The Zoho Desk alternative that's made for growing businesses
Are you a small business looking for a help desk that’s simple and built for you? Zoho Desk is a full ticketing portal — departments, blueprints, routing rules, and a separate app your team has to learn, all wired into the 50+ app Zoho suite.
Rated 4.5 /5 on G2
No Credit Card Required
Why Keeping is a great Zoho Desk alternative
Zoho Desk is a full ticketing portal — departments, blueprints, routing rules and a separate app to learn, wired into the 50+ app Zoho suite. Pick Keeping if you want your team answering customers from Gmail in 15 minutes, with no portal and no configuration project.
Easy set up
Create a Keeping mailbox, forward your shared email address or connect with Google, and invite your team.
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Communicate status
Know where every support email stands by marking them as Open, Closed or Pending. No more requests slipping.
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Shared notes
Easily share notes with your whole team to communicate what needs to be done or how to follow up.
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Multiple mailboxes
Add as many shared inboxes as you like - respond from your personal inbox without having to manage multiple logins.
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Advanced reporting
Advanced reporting gives you the data you need to know to measure your team’s performance.
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Response templates
Getting the same questions over and over again? Easily save and share canned answers across your team.
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Collision detection
Keeping prevents multiple team members from working on the same support request at the same time.
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Confirmation receipts
Let your customers know you're listening with an automatic reply - customizable by mailbox.
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Keeping keeps your customer support invisible
When a customer sends you an email, they won't know you're using Keeping. They'll just see a friendly email from your support address. No case IDs, no jargon, no confusion.
That's because Keeping is designed to keep your customer support personal. When your team responds to a customer request, they'll be using their own email addresses, so your customers can build relationships with the people who are helping them.
Keeping also keeps your team's email addresses private. That means you can keep your work and personal email addresses separate, and your customers won't be able to see your team's real email addresses.
Keeping works directly inside Gmail
Your team can use Keeping without any training. Keeping works directly inside Gmail, so there’s no new tool to learn — if your team knows Gmail, they already know Keeping.
Zoho Desk is a separate portal that reviewers say has a steep learning curve, especially once an admin starts configuring departments, workflows, and blueprints.
And while Zoho Desk’s sticker price looks low, the features growing teams need climb the tiers fast: custom SLAs require the Standard plan, round-robin assignment requires Professional ($23/agent billed annually), and skill-based routing and Zia’s AI actions require Enterprise ($40/agent).
With Keeping, everything is on one plan, inside the inbox you already use.
A quick comparison on price
See how Keeping and Zoho Desk compare across every feature and why Keeping is the best Zoho Desk alternative for most small businesses.
 | Zoho Desk | |
|---|---|---|
| Works inside Gmail | Yes | No |
| Invisible to customers | Yes | No |
| Easy setup & onboarding | 15 minutes | A separate portal to configure |
| Round-robin assignment | Yes | Professional and up |
| No suite lock-in | Yes | No |
| Advanced analytics + SLAs | Yes | Yes |
Keeping brings help desk features to Gmail
Keeping is easy to use, saves you time, and helps you provide better customer service.
Collaborate in Gmail
Adding customer support to your operation no longer means opening an extra browser tab. Manage your shared inbox from your own Gmail account. No external app!
- Add collaboration to email
- Stop duplicated work
- Share the workload
Simple & Streamlined
Our instant setup and Gmail integration are designed for the busiest teams. There’s no complex software to configure. You’re up and running and supporting customers in minutes.
- Get started in minutes
- One home for multiple mailboxes
- Save time with shared templates
Best-in-Class Analytics
Advanced reporting gives you the data you need to know how your team responds to customers. Track first response time, resolution time, busiest times, and much more.
- Reports by agent, tag, and mailbox
- Understand how your team can improve
- Visualize the data over time
Automate Everything
Focus on what’s essential and let workflows handle repetitive tasks. Automatically assign tickets, set priority and tags, or change the status based on the content of your email.
- Improve team efficiency
- Respond to customers faster
- Nothing slips through the cracks
Connect the Tools You Use
Keeping is a powerful tool that can help you to stay organized and productive. But it can be even more powerful when you connect it to your other tools, such as Shopify, Zapier, or HubSpot.
Learn More about Connect the Tools You Use
Work together on customer support, right in Gmail
Made for busy teams
Collaborate with team members in real-time — no more forwarding emails and confusion around who is doing what.
Try us for free
There's no credit card required to get started. Get set up and connected in less than 10 minutes.
Secure and safe
Security and safety are at the core of everything we do. We publish our security policies and procedures so that you can see how we protect your data.
Advanced
$24
per user per month
billed annually
Our most comprehensive plan at a price you can afford.
See What's IncludedZoho Desk alternative FAQ
How much does Zoho Desk cost?
Zoho Desk Express is $7, Standard $14, Professional $23 and Enterprise $40 per agent per month, billed annually ($9, $20, $35 and $50 billed monthly). Round-robin assignment starts on Professional. Keeping's Advanced plan is $24 per user per month on an annual plan.
Is Zoho Desk free?
Zoho Desk has a free plan for up to 3 users with email ticketing and a default SLA, and a 15-day trial of any paid plan with no credit card. Keeping has a 14-day free trial that requires no credit card.
Does Zoho Desk work inside Gmail?
No. You forward your support address to a Zoho Desk address, and your team answers tickets in the Zoho Desk app. Keeping works inside Gmail, so your team answers shared email from the inbox it already uses.
Do my customers see ticket numbers with Zoho Desk?
Zoho Desk gives every ticket a number that customers and agents can both use as a reference, and paid plans add a customer help center. With Keeping, customers see an ordinary email reply from your support address.
Does Zoho Desk include SLAs on every plan?
No. The Free and Express plans get a default SLA only. Custom SLAs start on Standard with 4, then 10 per department on Professional and 20 on Enterprise.
Our customers love us for a reason
Don’t just take our word for it, see what our customers are saying about us.
Rated 4.5 /5 on G2
“Keeping helps our customer service team stay on top of inquiries & recognize when an issue has been handled.”
“It's a great tool for tracking and sharing support emails with colleagues. I love how Keeping email has its own inbox inside Gmail.”
“Keeping seamlessly integrates with Gmail, so we don't have to work with another tool. It allows everyone to see responses from the team.”
“Seeing our shared mailbox right in GSuite, the automatic setup, and the ability to keep track of issues are my favorite features.”
“At our university, Keeping gives us control over the responses of all our agents, as well as ensuring that all emails are being responded to.”
“Our HR department uses Keeping, and it works amazingly well for us to keep organized. It's a simple but robust ticketing system.”
“I like that we can use it right inside our Gmail. I also like that we can assign and prioritize incoming requests.”
“Keeping makes it simple to stay on top of our work orders, and I love that it is integrated with Gmail.”
“Tried them all - Keeping is perfect for our startup. Exactly the features we needed, like Gmail integration and collision detection.”