21 Best Help Desk Software Solutions in 2022 [Features, Functionalities, and Pricing]

By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on September 20th, 2023 2:10 pm | 10-min read

To make your customers happy and satisfied, you need to think like them. You should have answers to what your customers need, what they expect from you when they use your products, and what can make them stay connected to your business. Once you figure out these things, you can easily become their preferred brand. And, to get all these insights, you need to communicate with your customers.

Helpdesk is where your customers approach you in case, they have any queries related to your products or if they need to know more about your brand. You should always be ready to answer them. Helpdesk software provides you with the tools and features that can help you in assisting your customers.

Let us know more about these helpdesk software solutions that can play a magical role in making you one of the best customer service providers.

What Is Helpdesk Software?

A help desk software can be referred to as a computer program that helps businesses to serve their customers in an organized manner. Help desk software enables customer-care operators to deal with customer-care issues and keep a track of user requests.

In simple words, help desk software can be called customer service software, IT service management software, or ticketing systems that helps customer-care operators automate service management. Helpdesk software serves you internally by offering services for employees who need support, or externally for the customers who have purchased products or services from you.

Many businesses are using this technology for customer support, IT support, and IT asset management. It has more become a necessity from something nice-to-have. As per a recent study, respondents have reported these benefits-

• 98 percent observed a conquered incident management maturity and enhanced productivity
• 95 percent reported a significant growth in end-user satisfaction levels
• 71 percent measured performance by tracking and identifying key metrics
• 39 percent executed a knowledge base for the first time
• 20 percent use helpdesk software beyond IT in other departments such as travel, HR, travel, maintenance, facilities, etc.

Your business needs an ideal helpdesk software to truly improve customer satisfaction and employee productivity.

In this post, we have explained why you need a helpdesk software for your business. We have listed here the major helpdesk software that you can consider using for your business. This post will help you know the features and functionalities of these commonly used leading solutions.

Why do you need a Helpdesk Software?

Whether you run a small or large-scale business, you need to keep your customers happy. You need to stay connected to your customers to gain their trust, answer their queries, and solve their complaints. You can go for a manual response to all these but that could be faulty. Helpdesk software can do this job flawlessly. They can help you handle your customers’ queries and remain available for them all the time.

With a helpdesk software, you can automate the resolution process for the customers. Here is what a well-programmed and organized helpdesk software offers.

Core Functionality of a Helpdesk Software

• Ticket and Service Request Management
• Built-in Phone Support
• Notice Board / Updates
• Integrated Live Chat
• Logbook
• Mobile Applications
• Knowledgebase
• Community Forums
• Analytics and Reporting
• Custom SLAs (service level agreements)

Common Features of a Helpdesk Software

• Auto Attendant
• Call Center Software
• Automatic Notifications
• Budget / Expense Tracking
• Automatic Call Distributor (ACD)
• Customer Management
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
• Call Management
• Customer Portal
• Collaboration Tools
• Real-time Analysis
• Custom Fields / Forms
• Dashboards
• SLA Management
• Document Management / Sharing
• Instant Message / Internal Message
• Voicemail-to-email
• Ecommerce Integration
• Multi-language Support
• Project Portfolio Management
• Regulatory Compliance Management
• Quality Assurance
• Surveys

Now that you know what you get if you start using a helpdesk software for your business, let us go ahead and check out the list of the best helpdesk software solutions that you may consider.

Top Help Desk Software Solutions

Here is the list of the most popular and commonly used helpdesk ticketing systems. Go through the features and pricing plans for all of them and choose the one that suits your business requirements. Some of these are paid and some are free helpdesk software.

Appy Pie Desk

This is a well-programmed software that enhances the overall workflow of your customer service team. It offers a common platform for all the departments working on the tickets. It offers an automated ticketing system for businesses to enable them to handle hundreds of tickets at the same time. With this software, you can change the priority of the ticket in just a few clicks.



Features

• Activity Tracking
• Customization
• Easy Integrations
• Common Platform
• Safe and Secure
• Department Management
• Reporting and Analytics

Pricing

• Beta Version – Free

Kayako

Kayako is helpdesk software that supports multiple brand help centers and apps. The software offers fulltime support to users. It doesn’t only respond to the customer queries but also initiates chats with them on its own which makes them feel valued.



Features

• Self-help facility
• Multi-brand Support
• Multiple Help Centers
• Canned Responses
• SLA Management

Pricing

• Inbox: $15/month/agent
• Growth: $30/month/agent
• Scale: $60/month/agent

Zendesk

This is among the most popular helpdesk software for small and large-scale organizations. It specializes in customer query management and helps organizations monitor agent collaboration and agent performance. The tool can search for the customer ticketing history very easily. It offers integrated surveys that help businesses enhance their customer satisfaction. Overall, it provides a well-organized ticket management process.



Features

• Service Widgets
• Predefined Ticket Responses
• Self-service Portal
• Screen Casting
• Open API
• Flexible Ticketing Management
• Simple and intuitive Dashboard
• Host Communities
• Knowledgebase
• Multi-channel Support
• Unique Integration
• Advanced Reporting and Analytics

Pricing

• Essential: $5/month/agent
• Team: $19/month/agent
• Professional: $49/month/agent
• Enterprise: $99/month/agent
• Elite: $199/month/agent

Freshdesk

This is another collaborative helpdesk software. Its scalable and intuitive architecture makes it just right for numerous business types and sizes. It offers a free trial plan for the users to be able to check all the features and get familiar with the software. The tool allows you to set the custom ticket status so that you could keep the whole team in the loop to let them know when the ticket gets resolved.



Features

• Unifies Email
• Time Tracking
• Ticketing Automation
• Scenario Automation
• Customizable Dashboard
• Time Tracking
• Knowledgebase
• Self-Service Option
• Custom Ticket Status
• Powerful Integrations

Pricing – Billed Annually

• Sprout: Free
• Blossom: $15/month/agent
• Garden: $29/month/agent
• Estate: $49/month/agent
• Forest: $109/month/agent

EngageBay

EngageBay is an affordable helpdesk and ticketing software aimed at small businesses and startups. In fact, it is one of the most affordable helpdesk software in the market. It offers ticket management, routing, groups, a sales dashboard, and multi-step service automation. You can have pre-built answers to common queries to help streamline the customer support process through canned responses. EngageBay’s helpdesk software can also be paired with other services, including marketing and sales, to get a single customer view (SCV).



Features

• Multi-step service automation
• Ticket routing and prioritization
• Ticket groups
• Detailed at-a-glance dashboard
• Canned responses
• Integrations
• Service Level Agreements

Pricing: All-in-one Suite

• Free
• Basic: $14.99/month
• Growth: $49.99/month
• Pro: $99.99/month

HappyFox

HappyFox provides the businesses with all the required features that help them to deliver an outstanding user experience. It offers multiple customizable features that help businesses make it convenient for the reps to create tickets and have them resolved at the earliest.



Features

• Ticket Templates
• Customized Ticketing Dashboard
• Ticket Inbox Windows
• Knowledgebase
• Social Media Integration
• Self Service Portal
• SLA Management
• Community Forums
• Automatic Assignment
• Over 35 Supported Languages
• Smart Ticketing Rules

Pricing

• Mighty: $29/month/agent
• Fantastic: $49/month/agent
• Enterprise: $69/month/agent
• Enterprise Plus: $89/month/agent

LiveAgent

This software offers multi-channel support with excellent features. It offers customers to get in touch with the helpdesk with email, live chat, or social media, the way they want. The software can handle volumes of tickets daily with the help of its smart automation and unified inbox.



Features

• Multichannel Support
• Social Media Integration
• Customized Workflows
• Unified Inbox
• Ticket Storage
• Automatic Client Requests
• Email Management

Pricing

• Basic: 14-day Free Trial
• Ticket: $15/month/agent
• Ticket with Chat: $29/month/agent
• All-Inclusive: $39/month/agent

Zoho Desk

This is excellent helpdesk software that ensures exceptional customer support. The software offers social media integration and allows customers to ask questions from anywhere they want. The tool creates tickets and assigns them automatically to the right teams to get them resolved instantly.



Features

• Task Automation
• Social Media Integration
• Multichannel Support
• Powerful Reporting
• Agent Productivity
• Company-wide Collaboration
• Knowledgebase
• Knowledgebase Creation
• Ticket Management
• Tasks Assignment

Pricing: Billed Annually

• Free
• Professional: $12/month/agent
• Enterprise: $25/month/agent

Wix Answers

This is a cloud-based free helpdesk support software. It is suitable for businesses of any size and type. The software helps businesses deliver delightful customer service and to build better relations with the customers. It offers multichannel support which enables users to get in touch with the support team whenever they need help.



Features

• Multi-channel Ticketing System
• Knowledgebase creation
• Powerful Analytics
• Efficient Reporting Module
• Fully Customizable

Pricing

• Self-Service: $24/month/agent
• Multi-Channel: $60/month/agent
• Unlimited: $80/month/agent
• Call Center: $56/month/agent

Atera

This is a cloud-based software that offers an intuitive helpdesk solution designed especially for IT service providers. The software helps IT firms manage and solve their customers’ IT problems from a remote or centralized location. The platform offers a single platform for customer portal, knowledge base, remote monitoring management, and much more.



Features

• Multi-channels Support
• Efficient ticketing system
• Internal knowledgebases
• Self-Service
• Instant Communication

Pricing

• Pro: $79/month/agent
• Growth: $119/month/agent
• Power: $149/month/agent

HubSpot Service Hub

This is a customer support software for both, small and medium-sized businesses. It helps organizations to create self-support solutions and deliver excellent service experience to their customers. The tool is the best and enables the reps to respond to the queries from prospects and customers in real-time.



Features

• Live chat
• Shared Inbox
• Conversational Bots
• Real-time Responses
• Self Service Solutions
• Ticketing Tools and Management
• NPS Survey and Powerful Feedback

Pricing: Billed Annually

• Starter: $35/month
• Professional: $280/month
• Enterprise: $840/month

Jira Service Desk

The software offers a strong common dashboard for businesses to help them connect with their customers. It lets the helpdesk team keep a track of who is working on what thing. The software offers over 600 integrations that leverage the businesses to build their own knowledge base in very less time. With its reporting feature, you can have an insight of your agents’ performance and help them improve where they are lacking.



Features

• Over 600 Applications Integration
• Advanced Interface
• Real-time updates and collaboration
• Knowledgebase
• Atlassian Marketplace compatible
• JIRA Software integration
• ITSM Best Practices Compilation
• Mobile Apps Availability
• Robust Dashboard
• ITIL templates
• Agent Performance Analysis

Pricing

• 7-day Free Trial
• Cloud-Free – Free
• Cloud-Standard: $20/month/agent
• Cloud-Premium: $40/month/agent
• Self-managed Server: Starts at $10 one-time payment
• Self-managed Data Center: Starts at $13,200/year

SysAid

This is another IT helpdesk software that helps businesses deal with their customers’ IT problems. With its excellent features, the software helps reps resolve technology-related issues. It helps IT agents manage incidents and cases with unique ease.



Features

• Consistent Ticket Management
• IT Asset Management
• Self-service Portal
• Knowledge Bases
• Remote Control Capabilities
• Easy to Install

Pricing

• To get the best idea of the pricing packages that the company offers, you need to get in touch with the vendor.

TeamSupport

This software has been designed particularly for the B2B industry. It offers a single platform for all client interactions and makes it easy for businesses to track and manage their relationships. The single centralized database of the software gives businesses the overall visibility of requests, issues, tickets, and conversations.



Features

• Multi-brand Structure
• Robust Ticketing Management
• Automated Ticketing and Custom Fields
• Email Integration
• Self Service Support
• Reports and Analysis
• Parent/child hierarchies

Pricing: Billed Annually

• Free Trial
• Support Desk: $50/agent/month
• Enterprise: $65/agent/month

Freshservice

This is another excellent helpdesk software that offers various advanced features to enable businesses to deal with their customers efficiently. The software offers a simple and easy-to-use dashboard. It provides the reps with a common database that stores all the user information and helps them get the relevant information when required.



Features

• Strong Ticketing System
• Asset Recovery
• Notifications and Alerts
• Risk Detection
• Scalable Advanced Modules
• Service Catalog
• Common Inbox
• Powerful Customizable Dashboard

Pricing: Billed Annually

• Free Trial – 21-Day
• Blossom: $15/month/agent
• Garden: $29/month/agent
• Estate: $49/month/agent
• Forest: $109/month/agent

JitBit

This is an advanced ticketing system that offers an easy-to-use and simple user interface. It makes it convenient for businesses to track support requests and monitor the overall performance of the support agents. The software offers a common mailbox that helps agents consolidate the tickets and service requests.



Features

• Support Requests Tracking
• Tickets Assignment
• Performance Tracker
• Asset Tracking
• Mobile Help Desk
• Unique Security Features

Pricing

• Freelancer: $29/month
• Startup: $69/month
• Company: $129/month
• Enterprise: $249/month

Salesforce Essentials

This is a customer support software designed for small businesses. It helps businesses better connect with their customers by providing them with an excellent service experience. The software offers customers with the self-service support site to help them get the answers to their queries independently.



Features

• Free G Suite
• Customer Management
• Lead Management
• Real-time Insights
• Leverage Sales teams
• Pre-built business apps

Pricing

• Free Trial
• Sales Cloud Essentials: $30/user/month (billed monthly); $25/month/user (billed annually)
• Service Cloud Essentials: $30/user/month (billed monthly); $25/month/user (billed annually)

Paldesk

Paldesk is multi-channel helpdesk software that mainly works for sales and customer support teams. It combines requests from live chat, email, social media, and mobile apps into a centralized dashboard and simplifies the ticket management process for the customer service teams. The software boosts response time and helps businesses to improve customer satisfaction.



Features

• Multichannel support
• Powerful Integration
• Customizable Visual Experiences
• Centralized Dashboard

Pricing

• Basic Plan: free
• Early Stage: $14/month/agent
• Rising Star: $22/user/agent
• Custom: Ask for a Quote if you need something special

RingCentral Engage Digital

This is one of the most popular help desk software. It offers an excellent digital communication management solution. It offers a single interface for all the support channels including messaging apps, email, live chat, social media, and much more. The software handles issues efficiently by routing them to the right agent even when the call or chat flow is too high. The best part is that this software has an inbuilt feature of cutting down the duplicate conversations.



Features

• Unified Interface
• Merged Customer profiles and Identity
• Smart ticket routing
• Easily accessible User Profiles

Pricing

• Essentials: $19.99/user/month
• Standard: $24.99/user/month
• Premium: $34.99/user/month
• Ultimate: $49.99/user/month

Groove

A great customer service solution majorly for startups and small businesses. It’s a fully customizable solution that helps businesses deliver instant support to all customers. The software platform provides businesses with an efficient set of rules that helps them convert leads and delight their customers.



Features

• Single Shared Inbox
• Canned Responses
• Knowledgebase
• Email Management
• Customer Insights
• Team Collaboration
• Multiple Integrations
• Live Chat

Pricing

• Free Trial
• Starter: $19/month/user (billed monthly); $15/month/user (billed annually)
• Plus: $34/month (billed monthly); $29/month (billed annually)
• Pro: $49/month (billed monthly); $39/month (billed annually)

Cayzu

This is another cloud-based helpdesk support software that helps small businesses and enterprises deliver outstanding customer service experience. It supports businesses in various verticals including marketing, construction, education, IT services, and government. The software helps businesses interact with the customers using multichannel support, automate support workflows, generate reports to originate insights, and personalize support experience, etc.



Features

• Issue Management
• Reporting and Analysis
• Multi-channel support
• Team Collaboration
• Custom Branding
• Domain Mapping
• Asset Management
• Active Directory Integration
• Storage for large attachments
• Email Management
• Multi-product service

Pricing

• Free Trial
• Basic: $7/month/agent
• Team: $14/month/agent
• Pro: $25/month/agent
• Enterprise: $39/month/agent
• Enterprise Plus: $55/month/agent

ServiceDesk Plus

ServiceDesk Plus is one of the best customer service tools that help businesses manage and monitor all the phases of customer experience. The software ensures the best possible ticket resolutions for customers. It enables accurate SLA agreements for the tickets and makes sure that the reps meet their goals proficiently.



Features

• Powerful Reports
• Smart Automation
• SLA Agreement and Management
• Ticketing Analysis
• Performance Analysis

Pricing

• To get the best idea of the customizable packages that the software offers, you need to get in touch with the vendor.

How to Compare Help Desk Software?

After going through the features and pricing plans of most helpdesk software, it may not be easy to decide which one is right for you. Before you finalize one help desk software for your business, you need to consider some facts.

What is the size of your team? Are you planning to add more people? Many help desk software are based on subscriptions and different pricing packages billed per agent. You need to compare per agent cost that the software offers.

Some might not offer the features that you are looking for and some could be overpriced. Check out what you are looking for, what your business needs the most, what tools will be easy-to-use for your agents, and streamline the whole customer support process.

With all these points in mind, you will be able to find the help desk software that best suits your business. Do not forget to check in-app integrations, budgets, and other aspects you need to consider before you make an informed decision.

Conclusion

That was all for today. After going through this guide, I believe you know how much you need a helpdesk software for your business. Helpdesk software contributes significantly to increasing your corporate earnings by enhancing your customer support. Make no mistake in selecting the one for you!

Citations

Core Functionality, Common Features, Comparison: Technology Advice

List of Helpdesk Software Solutions – Read Write, and Software Portal