Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
217
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
7th
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 April 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ServiceNow is 24.1%, down from 26.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Desk is 2.7%, up from 2.5% 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

"ServiceNow offers a range of ITSM, IT incident management, and PRCPs."
"I find the incident management part to be the most valuable. That's how the service desk tracks tickets."
"It's easy to integrate. For instance, yesterday we closed the integration with SAP for the IP business management module to manage the forecast of projects. We created an interface between ServiceNow and SAP to control projects for accounting and on the forecast of the project. It was really easy. We don't have any problems with ServiceNow at the moment. As a company, they are improving constantly."
"You can put information in or export it out quickly, which is very useful when you have weekly or monthly reports."
"It is a very promising product. They have a new release every six months. They're investing quite a lot, and you can do many creative things with the product. If you know how it works, you can have stricter rules in the product."
"Change management is most valuable."
"It's great for keeping everyone informed in the company - not just IT. Everyone becomes aware of change requests and incidents so the entire company is on the same page."
"Simplicity of Change Manager."
"The solution doesn't have any bugs."
"Zoho Desk offers a wide range of features that allow integration with different systems, enhancing ease of use."
"The ticketing feature is very easy to use, compared to other systems."
"The most valuable features of Zoho Desk are archiving queries and analytics."
"The product provides communication features like chats and calls."
"Zoho Desk offers a wide range of features that allow integration with different systems, enhancing ease of use."
"The most valuable features of Zoho Desk are the user interface, pricing, and how they customize the solution for us."
"The product has a lot of features."
 

Cons

"Vulnerability management could be improved. Also, integration with tools such as Microsoft Defender ATP needs improvement."
"If you have advanced questions, technical support often doesn't know the answer."
"Like all other IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS subscription cloud providers, ServiceNow is constantly improving by building new capabilities to expand the breadth and depth of its offerings while increasing its activities with partners to build more capabilities."
"We can't update bulk tickets using a simple query language. Jira lets us update hundreds of tickets with one command. In ServiceNow, you need to select each task separately to close them. The dashboards could also be more user-friendly. Monday.com has better dashboards."
"There are sometimes challenges with the portal being a bit confusing for new users. The implementation of the portal and workspaces is quite different, and improvements in this area would be beneficial."
"The interface can be a bit more intuitive."
"Licensing costs are very high."
"They need to be providing vendors and implementation partners with materials and guidance on implementation."
"As per customer requirements, it may have some limitations."
"There is room for improvement with the pricing."
"They could enhance the product’s features to customize the automated email responses."
"The customization of modules and some blueprint in the solution are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."
"It could be easier to link Zoho Desk and Outlook."
"The solution needs to have more customization on alerts and notifications."
"Zoho Desk needs to be enhanced to support IT service management policies."
"The solution should provide an option to autofill some values while creating tickets."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten. The pricing for ServiceNow is based on a SaaS platform with annual contracts. However, it may not offer much flexibility for adjusting usage in the short term."
"The licensing expenses are excessively high."
"The setup cost is high compared to others, especially when the scope is not fixed."
"This is a pretty expensive product, so the licensing could be better."
"The solution is expensive."
"$230 per user."
"The product cost is higher than that of other vendors."
"For the modules we use, we found it competitive. I can't think of any costs in addition to the licensing fees."
"For what it does, it's quite cheap."
"The solution costs INR 8400 per user."
"Zoho Desk is a cost-effective solution."
"Regarding pricing, it's 35 USD per user a year and 45 USD per user a month. Under the price, I have access to all Zoho products since it all falls under Zoho One's package."
"The gap is limited, but it should limit the price back bracket so that most start-ups can use it most effectively."
"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)."
"The solution is relatively cheap. However, there are additional licensing fees involved."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Help Desk Software solutions are best for your needs.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
27%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
54%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
4%
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Desk?
The price point is a concern. The licensing model is quite easy, however, the pricing issue remains the main concern.
What needs improvement with Zoho Desk?
The main concern is the pricing of Zoho Desk, as I consider it to be on the expensive side.
 

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: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.