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BMC FootPrints Service Core vs Zendesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

BMC FootPrints Service Core
Ranking in Help Desk Software
29th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
28th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zendesk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
4th
Ranking in IT Service Management (ITSM)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (4th), CRM (9th), Reporting (10th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), AI Customer Support (20th), AI IT Support (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the IT Service Management (ITSM) category, the mindshare of BMC FootPrints Service Core is 1.5%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 4.8%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Service Management (ITSM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zendesk4.8%
BMC FootPrints Service Core1.5%
Other93.7%
IT Service Management (ITSM)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1765752 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
A flexible, comprehensive, integrated IT service and asset management platform with good technical support
We use BMC FootPrints Service Core to manage network issues, infrastructure issues, software issues, and ERP. We also use it to manage our facility. So, we do some work orders and also use it as an extra ticketing system Technical support is good. It would be better if it were more…
AmandaSanchez - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Technical support is good."
"We have found the reports and the lockdown on a ticket valuable, so only one person can update issues."
"It's extremely stable; we've got customers who are mobile telecommunication customers, hospitals, power companies, and an airport, and we can handle the volume with no interruptions where instability would really be unacceptable."
"It is stable and its technical support is good and quick."
"Having a one stop shop for linked assets and tickets has improved end user adoption and led to a reduction in phone/email tickets."
"It has helped the help desk team. We get our tickets in and are able to support our customers, the end-users, with this solution."
"Having a one stop shop for linked assets and tickets has improved end user adoption and led to a reduction in phone/email tickets."
"It has helped the help desk team. We get our tickets in and are able to support our customers, the end-users, with this solution."
"Zendesk saves us over $50,000 per year and can be maintained in-house by our staff."
"Zendesk Support has a lot of good APIs."
"The most valuable features of Zendesk Support are collaboration, reports, and a self-service portal. The customer and team can see all the information needed from the portal."
"Its agility and simplicity are the most valuable features. This tool is very user-friendly."
"The stability has been very good."
"It forced the organization to rethink sub-par work processes and enabled us to work smarter."
"It's an amazing product, it really helps out in organizing all our tasks."
"As per my experience Zendesk is a very impressive, efficient and convenient web based help desk application."
 

Cons

"There are still a few odd issues in FootPrints 12.x, which are frustrating."
"Hyphens are not allowed in the quick search bar. This has created a problem in our environment where we use hyphens in our asset names."
"We need more customizable reporting functionality."
"We need more customizable reporting functionality. We could also use more collaboration of service desk tickets. This will allow for two departments to share the same information, track the progress of the total task scope no matter how complex the request is."
"It is pretty clunky and not very intuitive. Even though I have used it for many years, I don't think it is a very good ITSM platform in general."
"The workflow should be made to be more user-friendly. It should also have more granular scalability."
"Sometimes it is difficult to make the application do exactly what you need."
"The mobile version of this product does not support asset management."
"Zendesk's stability on inbound calls could be improved as compared to Talkdesk."
"They have something called Zendesk Explore, which isn't as good as what they had in place previously."
"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."
"One of the drawbacks of Zendesk is that it doesn't provide a secure way for us to send data. So, we usually use a secure SharePoint folder link. We put that in the Zendesk ticket so that the requester has a secure way of getting to their data."
"Customer Service: 6/10 – usually helpful but sometimes very slow. Technical Support: 6/10 – usually helpful but sometimes very slow."
"There are some edge cases where the simplicity of the platform prevented some unusual workflows, but we worked around it without much hassle."
"For smaller environments, some type of tutorial or walkthrough would be helpful for first time users."
"It needs to have a more intuitive application of macro’s in changing ticket statuses."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing for FootPrints is a perpetual license with an annual support fee."
"This solution has good pricing."
"Cost was on par with other service desk products, and well below Remedy, while still being a BMC product."
"Our costs are well over $250,000."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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...
 

Also Known As

FootPrints Service Core
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cast & Crew
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC FootPrints Service Core vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.