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Customer Service Software

How to find the right Customer Service Software

Learn more from our team about Customer Service pricing, features and benefits in our Customer Service Buyers Guide

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Essential customer service software buying information

Customer service software enables businesses to manage and track customer relationships and support services. From ticket tracking to complaint resolution and reporting, customer service software solutions allow organizations to manage and assess the quality of their interactions with customers. Customer service applications also include an internal knowledge base, providing customer service representatives with the information necessary to resolve customer complaints.

Customer-facing employees use customer service software to streamline customer inquiries, provide personalized support, and facilitate business operations.

Most customer service solutions on the market are priced on a per month basis, and typical entry-level pricing starts at $9 per month while more advanced or premium systems are commonly priced at $180 per month and above.1

First-time buyers should consider whether to opt for customer service software as opposed to other customer-focused solutions like call center software or customer experience software. This decision can depend on who will be the end-user of this software and whether the desired outcome is to address customer inquiries and issues or to enhance overall customer satisfaction and improve brand engagement.

With that in mind, buyers should evaluate their budget, the number of users, specific use cases, and necessary integrations when deploying these tools. Additionally, buyers should consult with stakeholders on a list of critical questions to help you evaluate systems based on your needs, such as:

  • Can the tool perform multi-channel communication?

  • Are there features for gathering customer feedback?

  • Can the software scale to support the growth of customer service teams and handle increased volume if needed?

  • What level of training and support is provided to implement the use of this software?

  • Does the tool offer live chat features to address issues in real time?

Shep Hyken2, a renowned thought leader in customer experience, underscores the importance of considering both customer and employee experiences when implementing new technologies. "Many companies feel they're investing in technology that is meant to be used for the customer. The reality of some technologies is that they may be great for the customer but may not be so great for the employee experience," Hyken explains. So I believe we have to look at both sides—the employee experience as well as the customer experience."

What are the most reviewed customer service software systems? 

Capterra Shortlist identifies the top customer service systems based on a proprietary blend of user ratings and popularity, helping small businesses quickly find the most effective customer service solution for their needs.3 Here are the five most-reviewed products in our Capterra Shortlist for this category:

Product

Overall score

Popularity score

Ratings score

LiveChat

99/100

50/50

49/50

Freshdesk

93/100

45/50

48/50

Zoho Desk

89/100

41/50

48/50

Zendesk Suite

85/100

37/50

48/50

LiveAgent

84/100

35/50

49/50

These rankings are determined by combining verified user ratings and publicly available web search popularity data:

  • Ratings score: Relative score of the software based on ratings given by users on Capterra, normalized for the number and recency of reviews.

  • Popularity score: Relative popularity of software based on web search trends and products’ web presence.

What is customer service software? 

Customer service software platforms are tools that help businesses manage and solve customer queries. They typically do so by applying a ticketing system that documents, tracks, and aids in resolving customer queries.

Customer service systems collate customer requests from multiple channels, such as phone, email, chat, and social media, into one single portal. This can make it simpler and quicker for support agents to respond to queries.

This software also allows multiple agents to work on each ticket, making it more convenient for different teams to collaborate on meeting customer needs. Such tools provide detailed reports and insights into customer interactions, helping organizations assess the quality of their customer support service.

Gartner estimates that by 2027, 91% of Customer Service and Support (CSS) software spend will be for cloud-based deployments, up from 84% in 2022. Very few vendors will still offer a hybrid deployment style due to development costs being predominantly focused on cloud-based solutions.

Additionally, the CSS market can be poised for a lot of innovation, driven by AI and GenAI because of the strong ROI that AI and GenAI can generate.4

Capterra covers 671 products in the customer service category, along with 6,958 verified user reviews in the past year.5

Customer service software pricing

Most customer service software solutions on the market are priced on a "per month" basis, and a typical entry-level pricing plan is around $9 per month. Premium and advanced system subscriptions often exceed $180 per month.

  • Features with entry-level systems are designed to meet the needs of small businesses or customer service teams, as they generally include a limited number of seats. Other features usually included at the entry-level are support ticket management, real-time notifications, and basic reporting.

  • Premium features tend to include a higher or unlimited number of contacts and additional feature modules such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) features, marketing automation, priority customer support, SSO, and other third-party system integrations. These are suitable for large businesses with numerous customer service teams and departments, as well as complex customization needs.

Additionally, 401 customer service software vendors listed in our catalog offer free trials and some systems also offer free versions. These can be leveraged to help businesses evaluate the tool and decide if they like it before committing any money.

Customer service software features rated by users

All customer service software includes knowledge base management, multi-channel communication, and support ticket management features, and most share a variety of common features such as live chat, real-time notifications, customer databases, alerts and escalations, and call center management.

Core customer service software features

  • Support ticket management: Allows customers/users to submit support queries and service requests. 84% rate this feature as critical or highly important.

  • Multi-channel communication: Facilitates communication with customers from multiple channels including email, live chat, phone, and social media. 75% rate this feature as critical or highly important.

  • Interaction tracking: Track interaction history by documenting conversations for contacts.

Common customer service software features

  • Call center management: Manage call center activities including call monitoring, call recording, call answering, call transfer, etc. 77% rate this feature as critical or highly important.

  • Alerts for escalation: System-generated notifications about the need to bump the priority level of a ticket.

  • Automated routing: Tickets are automatically assigned to specific agents based on predefined rules.

  • Customer relationship management (CRM): Built-in CRM capabilities or integration with a third-party CRM system.

  • Inbox management: Organize, prioritize, and manage incoming communications.

  • Knowledge base management: Enables the creation, management, and updating of a repository of information, often known as a knowledge base.

  • Queue management: Monitor wait time and abandonment for incoming requests that have not been routed.

  • Reporting and statistics: Collection, analysis, and representation of numerical data and generation of reports to understand various patterns.

  • Surveys and feedback: Gauge satisfaction and receive information for improvement and success.

Top customer service software benefits identified by users

Enhances team collaboration: Reviewers state that customer service software can enable collaboration between different agents in order to resolve user queries and manage escalations effectively. 

“It is relatively simple to set up and allows for both customers and service agents to have smooth communications across the board”

–Yitzhak B, digital service team lead

Improves client communication: Customer service software facilitates efficient communication between clients and support teams, ensuring queries are addressed in a prompt and effective manner.

“It has been a crucial platform in my organization as it allows me to communicate more closely with clients and colleagues”

–Jaya T, security engineer, financial services

Facilitates workflow automation: Users say that the automation of repetitive workflow tasks can help users save time and focus on other urgent tasks. 

The automation streamlines processes, reduces manual effort and enables us to focus on high-value activities that drive customer success”

–Jisha J, manager, customer success 

Enables performance improvement: Users highlight that customer service software boosts efficiency and productivity by offering advanced features and seamless integration with other tools.

“This centralized approach simplifies management, improves response times, and enhances the overall customer service experience”

–Daniel P, group compliance manager, human resources

Common challenges of customer service software identified by users

When it comes to challenges with customer service software, users most frequently cite issue resolution problems like bugs and glitches that may lead to slow response times or dysfunctional features.

The second most cited challenge is pricing. When narrowing a shortlist of products, buyers should review pricing tiers and verify that they align with their company’s allocated budget and that they only pay for premium features that they need to use. 

A third challenge businesses may find when implementing the software is how to train their staff to use the tools effectively. Buyers should make sure that the software is user-friendly and comes with its own help desk and guide for assistance.

More broadly, when buying new platforms, 40% of software purchasers disclose that addressing security concerns is a top challenge, while another 36% mention issues with finding software compatible with existing systems. 6

What is customer service software used for?

Analysis of our extensive customer service software reviews highlights the most common use cases:

Automating processes: Customer service tools can streamline processes and automate tasks by setting up macros, automatic tickets closures, notifications, and escalations. This can optimize workflows and increase productivity. 

Performance improvement: These tools can generate performance reports to help teams track essential metrics and identify areas for improvement. When combined with the time saving capabilities customer service software has with the automation of processes, teams can witness a performance boost. 

Ticket management:  Customer service tools help customers submit their support queries and service requests easily and escalate these queries when needed. 

Customer service software can be categorized into different types:

  • Customer support software allows businesses to engage with customers through multiple communication channels such as live chat, email, ticketing, social media integrations, and more, to handle customer needs.

  • Call center software is a business solution that facilitates call center agents to automate and standardize the process of providing phone support to customers. Call center solutions help organizations run their contact centers more efficiently by managing inbound and outbound calls, recording customer complaints, monitoring customer experience, and tracking agent productivity.

  • Help desk software is a customer service tool that enables organizations to respond more efficiently to their users. Such tools elevate the ability of customer service departments to provide fast and effective support to employees, end-users, and customers.

  • Chatbot software provides automated responses to queries from customers, leads, or other users.

  • Customer advocacy software helps businesses engage loyal customers and reward them for advocating track referrals, and monitor advocacy campaign performance.

Who uses customer service software?

Customer service software is utilized by various organizations to enhance customer interactions and support operations through multiple channels.

The primary users include customer support teams, marketing teams, and product management teams. These roles leverage the software to manage inquiries, resolve issues, enhance client communication, and gain insights into customer feedback for product and marketing strategies.

Our reviews data from the past year reveals that nearly 50% of users are from small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. These users predominantly come from industries such as IT and software, consumer services, retail, financial services, insurance, marketing and advertising, and telecommunications. Essentially, all entities that interact with customers or clients can benefit from customer service software to manage inquiries and resolve issues.

Common customer service software integrations

We analyzed our extensive reviews database and determined that the three categories most often integrated with customer service software are customer relationship management, email marketing, and project management.

When it comes to customer support service, CRM software integrations can ensure that customer data is synchronized across platforms, and help agents access information and deliver personalized support. Email marketing integrations, on the other hand, facilitate seamless communication efforts, allowing customer service teams to align with marketing campaigns and provide timely updates to customers. Additionally, project management integrations streamline the tracking and resolution of customer issues, fostering better collaboration among team members and ensuring that tasks are completed efficiently.

The sentiment around integration is largely positive, with users noting the comprehensive integration capabilities, user-friendly interfaces, and powerful automation features. These integrations have the potential to enhance operational efficiency and provide valuable insights through advanced analytics, supporting better decision-making and customer service outcomes.

Recent trends in customer service software

Service priorities are evolving in 2024: Gartner reports that customer service leaders state their key priorities for 2024 are improving the customer experience, employing analytics to understand the voice-of-the-customer, and enhancing operations. To accomplish these goals, customer service leaders will need to navigate an evolving landscape that includes dynamic self-service options, the impactful use of generative AI (GenAI), and strategies for holistic customer journeys. 7

AI-enabled customer service: AI is transforming customer service by playing a key role in automating tasks. AI-enabled tools can automate tasks using predictive analytics, machine learning (ML), natural language processing, and generative AI models to train algorithms on past customer interactions, website content, and external search results pages, providing numerous benefits to customer service teams

Mobile app-friendly customer service: Providing mobile-enabled contact points makes for a better customer experience. A mobile customer service software app allows users to monitor support processes on the go. Additionally, some apps have AI-powered chatbots that not only facilitate instant responses to customer inquiries but can also reduce operational costs for your business.

Learn more about how customer service software can help your business

Sources

  1. Capterra software pricing data: Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Capterra’s customer service software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in the Capterra directory that offer them.

  2. Shep Hyken, LinkedIn

  3. Capterra Shortlist: Capterra Shortlist identifies the top products in our software categories based on a proprietary blend of user ratings and popularity. We featured the products with the most reviews at the time of Capterra Shortlist publication. Read the complete methodology.

  4. Forecast Analysis: CRM Customer Service and Support Software, Worldwide, Gartner

  5. Capterra reviews data: Capterra reviews are collected from verified users for individual software products. For this report, we analyzed reviews from the past year as of the production date. Learn more about our review verification process.

  6. Capterra 2025 Tech Trends Survey: The 2025 Tech Trends Survey was conducted online in August 2024 to understand the timeline, organizational challenges, adoption & budget, vendor research behaviors, ROI expectations, and satisfaction levels for software buyers. Read the complete survey methodology here

  7. Top Customer Service Trends and Priorities for 2024, Gartner