You found our list of Intercom alternatives.
Intercom alternatives are platforms that offer similar functionalities and features to Intercom. These functionalities include automated messages, customer support, integrations, and targeted messages. Examples of Intercom alternatives are Freshdesk, HelpCrunch, EcoSend, and Help Scout. The purpose of Intercom alternatives is to provide different platforms for businesses that meet their business needs and budget.
Intercom alternatives are similar to Zendesk alternatives, Help Scout alternatives, and Freshdesk alternatives. You can check out these customer experience books to learn more about customer service software.
This list includes:
- apps like Intercom
- software like Intercom
- help scout Intercom
- free Intercom alternatives
Let’s begin!
List of Intercom alternatives
Some Intercom alternatives may provide a more flexible functionality for businesses. Here is a list of other customer communication programs for your business.
1. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a cheaper alternative to Intercom for those on a budget. This software suits start-ups, SMEs, solo entrepreneurs, and teams on a budget. Despite the software’s affordability, Freshdesk has a wide range of integrations and feature options that users will find helpful. For example, Freshdesk’s omnichannel suite allows businesses to provide customer support through contact center support, live chat, and mobile chat.
Features:
- Ticketing features for merging and exporting tickets, setting priority tickets and status, and monitoring all ticketing activities
- Social media customer support through messaging on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Business, and Twitter
- Built-in email notification automation, shared email inboxes, and email ticketing tools
- Dashboard with customizable visuals and metrics that makes it easy to automate and share report creation
Freshdesk provides a range of prices for all businesses, regardless of size and budget. In addition, the software has a free support desk. Users can enjoy a 21-day free trial with some selected premium features unlocked, and the Growth Omnichannel costs $35 per month for every agent.
Check out Freshdesk.
2. HubSpot
Hubspot is a sales software and marketing company that promotes business growth by attracting and converting website visitors into customers. Hubspot has various tools that help businesses with inbound marketing, such as marketing automation, a website builder, and customer management tools. With powerful analytics and reporting capability, Hubspot is a perfect choice for businesses seeking insight into their support team performance and customer behavior.
Features:
- Email templates, shared inbox, and email tracking with notifications
- Live chat software with canned snippets for customer communication options
- Multi-language knowledgebase for users to seek solutions without waiting for support agents
- Integration with third-party tools, including customer service, marketing, and sales, making it easy for businesses to connect and automate workflows
Hubspot has a free plan with limited features, a Starter plan at $45 per month for two users, and a Professional plan at $450 per month for five users.
Check out Hubspot.
3. HelpCrunch
HelpCrunch offers sales, customer support, and marketing. This software suits businesses from start-ups to large companies. Users seeking a ticketing system, chat widget, and open API will benefit from HelpCrunch. These features help firms connect with customers, track customer behavior, and provide customer support. Also, HelpCrunch is accessible and user friendly.
Features:
- An excellent mobile app for Android and iOS
- Easy customization options to give customers a personalized support experience
- Email support and live chat to offer real-time customer support and respond to queries promptly
- Detailed reporting to see the support team’s performance and ways to improve the customer support process
HelpCrunch has a Basic plan of $12 per month, Grow plan of $20 per month, and an Unlimited plan for $495 per month, all billed annually.
Check out HelpCrunch.
4. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a popular software suited best for smaller support teams. LiveAgent offers a chat engine, ticketing system, and customer profile features. In addition, this software is one of the best Intercom alternatives integrating with external applications like Salesforce and Zendesk. The software has over 175 features and 190 integrations, providing businesses with all the tools to give customers a personalized support experience.
Features:
- An easy ticketing system that requires little onboarding
- Omnichannel customer support, including social media, chat, SMS, and phone
- Automated ticket distribution, automatic notifications, and workflow automation, offering team members a seamless support process
- Customization options include custom domain mapping, email templates, and branding options
LiveAgent offers a free version, a Ticket version at $15 per month, a Ticket and Chat version at $29 per month, and an All-Inclusive version at $49 per month.
Check out LiveAgent.
5. EcoSend
EcoSend is a climate-conscious email marketing platform that offers sophisticated and sustainable email marketing with zero compromises. EcoSend is a cheaper alternative to Intercom, and the platform is also safer for the planet. Because of electricity use and server space, email marketing has a carbon footprint. EcoSend deals with this challenge by helping users send more campaigns using less effort and resources.
Features:
- Runs on renewable energy and plants trees
- Automated campaigns to save time and increase engagement by sending campaigns to the audience on autopilot
- In-app messages on websites to contacts when they exhibit certain behaviors or land on specific pages
- Live translate feature that automatically translates messages into each recipient’s language
EcoSend has a free plan of up to 500 contacts and a paid plan from $49 per month for users needing more connections.
Check out EcoSend.
6. Crisp
For firms that value customer engagement, Crisp is the best Intercom alternative. What makes Crisp stand out is the addition of the human touch to all customer support interactions. In addition, Crisp has several innovative tools like call support, CRM, shared browsing, and a ticketing system for seamless communication.
Features:
- Live chat to communicate with and send relevant documents and files to customers
- Co-browsing feature for website visitors to browse and share notes
- Report and analytics features provide a detailed understanding of your business
- Effective social media campaigns with tools like trigger emails, personalized messages, and automated email marketing
Crisp offers a free plan, a Pro plan at $300 per year, and an Unlimited plan at $1,140 per year.
Check out Crisp.
7. GoSquared
GoSquared helps businesses track customer engagement and real-time analytics. Also, companies can monitor app and website performance by engaging with customers and analyzing user behavior. As a result, companies can turn more visitors into customers with a range of integrated products. Additionally, GoSquared’s dashboard displays analytics for each visitor.
Features:
- A user-friendly layout
- Powerful segmentation and targeting capabilities for businesses to personalize customer engagement and deliver targeted offers
- Team software inbox that makes customer support and sales easy
- Behavioral data to automate targeted lead capture and onboarding
GoSquared has a Starter plan for $29 per month, a Standard plan for $49 per month, a Pro plan for $79 per month, and a Scale plan for $129 per month. All plans come with a free seven-day trial.
Check out GoSquared.
8. Help Scout
Help Scout allows businesses to manage all customer conversations in one place, like an inbox. Help Scout Intercom converts get the collaboration, organization, and automation needed to thrive and move faster. This platform is as easy to use as an email inbox and helps users focus on customer relationships.
Features:
- An easy-to-manage, all-in-one support platform that offers a human touch
- A searchable library of templates and saved replies makes streamlining responses easy
- Categorization of conversations and automation of workflows through tags
- Ability to send team members private notes while talking to customers
Help Scout has a Standard plan of $25 per month, a Plus plan of $50 per month, and an Annual Pro plan for $65 per month. The Annual Pro plan provides large teams with security, scale, and hands-on service.
Check out Help Scout.
9. Drift
Drift is a sales platform that provides businesses with email marketing, chatbots, automation, and live chat. These tools help companies engage with customers and drive conversions while building lasting relationships. With an AI-powered chatbot, Drift provides personalized recommendations and automates customer conversations. Also, Drift integrates with marketing solutions like Salesforce and Marketo.
Features:
- Live chat for customers to connect with website visitors and provide support
- Import customer data from other systems for content personalization and segmentation
- Playbooks that help businesses to greet visitors, capture visitors’ information, and direct visitors to the correct department
- Chatbots for conversations with customers when chat agents are offline
Drift has a free plan with one seat only, a Premium plan at about $600 per month for ten seats, an Enterprise plan for large to enterprise businesses, and a Start-up Program at $500 for ten seats. Drift is one of the best apps like Intercom.
Check out Drift.
10. Keeping
Keeping is one of the free Intercom alternatives for teams who would rather stay on Gmail. With Keeping, businesses can turn Gmail into a full-fledged help desk. Companies can tweak workflow automation and view reports with a clutter-free admin area. Although Keeping works inside Gmail, the platform offers a variety of features like every other help desk software. These features include collision detection, shared mailboxes, Shopify integration, and unlimited help desk ticketing. For start-ups with smaller budgets and businesses that prefer a small tech stack, Keeping is a perfect option.
Features:
- Multi-channel support for businesses to provide customer support across various channels like live chat, social media, phone, and email
- Branding and integration with popular platforms like WordPress and Shopify
- Automation feature for businesses to streamline customer support processes
- A simple interface that is easy to navigate and provides a user-friendly customer support platform
Keeping has a Team plan at $10 per user per month and an Organization plan at $15 per user per month. Both plans offer a free trial at no extra charge.
Check out Keeping.
11. Gorgias
Gorgias is software like Intercom explicitly designed for e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. This platform allows businesses to connect with customers on social media and websites. With Gorgias, companies can set up automated responses to common questions, manage subscriptions, track bots, and apply loyalty points. Gorgias has a minimalistic and modern design suitable for all websites.
Features:
- Great chatbot template with easy implementation for online stores
- Integrated ticketing system across various channels to engage and convert customers into tickets
- Easy access to tools for an easy recommendation of products from e-commerce stores and managing orders
- Custom chat widgets’ appearance and design for a consistent customer chat experience
Gorgias has a Starter entry-level plan at $10 per month for 50 tickets, a Basic plan at $60 per month for 300 tickets, and a Pro plan at $360 per month for 2,000 tickets. The Advanced plan costs $900 per month for 5,000 tickets, and you can get a custom Enterprise plan.
Check out Gorgias.
12. ProProfs
ProProfs is one of the free Intercom alternatives for teams with smaller budgets. This platform has features to help team members handle support issues on an easy-to-read dashboard. Regardless of the team size, ProProf streamlines customer support service at an affordable price.
Features:
- Customization options for businesses to customize customer support portals, surveys, and online quizzes using personal branding
- Flexible prices to meet business needs regardless of size
- Cloud-based platform accessible from anywhere makes it easy for businesses to manage customer assessment on the go
- Easy-to-use interface without the need for technical expertise
ProProfs has a free plan with limited features, an Essential plan for $20 per month, a Business plan for $40 per month, and a Business+ plan for $200 per month.
Check out ProProfs.
13. Zendesk
Zendesk started as a customer support platform and expanded into sales modules with CRM, Zendesk Sell, and Zendesk Sunshine. These services are suitable for small and large businesses and start-ups. With a customizable workflow, companies can prioritize, assign, and manage all customer support tickets effectively. Also, Zendesk provides an advanced analytics and reporting feature to track customer satisfaction and other key metrics essential to customer support operations.
Features:
- Personal email system with unlimited email addresses
- Social media messaging through Twitter and Facebook
- Workflows to share tickets between different Zendesk support representatives
- Extensive app marketplace that gives businesses access to over 1,000 apps and integrations
- Automation of customer support inquiries, giving agents more time for other issues
Zendesk offers a Support Team at $19 per user, a Support Professional at $49 per user, and Support Enterprise at $99 per user. The Suite team plan costs $49 per user, Suite Growth is $79 per user, and Suite Professional is $99 per user.
Check out Zendesk.
14. Olark
Olark is the perfect software for customer support and sales representatives looking for the best live chat software. This platform offers various integrations with tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Shopify. With an intuitive chat interface, businesses can resolve issues quickly and easily engage with customers.
Features:
- Live chat feature suitable for training customer support representatives
- Minimalistic and responsive widget design that looks great on all websites and devices
- Works seamlessly with popular CRM tools like Pipedrive and Salesforce
- Effective help desk software that aids team collaboration, chat routing, and message automation
Olark has a 14-day free trial, a Basic plan for $29 per month, and a Pro version in the beta stage that includes CoPilot chatbots and support automation.
Check out Olark.
15. Tawk.to
Tawk.to has a chat widget available on about 300,000 websites. Unlike other Intercom alternatives, Tawk.to offers no premium plans. Instead, the platform provides a free advanced live chat and encourages users to hire live chat agents. Businesses can employ unlimited agents while monitoring performance from the admin page.
Features:
- Advanced filtering and group messaging options for effective customer conversations
- Integrate with Zapier to send SMS text messages
- Offers full functionality for free
- An easy setup that integrates well with WordPress websites
Tawk.to is forever free and comes unlocked by default. However, the free plan comes with a Tawk.to branding, which businesses can remove for $19 monthly. Also, companies can hire trained chat agents for between $1 to $2.50 per hour. These chat agents also possess native language skills.
Check out Tawk.to.
Conclusion
Intercom pricing can make it out of reach for some, especially small businesses. As a result, these firms look for affordable and effective alternatives. Companies must consider features like easy-to-use interfaces, integration options, and chat transfer when choosing an Intercom alternative. These options will help businesses decide which program works best based on their needs.
Although no single platform can meet the needs of all businesses, some are more versatile. Therefore, comparing the pricing and features of these platforms will help business owners determine the best option for them.
Next up, check out these articles on customer service companies and virtual assistant companies.
Grace He