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ConnectWise PSA vs Zendesk comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 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

ConnectWise PSA
Ranking in Help Desk Software
24th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Business Management Software (1st), Professional Services Automation (PSA) (4th)
Zendesk
Ranking in Help Desk Software
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
CRM Customer Engagement Centers (4th), CRM (8th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (6th), Sales Force Automation (4th), Reporting (10th), Knowledge Management Software (3rd), Community Platforms (1st), AI Customer Support (7th), AI IT Support (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Help Desk Software category, the mindshare of ConnectWise PSA is 1.6%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 5.1%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Help Desk Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Zendesk5.1%
ConnectWise PSA1.6%
Other93.3%
Help Desk Software
 

Featured Reviews

JonMcWilliams - PeerSpot reviewer
vCTO - Technical Account Manager at CMIT Princeton
Very useful for ticketing and billing purposes
In this case, we have the ability to fire on tasks. An email can be sent, and it is being received into the Kaseya tool or Autotask. Autotask then can parse the email appropriately and route it based on the rules that we set up. In that sense, it's very dynamic, and I can immediately identify which client is making a support request. It can route it to the appropriate queue and then send out the appropriate notifications. As work is done on the ticket, you can also notify the person requesting support or other pre-designated contacts so that they're kept in the loop. ConnectWise PSA is making its updates, and its integration with Office 365 has been really good. I like the fact that the solution integrates with IT Glue. ConnectWise PSA is making improvements, and it's a little bit more dynamic. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
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

"I like the search function up top where if you know what you're searching for, you can find it pretty quickly. Because you've got the option to change what the search parameters are, whether you're searching for a project, quote, ticket, or an invoice, you can kind of pick and choose what you're looking for."
"Contains every feature that a VAR or MSP would want."
"The platform is easy to use."
"The initial setup isn't too difficult."
"I also like ConnectWise's ability to set up queries. I can set up all these different queries that look for specific things and end up with a list of results, like feedback from the client or the ticket status."
"The ease of reporting is valuable. We have a weekly management meeting, and we gather numbers from ConnectWise in preparation for that. It is helpful for measuring how we're doing in our performance."
"The product has been pretty stable so far."
"The search function is really good. To have a single place where we have the account information stored is probably most valuable."
"We rarely had issues with Zendesk."
"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."
"What is cool about Zendesk Guide is how it works together with others Zendesk products. Especially with support and with the analytics. Put those together for a small or medium-sized company and it's a really powerful tool."
"The benefits I have seen from using Zendesk include faster response times; as a CSM, faster response is the goal, which solves the customer's challenge in a timely manner, and Zendesk offers that capability, which is beneficial."
"My advice to others looking into using Zendesk is that if you need an alternative to GitHub Actions or GitHub issues, this is worth looking at."
"It is very easy to connect back and forth between the requester and the person fulfilling the ticket."
"The product offers very good management. It has a great ability to assign tickets based on content."
"The initial setup is simple and straightforward."
 

Cons

"The speed could be better, and the reporting could be a lot better."
"The tracking inventory or the way it tracks the products is not very good."
"Has a very outdated 90s interface and not all features are accessible via the mobile app."
"If you've got 40 tickets that come in, that get generated, that don't get properly tagged with the company, you can't just check them all and reassign them to another company. You have to individually reassign each one of those tickets to a new company."
"A lot of times, it'll take a couple of moments for things to go through. If you're not patient about it, it may seem like things aren't working."
"Sometimes it is a little bit slow, which is the only complaint I have about it."
"All other ticket systems can search previous tickets, whether they were homegrown in Oracle or something else. I'm talking about searching the actual contents of the discussions in the ticket. In ConnectWise, you can only search the summaries. It's ridiculous."
"ConnectWise Manage can improve third-party integrations and the UI. The UI is good but it could improve in the graphics."
"The data you get when logged in to Zendesk Support differs from the data you get when you programmatically query Zendesk Support through its API because of a sync time delay."
"Sometimes if there was a way to just flag the actual issue out of those email chains - that would be really helpful."
"I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate more AI."
"Zendesk's stability on inbound calls could be improved as compared to Talkdesk."
"The price of the solution should be reduced."
"Zendesk Guide's customization could be improved. I would like it to be easier and maybe open-sourced, so that if you have a developer in your company, you can do it yourself. Right now, that isn't allowed, so you need to have it done via the integrator. Another improvement—this is nit-picking—is that it could be less easy to make changes. Some things are so easy that they sometimes look a little amateur-ish. Most of the templates are built-in so they can be used directly, so they are very simple."
"Zendesk Guide could be improved by allowing us to put our assets in one location. What happens now for each article, for example, is we have to upload the images for that article to that location, so the image reuse is still not something that they have perfected. If they could allow us to update all the images in one location, and then pull the image from there, it would be easier when working on Multibrand projects. There are no Multibrand updates available—we have to update each brand manually. For my company, I have come up with an API tool which allows me to push the content to multiple brands together, but if you don't have something like that, you have to manually do it."
"You couldn't give administrative access to new hires."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is not based on my clients so much as it is on how many people I have accessing the system, and I think it's pretty good."
"The pricing of ConnectWise Manage is reasonable."
"There are some different add-ons and benefits that are optional and come at an additional cost."
"I have one monthly license for all of the ConnectWise products I use, and it's $85 per user."
"The cost can be the main barrier. It's not a solution for a three person company. It just isn't going to be cost effective. Because ConnectWise Manage does have everything there, the licensing is a little bit restrictive as far as how they want to granularly assign licenses rather than having more of an all-inclusive package."
"We're paying $940 a month for 14 users."
"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."
"From what I hear, Zendesk's pricing is a little expensive."
"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."
"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."
"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
Performing Arts
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ConnectWise Manage?
In our case, the solution is priced out by the user we have in the system. The pricing is not based on my clients so much as it is on how many people I have accessing the system, and I think it's p...
What needs improvement with ConnectWise Manage?
The technical support of ConnectWise PSA is not very good.
What advice do you have for others considering ConnectWise Manage?
In this case, we have the ability to fire on tasks. An email can be sent, and it is being received into the Kaseya tool or Autotask. Autotask then can parse the email appropriately and route it bas...
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

ConnectWise Manage
Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

IT Connexx, High Standards Technology Inc, Solvere One, MyIT, ConnectWise, Simpatico Systems, Fred IT Group, ECS, OneStop, K2 Technologies, Clark Integrated Technologies, Jmark, Geek on Wheels
Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber
Find out what your peers are saying about ConnectWise PSA vs. Zendesk and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.