Zendesk vs. Oracle
Don't get stuck with legacy software that's too complex—follow along and discover why many businesses are choosing Zendesk over Oracle.

Zendesk vs. Oracle: A comprehensive guide
Last updated August 28, 2023
Zendesk and Oracle both offer customer service tools for businesses, but the solutions are not created equal.
Today’s customer service teams demand high levels of innovation and usability from their software vendors. However, according to verified users on review sites like G2 Oracle sometimes misses the mark in these areas. Some users find that the system is outdated and difficult to set up and use.
Fortunately, Zendesk is a best-in-class customer service solution that works for businesses of all sizes. Business leaders continue to choose Zendesk over our competitors due to the agility and scalability of our product, along with our focus on CX and innovation.
Agility
With Zendesk, you can adapt faster to change to keep up with evolving customer demands. Implement new solutions quickly while keeping costs low–no coding required. Unlike Zendesk, legacy enterprise systems like Oracle can be complex to maintain, often requiring costly developer teams, which can slow down innovation.
Scalability
Zendesk scales with your business as it grows, reducing the need to jump between service providers. On the other hand, Oracle users are forced to sacrifice agility for scalability due to the complexity of the system. With Zendesk, teams get the benefit of both scale and agility.
CX focus and commitment
Zendesk is dedicated to CX, providing customers with a community of thought leaders and industry best practices to encourage innovation. Conversely, Oracle isn’t exclusively focused on CX, so businesses won’t get the same level of CX depth and expertise as they will with Zendesk.
Read on to learn more about the differences between Zendesk and Oracle’s CX solutions. We’ll dive into some key features and share answers to the most commonly asked questions about both systems.
Use the list below to jump ahead to the sections that interest you most:
- At a glance: Zendesk vs. Oracle
- Features: Zendesk vs. Oracle Service features
- Pricing plans: Oracle vs. Zendesk
- Customer stories on using Zendesk vs. Oracle Service Cloud
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Ready to try Zendesk?
At a glance: Zendesk vs. Oracle
Here is a bird’s-eye view of Zendesk and Oracle’s respective software capabilities. As a renowned customer service expert, Zendesk understandably excels in this area and provides key features and benefits—but let’s look at how Oracle holds up.
Unified omnichannel experience |
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Low total cost of ownership (TCO) |
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Scalability |
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Fast deployment |
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Agility |
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Knowledge management and self-service |
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Reporting and analytics |
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Case management workflows and automations |
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Drag-and-drop chatbot builder |
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1,500+ no code and code apps and integrations |
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Full sandbox capabilities |
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Service and support |
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Features: Zendesk vs. Oracle Service features
The top features to consider when comparing Oracle and Zendesk include:
Unified omnichannel experience
The Zendesk Agent Workspace enables agents to communicate with customers across channels within a single, convenient interface. Agents can use the appropriate channels to address customer issues, without being restricted to the channel in which the customer originally made contact.
With key context at their fingertips—like a customer’s past support requests, account type, and order history—agents can provide personalized support no matter how a customer reaches out. Agents also don’t need to toggle between different tools; the added efficiency allows support teams to scale and deliver fast, consistent customer experiences.
On the other hand, Oracle requires cumbersome channel switching due to its lack of native channels like WhatsApp, Instagram, voice, and SMS. Multiple G2 user reviews also describe the platform as “not at all user-friendly,” which can impact agent efficiency and, consequently, the experience they can deliver to customers.
Tip: Ask your prospective software vendor for a demo of a fluid, multichannel flow for voice, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and any other communication channel your service team relies on. To provide a true omnichannel experience, you must choose software with omnichannel capabilities.
Total cost of ownership (TCO)
You don’t need a developer army to start using Zendesk, or an influx of agents to keep using it. Efficiency and automation are baked in, which is how Zendesk keeps its TCO low and return on investment (ROI) high. Our customer service solution is also quick to implement, and we offer all the capabilities support teams need to be successful out of the box.
As previously mentioned, Oracle users report that the platform is complex to use and maintain due to the need for technical skills. Because large developer teams and skilled admins require a bigger budget, this can drive up the TCO. Businesses that need more features must also pay additional licensing fees—further increasing costs.
Tip: Ask prospective vendors for a price quote based on the features and functionalities you’ll need. That way, you can identify hidden costs before signing a contract.
Agility
We also want to reiterate the impact agile support software can have on a business. Zendesk is easily configurable and customizable and enables teams to make changes fast by:
- Offering robust reporting: Gather insights about evolving customer needs and swiftly pivot to accommodate them.
- Providing a native omnichannel solution: Easily add channels as you go, while controlling your total costs.
- Supplying no-code integrations: Integrate with essential third-party systems and apps to keep your team nimble without relying on an IT specialist.
While Oracle solutions provide customizability, making changes requires time and resources. According to Oracle users like Anita M. and Chris D., the initial system configuration and setup are overly complex, and ongoing maintenance is cumbersome due to a lack of agility.
Tip: Select an agile vendor that offers a no-code bot builder, easy-to-install integrations, and drag-and-drop tools to make it easy for team members without technical expertise to make changes.
Knowledge base and self-service
Zendesk includes a help center and a smart knowledge base, making it easy for customers to find the information they need. We also make it a breeze for agents to churn out fresh, relevant content with AI-powered Content Cues and simple-to-use help center publishing capabilities.
Businesses can customize their help centers without hassles and organize content intuitively for users. Many businesses also use our platform to localize knowledge base content in more than 40 languages and repurpose valuable information for a global audience.
Oracle also offers self-service and knowledge management, but there are several nuances to consider. For instance, Oracle Service Cloud, formerly RightNow, doesn’t provide answer or article templates and doesn’t use a tagging system, which can hinder organization and slow productivity. While Knowledge Advanced offers more features, it costs twice as much as Oracle Service Cloud and doesn’t offer a way to automatically migrate content between systems.
Tip: Invest in a user-friendly knowledge management system that makes it easy to create and edit content, identify content gaps, and track article performance.
Reporting and analytics
Zendesk provides access to pre-built dashboards and customer service datasets. Zendesk users can also view additional data insights, build custom reports, publish and share dashboards, and more.
Oracle reports are a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. The software uses a WYSIWYG design tool to streamline reporting. Unfortunately, only system admins are able to build reports, and agents are unable to customize their views.
Tip: Increase efficiency and make it easy for agents to reach their goals by selecting customer service software that allows each team member to build and customize their own reports.
Case management workflows and automation
Zendesk supports workflows and automations through SLAs, operation level agreements (OLAs), predefined responses (macros), event-based triggers, time-based automations, and side conversations (which enable agents to collaborate on open tickets).
Oracle offers macro-like features that allow agents to utilize predefined responses. The primary difference is that the process is more complicated, and only admins have the permissions needed to set it up. Also, since the platform doesn’t provide a feature comparable to side conversations, agents can’t collaborate on support requests as easily.
Tip: Empower agents to resolve open support requests quickly by choosing software that enables real-time collaboration between agents and departments.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Zendesk offers a powerful AI solution that customer service teams can use within minutes—no developers, expensive IT costs, manual training, or months-long lead times needed. Our AI’s efficiency stems from being built with CX in mind and trained on trillions of data points gleaned from real-world service interactions.
AI powers our centralized Agent Workspace and gives agents access to tools that increase productivity. For example, Zendesk AI can suggest responses and detect customer intent, leaving agents prepared to handle interactions effectively. Our no-code chatbots can also address requests on their own or find the right agent for an issue.
Oracle’s chatbot (called Digital Assistant) is all proprietary, custom code—meaning it doesn’t have a drag-and-drop feature. For this reason, some businesses find the tool overly complicated for their current needs and resources.
Tip: Ask prospective vendors to show you how to set up a chatbot in real-time. Ideally, this process will be zero-code, instead using drag-and-drop technology to save time and money on configuration.
Integrations and developer platform
Developers who use Zendesk are uninhibited in using modern software languages, open APIs (application programming interfaces), and cloud administration on AWS, permitting easy and quick integration.
Of course, developers can use code to configure the Zendesk platform to a business’s specifications. However, non-developers can also customize it using any of the 1,500+ pre-built apps and integrations—this includes out-of-the-box (OOB) integrations for Jira and Salesforce on the Zendesk Marketplace.
Oracle also offers integrations, but its marketplace is more limited, with only 47 applications for B2C use cases and 10 for B2B. The marketplace has apps for management, networking, and security use cases, totaling 332 available applications. Users should also note that Oracle does not offer a sandbox testing environment out of the box, and changes made must be manually migrated, which is a time-consuming process.
Tip: Ask your chosen vendor to demo a working Jira and Salesforce integration so you can see how quickly you can set up out-of-the-box integrations on the platform.
Voice and telephony
Zendesk offers native voice, which is ready out of the box, and integrates with most phone systems. Many businesses consider Zendesk a top solution for service experiences, as our voice tools sync beautifully with our other CX tools to make support across channels a reality.
Oracle is a full-featured solution for calling. The caveat is that Oracle Service doesn’t come with a native voice solution. This may be manageable, but it does require businesses to use software from other vendors—a downside for businesses that want to limit the number of vendors they use.
Tip: Ask prospective vendors if their software allows agents to manage calls in the same space as digital communications for a more unified experience.
Pricing plans: Oracle vs. Zendesk
Before committing to a vendor, consider hidden costs (like expensive implementations and administration costs) and unpredictable costs (like usage-based self-service fees) when evaluating software. By doing this, you can verify that a solution is within your budget and will deliver a low TCO.
All plans are billed annually. |
Add-ons are billed separately. |
Unlike Oracle, Zendesk’s fast implementation and time to value as well as our user-friendly system configuration ensures we offer a consistently high ROI and low TCO. Don’t take it from us; take it from Forrester. Their Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study showed a 286 percent return on investment over three years.
Customer stories on using Zendesk vs. Oracle Service Cloud
Discover why business leaders continue to choose Zendesk over other customer service solutions.
Big Fish Games: Scaling support with self-service and data
Big Fish Games, a casual gaming company, relies on Zendesk to assess support data, draw key insights, and provide quality internal self-service tools so agents can better support the gamers who use the platform.
Before working with Zendesk, Big Fish Games pushed for more self-service, but it wasn’t until the company switched to Zendesk that it was able to ramp up its self-service resources to address easily-resolved issues.
Since the company began using Zendesk in 2016, Big Fish Games has deflected 40 percent of its tickets with self-service and increased agent productivity by more than 5 percent.
Big Fish Games cut wait times by 16 percent, too. The Zendesk Agent Workspace unified data from different departments in one place, enabling all agents to easily access essential information and deliver faster resolutions. Zendesk analytics also provided Big Fish Games with more insight into a broader range of benchmarks, helping the team make improvements to its service operations.
“Now, with Zendesk, we’ve got all this data. We’re absolutely loving it, to be able to dive into the numbers at such a granular level,” says Jeremy Fair, senior manager of operations business systems at Big Fish Games.
Lush: Increasing efficiency with a customer-first approach
Lush, a UK-based cosmetics retailer, uses Zendesk to maintain a customer-centric approach and impress with positive, conversational support. Also, by utilizing reports from Zendesk, the company can track key performance indicators (KPIs) and leadership can gather insights about customers.
“KPIs come as standard, but our founders want us to report back and tell them how our customer is feeling. With Zendesk, we can do that,” says Naomi Rankin, the global CX manager at Lush.
Using Zendesk for customer service operations and data insights, Lush has seen an impressive 50 percent increase in productivity and more than $208K in cost savings since 2021.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Now, let’s go over some of the questions we hear from customers looking for a new service solution, and compare Zendesk to Oracle.
What is Zendesk used for?
Zendesk enables over 100,000 businesses of all sizes to build lasting relationships with our complete customer service solution. The software helps businesses enhance agent productivity with AI, personalize customer interactions, make good decisions with data, adapt to changing needs, and more.
Zendesk can also help you be as helpful to your employees as you are to your customers with our internal help desk software.
Is Zendesk only meant for small businesses?
No, businesses of all sizes use and benefit from using Zendesk. Enterprises like Slack, Ticketmaster, and Uber use Zendesk to power their CX. Because our software is highly customizable and scalable, any business can make the most of our tools. To learn more about how Zendesk enables seamless support, take a look at these customer service overviews:
Does Oracle provide a free trial of its product?
No, Oracle doesn’t offer free trials for its products, including Oracle Service Cloud and Oracle Fusion Service.
Why does Oracle have two service products, and which one is being pitched?
Oracle offers two different service products: Oracle Service Cloud and Fusion Service. Fusion Service is the original product, and the other (Oracle Service Cloud) was acquired from RightNow Technologies in 2011. Customers must choose between the two and compromise on the services they receive for now. Talk to your sales representative to confirm which tool they are pitching you.
Will Zendesk offer more customer service innovation compared to Oracle?
Yes, Zendesk enables businesses to keep up with changing customer demands, enter new markets, and adapt fast with our no-code tools. Because Oracle relies on extensive customization, dedicated technical resources, and third parties to make changes, innovation is compromised.
Ready to try Zendesk?
Now you know the differences between Zendesk and Oracle’s service solutions, but you won’t truly know if a product is the right fit for your organization until you try it.
That’s why we’re offering your business 14 days of Zendesk for free. Take the time to learn more about our customer service features, ask questions, and see the product in action.
Zendesk vs. the rest: Compare the software
Check out these additional resources to see how Zendesk stacks up against the competition.