SolarWinds Web Help Desk vs Zendesk comparison

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SolarWinds Web Help Desk

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

SolarWinds Web Help Desk and Zendesk compete in the IT service management sector. Zendesk generally holds an advantage with its feature-rich platform that appeals to businesses focusing on customer service.

Features: SolarWinds Web Help Desk includes robust ticketing, asset management, and integration with IT tools, making it ideal for IT-focused companies. On the other hand, Zendesk offers customizable workflows, multi-channel support, and extensive third-party app integrations, which are preferred by users in dynamic customer service environments.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds could enhance its user interface and reporting capabilities and expand its multi-channel support features. Zendesk may improve by offering more affordable pricing options, simplifying setup processes for smaller teams, and enhancing offline support features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Web Help Desk is known for its quick deployment and straightforward implementation process, backed by efficient customer support. Zendesk offers cloud-based deployment for easy adoption and provides comprehensive customer support, which appeals to businesses looking for scalable solutions.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Web Help Desk generally involves a lower initial cost, offering significant ROI for IT management-focused businesses. In contrast, Zendesk, while more expensive initially, delivers greater ROI through features enhancing customer interaction and satisfaction. Zendesk's extensive capabilities attract those prioritizing comprehensive customer engagement, offsetting its higher cost.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Web Help Desk vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: March 2026).

SolarWinds Web Help Desk vs. Zendesk

March 2026

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Helped 884,933 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

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

19th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zendesk

Ranking in Help Desk Software

4th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

CRM Customer Engagement Centers (4th), CRM (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (5th), Reporting (10th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), AI Customer Support (20th), AI IT Support (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Web Help Desk is 1.1%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 5.4%, up from 4.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Help Desk Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Zendesk	5.4%
SolarWinds Web Help Desk	1.1%
Other	93.5%

Help Desk Software

Featured Reviews

GANESAN K

Senior Technical Engineer at Safezone Secure Solutions Private Limited

Has supported daily operational workflows and improved approval management across departments

We actually do the reselling. We created a self-service portal for the customers, and this particular function does impact reducing IT staff workload overall. From technical standpoints, comparing SolarWinds Web Help Desk with TeamViewer, we need ease of configuration and ease of allocating, creating new fields or creating new layouts for many specific use cases. An organization can have a number of use cases when it comes to a ticketing tool. It's not a security solution; it's more of a service solution where you will be configuring the needed categories and needed fields for each department. On a scale of 1-10, I rate SolarWinds Web Help Desk an 8.

Read full review

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.

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

"SolarWinds supports case and incident reporting. This includes logging incidents and tracking them efficiently. Additionally, it is compatible and approved by the ITIL foundation and standards, meeting world-class standards."

"It is easy to use."

"The solution scales well; currently is working for 60 help desk technicians (IT and non-IT) for over 2,000 users."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the assets management module."

"The biggest advantage for SolarWinds Web Help Desk is the user interface; we were able to configure a different UI for administrators, employees, and HODs based on their hierarchy level."

"It has a pretty good search function. If you do the advanced search, you can basically search for anything in any field. If I do a search on the request field and just put in some terms I'm searching for, I can usually find the ticket that I'm looking for."

"Once installed, it runs like a charm and doesn't ever crash."

"SolarWinds is scalable as far as adding devices and servers."

"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."

"The ROI is amazing."

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

"As per my experience Zendesk is a very impressive, efficient and convenient web based help desk application."

"The ability to easily create macros, quickly see past correspondence from a recent sender, and view analytics are incredibly helpful features that are invaluable business tools."

"Our company is based on this model and wouldn't be as successful as we are today without this support structure in place."

"It's very convenient to use."

"It's very great for tracking your customer service activities, building reports, and gaining satisfaction from responses."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"This solution needs to have mobile application support added."

"The working part, the deployment part, and the configuration part was a little bit complex."

"A little outdated compared to newer products that include protection and detection."

"The interface feels clunky to me compared to some other systems that I've used. I used ManageEngine Service Desk prior to this at my previous job and that had stuff like categories that we use that I don't see in SolarWinds."

"Dashboards need some amount of work to be done. Ease of customization is desired."

"We would like to see automation included in the next release. We would like to eliminate the L1, and L2 support, by at least 80%. To do this, we need automation with AI (Artificial Intelligence) in combination with ML (Machine Learning)."

"It would be good if there were training and tutorial videos on the Web Help Desk."

"My experience with Zendesk's customer support has not been positive. When I open a ticket for a bug, it often does not expedite the resolution process."

"Additionally, "Internal note" is never just an internal note, it is sent to all recipients on the ticket, which has led to quite a lot of miscommunication and frustration."

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

"The look and feel could use a little more polish."

"Merging tickets is very time consuming; maybe the system can automatically merge tickets that are related and on the same topic."

"The support is not on chat often which is quite frustrating if you want immediate answers but they do respond to tickets within 24 hours."

"I really wish they had a chat feature - like Olark for example."

"The solution could integrate better with QR codes from some websites such as Facebook."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When you compare with ManageEngine and ServiceNow, SolarWinds is reasonable."

"They charge by the technician. It costs $117 per technician per year."

"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."

"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."

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

"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

Retailer

13%

University

11%

Performing Arts

11%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	21
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

Areas of improvement can be enhanced regarding configuration. We had the deployment metrics and usability, ease of use, and ease of access. These were the three functionalities we were looking for ...

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

For Zoho, we did OP Manager, Audit Security, AD Security and Asset Management, Patch Management. These things we are dealing with Zoho. We are not dealing with solutions such as Zoho Mail or Zoho P...

What advice do you have for others considering SolarWinds Web Help Desk?

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?

I wish there was a more easily dynamic tool. Currently, it is quite difficult because not all the tools are labeled. A feature that would be beneficial is if hovering over an icon would tell you wh...

ServiceNow vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Comparisons

Compared 17% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

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BMC Helix ITSM vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 10% of the time

BMC FootPrints Service Core vs SolarWinds Web Help Desk

Compared 8% of the time

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JIRA Service Management vs Zendesk

Compared 6% of the time

Freshservice vs Zendesk

Compared 6% of the time

Freshdesk vs Zendesk

Compared 3% of the time

BMC Helix ITSM vs Zendesk

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Download SolarWinds Web Help Desk product report

SolarWinds Web Help Desk

February 2026

Download Zendesk product report

February 2026

Also Known As

No data available

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

SolarWinds Web Help Desk simplifies service management with unified ticketing, asset, knowledge, and change management. Key features include:

Maintain asset inventory by managing the use, availability, and health of IT assets, and tracking this over time.
Control change management, It regulates and manages change requests through automated approval workflows and panel voting options.
Employs robust reporting and monitoring using a built-in reports and dashboards to track ticket status, technician performance, and customer support needs.
Automate ticketing management that Automate service request management through ticket creation, assignment, routing, and escalation.
Centralize your knowledge management, Leverage a built-in help desk knowledge base to create and maintain KB articles and promote end-user self-service for common issues.
Meet your SLAs, it has "SLA breach approaching" notifications and date-specific SLA reminder alerts that help customize escalation and de-escalation workflows.

SolarWinds

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

Instacart

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