Kayako vs ServiceNow vs Zoho Desk comparison

Read 223 ServiceNow reviews

25,791 Views
7,479 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Zoho Desk

Read 21 Zoho Desk reviews

1,182 Views
1,111 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Kayako

Zoho Desk

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Kayako, ServiceNow, and Zoho Desk based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow, Atlassian, ManageEngine and others in Help Desk Software.

To learn more, read our detailed Help Desk Software Report (Updated: September 2025).

Download the complete report

Help Desk Software

September 2025

Helped 867,953 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Kayako is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow is 17.6%, down from 26.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Desk is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ServiceNow	17.6%
Zoho Desk	2.6%
Kayako	0.4%
Other	79.4%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

reviewer1712472

Operations and Support Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees

Flexible, straightforward implementation, and helpful support

We are in the process of switching from Kayako to ManageEngine Desktop Central. We went through a full review of our service desk processing and one of the solutions we purchased was a ManageEngine Desktop Central. When we were looking at the integrations into the Kayako system and how it works, we found that ManageEngine Desktop Central did very similar things. It had better layers of classification, other templating, and additional features that we did not have with Kayako. Our service manager made the decision to switch at that time. My advice to others wanting to implement Kayako would be for them to plan out their service processes first, prior to trying to implement them in the tool. We made the mistake of jumping in too soon back 10 years ago. I started using it in a way that we could have tooled it in a different way to make it better. We could have had more implementation process information to make sure we received what we wanted to out of the solution. I rate Kayako an eight out of ten.

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Nikhil Gohil

Solution Engineer - Digital Platform | Mobile at British American Tobacco

Enables effective incident management and seamless workflow automation with valuable mobile accessibility

I haven't thought deeply about improvements for ServiceNow or what might be missing right now. There are so many modules and features in ServiceNow that I haven't explored them all, so it's hard to say what might be missing or should be improved. I suggest making the cost more affordable for smaller companies.

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Babatunde-Olugbode

Technical presales engineer at Avetium Consult Ltd

End-to-end solution to manage customer support tickets and consolidate all communication channels into one platform

For me, the valuable features are related to customer engagement because I want to ensure I don't miss any customer inquiries, no matter the channel. For example, I haven't seen any other platform that consolidates all channels into one console. That's a valuable feature to me. Then there's the pricing, which is better than Zendesk. Zendesk charges in USD per user, per month, whereas Zoho let us pay in Naira (Nigerian currency). Zoho can also identify user locations, letting you leverage existing reviews. These are valuable features that many organizations have adopted Zoho Desk for. We can download the mobile app to see requests and respond from anywhere. It is one of the most improved applications and widely integrated systems I've worked with. You can virtually integrate it with almost anything, like Microsoft Teams and other data applications. The marketplace lets you find native integrations. For example, we have an organization that uses multiple systems and wants to ensure agents don't log in to multiple platforms to see emails. They have a native integration system that takes care of that and works seamlessly.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Kayako is its flexibility. We can do anything we want with it, which is nice."

"It's actually easy to understand."

"Flexibility is the most valuable feature of ServiceNow, that is, being able to modify it to do what we need it to do."

"For the nuts and bolts running of an IT organization, I can't really say there's anything lacking feature-wise."

"Consolidating multiple functionalities into a single platform reduces the need to invest in various separate solutions. ServiceNow integrates ITSM, CMDB, Discovery modules, and more into one cohesive system."

"ServiceNow is easy to use and has a user-friendly interface."

"It is user-friendly and simple to use."

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

"I like that in ServiceNow creating workflows is simpler than that in HP Service Manager. Also, I really like the customization feature. It allows us to customize the service portal and permits us to do a lot of customization per business needs."

More ServiceNow pros

"The ticketing feature is very easy to use, compared to other systems."

"The deployment process is swift, typically taking just one day, and includes customization and automation setup."

"The product provides communication features like chats and calls."

"The tool has made support very flexible and strong. We can use chat boxes and auto-responses. If someone creates a ticket, it will be created in Zoho Desk's ticket module. We can get emails and respond to them within the product. We don't need a support email product to manage emails. We can easily manage it within Zoho Desk. The tool's interface is good since it updated the layout three months ago and the current interface is more effective."

"The product is quite stable."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The integration part is a valuable feature in the solution, especially if we're talking about Zoho One solution. Zoho Desk is easy to integrate with Zoho platform."

"The solution doesn't have any bugs."

More Zoho Desk pros

Cons

"Some of the reporting in Kayako could be improved. It only has two levels of classification and if there were additional levels added for reporting purposes it would be awesome for our environment."

"I do not like the user interface."

"Their GUI could be updated."

"I would like to see more functionality in terms of custom workflows, not impacting the overall platform health."

"Some enhancements to the self-service platform would be helpful. That part is still a little barebone... Also, the mobile app is not bad, but it's limited."

"Creating service catalog forms could be made easier."

"It would be nice if we could, with some specific access rights, move histories from one squad to another, as they generate dependencies or duplicate or flag them."

"It's too complicated and there are too many options."

"Most people are discussing UIs, but I'm a developer. I would say 80-90% of the people would appreciate that, that's easy for them, but from a developer perspective, it's hard for me, because for me it's clunky"

More ServiceNow cons

"The main concern is the pricing of Zoho Desk, as I consider it to be on the expensive side."

"Sometimes support is available according to their time slots and they can't fulfill everything I need them to. They give us a time slot but it's not always enough."

"Sometimes, the solution has some email issues in a new data center."

"There is room for improvement with the pricing."

"It could be easier to link Zoho Desk and Outlook."

"There is room for improvement in customer service and support. It could be more knowledgeable."

"I would want Zoho Desk to integrate Zoho CRM, Zoho SalesIQ , and Zoho Campaigns."

"The customization of modules and some blueprint in the solution are areas with shortcomings that need improvement."

More Zoho Desk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Kayako is a highly affordable solution."

"I'm not aware of any additional costs. I'm pretty sure that the current client is paying just the licensing fee per user. I do know that they've got some support agreement with ServiceNow, but I don't think that is broken out or specific to Project Management. It is just inclusive."

"For large-scale companies, the cost of ServiceNow is not expensive, but for small and mid-scale companies, it is higher."

"ServiceNow pricing is an art, not a science. The deal depends on how commercially savvy you are, which does make it something that is quite difficult to get right. It is most definitely an opportunity area for ServiceNow to improve and have more visibility around pricing of the different products within the platform."

"For the modules we use, we found it competitive. I can't think of any costs in addition to the licensing fees."

"The solution is expensive."

"ServiceNow is a leader and its pricing is quite good, quite competitive... Sometimes some plugins are not priced reasonably but, generally, the platform itself, its modules, are priced reasonably."

"ServiceNow tends to be a little bit more expensive as compared to BMC Helix ITSM."

"We know that ServiceNow is not cheap, it's more expensive than other solutions. But we are trying to increase our ability to handle tickets so that the cost per ticket is less."

More ServiceNow pricing and cost advice

"Zoho Desk is a cost-effective solution."

"The solution costs INR 8400 per user."

"Regarding pricing, it's 35 USD per user a year and 45 USD per user a month. Under the price, I have access to all Zoho products since it all falls under Zoho One's package."

"Price-wise, Zoho Desk is about 35 USD a month per user."

"The gap is limited, but it should limit the price back bracket so that most start-ups can use it most effectively."

"The solution is relatively cheap. However, there are additional licensing fees involved."

"Zoho Desk's pricing is more flexible."

"For what it does, it's quite cheap."

More Zoho Desk pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	54
Midsize Enterprise	36
Large Enterprise	163

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	1

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?

The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into t...

Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?

Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ...

What do you like most about ServiceNow?

The solution has a user-friendly interface.

What do you like most about Zoho Desk?

The most valuable features of Zoho Desk are archiving queries and analytics.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Desk?

The pricing in Brazil is complicated due to the high exchange rate, with one dollar equaling six reais. Altasnet has ...

What needs improvement with Zoho Desk?

Zoho Desk could be improved by making it multi-tenant, as it is currently not suitable for service providers with mul...

BMC Helix ITSM vs ServiceNow

Comparisons

No data available

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs ServiceNow

Compared 5% of the time

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ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus vs Zoho Desk

Compared 14% of the time

Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk

Compared 9% of the time

JIRA Service Management vs Zoho Desk

Compared 6% of the time

Zendesk vs Zoho Desk

Compared 6% of the time

Freshservice vs Zoho Desk

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Kayako product report

Help Desk Software

September 2025

Download ServiceNow product report

August 2025

Download Zoho Desk product report

Zoho Desk

August 2025

Overview

Kayako is a powerful customer service and support platform that gives your team the tools they need to communicate with customers across live chat, email, facebook and twitter.

Our approach brings every interaction your customer has with your business into Kayako and presents your agents with a comprehensive customer journey. This gives your team the context they need to immediately respond and support customers in a way that’s quick, accurate and personal.

Kayako is used by over 130,000 customer support pros in businesses of all sizes around the world, including Peugeot, NASA, Fedex, and GE.

Kayako

ServiceNow is a cloud-based task-management platform that specializes in IT operations management (ITOM), IT services management (ITSM), and IT business management (ITBM). ServiceNow allows users to manage their teams, projects, and customer interactions using a variety of different plugins and apps with which it easily integrates.

ServiceNow offers prebuilt applications to support any process, as well as a framework and tools that allow you to build your own.

ServiceNow’s service management solutions include change, request, incident, problem, and cost management, as well as HR, IT, field service, and facilities management solutions. They also cover business management solutions such as vendor performance management, financial management, performance analytics and project portfolio suite, as well as governance, risk, and compliance.

“The Smarter Way to Workflow”

ServiceNow’s activities, processes, and tasks are overseen as part of a comprehensive managed workflow that supports such features as real-time collaboration, communication, and resource sharing. ServiceNow’s suite of products allow for operation using serverless computing, and include the categories of Business Apps, Customer Service, HR, IT, and Security.

ServiceNow can be used to support most workflows because of the wide range of tools it offers. These include on-suite ticketing tools, predictive modeling to manage workflows, and benchmarking for the tracking of progress. ServiceNow can assist with artificial intelligence and machine learning processes and can be used to organize the cases of a help/service desk as well as for instance management and problem management. It also smoothly integrates with many legacy systems.

ServiceNow offers service management software for industries including:

Cloud services
Education
Financial services
Government
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Telecommunications

Reviews from Real Users

PeerSpot users prefer ServiceNow to its competitors because of its scalability, stability, and ease of use. It helps everyone in the company to be on the same page by creating a single source of record across all departments. One user stated that “I’ve definitely used over 20 project management solutions, but they can't be compared with ServiceNow.” Another said that “ServiceNow is an industry leader in multiple areas and provides an excellent ROI.”