The Best Help Desk Software for 2024

Why We Picked It

Zoho markets an extensive portfolio of business software, and Zoho Desk is one of its best offerings. It has an impressive feature set and the most competitive price tag of all the systems we tested. Its workflow designer, AI-based chatbot, and mobile apps are all particularly compelling features, but its capabilities hardly end there.

Who It's For

We can't help but be impressed by Zoho Desk's long list of features, and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any company. If we had any misgivings, they would be that Zoho's UI feels clunky and old-fashioned. Moreover, the sheer number of features might turn some customers off, especially if they struggle to learn how to use them.

Why We Picked It

Although it's pricey, HappyFox is one of the most comprehensive customer-facing help desk solutions on the market, and it's also suitable for many IT help desk functions. It's highly customizable, and features deep integrations with communications tools like Slack, making it easy to enter tickets without navigating to the HappyFox app.

Who It's For

If you're looking for a best-in-class help desk system, HappyFox should definitely be on your list to consider. It offers a robust set of features that should suit any sized company. One caveat is that its IT help desk capabilities are weaker than those of dedicated products. Although its pricing is competitive, it's among the more expensive solutions we tested.

Why We Picked It

Freshdesk is aimed squarely at powering customer-facing help desks for SMBs. (By contrast, the company's other product, Freshservice, is intended for internal IT operations.) As a result, it aims to resolve customer issues as quickly and efficiently as possible, with minimal friction for customers and service techs alike. Advanced features, such as gamification and multiple customer touchpoint channels, set it apart from the pack.

Who It's For

Small businesses that need help responding to customer issues will appreciate what Freshdesk has to offer. Particularly welcome will be Freddy, the product's AI, which is basically a one-stop shop for integrating text and voice-enabled chatbots and phone-based IVR systems. However, if you're looking for a system that can do double duty on your IT department's internal support desk, Freshdesk might disappoint.

Why We Picked It

HaloITSM is unabashedly "ITIL aligned," meaning it aims to help businesses deploy IT help desks that follow the ITIL set of best practices. That means it's more closely aligned with Vivantio Pro than it is with many of the other entries in this roundup, most of which are better suited to customer support help desks. But in its class, it's one of the best.

Who It's For

Enterprises are the most likely customers for ITIL-compliant help desks, but SMBs who insist on rigorous best practices may also need software like HaloITSM. If your IT support desk has a high ticket volume, this may be the solution for you. Just be aware that it won't cover all your needs if you also need a customer-facing help desk.

Why We Picked It

Vivantio is built from the ground up to support ITIL best practices, making it an excellent choice for any company that needs a standards-compliant IT help desk. It's more than capable of supporting businesses up to enterprise scale. It offers good reporting depth, and arguably the best overall customization of any product in its class.

Who It's For

If you know you need ITIL compliance in your IT help desk, your best bet is to go with a solution that caters specifically to that requirement. Vivantio will undoubtedly fill the bill there. On the other hand, if what you need is a help desk to provide external customer support, a different product may better cater to your needs.

Why We Picked It

Freshservice is the IT help desk solution offered by Freshworks, making it the spiritual big brother to Freshdesk, the company's offering for customer-facing help desks. It has a long list of features designed to enable your IT teams to manage assets and internal projects. It fully supports ITIL best practice guidelines. In addition, it's also well-suited to managed service providers who need to maintain SLA compliance.

Who It's For

Freshservice is well-suited to the needs of large organizations, but smaller companies might feel overwhelmed by its features. If the majority of your IT tickets involve simple tasks like password resets, a less-complex solution might save your support staff some time. On the other hand, if you need to manage complex IT projects—and particularly if you need ITIL compliance—Freshservice is a strong contender.

Why We Picked It

InvGate has built a help desk for IT support centers of all sizes, with a particular eye on business process and standards compliance. It includes a powerful workflow builder that helps automate complex processes and efficiently move tasks between stakeholders. It supports service level agreement (SLA) management and incorporates gamification features to help incentivize support agents. Moreover, it integrates closely with InvGate's separate asset management and change management products.

Who It's For

Companies that require a help desk solution that adheres to standards such as Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) or the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) should give InvGate Service Desk a look, especially if they're interested in implementing the add-on functions InvGate offers. However, be aware that the product is almost exclusively focused on in-house IT help desks. If you need something more external-facing, you should probably look elsewhere, particularly if you need features like social media integration.

Why We Picked It

What was once merely Atlassian's help desk offering has expanded into a much more versatile platform, mainly by the company acquiring and integrating tools from other companies. The current product lets you select the focus you need, whether that's IT operations, facilities management, customer support, or something else. It also integrates team messaging and AI-powered problem resolution.

Who It's For

Jira Service Management is a good all-around choice for help desk management. If you'd like to use the same tool for multiple job roles, the ability to set areas of focus should appeal. However, some customers might be disappointed that certain features cost extra, including social media integration and Active Directory support.

Why We Picked It

ServiceDesk Plus is another system geared toward internal support desks operated by IT professionals. It follows the ITSM standard for IT process and change management. The software recently added modules for handling IT problems specific to company departments, such as human resources (HR), finance, and others. And because ManageEngine is owned by Zoho, it offers tight integration with other products from both ManageEngine and Zoho.

Who It's For

This help desk system isn't for neophytes. It assumes your internal help desk is staffed with experienced IT pros. But if that describes your IT support teams, and they can handle a user interface that isn't quite as user-friendly as some others, ServiceDesk Plus offers a wealth of features aimed at helping issues get resolved faster. However, you may find that some of the more compelling, advanced features are only available at the top pricing tiers.

Why We Picked It

Spiceworks' help desk system is sure to catch the eye of any buyer for one simple reason: It's absolutely free. That doesn't mean it's not competitive against the other offerings in this roundup, however. While it has few frills, it provides basic ticketing and reporting features that should be suitable for small business IT help desks.

Who It's For

You should pass Cloud Help Desk by if what you really need is a tool for customer-facing support. Much like the Spiceworks community itself, the company's tool is focused squarely on the needs of IT help desks. Although we doubt it can scale to meet the requirements of large organizations (and it doesn't adhere to ITIL), small companies with limited IT support needs can't go wrong for the price.

(Editors' Note: Spiceworks is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)