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Top 5 Intercom Alternatives for Customer Service in 2023

60% of enterprise leaders say that offering wonderful customer support will increase shopper retention.1 Intercom, famend for its buyer relationship administration providers, initially emerged as a chat widget supplier. Whereas it gives a variety of pricing, options, and functionalities, it could not align with the wants of each group. There are various options in the marketplace that could be higher suited to satisfy the precise calls for of various corporations.

On this article, we listing the potential limitations of Intercom primarily based on its rankings, worth plans, and consumer evaluations; and study prime Intercom alternate options to assist tech patrons on their B2B shopping for journey.

Distributors Complete evaluations* Common ranking
Salesforce Service Cloud 4.581 4.4/5
Zendesk Assist Suite 10,346 4.2/5
Zoho Desk 7,182 4.4/5
Freshdesk 6,593 4.4/5
Intercom 4,356 4.5/5
Entrance 2,250 4.5/5

*Evaluation counts are primarily based on G2, Capterra and TrustRadius knowledge as of 09/30/2023.

Word: With Salesforce Service Cloud on the prime of the listing, different distributors are ranked in accordance with their complete variety of evaluations.

Distributors Low-code no-code improvement Self-service choices Buyer suggestions and survey instruments Visible distant help Service cloud voice Software program integrations Supported languages
Salesforce Service Cloud Low code Add-on In premium plans ✅ ✅ 2500+ 35+
Zendesk Assist Suite ✅ ✅ In premium plans ✖ ✅ 1200+ 30+
Zoho Desk ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 5000+ 40+
Freshdesk ✅ ✅ ✅ ✖ ✖ 650+ 30+
Intercom No code ✅ Add-on ✖ ✖ 350+ 44+
Entrance ✅ ✖ ✅ ✖ ✖ No data is offered. 100+

*Evaluation counts are primarily based on G2, Capterra and TrustRadius knowledge as of 09/30/2023.

Word: With Salesforce Service Cloud on the prime of the listing, different distributors are ranked in accordance with their complete variety of evaluations.

Intercom is a buyer communications service utilized by 45,000+ clients that enables corporations to speak with their customers and clients for buyer help, lead era, electronic mail advertising automation, and product advertising.

Pricing (per seat/month, billed yearly)

  • Starter: $742
  • Professional: $1533
  • Premium: Customized pricing primarily based on the variety of customers, folks reached, and backbone
  • A 14-day free trial is offered, then prices you $0.99 per decision.4

Consumer Rankings

  • G2: 4.5/5
  • Capterra: 4.5/5
  • Trustradius: 8.8/10

Cons

Advanced pricing: It could be dearer than different reside chat software program decisions, particularly for big enterprises. The professional/premium component plans can result in $1000+ prices per seat/ month.

Supply: Intercom 5

Determine 1 : Worth construction of Intercom

Unfair billing: The ‘folks reached’ are the person customers who acquired at the least one outbound message from you within the earlier 30 days. Your charge might range primarily based on the variety of customers who communicated with bots or acquired an outbound electronic mail, message, or cellphone name.

You’ll be able to attain 1,000 people with the starter plan, nonetheless, in the event you exceed that restrict, you’ll be charged for an extra 1,000 reaches priced at $15 extra consumer/month for the starter plan (see determine 2). buqoYI GBzu09zk475ZJMEdi1MMgDCb0FlrD0lK PLXwxX10DuKNt6ZtxNOCarQeHLGz

Supply: Intercom 6

Determine 2: Intercom’s pricing instance for added folks (for starter plan, month-to-month billed)

Poor customer support: Customers who tried to obtain data on a function can not get it since they don’t have an “annual subscription”, the platform’s buyer help staff regularly ignores and shifts tickets to different departments. 7

Restricted options on non-premium plans: Some customers suppose that premium plan options reminiscent of personalized analytics will be extra accessible. Customers imagine having time-limited demos of options could be extra engageable for potential early adopters.810

Lengthy inquiry response time: The client help staff’s first response time is lengthy, some customers needed to wait 3 days in chat to clarify the issue and to get a solution.11

Salesforce Service Cloud analysis

Salesforce Service Cloud is a completely customizable all-in-one customer support and assist desk platform that integrates seamlessly with different Salesforce merchandise. Based in 1999, Salesforce helps companies of all sizes and industries of their digital transformation course of in customer support by leveraging the facility of real-time knowledge, synthetic intelligence (AI), machine studying, and automation. 

Pricing (seat/mo)

  • Starter: $2512
  • Skilled: $8013
  • Enterprise: $16514
  • Limitless: $33015

Consumer Rankings

  • G2: 4.3/5
  • Capterra: 4.4/5
  • Trustradius: 8.9/10

Execs

Detailed analytics and reporting: Customers draw consideration to the platform’s sturdy analytics and reporting capabilities offering significant insights reminiscent of key efficiency indicators highlighting response occasions and buyer satisfaction charges.16

Consumer-friendly reporting for non-tech folks: Service Cloud is straightforward to make use of, and customers emphasize that they obtain almost 100% adoption by utilizing the intuitive interface, enhancing productiveness.17

High-notch customer support: Service Cloud is a robust customer support instrument, and its buyer help staff assists customers in resolving complicated operational and technical points by continually speaking with the customers to discover a tailor-fit answer to their issues.18

Streamlined workflow: Service Cloud can simply combine with robotic course of automation options. It’s easy to attach with social networks for shopper inquiries, delivering workflow automation within the office and permitting the customer support staff to seamlessly combine a number of communication strategies.19

Clear billing: It has a clear billing coverage. Clients who desire a customizable plan can clearly perceive the value of every extra function.20

Cons

Lengthy report era time: Service Cloud could change into fairly sluggish when utilizing reporting features.21

An inadequate variety of metrics: Extra metrics and AI options will be added to boost new options reminiscent of omni channel routing, simplified troubleshooting, and deployment alternate options.22

Advanced deployment and adaptation: It’s complicated to deploy and navigate the platform, which requires severe setup procedures to adapt to successfully match distinctive enterprise calls for.23

Costly licensing: The licensing bills associated to sure options and consumer licenses could also be too costly for smaller companies.24

Zendesk Assist Suite analysis

Zendesk, based in Denmark, has been offering on-line omnichannel assist desk providers since 2007. Zendesk is solely targeted on CX. The platform lets IT, advertising, customer support, and HR departments management, handle, and schedule help inquiries from a single location. You could service shoppers by way of their chosen channels by way of reside chat/assist heart, electronic mail, cellphone, and social media integration by way of a unified workspace.

Consumer Rankings

  • G2: 4.3/5
  • Capterra: 4.4/5
  • Trustradius: 7.9/10

Pricing (consumer/mo, billed yearly)

  • Suite staff: $5525
  • Suite progress: $8926
  • Suite skilled: $11527
  • Suite enterprise: Contact with the seller

Execs

Multi-channel help: Clients say the platform has an distinctive buyer relationship administration and help system that simplifies ticket administration, and buyer expertise which permits them to combine with electronic mail, cellphone, reside chat, and messaging apps.28

Profitable cross-platform integrations: ZenDesk effectively integrates with different common functions, reminiscent of CRM or challenge administration techniques, enhancing buyer administration and workflow effectivity.29

Unified workspace: It permits the shopper success staff to have a 360° view of the shopper tickets, leading to excessive buyer satisfaction.30

Automated ticket course of: It streamlines the ticketing course of, when an inquiry is created or closed, a notification electronic mail is robotically despatched to the shopper, hereby, shortening the response occasions.31

Cons

Visibility will be improved: It’s troublesome to observe finish customers and monitor/file tickets since Zendesk’s interface has only a tiny sidebar textual content field with no central repository.32


Hidden prices: There are extra prices for options that they declare are “included together with your subscription”.33

Gross sales help calls are deceptive: Some customers have charged further for inconclusive gross sales calls.34

Restricted options on primary plans: Companies reminiscent of reside chat and messaging, in addition to self-service software program are solely provided on high-cost progress {and professional} plans.

Zoho Desk analysis

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based assist desk service for organizations, trusted by over 100,000 companies worldwide, providing buyer help ticket administration and shopper relationship administration.

Pricing (seat/mo, ranging from)

  • Categorical: $7.0035
  • Commonplace: $14.0036
  • Skilled: $23.0037
  • Enterprise: $40.0038
  • A 15-day free trial is offered for as much as 3 seats.

Consumer Rankings

  • G2: 4.4/5
  • Capterra: 4.5/5
  • Trustradius: 8.9/10

Execs

Highly effective integration: Zoho Desk works successfully with different Zoho merchandise and third-party functions, making a streamlined workflow.39

Straightforward to make use of: Zoho Desk is a extremely sensible, simple-to-use, and handy customer support instrument that assists customers in fixing inquiries efficiently.40

Reporting and analytics: The reporting and analytics present detailed insights into operations, enabling customers to see patterns, monitor efficiency, and make data-driven modifications.41

Multi-channel help: Zoho combines chat, electronic mail, and social media into one built-in platform, which simplifies communication and ensures that no shopper question is unanswered.42

Cons

Poor customer support communication: Receiving help and clear replies from the customer support agent is problematic.43

Complicated options: It’s unclear what options can be found and the way they need to be mixed to develop a personalized self-service help desk.44

Inadequate customization: Zoho Desk lacks customization.45

Freshdesk analysis

Freshdesk is a customer support software program to optimize your organization’s shopper help. It gives seamless help throughout quite a few channels, together with chat, e-mail, cellphone, social media platforms, and AI bots, in a single platform. Freshdesk assists your staff in saving time, processing tickets, and minimizing repeated guide labor by leveraging synthetic intelligence (AI), and automation.

Pricing (seat/mo)

  • Progress: $15.0046
  • Omni-channel progress: $29.0047
  • Professional: $48.9948
  • Omni-channel professional: $59.0049
  • Enterprise: $69.0050
  • Omni-channel enterprise: $99.0051

Consumer Rankings

  • G2: 4.4/5
  • Capterra: 4.5/5
  • Trustradius: 8.6/10

Execs

Consumer-friendly UI: The UI is extremely user-friendly and easy, with no unimportant options floating about, enabling customers to effortlessly categorize and prioritize a number of topics.52

Multi-channel help: Freshdesk contains a unified office by streamlining contacts and conversations between clients and repair groups. It consists of quite a lot of autonomous interfaces, reminiscent of cellphone, electronic mail, social media, and chat to assist with productiveness and effectivity. It promotes a wider attain and higher documentation of buyer engagement and communication.53

Automation: Freshworks’ automation options assist to scale back guide duties, enhance effectivity, and assure fast responses to buyer conversations. The platform’s automated ticketing system permits companies to rearrange and prioritize buyer queries and gather particular data from clients, facilitating distinctive and environment friendly responses.54

Intensive data base: Assortment of articles, FAQs, and self-help guides reduces help tickets, serving to clients to seek out options by themselves.55

Cons

Costly for small companies: For small companies or startups, the value choices could be exceedingly expensive.  Freshdesk might introduce cheaper plans or extra versatile pricing plans.56

The spam function will be improved: The spam filter will be extraordinarily restrictive, mistakenly categorizing requests as spam after which filtering them wrongly.

Entrance analysis

Entrance is a customer support platform that emphasizes human interplay. Entrance’s purpose is to construct deep, particular person connections with shoppers fairly than contemplate them as tickets to simplify communication whereas offering superior service at scale.

Pricing (seat/mo, billed yearly)

Starter: $1557

Progress: $4958

Scale: $7959

Consumer Rankings

  • G2: 4.7/5
  • Capterra: 4.5/5
  • Trustradius: 8.6/10

Execs

Fast customer support: The service staff rapidly responds to emails.60

Excessive variety of plug-in and integration choices: Customers admire an unlimited variety of plug and software program integration choices, enabling them to easy consumer expertise.61

Cons

No calendar function: The app lacks the Calendar function, customers can’t test the calendar.62

Gaps in show: Customers desire a extra responsive design to make use of the display on small or massive shows, with out having gaps.

Nested emails: When quite a few emails with an an identical title arrive on the identical date, Entrance will nest them collectively, inflicting service suppliers to make errors.63

For extra on customer support software program

Try our different articles on buyer relationship administration and assist desk software program to study different common choices like Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, Freshdesk, or Entrance:

Transparency assertion

AIMultiple serves quite a few rising tech corporations, reminiscent of Salesforce.

Discover the Proper Distributors

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  2. ”Intercom Pricing 2023“. Intercom. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  3. ”Intercom Pricing 2023“. Intercom. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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  5. ” Pricing“. Intercom. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  6. ” Pricing“. Intercom. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  7. ”Intercom Critiques 2023“.  G2. Could 18, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  8. ”Intercom Critiques 2023“.  G2. Jun 02, 2022  Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  10. Subsequent to zero reporting or analytics: Some reviewers talked about that the reporting options should not superior, and it doesn’t provide well-optimized statistics.9”Intercom Critiques 2023“.  G2. Sep 27, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  11. ”Intercom Critiques 2023“”. G2. Sep 18, 2023 Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  12. ”Salesforce Editions & Pricing – Service Cloud Lightning 2023“. Salesforce. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  13. ”Salesforce Editions & Pricing – Service Cloud Lightning 2023“. Salesforce. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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  16. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. G2. Could 14, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  17. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius. April 24, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  18. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. Trustradius. Could 14, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  19. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius. March 28, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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  21. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. G2 Sep 15, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  22. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. G2. Sep 13, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  23. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. Capterra. Could 27, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  24. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Critiques 2023“. Capterra. Could 27, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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  28. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“. G2. June 17, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  29. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“. G2. Jun 24, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  30. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius. September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  31. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“. Capterra. June 9, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  32. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“.  Capterra. September 25, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  33. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“. Capterra. September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  34. ”Zendesk Suite Critiques 2023“. Capterra. September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  35. ”Zoho Desk Pricing 2023“. Zoho Desk. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  36. ”Zoho Desk Pricing 2023“. Zoho Desk. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  37. ”Zoho Desk Pricing 2023“. Zoho Desk. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  38. ”Zoho Desk Pricing 2023“. Zoho Desk. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  39. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. G2. Oct 02, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  40. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. G2. Sep 11, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  41. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. G2. Sep 07, 2023  Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  42. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. G2. Sep 07, 2023  Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  43. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. Capterra. September 6, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  44. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. Capterra. September 19, 2022. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  45. ”Zoho Desk Critiques 2023“. Capterra. August 3, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  46. ”Freshdesk Pricing 2023“. Freshdesk. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  47. ”Freshdesk Pricing 2023“. Freshdesk. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  48. ”Freshdesk Pricing 2023“. Freshdesk. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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  50. ”Freshdesk Pricing 2023“. Freshdesk. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  51. ”Freshdesk Pricing 2023“. Freshdesk. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  52. ”Freshdesk Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius. July 24, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.

  53. ”Freshdesk Critiques 2023“. G2. September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  54. ”Freshdesk Critiques 2023“. G2. Jun 07, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  55. ”Freshdesk Critiques 2023“. G2. July 12, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  56. ”Freshdesk Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius. July 12, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  57. ”Entrance Pricing 2023“. Entrance. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  58. ”Entrance Pricing 2023“. Entrance. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  59. ”Entrance Pricing 2023“. Entrance. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  60. ”Entrance Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius. November 27, 2021. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  61. ”Entrance Critiques 2023“. TrustRadius, August 9, 2019. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  62. ”Entrance Critiques 2023“. Capterra. January 18, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  63. ”Entrance Critiques 2023“. Capterra. August 9, 2023. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
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