Zendesk vs Jira Service Management: The 2025 Comparison

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Customer support teams nowadays have countless tools at their disposal. And it's really hard to try something new on the market when there are brands with huge market presence.

On the one hand, there is Zendesk Service, a popular help desk solution. On the other, Jira Service Management is a popular tool for development teams that offers some customer support features.

They may seem similar on the surface, but they are two very different platforms for different user groups. Let's compare Zendesk and Jira head-on. 👇

Quick overview

All in all, both can get very expensive and feel outdated for fast-growing startups.

If you're after a more powerful alternative, check out Featurebase (👋 that's us). We're a modern & affordable alternative to Zendesk and Jira - but we’ll stay unbiased in this comparison, promise.

Zendesk Service vs Jira Service Management: Key Differences

Zendesk is built for handling customer inquiries, while Jira Service Management helps with internal service request management. These are the most important differences between the two. But let's take a closer look!

1. Primary use case

Zendesk Service is focused on external support, giving customer service teams a platform to handle tickets, conversations, and inquiries across multiple channels. It’s tailored to companies that need a strong front line for customer requests.

Jira Service Management, on the other hand, is geared toward internal IT and service teams. Its strength lies in ITSM practices like incident, change, and problem management, which are vital for IT departments and DevOps environments.

2. Ticketing and request management

With Zendesk, the emphasis is on creating a smooth experience for both the customer and the agent. It simplifies ticketing and automates repetitive tasks while connecting to communication channels such as email, chat, phone, and social media.

Jira Service Management focuses more on structured workflows and request types, with powerful SLA tracking and a direct link to Confluence for knowledge sharing. This makes it more suited to internal service operations rather than external customer interactions.

3. ITSM and incident management

Zendesk can support IT teams with basic service desk capabilities, but it is not built as a fully ITIL-certified tool by default. It's mainly built for support requests and improving customer satisfaction.

Jira Service Management is ITIL-aligned from the start, offering dedicated functionality for managing incidents, problems, changes, and assets. That makes it the stronger choice for organizations that need formal ITSM practices to keep systems reliable and incidents under control.

4. Integrations and ecosystem

Zendesk is a customer support solution that integrates best with sales, CRM, and customer engagement platforms, positioning it as part of the customer experience stack. It has a rich selection of third party tools it connects to, allowing customer support professionals to help out customers where they are.

Jira Service Management is more deeply tied into the Atlassian ecosystem. It works well with Jira Software, Confluence, Bitbucket, and Opsgenie. This makes JSM particularly valuable for organizations that want IT and development teams to collaborate within a single environment.

Pricing and audience

Zendesk scales based on how many support agents and channels you need, which works well for SaaS and B2C companies with high volumes of customer queries. If you need more customers and advanced features, you simply ramp up to the more expensive plan.

Jira Service Management pricing is based on agent seats and ITSM modules. This makes it a better fit for IT teams, DevOps groups, and enterprises with structured service delivery requirements.

Zendesk vs Jira Service Management: Key Features

By far, the biggest difference between the tools is in their feature set. Before purchasing a plan (or grabbing a free trial of Jira), here's what you need to know about the core features.

Key features of Zendesk Service

• Omnichannel support: Handles requests across email, chat, social media, and phone in one unified workspace.
• Ticket management: Centralizes conversations into a single thread, giving agents full visibility into a customer’s history.
• Macros and automation: Lets teams set up predefined responses and workflows, saving time on repetitive questions.
• AI tools (Zendesk AI): Provides an AI Copilot for drafting replies, routing, and ticket triage.
• Customer satisfaction tools: Built-in CSAT surveys and reporting help track service quality over time.
• Knowledge base (Help Center): Customers can self-serve by searching articles, which reduces ticket volume.
• Collaboration features: Internal side conversations and skills-based routing ensure tickets go to the right team members.

Key features of Jira Service Management

• ITIL-aligned service management: Covers incident, problem, change, and asset management, making it a good choice for IT and DevOps teams.
• Self-service portal: Lets employees or customers submit requests through an easy-to-use help center, reducing ticket volume for agents.
• Automation rules: Automates repetitive tasks like routing tickets, sending updates, or escalating incidents.
• SLA tracking: Provides detailed reporting on service-level agreements, ensuring teams stay accountable to response and resolution times.
• Atlassian ecosystem integration: Works closely with Jira Software, Confluence, Bitbucket, and Opsgenie, helping service teams collaborate with developers and operations.
• Virtual agent (AI): Offers an AI-powered agent to answer common questions, freeing up human agents for complex cases.
• Knowledge management: Uses Confluence integration to connect users with help articles and internal documentation directly within the portal.

Zendesk and Jira: Pricing Comparison

Both tools come with affordable entry-level plans and Jira Service Management offers a free plan too.

Zendesk Service

• Support Team ($19/agent/mo) – Includes core ticketing, email & social support, basic automations, reports, and AI agents.
• Suite Team ($55/agent/mo) – Adds omnichannel support, knowledge base, bots, workflows, live chat, phone, and customer satisfaction tracking.
• Suite Growth ($89/agent/mo) – Adds SLAs, multilingual support, private side conversations, and multiple ticket forms.
• Suite Professional ($115/agent/mo) – Includes advanced analytics, skills-based routing, HIPAA compliance, and routing by agent context.
• Add-ons:
  • Workforce Management ($25/agent/mo)
  • Advanced AI Copilot ($50/agent/mo)
  • Quality Assurance (from $35/agent/mo)
  • Advanced Data Privacy & Protection ($50/agent/mo)

Jira Service Management (Cloud)

• Free Plan ($0/agent/mo) – for up to 3 agents. Includes basic ITSM support, unlimited customers, self‑service portal, reporting, and Confluence‑powered knowledge base capabilities.
• Standard Plan ($19/agent/mo) – depending on agent count; when billed monthly. Includes branded help center, unlimited email notifications, automations, and 250 GB storage.
• Premium Plan ($50/agent/mo) – adds asset, incident, and change management, virtual agents, CI/CD integrations, advanced alerts, 24/7 support, and a 99.9% SLA.
• Enterprise Plan ($ custom) – custom pricing, typically in the six‑figure range annually, for large‑scale deployments.

Which tool is right for your use case?

Wondering which of the two customer support systems you should purchase? Here's how to decide.

Zendesk Service – best for customer-facing support teams

If you need a reliable ticketing system and a way to provide external customer support, Zendesk Service is the logical choice. With its long list of integrations (from customer relationship management tools to everything else), it fits into any customer support and sales workflow.

• Customer service departments in SaaS and B2C companies
  Zendesk is strong for handling large volumes of customer requests across email, chat, voice, and social channels.
• E-commerce businesses
  Its omnichannel setup helps support teams manage orders, refunds, and product questions quickly.
• Sales and success teams
  Zendesk integrates with CRM and customer engagement tools, making it easier to connect support with retention and upsell efforts.
• Companies that prioritize customer experience
  Zendesk focuses on fast, consistent communication with end users, which is crucial for businesses where customer satisfaction drives growth.

Jira Service Management – best for internal IT and service delivery teams

Jira Service Management is built for an internal use case. It's ideal for companies that need to manage incoming requests from team members who need help with incident management.

• IT departments in mid-size and large companies
  JSM covers incidents, changes, and asset management with ITIL-aligned workflows.
• DevOps and engineering teams
  It integrates with Jira Software, Bitbucket, and Opsgenie, allowing technical teams to link service requests directly with development and operations work.
• HR and facilities teams
  They can use JSM’s request portals and service catalogs to manage onboarding, equipment, or workspace services.
• Organizations with strict compliance requirements
  JSM supports structured approvals, audit trails, and enterprise-grade controls for regulated industries like healthcare and finance.

However, both have drawbacks, including very high and complex pricing, as well as outdated and unintuitive interfaces. If neither feels quite right, we've got just what you need! 👇

Try Featurebase, the better alternative to Zendesk and Jira! ✨

If Zendesk and Jira Service Management feel old, expensive, and bloated, check out Featurebase, a modern support & product management platform that blends the best of both worlds.

It’s loved by thousands of fast-growing support and product teams from companies like Lovabale, Polymarket, and Raycast.

With pricing starting from just $49 per month flat (meaning no seat-based pricing), it costs a fraction of Zendesk, Jira, and most other customer service platforms.

Featurebase is a modern support & feedback platform designed to help SaaS with AI-powered support and product management. Instead of having 5+ different tools, Featurebase offers everything in one place to help you build products your users love:

• Support platform – Support your customers from anywhere with an omnichannel inbox and automate support with powerful AI agents.
• Feedback collection & roadmaps – Centralize feedback with integrations, feedback widgets, AI, and a public feedback forum. Let users vote on each other's ideas, see their total revenue, and focus on the most impactful features. All upvoters will automatically be notified when you complete their request.
• Changelogs – Announce product updates and increase feature adoption with neat in-app popups, notification emails, and a dedicated updates page.
• Help Center – Provide self-serve support with a beautiful AI-powered knowledge base & bring help articles inside your product with a widget.
• Surveys (NPS, CSAT, etc.) – Create targeted surveys to ask users anything and measure customer satisfaction.

Plus, it integrates with many popular tools that you likely already use, such as Linear, Jira, Slack, and many more.

Pricing: Featurebase offers a free plan, with paid plans starting at $49 per month. The onboarding is super fast, plus you can automatically import your Zendesk knowledge base with one click - so there’s zero risk involved. 👇

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