Top 10 Intercom Alternatives for Amazing Customer Support

Intercom has become a game-changer in customer support, offering personalized engagement through live chat, email management, and chatbots. Widely adopted by businesses, it has reshaped the industry. 

However, users face challenges. To  name a few, costs and complexity of the interface.

In this blog post, we explore Intercom alternative platforms. We’ll review key features, pricing, and user experiences to help you find the perfect fit. Whether you need cost-effective solutions or advanced features, this guide will assist in elevating your customer support.

Why do you need an Intercom Alternative?

Finding the perfect customer service software is challenging, and Intercom is no exception as it may not suit every type of business.

• The pricing structure can be a hindrance, making it hard to estimate costs beforehand.
• Choosing the right plan and features can be confusing, causing uncertainty about meeting specific needs.
• Smaller companies might struggle to justify their expenses and efforts.
• Some users find the chatbot building tools to be inflexible and not user-friendly.
• The initial setup and self-guided exploration can be demanding.
• Ironically, contacting customer service for assistance may be difficult, especially if you aren’t a high-priority business partner.

Ultimately, the decision boils down to whether Intercom justifies its cost, as there are cheaper intercom alternatives that offer similar or better value for money.

What do users say about Intercom? 

We did a deep dive into what users have been saying about Intercom, here is what we have found: 

“Their pricing, sales and support is built up to scam you. They lock you in with 12 month contracts, not possible to cancel. Then we didn’t need the plan we had and we just wanted to downgrade to the basic starter plan that they promote on their website, but Intercom sales told us that to downgrade to Starter, they would delete our account and all data and we need to create a new account.” 

“They replace the ‘campaigns’ feature with the hideous ‘series’, which is buggy, has bad UI, is not responsive, and leads to severe mistakes. eg you cannot save the series, having a block unlinked to a rule.”

“Expected a better level of support from a company that builds customer support products. The support team is unknowledgeable and will always blame you first before looking into a case. They ignore questions that fall outside of their scripts and are not incentivized to help.”

As you can see, users have their fair share of problems with Intercom. So, that calls for the need to look at Intercom alternatives. After all, knowing what is available in the market is always better.

Let’s explore Intercom alternatives.

Top Intercom Alternatives

01. Helpwise 

Helpwise, the top Intercom alternative, offers a comprehensive suite of omnichannel capabilities and more. With its shared inbox capabilities, teams can collaborate seamlessly, assigning, tracking, and avoiding duplicate responses.

Benefit from a powerful set of features, including

• Efficient email organization through tagging and labeling
• Streamlined responses with saved replies
• Internal team chat within email threads.

Helpwise expands beyond email support, allowing assignments of WhatsApp, live chat, and social media conversations to appropriate team members. 

The platform also includes a native cloud phone system and the ability to build help centers, supported by AI-powered features for quick resolutions like query prioritization and summarization.

Embracing SMBs, Helpwise offers flexible pricing plans without compromising essential functionalities. Workflow integration is a breeze, seamlessly connecting with popular third-party applications like Slack and CRM tools.

For just $15 per user per month, Helpwise presents a budget-friendly, all-encompassing customer support solution.

02. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is an excellent choice for a customer service platform that can scale alongside your business. With its knowledge bases, email management, chat, and social media monitoring tools, it offers a comprehensive solution. 

While Intercom cater more to larger companies, Freshdesk is a strong contender for live chat messaging, particularly tailored for small businesses. Notably, it is more budget-friendly than Intercom while still providing a comparable range of features.

• The messaging system in Freshdesk consolidates all messages from various sources into a single unified interface.
• Multiple agents can collaboratively manage conversations through shared ownership.
• Freshdesk offers seamless integrations with multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp.
• Freshdesk’s affordability and comprehensive Omnichannel Suite, encompassing live chat, mobile chat, and contact center support, further enhance its appeal. 

However, it’s worth noting that some of the automation features, like Freddy AI, are available only in the more expensive pricing plans, and creating custom chatbot flows may be challenging.

Freshdesk has a free plan for upto 10 users. The other plans are $18 per user per month and go till $95 per user per month.

03. Zendesk

Zendesk takes pride in its highly efficient ticketing system, enabling organization, status setting, and ticket transfers to minimize customer wait time effectively.

Designed primarily for larger businesses, Zendesk’s help desk software offers cross-channel support through a centralized CRM, contributing to increased ROI by enhancing employee satisfaction and reducing the cost of acquiring licenses required to provide support through each channel.

Key features include:

• An extensive self-service option with a knowledge base to assist website visitors before reaching out for support. 
• Over 1000 integrations with popular business applications, making it a versatile and well-connected platform. 
• Gold standard ticketing system and is notably more reliable compared to Intercom.

If you’re seeking more budget-friendly Intercom alternatives, exploring other options is advisable, as Zendesk’s pricing starts at $49 per agent per month for all users and can go up to $199 per agent per month for larger enterprises.

04. Hubspot Service Hub

HubSpot, a prominent name in the sales and marketing industry, has expanded its services to include a customer service hub, making it a practical Intercom alternative, especially for existing HubSpot users. Familiarity with their desk software simplifies the adoption of the live chat, omnichannel messaging platform, and inbound calling features.

Key features include:

• A user-friendly customer portal where customers can navigate their own experience and view their chat history with service representatives. 
• VoIP calling to directly contact clients. 

The well-established CRM used in the service hub has a proven track record of effectiveness in marketing and sales.

However, there are some drawbacks, such as:

• The limited features in the customer portal, which only provides ticket tracking. 
• Users have reported inaccuracies in the conversation search feature, leading to mismatched results when searching for specific phrases or words. 
• Initially, setting up an account and getting accustomed to the abundance of information and tools may take some time.

This Intercom alternative comes with a free basic CRM plan. Apart from this, the pricing starts at $45 per month and goes till $1200 per month for up to 10 users.

05. ClickDesk

ClickDesk stands as an excellent Intercom alternative. Click Desk has a help desk software but separate capabilities for voice and video support as well. And that’s not it, ClickDesk also offers other features such as social media integration and mobile app for online support.

The video chat feature along with the help desk empowers support agents to assist customers with intricate challenges that may not be effectively conveyed through standard live chat. 

Moreover, it introduces an additional avenue for customers to connect with your company, aligning with their preferred mode of support. Notably, ClickDesk offers a cost-free plan alongside premium options starting at $12.99 per month per agent.

06. HappyFox

HappyFox presents itself as a distinctive Intercom alternative, offering a range of features that focus on providing unique and specialized customer interactions. HappyFox comes with a powerful ticketing system, canned responses, automation, knowledge base builder, and help desk reports. 

This customer service software lets you classify your inbound tickets into predefined categories like products, sales, and support.

You can also create private notes to enable better collaboration. The other features you get with HappyFox are:

• Ticket templates that let you pre-fill ticket properties including custom fields.
• Clone, relate, merge or split tickets to manage complex issues and requests.
• Create knowledge base articles and FAQs for your agents and general public.

In terms of pricing, HappyFox plans start at $26 per agent per month.

07. Kustomer

Kustomer is a robust customer service software platform that presents itself as a compelling Intercom alternative. Just like Intercom, Kustomer is designed to help businesses effectively manage their customer interactions and support operations.

Kustomer lets you provide individualized and context-rich experiences across all stages of the customer journey. You can engage in conversations through email, chat, social media, SMS, and voice, all managed within a unified interface. Other features include:

• Utilize past customer information to coordinate tailored interactions. Meet diverse demands efficiently by automating the entirety of support workflows and routine agent tasks.
• Offer seamless self-service and rapid issue resolution using AI-driven chatbots seamlessly integrated with CRM data.
• Enhance agent efficiency by utilizing machine learning to anticipate responses and actions.
• Streamline the process of sorting and prioritizing tasks by leveraging AI to recognize customer intent and activate relevant workflows.

In terms of pricing, Kustomer has two pricing plans. The enterprise plan starts at $89 and the ultimate plan is $139.

08. Help Scout

Established in 2011, Help Scout is a well-established Intercom alternative with a strong focus on customer service rather than sales and marketing. Initially centered around email support, the platform emphasizes efficient email management with features like email forwarding from their inbox dashboard.

Help Scout’s shared inbox, known as Mailbox, excels in handling emails and chats. However, integrating social media and messenger platforms requires Zapier, which might not offer seamless performance. A notable difference is Help Scout’s lack of chatbot functionality, which could be a critical factor for businesses seeking automation for repetitive tasks.

Despite not encompassing all of Intercom’s features, Help Scout is a robust and comprehensive tool, particularly tailored to specific customer service tasks. It creates a customer-centric atmosphere and provides top-notch assistance. 

You have three pricing options to choose from: Standard at $20 per month, Plus at $40 per month, and Pro at $65 per month.

09. ZohoDesk

Zoho Desk emerges as a dedicated support solution within the comprehensive Zoho suite. With Zoho CRM already established as a favored sales tool, the help desk software seamlessly complements sales-centric teams, providing access to a suite of synergistic resources.

Zoho’s support plan encompasses an array of advanced features, including

• Automation 
• AI-driven chatbots
• Self-help support modules
• Seamless omnichannel communication

This empowers businesses to effortlessly centralize customer interactions from various touchpoints, streamlining responses.

While Zoho Desk offers an introductory free plan, its true potential shines for larger enterprises with more substantial resources. The suite not only caters to support needs but also serves as a hub for integrated solutions across the organization.

Zoho Desk offers a free tier while its paid plans initiate from $14 per agent per month, presenting a flexible range to suit different business scales and requirements.

10. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a highly popular Intercom alternative, especially suitable for smaller support teams. Similar to Intercom, LiveAgent provides essential features like a ticketing system, chat engine, and customer profiles. It seamlessly integrates with various external applications, including Zendesk and Salesforce.

For businesses seeking a robust support platform to deliver top-notch customer service, LiveAgent proves to be an excellent choice. With an impressive array of over 190 integrations and 175 features, this all-in-one help desk solution empowers businesses to offer personalized support to their customers.

• Paid plans come with proactive chat invitations and customer satisfaction surveys.
• Built in call center software that enables you to provide voice support.
• With one shared inbox for different customer service channels, managing interactions becomes more convenient.

Pricing plans start from $9 per agent per month to $69 per agent per month.

Comparison of Intercom Alternatives

In conclusion, Helpwise emerges as the top Intercom alternative, offering a comprehensive omnichannel suite and seamless team collaboration. With efficient email organization, saved replies, and internal team chat, Helpwise streamlines customer interactions.

When you switch to Helpwise, you can:

• Achieve reduced wait time for your customers
• Increase customer satisfaction by delivering excellent customer support
• Grow your business by attracting word of mouth marketing and repeat business

Its flexible pricing plans cater to budget-conscious businesses while maintaining essential functionalities. With its all-encompassing and cost-effective approach, Helpwise is the recommended choice for SMBs seeking to elevate their customer service. Try out for free today.

FAQs

What are some alternative apps to Intercom for communication purposes?

Some alternative apps to Intercom for communication purposes include Helpwise, Freshchat, and Zendesk.

Q. Are there any free alternatives to Intercom?

Some of the popular free Intercom alternatives are Freshdesk and Hubspot Service Hub. 

Q. Which alternative app offers the most features similar to Intercom?

Zendesk offers the most features similar to Intercom. It is similarly designed and has almost all features that Intercom does. However, Zendesk is more expensive than Intercom. Since Zendesk is more expensive, Helpwise is the best alternative app. It offers similar features but at a lesser cost.

Q. Can you recommend an alternative app that is user-friendly and easy to set up?

Freshdesk is a user-friendly alternative app that is easy to set up. An even better app is Helpwise, setting up Helpwise is a breeze and customer support is also available for further assistance.

Q. Are there any alternative apps to Intercom that integrate well with other platforms or software?

Helpwise and HelpCrunch are alternative apps to Intercom that integrate well with other platforms or software.