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Sendbird vs Zendesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
1.0
Sendbird improved ROI by streamlining communication, enhancing engagement, increasing user retention, reducing costs, and boosting customer satisfaction.
Sentiment score
6.2
Zendesk delivers cost savings and efficiency with flexible pricing and integration, addressing operational needs despite ROI measurement challenges.
I can tell you that we probably saved at least three employees full-time with the ticket management and the automation and the macros and the user follow-up being built in.
Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises
I feel that Zendesk helped us set up our platform for providing support way faster than other platforms due to its easy configuration.
Junior system analyst at Wevt clous
We were able to offer a seamless 24/7 support experience and meet all our SLAs due to the robust nature of the platform.
Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.0
The Sendbird support team is friendly and responsive, but struggles with technical issues; users prefer using documentation.
Sentiment score
6.4
Zendesk support is generally responsive and professional, with some users experiencing delays and a lack of 24/7 chat support.
There appears to be a lack of connection between the bot and the agents, making it feel scripted rather than helpful.
Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.
CEO at Etcetera Networks
Their support team from Zendesk is excellent, similar to what you have in Freshdesk.
Customer Success Manager at Mimshackworks Endeavors
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.3
Sendbird efficiently manages high-traffic, supports scalability, minimizes documentation reliance, and reliably handles thousands of users despite occasional SDK issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Zendesk scales well across team sizes, despite challenges in backups, updates, customization, and larger organization's specific scalability needs.
The scalability is quite effective.
Junior Software Developer at Weavers Web Solutions Private Limited
We have not hit a peak or a turn yet that Zendesk has not been able to go with us or been able to grow with us in the process, change or pivot that the company is making.
Project Manager III at City of Union City Government
Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.
CEO at Etcetera Networks
Zendesk's scalability is excellent.
Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.0
Sendbird is largely stable with minor issues like URL thumbnails and read receipts, earning user ratings of 7-8/10.
Sentiment score
7.8
Zendesk is stable and reliable, with occasional outages swiftly resolved, making it ideal for small businesses and startups.
Sendbird works well overall, the stability is sometimes affected by chat lists being randomly ordered rather than in chronological order.
Junior Software Developer at Weavers Web Solutions Private Limited
They are always informing us with a status update and an ETA, and the turnaround time is usually within the same day with no extended downtime that would cause a detriment to our company.
Project Manager III at City of Union City Government
Zendesk is quite stable; we experience major outages only once or twice a year, making it very reliable.
Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The stability has been quite reliable.
CEO at Etcetera Networks
 

Room For Improvement

Sendbird faces challenges with SDK delay, high costs, integration issues, and support, needing feature enhancements and better documentation.
Zendesk users seek improved usability, better integration, enhanced reporting, customization, mobile support, streamlined management, and communication tools.
The documentation for integrating with the Flutter framework is lacking detailed information.
Junior Software Developer at Weavers Web Solutions Private Limited
Zendesk could actually support HTML on the tickets so we could format our text better than the current options such as size, bold, italic, or underscored, because the text processing is too simple.
Junior system analyst at Wevt clous
Zendesk is missing an AI aspect that could help provide quick answers based on the knowledge housed within the platform.
Technical Support Engineer/ QA at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Zendesk is amazing, and because they are always working on a new upgrade or a new integration, they are very forward-thinking from an engineering perspective.
Project Manager III at City of Union City Government
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find Sendbird expensive, with high starting prices and costly customization, affecting switching and trial decisions.
Zendesk's pricing can be high, impacting decisions, but offers flexibility and valuable CX features if negotiated effectively.
The subscription cost is quite high, which prevents us from subscribing before the project completion and user testing.
Junior Software Developer at Weavers Web Solutions Private Limited
It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
CEO at Etcetera Networks
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Zendesk was quite expensive.
Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises
 

Valuable Features

Sendbird provides scalable, real-time chat features with intuitive API management, supporting large groups and including statuses and reactions.
Zendesk excels in integration, user-friendly ticket management, automation, customization, and robust analytics to enhance productivity and user experience.
Features similar to WhatsApp, such as online and offline statuses, message reactions, and replies, add significant value.
Junior Software Developer at Weavers Web Solutions Private Limited
It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
CEO at Etcetera Networks
Zendesk is way cheaper than other ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, providing a good platform at a lower price so we could offer good support with a low budget for the license.
Junior system analyst at Wevt clous
Being able to put response counters on certain tickets and have certain ones that are high priority and have a tighter SLA than lower priority items, being able to categorize them as a question versus an urgent request, and being able to bucket them as feature requests or product enhancements.
Consultant and Startup Founder at AimHi Enterprises
 

Categories and Ranking

Sendbird
Ranking in Help Desk Software
11th
Ranking in AI Customer Support
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Social Software (7th), AI Customer Experience Personalization (14th)
Zendesk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
8th
Ranking in AI Customer Support
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (5th), CRM (15th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (6th), Sales Force Automation (5th), Reporting (12th), Knowledge Management Software (4th), Community Platforms (2nd), AI IT Support (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of Sendbird is 0.6%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 4.9%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Zendesk4.9%
Sendbird0.6%
Other94.5%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

Pranay Koley - PeerSpot reviewer
Junior Software Developer at Weavers Web Solutions Private Limited
Facilitates user communication with rich features
In our company, we are using Sendbird for building a chat feature within our salon application.  I am using the Flutter framework to implement the chat feature, which facilitates communication between users and businesses, specifically salon shops There are many useful features with Sendbird. I…
AmandaSanchez - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
9%
Performing Arts
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sendbird?
Testing Sendbird is challenging due to the trial limitations of only one hundred users. The subscription cost is quite high, which prevents us from subscribing before the project completion and use...
What needs improvement with Sendbird?
The documentation for integrating with the Flutter framework is lacking detailed information. Initially, I struggled to connect users and manage tokens for active and offline sessions, which caused...
What is your primary use case for Sendbird?
In our company, we are using Sendbird for building a chat feature within our salon application. I am using the Flutter framework to implement the chat feature, which facilitates communication betwe...
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?
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 o...
What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?
As of right now, I have nothing that comes to mind as an improvement needed or a feature that could work differently or be enhanced. I think across the board, Zendesk is amazing, and because they a...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Sendbird Calls, Sendbird Desk
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about Sendbird vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.