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ServiceNow vs Zoho Desk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

ServiceNow
Ranking in Help Desk Software
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
216
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (1st), IT Service Management (ITSM) (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (2nd), No-Code Development Platforms (1st)
Zoho Desk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ServiceNow is 24.3%, down from 26.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Desk is 2.7%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Somnath Kand - PeerSpot reviewer
Custom integration and reporting lead to efficient ticket management
There is a need for bug or error tracking in ServiceNow. Although there are child incidents or tickets, tracking primary issues or bugs within enhancements is not present. The reporting features in the new portal could be more user-friendly. While it provides options to minimize chart and image sizes, actual implementation doesn't always reflect these changes.
Babatunde-Olugbode - PeerSpot reviewer
End-to-end solution to manage customer support tickets and consolidate all communication channels into one platform
For me, the valuable features are related to customer engagement because I want to ensure I don't miss any customer inquiries, no matter the channel. For example, I haven't seen any other platform that consolidates all channels into one console. That's a valuable feature to me. Then there's the pricing, which is better than Zendesk. Zendesk charges in USD per user, per month, whereas Zoho let us pay in Naira (Nigerian currency). Zoho can also identify user locations, letting you leverage existing reviews. These are valuable features that many organizations have adopted Zoho Desk for. We can download the mobile app to see requests and respond from anywhere. It is one of the most improved applications and widely integrated systems I've worked with. You can virtually integrate it with almost anything, like Microsoft Teams and other data applications. The marketplace lets you find native integrations. For example, we have an organization that uses multiple systems and wants to ensure agents don't log in to multiple platforms to see emails. They have a native integration system that takes care of that and works seamlessly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I prefer ServiceNow to the competition because of its ease of use, installation and configuration."
"I like the incident module, which is useful for tracking your incidents and other things. It is a reliable solution."
"The most recent addition of SAM Premium is a game changer for many organizations."
"The workflow makes things extremely efficient and it improves effectiveness."
"I find the incident management part to be the most valuable. That's how the service desk tracks tickets."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of development for customization."
"The analytics - we like to keep track of how much work everyone is doing."
"If it is a high priority, they will respond very quickly. If it is a low priority issue, it might take some time, some three or four days. I would rate the technical support as a 10 out of 10."
"Zoho Desk offers a wide range of features that allow integration with different systems, enhancing ease of use."
"The most valuable features are that it's user-friendly, you can customize it the way you want it, and it is very easy to use. You don't need anybody else to configure it."
"The most valuable feature of generating the ticket through the web form and for the e-mailers. So, if you are facing any issues, by the ticket, you can generate the issue in Google Test."
"The product is quite stable."
"The most valuable feature of Zoho Desk is the parent and child task management feature."
"Good at capturing online inquiries has portal functionality, and is very good at managing inbound customer inquiries."
"The solution doesn't have any bugs."
"The most valuable features of Zoho Desk are the user interface, pricing, and how they customize the solution for us."
 

Cons

"Where it could be improved is Discovery. This may sound odd since I just praised the value of ServiceNow Discovery, but improvements to its automatic detection, the breadth of devices, and the depth of devices covered, as well as keeping up with new technologies, are all essential."
"When we are using the solution on mobile phones on their networks the performance is reduced with a delay of approximately 8 seconds. There is less delay using the desktop computers connected to the WiFi or to the network directly."
"When it comes to reference fields, there are some limitations where you aren't able to use them, like in relationship queries. In Remedy, when you click a menu, you get options directly, whereas here, if you use a reference field, it points you to a different form. So the UI experience totally changes for the end user."
"There are sometimes challenges with the portal being a bit confusing for new users."
"We do a lot of relatively advanced stuff for the size that we are, but ServiceNow itself is so big and to some extent, there is a significant amount of complexity that you have, a big learning curve I would say, in order to really get on board."
"A new user does need training or time to learn the solution before jumping in. It was very hard in the beginning to understand everything. I couldn't find the models I needed at the time."
"All the screens are similar. It's the same platform for everything and you need to familiarize yourself with it. In the past, you used to have one screen per application. Now, you have everything integrated into one. Everybody will manage the same screen and they need to navigate into the same screen as the Internet Explorer with a toolbar with the categories and look for the things you want to see or the models you want to use."
"ServiceNow's mobile app should be seamless and it is not right now."
"The solution could improve its stability and scalability."
"The solution needs to have more customization on alerts and notifications."
"I would like to have integrated support, and integration between the ticketing tool and the project management tool."
"They could enhance the product’s features to customize the automated email responses."
"As per customer requirements, it may have some limitations."
"Could have slightly better integration between additional functionalities in the Zoho desk."
"The solution urgently needs improvement in the display's night mode. When we use the system for a long time, it's very stressful for our eyes. I also need to see improvements that can help to find the assets under a previous owner."
"The main concern is the pricing of Zoho Desk, as I consider it to be on the expensive side."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"ServiceNow's pricing is comparatively higher than Helix's."
"The licensing cost is based on your partnership with ServiceNow and what you have selected for implementation. There is an annual license cost which is calculated based on your number of devices."
"Certainly, from a product-platform perspective, the price is not too bad."
"This is a pretty expensive product, so the licensing could be better."
"The price of the solution is comparable to industry standards. For the features that we received, it is reasonable."
"The mandatory minimum is US$ 20,000 for licensing."
"ServiceNow is an expensive solution."
"The price could be a little lower for the solution. Many of my customers have issues with the licensing process, they have to make it easier and straightforward."
"The solution is relatively cheap. However, there are additional licensing fees involved."
"For what it does, it's quite cheap."
"Zoho Desk's pricing is more flexible."
"The pricing is better than Zendesk. Zendesk charges in USD per user per month, whereas Zoho let us pay in Naira (Nigerian currency)."
"Zoho Desk's cost is pretty much okay."
"Price-wise, Zoho Desk is about 35 USD a month per user."
"The gap is limited, but it should limit the price back bracket so that most start-ups can use it most effectively."
"The product costs $10 to $25 per user per month."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
28%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
59%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Comms Service Provider
3%
 

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 Zoho Desk?
The most valuable features of Zoho Desk are archiving queries and analytics.
What needs improvement with Zoho Desk?
Sometimes, the solution has some email issues in a new data center.
 

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    
Intel, Sears, Daimler, Essilor, Aon Hewitt, Shop Your Way, CoffeeRocket
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow vs. Zoho Desk and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.