Jan 26, 2024
16 Best Intercom Alternatives & Competitors (2024)
These are the best Intercom alternatives & competitors. Find the best alternatives to the Intercom chatbot in this up-to-date roundup.
These are the best Intercom alternatives & competitors.
Find the best alternatives to the Intercom chatbot in this up-to-date roundup.
We'll cover 16 of Intercom's biggest competitors!
Here they are:
1. ServiceBell
Short description: ServiceBell is designed to help companies build trust with their customers, directly on their website with live video chat, screen takeover, and user monitoring.
Key features: ServiceBell comes with live video chat, screen takeover, user monitoring, user analytics, all of which help businesses offer better customer service and support. ServiceBell notifies you when your customers enter high-value pages, helps you understand how your customers found your site, and gives you insight into your customers' buying process.
Pricing: ServiceBell comes with four pricing levels: Starter, Revenue Teams, Customer Success Teams, and Product Teams. All four levels enable businesses to proactively engage website visitors with live video chat, boost retention and reduce onboarding friction, and improve customer relationships.
Trial period: ServiceBell offers a free and unlimited trial period which gives businesses the ability to make 10 reactive and proactive calls, as well as 10 session takeovers per month for up to 20 active visitors.
2. Drift
Short description: Drift is designed to help companies connect to customers in real-time with personalized conversations to help build revenue and grow their brands.
Key features: It comes with features like video, chat, email and voice, all of which help businesses offer better customer service and establish trust among their audiences.
Pricing: Drift comes with three pricing levels: Premium, Advanced and Enterprise. All three levels come with a dedicated customer success manager, revenue acceleration, onboarding and chat support for answering questions and troubleshooting issues.
Trial period: Drift offers a free “test drive” of its service that lets you try it out on your website without having to install any code first.
G2 rating: Drift has a G2 rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. It gets favorable reviews for its easy use and optimal team building feature. It also gets high marks for delivering on services that it promises to people who sign up for them.
Drift facilitates optimum customer service by connecting companies to customers in real-time via features like voice, email, chat and video. It offers three pricing levels and allows customers to test drive it free first.
3. Crisp
Short description: Crisp offers an inbox feature that centralizes all customer conversations. It pairs with services like Facebook messenger and Twitter DM.
Key features: Some of the primary features that Crisp offers to subscribers of its services include live chat, CRM, a ticketing system, Knowledge, Chatbox, a shared inbox, conversations and a status page.
Pricing: Crisp offers three pricing levels: Free, $25 per month, which is geared toward new startups. and $95 per month for larger and more established businesses that require full feature solutions to communicate with customers.
Trial period: The Basic price level does not cost anything and includes two seats. You can try both the $25 and $95 price levels for free. The trial periods for both run for 14 days.
G2 rating: Crisp has a G2 rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. It gets favorable reviews for its multi-channel features that put businesses in contact with customers instantly. Customers also appreciate the free package trials.
Crisp touts itself as the ultimate multi-channel customer support platform. It lets businesses generate revenue, build customer lists and enhance customer service. It also allows companies to meet and answer customer needs instantly.
4. HelpCrunch
Short description: HelpCrunch is an all-in-one customer communication platform. It offers tools to scale support to your business and offers an all-in-one tool set.
Key features: One of the key features offered is customizable live chat. It also offers auto messages, popups, email marketing, help desk, a knowledge base and mobile apps and SDK tailored to your business.
Pricing: HelpCrunch offers three levels of pricing: Standard, which is $12 a month, Premium, which is $20 a month and Enterprise, which is custom priced according to what service features that your business needs.
Trial period: All three pricing levels offer a 14-day trial period. It only takes a few minutes to sign up for a free trial of your preferred pricing level. No credit card is required for free trials.
G2 rating: HelpCrunch as a G2 rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. It gets favorable reviews for its user-friendly features. Customers also like the 14-day trial option to try the services free.
HelpCrunch is a highly rated communication platform. It offers a variety of features designed to enhance support, marketing and sales. It also is designed to increase conversions and sales and enhance your business's brand growth.
5. Zendesk
Short description: Zendesk is a support suite that is designed to facilitate natural conversations between businesses and their customers without revealing behind-the-scenes functions.
Key features: Some of Zendesk's key features include user, role and access management, reporting and dashboards. It also offers email to case and live chat support communication channels, as well as a knowledge base.
Pricing: Zendesk has five pricing levels, starting out at $19 and progressing to $99, all of which is billed monthly. Each of the pricing levels offers integrated customer support options tailored to your business.
Trial period: Zendesk offers a free trial of its services to new subscribers. You can get your free trial started by signing up with your email. Your free trial lasts 30 days, and you can cancel anytime.
G2 rating: Zendesk has a 4.3 out of 5 star rating on G2. It gets high marks for its user-friendly interface, prompt service and customized service packages. Customers also appreciate the variety of features.
Zendesk touts itself as being the premier support suite for businesses of all sizes. It offers a myriad of support features and prices its services affordably. Customers have five different service packages from which to choose.
6. LiveAgent
Short description: LiveAgent is one of the most recognized live chat software companies in the world. It has one of the fastest widgets and is renowned for its high-quality customer service.
Key features: Key features of LiveAgent include customization, reporting and dashboard platforms. It also offers a ticket creation user experience, SLA management and Workflow.
Pricing: LiveAgent offers three packages that sell for $15, $29 and $39 per month. It also offers a basic package that is free. All of them offer base features like email ticketing and live chat.
Trial period: LiveAgent offers a free trial of its services. The trial is good for 14 days and takes 60 seconds for which to sign up. It does not require any credit card information.
G2 rating: LiveAgent has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from G2. It gets favorable marks for its broad functionality and ability to serve most or all of a business's help desk needs.
LiveAgent is one of the world's leaders in live chat and customized help desk software. It touts itself as offering personalization for all of a business's customer interactions by offering an all-in-one help desk solution.
7. Olark
Short description: Olark is live chat software that lets business owners learn from every customer interaction. It offers a variety of customer data tools to improve service and grow revenue.
Key features: Some of Olark's key features include pop-up chats, targeted emails and notifications. It also offers lead development, customization, conversation archiving and customer profiles for enhanced internal use.
Pricing: Olark costs users $17 a month. This price garners services like design customization, chat ratings, in-browser chat, targeted chat rules and per operator. The package also offers CRM and Help Desk integrations.
Trial period: Olark offers a free limited chat trial. It allows you to try up to 20 chats at no cost. After your 20th chat, your chatbox will be set to offline mode and you will be prompted to sign up for an Olark service package.
G2 rating: Olark has a G2 rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. It primarily gets favorable reviews for being easy to install and use.
Olark is a live chat platform that makes it easy to boost your sales, resolve customer service issues and better understand your customers. It gives your customers the online help that they need immediately.
8. LiveChat
Short description: LiveChat is a customer service live chat platform that is designed to satisfy customers and drive your business's sales.
Key features: Some of the key features offered with LiveChat include live chat support, Workflow, Automated Response ticket and case management and ticket creation user experience. It also offers lead development and a team inbox.
Pricing: Livechat offers three package options, Starter for $16 a month, Team for $33 a month and Business for $50 a month. It also offers Enterprise, which is a custom packaged that is priced to your business's needs.
Trial period: Livechat offers a free trial of its basic features for 14 days. You can sign up with your email address. No credit card is required to get the free trial.
G2 rating: LiveChat has a G2 rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. It gets high reviews for providing an easy way to communicate with customers without sacrificing important features like affordability and security.
LiveChat is a premium live chat and help desk software designed for today's businesses. It counts over 31,000 businesses as customers and operates in 151 countries around the world. It is geared for improving customer service and increasing online sales.
9. Smartsupp
Short description: Smartsupp is an online shopping assistant that is geared toward customer retention and revenue growth. It allows your business to have personalized conversations with your customers.
Key features: Some of the key features of Smartsupp include live chat, email inbox and Facebook messenger compability, all combined in one customer messaging platform.
Pricing: Smartsupp says it offers fair and transparent pricing. The standard package costs $15 a month while the Pro package costs $72 a month. The basic package is free and offers one chatbot without segmentation.
Trial period: Smartsupp offers a free trial to new customers. The free trial lasts for 14 days. You can sign up with your email and by creating a free Smartsupp account.
G2 rating: Smartsupp has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on G2. It gets favorable reviews for offering an impressive live chat widget. Customers also like that the software allows users to insert shortcuts into chats to configure chats, speed up answers and customize connections to customers.
Smartsupp is a support platform that focuses on turning website visitors into happy customers. Its mobile app is compatible with both iOS and Android.
10. Freshworks
Short description: Freshworks is a support platform that gears itself toward offering intuitive and engaging experiences between businesses and customers. It is cloud-based customer service software.
Key features: Some of the features that Freshworks offers to users include Freshdesk, Freshsales and Freshmarketer, which focus on multi-channel customer support and sales growth. It also offers Freshservice and Freshteam for IT management and digital automation, respectively.
Pricing: Pricing for Freshworks ranges from $15 to $69 a month. The packages include Growth, Pro and Enterprise. There is also a basic package that is free to use.
Trial period: You can also try Freshworks for free before signing up for a package. The free trial lasts for 21 days. You can get your free Freshworks trial by creating an account and signing up with your email address.
G2 rating: Freshworks has a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on G2. It gets its highest marks for its easy-to-use features. Customers also like its email tracking option.
Freshworks touts itself as one of the world's best platforms for customizing and simplifying communications between businesses and customers. It is renowned for being cloud-based software and for offering a plethora of innovative suite packages.
11. Help Scout
Short description: Help Scout is an all-in-one customer service platform that focuses on balancing every customer need to ensure customers' happiness and repeat business.
Key features: Some of the key features with Help Scout include ticket creation, Workflow, attaching and screencasts and automated response. It also offers customization, dashboards, access management and reporting platforms.
Pricing: Help Scout offers three separate packages: Basic, Plus and Standard. The Basic package costs $10 a month while the Plus package costs $35 a month. The Standard package's monthly subscription price is $20.
Trial period: The Standard and Plus packages offer a free 15 day trial. To get the trial, you can create a free Help Scout online account. You do not need to use a credit card to get the free 15 day trial.
G2 rating: Help Scout has a G2 rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars. It gets favorable ratings for easy-to-use software and personalized customer service. Users also like that it simplifies managing support tickets.
Help Scout is a user-friendly help desk platform. It prioritizes personalizing customer service and making every customer who visits a business's website happy with his or her overall experience.
12. Acquire
Short description: Acquire is a support platform that connects and collaborates with customers through features like video, chat and cobrowsing.
Key features: Some of the features available though Acquire include pop-up chats, notifications and in-app messaging. It also offers customized internal use, lead development, shared inboxes and conversation archiving. Subscribers likewise get access to a knowledge base.
Pricing: Acquire offers three features packages: Teams, Professionals and Enterprise. Pricing for each package is not readily available on Acquire's website. However, business owners can request a quote for packages online.
Free trial: Acquire does not offer free trials of its packages. However, business owners can request a free demo of these features on Acquire's website. The demonstration showcases conversational CX, workflow automation, customer interaction unification, improving team efficiency and other features.
G2 rating: Acquire has a 4.2 out of 5 star rating on G2. Customers like it because it offers phenomenal support, includes a unique co-browsing feature and functions as an all-in-one ecommerce platform.
Acquire describes itself as being a conversational customer engagement platform that empowers businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences. It simplifies communication and offers a variety of personalized tools to ensure satisfying customer interactions, brand growth and revenue generation.
13. GoSquared
Short description: GoSquared is a company that makes intuitive software and integrated products that allow businesses to grow online.
Key features: Some of the key features that users get with GoSquared include digital analytics sessions, entry and exit pages, custom event tracking and standard event tracking. They also get real-time reporting and segmentation.
Pricing: GoSquared offers four product packages: Starter, Standard, Pro and Scale. The monthly subscription prices for these packages are $9, $24, $49 and 99, respectively. They also offer anywhere from 100,000 to 2.5 million pageviews.
Free trial: Business owners can get a free seven day trial on all of GoSquared's plans. Signing up for a free trial starts with creating an account on GoSquared's website. Users can cancel at anytime.
G2 rating: GoSquared has a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on G2. Users of this service appreciate its development tracking feature. They also like that it makes engaging their customers easier and more streamlined.
GoSquared offers a variety of features to help businesses grow and thrive online. The features focus on offering premium customer service, analyzing brand growth and customer activity, garnering sales leads and generating more revenue.
14. Customerly
Short description: Customerly focuses on making it easy for you to grow your business while offering world class customer support at the same time.
Key features: Some of the key features available with Customerly include standard and custom event tracking, digital analytics sessions, customer engagement and retention support and real-time reporting. You also get trending and mobile reporting features.
Pricing: Customerly offers three priced packages: Startup, Pro and Enterprise. They are marked at $24, $79 and $129 a month, respectively. Customerly also has a free basic package that is ideal for new small businesses.
Free trial: Customerly also offers a free 14 day trial of its priced packages. You can get the trial by signing up with your email. It downloads in 60 seconds and does not require a credit card.
G2 rating: Customerly has a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on G2. Its highest marks come from its rich features and readily available customer support. Customers also like its email marketing feature.
Customerly prides itself on offering a seamless customer service experience for every customer who contacts your business. It strives to create lasting and genuine relationships between you and your customers with simple yet innovative solutions.
15. Lemtalk
Short description: Lemtalk is a support solution that can generate as much as three times the number of leads on your website and make your customers love your business even more.
Key features: Some Lemtalk key features available to users include Slack integration and live chat. It also offers emails in Slack, SMS in Slack and easy integration with Facebook.
Pricing: Lemtalk offers three packages: Agency, Super Hero and Startup. The Agency plan costs $249 a month while the Super Hero and Startup packages cost $96 and $48 a month, respectively.
Free trial: You can get a free trial for up to 14 days on all of the available Lemtalk packages. You can sign up for the free trial by creating an account on the Lemtalk website.
G2 rating: Lemtalk has a 4.2 out of 5 star rating on G2. Customers appreciate features like collaborative system and customer support processes. They also like the Facebook integration support feature.
Lemtalk promises to offer all of your customer support options in Slack. It turns Slack into an easy-to-use help desk platform and provides all of the tools to reach customers via live chat, social media, email and other channels.
16. Zoho SalesIQ
Short description: Zoho SalesIQ focuses on offering all of the tools that your marketing, sales and customer support teams need to communicate with your website visitors.
Key features: Some of the features available with Zoho SalesIQ include pop-up chats, targeted emails, in-app messaging and notifications. Users also get internal use tools like customization, lead development and a shared inbox.
Pricing: Zoho SalesIQ offer a free features package. It also offers a basic package for $19 a month for three users, a professional package for $59 a month for five users and an enterprise package for $129 a month for 10 users.
Free trial: New users can also get a free 15 day trial of any of the packages. The free 15-day trial is available on the Zoho SalesIQ website and does not require a credit card.
G2 rating: Zoho SalesIQ has a 4.4 out of 5 star rating on G2. Customers like lead generation and sales boosting features. They also appreciate its customizable chat platform.
Zoho SalesIQ offers the tools that businesses need for quality customer engagement. It lets business owners support customers in real-time with live chat, website visitor tracking and other features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why look for Intercom alternatives?
As mainstream as Intercom is in the business world, you might wonder why anyone would look for alternatives to it.
In fact, a number of solid reasons exist for why business owners today prefer to search for and consider them.
Among them is the fact that Intercom comes with a high price tag that many businesses today find difficult to accommodate.
Along with the high price, Intercom users sometimes encounter unpredictable billing. They also incur billing for each customer to their websites, which can result in expensive balances that are challenging to pay, particularly for new startups.
Even more, customers of Intercom have reported encountering poor customer service which leaves them feeling like their business does not matter.
They say that the customer service for Intercom is indifferent to them and does not provide a good experience when they reach out to the company.
Finally, Intercom customers say that the service's email automation tools are often full of glitches and bugs.
Even after they report these technical malfunctions to the company, they often must wait prolonged amounts of time for the issues to be fixed.
All of these challenges combined explain why many Intercom customers look for alternatives to it when they want to improve their own customer service outreach.
How did we choose the best alternatives to Intercom?
The selection process for the best alternatives to Intercom identified numerous criteria that platforms were required to meet. These requirements are meant to enhance customer support and allow business owners to grow their brands and revenue significantly.
Among these criteria is the need for platforms to have easy-to-use interfaces. The Intercom alternatives that were selected have both functional and intuitive user interfaces that can be set up and ready to use in minutes and also require little to no training to use them.
Further, the best alternatives also come with shared inboxes. This feature is important for businesses to be able to manage customer conversations that come from multiple channels.
They also come with proactive messaging or chat functions that allow businesses to generate leads, update existing customers and offer promotions better. They also offer ticket management features that let businesses resolve customer services issues promptly.
Finally, the best alternatives to Intercom offer functions for reporting and analytics so businesses can simultaneously monitor individual and team performance. These functions allow users to measure customer satisfaction better.
These features are among those that were primarily required for services to be considered as the best alternatives to Intercom. They ensure that users get the best results and can offer better customer service options to their audiences.
