The bar for customer service keeps rising, and with Front, you’ll always stay ahead. Use simple routing rules and SLA warnings to get every conversation to the right rep right away. Depending on the complexity of the script and the amount of your data, the transfer process can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. You should be prepared for this process to take an extended period of time. We recommend running a small batch of records (say 5%), and using that to project time to completion.

So yeah, two essential things that Zendesk lacks in comparison to Intercom are in-app messages and email marketing tools. Intercom on the other hand lacks many ticketing functionality that can be essential for big companies with a huge customer support load. Zendesk’s customer support is also very fast, though their live chat is only available for registered users. All interactions with customers be it via phone, chat, email, social media, or any other channel are landing in one dashboard, where your agents can solve them fast and efficiently.

– Social media integration

If supporting customers and transparent pricing is your priority, here are the 13 best Intercom alternatives to check out. If you’d want to test Zendesk and Intercom before deciding on a tool for good, they both provide free trials. Intercom has a standard trial period for a SaaS product which is 14 days, while Zendesk offers a 30-day trial.

Check out which Intercom alternatives offer better value for money and will suit your business needs. In terms of pricing, Intercom is considered one of the most expensive tools on the market. You can see their attention to detail in everything — from tools to the website. But if you really want to enjoy Intercom’s advanced functionality, prepare to pay at least $499/mo (that’s supposedly the starting price for their premium subscription plans). And there’s still no way to know how much you’re going to pay for them, since the prices are only revealed after you go through a few sales demos with the Intercom team.

Self-service that works everywhere, not just on live chat

You can create different inboxes for support and sales, add permissions, and use mentions to collaborate on challenging customer questions. Most help desk systems offer complementary features such as chat, and knowledge base. For Intercom, it’s the opposite as ticket management appears to be a complementary feature. With Zendesk, businesses can build a dedicated help center and a community forum to encourage customers to resolve issues at their own pace- while reducing the ticket volume. Moreover, agents can collaborate with other members or teams and get real-time updates about who is viewing a ticket at any given moment.

• HelpCrunch is another highly-rated Intercom alternative to consider.
• It allows you to anticipate customers questions and offer help when and where they need it.
• By leveraging the out-of-the-box Netomi virtual agent integration, companies enhance both the agent and customer experience, while also reducing costs.
• In addition, it also allows businesses to provide customer support through different channels.
• 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.
• You can use Zendesk Sell to track tasks, streamline workflows, improve engagement, nurture leads, and much more.

Easily find customer profiles to ensure you’re providing them with the best possible service every single time. Sure, Intercom allows you to create articles and deliver a bot that answers customer questions with specific articles and resolves issues faster. In terms of pricing, Intercom is considered one of the hardest on your pocket. 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).

Intercom Chat VS. Zendesk Chat: Integration

Zendesk would be a great recommendation if you’re already in the Zendesk world, that is, if you have Zendesk for ticket support, maybe have a few other things. So if you have a few of those, metadialog.com that could also be a good fit just naturally, you’re gonna be part of the same universe of tools. Skyvia offers a number of benefits for import Intercom data to Zendesk or vice versa.

You can use Zendesk Sell to track tasks, streamline workflows, improve engagement, nurture leads, and much more. Some of the links that appear on the website are from software companies from which CRM.org receives compensation. This site does not include all companies or all available Vendors. As for the category of voice and phone features, Zendesk is a clear winner. Zendesk Support has voicemail, text messages, and embedded voice, and it displays the phone number on the widget. Intercom’s dashboards may not be as aesthetically pleasing as Zendesk’s, but they still allow users to navigate their tools with few distractions.

Top 10 Zendesk Alternatives For Business

If you’re interested in just live chat, you’ll want to look into the Acquiring package. Every business has different requirements and one solution doesn’t fit everyone the same. Customers across portals like Capterra, G2, and Getapp review Zendesk at about 4.4 out of 5, while LiveAgent is on those same portals rated about 4.6 out of five. When considering subscribing to one of Hiver’s paid plans, you can opt for the Lite package for $15 per user/month, the Pro package for $39 per user/month, or the Elite package for $59 per user/month. Small and medium-sized companies that work in eCommerce, web development, and online services are the ideal customers for Groove.

Cut support time in half with instant context, multiplayer screen control, and in-app video calls. “Fullview helped us navigate through replays of the customers and this helped us discover and rectify hundreds of bugs and glitches in the product.” You only have to copy a few lines of code to install Fullview on your app, and this installation takes no more than 10 minutes. Let’s just say, I’ve tried every single help desk on the market (and continue to evaluate new solutions), and yet I keep finding myself coming back to Help Scout, and here’s why…

Pricing Model

Freshdesk is a more unique Intercom alternative, as it offers the functionality to support businesses that use call centers for customer support. Most of our Intercom alternatives have much more straightforward pricing plans that are based on the number of support agents you need seats for, allowing your business to better plan for expenses. It’s much easier if you decide to go with the Zendesk Suite, which includes Support, Chat, Talk, and Guide tools. There are two options there — Professional for $109 or Enterprise for $179 if you pay monthly. The difference between the two is that the Professional subscription lacks some things like chat widget unbranding, custom agent roles, multiple help centers, etc. On one hand, Zendesk offers a great many features, way more than Intercom, but it lacks in-app messenger and email marketing tools.

It sets the perfect platform for collaboration between your sales and support teams. For instance, you can automatically assign sales inquiries and support requests to the right teams or individual team members. Moreover, you can view in-depth information about who you’re chatting with right alongside conversations. Intercom’s chat tool, also called the Intercom Messenger, looks quite modern and offers advanced features that many chat tools don’t have.

Best Zendesk Alternatives to Give Your Support a Boost in 2023

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Sure, you can have a front desk—but you don’t necessarily have to plunk down the cost it would take to buy that desk, train an employee, and add them to your payroll. If you don’t go with ActiveCampaign, then Zoho would be my second choice.

• It is easy to use, with a high level of flexibility for customizing workflows and workspaces to fit your business processes, user needs, and customer experiences.
• Customerly, however, takes it up a notch with live video chat services to strengthen personal relationships with clients and ultimately increase revenue.
• Best Intercom alternatives for startups that search for integrated automation and satisfaction on top of support at the fairest price.
• Teams waste time, energy, and revenue opportunities when they don’t have what they need in one place.
• Somehow Help Scout has managed to do this and it’s not surprising given that they invest a lot into CS research, education, and they treat their employees really well.
• The platform’s AI chatbot functionality allows businesses to scale with a smaller team.

If you’re exploring popular chat support tools Zendesk and Intercom, you may be trying to understand which solution is right for you. In this detailed comparison, we’ll explore the features and characteristics of Intercom and Zendesk, highlighting each of their unique capabilities, so you can identify the right solution for your needs. Provide self-service alternatives so customers can resolve their own issues. This serves the dual benefit of adding convenience to the customer experience and lightening agents’ workloads. Intercom, of course, allows its customer support team to collaborate and communicate too, but overall, Zendesk wins this group. Zendesk has many amazing team collaboration and communication features, like whisper mode, which lets multiple agents chime in to help each other without the customer knowing.

List of Zendesk Alternatives

We’ve analyzed a dozen of reviews to help you get an average estimate of Zendesk vs Intercom functionality. On practice, I can’t promise you anything when it comes to Intercom. 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).

• Freshdesk’s key features include email, social media, and live chat support requests — all consolidated into a single-view inbox.
• Your knowledge base is easily customizable to ensure it matches your branding and overall website’s look and feel to create a cohesive experience.
• With the Fullview integration, you could take your Intercom from good to great with cobrowsing, session replays and console logs for 360-degree support.
• This is one of the best ways to qualify high-quality leads for your business and improve your chances of closing a sale faster.
• For instance, customers and staff alike can channel messages through it.
• Additionally, Jetdocs’ competitive pricing at 1/5th the cost of Zendesk makes it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes looking to optimize their customer support without breaking the bank.