SugarCRM Platform vs Zendesk comparison

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SugarCRM Platform

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

SugarCRM and Zendesk are competitors in the CRM and customer support software category. While SugarCRM offers robust CRM functions, Zendesk's comprehensive customer support features often give it the edge in user preference.

Features: SugarCRM offers customizable CRM features, sales automation, and marketing alignment, serving businesses focused on customer relationship management. On the other hand, Zendesk excels in ticket management, integration capabilities, and a user-friendly help desk system, making it suitable for companies emphasizing customer service.

Room for Improvement:SugarCRM could benefit from an easier deployment process, more seamless integration options, and enhanced reporting features. Zendesk might improve by lowering its cost, simplifying customization processes, and expanding CRM functionalities to compete better with full-scale CRM platforms.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SugarCRM’s complex deployment may require more time and resources for full integration but is supported by strong customer service. Zendesk offers an intuitive, quicker setup process, appealing to businesses seeking rapid implementation with solid user support.

Pricing and ROI: SugarCRM features lower initial setup costs with adaptable pricing models, targeting favorable ROI for CRM-focused companies. Zendesk, though higher in starting costs, aims to offer substantial ROI through its comprehensive suite of support tools, justifying its investment for those prioritizing customer interaction.

To learn more, read our detailed SugarCRM Platform vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: May 2025).

SugarCRM Platform vs. Zendesk

May 2025

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Helped 851,604 peers since 2012

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

SugarCRM Platform

Ranking in CRM Customer Engagement Centers

8th

Ranking in CRM

24th

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

9th

Average Rating

7.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Marketing Automation (8th)

Zendesk

Ranking in CRM Customer Engagement Centers

7th

Ranking in CRM

19th

Ranking in Sales Force Automation

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (9th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (6th), Reporting (13th), Knowledge Management Software (4th), Community Platforms (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the CRM Customer Engagement Centers category, the mindshare of SugarCRM Platform is 1.8%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 6.3%, down from 10.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM Customer Engagement Centers

Featured Reviews

Styliana Araouzou

Senior Operations Analyst at Etoro

Customizable, easy to configure, and reliable

My company is considered a customer and an end-user. I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using right now. It's a company that offers lots of user manuals and you can find most of your stuff there before starting development. I'd advise potential new users to go through everything. I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. By default, it comes with a really good model where you can start working with it without having a lot of developers in your team. It's a system that includes everything related to the client and you can see everything under one screen without having a different product or system. It's been great, for the most part.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication

Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo ( /products/klaviyo-reviews ), enhancing our workflows.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has sales email campaigns, plus integration with Active Directory."

"The most valuable features of Sugar Enterprise are the exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks."

"The most valuable features of the SugarCRM platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards."

"The most valuable feature is relation capability, which allows us to relay customers with invoice orders."

"It works well with Jira. You can customize it to fit your needs."

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is its low cost."

"It's a very stable tool, very powerful."

"One of the most valuable features is that Zendesk gives you a lot of configurability, and a lot of leeway in terms of customizing the look and theme. Zendesk offers you the facility to design your own landing page, as well as the look and feel of the entire knowledge base. At the same time, they offer themes that you can simply purchase and implement. Either way, it can really be turned into the right look and feel of the knowledge base required by our company, which is very important—if you have a bland-looking page, most of the time, people will lose interest. Zendesk also allows you to test the customizations before you publish it. It gives you a sandbox location where you can test everything new that you're trying to create and publish, which is very interesting."

"We rarely had issues with Zendesk."

"Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls."

"The feature to move over my customer experience team tickets for different specialists is very valuable for my team."

"Its agility and simplicity are the most valuable features. This tool is very user-friendly."

"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."

"It has good management, the ability to sign tickets based on content, the multi-channel support, the self service portal, the integration with Salesforce, the setup process, and the product features as we are currently using them."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"I would like to see more integration on a mobile platform in the next release."

"I would appreciate it if SugarCRM could support us in on-premise implementation."

"Sugar Enterprise could improve by removing bugs and glitches. For example, a comment was made but in the comment section, it was never displayed. However, the problems we faced might not be the fault of the solution."

"In the next release, I would like to see personalization of information about customers or specific businesses or opportunities."

"While it is already user-friendly, a slight enhancement in UI design, especially in terms of color combinations, could make the platform more visually appealing and comfortable to use."

"It lacks customization, and this is the main reason that we are switching to a different solution."

"You cannot include all your entities under one instance at the moment."

"The support team is time-consuming, and they don't find the answer to our problem."

"Report generation is still slightly tricky and not very customizable as per my inquiries."

"As per me, there arent much significant issues or areas for improvement with Zendesk, as my usage of it is limited. I appreciate its ability to organize tickets effectively based on tags, allowing me to easily gather and analyze customer feedback and requests."

"There is always a network issue with Zendesk. But we don’t know whether it is managed. The network issue is that when I call, it does not let us."

"The price of the solution should be reduced."

"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."

"They have something called Zendesk Explore, which isn't as good as what they had in place previously."

"It needs to improve in terms of its flexibility, price, and installation."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The price is very competitive."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

25%

Engineering Company

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Computer Software Company

24%

Educational Organization

10%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Sugar Enterprise?

The most valuable features of the SugarCRM platform include its flexibility in customizing fields, layouts, and dashboards.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sugar Enterprise?

All are almost the same pricing. Maybe the cheapest is Salesforce, I believe.

What needs improvement with Sugar Enterprise?

The only challenge was that we implemented it in our on-premise data center instead of using it in the cloud. That was a little bit of a challenge. But it was overcome with the help of SugarCRM com...

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?

Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

There could be improvements in integration, which can be achieved with APIs or tools like Zapier ( /products/zapier-reviews ). However, easier integration could enhance the usability. Multilingual ...

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Product Reports

Download SugarCRM Platform product report

SugarCRM Platform

April 2025

Download Zendesk product report

April 2025

Also Known As

No data available

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

SugarCRM is a versatile CRM solution that facilitates communication and organization within a company. Its primary use case includes call and comment logging, account relation, customer detail storage, verification handling, transaction tracking, marketing material management, and payment transaction handling. The most valuable functionalities include customizable exports of graphics, statuses, complaints, and tasks, as well as its scalability, stability, and low cost. It integrates well with Jira and can be easily configured. The platform improves efficiency, productivity, collaboration, communication, and coordination within organizations, while also providing valuable insights and data analytics for informed decision-making.

SugarCRM

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Sample Customers

Redglaze Group, TengoInternet, Hilco, Bancvue, Vet Adivsor

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber