LiveAgent vs Zendesk: we help you decide between these two customer support software packages

When you're looking for a customer support solution, two names come up a lot: LiveAgent and Zendesk. These two SaaS applications are among the most popular tools for managing tickets, centralising customer requests and improving support across all channels (live chat, email, telephone, social networks, etc.).

But how do you know which one is really right for your team, your business needs and your budget? Between an ultra-complete (and sometimes complex) Zendesk chat, and a more accessible LiveAgent with a free plan, the choice can quickly become... a real headache. 💥

In this detailed comparison, we analyse their features, interfaces, integrations, prices and strengths to help you make the right choice... without wasting time or money.

☝️Let's chat. And not just with support.

What is LiveAgent?

Overview of LiveAgent

LiveAgent is an all-in-one customer support software package designed for both SMEs and large enterprises that want to offer fast, multi-channel and personalised assistance. Developed by Quality Unit, it is used by more than 150,000 companies worldwide.

🚀 Its big advantage is that it combines in a single intuitive platform: a ticketing system, direct chat, voice/video calls, a knowledge base, and even management of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).

LiveAgent is easy to use, with a generous free plan and excellent value for money. It's an ideal solution for companies that want to centralise their customer support without blowing their budget or sacrificing service quality.

Key features of LiveAgent

LiveAgent does more than just manage tickets: it offers a complete suite of customer support tools to meet all the needs of a modern support team. Its strength lies in the versatility and fluidity of its interface, enabling end-to-end management of customer interactions, regardless of the channel used.

🛠️ Here are the key features that make LiveAgent such a popular solution:

• an intelligent ticketing system that centralises requests from all channels into a single queue, with automatic prioritisation ;
• real-time live chat: ultra-responsive, customisable, with live supervision of visitors;
• integrated call centre: inbound/outbound calls from the browser, recording of conversations, internal transfers;
• customer portal and knowledge base: 24/7 self-service, useful for reducing team workload;
• multi-channel support with integration of email, social networks, WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, etc;
• customised automations and rules to assign, classify and respond to tickets faster;
• detailed reporting and analytics to monitor agent performance, response times, customer satisfaction, etc.

LiveAgent

+200 reviews

SEE SOFTWARE

An omnichannel support tool for all your channels

Learn more about LiveAgent

Advantages and disadvantages of LiveAgent

Like all customer support software, LiveAgent has its strengths... and its limitations. To know if it's right for your business, you need to look beyond the features on paper and dig into the user experience, team feedback and options available under the plans.

✅ LiveAgent shines in a number of respects, particularly for startups, SMEs or customer services that need a tool that's efficient, comprehensive and quick to set up:

• intuitive interface, easy to learn, even without technical training ;
• free plan available, which is rare in the customer support sector, and already very functional;
• unlimited multi-channel support: email, social networks, calls, chat - everything is centralised;
• excellent value for money, especially on the paid packages, which are still affordable;
• advanced customisation of the interface and workflows - everything can be modified to suit your needs;
• responsiveness of LiveAgent support: well rated on the internet.

❌ That said, LiveAgent is not without a few weaknesses to consider before committing yourself:

• design a little dated compared to competitors like Zendesk ;
• lack of certain native integrations with recent or very niche tools;
• AI functionalities are still limited (compared with Zendesk, which is pushing hard in this area);
• reporting tools sometimes considered too basic for large teams.

What is Zendesk?

Overview of Zendesk

Zendesk is one of the world's leading customer support software companies. Founded in Copenhagen in 2007, it has now been adopted by more than 100,000 companies worldwide. Zendesk is the benchmark for support teams looking for a scalable, robust and ultra-connected tool.

🚀 Its strength is a modular platform that can manage all aspects of customer service, from direct chat to ticket management, calls, FAQs, and automated workflows. Zendesk is also ahead of the curve with the integration of generative AI, launched at Zendesk Relate 2025, to automate responses, anticipate customer needs and boost agent efficiency.

Designed for mid-market and large enterprises, Zendesk is aimed at organisations looking for a powerful, scalable solution that is connected to a rich ecosystem of integrations (CRM, marketing, analytics, etc.).

Key features of Zendesk

Zendesk is much more than just a ticketing tool. It's a complete customer relationship management platform designed for support teams, help desks and IT departments that want to offer a smooth, personalised experience across all channels.

🛠️ Here are the key features that make Zendesk so strong:

• Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim), which is an integrated direct chat with automated responses, triggers and a complete customer history;
• multi-channel ticketing system that unifies requests from email, telephone, social networks, live chat, etc;
• Zendesk Talk: cloud-native call centre solution with real-time recording, routing and analytics;
• intelligent knowledge base with automated article suggestions personalised according to customer profile;
• advanced automations and macros to save time and standardise responses without sacrificing personalisation;
• AI and conversational bots: integration of artificial intelligence to suggest answers, analyse sentiment and prioritise requests;
• a marketplace rich in integrations, with over 1,300 apps available (CRM, e-commerce, productivity tools, etc.).

Zendesk

119 reviews

SEE SOFTWARE

A platform for managing customer interactions and support

Learn more about Zendesk

Advantages and disadvantages of Zendesk

Zendesk attracts ambitious companies that want to structure their customer support on a solid and scalable basis. But its powerful ecosystem also comes at a cost, and sometimes a complexity that's not for everyone. Here's a balanced look at what it offers... and what it asks in return.

✅ Zendesk ticks all the boxes for a comprehensive support centre, especially in contexts where efficiency, automation and large-scale management are key:

• fluid, modern interface: clear design, intuitive navigation, quick to learn for agents ;
• powerful AI features: Zendesk offers market-leading automated support options;
• huge range of integrations: from CRM to Slack, Shopify and Salesforce;
• advanced customisation of workflows: perfect for large teams with complex processes;
• advanced analytics: bespoke dashboards, real-time indicators, reports by channel or by team;
• reliability and security: solid infrastructure, suitable for sensitive environments (RGPD, large companies, IT).

❌Despite its strengths, Zendesk also has a few weak points, often pointed out by users in the implementation or ramp-up phase:

• high prices: each additional feature or channel can drive up the bill (and quickly) ;
• Longer learning curve: especially for small teams or those unfamiliar with complex SaaS tools;
• modules sometimes compartmentalised: certain key options are separated between different products (Zendesk Support, Chat, Guide, etc.);
• Criticised customer support: ironic, but a number of user feedbacks point to support that is not always up to the standard of the product.

LiveAgent vs Zendesk: compare features

Focus on ticket management

👉 LiveAgent offers simple but effective ticket management. Every customer request, whatever the channel, is converted into a single ticket, with a tag, status and automatic allocation system. SLAs, personalised notifications and sorting rules can be configured.

👉 Zendesk, meanwhile, takes the concept a step further. The ticket system is highly customisable, with complex workflows, macros, conditional triggers and, above all, AI to anticipate priorities or detect customer intent. Perfect for IT teams or high-volume support centres.

Focus on live chat and real-time channels

👉 LiveAgent incorporates ultra-fast direct chat, ideal for teams who want to react quickly. It offers real-time monitoring tools, the ability to see what the customer is typing before it is sent, and an automatic response suggestion engine.

👉 Zendesk Chat, on the other hand, goes a step further with its conversational bots, intelligent triggers (message triggers based on user behaviour) and native integration with the agent console. A real asset for a seamless omnichannel experience.

Focus on automation and artificial intelligence

👉 This is where the difference really comes into its own. LiveAgent offers simple automation (allocation, prioritisation, automatic response), sufficient for medium-sized teams.

👉 Zendesk, on the other hand, offers a highly developed AI layer (Zendesk AI), with sentiment analysis, automatic sorting of requests, suggested responses, and soon automatic ticket summaries. Ideal for IT, e-commerce or international customer support teams who need to save time without sacrificing quality.

LiveAgent vs Zendesk: compare prices

Choosing customer service software also means making a strategic budgetary decision. Between LiveAgent and Zendesk, the price difference can be significant, especially if you're equipping several agents or want access to advanced features. Here's a table comparing the plans available, in euros, to give you a clearer idea.

☝️ Note: Zendesk often charges for each module separately (Guide, Chat, Talk, etc.), whereas LiveAgent offers a more all-in-one model. The choice therefore also depends on the level of customisation you want and your budget per agent.

LiveAgent vs Zendesk: which interface is more intuitive?

A good interface is what makes a support agent more fluid, reduces errors and improves the customer experience. Between LiveAgent, renowned for its simplicity, and Zendesk, known for its rich functionality, the choice depends very much on your team and its level of digital maturity.

LiveAgent vs Zendesk: compare integrations

In a modern IT environment, customer support software cannot live in isolation. It needs to integrate easily with your business tools: CRM, e-commerce, messaging, analytics, etc. This is often the key to long-term productivity and agility.

💡 Verdict: Zendesk clearly has the edge for teams that need hyper-connected customer support for a complex software stack. LiveAgent remains decent for essential integrations, but quickly shows its limitations on advanced use cases.

Let's move on to the use cases where it's best to use one tool or the other.

When should you choose LiveAgent or Zendesk?

We've compared features, interfaces, prices and integrations. The key question is: which tool should you choose, depending on your context? Here are some concrete use cases to help you decide, depending on the size of your business, your support needs and your budget.

Examples of LiveAgent use cases

LiveAgent is an excellent choice if you're looking for simplicity, cost control and responsiveness. Here are a few typical cases in which LiveAgent is the optimal choice:

• if you are a start-up or SME with a limited budget looking for an all-in-one tool without breaking the bank;
• if you have multilingual or distributed customer support, LiveAgent offers good language and time zone management;
• if you are a small or medium-sized e-commerce business looking to integrate chat, email and call centre into a single tool without multiplying licences;
• if you are a support team with a small number of IT technicians, because the tool can be deployed quickly, without the need for a complex infrastructure;
• if you're a small organisation that wants to test it for free before investing.

🗣️Témoignage Customer:

We quickly adapted an easy way to monitor and respond to customer requests across multiple digital channels." "By implementing a real-time service, we were able to increase customer satisfaction by 29%." "Excellent tool that has improved the efficiency of our support staff.

Gokulnaath Gopal – Responsable des solutions @Huawei

Examples of Zendesk use cases

Zendesk is designed for businesses that need scalability, functional power and tight integration with their business stack. Ideal if :

• If you are a scale-up or large company with a high volume of tickets to manage;
• If your support is based around several teams, SLAs and complex internal processes;
• If you're looking to automate on a large scale, with AI, bots and advanced analytics;
• If you already use tools such as Salesforce, Shopify, Slack or internal solutions that can be connected via API;
• If you manage 24/7 international support, with agents distributed by time zone and language.

🗣️Témoignage Customer:

The Zendesk teams demonstrated extraordinary agility and flexibility during the implementation of this project. We were really impressed by their responsiveness to our requests. It only took them a few hours or even minutes to get back to us, not days.

 Dmitriy Anderson, Directeur des systèmes d'information et directeur de marché - Leroy Merlin

The verdict: Zendesk or LiveAgent, who wins the customer support battle?

👉 LiveAgent is the champion of value for money, effective direct chat and rapid deployment, especially for SMEs and lean teams. It gets the job done, with no frills, great versatility and a free plan to test without pressure.

👉 Zendesk, meanwhile, remains the top-of-the-range reference. It's a comprehensive, ultra-modular platform designed for demanding organisations that want to centralise everything, measure everything... and automate everything. But you have to pay the price: in euros, in time, and in the complexity of implementation.

In short, if you're looking for a tool that's quick to get to grips with, with high-performance chat and an integrated call centre, LiveAgent is a safe bet. If you have high-volume teams, critical integrations and need AI, Zendesk justifies the investment.

LiveAgent vs Zendesk FAQs

Does Zendesk offer live chat?

Yes, Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is an integrated direct chat solution, available from its Team plan. It enables message automation, conversation history and multi-channel management in a single interface.

Is LiveAgent really free?

Yes. LiveAgent offers a free plan, which includes a ticketing system, 1 live chat, and an email address, with a history limited to 7 days. Perfect for testing without commitment or for very small teams.

Which software offers the best AI features?

Zendesk is far more advanced in this respect. Thanks to Zendesk AI, it offers automated responses, sentiment analysis and intelligent workflows. LiveAgent is limited to manual automation rules.

Which is best suited to SMEs?

LiveAgent is often recommended for SMEs, thanks to its simplicity, low cost and intuitive interface. It lets you manage chat, email, telephone and social networks without adding any paid modules.

Zendesk or LiveAgent for a large company?

For companies with large teams, complex processes or high integration requirements, Zendesk is better suited. It offers scalability and functional power that are hard to match.