Zendesk vs. Level AI

Managing a successful support team without the right tools is like getting up to perform on stage without rehearsing your lines or even reading the script. Relying only on guesswork to determine agent performance and call quality might be better than nothing, but imagine how comprehensive customer service QA software could transform your team.

When comparing solutions like Zendesk vs. Level AI, you’ll see that they both offer QA tools but serve different purposes overall. Level AI provides QA and coaching tools primarily focused on call center operations. Zendesk, on the other hand, is an AI-powered QA solution embedded within a complete customer experience (CX) system, empowering support teams as they grow. Teams can access everything they need in a single place.

Ultimately, both platforms have AI-powered features but Zendesk outperforms the competition by adding an all-round intelligent automation, intuitive UX, and coaching and feedback out of the box. If you’ve been considering Level AI vs. Zendesk, this article breaks down the similarities and differences to help you choose the best option for your team.

Intuitive design and user experience

Zendesk offers an easy-to-learn and simple-to-use experience. You’ll get up to speed quickly, allowing you to ensure quality across all customer interactions. Plus, unlike other siloed tools, Zendesk can fit seamlessly into your support ecosystem, as it’s integrated with the full suite of Zendesk support tools. Some Level AI users report that its UX can be clunky. 

Out-of-the-box AI-powered QA

Zendesk offers advanced AI-powered QA features right out of the box. As AI automatically analyzes your conversations, your team can surface quality issues, score interactions, and discover coaching or feedback opportunities. There’s no complex setup required, whereas Level AI may require considerable AI training to get the most out of it.

Low total cost of ownership

Because Zendesk combines customer experience and QA tools, you won't need multiple add-ons or additional vendors. With Zendesk, the costs and payment tiers are clear and affordable, so you get everything you need for a price that won’t break your budget. 

Level AI offers a la carte pricing where users must pay for each feature, bringing the total cost much higher than Zendesk.

Coaching and feedback

Zendesk provides coaching features to help your team level up, from conversation scoring and annotations to performance dashboards. You can easily uncover trends and tailor coaching based on individual or team needs. Best of all, you won’t have to switch between systems, as everything is included in one place.

Level AI also offers coaching tools, but they require additional integrations to reach their full potential.

Complete CX solution

Zendesk integrates QA into the full customer support suite. That means you don’t just get QA as an isolated feature—instead, you get everything you need to run your support operation, from analytics to workforce management and security features.

While Level AI offers QA features, it’s a non-native app that doesn’t provide a full suite of support features out of the box.

More in this guide:

• At-a-glance comparison: Zendesk vs. Level AI
• Zendesk vs. Level AI: Features comparison
• Pricing plans: Zendesk vs. Level AI
• Customer stories
• Frequently asked questions
• Try Zendesk today

Below, we compare Zendesk vs. Level AI, including how they stack up against crucial quality management softwarecapabilities.

Critical capabilities	Zendesk	Level AI
AI-powered QA	Built-in QA, including scoring, automation, and insights, all powered by AI	May require additional training and setup
Spotlights and intents	Highlight key events like churn risk, escalations, follow-ups, and more	Can recognize intents Requires extensive input and training to be effective
Coaching tools	Leverage feedback, scoring, and performance tracking	Coaching workflows are included
Voice QA	Included Voice QA with call transcription and analytics (AutoQA categories and Spotlights, sentiment analysis, and more)	Offers some voice support
AI agent QA	Scores human and AI agents alike	Not included
WFM	Zendesk WEM (workforce engagement management) includes both QA and WFM	Only accessible via a third-party tool

When it comes to key features, both tools have a lot to offer. We compare each in depth to help you determine which solution is best for your needs. 

AI-powered QA

Automate your quality assurance with Zendesk QA.

Zendesk offers AI-powered QA that automatically analyzes and scores interactions across all channels, including voice, chat, and email. This lets you uncover gaps in knowledge, coachable moments, churn risks, or other outliers and concerns without manual tagging and extensive review required. Instead, the system reviews 100 percent of conversations and offers insight into sentiment and performance trends.  Level AI provides AI-driven QA for call centers. However, it requires additional configuration to fully align it with your existing workflows.

Coaching tools

Zendesk includes customizable scorecards, dashboards, and in-line feedback so you can assess and coach your team at scale. Leaders can uncover agent performance trends, track customer satisfaction and related metrics, and quickly spin up coaching sessions based on identified areas of opportunity. Then, you can add action items, pin discussion topics, or assign quizzes to ensure agents get the training they need. Level AI also offers coaching features, but they generally require additional integrations with external systems (think CRM or support platforms) to make full use of them. This can make effective coaching more challenging.

Ensure superior CX with Zendesk WEM.

Voice QA

Elevate the quality of your customer support with Voice QA.

Zendesk leverages speech-to-text functionality to transcribe and summarize calls automatically. Then, using Spotlight, it flags issues like dead air, churn risk, or missing disclosures on calls. You’ll no longer have to spend hours manually reviewing calls, and it even translates calls in other languages into English.  Level AI includes voice transcription, summaries, and insights geared toward phone-based call centers. This means these features may not integrate as well with other channels. The tool also lacks an end-to-end voice QA workflow like Zendesk offers.

AI agent QA

Zendesk doesn’t limit QA to human interactions. As you rely on AI agents to solve issues, you can monitor their performance in any channel with AI agent QA. With robust analytics, you can take QA measures just like you would with human agents, allowing for continuous improvement.  Level AI remains focused on human interactions and does not currently offer QA for AI agents or chatbot-led workflows.

Automatically optimize every AI agent conversation with Zendesk.

WFM

Unlock improved agent productivity with Zendesk WFM.

Zendesk combines QA, customer support features, and workforce management (WFM) tools in a single offer–WEM. This lets you assess information and make data-driven decisions about staffing needs, scheduling, and performance. You’ll have an easier time structuring and leading your support team, and you’ll always have quality insights at your fingertips. Level AI doesn’t include native WFM features, so users have to rely on third-party tools for things like capacity modeling, staffing forecasts, and schedule management.

Zendesk	Level AI
Zendesk QA: $35 per agent/month Zendesk WEM bundle: $50 per agent/month	Contact Level AI for pricing
*Plans are billed annually.

Zendesk offers a low total cost of ownership. With one simple price for QA, teams get exactly what they ordered. Your team will save money and time by consolidating everything in one system.

Level AI doesn’t publish its pricing online, but costs are likely to add up quickly. Because Level AI isn’t an all-in-one platform, users typically have to purchase additional tools or add-ons. This ultimately drives up both the financial cost and the time cost.

Don’t just take it from us. Check out experiences directly from Zendesk customers to see how they’ve transformed their workflows. 

Avianca

“Zendesk is a really important partner for us. We partner with Zendesk to gain visibility, improve customer experience, and have better control of our operations. That’s what we’ve been doing the last year, and with great results so far.”

—Juan Sebastian Rodriguez, customer service and contact center director at Avianca

FirstKey

“I think even when you start using AI, it’s still a human experience. Really, the best advice that I could give to anybody [who] is going to Zendesk is [to] start with the workers and [understand] their needs. There’s going to be a way that Zendesk can help you.”

—Crystal Shepherd, workflow automation and analytics manager at FirstKey

Liberty

“We need to provide great customer service 100 percent of the time. Zendesk QA has helped us maintain focus on the consistency of quality and identify specific areas where we need to improve.”

—Sophie Elgar, quality and training manager at Liberty