Customer service is much more than a corporate catchphrase; it’s the foundation of successful businesses. Every interaction, every moment with your customers matters. Indeed, PwC found that 86% of customers are happy to pay more for superior customer experience.
That said, delivering top-notch customer service is no small task. It calls for the right combination of tools and tactics to effectively communicate with your customers and satisfy their needs. As a result, many businesses turn to platforms like Hubspot and Intercom.
So, how do you determine which platform suits your business best? In this brief overview, we’ll see who in the tough fight of Hubspot vs Intercom wins. We will be comparing their features, pricing, and advantages and potential downsides. This should help you discern which platform is the best fit for your business.
What is HubSpot?
HubSpot is the 2004 brainchild of Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah. They spotted a new trend—people fed up with intrusive ads, craving valuable content instead. So, they envisioned ‘inbound’ marketing—drawing customers with helpful content, not annoying ads.
Since then, HubSpot hasn’t just stuck around. It’s grown, extending its arsenal beyond marketing to customer service. Today, it’s a complete suite of five top-tier solutions—the “five hubs”: Marketing, Sales, CMS, Operations, and Service.
The Service Hub, introduced in 2017, revamped in 2022, allows you to manage your customer service teams and provide better customer service experiences. It’s available in four packages: Free, Starter, Professional, or Enterprise.
What is Intercom?
Intercom came to life in 2011, founded by four Irish innovators—Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciaran Lee, and David Barrett. They’d been the brains behind a design consultancy, Contrast, and a bug squashing tool, Exceptional.
Selling Exceptional to Rackspace in 2011, they funneled their profit into creating Intercom. A spark of realization hit them—cold, transactional online business dealings weren’t cutting it anymore.
They wanted to create a platform that would make internet business more personal and enable companies to form lasting relationships with their customers. So, they created Intercom, with a single mission—to equip businesses with a customer service tool that accelerates growth by fostering stronger connections.
Feature comparison: Hubspot vs Intercom
HubSpot and Intercom are two industry-leading platforms catering to customer service needs. They each shine in different areas, bringing unique features and tools to the table. Let’s explore a brief comparison of what each platform offers:
Hubspot
The Service Hub in HubSpot offers the following features:
- Tickets: Enables creation and tracking of customer issues
- Customer feedback: Collects and analyzes responses to refine services
- Knowledge base: Provides a self-service portal for customers to seek answers
- Customer portal: Allows customers to access ticket conversations, support content, and status updates
- Custom view: Facilitates personalized views to prioritize and manage tickets
- Channel switching: Seamlessly transfers support tickets across platforms
- Multi-channel support: Delivers customer support across various channels, including live chat, chatbots, social media messaging, email, phone, and SMS.
Intercom
Intercom’s suite of customer service tools includes:
- Automation: Employs AI-powered chatbots and tools to decrease support volumes and increase customer satisfaction
- AI-powered inbox: Generates replies, summarizes conversations, and produces new help articles
- Conversation topics: Uses AI to gain insights from customer support conversations
- Proactive support: Resolves customer issues proactively, reducing inbound volume
- Help center: Enables customers to find support articles directly in the product and on the web
- Omnichannel support: Assists customers through various channels, including in-app chat, email, SMS, and more
- Platform: Integrates automation, conversations, tickets, customer data, and reporting in one place
To sum up, both HubSpot and Intercom provide a strong suite of customer service and support features. HubSpot puts an emphasis on traditional customer service tools such as ticketing and feedback collection. On the other hand, Intercom leans heavily on automation and AI to enhance and streamline customer support.
Hubspot vs Intercom: Direct comparison
Hubspot and Intercom, both well-renowned for their customer service capabilities, offer a variety of impressive features. Let’s take a head-to-head look at how they compare:
| Category | Hubspot Service Hub | Intercom |
| Query Management | Supports ticketing for issue tracking | Supports ticketing via Inbox feature |
| Self Service | Offers Knowledge Base for customer self-help | Offers Help Center, Checklists, and Tooltips for self-help |
| Analytics and Reporting | Provides analytics and reporting | Offers detailed reports on bot and team performance |
| Customization | Allows customer portal customization | Provides infinite design options for Messenger customization |
| Customer Support | Features include ticketing, feedback collection, and self-help knowledge base | Offers omnichannel support, Proactive Support feature, and more |
| Automation | Automation capabilities include chatbots | Features AI-powered chatbots and automation tools |
Query management
Both HubSpot’s Service Hub and Intercom offer solid query management solutions. They include a ticketing system that facilitates tracking customer issues and provides a comprehensive view of customer interactions.
Intercom takes this a step further with an AI-enhanced, omnichannel Inbox that allows seamless team collaboration for resolving complex queries quickly. Its ‘Ticketing’ feature offers real-time progress tracking for customers.
Self service
HubSpot’s Service Hub provides a Knowledge Base for customer self-service, enabling customers to find solutions independently.
Intercom, meanwhile, also supports self-service with its Help Center, which allows customers to search and browse support articles within the product and on the web. Additional self-service options include Checklists for customer onboarding and Tooltips for integrating help content directly into the product.
Analytics and reporting
HubSpot offers customer feedback tools for data collection and analysis within its Service Hub.
Intercom, on the other hand, provides detailed reporting features, including customizable reports for understanding and improving bot and team performance. It also provides behavioral data, aiding in the creation of optimal customer support experiences.
Customization
HubSpot’s Service Hub ensures business-specific customization, though specific details aren’t explicitly mentioned on their homepage.
Intercom provides unlimited design customization of its Messenger to match a brand’s identity, and configurable experiences to show or hide content, features, or entire Spaces for bespoke Messenger experiences.
Customer support
HubSpot’s Service Hub enhances customer relationships with features like a ticketing system for tracking issues and customer feedback tools for service improvement.
Intercom offers a suite of tools for customer service, including AI-powered Inbox, Conversation Topics for improved understanding of support conversations, Proactive Support tools for resolving issues before they arise, and Omnichannel Support for assisting customers through multiple channels.
Automation
HubSpot’s Service Hub is lauded for its automation capabilities. Meanwhile, Intercom underscores automation with AI-powered chatbots and automation tools aimed at reducing support volumes and enhancing customer satisfaction. Its no-code automations, like Workflows, use bots, triggers, conditions, and rules, and its Custom Actions feature incorporates live customer data from other tools into bots and workflows.
Price comparison: Intercom vs Hubspot
When it comes to selecting a customer service platform, the cost is a crucial factor. Here’s a quick overview of Hubspot vs Intercom pricing plans:
| Pricing Criteria | Hubspot | Intercom |
| Starter Plan | $45 | $89 |
| Top-Tier Plan | $1,200 | Custom |
| Professional Plan | $400 | Custom |
| Free Plan/Trial | 30-day free trial | 14-day free trial |
| Additional Seat | $10 | $19 |
Subscription pricing
HubSpot’s Service Hub Starter plan is priced at $45/month. As your business grows, you might find value in the Professional plan ($400/month), or even the Enterprise plan ($1,200/month).
Intercom’s Starter plan requires a minimum of 2 seats, costing $89/month (billed monthly) or $74/month (billed annually). For its Professional and Premium plans, pricing is custom-made to fit your needs.
Free trials
Both platforms give you the chance to test the waters with free trials. HubSpot offers a generous 30-day trial, while Intercom provides a 14-day trial.
Additional costs
With HubSpot, each extra seat you need on the Starter plan will set you back an additional $10/month. If advanced reporting is a priority, you have the option to add a Reports component.
Intercom’s Lead Generation plan costs $19/month for each additional seat, and they offer a variety of solution-specific add-ons, such as Proactive add-ons.
Selecting the Best Customer Service Platform: Intercom vs. Hubspot
Finding the most suitable customer service platform hinges on various factors, including your company’s size and customer service objectives. The perfect choice for you could be different depending on whether you’re running a small business, a medium enterprise, a large corporation, or a startup:
For startups and small businesses
Small businesses and startups often value cost-effectiveness and simplicity. In this regard, HubSpot’s Service Hub outshines with a free plan and a starter plan starting at $45/month – more affordable compared to Intercom’s $89/month starter plan.
HubSpot also presents essential features such as ticketing, customer feedback collection, and a knowledge base to empower a lean team to handle customer service efficiently.
For medium businesses
As your business expands, you’ll require more complex features and a slightly larger budget. HubSpot’s Professional plan ($450/month) is equipped with advanced functions like help desk automation, custom surveys, and reporting.
On the flip side, Intercom, though it does not disclose a specific price, offers tools like an AI-powered Inbox, configurable settings, omnichannel support, and team management functionalities. This helps mid-sized businesses manage increased customer interactions and provide personalized service.
For large enterprises
Large-scale businesses require advanced tools such as those offered in HubSpot’s Enterprise plan ($1,200/month). It includes advanced features like a customer portal and playbooks, aiding these businesses in handling complex customer service operations and delivering personalized service on a larger scale.
Despite not specifying a price, Intercom’s enterprise plan presents features like proactive support tools, product tours, and a customizable messenger. These components enable large businesses to deliver proactive and personalized customer service.
Why Helpwise is a better alternative
Helpwise is an innovative customer service platform that’s here to make a tangible difference in how your business communicates with customers. If you’ve been using alternative tools, it’s time to discover the many reasons why Helpwise is the superior choice.
Features
Let’s talk about what makes Helpwise special:
- Communication channels: Email, SMS, Whatsapp, Live chat Native Cloud Phone System, and Help Centers, all unified in one place
- Auto-assignment: Our efficient round-robin system ensures every query is promptly handled
- Shared drafts: Collaborate with your team members before hitting ‘send’
- Automation rules & SLAS: Streamline your process and maintain your service level agreements
- Saved replies/templates & live chat support: Handle repetitive queries quickly without compromising quality
- Chatbots & chat pop-ups: Offer 24/7 support and engagement to your customers
- Service reports & analytics: Gain insights into your customer service performance
- Productivity features: Tags, Mentions & Notes, and Collision Detection, designed to make your work easier
- Web & mobile apps: Take your work with you wherever you go
- Native & custom integrations: Seamlessly incorporate Helpwise into your daily workflows
Pricing
We cater to varying needs with our flexible, monthly plans. For $12 per user per month, the Standard plan provides unlimited users access to standard reports.
Upgrading to the Premium plan at $20 per user per month introduces over 10 extra features, including advanced analytics, CSAT, and premium integrations.
For those requiring more, our Advanced plan at $40 per user per month comes with customized team views, unlimited inboxes, a dedicated team manager, and full access to platform-wide capabilities. Each plan ensures you get the most out of our service.
Here’s what sets us apart:
- Pricing: We offer scalable pricing to suit every budget
- User interface: Clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate
- Native dialer: Manage calls and SMS directly
- Help center: Included FREE with every plan
- Support: Our team goes above and beyond to help you
- 24/7 support: Chatbots and chat pop-ups available round the clock
- Feature updates: We continually innovate, focusing on AI enhancements
- Notifications: With us, you won’t have to deal with delayed notifications or lost emails
- Dedicated support: Unlike others, we value all our users equally, irrespective of their size
User reviews and ratings
Our users rate us a solid 4.7/5 on Capterra. Here are some of their testimonials:
- Masuk Sarker B., an Online Instructor, says, “HelpWise is my everyday used tool. I’ve tried many helpdesk services in the past, and they were either too complicated to use or too expensive…”
- Sarah H., a Director in Entertainment, shares, “I secured a great deal through Appsumo and have been so happy with Helpwise that I brought across a second company to use Helpwise…
- One Verified Reviewer from the Computer Software industry praises our collaboration features, “I managed to get my team onboarded without any hassle. We have started using it for our customer support, marketing, recruitment, and development teams…”
Try Helpwise for Free
Are you ready to upgrade your customer service experience? Sign up for a free trial of Helpwise and start enjoying the benefits today. We’re not just an alternative—we’re your best choice!
FAQs
Q. What are the main differences between Hubspot and Intercom?
The main differences in the battle between Hubspot vs Intercom are that Hubspot includes features such as live chat, ticket pipelines, ticket automation, conversational bots, help desk automation, and customer portals. On the other hand, Intercom focuses on providing a streamlined customer support experience, offering live chat, ticketing workflows, chatbots, and targeted messaging.
Q. Which platform is better suited for small businesses, Hubspot or Intercom?
It depends on your budget and customer service needs. Hubspot offers free and low-tier options that are attractive for small businesses with limited resources. Intercom has advanced features, but its pricing might be high for some. Helpwise could be a low-cost fit for businesses seeking comprehensive customer service tools.
Q. How do Hubspot and Intercom compare in terms of pricing?
Hubspot’s pricing starts at $45 per month for the Service Hub Starter plan, which includes ticketing, live chat, email templates, and more. Intercom’s pricing starts at $74 per month for the Start plan, which includes basic chat features, team inbox, and help center. If you’re looking for a more affordable alternative, consider Helpwise, which starts at only $15 per month.
Q. What are the key features of Hubspot and Intercom that set them apart from each other?
HubSpot offers features such as SLAs, custom views, agent presence, customer portal, and custom surveys that help you manage and improve your customer service experience, while Intercom provides features such as advanced ticketing workflows, messenger, customer data, outbound messages, and chatbots that help you streamline and personalize your customer support processes.
Q. Can Hubspot and Intercom be integrated with other software tools?
Yes, Intercom integration with Hubspot is possible. Hubspot integrates with over 500 apps, including Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Zapier, Shopify, WordPress, and more. Intercom integrates with over 250 apps, including Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Zapier, Stripe, Shopify, WordPress, and more.
