Best 15 help desk software and ticketing systems for 2025

Choosing the best ticketing software with features tailored to your needs can empower your teams to deliver excellent customer service. Our guide can help you compare the best ticketing systems and learn more about the tools—like generative AI, omnichannel functionality, and advanced analytics—that can streamline your workflows and supercharge your employee and customer service software.

More in this guide:

• What is help desk ticketing software?
• The 15 best ticketing software
• Types of helpdesk software
• Features of help desk ticketing software
• How to choose the right IT ticketing system
• Benefits of help desk ticketing software
• Frequently asked questions
• Try our ticketing system for free

A help desk ticketing software is a software tool businesses use to track, manage, and organise service requests and issues from customers, employees, or internal teams.

Ticketing systems are primarily used in customer service but have applications across departments such as IT and HR. When a user submits a request or reports a problem, the system generates a support ticket that explains the issue and includes relevant information and context. But it can – and should – do so much more.

Let's break down 15 help desk ticketing software options. Our round-up provides an overview of features, pricing and free trial information.

• Zendesk: Best for AI-powered CX
• Zoho Desk: Best for mobile app issue resolution
• HappyFox: Best for marketing teams
• LiveAgent: Best for live chat widget
• KB Support: Best for WordPress users
• Vision Helpdesk: Best for performance gamification
• HubSpot Service Hub: Best for teams using HubSpot’s CRM
• Front: Best for shared inbox
• Awesome Support: Best for paid support services
• TeamSupport: Best for manufacturing
• Freshdesk: Best for multichannel support
• Jira Service Management: Best for IT services
• Hiver: Best for accounts receivable
• Mojo Helpdesk: Best for e-commerce
• SupportBee: Best for basic ticketing needs

*Recent user feedback is sourced from Capterra and G2.

1. Zendesk

Best for AI-powered CX

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$19 per agent/month (billed annually)	14 days	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Quality assurance tools Agent copilot 1,700+ apps and integrations Intelligent routing and triage

Zendesk offers an AI-powered automated ticketing system that can adapt to any use case—including IT, customer service, and HR—and scale to growing business demands. It is also intuitively designed for ease of use to maximise efficiency. Pre-trained on billions of real support conversations, Zendesk AI is deeply integrated into all aspects of the ticketing system, including the industry-leading Zendesk Agent Workspace.

The unified agent view empowers teams to resolve issues across channels efficiently, providing them with AI-powered tools to enhance the speed and quality of their replies. For example, the Zendesk AI copilot provides real-time suggestions, helping agents resolve customer issues more effectively. Additionally, AI agents support customers around the clock, resolving complex issues while providing a personalised experience.

Recent user reviews

• “I spent many years as a support agent, and this platform really enhanced my days…saving so many manual tasks via triggers, automations, and macros.” -Brock M.
• “Zendesk is infinitely customisable. I love the plethora of fields, automations, sorting, and reporting options that are at your fingertips. It's extremely easy to set up and can integrate with your existing support email addresses.” -David C.
• “One of the standout features is the ticketing system, which I find very easy to manage. It allows me to effortlessly keep track of requests and address our users' needs efficiently.” -Anonymous
• “As Zendesk continues to evolve the product with new AI offerings and acquisitions, they continue to strike the balance of ease of use while innovating to meet their customer needs.” -Brandon T.
• “What I love most about Zendesk is that I'm able to interact with other departments within the organisation by simply raising tickets. I'm also able to open pictures, files, and videos sent by customers via email.” -Anonymous
• “Zendesk has been instrumental in supporting our organisation into the modern era. Compared to our previous solution, Zendesk provides the visibility, ease of use, and appropriate metric monitoring for our needs.” -Adam G.
• “...their ability to bring on meaningful AI will change the way you handle customers forever.” -Jason H.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. Zoho Desk

Best for mobile app issue resolution

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$0 per user/month (limited features)	15 days	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Knowledge base Custom dashboards

Zoho Desk’s ticket management system helps customer-facing support teams track requests. It offers omnichannel support, allowing customers to connect with agents via email, social media, live chat, phone, web form or social messaging apps. Zoho Desk supports third-party apps and integrates with its suite of native products.

Collaboration tools like team feeds, @mentions, and shared tickets enable support agents to collaborate on issues to avoid transfers and escalations. Other features of Zoho Desk’s customer service ticketing systems include reporting and analytics tools, escalations, and automated workflows. Users can also manage multiple help centres with knowledge bases, FAQs and communities for different brands.

Recent user reviews

• “The integration with other Zoho products has also been seamless, which is a great advantage for managing multiple business functions in one ecosystem.” -Alexis R.
• “The biggest issue for us is the steep learning curve when it comes to advanced customisation…We had to spend a lot of time troubleshooting or contacting support for help.” -Leocel A.
• “One common criticism of Zoho Desk is that its reporting and analytics features can be a bit complex to navigate, especially for new users. Some users also find that whilst it offers many integrations, setting them up can sometimes be cumbersome.” -Kratika B.
• “I was interested in the AI-bot functionality for live chats, but it turns out you need to use your own ChatGPT API key to enable it, so I wasn’t able to test that feature.” -Alejandro B.
• “Zoho One offers a comprehensive suite of tools that integrate well with each other, which is great for streamlining multiple business functions in one place.” -Peter S.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $7 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.

Learn more: Learn how Zoho Desk integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Zoho compare.

3. HappyFox

Best for marketing teams

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$9 per agent/month, billed annually	Available	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics CSAT surveys Work schedule management

HappyFox is a cloud-based CRM that provides help desk ticketing solutions for support teams. Features include customised ticket queues, ticket tagging, customised forms, sorting functions by category and self-service options (like knowledge base articles and FAQs). The ticketing system can automatically assign tickets to specific agents based on expertise or workload, preventing more than one agent from duplicating work on the same ticket.

Inflow reports offer insights into customer support volume and trends, allowing businesses to identify peak periods and adjust staffing accordingly. Furthermore, the software integrates work schedule management features, enabling supervisors to create and assign work schedules for support agents. HappyFox also allows businesses to incorporate customer satisfaction surveys to gather feedback on the quality of support interactions.

Recent user reviews

• “I love their sales rep and customer service because they are very friendly and responsive to hop on a call and give me 1:1 support for whatever issue I am having.” -Benjamin K.
• “The inputs are not as customisable as we would like and, at times, make it difficult to ensure a ticket is getting to the right person.” -Kirra F.
• “We've been using HappyFox for a few years and have no issues. It does the things we need it to do across multiple teams.“ -Anonymous
• “I wish some features were more flexible, and I could get even more people on it if it were a bit cheaper.” -Anonymous
• “Sometimes the tool gets stuck or has trouble when you want to CC people (sometimes I can't see tickets that another person opened.” -Fernando O.

Pricing: Plans start at $9 per agent/month, billed annually. A free trial is available.

Learn more: Discover how HappyFox integrates with Zendesk.

4. LiveAgent

Best for live chat widget

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$15 per agent/month (billed annually)	14- or 30-days	Generative AI agents Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Agent collision Ticket splitting

LiveAgent’s ticketing system for customer service provides a universal inbox for channels like email, social media and phone. Users can merge tickets that refer to the same issue into a single ticket. Or, users can split a complicated ticket so multiple people can work on different action items simultaneously.

Other features from LiveAgent include basic reporting, agent collision detection, and time rules that perform actions at specific intervals, like clearing spam tickets after 30 days. LiveAgent also has live chat features like a real-time typing view, website monitoring for chat engagement, and proactive chat invitations based on active agent availability.

Recent user reviews

• “Emails, live chats, phone calls, and social media messages can be managed centrally, allowing us to centralise all communications with consumers.” -Igor P.
• “I've managed to make it work for me by tweaking the parameters to create highly successful automations. However, getting there requires some work and learning the ins and outs of the platform.” -Aga K.
• “Find the interface complex and challenging to navigate initially. While LiveAgent offers customisation options, I might not find them sufficient for their specific needs.” -Shashank S.
• “With its many built-in communication channels, it facilitates one-on-one conversations with customers to increase service sales; the ticketing system's internal notes and comments feature keeps everyone in the loop…” -Aleksandra K.
• “Live Agent may sometimes take a while to pull emails through from Outlook which can be inconvenient whilst on the phone to a customer.” -Michael R.

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. LiveAgent compare.

5. KB Support

Best for WordPress users

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$4.99 per month (billed annually)	Unavailable	Workflow automation Knowledge base Customer portal

KB Support is a WordPress-friendly help desk ticket system for managing support requests and information access. Commonly used in the e-commerce and retail industry, KB Support’s ticketing system for small businesses offers guest tickets that allow anyone to submit enquiries without needing an account.

This basic ticketing system has customisable forms that gather specific details from customers. It also features extensions for custom email signatures, reply approvals, custom ticket statuses, and preset replies. Aside from its ticketing features, KB Support also has a built-in knowledge base you can use to provide self-service options for your customers.

Recent user reviews

• “Has everything I need in a help desk. The KB articles are a little basic in terms of layouts, but they do the job.” -Anonymous
• “Very well thought out and easy to use. [I] haven’t had a single tech issue with it, and I love how flexible it is. Great work!” -Anonymous

6. Vision Helpdesk

Best for performance gamification

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$12 per agent/month (billed annually)	30 days	Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Community forums SLA management Gamification

Vision Helpdesk is a cloud-based ticketing system. It enables teams to automate ticket management with rule-based criteria and consolidate conversations across channels. The help desk ticketing software categorises tickets in a tree structure and allows users to create customised views to meet agent preferences.

Vision Helpdesk users can establish rules to manage various aspects of the ticket lifecycle, such as defining SLAs and setting target response and resolution time frames. Additionally, businesses can automate escalation rules to trigger specific actions, like notifying managers or changing ticket priority. The software incorporates game-like elements such as points, badges, and leader boards to incentivise agent performance.

Recent user reviews

• “What I liked most about Vision Helpdesk is the multichannel support. It allows businesses to support their customers on multiple platforms, which increases the base of customers…” -Ashraf M.
• “One of the main drawbacks of Vision Helpdesk is its complex user interface (UI), which can feel cluttered and overwhelming, especially for new users.” -Muskan K.
• “Customisation options can feel limited at times, making it hard to tailor certain features fully to specific business needs.” -Bhanu P.
• “Easy to use quickly and have experience in multiple domains like troubleshooting issues.” -Anonymous
• “I believe the UI is just outdated, which can be improved.” -Saurabh S.

7. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for teams using HubSpot’s CRM

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$0 per month (limited tools and users)	Unavailable	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Customer portal

HubSpot provides customer ticket system software through its Service Hub product. In addition to providing help desk functionality, customer service agents can use it to prioritise tickets, automate workflows, and integrate Service Hub with HubSpot CRM software to share information.

Its ticketing tools also feature conversational bots, live chat messaging, and customer self-service portals. Businesses can change the portal to match brand guidelines like colours, logos, and fonts. The software offers native integrations with its line of HubSpot products and hosts a marketplace of third-party integrations. The mobile app gives users access to support tickets while away from their desks, allowing them to monitor social media and SLAs.

Recent user reviews

• “The recently released help desk workspace has been a major improvement in managing tickets and conversations with our customers.” -Lucas E.
• “I wish the knowledge base was available on smaller tiers, but I understand why it’s been added to the more expensive ones to create an upsell opportunity.” -Tom W.
• “I think the downside of HubSpot Service Hub is the lack of customisability at times. For example, the Survey lacks the ability for my team to brand it in our own style, much like the Knowledge Hub or Proposal area.” -Meghan L.
• “I really love the ability to write notes for a call while doing other tasks for a given contact/company— [it] really makes the process of writing the actual notes a lot easier.” -Marcus D.
• “There are some features that require upgrades to utilise. I think it's fair, but it can become annoying. For example, when I want to bulk cleanup duplicates, I'm already on a paid version, and I need to upgrade to get that bulk feature.” -Claudia U.

Learn more: Discover how HubSpot integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. HubSpot compare.

8. Front

Best for shared inbox

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$19 per seat/month (billed annually)	14 days	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Ticket collaboration

Through its shared email inbox, Front’s help desk ticket systems connect your customer service team. Its automated workflows let businesses prioritise and manage conversations and tickets across all channels, including email, chat, social media, and SMS.

The shared inbox lets multiple agents work together in the same inbox so enquiries can be addressed and handed off between team members. Front allows agents to collaborate on tickets before responding to customers. The software features a shared draft tool that lets the entire team monitor a ticket’s progress throughout its lifecycle, even when the ticket gets assigned to a single agent.

Recent user reviews

• “I like that Front is not just a communication platform. It allows the user to customise the whole experience; the templates are very easy to use, there's a shared template option, but you can also have your private templates, which really adds value…” -Vanessa V.
• “I think you should improve your spam management capabilities; adding the ability to attach documents would solve all problems, especially when there are many ticket requests and messages.” -Sachin K.
• “The only real downfall I've been able to find is that it can get a little tricky in creating rules. Some rules will fire, and they're simple to understand, but if I can create a filter in the search bar that returns results, the same filters for a rule should yield the same, and it sometimes doesn't.” -Ernie S.
• “The ability to share drafts with co-workers and add comments on emails is a great advantage. It helps give context to everyone without saturating their inbox or having to CC or BCC internally.” -Wandy G.
• “I dislike how the conversations can double when viewing in your own inbox versus a shared inbox. It can create some confusion as to who replied to what and when.” -Nicholas B.

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Front compare.

9. Awesome Support

Best for paid support services

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$0 per month (limited features)	Unavailable	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Translation and localisation Customised ticket fields

Awesome Support is another customer support ticketing system plugin for WordPress. It logs interactions so agents can view the complete ticket history. Users can set up triggers that automatically email ticket updates to customers. Users can also configure ticket automation to assign and route tickets to the right agent to handle a request.

Businesses can set up paid support contracts. If the customer has exceeded their ticket allowance, the system will direct them to purchase additional support. Customers can also opt-in for email notifications about the status of their tickets. Awesome Support also allows translating content to localise it for different customer segments.

Recent user reviews

• “An excellent plugin with technical support requests for WordPress. The free version has quite a lot of functionality.” -Anonymous
• “The plug-in caused a critical error on a main category on our site – and given no support via Awesome Support email nor via WP Forums, I have had to find another ticketing/help desk option.” -Anonymous
• “Two times I tried the update, and it [did] nothing but either stop the website from loading, which was the first time, and [I] had to go to my web host to fix [the issue]. Now, today, I just tried the new update, and then I could not load my media library until I deactivated the plugin.” -Anonymous
• “Depending on your bundle, it might be a higher upfront cost than the monthly SaaS helpdesks. But remember—you’re only paying one time (or yearly if you want continued support and updates).” -WPLift

10. TeamSupport

Best for manufacturing

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$29 per agent/month	Unavailable	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Customer Distress Index CSAT surveys

TeamSupport is a customer support ticketing software solution for companies serving B2B technology customers. In addition to functioning as a ticketing management system, teams can use the Customer Distress Index to evaluate whether a customer is satisfied or at risk of churning.

Teams can also send customer satisfaction surveys to follow up after tickets have closed.

The software’s omnichannel functionality also allows agents to create customer call logs and auto-direct voicemails to tickets. AI can summarise issues into bullet points and adjust the tone of a response, making it more conversational or professional. TeamSupport also offers external and internal knowledge base functionality with automatic knowledge base article suggestions relevant to a customer’s issue.

Recent user reviews

• “I love the ability to track my clients’ customer distress index and know which clients may need some more attention.” -Anonymous
• “Fewer user features, limited functionality.” - Vishal C.
• “I don't like that the Dash Board doesn't autorefresh. It causes me to miss things sometimes.” -Rich T.
• “Captures everything we need, all in an easy layout. Easy to customise to what your company needs are.” -Nikole K.
• “Sometimes the site has some bug that leads you to miss information regarding times.” -Pablo Antonio C.

11. Freshdesk

Best for manufacturing

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$29 per agent/month	Unavailable	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Omnichannel support Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Customer Distress Index CSAT surveys

Freshdesk offers a help desk ticket system that helps teams manage and resolve customer requests. The software consolidates all communications into a shared inbox so teams can tag and work on tickets together. Collision detection can prevent multiple agents from unknowingly working on the same ticket. The ticketing system can detect when a customer replies to a closed ticket with a thank you message to avoid unnecessarily reopening it.

However, Freshdesk uses different interfaces for ticketing, phone, and chat, which means agents must toggle between each app instead of working from a centralised workspace. This disjointed experience slows response times and increases handling times, according to a Nucleus study that compared users who switched to Zendesk.

Recent user reviews

• “By using Advanced Automation Rules, the repetitive tasks are cut down, and customer queries are handled quickly without the need of manual work.” -Kalpesh B.
• “[The platform] can regularly be on the slower side, particularly when dealing with high tickets or multiple number of workflows. This can cause a reduction in the general efficiency of the support process at some times.” -Mateusz P.
• “While Freshdesk offers many robust features, reporting customisation can be somewhat limited. The default reports are helpful, but creating highly tailored reports requires either advanced technical know-how or upgrading to more expensive tiers.” -David C.
• “Various automations are easy to create, even for non-technical personnel, and have helped my team become more efficient.” -Miglė R.
• “The handling time for my complaint was longer than expected. Since the issue had to be resolved by the developers, it's difficult to gauge whether the effort was justified.” -Tatiana D.

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Freshdesk compare.

12. Jira Service Management

Best for IT services

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$0 per month (3 agent limit)	7 days	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Real-time incident monitoring Knowledge base

Jira Service Management features ticketing software that helps IT teams meet specific business needs. Jira provides teams with pre-built templates, ticket tools, and automation options. Employees can use responsive forms that only include relevant fields based on previous inputs. A single view allows teams to keep track of customer requests and conversations across communication channels.

In addition to traditional request tickets, teams can also manage incidents, problems, and system changes. For instance, teams can receive change requests, send them through approval workflows, create change plans, and schedule them in a shared calendar. Jira also provides automated risk assessments that gauge low and high-risk changes so teams can properly assess their potential impact.

Recent user reviews

• “It can be integrated with project management tools like bitbucket, confluence, which helps to keep track of project status, issues etc.” -Meet P.
• “I think Jira's weak point is [its] ease of use. It is a tool that has a fairly slow learning curve and is not as intuitive for users who are not in the Technology environment.” -Mauricio L.
• “Complexity and learning curve. Overhead for smaller teams.” -Mubassir R.
• “Once built, it offers so many ways to automate and makes everything flow so much better and alerts all interested parties.” -Kelly T.
• “It is virtually all build-it-yourself. Add to that that there are significant limits to the development capabilities, and it really makes it a niche product for those already using Atlassian products and minimal ITSM needs.” -Dave T.

Pricing: Plans start at $700 per year. A free plan and a seven-day free trial are available.

Learn more: Discover how Jira integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Jira compare.

13. Hiver

Best for accounts receivable

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$0 per month (limited tools)	7 days	Generative AI agents AI-powered self-service Workflow automation Reporting and analytics SLA management Mobile app

Hiver’s email ticketing tools help agents handle ticket requests from customers and employees. Hiver’s shared inbox allows your support teams to track tickets from end to end and includes internal team notes. Agents can share email drafts, incorporate approval workflows, and track collections of customer receivables.

The ticketing solution also offers automation options, such as automatically replying to emails or removing spam emails from the queue. Users can separate ticket reports into conversation, user, and tag data and create custom reports. Hiver also includes SLAs to make sure you handle issues on time. SLA reports allow teams to monitor violations that account for working hours to maintain accuracy.

Recent user reviews

• “I love the ability to tag emails and route them accordingly. I also like that multiple team members can access different inboxes so that we can work together rather than just having one person manage each inbox.” -Emily H.
• “I dislike that you aren't able to assign more than one person to an email. There are some items we have that are being addressed by multiple people and I would like the emails to show up in both of their assigned tabs.” -Patience S.
• “As with most gmail extensions, I have experienced some conflicts with a couple of extensions I use when they're all enabled at the same time.” -Peter
• “The most helpful tool for me is that I can classify my emails as pending or closed cases. This helps me to differentiate what emails are waiting to be completed without confusion.” -Arantxa L.
• “Not much to dislike, except the live chat icon for our websites is not customisable, and it cannot be positioned on the page to match our designs, so it impedes user experience a little bit.” -Anna K.

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan and a seven-day free trial is available.

14. Mojo Helpdesk

Best for e-commerce

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$12.6 per month (billed annually)	21 days	Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Team sandbox Shared inbox

The Mojo Helpdesk ticket system lets online shops merge, track, and assign tickets in a round-robin fashion. Managers can set rules to automatically escalate tickets when the issue calls for it. Plus, users can integrate CSAT surveys into tickets to collect statistics on agent performance.

The system can suggest knowledge base articles based on the problem mentioned in the ticket. Companies that subscribe to the Business plan can add a private knowledge base for employees. Mojo’s ticket software also features a centralised inbox that gives agents a view of customer information. The Enterprise plan allows teams to test new help desk configurations in a sandbox before going live.

Recent user reviews

• “We love that tickets can be categorised, assigned, tagged, etc, as separate fields, rather than a one-step bucketing of contacts, especially. by the user.” -Ellis G.
• “Unable to keep the same layout and go into dark mode. [It needs] more layouts. Some trouble with screenshots and pictures.” -Anonymous
• “The notification emails when a ticket is assigned to me leave out one of the most important details: the person who submitted the ticket.” -Chel M.
• “The best thing is that the user learning curve is one of the shortest we have ever seen. Even first-time users find it relatively easier to learn and start working on it as compared to other similar tools.” -Sandeep C.
• “...I have seen some great UI/UX out there, which is extremely important with a helpdesk system. Unfortunately, Mojo leaves something to be desired.” -Ishan S.

15. SupportBee

Best for basic ticketing needs

Starting price	Free trial	Key features
$13 per user/month (billed annually)	14 days	Workflow automation Reporting and analytics Customer portal Knowledge base

SupportBee’s ticketing system software can help customer service teams manage issues and ticketing processes. Its centralised workspace allows multichannel support and enables agents to collaborate and assign ticket requests. The workspace works like a shared email inbox with automated workflows and private team comments.

The customer portal allows customers to submit and track their support requests, view past conversations, and access relevant knowledge base articles. The software includes an audit trail that tracks all actions taken within the ticketing system, creating a chronological record of every message sent, edited, or deleted. SupportBee’s ticket management software includes unlimited tickets and inboxes.

Recent user reviews

• “Possibility to manage incoming messages in teams, to see messages from all the teams, to assign messages to coworkers, to add comments.” -Cécile L.
• “Knowledge base could use much (much!) better organisational tools. Anything more than two dozen resources is difficult to organise.” -Andrew J.
• “It gives a great overview of open tickets and allows us to set completion criteria for our support team.” -Iñaki C.
• “I wish the reporting tools were more detailed for better insights into our support performance.” -Derrick X.

There are several types of ticketing systems, which you can broadly categorise based on their functionality and the specific needs they address:

• Customer service desk: This is the classic ticketing system for managing customer support enquiries. It allows customers to submit requests through various channels, routes them to the right agent, and tracks progress towards resolution.
• IT help desks: This system focuses on internal support requests from employees. It tackles software, hardware, network problems, or password reset issues, streamlining employee tech support.
• Help desk ticketing systems: Help desk systems are similar to customer support systems but are often more focused on internal support within organisations. They provide tools for managing employee requests, technical issues, and general enquiries.
• Issue tracking systems: These are specialised for tracking and managing bugs, defects, and other issues, generally for software development purposes. They help development teams identify, prioritise, and resolve issues throughout the software lifecycle.

Each type of ticketing system is tailored to specific organisational needs, ensuring efficient and effective management of various requests and issues.

Help desk ticketing tools should provide a variety of features that make your team more effective. Here are some key features to consider whilst comparing ticketing services.

Generative AI agents

AI enhances request management software performance by taking on and automating more tasks. They can understand natural language, allowing customers to describe their issues freely and receive conversational solutions or guided troubleshooting steps. Since AI bots, like the Zendesk AI agents, integrate with your knowledge base, they can summarise information from articles to provide targeted answers to frequently asked questions.

AI-powered self-service

AI streamlines creating and maintaining a knowledge base by analysing past customer interactions to identify frequently asked questions and common pain points. It can then suggest relevant content to populate the knowledge base or even automatically generate draft articles based on existing data.

AI can personalise the self-service experience by tailoring search results and suggesting relevant knowledge base articles based on a customer's specific inquiry. Additionally, AI can track user behaviour and identify areas where content might be confusing or insufficient so you can continuously optimise the knowledge base.

Omnichannel support

Omnichannel support means meeting customers and employees on their preferred channels to deliver seamless, reliable and consistent experiences. Employee and customer profiles that contain interaction history, context, and preferences are visible across channels, leading to more personalised service when resolving support tickets.

Support channels can include email, telephone, social media, web, live chat, and messaging apps like Messenger for business. Users may switch between channels throughout the life of the ticket request, making it even more important to provide omnichannel support options.

Workflow automation

With workflow automation tools like macros, triggers, and ticket notifications, agents can save time and deliver faster service. Automatic macro suggestions provide agents with pre-written responses they can apply to a ticket based on the context of the conversation. Zendesk offers a key workflow automation feature that gathers key details upfront and autofills tickets with existing information.

Additionally, you can create a trigger that automatically replies to customers when they create a new ticket, helping you deliver exceptional experiences through automated customer service.

Reporting and analytics

A help desk ticketing system needs reporting features that allow you to gather valuable customer insights. For example, Zendesk provides robust reporting and analytics tools with pre-built and customisable dashboards to track and analyse key customer service KPIs in real time. This enables you to act quickly on metrics—such as first response time and customer satisfaction ratings—and stay agile.

Choosing the right ticketing software is crucial because it directly impacts employee and customer satisfaction, operational efficiency and the ability to manage and resolve customer enquiries effectively. To help guide your decision-making, here are some common things to look for in a ticketing tool:

• Consider ease of setup and ease of use: Many ticketing systems, especially IT ticketing software, can be complex to learn and challenging to navigate. But if it’s intuitively designed with the agent in mind, like Zendesk, you can quickly set it up and learn how to use it.
• Evaluate AI capabilities: Look for features like intelligent routing, generative AI, and automation so you can gauge the potential contributions the AI can make. These capabilities will greatly impact your agents’ workload and effectiveness.
• Evaluate the level of expertise and support the provider offers: Choose a provider like Zendesk that offers dedicated account management and customer onboarding support to get you up and running for a faster time to value. Ongoing service can also strengthen your business strategy with expert guidance and best practice.
• Ensure the ticketing software enables you to move at the speed of your business: As customer expectations and behaviours evolve, your software must be flexible and allow you to scale your support to meet employee and customer needs. Zendesk works out of the box but can adapt to changing demands quickly while keeping total costs low.
• Prioritise scalability: As your customer base expands or your product offerings become more complex, a scalable ticketing system can handle the increased volume of enquiries and support requests without compromising efficiency. This translates to maintaining a positive CX during periods of rapid growth, which prevents bottlenecks and ensures you can adequately address customer needs.
• Be mindful of the total cost of ownership (TCO): The best online ticket systems offer a low TCO over the lifetime use of the product. With Zendesk, you get that and more. Our pricing is transparent – there aren’t hidden costs or endless add-ons required to meet your basic needs. Plus, built-in AI helps your IT and customer support teams do more with less.

Incorporate these criteria into your selection process, and you’ll avoid many of the complications that come with a poor software fit.

Check out these powerful benefits your team can enjoy with the right help desk ticketing system.

Deliver fast and personalised service at scale with AI

AI-powered ticketing systems elevate customer service by intelligently sorting and prioritising enquiries, sometimes using AI agents to resolve enquiries before they escalate to a human agent. This allows businesses to swiftly address customer needs while AI personalises the experience by analysing past interactions and tailoring responses to each customer's unique situation.

Online fashion company Motel Rocks is a prime example of the benefits you can receive from advanced AI. Deploying Zendesk AI agents helped them reduce ticket volume by 50 percent and improve CSAT by almost 10 percent.

Increase loyalty and retention with omnichannel experiences

Ticket systems help keep teams organised with streamlined workflows and contextual information all in a single place. As a result, agents have the customer data and context they need to deliver the timely and effective service that customers expect. Plus, they won’t need to ask customers to repeat information – a common pain point for angry customers.

When getting support is easy, customers will stick around (and maybe even spread the good word about your brand), which is the simple recipe for building customer loyalty and retention. Bikeshare company LimeBike uses omnichannel practices to centralise its communication and achieved a 93 percent CSAT score. Customers can call, text, or email when they need assistance, and the LimeBike team can answer all requests using a single system in Zendesk.

Boost agent productivity and lower burnout

Even some free trouble ticketing software—albeit to a lesser degree than paid service—helps boost productivity and efficiency by automating low-value, time-consuming activities. Automating tedious tasks allows agents to spend more time on high-value tasks like serving customers. Additionally, clear organisation within the system keeps agents focused, reducing context switching, mental strain, and the demoralising effects of simple mistakes.

Lower operational costs while maintaining service quality

Improved agent productivity and efficiency means your organisation can more easily provide top-notch customer service without constantly hiring new agents whenever service requests spike. For example, you can use bots to provide 24/7 support rather than staffing a late-night support team. Take a page from Unity’s playbook—the software development platform saved $1.3 million by adding Zendesk automation, bots, and self-service resources.

Build customer trust by keeping their data safe

By employing advanced encryption methods, secure access controls, and regular security audits, the system ensures that sensitive information, such as personal details and confidential communication, remains safe from unauthorised access and breaches. Additionally, adherence to data protection regulations and transparent privacy policies further reinforce customers' confidence that their data is handled responsibly and securely.

Data security is especially important in the financial and government sectors. For example, Indigov provides constituent relationship management software to local, state, and federal governments. To comply with government regulations, Indigov uses Zendesk due to its SOC 2 and FedRAMP certifications and single sign-on to add a further layer of protection.