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What do 1.86 million IT end users from 130 countries all agree on?
According to the 2023 HappySignals Global IT Experience Benchmark report, it’s “human touchpoints”.
Yes, the human factor in IT has the biggest impact on how end users rate internal IT services.
Source: HappySignals
And they’re not alone. The NICE Digital First CX Report in 2022 notes that it takes just two bad digital interactions for more than 40% of consumers to decide to abandon a brand.
For IT teams, the ability to serve end users and solve their IT issues quickly and effectively is critical. To do that you need to prioritize IT service management and employ a powerful helpdesk tool that can help you thrive.
We’ve done the legwork for you, and assessed a range of popular helpdesk tools and how much they cost. Take a deep dive with us into helpdesk pricing to make the best decision for your IT organization.
What is a helpdesk software?
A helpdesk is a software platform that lets you serve customers digitally across various channels (email, live chat, portal, app, and more). Technicians use helpdesks to resolve IT issues for internal teams and colleagues, and/or for their company’s customers (in the case of managed service providers or SaaS software providers).
As helpdesk technology advances, more smart features become available, including data-based insights and automation, which makes your work more efficient and impactful. For example, with Atera Copilot, the AI-powered companion for the IT management platform, you can:
- Get device diagnostic and AI-recommended actions for better issue resolution, based on historical and contextual data.
- Automatically summarize tickets and generate responses in text or voice format.
- Generate knowledge base articles for self serve IT helpdesk.
- And more.
Types of helpdesk pricing models
When examining the leading helpdesk platforms, you’ll notice that they have various pricing formats. These fall broadly into two main categories: pay-per-technician and pay-per-endpoint.
Pay-per-technician vs pay-per-endpoint
Pay-per-endpoint is a popular helpdesk pricing model. It means that you pay for every endpoint or device that is part of the helpdesk network. While pay-per-endpoint is a simple pricing model, it is fairly expensive for companies that are growing. Every time you add a new device (laptop, printer, mobile device, etc), the cost goes up.
The pay-per-technician model, introduced to the IT industry by Atera, helps companies be more budget smart. Instead of charging per endpoint, the fee is priced per technician, so you can add unlimited endpoints/devices and scale without increasing costs. In fact, by leveraging efficiency-boosting technology like AI, you can increase the number of endpoints without needing to employ more technicians. This leads to significant savings on helpdesk costs.
Perpetual vs subscription-based
Subscription-based helpdesk pricing is the most popular model, and it makes a lot of sense — use the software as long as you need it, drop it when you don’t. Furthermore, as long as you’re subscribed, you usually get access to customer support and product updates without additional costs, which helps you stay on top of industry trends and regulatory requirements.
Typically, you can choose to pay on a monthly basis, or save some dollars by paying an annual fee once a year.
That said, some prefer to buy the helpdesk product outright and own it forever. For IT managers, this is a convenient option, as it negates the need to submit continual budget requests. If you choose a perpetual pricing option, it’s important to verify how long you have access to customer support and product updates. These aren’t always as ‘perpetual’ as your payment.
Factors affecting helpdesk pricing
Helpdesk pricing varies among companies. Pricing even for the same brand can vary according to specific offerings and configurations. There are several factors that impact the cost of helpdesk software including:
- Deal size: The longer you buy in advance (say, a year or a “lifetime”), the less you pay. Essentially, you get a discounted price in exchange for ensuring a certain revenue and cash flow for the vendor.
- Cost of service: For example, on-premise deployment is more expensive to provide than cloud-hosted solutions. In exchange for higher pricing of on-premise, you get more control over your data.
- Add-ons: Some providers charge for API access or even customer service, or you might need to upgrade your purchase to include an integration with a third-party solution.
Setup, implementation, and training: Some providers charge for the setup and onboarding process, or for training your team. If they don’t, these are still factors to consider in your budget, including how much time you’ll spend on onboarding and how this will impact your day-to-day work. You may also need to bring in a consultant to support the process, which is an added expense.
Why some helpdesk pricing remains unpublished
One of the most frustrating aspects of researching a software purchase is when there is no available information about pricing. Let’s go behind the scenes to understand how helpdesk providers decide whether to disclose pricing upfront:
- Complex customization: Some helpdesk platforms offer numerous features and configuration options, and the customization possibilities are endless. There may simply be no way to explain pricing succinctly online. Potential customers have no choice but to reach out for a personalized quote.
- Pricing negotiations and market competition: Some providers want to prevent competitors from accessing information about their offers and pricing, or they aim to leave themselves enough wiggle room in contract negotiations with customers.
9 popular helpdesk providers (and pricing)
Now that we’ve thoroughly covered the issues around helpdesk pricing, let’s see how it all plays out with some of the biggest names in the industry.
1) Atera pricing
Atera was the first to introduce a pay-per-technician model, with pricing set according to the number of technicians, regardless of the number of endpoints. Atera pricing is publicly available and transparent, and it covers full access to the all-in-one helpdesk, RMM, and PSA platform. Atera offers two three-tiered plans:
- IT department pricing plan starts at $169/month billed monthly, or $149/month billed annually.
- MSP pricing plan starts at $159/month billed monthly, or $129/month billed annually.
Both plans offer:
- Savings of up to 16% when choosing the annual subscription.
- Customized quotes for enterprise-grade services and integrations.
Atera also offers a 30-day free trial (no credit card required).
Atera dashboard
2) ServiceNow pricing
ServiceNow doesn’t publish its prices or pricing structure online. Instead, it asks you to contact sales for a quote. To do that, you need to complete a detailed form with no less than 13 fields, almost all of them mandatory.
Online reviews indicate that ServiceNow charges per agent. They say there are tiered, subscription-based plans, and there’s an option to add customized features beyond the structured plans for an additional cost.
It appears that IT service management starts at $70-100/month/user, and there’s a minimum spend requirement to become a customer. That minimum ranges between $10,000 and $50,000 across reviews.
3) Freshworks pricing
Freshworks offers four pricing tiers for its Freshdesk helpdesk platform. All tiers are priced according to the number of agents that use the platform. Plus, the more features you get, the pricier the plan becomes. However, all plans offer savings with annual subscriptions.
- Free: $0 for up to 10 agents.
- Growth: $18/agent/month billed monthly, $15 billed annually.
- Pro: $59/agent/month billed monthly, $49 billed annually.
- Enterprise: $95/agent/month billed monthly, $79 billed annually.
Freshworks offers a 14-day free trial (no credit card required).
4) ManageEngine pricing
Although ManageEngine publishes its pricing online, it is complex and fairly veiled. Potential customers are directed to contact sales for a quote, as they would have to work hard to find and understand pricing information upfront.
Pricing is differentiated, first of all, by the target audience:
- ServiceDesk Plus serves internal IT departments.
- SupportCenter Plus is for technicians providing IT services to other companies.
SupportCenter Plus has a small “Buy Now” button at the bottom of the page, leading to a list of 80 options (you read that correctly) to potentially add to your cart. On the left sidebar, you can find pricing for other products, including ServiceDesk Plus, which has an even longer list of options.
5) Aisera pricing
Aisera has no pricing indication on its website. We found inconsistent information in the Salesforce and Microsoft Azure marketplaces. Both indicate that only annual plans (with one-time payments) are available, and that the payment structure is according to the number of employees. Note, however, that different prices are listed on both marketplaces.
- 0-1,000 employees: $100,000/year (Salesforce) or $200,000/year (Microsoft).
- 1,001-10,000 employees: $500,000/year (Salesforce) or $1,200,000 (Microsoft).
- 10,000+ employees: $1,000,000/year (Salesforce). No Microsoft information.
According to the Microsoft marketplace, a free Aisera trial is available for the two lower tiered plans.
6) Zendesk pricing
Zendesk offers transparent pricing per agent, with feature-based tiers — the more features you get, the more you pay. There’s no option to pay month by month. All plans are billed annually.
- Suite Team: $55/agent (billed annually).
- Suite Growth: $89/agent (billed annually).
- Suite Professional: $115/agent (billed annually).
- Suite Enterprise: Talk to sales for a customized quote.
Zendesk also offers a “build your own plan” payment structure, with pricing starting at $19/month (billed annually).
A nice bonus is the free trial that gives access to all of Zendesk’s features.
7) NinjaOne pricing
While NinjaOne has a pricing page on its site, it doesn’t share specific prices publicly. Rather, the pricing page takes the opportunity to pitch the product with customer testimonials and a breakdown of the different pricing elements:
- Number of endpoints.
- Whether you choose to upgrade NinjaOne with integrations.
- Monthly or quarterly promos.
According to online user reviews, pricing starts at $4/endpoint, and there’s a minimum of $200 and 50 endpoints. On its website, NinjaOne clarifies that the more devices you deploy per agent, the bigger discount you’ll get.
NinjaOne also offers a free trial (no credit card required).
8) SysAid pricing
SysAid has a pricing tab on its home page. Once you click it, you’re asked to submit your email address to “get pricing now.” What you actually get is a promise that a sales rep will contact you soon.
A hidden page we found clarified that there is a subscription payment model, which varies according to the number of agents and managed assets, among other things. Online reviews are inconsistent about pricing, with some indicating monthly per-user prices that are lower than $50, and others stating that prices start at around $80/month.
Either way, you can get a free trial with access to all the platform’s features (no credit card required).
9) SolarWinds pricing
Like Atera, SolarWinds charges per technician for its web helpdesk software. Unlike Atera, it requires a one-time purchase, with no monthly bills.
Prices range from £439 (approximately US$558) to £691 (approximately US$878), depending on the number of technicians (from 1 to 501+). The price comes with a year of maintenance, including product updates, technical support, product training, and product add-ons. However, there’s no clarification about what happens after the year ends.
Alternatively, there is an option for a subscription plan, starting at $426, but you need to contact sales for more information.
SolarWinds offers a fully functional 14-day free trial.
Helpdesk pricing trends
Taking into account the brands and pricings discussed above, it is clear that there are some key helpdesk pricing trends at play. These include:
Making it easy to buy
Many companies offer a fully functional, no credit card required, free trial. It’s about making it easy for customers to say “yes” and try the product with no risk on their part — the ultimate aim is that they will love it and decide to invest.
Some companies make it easy to purchase by providing structured, easy-to-understand pricing. Complicated cost considerations may be a turn off.
High customization
Companies that offer customized packages may avoid publishing standard pricing information. In doing so, they’re able to tailor offerings to a customer’s true needs.
That said, this may make it challenging for a prospect to convert into a lead. Without any information on pricing structure or range, or by requiring prospects to complete long and complicated forms, some potential buyers may simply decide not to bother.
Long sales cycles
According to a survey by 6sense, when B2B buyers finally reach out to sellers, they have already gone through 70% of the buying process. In fact, most deals (84%) are over before the provider even knew about them!
Bottom line, if prospects come across a helpdesk provider with transparent pricing that suits their budget, they may not even look at other vendors at all. By offering pricing up front, helpdesk software companies can get in on the game before the customer reaches the decision-making stage.
Source: 6sense
Our recommendation: AI-powered and pay-per-technician helpdesk software
At Atera, we believe in transparency and creativity to support and simplify your growth. Atera was the first to introduce a pay-per-technician helpdesk pricing model. Then, we powered our platform with AI, helping you scale the volume and complexity of the IT tasks you take on, without increasing your technician headcount or your helpdesk budget.
Atera’s AI-powered helpdesk results are proven in real-world companies:
- Solve 10X as many tickets
- Speed up response time by 99%
- Solve 95% of tickets faster
Want to tap into a powerful AI helpdesk solution, at a fixed cost per technician?Try Atera risk free (no credit card required!) or reach out with any questions.
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