Zendesk vs. eGain

Businesses today are under tremendous pressure to deliver more with less. They need to be the ultimate customer advisor, providing a quick and personalized customer experience (CX) while keeping costs low. So, choosing a customer service software provider that can meet these consumer expectations isn’t a want—it’s a must.

But finding a CX partner is easier said than done; that’s why we’re here to help. Our guide compares Zendesk vs. eGain and details how each can impact your operations.

You’ll find that Zendesk is the perfect partner to help you deliver fast, predictable value at a lower cost due to our ease of use, scalability, CX expertise, and wealth of product features. Read more about our capabilities below.

Intuitive design

At Zendesk, we know CX software is only useful if your agents can learn and use it effortlessly. That’s why we offer a quick, simple setup and several built-in features—such as workflow templates, automation, and AI—to maximize your team’s productivity. Zendesk has also received higher ratings for ease of use than eGain.

CX leadership

Zendesk is a trusted partner and CX authority that has helped 160,000+ businesses enhance their customer interactions. In fact, G2 ranked Zendesk as one of the top customer service products for 2024. eGain, on the other hand, did not make the G2 list and has limited customer reviews and proof points compared to Zendesk.

Scalability

You need a CX partner that can help you today and grow with you tomorrow. Zendesk provides a complete customer service solution with everything you need to build long-lasting customer relationships. We also boast over 1,500 integrations, so you can extend the software to meet evolving customer needs and business use cases. In contrast, eGain lacks the integration catalog that Zendesk offers.

More in this guide:

• At-a-glance comparison: Zendesk vs. eGain
• eGain vs. Zendesk: Features comparison
• Pricing plans: Zendesk vs. eGain
• Customer stories
• Frequently asked questions
• Ready to try Zendesk?

Below is a high-level overview of how Zendesk and eGain compare. We’ve included the most important features you need to deliver the best CX—some of which we’ll cover in more detail later.

Let’s dive deeper into four key customer service features and see how eGain and Zendesk compare.

Zendesk offers over 1,500 apps and integrations via the Zendesk Marketplace. You can connect all your business systems with a click to fully customize your experience, streamline your data, and create a 360-degree customer view. We also offer extensive API capabilities and an open, flexible platform for your dev team to extend the software to any use case.

On the flipside, eGain offers fewer than 30 integrations. This means the platform may be less flexible and not as customizable, requiring teams to rely on eGain’s limited capabilities to meet their needs. One user mentioned difficulty consolidating their customizations with eGain’s available integrations.

Learn more about the Zendesk platform and explore our Marketplace.

Live chat and messaging

With Zendesk, you can provide fast, convenient, and personalized support with our messaging and live chat tools and connect with consumers on your website, mobile app, or social messaging channels like Messenger, WhatsApp, and Slack. You can enhance the chat and messaging experience with Zendesk AI by deploying chatbots and proactive notifications to provide scalable, always-on support over your customers’ favorite channels.

While eGain offers live chat and messaging capabilities, there may be room for improvement, as one user states eGain’s live chat can be slow at times. This can be problematic for businesses looking to utilize live chat at scale.

Reporting and analytics

Zendesk offers robust reporting and analytics software that empowers your team to measure and improve your CX right out of the box. Some of our features include:

• Historical data that helps your team use past trends to influence future decisions
• Real-time data to help you make immediate adjustments on the fly
• Pre-built dashboards to easily monitor performance across every channel
• Point-and-click customizability to help you tailor your charts, metrics, and overall report

eGain provides reporting and analytics, but it has limited capabilities. Some users also suggest that the product has complex reporting definitions and that the reporting features can be unreliable and slow.

Customization

At Zendesk, we design everything with your business in mind. That’s why you can tweak most of our product features to fit your company needs—whether it’s your custom reports or ticketing system. Our Agent Workspace, for example, features drag-and-drop layout customization so your agents can create an ideal interface that matches their unique workflows.

Although eGain offers customization features, it may lack the flexibility and level of customization needed to make a difference. One user mentioned difficulty integrating their previous customizations with eGain’s out-of-the-box solutions.

The transparent pricing structure at Zendesk fits your needs today and gives you the flexibility to upgrade as your business grows. Plus, with Zendesk, you won’t need to pay for extensive technical administration or enlist an army of developers, resulting in a low total cost of ownership.

Conversely, eGain doesn’t display a transparent pricing structure—you must contact the company to get more information. While exact pricing isn’t publicly available, some customers have noted there can be expensive overages with increases in website traffic, and it may be costly to opt for add-ons and product improvements. Additionally, eGain tends to require add-ons for certain key features, which can drive up costs as you scale.

Zendesk has partnered with over 160,000 companies to improve their CX—many of them sharing their Zendesk customer stories. Below are some examples of how Zendesk has helped a few.

Sendle

“The fact that Zendesk is able to integrate with other tools and technologies we're using means that we have great transparency on all metrics, and we're able to make decisions very quickly. We are able to launch and roll out new channels at the speed we need to.”

—Eva Ross, chief customer and marketing officer at Sendle

Photobucket

“Zendesk offers us a ton of flexibility. With the additional options like messaging that Zendesk has added, it gives us even more flexibility and ability to set up our agent workspaces so that our agents have the best opportunity to help our members as quickly as possible.”

—Ruben Naour, member engagement specialist team lead at Photobucket

Sure

“We love having global visibility into what’s going on with our tickets across the organization. It was easy to set up the reporting in Zendesk, and we’re able to extract the info we need to help improve the customer journey.”

—Sara Liddle, head of customer strategy at Sure