If your company is looking for customer support software, you have likely heard of Kayako and Zendesk.
As two of the most popular and effective customer support solutions on the market, Kayako and Zendesk often compete head-to-head to win the business of companies like yours.
While both tools offer top-of-field feature sets that can simplify your customer support processes dramatically, identifying which is right for you can take time and effort.
We are here to help.
In this article, we will examine Kayako and Zendesk, compare their features and pricing, and detail the other considerations that can help you make the right choice for your business.
What is Kayako?
Kayako is a comprehensive customer support software platform designed to help businesses build strong, lasting customer relationships.
Established in 2001, Kayako has been at the forefront of customer support for over 20 years. In that time, Kayako has evolved to offer a wide range of features aimed at improving communication, collaboration, and problem-solving in customer support operations.
What is Zendesk?
When it comes to customer support software, Zendesk is #1 in popularity and brand recognition.
Since 2007, Zendesk has been empowering businesses to provide top-of-field customer service and support experiences through access to a wide range of powerful tools and features that enhance and simplify customer communication.
Kayako vs. Zendesk: Feature Comparison
Kayako and Zendesk both offer comprehensive customer support solutions. Where they differ is focus and scope.
Kayako takes a holistic approach to customer support by providing businesses with all the tools they need to create an exceptional customer service ecosystem.
Zendesk offers tools that support a wide variety of customer service functions including robust ticket management capabilities
Let’s take a look at their key features and see how they stack up in a head-to-head comparison.
Ease-of-use
With any software tool, ease-of-use will be a big differentiator. For an area of focus as critical as customer support, it can mean the difference between a satisfied customer and a lost account.
- Kayako- Kayako’s complexity will vary depending on the specific features and customizations your business requires. More advanced configurations may require additional time and effort to implement, learn, and navigate.
- Zendesk- With such a wide range of tools and use cases, Zendesk can be a bit intimidating to approach at first. That said, once you have Zendesk up and running and your team is familiar with it, operation becomes a breeze.
Winner — Zendesk wins this round. While it can take a bit of time to get off the ground it is very intuitive to navigate.
Ticketing
A lot can be gleaned from a customer support tool’s ticketing features. These features help support reps manage and organize support requests and ongoing communications so they are vital tools that will be used every day.
- Kayako- Kayako’s ticketing system follows the industry standard of managing support requests as individual tickets.
Where Kayako differs from other customer support platforms is its strong emphasis on email-based support. Kayako provides all the tools needed to manage customer inquiries effectively through email.
- Zendesk- Zendesk’s ticketing system takes a traditional approach whereby support requests are managed as individual tickets.
Zendesk allows support agents to create custom ticket views, making it easier to manage and prioritize tickets based on various criteria such as status, priority, and customer type.
Winner — Zendesk wins the ticketing battle. Few customer support software vendors can compete with how easy it is to manage and track tickets with Zendesk.
Chat tools
Chat tools are the foundation of customer support software in 2023 and can serve as a key differentiator when choosing the right vendor.
- Kayako- Kayako’s live chat support features allow businesses to engage with customers through chat windows on their websites.
They also provide automation features and chatbot capabilities that enable support teams to automate responses to common questions and guide users through predefined workflows.
- Zendesk- When it comes to live chat for customer support, Zendesk takes a broad, multichannel approach that allows them to communicate with customers however and wherever they prefer.
Winner — This round is a draw. Both of these customer support platforms offer solid chat features that can enhance customer communication and drive efficiency.
Reporting
Reporting tools are essential to helping businesses analyze and improve their customer support operations.
- Kayako- Kayako offers comprehensive reporting functionality allowing support leaders to track ticket performance across multiple channels, support agent performance, and support resource performance (knowledge base, support articles).
- Zendesk- Zendesk takes a ticket-centric approach to reporting. Support leaders can track ticket volume and ticket status as well as more common support metrics like response and resolution times.
Zendesk also includes built-in CSAT and NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys and even allows you to track the effectiveness of your knowledge base articles and self-service resources.
Winner — Kayako takes this round. While both tool sets provide robust reporting capabilities, Kayako’s customizable dashboards give them an edge.
Pricing
When evaluating the cost of any software tool, you have to look beyond the price tag. ROI comes down to getting the most out of the features available, so payment structures that are scaleable and flexible are a must.
- Kayako- Kayako’s pricing model is user-based/feature-based, which means you pay a rate for each user determined by the tier of features you purchase.
This makes determining the cost of Kayako tricky, though for most use-cases Kayako’s pricing is very competitive. - Zendesk- Zendesk’s pricing plans start at $55/month for up to 5 users and provide all the features a business needs to get started.
Their most popular tier (Suite Professional) is $115/month and includes a feature set that is very hard to beat at that price.
Winner — Zendesk wins the pricing comparison. Zendesk’s pricing is very competitive for the market and is presented in a straightforward way that makes predicting costs simple and accurate.
Kayako vs. Zendesk: Which is right for your business?
The fact of the matter is you can’t go wrong with either of these customer support toolsets. Both offer top-of-field features at a competitive price. So how do you decide which is right for you?
Kayako is right for...
For businesses looking for a multi-channel customer service and support tool with a focus on email, Kayako is top of the food chain.
- Integrated, multi-channel approach- Kayako combines all your customer support communication channels (chat, email) under a single umbrella so you can deliver a simpler, more consistent and personalized customer experience.
- Collaboration- Kayako provides features such as ticket locking that ensure better collaboration between support agents.
Zendesk is right for...
For businesses looking for a comprehensive customer service and support tool, Zendesk reigns supreme. Its feature offering is second to none and for growing companies, Zendesk scales as well or better than any other customer support platform on the market.
- Multi-channel support- Zendesk helps companies support their customers across a variety of communication channels, including:
- Phone
- Live-chat
- Social media
This multichannel approach is especially important for companies that support customers in different regions and countries as access to communication tools can vary.
- Support resources- Zendesk boasts a large library of support articles, guides, and webinars to help businesses get the most out of the platform.
Whether it’s Kayako or Zendesk, FreeAgent has you covered
FreeAgent CRM integrates with the industry’s top tools to offer a complete work management solution for your business. That means whichever customer support software solution is right for you, FreeAgent has you covered. Plus, FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use- FreeAgent’s modern user interface is quick to learn and easy to use, encouraging teams to work within the platform, driving up adoption and aligning your work processes.
- User-configurable- With FreeAgent, the power is in your hands. You can customize and personalize FreeAgent to fit the specific needs of your business and teams without external support.
- Flexible and adaptable- FreeAgent’s robust toolset and extensive integration library supports teams and businesses of all types and structures. Whatever challenge you face, FreeAgent can help.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how we are leading the way to a better workday.
