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Top 10 Service Desk Software in 2024 (Ranked and Rated)

Paulina
Content Writer
December 14, 2023

Dealing with client support can be a headache for any business, big or small. Slow responses and messy communication tools just add to the frustration. That's where the right service desk software comes in.

We've put together a list of the top 10 service desk software for 2024, each with its own set of strengths. Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, you'll find options here to make your client support smoother and more effective.

In this blog, you'll get the lowdown on what makes each software stand out, helping you pick the one that fits your business best.

10 best service desk software solutions

  1. Thena
  2. Zendesk
  3. Freshdesk
  4. ServiceNow
  5. Jira Service Management (by Atlassian)
  6. Zoho Desk
  7. SysAid
  8. Kayako
  9. SolarWinds Service Desk
  10. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

  1. Thena

Best for: B2B customer management and engagement via Slack

Thena is an innovative, Slack-based B2B customer support tool, designed for businesses that prioritize efficient and integrated customer management. It offers an omnichannel approach to customer support, encompassing Slack, email, and web interactions, ensuring a seamless experience for both support teams and clients.

Key features:

  • Omnichannel support: Centralizes support channels like Slack Connect, email, and web, facilitating unified customer interactions.
  • Advanced automation & AI: Streamlines workflow with AI-driven ticket creation and automated management, enhancing response efficiency.
  • Customizable interface: Features a customer request dashboard and deep service insights for personalized business support.
  • AI-powered knowledge base: Utilizes historical data to craft automated responses, enhancing the speed and accuracy of support.
  • Robust analytics & reporting: Provides comprehensive analytics on customer interactions, service metrics, and team performance.
  • Seamless CRM and email ticketing tool integrations: Integrates effortlessly with tools like Salesforce CRM, HubSpot CRM, Intercom, and Zendesk.

What users love: Based on user feedback on the G2 review site, Thena is highly regarded for its intuitive interface and efficiency in handling high volumes of customer queries. Its integration capabilities and the ability to significantly reduce response times are also major highlights.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $5.00 per Slack channel per month.

  1. Zendesk

Best for: Comprehensive customer support management

Zendesk is a powerful, user-friendly service desk solution, ideal for businesses seeking to streamline their customer support operations. It offers a holistic approach to managing customer interactions across multiple channels, ensuring a seamless experience for both support teams and clients.

Key features:

  • Omnichannel support: Centralizes support channels like email, chat, phone, and social media.
  • Advanced automation & AI: Streamlines workflows with automated responses and AI-driven assistance.
  • Customizable interface: Allows personalization to fit unique business requirements.
  • Robust analytics & reporting: Provides detailed insights into customer interactions and support performance.

What users love: Based on G2 reviews, customers praise Zendesk for its intuitive interface and the ability to handle large volumes of customer queries efficiently.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users find the pricing a bit steep, especially for small businesses.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $69 per agent per month.

  1. Freshdesk

Best for: Multi-channel customer engagement

Freshdesk stands out for its multi-channel support capabilities, making it an ideal choice for businesses that engage with customers across various platforms. It simplifies customer interactions by bringing emails, chats, phone calls, and social media under one roof.

Key features:

  • Unified ticketing system: Consolidates queries from different channels into a single ticketing interface.
  • Automated ticketing: Utilizes smart automation to categorize, prioritize, and assign tickets.
  • Self-service portals: Offers customers helpful knowledge bases and forums.
  • Customizable reports and dashboards: Provides insights into support operations and customer satisfaction.

What users love: As per G2 reviews, users appreciate Freshdesk's ease of use and the efficiency it brings to managing customer inquiries.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users mention a learning curve with more advanced features.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $18 per agent per month.

  1. ServiceNow

Best for: Enterprise-level IT service management

ServiceNow excels in IT service management, particularly suited for large enterprises with complex IT infrastructure. It focuses on automating IT operations and improving service delivery.

Key features:

  • IT operations management: Streamlines IT workflows and reduces operational costs.
  • AI and machine learning capabilities: Enhances efficiency with predictive intelligence.
  • Incident and problem management: Efficiently resolves IT issues and minimizes their impact.
  • Customizable service portals: Enables users to request IT services easily and track progress.

What users love: On the G2 software review site, users value ServiceNow's robust ITSM capabilities and scalability.

Users’ less favored aspects: The platform can be overwhelming for beginners and smaller teams.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Not provided by the vendor.

  1. Jira Service Management (by Atlassian)

Best for: Agile and DevOps teams

Jira Service Management is highly favored by agile and DevOps teams for its ability to integrate IT operations with development. It is particularly useful for organizations that prioritize rapid service delivery and continuous improvement.

Key features:

  • Deep integration with software development tools: Seamlessly connects with tools like Bitbucket and Confluence.
  • Advanced incident management: Integrates with Opsgenie for real-time incident response.
  • Customizable service requests and workflows: Adapts to unique team processes and practices.
  • Extensive reporting and analytics: Offers insights into team performance and service efficiency.

What users love: As per users’ opinions on G2, the deep integration with development tools and the flexibility it offers is what they like the most about the tool.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users find it less intuitive for non-technical staff.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $22.05 per agent per month.

  1. Zoho Desk

Best for: Integrating customer service with sales and marketing

Zoho Desk is acclaimed for its ability to integrate seamlessly with sales and marketing processes, making it an ideal choice for businesses looking to align their customer service 

with other business functions.

Key features:

  • Context-aware help desk: Offers a complete view of customer interactions across all channels.
  • AI-powered assistance: Utilizes Zia, an AI assistant, for ticket categorization and trend analysis.
  • Multi-department management: Facilitates distinct support processes for different business areas.
  • Customizable reports and dashboards: Provides comprehensive analytics to track performance metrics.

What users love: Users are fond of Zoho Desk's integration capabilities with other Zoho products and its flexibility.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some find the initial setup and customization process time-consuming.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $20 per user per month.

  1. SysAid

Best for: IT asset management and automation

SysAid excels in IT asset management, offering a comprehensive solution that combines asset management and help desk functionalities. It's particularly suitable for organizations focusing on automating their IT services and tracking assets.

Key features:

  • Integrated IT asset management: Tracks and manages all IT assets within the organization.
  • Automated service desk: Streamlines IT service delivery with automation rules.
  • Self-service portal: Empowers users with self-help options and ticket tracking.
  • Performance benchmarking: Provides insights into IT performance compared to industry standards.

What users love: Customers appreciate SysAid's robust asset management features and automation capabilities.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users mention that the interface can be clunky and outdated.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Not provided by the vendor.

  1. Kayako

Best for: Personalized customer support

Kayako is known for its focus on delivering a personalized customer support experience. It's a great fit for businesses that prioritize building strong, individual relationships with their clients.

Key features:

  • Unified customer view: Provides a comprehensive view of the customer's journey.
  • Proactive live chat support: Engages customers in real-time with live chat functionalities.
  • Advanced reporting tools: Offers detailed insights into customer interactions and support efficiency.
  • Customizable branding: Allows businesses to tailor the look and feel of their support channels.

What users love: According to G2 reviews, users love Kayako for its strong customer engagement tools and personalized support approach.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users feel that the reporting features could be more extensive and detailed.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $15 per agent per month.

  1. SolarWinds Service Desk

Best for: Streamlined IT service management

SolarWinds Service Desk is designed for businesses seeking a streamlined approach to IT service management. It combines ITSM functionalities with user-friendly features, making it suitable for a range of business sizes.

Key features:

  • Incident and problem management: Efficiently manages IT service issues and reduces downtime.
  • Asset management: Provides a comprehensive overview of IT assets and their management.
  • Service catalog and knowledge base: Streamlines service requests and offers self-service options.
  • Advanced analytics: Delivers insights into IT operations and service performance.

What users love: On the G2 site, the intuitive interface and comprehensive ITSM tools are highly praised by users.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users note the limited customization options compared to other platforms.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Starts at $39 per user per month.

  1. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

Best for: Small to medium-sized businesses seeking a user-friendly interface

Spiceworks Help Desk is renowned for its ease of use and affordability, making it a popular choice among small to medium-sized businesses. It provides a straightforward approach to managing IT-related queries and assets, ensuring that businesses can keep track of their IT needs efficiently.

Key features:

  • User-friendly interface: Offers a simple and intuitive user experience.
  • Ticket management: Efficiently organizes and tracks IT support requests.
  • Asset management: Keeps tabs on all IT assets within the organization.
  • Community support: Access to a robust community for advice, tips, and support.

What users love: Users often praise Spiceworks Help Desk for its no-cost entry point and the supportive community that comes along with it.

Users’ less favored aspects: Some users note limitations in customization and scalability for larger enterprise needs.

Free trial: ✅

Pricing: Not provided by the vendor.

10 top-rated service desk software tools, compared

When looking at different tools, it's not just about what they can do. It's also about how easy they are to set up and use. Another big factor is how good the customer support is when you run into trouble.

To understand these important points, it's best to hear from people who are already using these tools. To save you time, we've gone through more than 17,400+ G2 reviews up to December 2023. Below we present a visual comparison of each service desk tool, allowing you to easily compare them side-by-side.

Service Desk Software

Ease of Use

Quality of Support

Ease of Setup

Overall G2 Score

Thena

9.5/10

9.8/10

9.9/10

4.9/5

Zendesk

8.5/10

8.4/10

7.9/10

4.3/5

Freshdesk

8.8/10

8.8/10

8.6/10

4.4/5

ServiceNow

8.3/10

8.5/10

8.2/10

4.3/5

Jira Service Management

8.1/10

8.2/10

7.6/10

4.2/5

Zoho Desk

8.5/10

8.3/10

8.2/10

4.4/5

SysAid

8.9/10

9.0/10

8.5/10

4.5/5

Kayako

8.4/10

8.1/10

8.0/10

4.0/5

SolarWinds Service Desk

9.0/10

9.0/10

8.7/10

4.3/5

Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

8.7/10

8.4/10

8.7/10

4.3/5

The bottom line

Selecting the right service desk tool is crucial for any business committed to providing exceptional support to its customers. The solutions we've explored in this article cater to a wide range of needs, from those requiring comprehensive customer support management to businesses seeking seamless collaboration within familiar platforms like Slack.

Each of these tools brings its unique strengths to the table. Whether you prioritize ease of use, quality of support, or specific features like AI-powered assistance or integrated ticketing, there's a solution on this list that aligns with your business needs.

Need a better way to handle support requests in Slack? Try Thena for free today. It's the ideal tool to improve client support directly within your Slack Connect channels.

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