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ServiceNow Customer Service Management vs Zendesk comparison

ServiceNow and Zendesk are both solutions in the CRM Customer Engagement Centers category. ServiceNow is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Zendesk is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.5. ServiceNow holds a 10.7% mindshare in CCEC, compared to Zendesk’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Zendesk users who would recommend it.
ServiceNow Customer Service...
Read 14 ServiceNow Customer Service Management reviews
  • 556 Views
  • 156 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
Zendesk
Read 60 Zendesk reviews
  • 211 Views
  • 170 Comparison Views
93% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between ServiceNow Customer Service Management and Zendesk based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two CRM Customer Engagement Centers solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow Customer Service Management vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: June 2025).
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Customer Service Management vs. Zendesk
June 2025
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Helped 857,028 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
Organizations achieve ROI with ServiceNow CSM by streamlining processes, reducing costs, and aligning with business goals for improved efficiency.
Sentiment score
7.3
Zendesk offers cost efficiency and improved productivity, with ROI influenced by alignment with operational needs and process integration.
Without such tools, the business would be affected by five to ten percent in annual revenue.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
ServiceNow's customer service is praised for responsiveness and multilingual support, with some delays in lower packages.
Sentiment score
7.0
Zendesk receives praise for responsiveness and ease of use, but some users desire better chat features and human interaction.
It is better because partners have a deep understanding of the code and configuration challenges.
The technical support is good, but there are very few people who understand the technicalities and background configurations.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
The technical support provided by Zendesk has been very satisfactory.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
Arvind Mehrotra - PeerSpot reviewer
AG
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is praised for scalability, customization, and efficient self-service, enhancing business operations without extra costs.
Sentiment score
7.5
Zendesk is praised for scalability and customization, although some face initial setup challenges and structural integration issues.
If challenges are resolved efficiently with tools like ServiceNow Customer Service Management, it significantly impacts business operations.
The solution is scalable and offers high scalability as new features are added regularly.
Scalability can lead to performance issues.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
Zendesk can scale from very small companies to very large ones.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
AG
MS
Arvind Mehrotra - PeerSpot reviewerJohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is stable, efficiently handles high traffic, yet customization limitations and portal issues can occasionally arise.
Sentiment score
7.9
Zendesk is stable with minimal downtimes, reliable performance, occasional minor issues, and high reliability ratings, especially for smaller businesses.
Overall, it is very stable aside from these issues.
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is highly stable, which is critical because it operates as a live system 24/7.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
The stability has been quite reliable.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
AG
MS
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Room For Improvement

ServiceNow Customer Service needs improved customization, integration, AI features, pricing flexibility, and easier report downloading and upgrades.
Zendesk faces challenges with data management, flexibility, integration, user-friendliness, and customer communication, while users are dissatisfied with support and pricing.
It is important to follow practical rules and best practices to avoid misconfigurations caused by different developers doing things their own way.
Managing this platform requires sophisticated handling.
If our organization wants to customize features that are not initially available in the system, these customizations might cause issues during upgrades.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
MS
Arvind Mehrotra - PeerSpot reviewer
AP
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

ServiceNow Customer Service Management is costly but valued for efficiency, with premium pricing potentially unsuitable for smaller businesses.
Enterprise buyers find Zendesk's pricing high but valuable, with costs varying by agent count and business needs for tailored solutions.
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is expensive, with costs around half a million US dollars per year.
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is expensive, although there is value for money considering the time and administrative efficiencies it brings.
The pricing is around a seven, making it rather expensive.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
MS
AP
AG
JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

ServiceNow CSM offers powerful workflow and integration, enhancing service delivery with automation and AI on a flexible platform.
Zendesk offers user-friendly ticket management, seamless integrations, multi-channel support, and robust security for efficient and productive customer service.
ServiceNow Customer Service Management offers valuable features such as workflow management, an approval cycle, and integration with a payment gateway, which allows for payments to be made using the system.
The best aspect of ServiceNow Customer Service Management is its out-of-the-box features that support all customer service processes.
It integrates all different queues into one dashboard and consolidates various departments, ensuring visibility across the organization is transparent.
For more quotes and insights, download the ServiceNow Customer Service Management report
It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities.
For more quotes and insights, download the Zendesk report
MS
AP
Arvind Mehrotra - PeerSpot reviewerJohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Categories and Ranking

ServiceNow Customer Service...
Ranking in CRM Customer Engagement Centers
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Customer Experience Management (3rd)
Zendesk
Ranking in CRM Customer Engagement Centers
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
CRM (19th), Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (8th), Sales Force Automation (8th), Reporting (14th), Knowledge Management Software (5th), Community Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the CRM Customer Engagement Centers category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Customer Service Management is 10.7%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 7.1%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Customer Engagement Centers
 

Featured Reviews

Arvind Mehrotra - PeerSpot reviewer
Integrating departments for unified service while managing complexity and learning curve
ServiceNow Customer Service Management ( /products/servicenow-customer-service-management-reviews ) integrates the admin, finance, HR, and service departments, enabling an employee of an organization to get service from a single window. It integrates all different queues into one dashboard and consolidates various departments, ensuring visibility across the organization is transparent. It helps to create a shared services organization, reducing the operational complexity and facilitating a more unified service delivery. It consolidates all service desks under one umbrella, enhancing efficiency.
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JohanSkibdahl - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
24%
Educational Organization
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ServiceNow Customer Service Management?
We can integrate different technologies in ServiceNow Customer Service Management. An organization would like to offer a digital transformative experience to its employees and customers, which the ...
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Customer Service Management?
ServiceNow Customer Service Management is expensive, although there is value for money considering the time and administrative efficiencies it brings.
See all answers
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Customer Service Management?
The integration cost and learning curve are very high, and managing this platform requires sophisticated handling, which is more complex compared to other solutions.
See all answers
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 ...
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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.
See all answers
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

Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Customer Service Management
May 2025
ServiceNow Customer Service Management reportDownload ServiceNow Customer Service Management product report
Buyer's Guide
Zendesk
May 2025
Zendesk reportDownload Zendesk product report
 

Also Known As

ServiceNow CSM
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

Customer Service Management groups key applications and capabilities into scalable packages that can grow with you as your needs change.

ServiceNow

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.

Zendesk
 

Sample Customers

Siemens Healthineers, SAP SuccessFactors, Asurion
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Customer Service Management vs. Zendesk
June 2025
Free Report: ServiceNow Customer Service Management vs. Zendesk
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow Customer Service Management vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
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We monitor all CRM Customer Engagement Centers reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.