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HEAD TO HEAD · RATED SEPTEMBER 2026

Ivanti vs Zendesk: which IT service desk fits a mid-size team in 2026?

Last reviewed 27 September 2026 · Service Desk Compare reviewers

Zendesk wins on the business-teams weights and scores at least as high on every criterion.

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.

How do Ivanti and Zendesk compare on each criterion?

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CriterionWeightIvantiZendeskHigher score
ITIL practice coverage
Why these scores

Ivanti: 14 ITIL 4-certified practices listed, including configuration, release and deployment, and service level management.

Zendesk: Service catalog, SLAs, approvals and IT asset management from Suite Growth, but change and problem management are not listed.

Info only94Ivanti
Automation and AI assistance
Why these scores

Ivanti: Ticket summaries, classification and routing, knowledge generation and agentic remediation are documented.

Zendesk: AI agents on every Employee Service plan, intent and tone detection, and Intelligent Triage and Auto Assist on Enterprise.

20%7.58.5Zendesk
Time to value
Why these scores

Ivanti: No public trial or price, and cloud, on-premises and hybrid options usually mean a longer design phase.

Zendesk: Published plans and a help desk interface many IT teams already know from customer service.

20%4.58Zendesk
Configuration management (CMDB)
Why these scores

Ivanti: Configuration management and IT asset management are certified practices, with less discovery detail published than ServiceNow [ServiceNow CMDB page].

Zendesk: IT asset management from Suite Growth, but no CMDB or relationship mapping is documented.

Info only8.53Ivanti
Usability for non-IT requesters
Why these scores

Ivanti: A virtual agent, chatbots and self-service portals are documented.

Zendesk: A self-service employee portal and knowledge base, with AI agents answering first.

20%6.58.5Zendesk
Integrations
Why these scores

Ivanti: Hybrid deployment suits connections to on-premises systems; the integration catalogue size is not published.

Zendesk: AI agents that take action across business systems and omnichannel routing on the suite.

20%78.5Zendesk
Pricing transparency
Why these scores

Ivanti: No public pricing; contact sales.

Zendesk: Team, Growth and Professional are priced publicly; Enterprise + Copilot is quoted.

20%28Zendesk

Ivanti scores higher on 0 criteria, Zendesk on 5, and 0 are tied among the five scored criteria.

How much do Ivanti and Zendesk cost?

Ivanti Neurons for ITSM

PlanPriceWhat changes
All plansNot publishedContact sales.

Source: G2 comparison page: 'No pricing publicly available'

Zendesk for IT (Employee Service)

PlanPriceWhat changes
Suite Team$29 per agent/monthPaid yearly. AI agents, knowledge base, action builder.
Suite Growth$59 per agent/monthAdds IT asset management, service catalog, self-service employee portal, tasks and approvals, SLAs.
Suite Professional$99 per agent/monthAdds skills-based routing, admin copilot, app builder.
Suite Enterprise + CopilotNot published (contact sales)Adds Intelligent Triage, Auto Assist, approval workflows, sandbox.

Source: Zendesk for IT (Employee Service) pricing

Which ticket stages does each one automate?

Lifecycle Automation Census: documented automation by ticket stageIvanti Neurons for ITSM documents automation at 5 of six stages, with 0 partial.01Logged✓DocumentedVirtual agent,chatbots andself-service portals02Categorised✓DocumentedAutomaticallyclassifies incomingtickets03Routed✓DocumentedRoutes tickets to theright team04Resolved✓DocumentedAgentic AI detects andremediates issues05ClosedNot documented06Reviewed✓DocumentedKnowledge articlesgenerated fromresolved incidents
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.

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Lifecycle Automation Census for Ivanti Neurons for ITSM, as a table
StageStatusNote
01 LoggedDocumentedVirtual agent, chatbots and self-service portals Source
02 CategorisedDocumentedAutomatically classifies incoming tickets Source
03 RoutedDocumentedRoutes tickets to the right team Source
04 ResolvedDocumentedAgentic AI detects and remediates issues Source
05 ClosedNot documented
06 ReviewedDocumentedKnowledge articles generated from resolved incidents Source
Lifecycle Automation Census: documented automation by ticket stageZendesk for IT (Employee Service) documents automation at 5 of six stages, with 0 partial.01Logged✓DocumentedAI agents work on anychannel02Categorised✓DocumentedDetects intent andtone03Routed✓DocumentedOmnichannel routingassigns tickets toqualified agents04Resolved✓DocumentedAI agents resolvemulti-step workflows05ClosedNot documented06Reviewed✓DocumentedAI monitoring across100% of interactions
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.

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Lifecycle Automation Census for Zendesk for IT (Employee Service), as a table
StageStatusNote
01 LoggedDocumentedAI agents work on any channel Source
02 CategorisedDocumentedDetects intent and tone Source
03 RoutedDocumentedOmnichannel routing assigns tickets to qualified agents Source
04 ResolvedDocumentedAI agents resolve multi-step workflows Source
05 ClosedNot documented
06 ReviewedDocumentedAI 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.

When should you choose Ivanti?

Ivanti does not score higher than Zendesk on any of the five scored criteria. Choose it for reasons outside our scores, such as fit with tools you already run. We list it as best for: organisations that must run ITSM on-premises or hybrid with certified ITIL practices. Read the Ivanti Neurons for ITSM review

When should you choose Zendesk?

Choose Zendesk if pricing transparency and time to value matter most to your team. It scores 8 and 8 there, against Ivanti's 2 and 4.5. Team, Growth and Professional are priced publicly; Enterprise + Copilot is quoted. 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

What do buyers ask about Ivanti and Zendesk?

Which is better overall, Ivanti or Zendesk?

On the business-teams weights, Zendesk scores 8.3 and Ivanti 5.5 out of 10, ranking 1= and 9 of 9 on the business-teams ranking. Ivanti leads on 0 criteria and Zendesk on 5.

Which is cheaper, Ivanti or Zendesk?

Ivanti lists Not published; Zendesk lists $29 per agent per month (Suite Team, annual). Ivanti does not publish prices, so a direct comparison needs a quote [Ivanti page]. Pricing units differ (per agent, per seat or per technician), so compare the plan that includes the practices you need. On pricing transparency Ivanti scores 2 and Zendesk 8. The calculator prices both for your agent count.

Which has the deeper ITIL coverage and CMDB?

On ITIL practice coverage Ivanti scores 9 and Zendesk 4; on configuration management (CMDB) Ivanti scores 8.5 and Zendesk 3. Configuration management and IT asset management are certified practices, with less discovery detail published than ServiceNow [ServiceNow CMDB page].

Where next?