Best Customer Service Software of 2023

Bottom Line:
The Best Customer Service Software of 2023
Why You Should Trust This Review
How I Rated the Best Customer Service Software Providers
The Top Five Customer Service Software Options
How I Tested Customer Service Software

The Best Customer Service Software of 2023

Customer service software	Best for	Pricing	Best features
Hubspot (4.8)	Best customer service software	Bundled business plans starting at $27 a month (for two users) See pricing	Centralized messaging between chat, email, and social media inboxes Outstanding customer support Snippet and template functionality to save time per ticket
Groove (4.5)	Best customer service tool for startups	Starter plans starting at $12 a month (per agent) See pricing	Heavy discounts on service for startup brands Easy-to-use knowledge base for fast response reference Assignment tool for efficient delegation strategy
LiveAgent (4.2)	Best concierge customer service tool	Ticket plans starting at $15 a month (per agent) See pricing	Unlimited ticket history and email addresses with base plan API and integration opportunities White glove setup services for easy implementation
Help Scout (4.0)	Best tool for small businesses	Standard plans starting at $20 a month (per agent) See pricing	Multiple mailboxes for delegation and operational management Automated workflow capabilities for enhanced efficiency by ticket API and 50+ integration opportunities
ZenDesk (4.0)	Best customer service tool for enterprise clients	Suite plans starting at $49 a month (per agent) See pricing	Artificial intelligence-powered automated answers to reserve human capital for higher level tasks 1,000+ prebuilt apps and integrations Web, mobile, and social messaging integrations

Customer service software is an extension of your brand experience, working directly with your client base. This investment and technology are vital to preserving your revenue stream.

I signed up for and thoroughly tested each service listed above, evaluating them for key use elements, including features, price, and reliability.

Read on to learn more about the best customer service software options in the industry, and the benefits that you can get from each one.

Why You Should Trust This Review

About Digital.com’s expert reviewer,Christina Levandowski:

As a copywriter for the software as a service (SaaS) and digital marketing space, I have worked with hundreds of clients from small businesses to Indeed.com. I have extensive experience working with marketing strategy and social media and have built my own business creating assets for clients in the space. Also, I enjoy being an entrepreneur and have started pursuing investment opportunities as time permits.

I attended Arizona State University for a B.S. in Medical Studies and am a fan of any topic that is tech or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related. I live in Southern California with my husband, family, and dogs.

How I Rated the Best Customer Service Software Providers

Ease of use

When choosing customer service software, you need a tool that’s incredibly user-friendly and intuitive, catering to the range of skill sets and preferences on your team.

Tools with good functionality can be more easily adapted across your organization, encouraging collaboration and true integration with current processes and systems.

Elements of user-friendliness include:

Design simplicity
Structure quality and consistency
Ease of operational use and integration

Supports social media and alternative mailboxes

Your customer service support option should have capabilities to connect to your alternative mailboxes, whether they are with other service providers or social media channels. This can promote efficiency and consistency in your team’s responses.

Knowledge base or reference material support

Choosing customer service software with the capability to house knowledge base material helps your team operate with more agility, and empowers them to provide higher quality and more consistent brand support. Plus, it negates the extra cost associated with an additional platform.

Demo or free trial

Ideally, you’ll want to try before you buy. This helps you to be confident in your decision and integrates the tool with your pre-existing support systems. Questions to ask in the evaluation phase include:

Does this serve the multifaceted needs of my customer support team?
How expensive is this tool? Is the monthly cost sustainable?
What is the average transition time? Is now the right time to invest?

Overall monthly costs

Many customer service software options offer monthly fees at a per-person rate — which could place an additional strain on your business’ finances as your team continues to grow and expand. Consider the average monthly cost on a per-person basis, and evaluate if it’s worth exploring custom enterprise options for additional savings opportunities.

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The Top Five Customer Service Software Options

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Hubspot

Best customer service software

4.8

Comprehensive service package bundles
Save up to 5,000 snippets and 5,000 templates
Shared, single mailbox

Summary

Pricing
- $27 a month (on bundled plans for 2 agents maximum)
Ease of use
Moderate
Multi-box support
Yes

Knowledge base and reference capabilities
via saved snippets and templates
Demo or free trial
30 days
Average overall cost comparison
Moderate to high

Hubspot is well known for its comprehensive business bundles. It’s an industry leader in the e-commerce management space, and has over 150,000 customers across 120 countries.

Hubspot’s single inbox style offers near-unlimited integrations to keep all customer communications in one place.

Hubspot continues to lead the industry with comprehensive bundles to support all areas of business — especially customer service. For the sake of this review, I evaluated the Starter CRM Suite package, from $27 per month.

The software offers one of the most inclusive dashboard designs out of all of the tools I evaluated, giving your team a single, centralized format to view messages from all company channels. This intuitive interface allows you to surf assigned, closed, and sent messages in a single-click view.

The customer support provided by Hubspot is a contributing factor to its rank, offering 24/7 phone and email support, as well as 24/7 access to chat assistance with a global team of reps. This is great for business owners who want the full marketing suite of services but may need a little extra help onboarding.

Hubspot’s strongest selling points are its consistency, ease of use, and comprehensive design with each of its packages and services. Business owners can unlock even more cost-effective benefits by going with a bundled option over the standalone service packages.

It’s bolstered by a template and snippet service. I noted the option to create 10,000+ saved responses, as well as its user-friendly design and unlimited support. This all contributes to a shortened learning curve. Business owners will be able to quickly launch and execute — saving you time and opportunities.

Who is Hubspot best for?

Hubspot truly is the “unicorn tool” that’s great for everyone. However, my testing and experience have shown that those who could get the most cost-effective use would be mid- to large businesses and corporate enterprises.

Hubspot offers helpful Chatflow options to harness the power of automation in your most common responses.

Recent upgrades to Hubspot

While Hubspot’s latest developmental updates occurred in 2021, the site continues to be enhanced via micro fixes for customer experience benefit and connectivity. The site’s recent changes may propel you toward a more Zero Trust approach with authentication points and offering more enhanced data analytics.

These softer updates occurred twice in September 2022 alone, leading me to believe that Hubspot will continue to update its interface to serve the needs of its base.

Hubspot pricing

Hubspot is a bit more expensive than competing customer service options, but with good reason. The bundle price kit that I evaluated didn’t offer customer service support exclusively — it had a full library of tools to grow and scale your business over key areas of operation.

Hubspot pros and cons

Pros

Popular choice
Comprehensive bundled packages for business growth and scalability
Integrated mailbox for expedited customer support

Cons

More expensive than other options
Starter paid bundle only covers 2 team members

Groove

Best customer service tool for startups

4.5

Tools such as “anti-collision” protection, private notes, and assignments
Easy-to-access knowledge base
Simple integration capability for site and app chat tools included in the site’s native dashboard

Summary

Pricing
- $12/month (per user)
Ease of use
High
Multi-box support
Yes

Knowledge base and reference capabilities
Yes
Demo or free trial
30 days
Average overall cost comparison
Low

This is best for brands that need a truly seamless customer experience, and that have an extensive team of agents. Groove’s built-in efficiency tools and anti-duplicity are some of its main benefits, offering business owners the illusion of an entirely synchronous team at a consumer-facing level.

Groove’s sleek design promotes uninterrupted, focused work — easily connecting customer service team members to whatever box they need.

I was impressed by Groove’s sleek, minimalistic design that promotes distraction-free customer support in a single, centralized interface for incoming inquiries. Neatly separated into email and chat boxes, your team can delegate, manage, and execute out of Groove’s easy-to-use dashboard design.

Groove’s packages begin at $12 per month per user. It offers graduated pricing perks, such as multiple mailboxes, rule creation, application programming interface (API) access, and integration with top e-commerce tools like Salesforce and Hubspot. It’s also impressively scalable, suiting the needs of small and midsize businesses up to global brands and enterprises.

I appreciate the service’s segmentation and multiple mailbox features, which make it easy to support many brands. That can be helpful to serial entrepreneurs and rapidly expanding business owners. It also offers simple data import for effortless integration and transfer.

Who is Groove best for?

Due to its library of easily scalable perks and sub-services, I believe that Groove is best for midsize businesses, offering the most benefits for the price compared with other tools on this list. You can enjoy multiple mailboxes, API and integration opportunities, and rule workflow functionality for a fraction of the price compared with other list options.

Groove’s knowledge base is far more in-depth than other options, which is great for rapidly scaling businesses.

Recent upgrades

Groove is one of the most consistently updated service options, which offers great promise of potential for business owners looking to optimize their processes. Some of the most notable updates I’ve seen are the live chat feature to connect with clients on your site(s), and the launch of iOS and Android apps for easy mobile management.

Groove pricing

I was pleasantly surprised to see Groove’s current price point — $12 a month per person. This is incredibly affordable for the suite of services included. You also won’t see a major price jump per seat as your business grows and scales, as the highest cost you’ll pay (without a custom enterprise plan) is $30 a month per seat.

Groove pros and cons

Pros

Sleek, inclusive, and minimal design structure for more efficient function
Affordable and scalable packages with discounts for startups, and price points are still ideal for rapidly growing businesses of any size
API and integration options with top e-commerce tools, such as Jira, Salesforce, and Hubspot for comprehensive benefits

Cons

Users report more heavy delays in inbound email sync compared with other services
Rapid updates may pose additional learning curves and require additional “refreshes.”

LiveAgent

Best concierge customer service tool

4.2

Both call and chat center management capabilities included in base price
Internal- and external-facing knowledge bases
24/7 customer support via chat, email, phone, or socials/portal, and white-glove onboarding experience

Summary

Pricing
- $15 a month (per user)
Ease of use
Moderate
Multi-box support
Yes

Knowledge base and reference capabilities
Yes
Demo or free trial
14 days
Average overall cost comparison
Low

LiveAgent is used by top brands, including Forbes, NASCAR, and many more. This is for good reason, as the app offers 300+ integration opportunities and ticketing features for large-scale and global brands. It was the first software to combine live chat and help desk capabilities when it launched in 2006.

Agents can easily search their busy mailboxes with LiveAgent’s convenient filter system

LiveAgent has made a splash in the customer service software market since its launch in 2006. It’s been picked up by some of the biggest names in the industry. It’s one of the most comprehensive choices due to its multiservice call and chat management functionality.

The depth of LiveAgent’s service is impressive for its low per month, per agent cost. For just $15 a month per agent, you can make use of 300+ features and integration opportunities in the native interface. For this price, I got access to internal and external knowledge management tools, advanced reporting, and pairing with some of the top platforms in e-commerce, such as Shopify, Salesforce, Squarespace, Mailchimp, and WordPress.

The native CRM (customer resource management) functionality and automated routing are some of the top perks I explored with this service, as well as its support for more advanced types of calls: transfers, interactive voice response (IVR), and video calls — on top of its chat and email management tools.

One of the best parts of the service is that you can connect as many inboxes as you want, thanks to the unlimited support for third-party email systems.

Who is LiveAgent best for?

I believe that LiveAgent is best for larger businesses and full-scale, global enterprises. The depth of service you receive for the price is one of the most competitive on this list, allowing you to easily grow and scale your customer service offerings. Smaller businesses may also benefit, but may not need the range of services the tool offers.

Live Agent has an easy-to-reference dashboard for management at a glance and easy optimization.

Recent upgrades

The LiveAgent changelog shows regular improvements and fixes, occurring approximately once per week. This service also continues to roll out larger-scale platform changes, such as the recent addition of intuitive newsletter email templates for more comprehensive marketing. I look forward to seeing how the platform continues to meet the needs of e-commerce business owners.

LiveAgent pricing

LiveAgent is one of the best deals on this list, with prices starting at $15 per month, per seat. This price is competitive given the wide range of services available and allows you to easily scale your customer service offerings. You can also try the “Forever Free” version. It offers basic chat, phone number, email links, and basic customer portal and reporting features.

LiveAgent pros and cons

Pros

Concierge, white-glove onboarding experience, and 24/7 multichannel customer support
Advanced, at-a-glance reporting for more efficient execution
API and integration opportunities

Cons

Less intuitive and harder to learn than other available options
Users report mixed experiences with the spam filter and available embedding options, leading to technical challenges

Help Scout

Best tool for small businesses

4.0

Assignments and private notes per message
Knowledge base functionality
API and 50+ integration opportunities, custom reports, and automated workflows

Summary

Pricing
- $20 a month (per user)
Ease of use
High
Multi-box support
No

Knowledge base and reference capabilities
Yes
Demo or free trial
15 days
Average overall cost comparison
Moderate

Help Scout is renowned for its commitment to sleek, centralized experiences through the platform service. It’s consistently won G2’s Best ROI Award due to its comprehensive customer service approach and interdepartmental management.

The inboxes allow for easy navigation, assignment, and management.

Help Scout is an award-winning customer service tool that I found to be incredibly easy to use and simple in design. It’s one of the only tools on this list with no real learning curve and a nearly endless potential for customization and optimization, thanks to its easy API access and integration partnerships with top services and tools.

Help Scout’s base plan comes out to $20 a month per seat, slightly higher than competitors such as Groove and LiveAgent. However, while not as comprehensive as Hubspot, it does offer advanced functionality in automation, workflows, and reporting.

Beyond your regular customer service management tools, it offers light CRM tracking and management by mailbox, conveniently housed under the “Customers” tab. It also allows for an easy interdepartmental function, allowing you to search and assign work by tags, team, or specific members.

Who is Help Scout best for?

I believe that Help Scout would be ideal for small businesses that are on a rapid growth track. It has all the tools you need to scale (such as integration opportunities, automation, and knowledge management) without the “clunky” learning curve that a service like HubSpot requires.

Help Scout’s easy reporting dashboard gives you the key metrics you need to optimize your processes — avoiding the cluttered look of other service dashboards.

Recent upgrades

Help Scout releases updates and enhancements on a near-quarterly basis, which you can read about on its blog or within your dashboard. The March 2022 release included iOS app enhancements, dynamic first name capability, and referral program rewards. I’m excited to see how the platform continues to improve.

Help Scout pricing

Help Scout is one of the pricier options on this list with a total cost of $20 a month per seat on the base plan. But it does offer lighter complimentary functionality, enhanced automation options, knowledge management, and workflow capabilities, making it a higher value than other lower-priced tools.

Help Scout pros and cons

Pros

Simple interface has little to no learning curve
More dense automation and workflow support for easier operational management
API and 50+ integration opportunities to tailor your experience

Cons

CRM functionality, while present, is not as extensive as other platforms.
May require use of different integrations to reach advanced functionality levels for bigger brands

ZenDesk

Best customer service tool for enterprises

4.0

Up to 50+ AI-powered answers for messaging across web, mobile, and social channels
Proprietary ticketing system is perfectly suited to large-scale organizations
API and 1,000+ apps and integrations that are pre-built and ready for wide-scale implementation

Summary

Pricing
- $49 a month (per user)
Ease of use
Moderate
Multi-box support
Yes

Knowledge base and reference capabilities
Yes
Demo or free trial
30 days
Average overall cost comparison
High

Rated No. 1 Digital Customer Service Tool by Gartner, Zendesk is a solid option for e-commerce business owners. The platform is used by some of the top brands, including Mailchimp, Uber, and Stanley Black & Decker. While widely used by enterprise clients, startups can get great benefits too — and use Zendesk free for up to six months.

Zendesk’s ticketing system is designed to preserve productivity and encourage resolution for large-scale organizations and enterprises.

Zendesk is the platform of choice for global businesses and enterprises who are ready to take their customer service experiences to the next level.

It has unique ticketing systems and industry-leading capabilities for automation and workflow setups. I like that you can manage multi-channel messages through a single centralized interface, conveniently structured with optimized tools to delegate and execute.

Although the platform fee is significantly higher than the others on this list (starting at $49 a month per seat), you can enjoy advanced functionality. For example, it has 1,000+ pre-built app and integration opportunities, robust API support, and assisted onboarding processes to avoid lost time during the transition period.

While this tool is best for larger businesses and enterprise brands, I believe that small businesses can enjoy additional benefits as long as they have time for the learning curve. Zendesk offers free service for six months for qualified startup brands, which provides additional support for businesses on a budget.

Who is Zendesk best for?

Large businesses and global brands can get the most out of Zendesk. While the functionality can be beneficial for many business types and structures, the depth of service and range of knowledge required could lead to longer implementation times and slowdowns without the proper infrastructure in place.

When you first launch with Zendesk, you can expect assisted onboarding processes, self-help modules, and more tools to streamline your transition.

Recent upgrades

Zendesk has recently launched a large number of updates targeting user experience and messaging, incorporating new avenues of integration that are suited to mid- and large-size enterprises. Other notable updates include new views and insights for your datasets and messaging dashboards, as well as ticket insights to better prepare your agents.

Zendesk pricing

Zendesk comes with a heavier price tag, with inclusive plans beginning at $49 a month per seat. While it may be more expensive for the functionality included when compared with tools such as Groove, it’s a great choice for enterprises that require more complex ticketing and sorting systems for a larger customer base.

Zendesk pros and cons

Pros

Adequate infrastructure to appeal to businesses with a wide customer base
Extensive API and integration library (1,000+ pre-built options) for optimized function
Email, voice, SMS, and live chat functions to appeal to multichannel needs

Cons

More expensive with potentially fewer inclusions when compared with bundled services such as Hubspot
Complex dashboard and setup process may cause longer learning curves (despite setup assistance)

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How I Tested Customer Service Software

I thoroughly examined and experienced each customer service software option by signing up for the base business plan. I then compared my experience across key metrics that would directly impact your success: price, reliability, ease of use, and implementation.

I also explored the perks provided within each plan to be sure it would keep your business as competitive as possible.

I understand that it’s important to pick customer service software that you can trust. That’s why I presented the products in an unbiased, strategic, and transparent way, giving you direct insight into the cost-benefit analysis and potential costs you’ll run into along the way.

As I test these customer service tools, I launch fake customer tickets and open up my own knowledge bases (for external and internal use). I also evaluate the quality of the customer service options available to business owners. This helps determine the overall quality of the tool, and if it deserves a spot on my list of top tools.

Every customer service tool has been chosen based on its overall quality and potential for businesses in all seasons of development and growth. Based on the criteria listed above, I’m confident that I’ve reviewed the best customer service tools to suit your business’s needs.

Best Customer Service Software of 2023

Table of Contents

The Best Customer Service Software of 2023

Why You Should Trust This Review

How I Rated the Best Customer Service Software Providers

Ease of use

Supports social media and alternative mailboxes

Knowledge base or reference material support

Demo or free trial

Overall monthly costs

The Top Five Customer Service Software Options

Hubspot

Best customer service software

Summary

Hubspot pros and cons

Pros

Cons

Groove

Best customer service tool for startups

Summary

Groove pros and cons

Pros

Cons

LiveAgent

Best concierge customer service tool

Summary

LiveAgent pros and cons

Pros

Cons

Help Scout

Best tool for small businesses

Summary

Help Scout pros and cons

Pros

Cons

ZenDesk

Best customer service tool for enterprises

Summary

Zendesk pros and cons

Pros

Cons

How I Tested Customer Service Software

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