Gist vs. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gist
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Gist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.
$29
per month
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management.
$0
Pricing
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Editions & Modules
Professional
$29.00
per month
Premium
$99.00
per month
Core Plan
$0
Premium
$6
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Considered Both Products
Gist
Chose Gist
Gist is a much more robust software with a variety of marketing tools in its arsenal. Things like website tracking is also extremely robust and it has many more features.

The ease of setup is also more enjoyable and intuitive in Gist so the overall result is that you can learn …
Chose Gist
Gist is much more affordable, but intercom is a better product. I recommend going for Gist to begin, and then migrating if you need more.
Chose Gist
Gist is more refined and its tools are very well integrated overall. However, its pricing is on the expensive side and this doesn't really help it stand-out. HubSpot has significantly more generous Free plan, while Dashly offers many of the Premium Gist tools at a fairer price, …
Chose Gist
My main use for Gist is live chat. I personally find their live chat to be one of the best, and their mobile app to be invaluable for small businesses on the go. I can receive and response to messages wherever I am, which is imperative for my use case.
Chose Gist
Intercom increases its price on a monthly basis. Besides they don't offer some features as Gist, specially about on forms.
We think Gist is targeted to SMB companies, differentially from Intercom that seems to be appropriate for larger companies.
One main difference between then …
Chose Gist
Gist is only a few years old, so it lacks some of the features of Drip and ActiveCampaign, but I believe they will get there.
Chose Gist
Hubspot and Salesforce are great and powerful, they are just so much more expensive than what I need.
Chose Gist
We went with Gist because it had the features we needed at a price we liked. The feature list has grown over time, which is really appreciated. We joined Gist a long time ago (it was still called ConvertFox back then) and have been happy customers for a long time. Happy with …
Chose Gist
Gist is much more than a basic mailing list system with chatbot integration and automation that connects you to your prospects in real-time live from your website.
Administering your contacts on Gist is much easier with less hassle.
And Gist can integrate with most of the major …
Chose Gist
Gist is slightly slower than ActiveCampaign but MUCH easier to use than Mailchimp. Overall, you can't beat the bang for the buck you get with Gist. And its messenger bot is the best I've used, it works on not only our main site but also our subdomains, kicking the competition …
Chose Gist
We've used Dashly and Tawk.to. Gist looks better than Tawk and that's the reason we switched from Tawk to Gist. But the feature that puts Gist above Dashly is the ability to collect user names and emails before they start the chat automatically. It is important for our business …
Chose Gist
They both seem to have parity with each other with each having their own small advantages. I went with Gist because it was more affordable.

Infusionsoft customer for almost 5 years and it seemed I was always working more on getting it to work instead of getting work done. Gist …
Chose Gist
Gist is better because easy of use and pricing. Hands down. It has an unbeatable cost-benefit ratio. Customer service has been with us since we started using it. That's great. For us, shortcomings such as no CRM are manageable. We like its front end appearance and customization …
Chose Gist
Gist is my first email and chat multi-purpose automated SAAS tool so can't really comment on others I've tried. They came recommended to me by an entrepreneurial group I am a member of. Anecdotally I evaluated it against ActiveCampaign and Mailchimp and it was far better in …
Chose Gist
Gist a more integrated and unified product for Sass companies. Some competitors don't have strong chat + email automation + help desk. Other competitors have the features, but they are not well integrated. Gist has integrated complete customer contact with a very finished …
Chose Gist
Gist is much more complete than other tools like Crisp, Customerly, etc, at a cheaper price. The perfect deal for your business.
Chose Gist
Having a support ticket system is good and will help you resolve issues but, having an all-in-one tool that can let you not only resolve an issue but also to go above and beyond with customer support that later on translates into sales is priceless. That is the kind of tool …
Chose Gist
You can do everything you can with AC or Mailchimp (minus dynamic cart recovery for ecom) at a fraction of the cost, and you can do MORE -- better integration with FB ads than MailChimp, more powerful workflows, unified inboxes, live chat and chatbot, etc. It's just a more …
Chose Gist
I have a lifetime deal with Gist so I may be a bit biased, but Gist is quite easy to use and has a free tier so it's worth a serious look compared to the other players on the market. Personal preference does play a big role in your final decision, as feature-wise, Gist has most …
Chose Gist
Intercom was pricy and less user-friendly in comparison to Gist. It did have a broader range of features that we could use in our plan. However, we didn't see any return of investment in having many features to choose from if the price was too high for what was being offered at …
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
although it does not have all of the features it still is able to perform MOST of the function for these softwares
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks Help Desk was picked because of its user-friendly design, low pricing, and basic ticketing capabilities that fit our organization's requirements. Its built-in knowledge base and active user community boosted the effectiveness of our IT support operations. While it …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
In my opinion, we have a much richer experience with Solarwinds. It basically ramps up all the features of Spiceworks to the next level and enforces a proper ITIL framework into the process. Integration with Dameware is a much better experience than Spiceworks' connection to …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks Help Desk is simple and easy to install. It takes very little skill to get it installed and working. There are no expensive components needed to run the software and virtually no maintenance.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
[Its] simplicity, [the] easy user interface for both technicians and end-users, and stability, plus the ability to locally control data access (we're highly regulated regarding privacy and records rights), puts it in its own class. While it may not do everything larger systems …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
EGroupware UI is clunky and hard to use, Jira is great but the pricing is expensive in comparison with spice works that has a free version and you can test it out properly before buying and make a correct decision based on your business plan and company objectives with the …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Overall, Spiceworks Help Desk is an easy-to-use option at a GREAT cost. We didn't feel that any other products offered anything that Spiceworks couldn't so we haven't felt the need to explore any more companies. The Spiceworks FREE option is great on its own and it's hard to …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks Help Desk is free, which is an advantage. It also includes inventory tracking. Mojo help desk does not rely on Windows as a platform. Spiceworks Help Desk also allows for add ons and reporting.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks is a great option for a free help desk. In terms of features, it is similar to the free level of Freshdesk. If you want a lot of features and customization though, you should look at Jitbit Help Desk or the paid tiers of Freshdesk. Both offer better reporting, …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks is much cheaper and does the job well for one organization. Connectwise Manage works better for an MSP that is handling multiple companies and wants to keep them separated.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We found that for entry-level SMB in-house needs that Spiceworks had an impressive range of features and options at an unbeatable price-free! For our in-house and multi-tenant needs, we use a different product that is more appropriate to our particular needs, but with no cost …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We tried to use Jira for ticketing, but it doesn't support hashtag updating of tickets through email. We find it helpful to be able to convert emails from users into tickets by forwarding them to the help desk email address and including hashtags for ticket assignment, …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
[Spiceworks Help Desk] was much easier to roll out since it didn't require any custom development from or development team. It also had an existing mobile app that was easy to deploy.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Cost was the big factor here. While we already used TeamViewer there were some limitations for the helpdesk and some only available with increased cost on the inventory side. Ivanti was used in Europe but very pricey to add to the Americas. While we used Dynamics CRM, we had a …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Trialing Zendesk and a few others, they are very well done programs which do what is needed and even more at a cost. The free price tag of Spiceworks is well worth it for our business and environment. We chose Spiceworks for the ease of use on both IT and end users' ends and …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
A lot of the competition starts with some free options, but bare minimum or "paid only modules" etc. And their support is often either non existent or convoluted while Spiceworks Help Desk is both great and responsive as well as having an open community and forums. You can …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Teamwork has many features that I wish Spiceworks had, but Spiceworks has the price that can't be beaten. There are some things that would make it better, but those are things that I can train my technicians on and we can live without the operational cost associated with …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We love the JitBit side of things for the help desk component of our system. We have a lot more customization available with JitBit vs. the Spice works application. The features for JitBit are the ones we are looking for, and as such, we have moved our ticketing to JitBit …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We have not looked at anything recently due to how well Spiceworks has been working. Other parts of campus are using other programs that one day may be forced upon us. At the moment we are very happy with what we are using and will not be looking elsewhere if we do not have to.
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Spiceworks does so many things in a variety of ways that it is hard to compare it to other products. Keep in mind that freeware has limits, but if the Spiceworks tools fit your need and management doesn't complain then go for it. Paid software has plenty of benefits, but you …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
We are in the process of looking at Remote Monitoring & Management tools as we are growing so rapidly. We have been checking out demos & reading reviews of these other applications and they are way more feature-rich than Spiceworks - however, they come at a cost and will …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
SolarWinds is far superior but it is a locally installed application. I think each does things well. For a free or paid no-ad version legacy style it was great. As for cloud-only options, I think there are still some things that need to be improved on. There needs to be …
Chose Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
N/A - I have not evaluated other products similar to Spiceworks
Features
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Chat Analytics and Reports
Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Product A and Product B
Gist
8.9
Ratings
3% above category average
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
-
Ratings
Chat history and transcripts8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Chat reporting8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Chat and web analytics8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Gist
-
Ratings
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
8.5
Ratings
6% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Gist
-
Ratings
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
7.0
Ratings
11% below category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Gist
-
Ratings
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
8.9
Ratings
14% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Small Businesses
Olark
Olark
Score 10.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
SysAid
SysAid
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.7
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GistSpiceworks Cloud Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
Gist is perfect for SaaS I'd say, and perfect for long sales cycles with lots of lead nurturing involved, and for scenarios where you re-market via FB ads, because there's FB custom audience integration built into the workflows. Perfect for customer service and support. Really outstanding there. It's a little less suited to ecom but they're hammering out the finishing touches to make ecom cart recovery easier.
Read full review
Spiceworks Help Desk from the user end is very simple. Once you submit your technology needs, I automatically receive an email stating that my ticket was received and is being processed. It's also helpful to have the VNC feature so that my IT department can automatically VNC into my computer if it's a quick fix. At times Spiceworks Help Desk can be tricky because as someone who's not in a Tech role at my company, it can be hard to describe what I need assistance with writing.
Read full review
Pros
  • Gist provides endless ways of interacting with customers. I can chat and email with them, track their usage on my site, qualify them, add tags and other profile information, and so much more.
  • There is even an awesome live view that lets me spy on visitors to see how they're using the site.
  • The tools are powerful, easy to use, and constantly getting improvements. It seems like every week there is another update being rolled out that substantially extends the functionality or usability of the features in Gist.
Read full review
  • It helps to multitask, even on the go with the mobile App.
  • We can customize to meet your needs with automated responses, notifications, and templates.
  • Detailed reports allow managers to keep track [of] and analyze data.
  • Allows for a database to store notes helpful for future tickets.
Read full review
Cons
  • Free plan limits are too low.
  • Chatbots should work not only for Gist's native online chat, but also for the other chat-based channels such as Facebook. (instead of having to use another software for that purpose)
  • Pricing structure - Support bot should not be an add-on but a core feature.
Read full review
  • I have always wanted a way to redirect a support request into another IS bin, such as a development task.
  • It's possible to extract the data from the Spiceworks database, but it would be helpful if the process to do so were easier.
  • Improved ability to customize the system generated emails to improve the formatting and company branding.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Gist is a quite reliable service with a lot of added values. We don't need to pay for different Saas for these important features. If I had an issue the team was super responsive and helpful, that is essential for every business. The email delivery is great, so virtually no email has landed into spam folder
Read full review
There is no contract to renew, since it's free. Spiceworks has helped me so much that I couldn't imagine trying to replace it with a different product. I'd have a hard time finding a single product that does everything that Spiceworks does, let alone one that does it as well as Spiceworks and for free
Read full review
Usability
Gist does pretty much anything you want it to when it comes to managing your contacts. Sometimes I wish it updated faster, but wait a few beats and it gets there. I really love that I can show a colleague how to use the chat messenger and they understand it right away. Very user friendly!
Read full review
1. Its free. 2. Its easy to install. 3. You can have it up and running in under 1-hour. 4. You get dashboards that are easy to read so you know the state of your network. 5. You can create your own reports and not just the ones already installed. 6. Excellent tool for network administrators and security practitioners. 7. Did I mention that its free?
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
We use it both locally on our own server so up time is decided by us and we also use the hosted help desk. We have never had an outage of that.
Read full review
Support Rating
I have communicated with their team multiple times and every time they have been very responsive, knowledgeable, and polite. They work to make sure you are happy and informed of what is going on. Better their team keeps up to date with their app, giving you new features, and keeping you notified and educated about what they are and how to use them. A+
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Spiceworks has been working out of the box, and some of the basic customizations have been successful with just our internal staff handling. We don't have any other issues with the tool. It provides us with the inventory information we want in a quick and concise report in a variety of formats for our team.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
If you can spin up a VM to run it on, you'll thank yourself later. If you have remote sites, set up a local server (or dedicated computer) at each site and set them up as remote collectors for the main site. You'll save time and bandwidth
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Alternatives Considered
They both seem to have parity with each other with each having their own small advantages. I went with Gist because it was more affordable. Infusionsoft customer for almost 5 years and it seemed I was always working more on getting it to work instead of getting work done. Gist is so intuitive I had it setting up and running the basics in a few hours.
Read full review
EGroupware UI is clunky and hard to use, Jira is great but the pricing is expensive in comparison with spice works that has a free version and you can test it out properly before buying and make a correct decision based on your business plan and company objectives with the right software.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Our ROI has increased significantly because of Gist's chat and app integration into our website. Contact forms are great but a real-time conversation means you can be more effective in meeting your customer's needs.
  • The additional features in the recent upgrade mean we can use Gist for more. They have always been effective for email campaigns, but the addition of the knowledge base and more effective workflows means we can automate more. This has saved us from buying more software.
Read full review
  • Positive - Allow organizations to implement structured Help Desk procedures.
  • Positive - IT can begin to quantify their tickets and uncover needs within the organization.
  • Positive - IT can develop a solid roadmap with [the] management of future needs, equipment refresh schedules, etc.
  • Positive - IT can pinpoint employees who may need extra training or updated equipment based on historical ticketing data.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Gist Screenshots

Screenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of Email MarketingScreenshot of Marketing Automation WorkflowsScreenshot of Knowledge BaseScreenshot of Meetings