8 Budget-Friendly Intercom Alternatives to Try in 2023

In this way, it becomes possible to work efficiently in a shorter time. Gorgias’ multi-channel communication feature and advanced e-commerce solutions have made it an important Zendesk alternative. To summarize, its advanced features have made Intercom one of the most powerful Zendesk alternatives. Gathering website data of brands or competitors can be a challenge, especially when done it manually. Let’s break down Intercom, Drift, and Zendesks’ marketing strategies and see examples of how they build their online presence.

So with that, you’re in good company, and if you’ve used any of the above services and have reached out to their support team, I’m sure you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. As someone that believes in using the best tool for the job + integration, over an “all-in-one solution” approach, I’m quite passionate about the software stack that we use. Say what you will, but Intercom’s design and overall user experience are leaving all its competitors far behind. It’s beautifully crafted and thought through, and their custom-made illustrations are just next level stuff.

Knowledge Base Features

We’ve analyzed a dozen of reviews to help you get an average estimate of Zendesk vs Intercom functionality. I found that if I wanted to work most productively I’d need to have all four main Zendesk products opened in different browser tabs as there is no option of having all of them within a single dashboard. Moreover, these are new prices as they’re in the middle of changing their pricing policy right now (and they’re definitely not getting cheaper). It’s highly customizable, so you can adjust it according to your website or product’s style.

It also offers advanced analytics so that you can measure the effectiveness of your customer service strategy and identify areas of improvement. If you’re looking for an alternative to Zendesk that provides a comprehensive set of features, Front might be the perfect solution for you. There are a number of customer communication platforms (CCM solutions) available on the market today, each with its own unique set of features and benefits.

Features

Zendesk can be more flexible and predictable in this area as you can buy different tools separately (or even use their limited versions for free). What can be really inconvenient about Zendesk, though is how their tools integrate with each other when you need to use them simultaneously. The cheapest (aka Essential) ‘All of Intercom’ package will cost you $136 per month, but if you only need their essential chat tools only, you can get them for $49 per month. As I’ve already mentioned, they started as a help desk/ticketing tool, and honestly, they perfected every bit of it over the years. As it turns, it’s quite difficult to compare Zendesk against Intercom as they serve different purposes and will fit different businesses.

We’re big fans of Zendesk’s dashboard with built-in collaboration tools, but we wish the Agent Workspace came with the Team or Growth plans–not just Professional. Intercom plan prices are determined based on your specific business needs, so interested users must contact them for specific price details. Intercom’s role-based permissions allow administrators full control over each department’s and agent’s capabilities, and access to channels and information. The admin and manager dashboard provides a zoomed-out view of all activity taking place in each inbox, for whole departments and individual agents. Intercom wins the reporting and analytics category due to its unique visualization and display formats for contact center and article data. Zendesk’s chatbot, Answer Bot, automatically answers customer questions asynchronously in up to 40 languages–via any text-based channel.

Service Hub is the Leader in Customer Service

More than Intercom, Trengo is made to work intuitively and collaboratively. Your team will need about a day to get used to its workflow, which makes it easy to transition from any other product. Earlier, I wrote a full article on Intercom pricing and how everything is put together more in-depth. It is worth the read if you want to get a deeper understanding of Intercom’s pricing and how you can find more affordable alternatives. Now, these reviews probably give you a good idea of why other businesses are looking for an Intercom alternative. The HubSpot ecosystem currently boasts over 6,000 solutions partners and providers who are able to assist with everything from onboarding and implementation to ongoing consulting.

Intercom, Drift, and Zendesk newsletter highlights trending topics in customer support, product management, and startups. Another feature almost liked by every user is the ability to use the shared inbox, which enhances the workflow and automation process by enabling ticket automation, workload management, and routing automation. Zoho Desk might be your well-designed customer support tool if you want to see the pricing tiers on a rather reasonable side of the spectrum.

Most Searched Articles

Zendesk offers tiered pricing based on the level of service you need, the size of your teams, and other factors. Every feature is available in the broadest option, Zendesk Suite, which is the version most companies would be implementing. After all, most businesses find it easier to use one solution for all of their needs rather than parceling duties out to different tools. We have already mentioned several times above how chat tools are one of the main ways that customers can reach out to a help desk or support team, but let us delve deeper into advanced chat widget features. Zendesk also offers digital support during business hours, and their website has a chatbot. Premiere Zendesk plans have 24/7 proactive support with faster response times.

• This gives access to audio tools to convey messages in spoken communication when necessary.
• They can get the context of the customer’s questions and transfer questions from Chatbox into Message.
• Obviously, we need to be upfront and mention we may be biased towards HubSpot.
• On top of all these great features, Fullview has both a free plan and paid plans, so you can choose the one that works best for your budget and your business needs.
• Just as Zendesk, Intercom also offers its own Operator bot which will automatically suggest relevant articles to customers who ask for help.
• The Intercom versus Zendesk conundrum is probably the greatest problem in the world of customer support tools.

On the other hand, the Essentials and Premium plans come with multiple inboxes, AI-powered reporting, live chat, knowledge base, survey maker, quiz maker, and most importantly- 24×7 premium support from ProProfs. ProProfs Help Desk is a decade-old SaaS company that offers an array of customer service and learning tools for businesses across the globe. Right from managing your support tickets to training your employees, you can take your support operations to the next level.

Intercom vs. Zendesk: Which Is Better?

For instance, in this blog you can read why the Outreach (a tool for active sales) IT juggernaut preferred Zendesk to Intercom and almost picked Desk.com. Access to this page has been denied because we believe you are using automation tools to browse the website. Analytics features Intercom has is done through add-ons such as Google Analytics, Statbot, Microsoft Teams, and more. Let’s compare Intercom and Zendesk using the help desk features they have. If the answer is “yes”, then that’s where I can vouch for Front, but again, you’re accepting support fragmentation, and good luck roping that back in in the future. Again, if you’re a small team, you should probably have a primary and centralized support channel, usually “” – that way you can better control routing and tracking feedback.

• With the Productboard app for Intercom, you can capture valuable product feedback in Intercom and then send it to a centralized repository where it is easier to organize, glean insights from and implement i.
• When he isn’t writing content, poetry, or creative nonfiction, he enjoys traveling, baking, playing music, reliving his barista days in his own kitchen, camping, and being bad at carpentry.
• If you need help desk software that can provide you with a first-class personalized service without costing an arm and a leg, Customerly is the answer.
• However, ZenDesk has recently undergone a rebranding and is steadily pushing away customers who require complex solutions.
• It is one of the alternatives to intercom and can be selected as your CCM solution.
• By considering these factors, you can find a more affordable alternative to Intercom that meets your business needs and helps you effectively support your customers.

Intercom recently ramped up its features to include helpdesk and ticketing functionality. Zendesk, on the other hand, started as a ticketing tool, and therefore has one of the market’s best help desk and ticket management features. With Drift’s email plan, you get access to features that mostly help you with handling email marketing campaigns.

Lack of company-wide access

HubSpot Service Hub and Zendesk for Service offer similar features that enable self-service. Both have knowledge base functionality available, allowing you to build out helpful articles that answer common questions. One of the more unique Zendesk alternatives on this list as Gorgias’ customer support software aims to support ecommerce businesses. As an easy and carefully-thought solution, Gorgias offers its users a few unique features. That said, Gorgias is not a well-rounded tool like Zendesk, and if not within their narrowed target audience, it might not be the right fit for your business needs. Zoho Desk makes ticket management a breeze for your customer support team by enabling the  tracking and handling of customer requests across channels, brands, products, departments, and more.

Intercom self-service chatbot widgets, highly customizable and capable of conversing in 32 different languages, embed into your website or application. Intercom wins the automation and AI category because its chatbots have some impressive capabilities, like lead qualification and advanced routing. For example, you can assign all inbound technical queries to an engineer; or, assign all pricing queries to the sales team.

Services

You may have realized that as great as Intercom is, its hefty monthly price tag is likely too expensive for the features you really need. However, if we have a look at reviews online we can see that their pricing model isn’t appreciated by all their customers. When Zendesk emerged, it was seen as a strongly functional provider with many features, whereas Freshdesk was a more economical substitute created in response to rising Zendesk prices.

Thus, clients can easily and quickly find the answer to complex and simple questions without needing to speak with a customer service representative. Of course, Intercom’s messaging capabilities also make it easy for clients to connect with agents when necessary. Choosing the right customer service platform metadialog.com for your business is crucial to ensure efficient communication and support for your clients. The decision should be based on your specific use case, team size, budget, and desired features. This analysis aims to provide guidance in selecting the best alternative to Zendesk, based on various use cases.

Having said that, Drift also offers some cool features that Intercom alternatives simply don’t. A calendar to book sales meetings with prospects and a video tool that records sales meetings, for example. You can also use a feature called ‘live view’ to see who is currently on your website so that your sales team can proactively approach potential leads. Depending on the configuration, list prices for HubSpot Service Hub and Zendesk are comparable. The current monthly subscription price for the Growth tier of the Zendesk Suite is $79 per customer service agent per month. For HubSpot Service Hub’s Professional tier, the cost is $80 per customer service agent per month, starting with 5 agents for $400 per month.