Zendesk is a leader in the help desk software market. However, you might wonder if you should invest in a Zendesk Support subscription when Atlassian, another leader, offers a customer service tool with a free pricing plan. Shouldn’t you save some money instead? Before you rush to a decision, keep in mind that the choice isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
In this Jira Service Management vs Zendesk guide, we’ll take a closer look at both solutions and help you find the answer together.
Who Will Benefit from Our Jira Service Management vs Zendesk Guide?
This guide will come in handy for decision-makers like customer support leads, IT managers, and business owners who are weighing their options between Zendesk Support and Jira Service Management. Each group will find specific insights to guide their choices.
Customer support leads
Customer support leads will find valuable details on how each platform enhances external customer interactions. The article will highlight omnichannel capabilities, ticket management processes, automations, and knowledge base features. By understanding these aspects, they'll be better equipped to choose a platform that improves the customer experience and streamlines support operations.
IT managers
IT managers will be able to evaluate how each tool aligns with IT service management (ITSM) practices and integrates with development tools. This information will assist them in determining which solution best covers the IT support needs of their organization while meeting security and infrastructure requirements.
Business owners
Business owners will gain a comprehensive overview of the cost implications and overall value offered by each platform. This knowledge will empower them to make strategic decisions that align with their broader business goals.
Whether you belong to one of these groups or just want to learn more about what the customer service market offers today, let’s dive in!
Jira Service Management vs Zendesk: An Overview
Jira Service Management
Jira Service Management is an ITSM solution developed by Atlassian to complement Jira Software, Confluence, and other products. Built with the best ITIL practices in mind, Jira Service Management offers a wide range of features for efficient service request, incident, problem, change, and asset management. Besides, the platform includes automation capabilities and real-time reporting. It also boasts extensive integration options with other popular solutions, including software development tools.
Source: Atlassian
Since its launch in 2020, Jira Service Management has attracted notable clients such as X (formerly Twitter), Square, NASA, Spotify, Cisco, Vistaprint, LinkedIn, Sotheby’s, and Puppet Labs. Today, over 55,000 companies rely on this service desk to support their teams.
Zendesk
Zendesk, or, formally, Zendesk Support, is a cloud-based customer service solution for handling support requests from various channels, including live chat, email, phone, and social media, through a single interface. Zendesk equips support teams with everything they need to assist customers effectively. This includes an efficient ticketing system, automation features, collaboration tools, self-service options, and integrations with popular software like Jira Service Management.
Source: Zendesk
Since its launch in 2007, Zendesk has aimed to bring a sense of calm (or "zen") to the often chaotic world of customer support. Today, it serves over 173,426 companies, including well-known names like Uber, Slack, Shopify, and L'Oréal.
You can use Zendesk Support as a standalone tool or opt for the Zendesk Suite, which includes additional functionalities such as Guide (for self-service), Talk (for call center operations), and Chat (for live messaging).
At first glance, Zendesk Support completely differs from Jira Service Management, but that's just the initial impression.
Zendesk vs Jira Service Management: Things in Common
Both Zendesk and Jira Service Management are designed to manage customer requests. So, it’s no wonder that both tools share a number of similarities. These include ticket management, multichannel support, automation, self-service options, reporting and analytics, integration, and beyond. Let’s review these common features in more detail.
External customer support
While Jira Service Management is often seen as an internal technical support tool, it actually offers features that cater to external customers, making it more similar to Zendesk than you might think.
Source: Atlassian
Centralized ticket management
Both customer support solutions provide centralized platforms for smoothly managing and tracking customer inquiries in one place.
Multichannel support
Both Zendesk and Jira Service Management offer native support for various channels, allowing customers to seek assistance through their preferred channels.
Source: Zendesk
Automation capabilities
Whether you choose Zendesk or Jira, you'll discover a variety of options to help your support team automate many tasks, from assigning requests based on agent workload to notifying agents when service level agreement (SLA) thresholds are nearing.
Source: Atlassian
Self-service options
Both Zendesk and Jira Service Management feature knowledge base integration, complete with tools for creating, managing, and searching content, as well as analyzing its performance. In addition, they both provide AI-powered chatbots that can quickly respond to common questions.
Reporting and analytics
Both Jira Service Management and Zendesk provide robust reporting and analytics options, making it easy for your team to spot key trends in team performance, request volume, and customer behavior.
Source: Zendesk
Integrations
Both Jira Service Management and Zendesk integrate with a wide range of applications through their respective marketplaces—Atlassian Marketplace and Zendesk Marketplace—as well as open APIs.
Zendesk vs Jira Service Management: Key Differences
The main difference between Zendesk Support and Jira Service Management comes down to the distinction between a help desk and a service desk.
Zendesk Support is a classic help desk solution that focuses on meeting the needs of external customers. Jira Service Management does include some help desk features, too, but it primarily serves as a service desk aimed at internal technical support.
Still, both platforms can be used interchangeably. So, let’s compare them as service desks vs help desks.
Jira Service Management and Zendesk as service desks
Jira Service Management is not just well-equipped for managing service requests, incidents, problems, changes, and other aspects of IT service management (ITSM); it truly stands out among ITSM tools. The power of AI is woven into every part of the ITSM workflow, featuring capabilities like a virtual service agent that groups similar incidents and requests, prioritizes issues based on historical data, and more.
Additionally, Jira Service Management integrates with development tools, facilitating thorough root cause analysis and effective resolution of technical issues. Plus, Jira Service Management keeps your enterprise data secure through cloud-based and on-premise hosting options.
While Zendesk can handle technical issues and even offers change management features, it doesn't quite match the specialized capabilities of Jira Service Management. It isn’t ITIL-aligned and lacks features for managing service requests, incidents, problems, or assets. Additionally, it doesn’t integrate with software development tools or provide access to the codebase.
This means that while you can certainly manage minor technical requests like password resets, resolving serious incidents that require deeper investigation will necessitate integration with additional tools like Jira Service Management. Also, Zendesk is only available in a cloud version, offering less control over your enterprise data.
Jira Service Management and Zendesk as help desks
While Zendesk lacks ITSM capabilities, it shines as a help desk solution. Yes, Jira Service Management does offer certain customer service management capabilities. But they are much weaker than those offered by Zendesk. Let’s compare both solutions against the key criteria for customer service management tools.
Request types
Unlike Zendesk, Jira Service Management is focused on technical issues, even within its external support module. All request templates are tailored to address these concerns, and escalating requests to development teams is easy. That said, beneficial as they are for technical support teams, these features may not be as useful for teams in other industries.
Source: Atlassian
Omnichannel availability
Zendesk supports a wide range of channels, including email, chat, social media, and phone. In contrast, the selection of Jira Service Management for external customers is limited to a customer service portal, email, and web widgets.
Agent experience
Zendesk offers agents a better experience than Jira Service Management. Unlike Atlassian’s solution, Zendesk includes features like seamless channel switching at any stage of customer interaction, skill-based ticket routing, agent collision detection, side conversations (private discussions on tickets), intelligent triage (AI-powered intent detection in a ticket), and flexible workspace layouts tailored to specific workflows.
Source: Zendesk
Reporting and analytics
Both platforms offer robust analytics and reporting capabilities. However, setting up advanced reports in Jira can be challenging and requires some degree of familiarity with Jira Query Language. Additionally, you'll need to integrate third-party tools to access real-time reporting and advanced visualizations. When it comes to Zendesk, no coding is required, whether you need custom reports, real-time dashboards, or advanced visualizations.
Source: Atlassian
Knowledge base
To set up a knowledge base in Jira—either customer- or agent-facing—you need to integrate Confluence. This can be a bit cumbersome for agents having to switch between Jira Service Management and Confluence to find answers.
Meanwhile, Zendesk offers a built-in knowledge base. The platform also offers a wider range of knowledge management capabilities, including integration with Google Analytics for deeper insights into content performance, AI-powered article topic suggestions based on common ticket requests, and easy content reuse across articles.
Bots
While Zendesk's AI agents are available across multiple channels, Jira's virtual service agents are limited to use within Slack. This means they can only handle internal requests since Slack integration in Jira is not available for external customer support.
Source: Zendesk
Integrations
Both platforms offer a wide range of integration options. However, Jira Service Management tends to focus mainly on IT use cases. The downside is that while your software development projects will be covered, you might miss out on native integrations with tools like Salesforce, Zendesk, Shopify, or telephony systems—integrations that are crucial for teams looking to provide a seamless customer experience.
Digging into the Pricing Models of Jira Service Management and Zendesk
Both platforms offer several subscription options. However, the pricing and conditions differ.
The pricing of Jira Service Management
The pricing is based on the number of agents. For smaller teams with up to 3 agent accounts, there is a free plan with 2GB of storage and Community Support. Meanwhile, you must pay $19.04/agent per month for larger teams. Jira offers a 7-day free trial of the Standard or Premium plan and an on-demand product demo.
Source: Atlassian
For Jira Service Management Data Center, pricing is also based on the number of agents. Hosting a fully functional copy on your hardware is free for 30 days.
The pricing of Zendesk
Zendesk offers four plans that differ by the features available and the monthly cost per agent. Support Team, the cheapest tag with the basic features, would cost $19 per agent per month (billed annually). Users must purchase a $55 plan or higher to access advanced features, more support, and larger storage.
Source: Zendesk
Zendesk provides a 14-day free trial of the Suite Professional plan and a demo version to explore its features.
Decision Guide
If you're looking for an ITSM solution, Jira Service Management is an excellent choice. On the flip side, Zendesk is a clear winner for managing external customer workflows. However, since Jira Service Management also includes help desk features, assessing your needs is a good idea before committing.
Budget
Jira Service Management offers a free plan that unlocks basic customer service functionalities like multi-channel support, ticketing, and a knowledge base—enough to get you started. In contrast, Zendesk has no free options and comes with higher pricing tiers.
Internal support needs
Do you need a tool that empowers your internal support team in addition to a help desk? While Zendesk integrates natively with Jira Service Management, the latter combines both functionalities in one tool, potentially covering all your needs.
Industry type
With its focus on technical requests, Jira Service Management is the top choice for technical solution providers. If you're in e-commerce, however, Zendesk may be better suited as it integrates with Shopify and Salesforce. It's also a solid option for healthcare, given its HIPAA compliance.
Team size
If your team has three or fewer agents, you can enjoy Jira’s free pricing plan. On the other hand, Zendesk is ideal for larger teams thanks to features like agent collision detection, skill-based routing, and collaboration tools that allow adding agents without needing paid seats.
Request volume
With its chatbots and automation features available across channels, Zendesk is perfect for handling high request volumes.
Preferred channels
If your customers prefer social media or phone support over email, Jira may not be the best fit since it lacks native integrations with those channels.
Technical competence
Overall, Jira Service Management has a steeper learning curve compared to Zendesk. Many of its advanced features require knowledge of Jira Query Language. Consider opting for Zendesk if you don’t have that expertise.
Infrastructure requirements
If your security policies prevent you from using cloud-based solutions, you can choose the on-premise version of Jira Service Management.
App ecosystem
Consider the apps you're already using. If you have Zendesk or Atlassian products (or tools that integrate well with either), it might make sense to stick with the corresponding solution to avoid integration headaches.
How to Get Your Data to Zendesk or Jira Service Management
Both Zendesk and Jira Service Management have built-in data transfer tools, but they come with some significant limitations. For instance, migrating different entities in Zendesk requires using different APIs, which can be confusing. Fortunately, Help Desk Migration offers a user-friendly, no-code interface for transferring all your key customer service records.
Whether you need to perform the data transfer to or from Zendesk or Jira Service Management, or if you're looking to merge your Zendesk or Jira accounts, Help Desk Migration has you covered. You can easily migrate data from inbox accounts, legacy systems, or other help desk and service desk platforms.
For example, if you want to migrate your data from a CSV database to Jira Service Management, here’s how you can do it:
- Choose CSV as your data source and select what you want to import. You can migrate service desk records and knowledge base entities separately.
- Upload your files.
- Link your Jira Service Management account.
- Select the entities you want to migrate, such as tickets and customers.
- Map the data fields.
- Run the Demo Migration with a few records to ensure everything is set up correctly.
- Perform the Full Migration to transfer the rest of your data.
Migrating from platforms supported by Help Desk Migration is even more straightforward. Plus, you can transfer data from Zendesk to Jira Service Management or vice versa. You can handle the process yourself or let the Help Desk Migration team take care of it for you.
Making the Final Call
Choosing between two powerful solutions can be tough, but we hope our guide has helped simplify your choice. Ultimately, it comes down to whether it’s a robust help desk or an ITSM tool that you need.
If you're still unsure, consider trying both solutions, as they both offer free trials. And if you need help migrating data to one of these platforms (or any other help desk system), just drop us a line, and we'll get you started right away!
