Zendesk vs. Kustomer: A comparison for 2025
Don’t let limited customer service software hinder your business growth. Opt for a scalable, fast, and intelligently integrated solution. Start a free trial to see why companies choose Zendesk vs. Kustomer.
Why businesses choose Zendesk vs. Kustomer
Last updated February 4, 2025
Modern customer experience (CX) teams face the dual challenge of accelerating value delivery to customers and managing costs effectively. Zendesk sets itself apart from competitors like Kustomer by offering a comprehensive, scalable customer service solution that evolves with your business, eliminating the need for costly transitions as you grow.
Powered by AI that leverages the world's largest CX-specific dataset, Zendesk enhances efficiency, accelerates support, and ensures high-quality interactions with fewer resources. Additionally, our transparent, flexible pricing simplifies budgeting and ensures predictability, while our dedicated team of CX experts helps you optimize your return on investment.
Dive deeper into these aspects—and more—to understand why businesses choose Zendesk vs. Kustomer.
At-a-glance comparison: Zendesk vs. Kustomer
Capabilities | Zendesk | Kustomer |
|---|---|---|
| Omnichannel experience | ✔ | Limited |
| Out-of-the-box AI | ✔ | ✘ |
| Scalability | ✔ | ✘ |
| Robust reporting and analytics | ✔ | ✘ |
| Frictionless agent experience | ✔ | ✘ |
| Efficient ticket management system | ✔ | ✘ |
Kustomer vs. Zendesk: Capabilities comparison
The best customer service solution empowers your support team to grow with your business while delivering high-quality experiences consistently. See how Zendesk and Kustomer compare.
Omnichannel experience
Deliver fast and personalized support with the Agent Workspace.
Zendesk enables businesses to deliver a complete omnichannel CX. Our contextual Agent Workspace is intuitively designed so agents can work seamlessly across any channel, all within one modern interface. Customer interactions and data get consolidated into a single view, providing agents with the context needed to assist each customer effectively.
Kustomer falls short of creating the rich, conversational experiences that customers deserve. There’s only a basic real-time chat, no native voice, no mobile app, and limited channels in the web widget.
AI-powered CX
Save time and money with Zendesk AI.
Zendesk AI comes pre-trained on the world’s largest CX-specific dataset, which means you can unlock its power from day one—no technical expertise required.
Zendesk AI agents are adaptable, easy to set up, and can resolve complex customer questions so your human agents can focus on more engaging tasks. They even identify and surface topics to automate based on your customer data. To further deflect tickets, generative AI knowledge base tools enable teams to write help center articles faster.
Meanwhile, our intelligent AI assistance tools can help agents resolve issues by suggesting relevant replies, shifting their tone, and equipping them with key customer context.
Kustomer's AI has certain limitations compared to Zendesk AI. For example, its intelligent triage isn't as advanced, and the assistant requires context and isn’t ready out-of-the-box like Zendesk.
Scalability
Integrate Zendesk with your must-have tools in the Zendesk Marketplace.
Zendesk is a flexible system with a proven track record of supporting businesses of all sizes through rapid growth periods. Our software is designed to integrate new teams and divisions seamlessly and to expand across global bases. Our robust Marketplace of over 1,500 pre-built apps and integrations allows you to extend your solution to new and evolving use cases swiftly.
In comparison, Kustomer provides roughly 76 apps and integrations in its marketplace. Its entry price is also significantly higher than Zendesk, which may put it out of reach for small businesses.
Robust reporting and analytics
Zendesk lets you combine customer insights, real-time performance data, and workforce management metrics that work out of the box. This holistic view allows you to make smarter decisions, optimize operations, and improve agent productivity. Powered by AI, the Zendesk workforce management solution automates forecasting, schedules your agents by shifts and focus areas, and provides real-time and historical reporting on your team’s performance.
Kustomer has no native WFM functionality. This leaves leaders with manual, time-consuming tasks or requires them to use third-party solutions, which can drive up costs. Additionally, one user complained of inaccurate details in the reports, while another described its reporting as incomplete and weak.
Use Zendesk workforce management to make better decisions.
Frictionless agent experience
Zendesk is an award-winning customer service software that empowers teams to solve issues quickly and efficiently. Our software is easy to use, fast to set up, and equips teams with workflow best practices to maximize productivity. The Agent Workspace is also highly customizable, so agents can tailor their view to display the most important information in their preferred layout.
Kustomer’s less intuitive agent interface can reduce productivity. Specifically, users have reported limited options for customizing the platform to fit their workflows and business needs. Conversations are also long-threaded, which might pose difficulties in finding relevant information for a particular customer.
Zendesk products have won multiple G2 awards.
The results of choosing Zendesk vs. Kustomer
Here’s what customers say about their real-life experiences using Zendesk over Kustomer.
Rain
“We used Kustomer for, I want to say, four or five months before we realized it just wasn’t going to cut it … Zendesk is the right product for Rain because it’s so user-friendly.”
—Anastasia Parris, marketing operations manager at Rain
Pair Eyewear
“We explored other CX solutions [including Kustomer], but none of them had the in-depth reporting and insights, automated features, and community support that Zendesk offers.”
—Ben Segal, senior director of CX at Pair Eyewear
Pricing plans: Kustomer vs. Zendesk
Zendesk | Kustomer |
|---|---|
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Zendesk delivers exceptional value without breaking the bank. Our scalable pricing plans accommodate startups and large enterprises, so you can have a trusted, long-term partner. According to the Total Economic Impact study by Forrester Consulting, our customers receive an average 286 percent return on investment over three years.
Kustomer's pricing plans aren't as flexible and lack scalability so you may endure switching costs as you grow. The combination of affordability and scalability you get from Zendesk can lead to a significantly lower total cost of ownership, helping you avoid jumping from one solution to the next as your team and business needs grow.
Frequently asked questions
Ready to try Zendesk?
Unlike Kustomer, Zendesk effortlessly scales with your business. With cutting-edge AI, robust apps and integrations, and advanced reporting, it easily adapts to your evolving needs and expanding support requirements. Our flexible pricing, comprehensive CX solutions, and dedicated support team ensure cost-efficiency and maximize your ROI. See how this award-winning combination can improve your business by starting a free trial.
Zendesk vs. the rest: Compare the software
There are plenty of options to choose from when deciding on customer service software. Learn how Zendesk stacks up against the competition so you can make the right decision.