Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs Zendesk comparison

Hornbill Systems and Zendesk are both solutions in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category. Hornbill Systems is ranked #31, while Zendesk is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.4. Additionally, 50% of Hornbill Systems users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Zendesk users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Hornbill Systems Supportworks and Zendesk are competing in the customer support software market. Zendesk seems to have the upper hand due to its robust features and scalability.

Features: Hornbill Systems Supportworks offers customizable workflow automation, comprehensive ticket management, and flexibility in tailoring operations. Zendesk provides extensive integration options, advanced analytics tools, and a comprehensive support suite.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Hornbill Systems Supportworks allows for deeper customization with on-premise deployment but requires longer timelines for implementation. It offers dedicated assistance with a personalized approach. Zendesk has a cloud-based deployment model with intuitive onboarding, which reduces setup time and facilitates rapid adoption, and offers round-the-clock support through various channels.

Pricing and ROI: Hornbill Systems Supportworks presents competitive upfront pricing with customizable packages, catering to specific business needs, leading to higher ROI for tailored environments. Zendesk, though having a higher initial setup cost, justifies its expense with extensive features and scalability, promising substantial long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. Zendesk

June 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Automation Anywhere

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

Management Consultant at Accenture

Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions

Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.

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it_user1262703

Service Desk Team Leader at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Excels in call logging and call flows but is limited in terms of scalability

I'd advise others to map their processes out before starting with the solution. Hornbill has recently generated a new version of its product and it meets some of the requirements that we would have been looking for. It's a bit more scalable, a bit more responsive to a customer-focused model for support, and they've improved a lot of things like process flow and self-service. In terms of rating the solution, it's difficult to grade. It really depends on the size of the organization that's trying to use it as that tool. One of the reasons why we're looking to shift is because we've grown quite a bit over the years that we've had it, which makes it difficult for it to meet our demands. However, for an organization the size of what we were when we started our journey with it, I'd rate it ten out of ten. Where we are now, with our company size and needs, I'd rate it six out of ten.

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AmandaSanchez

Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises

Macros and automation have streamlined workflows and reduced manual effort across support teams

The ability to communicate on the Zendesk ticket through the actual user software, so TOPs, would have been helpful. Somehow seeing a user's ticket history within our app would have been beneficial. That is the only thing that I do not think existed at the time that might have been helpful. Some people struggled with Zendesk, but it was always easy enough to show them how to use it and what they were missing. The only times we really had people report concerns about it was when they did not understand that it could do that or how to use it in that way.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Automation is very important if you want to grow your business to the next level because of the transparency, speed, and scalability for any organization."

"It is very user-friendly. The AI capability that nowadays I am seeing in Automation Anywhere is very good. They have plug-and-play AI solutions."

"All customers were happy after automating using AA because of the better accuracy, it's easy to develop and manage, and it's easy to manage the orchestrator."

"Features like reusing each and every piece of code for things such as login scripts and data extraction scripts helped us to speed up the implementation of PoC for the client."

"Its ease of use is the most valuable feature. It is easy to train developers and find the right people, then use them to build the tool."

"It has helped us to save a lot of FTEs for our solutions that we have provided to our companies. Suppose a job which was done by a group of eight to nine people on a daily basis for 24 hours was taking a lot of time, so we created a bot with Automation Anywhere. It was done with a bot working 24/7. It reduced the numbers of guys required to do that process."

"The ease of use of getting started is probably the big thing. They had a lot of references that we were able to check. It is a well-known player, and being able to get up and running quickly was the big thing."

"Earlier users were converting the unstructured data from the PDF into the structured format to process the task but now, this activity is replaced by IQ Bot."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"We've definitely seen an ROI; we've had the system in place for eight years, and it's provided a solid platform for us to deliver our services during that period."

"The solution's business process flow is quite strong. Its reporting is quite good. The standard, basic ITSM functionality like call logging and call flow, for example, are areas the solution really excels in."

"It is quite user friendly to use and has a lot of very useful features that makes the analyst/technician's life easier."

"Navigation and application is user friendly and can be self-taught from a user perspective."

"It is a scalable solution."

"It is easy to use, highly customizable and makes our work faster."

"This feature allowed our team organize and assign certain members to a particular group."

"Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls."

"We chose Zendesk because of its ease of use and the projected ROI."

"I love how the tickets would auto-populate very quickly in Zendesk, especially when a call comes in."

"Zendesk was chosen because it is the most user friendly."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"The scheduling is a little difficult at times."

"The starting price, which is a one-off fee is a bit high and this may deter mid and small-sized companies from acquiring and decide to shun the platform."

"In A2019 the dependencies that are being downloaded take a longer time that should be reduced. Migration utility should be provided so we can easily migrate from lower versions to higher versions."

"Queues are great but need improvement. They are helpful because most of the automations are transaction-based."

"I think the pricing model should be more flexible."

"Applications like Microsoft Power Automate do have zero-code systems. I've not done much research on Automtin Anywhere in comparison. However, if Automation Anywhere could also have something of that sort, that would be a game changer."

"It would be nice to have the IQ Bots integrated with the Enterprise Edition without requiring extra licenses. That would be great."

"The areas for room for improvement are always going to be around experience, making it even easier to get engaged, and get started. Because lowering that threshold to get started is what enables an additional set of problems to be solved."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"It's worked well for us for a significant period of time. However, we are kind-of outgrowing it at the moment. We're struggling a bit with making it meet our requirements."

"Customer Service: I'd rate it as a 5/10 or 6/10."

"It could use better analytics for trend tracking as well as the ability to tie the customer support and sales items together."

"Recently they have been under some stability issues, but they do have @ZendeskOps to keep us posted on Twitter when they have issues."

"Customer Service: 6/10 – usually helpful but sometimes very slow. Technical Support: 6/10 – usually helpful but sometimes very slow."

"I would love to see an easier way to add users to Zendesk as well as a way to BCC people on tickets."

"Zendesk Guide could be improved by allowing us to put our assets in one location. What happens now for each article, for example, is we have to upload the images for that article to that location, so the image reuse is still not something that they have perfected. If they could allow us to update all the images in one location, and then pull the image from there, it would be easier when working on Multibrand projects. There are no Multibrand updates available—we have to update each brand manually. For my company, I have come up with an API tool which allows me to push the content to multiple brands together, but if you don't have something like that, you have to manually do it."

"When we used this solution for sales it turned out to be very poor."

"From what I recall, the experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Zendesk was quite expensive and that is what prohibited us from expanding usage of it into more users and using more of its capabilities."

"Zendesk Guide's customization could be improved; I would like it to be easier and maybe open-sourced, so that if you have a developer in your company, you can do it yourself."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive. Automation Anywhere has reduced the price slightly, as we have grown. However, the price is still excessive enough that we are engaged in PoCs on other tools."

"We're just starting to renew our license, and we were quoted $115,000 without the IQ Bot. The IQ Bot is another $30,000. This is with very limited pages, as we go through our first projects. The majority of the cost was for ten days of onsite training."

"It is not cheap, with costs ranging between 700 to 800 dollars per month. While Power Automate is cheaper at 15 dollars per month, Automation Anywhere offers superior features, user-friendliness, and smoothness."

"The price of Automation Anywhere is a little higher than some of the competition, such as UiPath. However, depending on the use case and other factors we are able to receive some discounts."

"I find the license pricing to be competitive and reflective of the pricing models throughout the RPA space, and I believe there is a lot of value in continuing to maintain the free community edition platform."

"The solution itself is free unless we want to add the support option but we have to pay for the bots we use."

"The major reason that we selected Automation Anywhere was the licensing model."

"They are already coming out with a community license, which is really good. That's something that I wish to have."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"Our organization pays about $40,000 annually. There are ongoing consultancy costs and if we want to change anything, we're charged a day rate. Other than that, there are no other extra costs involved in working with the solution."

"You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."

"The price is very competitive."

"Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."

"There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."

"From what I hear, Zendesk's pricing is a little expensive."

"We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Construction Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

No data available

Construction Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	154
Midsize Enterprise	82
Large Enterprise	536

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	37
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...

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How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?

It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

I actually have no idea about pricing, setup costs, and licensing. That was provided by our client, so they handled t...

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What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

The time saved or how quickly we resolve tickets now compared to before depends on the situation we are handling. If ...

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What is your primary use case for Zendesk Support?

My main use case for Zendesk is for ticketing purposes. I was replying to customers over Zendesk, and I was also usin...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

June 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

IT Service Management (ITSM)

June 2026

Download Hornbill Systems Supportworks product report

Buyer's Guide

Zendesk

May 2026

Download Zendesk product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

Supportworks

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

Hornbill Systems

Demo not available

Zendesk

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

Hornbill Systems Supportworks is a flexible IT service management tool designed to manage complex IT environments with ease.

Designed for IT service management, Hornbill Systems Supportworks facilitates efficient operation within complex environments. With customizable workflows and automation capabilities, it addresses detailed requirements for seamless process execution.

What are the standout features of Hornbill Systems Supportworks?

Customizable Workflow: Offers tailored workflows to fit precise IT management needs.
Automation Capabilities: Enhances efficiency through task automation, reducing manual intervention.
Integration Options: Supports integration with third-party applications, ensuring interoperability.
User Management: Streamlines user role assignments and access provisions.
Reporting Tools: Provides comprehensive reporting for data-driven decision-making.

What benefits can you expect when evaluating reviews of Hornbill Systems Supportworks?

Scalability: Adapts to growing business demands without performance issues.
Cost Efficiency: Lowers operational costs through automation and effective resource management.
Enhanced Productivity: Increases productivity by minimizing downtime and improving process flows.
Improved Service Delivery: Elevates the quality of IT services with enhanced management tools.
Time Savings: Reduces time spent on troubleshooting and routine tasks.

Hornbill Systems Supportworks is implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, where streamlined operations and reliable service management are critical. Its adaptability ensures it meets sector-specific compliance and operational challenges effectively.

Hornbill Systems

Zendesk provides a versatile platform for managing customer interactions, offering efficient ticketing, customization, and integration features across multiple channels to enhance user experiences.

Zendesk stands out for its simplicity, ease of use, and comprehensive integration capabilities with CRM tools, which help optimize workflow efficiency. Users benefit from advanced analytics and reporting features that offer valuable insights into customer behavior. Multi-channel support and self-service portals are integral components, enhancing customer interaction experiences. While security protocols and flexible configurations contribute to its broad appeal, areas for improvement include more intuitive reporting, advanced customization of triggers and automations, and enhancements in knowledge management. Users express the need for better ticket management functionalities, efficient data synchronization, and refined interface aesthetics. Performance can be impacted by extensive customization, and there’s a call for competitive pricing and simplified licensing options.

What are Zendesk's most important features?

Simplicity and Ease of Use - Facilitates smooth onboarding and daily operations.
Integration Capabilities - Seamlessly integrates with CRM tools to enhance workflows.
Analytics and Reporting - Provides insights into customer behavior and operational efficiency.
Multi-Channel Support - Manages customer interactions across various channels.
Self-Service Portals - Empowers users to access information and solve issues independently.
Security and Flexibility - Offers strong security protocols and flexible configuration options.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in reviews?

Increased Productivity - Streamlines processes to boost team efficiency.
Enhanced Customer Experience - Multi-channel support and self-service options improve interactions.
Insightful Data Analysis - Superior reporting features offer valuable business insights.
Improved Workflow - Integrates seamlessly with existing tools to optimize operations.

Zendesk is extensively applied across sectors for customer support management and technical issue resolution. In HR or IT settings, it facilitates internal requests and knowledge base creation. Organizations leverage Zendesk's integration with collaboration tools like Slack and Jira, automating workflows and delivering detailed analytics, which are particularly useful for multinational operations handling queries in different languages and brands.

Zendesk

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

Aylesbury Vale District Council

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber

Buyer's Guide

Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. Zendesk

June 2026

Free Report: Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. Zendesk

Find out what your peers are saying about Hornbill Systems Supportworks vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

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