BrightGauge vs. Zendesk Explore

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BrightGauge
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
BrightGauge is a BI tool from ConnectWise that puts essential information in one place, providing visibility for more informed decisions. The user can customize BrightGauge dashboards and sync other business tools in its BI dashboard software for ultimate visibility. Users can also display data with embeddable gauges on public sites.
$325
per month
Zendesk Explore
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Zendesk offers Explore, a business intelligence and customer analytics tool which integrates with the Zendesk suite featuring ticket analytics, custom fields, dashboards, and other features. Zendesk is migrating customers of the BIME analytics product, which is approaching end of support, to Zendesk Explore in 2019.N/A
Pricing
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
Editions & Modules
Standard
$325
per month
Enterprise
$449
per month
Enterprise+
$635
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup Fee$499 one-time feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsSet up fee is waived for Enterprise+ customers. A discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
Considered Both Products
BrightGauge
Chose BrightGauge
BrightGauge is part of the ConnectWise suite, we use PSA and CPQ. We have BG integrated with PSA and QBO.
Chose BrightGauge
BrightGauge is essentially Power Bi at the reporting level. In Power Bi, the data must be modeled, and reports must be created, developed, and shared. BrightGauge is a buffet of report creation in a more straightforward form. I use Power BI more than BrightGauge in my current …
Chose BrightGauge
BrightGauge offers a far better user experience, ease of use and richer data than using the built in reporting from ConnectWise PSA.
Chose BrightGauge
BrightGauge is by far the easiest to learn/use of the BI tools I have experienced. We had managers building their own dashboards with no outside help. It is not incredibly versatile though so if you want to get much more beyond taking the data and putting it in a chart or table …
Chose BrightGauge
No comparison between the dashboarding available natively in ConnectWise Manage and what you can easily do in BrightGauge.
Chose BrightGauge
We looked very briefly at Solar Winds, but due to Connectwise the reporting was not very accurate and was conflicted.
Chose BrightGauge
I'm not aware of any other competitors to Bright Gauge that we selected. They seem to be very close to managed IT service providers and have been great at tailoring their support to the PSAs like ConnectWise, AutoTask, etc. I can see Bright Gauge getting more and more popular …
Zendesk Explore
Chose Zendesk Explore
Zendesk Explore stands out against Freshchat and Freshdesk for it's deeper analytics capabilities and seamless integration with Zendesk ecosystem. While Freshdesk offers reporting, it lacks on the same level of granular insights and customization that Zendesk Explore provides. …
Chose Zendesk Explore
I selected Zendesk Explore only to provide an easy and quick access for my managers and supervisors regading metrics and volume trends. Is not the most flexible nor complete data visualization tool, but works well for day-to-day follow ups.
You need to use another tool if you …
Chose Zendesk Explore
N/A - the company had already implemented Zendesk Explore when I was hired.
Chose Zendesk Explore
What's good with Zendesk Explore is that data is already provided since it's included in the package. We get the data from Zendesk Support and make a report in Zendesk Explore.

It provides suggested templates and report formats also which you don't get on the other platforms. …
Chose Zendesk Explore
Zendesk Explore is more user friendly and the software plus maintenance cost is less. The report section is more detailed and no lag while creating report for a large data source. The report segments and formats are editable which make it more convenient to make a report …
Chose Zendesk Explore
We tried other reporting and Zendesk Explore was by far the best as it was already implemented into our support system we were already using; Zendesk. The main selling point for us, is that all of the reports are customizable and that no coding knowledge is needed to build out …
Chose Zendesk Explore
Zendesk Explore is better than Freshservice Analytics. In Freshservice, even though the interface is more attractive, the functions are not as good as Zendesk Explore. Reports and dashboards are hard to build, and the materials to learn are not as good as the materials on …
Chose Zendesk Explore
For support data, we have only used Explore because it came with our ZenDesk membership. So I can't speak to other solutions! That said, it's awesome to have Knowledge Base and support data in one place.
Features
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
BI Standard Reporting
Comparison of BI Standard Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
8.1
Ratings
1% below category average
Zendesk Explore
9.0
Ratings
10% above category average
Pixel Perfect reports8.20 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Customizable dashboards8.80 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Formatting Templates7.20 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Ad-hoc Reporting
Comparison of Ad-hoc Reporting features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
7.7
Ratings
5% below category average
Zendesk Explore
8.3
Ratings
3% above category average
Drill-down analysis8.40 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Formatting capabilities8.50 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Integration with R or other statistical packages4.70 Ratings4.80 Ratings
Report sharing and collaboration9.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Report Output and Scheduling
Comparison of Report Output and Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
7.9
Ratings
5% below category average
Zendesk Explore
8.4
Ratings
1% above category average
Publish to Web9.40 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Publish to PDF7.40 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report Versioning5.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Report Delivery Scheduling9.20 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Delivery to Remote Servers8.50 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Data Discovery and Visualization
Comparison of Data Discovery and Visualization features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
5.9
Ratings
30% below category average
Zendesk Explore
7.2
Ratings
10% below category average
Pre-built visualization formats (heatmaps, scatter plots etc.)8.00 Ratings6.60 Ratings
Location Analytics / Geographic Visualization7.10 Ratings7.10 Ratings
Predictive Analytics6.00 Ratings5.50 Ratings
Pattern Recognition and Data Mining2.50 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Access Control and Security
Comparison of Access Control and Security features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
8.7
Ratings
3% above category average
Zendesk Explore
9.1
Ratings
7% above category average
Multi-User Support (named login)9.60 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Role-Based Security Model9.20 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Multiple Access Permission Levels (Create, Read, Delete)8.20 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Report-Level Access Control8.30 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Single Sign-On (SSO)8.30 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile Capabilities
Comparison of Mobile Capabilities features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
6.8
Ratings
14% below category average
Zendesk Explore
7.8
Ratings
0% below category average
Responsive Design for Web Access8.50 Ratings6.10 Ratings
Mobile Application6.00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Dashboard / Report / Visualization Interactivity on Mobile5.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding
Comparison of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) / Embedding features of Product A and Product B
BrightGauge
7.4
Ratings
5% below category average
Zendesk Explore
5.9
Ratings
28% below category average
REST API8.30 Ratings5.40 Ratings
Javascript API9.60 Ratings5.90 Ratings
iFrames10.00 Ratings5.50 Ratings
Java API6.00 Ratings5.60 Ratings
Themeable User Interface (UI)3.50 Ratings6.20 Ratings
Customizable Platform (Open Source)7.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
Small Businesses
Yellowfin
Yellowfin
Score 8.0 out of 10
BrightGauge
BrightGauge
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Reveal
Reveal
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Score 9.9 out of 10
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Kyvos Semantic Intelligence Layer
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrightGaugeZendesk Explore
Likelihood to Recommend
BrightGauge lets us know when we have critical issues that need solving. A massive influx of tickets all at the same time triggers an investigation. Usually, it is tied to a server going down, which we can address. It would not be helpful for a small MSP or IT department with just a few daily tickets. The stats are better used to track a large amount of clients.
Read full review
Compared to other analytics functions of other Ticket Management System, Zendesk Explore is the easiest to learn. Moreover, the learning curve is high. Once you pick up the fundamentals, you will be able to create all types of analytic reports. In addition, if you know basic coding or SQL, you can create your own metrics and attributes to capture extremely specific elements such as the tickets that contain a certain word or etc.
Read full review
Pros
  • SQL queries can be presented in many different ways to illustrate the data. They can be used in lists, graphs, meter, etc.
  • The datasets frequency of updates can be customized to from 5 minutes to annually. It's very granular in this respect.
  • It allows dashboards to be shared outside your organization with clients, partners, and vendors to maximize collaboration and reporting.
Read full review
  • As with most "suite" products, if you already use other Zendesk features (Chat, Talk, etc), then Zendesk Explore adds an extra facet to the customer experience. The more we know about our clientele, the better we can understand/anticipate their needs.
  • I like that we can get as in-depth as we feel is necessary. For example, is just one customer having an issue? Or are many experiencing a similar problem? We can better rack this type of trend using Explore.
  • Our team can dive deep into the data based on exactly what we're looking for. If the marketing team wants a certain kind of segment, we can give them that info. If we want to sort by date or another set of parameters, we can do that as well.
Read full review
Cons
  • Modifying data sets to bring in custom fields requires an experienced SQL engineer
  • Cost when bringing in lots of data sources can be prohibitive
  • Limited ability to format gauges and reports
  • Make MFA a requirement - this data is sensitive and giving the admin the ability to force MFA is a MUST!
Read full review
  • More detailed pieces of training on where to find datasets/queries.
  • Have demo reports to do live trainings; instead of watching videos.
  • Have a key as to what all of the datasets mean.
  • Have a pop-up that analyzes the data "looks like your csat dropped this week!" etc...
Read full review
Usability
Usability is BrightGauge's strength. Granting the ability of virtually any user to be able to create a dashboard is incredibly valuable. If an organization very simple and straight forward reporting needs then BrightGauge is a perfect fit for them. Connecting to the dataset we used was very quick and easy and I imagine it would be the same for any major data source you would like to pull from.
Read full review
I rate Zendesk Explore 8 out of 10 for it's overall usability because it offers powerful reporting and analytics with an easy to navigate interface and intuitive dashboards. It helps improve customer satisfaction by providing valuable insights into ticket handling, agent performance and customer satisfaction. Though the complex query builder can be challenging for non technical users.
Read full review
Support Rating
We did not need to use BrightGauge's support for the entire time that we used it. Best support is always the one that isn't needed because nothing breaks.
Read full review
Zendesk Community is extremely useful for Zendesk Explore beginners. The live support provided by Zendesk will also help a lot. If you don't know anything you can ask live support right away. However, one drawback of Zendesk Community and Support is the creation of complex reports on Zendesk Explore. Zendesk Community and Support cannot really help you much if you are trying to build a complex report as they are not a complete expert on it as well.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
I'm not aware of any other competitors to Bright Gauge that we selected. They seem to be very close to managed IT service providers and have been great at tailoring their support to the PSAs like ConnectWise, AutoTask, etc. I can see Bright Gauge getting more and more popular as time goes by
Read full review
Zendesk Explore stands out against Freshchat and Freshdesk for it's deeper analytics capabilities and seamless integration with Zendesk ecosystem. While Freshdesk offers reporting, it lacks on the same level of granular insights and customization that Zendesk Explore provides. Compared to Freshchat which focuses more on live chat and conversational analytics Zendesk Explore excels in historical trend analysis and comprehensive dashboarding. We choose Zendesk Explore for it's robust reporting and drill down capabilities.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Faster compilation of Business Review material
  • For larger customers, the dashboarding has helped our customers to remain sticky and add services/revenue to our MSP. They want to add more fragments of their IT for the 1 pane rollup.
  • From a leadership perspective, BG has allowed me to make difficult staffing decisions with confidence. Detailed metric driven decisions on who is hitting KPIs/who isn't - as well as when data proved we were overstaffed and understaffed.
Read full review
  • Positive impact of around 5 hours/week in Dashboard building and visualization
  • 10 hours from Product to review dashboards and find potential patterns
  • Enabler to find opportunities based on agents´ occupancy rates
Read full review
ScreenShots