Difference Between Freshdesk and Help Scout

A reliable help desk system can impact the performance of a venture. The increased productivity, quality of services and creation of a happy community of consumers is what every business works tirelessly for. Luckily, with the increasing technological innovations, there are a multitude of these systems. That being said, what works in one venture may perform poorly in another. As such, every business must learn to prioritize their needs as well as those of the consumers. 

Freshdesk and Help Scout are some of the renowned helpdesk systems. But why would a venture choose one over the over? The answer lies in the differences. Want to learn how you can choose the best system for your venture? Keep scrolling as we talk about the differences between Freshdesk and Help Scout. 

What is Freshdesk?

Developed by Freshworks, Freshdesk is a cloud-based consumer software service that helps enterprises to provide seamless services to their customers by monitoring customer conversations, improving productivity via smart automation, monitoring performance metrics and delivering self-services experiences. Since its inception, Freshdesk has remained an irreplaceable tool among businesses that want to manage customers easily and increase customer engagement. 

Some of the features of Freshdesk include:

• Support channels- Freshdesk offers various support channels including Email support, chat support, Twitter support, phone support, Facebook support and website support. 
• Helpdesk management- These include ticket activities, marge tickets, private and public notes in ticket, Fresh connect collaboration and To-dos. 
• Productivity hacks- These help businesses remain productive while spending less time on tasks that can be automated. They include automatic email notification, dispatch, customizable help desk, tags and canned responses. 
• Reporting- Customers can view recent activities, ticket trends, community forums and customer satisfaction via the default dashboard features. Freshdesk analytics also help users view group performance, performance distribution, ticket lifecycle and agent performance among others. 
• Self-service- Customers get to experience a self-service experience via the help widget, solution article analytics, form moderation and automatic solution suggestions. 

Freshdesk is ideal for a wide range of customers including small enterprises, freelancers, mid-size businesses and large enterprises.  

What are the pros of Freshdesk? 

• It has a simplified user- friendly design that makes it easy to use
• It offers an advanced workflow automation
• It has many integrations such as Slack and Salesforce
• It offers a free plan that is ideal for users who want to experiment with it before purchasing the services

What are the cons of Freshdesk? 

• It has limited automation and is difficult to configure
• It lacks an Instagram and SMS integration

What is Help Scout?

Founded in 2011 by Nick Francis, Jared McDaniel and Denny Swindle, Help Scout is a help desk software that helps users manage several brands or products from a single account and ensure a seamless collaboration among departments. Help Scout is ideal for all types of enterprises ranging from freelances, large, small and mid-size enterprises. And with the automation features, the platform gets repeatable tasks sorted, helping users focus on the more important tasks. 

What are the features of Help Scout? 

• Mailboxes- Help Scout offers a wide variety of mailbox features including API, Attach files, keyboard shortcuts, assigning, chat, auto reply and desktop notifications among others. 
• Email integration- Email notifications, collision detection, Forward in Conversations among others
• Reports- Advanced filters, API, printer-friendly, date comparisons and office hours filtering among others
• Security and reliability features- Some of these include data privacy, GDPR Compliance and HIPAA Compliance
• Beacon features- Article suggestions, beacon builder, customer profile data, mobile SDKs, messages among others

What are the pros of Help Scout? 

• It is invisible to customers. As such, communication completely mimics a normal email thread
• It is easy to set up and use 
• It provides useful and simple to use integrations and features 
• Via the automation features, users get simple tasks out of the way, hence improving productivity
• Users can create multiple mailboxes for shared email addresses. This helps departments work seamlessly and eases the management of several brands or products from a single account

What are the cons of Help Scout? 

• Since it is focused on email tracking, calls and chat tracking is difficult

Similarities between Freshdesk and Help Scout

• Both are suitable for any kind and business size including small, mid-size, large enterprises and freelancers
• Both are supported on Android app, iPhone app and web based. 
• Both have free trials

Differences between Freshdesk and Help Scout

Ownership

Freshdesk was developed by Freshworks in 2010. On the other hand, Help Scout was founded in 2011 by Nick Francis, Jared McDaniel and Denny Swindle.

Pricing

Freshdesk is cheaper with the pricing starting from $15 per month. On the other hand, the pricing for Help Scout starts from $20 per month. 

Languages supported

Freshdesk supports different languages including but not limited to English, German, Chinese, French, Italian, Turkish and Dutch. On the other hand, Help Scout only supports the English language. 

Device availability

Freshdesk is available in Android, web-based, iPhone/ iPad and Windows mobile. On the other hand, Help Scout is available in Windows, iPhone/ iPad, Android, Mac, Windows Mobile and web based. 

Available support

Freshdesk offers email, live support, phone, tickets and training. On the other hand, Help Scout offers Email and Tickets. 

Freshdesk vs. Help Scout: Comparison Table

Summary of Freshdesk vs. Help Scout

Freshdesk and Help Scout have different features and integrations. As such, every venture should choose the platform that works for them based on their needs. Both, however, simplify tasks with the automation features, enabling ventures to focus on what is important. 

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