Methodology
How we test support software.
Every ranking on Zachat is earned against the same published methodology - hands-on evaluation by a named reviewer, scored on the criteria below, never pulled from a vendor spec sheet or a star badge.
The SupportScore
We summarize each product with a single editorial metric, the SupportScore - a composite of the criteria below, weighted for the jobs a real support team needs the tool to do. It is an editorial judgement, not a user-review average: no crowd-sourced star counts, no vendor-supplied numbers. Individual SupportScore values publish with each review.
What we score
-
Setup & onboarding
How fast a team gets from signup to a live, styled widget - install flow, migration tooling, templates, and the quality of the getting-started docs.
-
Agent workspace & live chat
The day-to-day conversation experience: inbox layout, canned replies, routing and assignment, typing indicators, co-browsing, and the mobile apps.
-
Automation & AI
Chatbots, AI agents, and resolution/deflection quality - workflow builders, macros, hand-off to humans, and how much the automation genuinely reduces ticket load.
-
Omnichannel & shared inbox
How well email, social, WhatsApp, SMS, and voice consolidate into one queue, and how the shared inbox handles collision, notes, and hand-offs.
-
Integrations & extensibility
Depth of CRM, e-commerce, and help-center integrations, plus API, webhooks, and marketplace coverage for the tools support teams already run.
-
Reporting & analytics
CSAT, first-response and resolution times, agent performance, and dashboards - whether the numbers a support lead reports on are actually there.
-
Security & compliance
SSO, role-based access, data residency options, and the vendor's SOC 2 / GDPR posture for teams with a procurement review to pass.
-
Pricing & value
Transparency of pricing, seat vs. resolution models, hidden add-ons, and how honest the free tier and entry plan really are.
-
Support & reliability
The vendor's own support responsiveness, published uptime/SLA, and documentation - because a support tool that goes dark is a special kind of problem.
How we run a test
Placeholder - the editorial team will document the full protocol. In short: we set each tool up as a real support team would, run representative conversations and automations through it, and record how it performs against every criterion above before it earns a place in a ranking.
How Zachat makes money
Some links to vendors are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission when you sign up or buy through them - at no extra cost to you. This never affects rank: the order of every ranking follows the SupportScore methodology on this page, not what a vendor pays. Where a vendor pays for a placement, we label that card “Sponsored” or “Featured Partner” and set it apart from the organic ranking. We do not sell the #1 spot, and a sponsored vendor is never ranked first because it paid. The full policy lives on our editorial policy page.
Frequently asked questions
Answers are on the way
Common questions about our testing process and the SupportScore will appear here as our editorial desk publishes them.