Uncovering the Best Helpful Alternatives for Superior Customer Support
Helpful is a customer support tool designed to streamline customer interactions, offering a personal touch and fast, simple features. It focuses on direct conversations, an embeddable help box, and unlimited team members, all while being built with community input. However, every business has unique needs, and what works for one might not work for another. If you're searching for a powerful Helpful alternative that aligns more closely with your specific requirements, you've come to the right place.
Top Helpful Alternatives
Whether you prioritize open-source flexibility, robust ticketing systems, or advanced team collaboration features, there's a perfect customer support solution waiting for you. Let's explore some of the leading alternatives to Helpful.
osTicket
osTicket is a lightweight, open-source support solution that offers a built-in customer portal and a rich admin dashboard for easy ticket management. As a Free, Open Source solution available on Windows, Linux, Web, and Self-Hosted environments with MySQL Community Edition and PHP, it provides robust features like Helpdesk ticketing, customer support, and is even Dockerized, making it an excellent open-source Helpful alternative for those seeking control and customization.
Freshdesk
Freshdesk is an award-winning online help desk software that allows you to support customers across multiple channels including email, phone, web, and even Twitter. Available on Freemium and paid tiers across Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iPhone, Chrome OS, Android Tablet, and iPad, Freshdesk offers comprehensive features like customer service, automatic customer engagement, and powerful team collaboration tools, making it a feature-rich Helpful alternative for growing businesses.
Front
Front is the first email management software for teams that seamlessly integrates with existing tools. As a commercial solution available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iPhone, Android Tablet, and iPad, it provides features like a shared inbox, comment sections, real-time collaboration, and email tracking. Front is a strong Helpful alternative for teams needing advanced email management and collaborative features.
((OTRS)) Community Edition
((OTRS)) Community Edition is the free, open-source version of OTRS, a comprehensive ticketing and process automation suite. Available for Mac, Linux, Web, and Self-Hosted environments with Perl, it helps service teams improve communication and customer support. Key features include SLA management, email notifications, helpdesk ticketing, and workflow automation, making it an excellent open-source Helpful alternative for organizations seeking powerful, customizable process management.
Zendesk
Zendesk offers on-demand help desk software covering customer support, trouble tickets, and knowledge base management. As a commercial, web-based solution available on Android, iPhone, Blackberry, and iPad, it provides comprehensive customer support, forums, and a robust knowledge base. Zendesk is a widely recognized and scalable Helpful alternative for businesses of all sizes.
UserVoice
UserVoice communities are designed to turn customer feedback into action by enabling idea sharing, voting, and direct responses. This commercial, web-based platform, also available on Android, iPhone, Android Tablet, and iPad, offers features like suggestion voting, in-app voting, and multiple language support. UserVoice serves as a strong Helpful alternative for companies prioritizing customer feedback and community engagement.
UserReport
UserReport is a free online service that allows website owners to conduct quick and fun online surveys and collect user feedback through an online feedback button and forum. As a free, web-based platform, it features crowdsourcing, customer feedback tools, and integration with Google Analytics. UserReport is a great free Helpful alternative for businesses focused on continuous user feedback and analytics.
Help Scout
Help Scout scales like a traditional help desk but provides a personalized customer experience akin to a normal email conversation. This commercial, web-based solution, also available on iPhone, offers robust features like customer feedback management, CRM functionalities, customer service tools, and a comprehensive knowledge base. Help Scout is an excellent Helpful alternative for those seeking a balance between scalability and a personalized customer interaction.
Get Satisfaction
Get Satisfaction is a community platform designed to help companies foster engaging customer experiences through online conversations about their products and services. As a commercial, web-based platform, it focuses on customer feedback and CRM capabilities. Get Satisfaction is a suitable Helpful alternative for businesses looking to build strong customer communities and leverage peer-to-peer support.
InvGate Service Desk
InvGate Service Desk is a web-based ITIL-ready solution with an intuitive user interface, offering code-free configuration for Incident, Problem, Change, Asset, and Knowledge management. As a commercial solution available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iPhone, Android Tablet, and iPad, it provides extensive configurability. InvGate Service Desk is a powerful Helpful alternative for organizations requiring comprehensive ITIL-aligned service management.
Each of these Helpful alternatives brings its own strengths to the table, from open-source flexibility to powerful enterprise-grade features. By carefully considering your team's size, budget, desired integrations, and specific customer support philosophy, you can choose the best solution to elevate your customer interactions and optimize your support operations.