N-able MSP Manager vs Zendesk comparison

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N-able MSP Manager

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

N-able MSP Manager and Zendesk are competing products in the IT service management and customer support space. While N-able MSP Manager has more favorable pricing and support options, Zendesk offers a more extensive feature set, which justifies its higher cost.

Features: N-able MSP Manager provides ticket management, service request tracking, and integrated billing, which simplify IT operations. Zendesk includes a robust knowledge base, multi-channel support, and automation tools, enhancing customer service capabilities.

Room for Improvement: N-able MSP Manager could enhance its customer engagement tools and expand multi-channel support capabilities. Additionally, improving integrations with third-party applications and refining the user interface might be beneficial. Zendesk could benefit from reducing setup complexity and enhancing user training resources. Improving cost-effectiveness and reducing reliance on extensive customization could further its adoption.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: N-able MSP Manager features rapid deployment through its straightforward setup procedures and dedicated technical support. Zendesk involves a more complex deployment due to its wide range of capabilities but compensates with comprehensive training and support resources.

Pricing and ROI: N-able MSP Manager offers a competitive pricing model with lower setup costs and strong ROI by efficiently managing services. Zendesk has higher setup costs but offers significant ROI through enhanced customer interaction functionalities.

To learn more, read our detailed N-able MSP Manager vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: May 2025).

N-able MSP Manager vs. Zendesk

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Helped 858,038 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:

Categories and Ranking

N-able MSP Manager

Ranking in Help Desk Software

25th

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

29th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zendesk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

9th

Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (7th), CRM (19th), Sales Force Automation (8th), Reporting (14th), Knowledge Management Software (5th), Community Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of N-able MSP Manager is 0.8%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 4.6%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

Yazan Albaw

Customer Success Director at We Cybers

N-able MSP Manager centralizes service management, automates ticketing, and enhances client communication for streamlined IT operations.

For improvement, there's a feature I've already requested from N-able that I'd love to see in future releases. When adding a client, there should be a way to add multiple contacts under each client. Currently, we have to manually enter each contact’s details one by one, including their name, last name, password, and other information. It would be much more efficient if we could import contacts in bulk, perhaps using an Excel sheet or another import method. Additionally, it would be highly beneficial if MSP Manager could integrate with multiple RMM solutions. At the moment, we're limited to integrating with just one RMM, Expanding this capability would greatly enhance the versatility and value of MSP Manager.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication

Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo ( /products/klaviyo-reviews ), enhancing our workflows.

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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

"I am impressed with the tool's integration with our mail system."

"The best advantage for us, since we use all N-able products, is that the MSP portal centralizes everything."

"This is a premier product and it has been around for a long time."

"I like that you can do all the things with it. You can patch, and you can run the scheduled tasks. You can remote in, upload files, and download files. You can log onto a computer PowerShell, or command prompt, without having to log into RDP. I also like its ease of use."

"One of the most valuable features is that Zendesk gives you a lot of configurability, and a lot of leeway in terms of customizing the look and theme. Zendesk offers you the facility to design your own landing page, as well as the look and feel of the entire knowledge base. At the same time, they offer themes that you can simply purchase and implement. Either way, it can really be turned into the right look and feel of the knowledge base required by our company, which is very important—if you have a bland-looking page, most of the time, people will lose interest. Zendesk also allows you to test the customizations before you publish it. It gives you a sandbox location where you can test everything new that you're trying to create and publish, which is very interesting."

"The most valuable feature is the trackability of incoming requests. The system keeps a comprehensive history of work requests, making it a useful tool for our internal processes."

"The product offers very good management. It has a great ability to assign tickets based on content."

"What is cool about Zendesk Guide is how it works together with others Zendesk products. Especially with support and with the analytics. Put those together for a small or medium-sized company and it's a really powerful tool."

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

"It is a scalable solution."

"One of the most valuable features is the ease of use. If you take the standalone product, it is so easy to use, but if you want a tailor-made Zendesk Guide, you can't do it yourself. However, you can use a template that already exists—they have a lot, and they're very cheap, around 300-400 euros—and use it on all your brands. It's a very easy product to use."

"I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to use, and I haven't encountered any issues with delays or communication gaps in ticket resolutions."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"I'd like to see a way to import contacts in bulk using an Excel sheet or another import method."

"What I would like to see is a simplified solution that is packaged better, where you can easily implement or turn on the functionality that you need."

"The tool needs to improve its customization of the user interface."

"Its reporting is lousy and bad. It is not as good as it should be. There is too much work involved to get what you want. Most times, you have to call them to customize some stuff. I just don't like that part. They need to work on their reporting. They have a way to go."

"As per me, there arent much significant issues or areas for improvement with Zendesk, as my usage of it is limited. I appreciate its ability to organize tickets effectively based on tags, allowing me to easily gather and analyze customer feedback and requests."

"If I write an article, and I have a team of 30 people, and they all have a Zendesk account, when I write an article, I send them an email. "Hey guys, I just wrote this article. It's one of the most popular topics this month on which we are not covered. Please check it and make sure that you include it in your resolutions". The issue is, once I send it to those 30 people, and they open it, the next morning, that article is the most popular article."

"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. Right now, that isn't allowed, so you need to have it done via the integrator. Another improvement—this is nit-picking—is that it could be less easy to make changes. Some things are so easy that they sometimes look a little amateur-ish. Most of the templates are built-in so they can be used directly, so they are very simple."

"You couldn't give administrative access to new hires."

"One of the drawbacks of Zendesk is that it doesn't provide a secure way for us to send data. So, we usually use a secure SharePoint folder link. We put that in the Zendesk ticket so that the requester has a secure way of getting to their data."

"Sometimes if there was a way to just flag the actual issue out of those email chains - that would be really helpful."

"The data you get when logged in to Zendesk Support differs from the data you get when you programmatically query Zendesk Support through its API because of a sync time delay."

"The support team is time-consuming, and they don't find the answer to our problem."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Don't get scared of the price tag because it's definitely worth it."

"I would rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten since it's not the cheapest one in the market."

"I don't know the exact cost, but I know it's reasonable. Its cost of entry is not bad. I've had other organizations sign up for it. I don't know how much they paid, but it wasn't bad. You charge for every object. You charge for AV, and you charge for servers. There is a charge for everything or every object in that. I know we make money from it, but I don't know what it is."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"The price is very competitive."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

24%

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with N-able MSP Manager?

What is your primary use case for N-able MSP Manager?

At We Cybers, we utilize multiple N-able products, including RMM, EDR, and Passportal. N-able MSP Manager seamlessly integrates our ticketing system with both RMM Insight and N-central, enabling au...

What advice do you have for others considering N-able MSP Manager?

N-able MSP Manager also shines with its robust automation and workflow capabilities, which I find truly impressive. Users can automate the conversion of RMM triggers and alarms into tickets, automa...

What do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...

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

Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier ( /products/zapier-reviews ). However, easier integration could enhance the usability. Multilingual ...

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Product Reports

Help Desk Software

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Also Known As

SolarWinds LOGICnow, SolarWinds MSP Manager

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

Managing your business and providing excellent support shouldn’t bog you down. MSP Manager’s ease of use will free your team to deliver on your promise of great service.

Intuitive, lightweight ticketing with seamless RMM and N-central^®platform integrations.
Painless time tracking with convenient timers and functionality for recurring tickets and appointments.
Closed-loop email with automatic ticket monitoring and routing, with a streamlined Microsoft 365 setup via OAuth.
Complete customer and knowledge management with a branded portal.
Accounting integrations with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero.

N-able

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Sample Customers

Longleaf Systems, ITproMedia, Choice Technology, Halski Systems, Allixo Technologies, Nettech, Concept Technology

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

N-able MSP Manager vs. Zendesk