistent with complexities; community aids, yet customization support needs improvement.
Sentiment score
7.8
Zendesk support is generally praised for responsiveness and efficiency, though some users prefer more personalized assistance over documentation.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.9
ServiceNow faces challenges with high costs, complex usability, limited support, and needs improvements in flexibility, integration, and documentation.
Sentiment score
4.8
Zendesk struggles with performance, integration, customization, communication, mobile app delays, pricing, reporting, and training, affecting overall efficiency.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
ServiceNow scales effectively, accommodating larger user bases, though cost and performance issues may require closer attention during implementation.
Sentiment score
7.6
Zendesk is praised for scalability and customization but faces challenges with complex changes; some switch to alternatives like Salesforce.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
5.4
ServiceNow's pricing is high, often per-user, with variable costs needing negotiation for better transparency and flexibility.
Sentiment score
1.8
Enterprise buyers experience varying Zendesk pricing, from $70-$200 per agent, and should negotiate for features and value.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
ServiceNow is highly stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and excellent performance, despite occasional minor issues.
Sentiment score
7.8
Zendesk is largely reliable, though occasional hangs and misclassification issues highlight room for improvement in performance.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.1
ServiceNow provides flexible, customizable IT solutions with integration capabilities and intuitive design, enhancing workflows and departmental collaboration.
Sentiment score
8.1
Zendesk offers comprehensive ticket management, integrations, analytics, and security, enhancing productivity and providing seamless, multi-channel support for businesses.
 

Categories and Ranking

ServiceNow
Ranking in Help Desk Software
1st
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
214
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
Zendesk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
11th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (5th), CRM (21st), Sales Force Automation (7th), Reporting (13th), Knowledge Management Software (2nd), Community Platforms (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ServiceNow is 25.5%, down from 26.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 4.3%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Fabio QUINTANILHA - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable and scalable solution that has excellent features and is useful for collecting data and building KPIs
As much as possible, we use the out-of-the-box features. We do very few customizations. We follow the schedule to refresh the versions when they come up. As an end-user, I am not happy with the scalability. We have to wait a long time to buy more capacity. It is not an issue with the tool. Our team must manage it better. ServiceNow is a powerful tool. As long as we have enough users, it works. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.
Ahmed Nassar - PeerSpot reviewer
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
26%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
22%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...
What do you like most about ServiceNow?
The solution has a user-friendly interface.
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 ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AAA, AstraZeneca, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Broadcom, Christus Health, Epicor, Equinix, GE Capital, Intuit, KPMG, Loyola Marymount University, OshKosh, Quantas, RedHat, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss Re, U.S. Department of Energy, Safeway, Yale University, and Zillow    
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
823,795 professionals have used our research since 2012.