Customer support and helpdesk
Asked as “customer support and helpdesk platform”, and as “helpdesk and customer support software”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 28 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
43%
Clear leader
43Zendesk Support Suite21Freshdesk21Zoho Desk14others
43% of first choices, clear leader.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01
Zendesk Support Suite43%27%30criticized defaultnewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 43% now.
Zendesk Support Suite43%27%30criticized defaultnewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 43% now.04
Jira Service Management4%27%15criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 4% now.
Jira Service Management4%27%15criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 4% now.Show the five products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
09
Salesforce Service Cloud0%45%20criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
Salesforce Service Cloud0%45%20criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to head
All six head-to-head pages: the top four products, each against each
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
0304
05
06
07
0809Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Zendesk Support Suite43%
Zendesk Support Suite43%02Freshdesk21%
Freshdesk21%03Zoho Desk21%
Zoho Desk21%04Jira Service Management4%
Jira Service Management4%05HubSpot Service Hub0%
HubSpot Service Hub0%06Intercom0%
Intercom0%07Front0%
Front0%08Help Scout0%
Help Scout0%09Salesforce Service Cloud0%
Salesforce Service Cloud0%What they warned about
Two of six models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Opus 5, GPT-6 Astra, Gemini 3.1 Pro and Perplexity Sonar Pro changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Salesforce Service Cloud45%
9 of 20 labels negative · 6 of 6 models
“Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud for smaller or less complex teams, because one B2B-focused source explicitly says to avoid them at this stage” Perplexity Sonar Pro, negative prompt
Zendesk Support Suite27%
8 of 30 labels negative · 6 of 6 models
“caution around Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud for smaller teams, not because they are bad products overall, but because they can be too complex” Perplexity Sonar Pro, negative prompt
Intercom19%
5 of 27 labels negative · 4 of 6 models
“SLAs, HIPAA support, SSO, workload management and multibrand features are restricted to the top Expert plan.” GPT-5.6 Sol, negative prompt
Kayako100%
2 of 2 labels negative · 2 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“legacy products like Kayako and Desk.com have historically stagnated or shut down” Claude Opus 5, negative prompt
What they cite
Six of the six models returned a source list in this edition: six return the pages they cited.
Sites the answers cite
30 of 36 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 6 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 575 links across 199 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.
vendor site · Freshworks17 answers · 19 citations · 5 models
vendor site · Zendesk15 answers · 18 citations · 5 models
vendor site · Featurebase12 answers · 23 citations · 4 models
11 answers · 14 citations · 4 models
vendor site · Desk36510 answers · 13 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Intercom10 answers · 12 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Salesforce10 answers · 11 citations · 4 models
9 answers · 16 citations · 4 models
9 answers · 15 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Hiver9 answers · 11 citations · 3 models
vendor site · HubSpot9 answers · 9 citations · 2 models
8 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
7 answers · 3 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 3 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 1 model
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best customer support and helpdesk platform”, “customer support and helpdesk platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk Support Suite zendesk.com | 43% | 182 | 30 | 2 | 5,365,445 | $16,181 | 63 | |
| Freshworks freshworks.com Freshdesk 21%, Freshservice 0% | 21% | 291 | 12,100 | 391 | 111,586 company | $14,486 | 113 | |
| Zoho parent site Zoho Desk 21% | 21% | 167 | 8,100 | 105 | ||||
| Pylon usepylon.com | 11% | 36 | 40,500 | 3,118 | 29,726 | $166 | 21 | |
| Atlassian atlassian.com Jira Service Management 4% | 4% | 41 | 6,600 | 188 | 4,724,388 company | $5,906 | 61 | |
| HubSpot parent site HubSpot Service Hub 0% | 0% | 285 | 368,000 | 9,776 | ||||
| Intercom intercom.com | 0% | 392 | 33,100 | 7,165 | 64,348 | $3,304 | 120 | |
| Front front.com | 0% | 32 | 90,500 | 304,676 | 63,585 | $1,626 | 68 | |
| Help Scout helpscout.com | 0% | 120 | 8,100 | 173 | 37,899 | 14 | 10 | |
| Gorgias gorgias.com | 0% | 46 | 27,100 | 317 | 21,763 | 12 | 6 |
Google's top ten for the two searches hold 18 sites; 1 of them are among the sites the models cited here (featurebase.app). The first result for “best customer support and helpdesk platform” is proprofsdesk.com.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best customer support and helpdesk platform for a mid-market B2B software company?”Paraphrase“Which helpdesk and customer support software would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B software company?”Comparative“What are the top customer support and helpdesk platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best customer support and helpdesk platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a customer support and helpdesk platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which customer support and helpdesk platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5Zendesk Support SuiteFreshdeskChangedagainst: Zendesk Support Suiteno first choiceagainst: Freshservice, Jira Service Management, ServiceNowZoho Deskagainst: Help Scout, Intercom, Zendesk Support SuiteFreshdeskagainst: Desk.com, Intercom, Jira Service Management, Kayako, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk Support Suite
Three alternatives
HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, PylonFive alternatives
HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Plain, Pylon, TeamSupportNine alternatives
Freshdesk, Gorgias, Help Scout, Hiver, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk Support Suite, Zoho DeskNine alternatives
Chatwoot, Crisp, FreeScout, Freshdesk, Hiver, HubSpot Service Hub, Jira Service Management, Spiceworks Help Desk, TidioThree alternatives
HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Service CloudClaude Opus 4.8Freshdesk, Zendesk Support SuiteFreshdesk, Zendesk Support SuiteHeldZendesk Support SuiteZoho Deskagainst: Freshdeskno first choiceagainst: Freshdesk, Intercom, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk Support Suite
Two alternatives
HubSpot Service Hub, IntercomThree alternatives
HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Zoho DeskSeven alternatives
Freshdesk, Gorgias, Help Scout, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zoho DeskThree alternatives
Chatwoot, Help Scout, ZammadGPT-6 AstraPylonPylon, Zendesk Support SuiteChangedno first choiceZoho Deskagainst: FreshdeskFreshdesk, Zendesk Support Suiteagainst: Gorgias, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk Support Suite
Two alternatives
Intercom, Zendesk Support SuiteTwo alternatives
Freshdesk, IntercomTwo alternatives
Freshservice, Jira Service ManagementOne alternative
Help ScoutFour alternatives
Front, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Service CloudGPT-5.6 SolZendesk Support Suiteagainst: Salesforce Service CloudZendesk Support SuiteHeldagainst: Jira Service Management, Salesforce Service CloudZendesk Support SuiteZoho Deskagainst: Help ScoutZendesk Support Suiteagainst: Gorgias, Help Scout, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Jira Service Management, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk Support Suite
Four alternatives
Freshdesk, Front, HubSpot Service Hub, IntercomThree alternatives
Freshdesk, HubSpot Service Hub, IntercomEight alternatives
Freshdesk, Gorgias, Help Scout, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Jira Service Management, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zoho DeskThree alternatives
Freshdesk, HubSpot Service Hub, Jira Service ManagementSix alternatives
Freshdesk, Front, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Jira Service Management, Salesforce Service CloudGemini 3.1 ProZendesk Support SuiteJira Service Management, Zendesk Support SuiteChangedno first choiceZoho DeskZendesk Support Suiteagainst: Salesforce Service Cloudagainst: BMC FootPrints, Cherwell Service Management, Kayako, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow, SysAid, Zendesk Support Suite
Four alternatives
Front, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Jira Service ManagementThree alternatives
Front, HubSpot Service Hub, IntercomFive alternatives
FreeScout, Help Scout, HubSpot Service Hub, Jira Service Management, osTicketFour alternatives
Freshdesk, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Jira Service ManagementPerplexity Sonar ProPylonZendesk Support SuiteChangedZendesk Support SuiteFreshdesk, Zoho Deskno first choiceagainst: Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk Support Suite
Four alternatives
Freshdesk, HubSpot Service Hub, Supportbench, Zendesk Support SuiteFour alternatives
Freshdesk, Help Scout, Intercom, PlainEight alternatives
Freshdesk, Front, Help Scout, Hiver, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zoho DeskTwo alternatives
HubSpot Service Hub, LiveAgentBold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Thirty-six rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 13:49 | yes | 40 | 76 s |
| Direct recommendation | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 13:50 | yes | 40 | 62 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 13:51 | yes | 5 | 39 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 13:52 | yes | 7 | 55 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 13:51 | no | 0 | 31 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 13:50 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 13:53 | yes | 39 | 63 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 13:54 | no | 0 | 29 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 13:56 | yes | 5 | 42 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 13:57 | yes | 6 | 51 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 13:55 | no | 0 | 49 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 13:54 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 13:58 | yes | 39 | 65 s |
| Comparative | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 13:59 | yes | 33 | 66 s |
| Comparative | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 14:01 | yes | 10 | 62 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 14:02 | yes | 10 | 77 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 14:00 | no | 0 | 27 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 13:59 | yes | 19 | 14 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 14:03 | yes | 32 | 63 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 16:12 | yes | 18 | 232 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 14:10 | yes | 5 | 33 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 14:11 | yes | 5 | 29 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 14:09 | yes | 8 | 42 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 14:09 | yes | 20 | 11 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 14:12 | yes | 39 | 88 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 14:13 | no | 0 | 27 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 14:14 | yes | 6 | 41 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 14:16 | yes | 7 | 80 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 14:14 | no | 0 | 38 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 14:13 | yes | 20 | 15 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 5 | claude-opus-5 | 2026-09-08 14:17 | yes | 41 | 68 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Opus 4.8 | claude-opus-4-8 | 2026-09-08 14:18 | yes | 38 | 62 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-6 Astra | gpt-6-astra | 2026-09-08 14:20 | yes | 5 | 47 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.6 Sol | gpt-5.6-sol | 2026-09-08 14:21 | yes | 7 | 71 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.1 Pro | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2026-09-08 14:19 | yes | 11 | 56 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar Pro | sonar-pro | 2026-09-08 14:18 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
Noise floor in this category
Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.
ShowHide
Claude Opus 5
3 of 5 flipped
Claude Opus 4.8
2 of 4 flipped
GPT-6 Astra
2 of 4 flipped
GPT-5.6 Sol
0 of 5 flipped
Gemini 3.1 Pro
4 of 6 flipped
Perplexity Sonar Pro
2 of 4 flipped
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
Zendesk read as Zendesk Support Suite
Zendesk Suite read as Zendesk Support Suite
Zendesk Suite Professional read as Zendesk Support Suite
Unresolved, counted raw
None awaiting human review.
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.