HEAD TO HEAD · RATED SEPTEMBER 2026
Last reviewed 27 September 2026 · Service Desk Compare reviewers
Zendesk wins on the business-teams weights; Freshservice is the stronger pick where time to value and pricing transparency matter most.
Totals and ranks on this page use the business-teams weights (five criteria at 20% each; ITIL and CMDB shown for information only). For ITIL and CMDB weighted scores, see the full ITSM ranking.
Freshservice
8.2 / 10
Rank 3 of 9 on the business-teams ranking
Full ITSM ranking: rank 1 at 8.3
$19 per agent per month (annual)
Read the Freshservice reviewZendesk
8.3 / 10
Rank 1= of 9 on the business-teams ranking
Full ITSM ranking: rank 7= at 7.0
$29 per agent per month (Suite Team, annual)
Read the Zendesk for IT (Employee Service) reviewScroll for more
| Criterion | Weight | Freshservice | Zendesk | Higher score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ITIL practice coverageWhy these scoresFreshservice: Certified across 14 ITIL practices and PinkVERIFY-certified across six processes, but problem, change and release management need the Pro plan. Zendesk: Service catalog, SLAs, approvals and IT asset management from Suite Growth, but change and problem management are not listed. | Info only | 8.5 | 4 | Freshservice |
Automation and AI assistanceWhy these scoresFreshservice: Freddy AI Copilot, Agent Studio and Insights are documented; Copilot is a $29 per agent add-on rather than standard on lower plans. Zendesk: AI agents on every Employee Service plan, intent and tone detection, and Intelligent Triage and Auto Assist on Enterprise. | 20% | 8 | 8.5 | Zendesk |
Time to valueWhy these scoresFreshservice: Four plans with public prices and ITIL-shaped defaults mean a mid-size team can trial the real product before talking to sales. Zendesk: Published plans and a help desk interface many IT teams already know from customer service. | 20% | 8.5 | 8 | Freshservice |
Configuration management (CMDB)Why these scoresFreshservice: Agentless discovery and dependency mapping feed a CMDB; service mapping on the scale of ServiceNow is not documented [ServiceNow CMDB page]. Zendesk: IT asset management from Suite Growth, but no CMDB or relationship mapping is documented. | Info only | 8 | 3 | Freshservice |
Usability for non-IT requestersWhy these scoresFreshservice: Service catalog and SLAs from Growth, and a Freddy AI agent for routine requests; G2 reviewers rate ease of use highly. Zendesk: A self-service employee portal and knowledge base, with AI agents answering first. | 20% | 8.5 | 8.5 | Tie |
IntegrationsWhy these scoresFreshservice: A marketplace and MCP support are mentioned, but no integration count is published. Zendesk: AI agents that take action across business systems and omnichannel routing on the suite. | 20% | 7.5 | 8.5 | Zendesk |
Pricing transparencyWhy these scoresFreshservice: Starter, Growth and Pro are priced publicly; Enterprise and some AI capacity are quoted. Zendesk: Team, Growth and Professional are priced publicly; Enterprise + Copilot is quoted. | 20% | 8.5 | 8 | Freshservice |
Freshservice scores higher on 2 criteria, Zendesk on 2, and 1 is tied among the five scored criteria.
| Plan | Price | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19 per agent/month | Billed annually. Incident management; no service catalog or SLA management. |
| Growth | $49 per agent/month | Adds service catalog and SLA management. |
| Pro | $99 per agent/month | Adds problem, change and release management. |
| Enterprise | Not published (custom) | |
| Add-on: Freddy AI Copilot | $29 per agent/month |
Source: Freshservice pricing
| Plan | Price | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Suite Team | $29 per agent/month | Paid yearly. AI agents, knowledge base, action builder. |
| Suite Growth | $59 per agent/month | Adds IT asset management, service catalog, self-service employee portal, tasks and approvals, SLAs. |
| Suite Professional | $99 per agent/month | Adds skills-based routing, admin copilot, app builder. |
| Suite Enterprise + Copilot | Not published (contact sales) | Adds Intelligent Triage, Auto Assist, approval workflows, sandbox. |
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| Stage | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Logged | Partial | Freddy AI collects and verifies requester details (general service page) Source |
| 02 Categorised | Not documented | |
| 03 Routed | Documented | Freddy AI routes the issue to the right agent Source |
| 04 Resolved | Documented | 'Domain-specific AI resolves issues instantly' (vendor wording) Source |
| 05 Closed | Not documented | |
| 06 Reviewed | Documented | Problem management on Pro; Freddy AI Insights surfaces emerging issues Source |
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| Stage | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Logged | Documented | AI agents work on any channel Source |
| 02 Categorised | Documented | Detects intent and tone Source |
| 03 Routed | Documented | Omnichannel routing assigns tickets to qualified agents Source |
| 04 Resolved | Documented | AI agents resolve multi-step workflows Source |
| 05 Closed | Not documented | |
| 06 Reviewed | Documented | AI monitoring across 100% of interactions Source |
What each vendor's public pages document for each stage, as read on 27 Sep 2026. 'Not documented' means we did not find it on the pages we read, not that the product cannot do it.
Choose Freshservice if time to value and pricing transparency matter most to your team. It scores 8.5 and 8.5 there, against Zendesk's 8 and 8. Four plans with public prices and ITIL-shaped defaults mean a mid-size team can trial the real product before talking to sales. We list it as best for: mid-size IT teams that want ITIL defaults without a long build. Read the Freshservice review
Choose Zendesk if integrations and automation and AI assistance matter most to your team. It scores 8.5 and 8.5 there, against Freshservice's 7.5 and 8. AI agents that take action across business systems and omnichannel routing on the suite. We list it as best for: teams already running Zendesk for customers that want an internal IT desk on the same platform. Read the Zendesk for IT (Employee Service) review
On the business-teams weights, Zendesk scores 8.3 and Freshservice 8.2 out of 10, ranking 1= and 3 of 9 on the business-teams ranking. Freshservice leads on 2 criteria and Zendesk on 2, with 1 tied.
Freshservice lists $19 per agent per month (annual); Zendesk lists $29 per agent per month (Suite Team, annual). Pricing units differ (per agent, per seat or per technician), so compare the plan that includes the practices you need. On pricing transparency Freshservice scores 8.5 and Zendesk 8. The calculator prices both for your agent count.
On ITIL practice coverage Freshservice scores 8.5 and Zendesk 4; on configuration management (CMDB) Freshservice scores 8 and Zendesk 3. Agentless discovery and dependency mapping feed a CMDB; service mapping on the scale of ServiceNow is not documented [ServiceNow CMDB page].