Approval processes are fundamental to support workflows, from refunds and discounts to hardware requests and internal changes. Zendesk now has a native Approvals feature that has grown over the past year, so we have refreshed this comparison against what it does today. Here is how it stacks up against SweetHawk Approve.
Feature comparison
Comparison accurate as of 30 July 2026, based on generally available Zendesk functionality.
| Feature | SweetHawk Approve | Zendesk Approvals |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple approvals per ticket | ✅ Unlimited | ❌ 1 per ticket |
| Multi-step approvals (sequential or parallel), each one | ✅ | ❌ |
| Approval thresholds (for example, any 2 of 5) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Approvers can abstain and step aside | ✅ | ❌ |
| Conditional approvers with Liquid (if this, then that) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Dynamic approvers from ticket, user or organisation fields | ✅ | ❌ Fixed pick only |
| Approvers from a custom object (lookup relationship) | ✅ | ❌ |
| Manager and multi-level escalation chains | ✅ | ❌ |
| Timeouts and deadlines per step | ✅ | ❌ |
| Escalation and reminders on non-response | ✅ | ❌ |
| Agent can mark an approver unavailable to advance a step | ✅ | ❌ |
| External approvers (no agent licence) | ✅ Anyone, by email, Slack, Teams or portal | 🟡 Premium plans, Zendesk end users only |
| Branded approval emails | ✅ | ❌ Not branded |
| Personalized approver messages with Liquid conditionals | ✅ | 🟡 Static text |
| Require key fields completed before sending | ✅ | ❌ |
| Block ticket solve until approved | ✅ | 🟡 Blocks close, not solve |
| Live timeline on the ticket (route, current step, channels) | ✅ | 🟡 Current status only |
| Audit trail of decisions | ✅ Who, when, channel, comment | 🟡 Decision and comments |
| Zendesk plan requirement | ✅ Any Zendesk plan that supports apps | 🟡 Suite Professional+ or Employee Service Suite Growth+ |
| Native to Zendesk | ❌ App-based | ✅ |
✅ Fully supported | 🟡 Partial or conditional | ❌ Not available
When Zendesk Approvals is a fair fit
Zendesk Approvals works well for:
- A single, one-step sign-off captured natively on the ticket
- Teams already on Suite Professional and above, or Employee Service Suite Growth and above
- Approvers who are agents, or a few end users enabled and set up in the help centre
- Basic approve or deny with a comment, where timing and escalation rules are not needed
When SweetHawk Approve makes the difference
SweetHawk Approve is the right choice when you need:
- Multi-step, parallel, or threshold-based chains such as any 2 of 5
- Approvers who can abstain and step aside, so a step still resolves
- Timeouts, reminders, and automatic escalation when approvers do not respond
- Approvers resolved dynamically from ticket, user, organisation, or custom object fields, including manager chains
- External approvers acting from email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or a web portal, with no per-account setup
- Approvers and the message they receive set conditionally with Liquid, so a high-value request can route to a different approver with different wording
- Blocking a ticket from being solved, not just closed, until approval completes
- A full audit trail of who decided what, when, from which channel, and their comment
- Approvals on any Zendesk plan that supports apps, without upgrading to a higher suite
- A live timeline on the ticket showing the route and current step, with the option to mark an approver unavailable and move on
Choosing the right tool
Zendesk Approvals suits teams that want a simple, native, single-step sign-off and are already on a plan that includes it. SweetHawk Approve is built for real approval workflows: multiple steps, thresholds, timeouts and escalation, dynamic and custom object approvers, external sign-off with no setup, and controls that hold a ticket until the decision is made.
The two can also complement each other. Start with Zendesk Approvals for the simplest cases and move to SweetHawk Approve as your requirements grow.
