Enchant vs Zendesk | The Simple Alternative
Enchant and Zendesk are similar at a high level. Both solve the same problems, just differently.
This is because both companies target different customers.
Zendesk targets enterprise organizations, which have both unique requirements and large budgets. As a result, unfortunately, small businesses may find that Zendesk is complicated to setup and use.
Enchant, on the other hand, is made for small and medium businesses. We have all the functionality you need, in a powerful and affordable solution.
Switched in 2015 after trying zendesk and other systems. Enchant is a keeper.
Enchant and Zendesk are very similar
First, Let’s step back a bit and understand how the products are similar.
| Feature | Enchant | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Inboxes | ||
| Live Chat | ||
| Knowledge Base Websites | ||
| Social Media | ||
| Text Messaging (SMS, WhatsApp) | ||
| FAQ Widgets | ||
| Customer Satisfaction Ratings (CSAT) | ||
| Analysis and Reporting | ||
| Collaboration Tools | ||
| Automation Tools | ||
| Email Routing | ||
| Multi Language Support | ||
| Multi Brand Support | ||
| Third Party Integrations | ||
| Custom Integrations | ||
| Developer API |
Zendesk is way more expensive
Both Enchant and Zendesk charge per seat, meaning you are billed for the number of people that need to log in and provide support to your customers.
Enchant has one plan ($15 / user / month) with everything included. Zendesk has a number of plans based on the feature set you require.
Simple pricing w/ just the right features.
Zendesk has a number of pricing plans to choose from, depending on your needs and usage. However, every Zendesk plan costs more than Enchant’s one plan (as of Apr 2022), so you’ll always pay more if you use Zendesk.
Below, we’ll consider some different use cases and compare the pricing plans.
Use case 1: A small business with basic needs
Let’s say you have simple needs:
- 3 support agents
- 1 support email address (info@ or help@)
- 1 chat widget on your site
- 1 knowledge base website
- Ability to track customer satisfaction ratings
| Enchant | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Monthly Bill | $45 / month | $237 / month |
| Billing Rate | $15 / user / month | $79 / user / month (as of Apr 2022) |
| Same Features | Everything included, no contracts, no surprises | Cheaper if willing to pay for a year up front |
Use case 2: A business that operates in multiple languages
Let’s consider a more complicated setup:
- 20 support agents
- Operating across 8 different languages, meaning:
- 8 support email addresses
- 8 live chat widgets
- 8 knowledge base websites
- Ability to track customer satisfaction ratings
| Enchant | Zendesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Monthly Bill | $300 / month | $1980 / month |
| Billing Rate | $15 / user / month | $99 / user / month (as of Apr 2022) |
| Same Features | Everything included, no contracts, no surprises | Cheaper if willing to pay for a year up front |
… so the real question to ask yourself is: Why pay more for Zendesk?
Other ways Enchant and Zendesk are different
1. Zendesk is complicated, Enchant is not
Zendesk targets enterprise organizations, which have significantly different priorities and requirements. This can make Zendesk feel more complicated for everyone else. It can get so complicated that there exists an entire industry of consultants who you can pay to help you make sense of Zendesk.
On the other hand, Enchant was built for the needs of small and medium business. If your team is familar with Gmail, Enchant Inbox will feel like Gmail on steroids. Even more advanced multi-brand or multi-language setups are simple enough that you’ll be able manage them without external consultants.
2. Enchant’s email integration is invisible to your customers
With Enchant, the emails you send will look like normal emails.
No ugly ticket numbers.
No “reply above this line”.
No strange from address.
No login links.
Just a plain email.
We believe your customers shouldn’t be dragged into the world of a help desk solution. They just want help, they don’t care about the software you use.
3. Enchant is realtime
You know how Gmail updates automatically whenever a new email comes in? Enchant not only does this, but everything about a customer request automatically updates in real time for everybody that’s logged in to the system. This is especially important in a collaborative environment where team members can pass requests to each other or even work on the same request together.
In Zendesk, views don’t update in real time. Instead, you need to refresh your browser to see the latest changes made by others… or install a plugin or browser extension that refreshes your browser every few minutes.
One extra note: Did you know that Zendesk can only show 12 views at a time? In Enchant, we call them folders. Ours update in real time and we don’t have any limit on the number of folders you can create or see at one time. 🎉🎉
4. Zendesk pricing is complicated
Zendesk has many pricing plans depending on your usage and needs. It’s hard to figure out what it’s going to cost you without actually getting it all setup… and then, when your needs change, you may find yourself being forced to upgrade to a new plan. Not a good place to be if you’re on a budget.
Enchant is a lot simpler here. There’s one price that includes everything. No contracts. No pay-walls preventing you from using certain features. No surprises.
5. Enchant provides exceptional service
We’ve taken great pride in providing exceptional service for almost a decade now. Our agents go above and beyond in helping our customers get the most out of Enchant. Each customer request is answered by qualified and knowledgeable agents to ensure that every customer receives high quality service.
When to use Enchant?
Enchant is a powerful alternative to Zendesk. By focussing on the needs of small and medium businesses, we’ve built a solution that’s easy to understand, easy to use & easy to setup. Enchant provides a fast and smooth experience for your team and is completely invisible to your customers.
Enchant is a full featured solution that covers shared inboxes, live chat and knowledge bases. It easily scales to handle teams from 1 to 300 people spread across multiple brands, languages and departments.
I wanted a simple multi-user solution for my CS team that DID NOT involve a complex ticketing system like Zendesk and had a suite of essential team features.
When to use Zendesk?
Enchant isn’t right for everybody. It’s especially not right for you if customers need to be able to login to something to see the status of their requests. Enchant also doesn’t have certain features like public discussion boards.
If you’re an enterprise organization and need an all in one customer support solution, Zendesk would be a great fit.
Migrating in from Zendesk? We can import your data
If you’re considering migrating to Enchant from Zendesk, we can import your data for you. This service is fully managed by us and at no cost to you. Contact us for details.