I'm moving from FogBugz. Currently trying out Assistly and love their UI. Zendesk's own support page looks a little better than Assistly's, but it could be integration with GetSatisfaction or something that makes it so, which is extra cash to lay out.
Which is the better choice and why?
Thank you Hacker News!
I really, really like Assistly's interface for dealing with tickets. It loads new tickets as they arrive into the appropriate place via ajax, so I don't have to keep refreshing the page. All very slick. With zendesk you have to reload the page to see new tickets, which means tickets might not be seen as fast.
However, Zendesk allows commenting on all articles, which Assistly does not. That is important to me. It also is $10/month/agent cheaper, which isn't as important, but helps.
Zendesk also has some spam automation built in, which Assistly does not. Though some users were complaining that it was very bad, which may have been resolved.
I also like that I can use my own custom link shrinker, which is important for branding.
I think I'll end up going with Zendesk, though I would prefer to be using Assistly as a support agent because of the UI. I'll be keeping an eye on what they both come out with and will reevaluate eventually.