Top 12 Intercom Alternatives [Side-By-Side Comparison]

Intercom has changed a lot lately. It started as a messaging tool for sales and marketing teams. Now, by adding new features like detailed customer profiles and conversation notes, they're a decent customer service tool as well. These changes help support teams do their job better.

The biggest change is their focus on AI. They even call themselves an "AI-first customer service platform." Their AI tool, Fin, looks impressive. But many of their best features are only in expensive plans. This means not everyone can use them.

Other companies offer similar tools, sometimes for less money. And if you're a fan of AI, plenty of these tools offer AI features as well. We've made a list of 12 alternatives to Intercom for you to look at.

The 12 best Intercom alternatives for 2024

If supporting customers and transparent pricing are your priorities, here are the 12 best Intercom alternatives to check out:

1. Help Scout

2. HelpCrunch

3. Olark

4. HubSpot Service Hub

5. Zendesk

6. Freshdesk

7. LiveChat

8. Tidio

9. Crisp

10. Zoho Desk

11. LiveAgent

12. Hiver

1. Help Scout - Best for complete customer support

At Help Scout, we believe that delivering great customer service shouldn't be hard. There are too many support tools out there that are impersonal and cold, cumbersome to set up and use, with a user experience that's less than ideal for customers and support teams alike.

We wanted more for our customers so we built Help Scout to do the exact opposite of what those other tools do — put the customer first.

Help Scout is an intuitive (but powerful!) customer communications platform, with all of the tools support teams need to provide high-quality support and create delightful customer experiences.

Inbox

Our shared inbox makes it easy to collaborate on incoming conversations across all of your channels (email, chat, social media) seamlessly, no matter how your customers prefer to connect.

Inbox has everything you need to do your best work, including:

• The ability to send private notes and tag a team member in a conversation

• A searchable library of saved replies to streamline responses to common questions

• Tags, custom fields, views, and automatic workflows to keep you organized and reduce busy work

• The ability to snooze a conversation, or schedule your reply to send later

• Collision detection to prevent accidental duplicate replies

• Keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate your queue with ease

• Customer profiles to provide you with key customer information in the conversation sidebar so that your replies are always personalized and relevant

In addition, we offer iOS and Android apps so that you’re able to respond to customers while on the go.

Self-service

We love to help our customers one-on-one, but we know that often customers would prefer to help themselves. That’s why our knowledge base tool, Docs, is available across all of our plans.

Docs makes it easy for you to get all of the information your customers need — things like answers to FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and company policies — published in a matter of minutes. With Docs you can:

• Build and launch a personalized help center

• Create media-rich knowledge base articles quickly and easily

• Customize your Docs site to fit your brand personality

• Monitor article performance and spot content gaps via a dedicated reporting dashboard

Proactive messaging and support

Our web widget, Beacon, can be embedded on any web page or within your app to provide your customers easy access to live chat. While we’re all about providing accessible support, good customer service should be a two-way street. That’s why, in addition to being a chat hub, Beacon is a great way to reach out to your audience in between email, chat, and social media sessions.

With Beacon you can:

• Provide customers with access to your help center content from anywhere within your user experience

• Deliver proactive customer service by surfacing a chat window or support article to help customers through tricky spots in the customer journey

• Send targeted messages to segments of your audience that are triggered by criteria like time on page and scroll behavior

• Collect feedback through NPS and microsurvey features

AI tools

Help Scout has always been customer-first, and we always will be. While we do think that the improvements in LLMs and increased access to generative AI can be helpful, we don’t think AI should replace customer service teams. 

Instead, we believe AI tools should empower them to do their best work and maybe get a little time back in their day to focus on more valuable tasks that can improve the customer experience. We’ve built four AI tools that we think do just that:

• AI summarize breaks down long conversation threads into a few bullet points, allowing you to get up to speed on cases more quickly.

• AI assist helps you polish customer replies and Docs articles by adjusting length or tone, checking for spelling and grammar issues, or translating the text with a single click. 

• AI drafts use generative AI, the content from your help center, and past customer conversations to draft accurate replies to customer messages. Simply review, edit if needed, and hit send. 

• AI answers (coming soon) is a smart search tool that can provide a specific answer to customer questions using generative AI and the content in your Docs site.

Integrations

We know how important it is for your entire tech stack to work together, which is why we offer integrations with popular software platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Jira. Don’t see the integration you’re looking for? Use our API and create your own!

Analytics

To make sure your team can measure success and identify areas of improvement, we offer reporting dashboards to track metrics like conversation volume, channel usage, team performance, customer satisfaction, and more. Want to track something else? No problem! You can create your own filters based on tags, custom fields, or views so that you can report on what matters most to you.

Support

We think our product is something special, but one of our greatest assets is our dedicated support team. Our support pros are Help Scout experts and are available 24/6 to ensure that you always feel properly supported. We also have helpful resources like live classes, blog content, ebooks, and a robust help center for those interested in diving a little deeper. 

We believe that Help Scout is a great alternative to Intercom for teams that are focused on customer-first support at a competitive price point.

If you’re interested in making the switch, our platform’s data migration capabilities don’t require any IT involvement, making it easy to bring your customer data and conversation history to Help Scout. And if you have any questions along the way, don’t hesitate to reach out — we’re happy to help!

Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $22/user per month.

2. HelpCrunch - Best for multi-channel messaging

HelpCrunch is another Intercom competitor to consider. Much like Intercom and Help Scout, HelpCrunch allows agents to easily manage customer interactions across all of your channels from a single tool. Speaking of channels, aside from email and live chat, HelpCrunch supports tons of messaging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. You can even add Telegram and Viber chatbots to the mix.

Besides conversation management, HelpCrunch also has email marketing and automated messaging tools as well as a knowledge base builder to help customers find helpful information without needing to contact support. AI-wise, Help Crunch is in the process of rolling out AI features. The first is their AI-powered writing assistant that can help with your copy’s spelling, grammar, tone, length, and translation.

If HelpCrunch seems like the right choice for you, they also offer free data migration from other popular help desks like Intercom and Zendesk.

Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $12/member per month.

3. Olark - Best for stand-alone live chat

If you’re looking for chat software that can help engage website visitors, Olark is a great choice. You can customize your chat experience to match your brand guidelines, grab important customer info upfront with pre-chat surveys, and when your team is offline, they have chatbots to help respond to customer queries. 

If you’re intimidated by creating your own chatbot flows, Olark will build them for you! If you choose to pay for Olark’s CoPilot program, their team will build bots catered to your business’ needs and use cases.

Other Olark features include automatic targeted messaging, integration with other tools in your tech stack, in-depth reporting capabilities, and searchable chat transcripts, ensuring that they can be easily referenced in the future.

Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $29/seat per month.

4. HubSpot Customer Platform or HubSpot Service Hub - Best for large businesses who are already HubSpot users

HubSpot is a popular martech tool with a plethora of features for SaaS and other online businesses. HubSpot’s all-in-one suite of tools, HubSpot Customer Platform, includes software for landing page creation, lead generation, email marketing automation, customer support, sales prospecting, operations, and more.

This is why HubSpot makes sense as an Intercom alternative for large brands who are already active within the HubSpot ecosystem. All of the tools integrate with each other, and you can keep all of your customer comms in one place. 

However, if you aren’t a current HubSpot customer and are just interested in a customer support tool, you can sign up specifically for their service offering, Service Hub. Both products have a freemium option and paid plans that start at $15 per seat.

Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $15/seat per month. Learn about other tools similar to HubSpot.

5. Zendesk - Best for AI-first enterprise companies

Zendesk is a well-known customer service software solution and probably the most robust tool on this list, making it a great Intercom competitor for enterprise companies focused on scalability.

When you sign up, you get access to a shared inbox that can track SMS, voice, email, and social. There is also a live chat solution, access to its knowledge base builder (Guide), the ability to create a community forum or customer portal, workflows and triggers to help automate mundane tasks, macros (saved templates) for responding quickly to FAQs, reporting dashboards, access to tons of integrations, and more.

Much like Intercom, Zendesk is an example of a company that has made a strong push toward AI. They offer a virtual agent, agent assist features, AI-powered ticket routing, and even tools for identifying content gaps in your knowledge base. While AI-first isn’t for everyone, if it is for you, then Zendesk is a good option.

Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $19/agent per month.

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6. Freshdesk - Best for call center support

If Zendesk isn’t the right tool for you but you want an alternative to Intercom that has a similar vibe, you should consider Freshdesk.

Freshdesk plans offer access to help desk ticketing software that can help you manage communication across just about any channel. For teams that are focused on voice, such as call center teams, you can even add on Freshcaller, the company’s phone solution. With Freshcaller, you can buy a phone number right from the tool and manage calls using helpful features like call transferring, queue callback, and IVR (phone trees).

In addition, Freshdesk has a strong AI component in Freddy AI. Freddy helps power chatbots, provide agent support via generative AI, and even provide insights into analytics. For Freshcaller users, Freddy can also power speech-enabled IVR experiences.

Price: Free trial and plan available. Paid plans start at $15/agent per month. Learn about other tools similar to Freshdesk.

7. LiveChat - Best for chat automation

Looking for an Intercom alternative that is a bit more budget friendly? LiveChat offers features for support, sales, and marketing, making it a similar tool to Intercom — but for a fraction of the cost.

LiveChat comes with tools for reporting, a ticketing solution, routing rules, AI-powered agent assistance, and more. Its live chat tool has a lot to offer as well, from automation and canned responses to chat transfers and personalization.

One thing to note about LiveChat products is that they usually need to be purchased separately. You need LiveChat for chats, HelpDesk for ticketing, KnowledgeBase for self-service, and ChatBot for bot support. However, with the recent push toward AI, the tool is now promoting a bundle consisting of LiveChat and ChatBot together. The idea is that you can use bots for routine customer inquiries, giving your human agents more time to focus on complex questions.

While the bundle may not fit into the “smaller budget” category, with plans starting at $72 per month ($20/person for LiveChat; $52 for ChatBot), if you’re focused on chat support and automation, it could be worth it.

Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $20/person per month. Learn about other tools similar to LiveChat.

8. Tidio - Best for video chat

Tidio’s easy-to-use interface makes it a great tool for quick setup within your customer support and marketing teams. In fact, Tidio boasts that teams can easily get started within five minutes!

While the platform’s strength is definitely chat, you can also use Tidio to manage your email as well as messaging channels like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. If you’re interested in live video chat, Tidio has you covered there, too. You can easily connect with prospects and existing customers through video, helping you build better customer relationships.

For teams more focused on AI-powered chatbots like Intercom’s Fin, Tidio’s Lyro AI Chatbot product might also be a good choice; these plans start at $32.50 per month. If AI is important to your strategy, definitely make a point of looking at both options and their pricing plans when making your decision.

Price: Free plan available. Paid live chat plans start at $24.17 per month.

9. Crisp - Best for startups and small businesses

Crisp is a great tool for startups and small businesses due to its completely free plan, simple interface, and robust feature set.

Crisp’s top features include co-browsing, a CRM, a shared inbox, a chat widget with audio and video chat options, chatbots, a ticketing system, a knowledge base, mobile apps for on-the-go support, and more. Plus, it supports a number of integrations with popular platforms like Slack, Zapier, Salesforce, and WhatsApp.

If your interest in Intercom was sparked because of its AI tools, Crisp is starting to roll out improvements to its chatbot experience, incorporating all of the new AI tech that’s come about over the last couple of years. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for AI functionality at a lower price point.

Price: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $25/month per workspace. Learn about other tools similar to Crisp.

10. Zoho Desk - Best for sales-focused teams

Zoho Desk is a support-focused offering from the Zoho suite of products. Zoho’s CRM platform is a popular sales tool, making its help desk software an ideal solution for sales-centric teams who can benefit from the entire suite of tools.

Zoho’s support features include ticket management, automation, a knowledge base builder, and omnichannel communication. It’s also another option for those looking to create community forums to augment their self-service options and to create more customer engagement.

When it comes to AI, Zoho’s Zia has a lot to offer those seeking an alternative to Intercom. It powers chatbots to help with customer requests, automatically tags tickets to help with organization, performs sentiment analysis, notifies your team of unusual activity in the queue, and more.

Price: Free trial and plan available. Paid plans start at $7/agent per month. Learn about other tools similar to Zoho Desk.

11. LiveAgent - Best for gamification

LiveAgent is another Intercom alternative you might want to consider if you’re in the market for call center software. It has built-in call center support, multiple customer communication channels (chat, email, social, etc.) SLA management, audit logs, and more.

Another unique feature that might be of interest is LiveAgent’s gamification capability. If one of the ways your team stays motivated is through healthy competition, the platform’s leaderboard, badges, and agent levels might make LiveAgent worth a look.

If AI is a must for your team, LiveAgent also offers an AI assistant powered by ChatGPT to help with text enhancement and reply generation.

Price: Free trial and plan available. Paid plans start at $9/agent per month.

12. Hiver - Best for Gmail or Google Collaborative Inbox users

Hiver is a little different than the other help desk tools on this list. It’s essentially a Gmail extension that gives teams help desk capabilities, but it isn’t a stand-alone product, per se. With it you’re able to have a shared inbox and assign requests to different support agents, offer live chat, and create a knowledge base for self service — tasks you’re not normally able to do in Gmail. 

The tool also includes collaboration features like internal notes and the ability to make approval workflows. They’ve also added a few basic AI features like the ability to summarize a customer interaction, auto-close conversations with a thank you, and suggest responses to agents using pre-written responses through their bot, Harvey.

While you can do some of these things in Google Collaborative Inbox, Hiver takes things further, making it a great starter platform for those ready to make the leap to a help desk.

Price: Free trial available. Plans start at $19/user per month. Learn about other tools similar to Hiver.

Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Right Customer Support Tool

Tailored to help you identify your customer support needs, this guide will help you find the right solution, simplify your purchase decision, and get leadership buy-in.

Get the guide

What to look for in an Intercom alternative

Intercom is a powerful tool that can bring a lot of value to some support teams. However, if you’ve found it’s not the right solution for your business needs, there are a few features we think you should look for in any alternative you consider. 

AI access at a lower price point 

Arguably, Intercom’s most attractive features are their AI tools like Fin, but access to those tools comes with a hefty price tag — a drawback for most business owners. Full access runs $139/agent per month, and some features have additional usage fees. There are a lot of options on the market that offer similar levels of functionality for a fraction of that price. So, it may be worth looking around if affordability is a priority for your team. 

Ease of use

Flashy features don’t mean a lot if the tool is troublesome to use. Look for tools that have a quick setup and are also intuitive for agents to use. You could even choose to look for options with trials to get a better perspective on what works best for you. 

Stable pricing

Most of Intercom’s tools are covered through the monthly subscription cost. However, their Fin AI agent — a bot that answers requests autonomously — is subject to additional volume-based pricing. Each “resolution” Fin AI agent completes costs an additional $0.99. Fin AI Copilot, an AI inbox assistant for agents, is free for the first 10 tickets per agent, but then it requires an additional per-agent fee.

These are just the AI add-ons — features like their proactive support bundle and certain channels like phone, SMS, and WhatsApp all have additional cost implications.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with usage-based pricing or charging more for premium features, but when you do a mix of all of these strategies at the same time, cost becomes confusing and unpredictable. Their pricing calculator helps, but it’s still a lot to get your arms around when trying to make a decision.

Choose your top Intercom alternative

Ready to jump off the Intercom train? The 12 Intercom alternatives above provide great options for sales, marketing, and support.

Reflect on what your goals are and which features are most important to your company. Choosing the right platform is much easier when you know what you’re looking for. Then, it’s simply a case of reading reviews (try asking people in your network or using a site like G2!), testing different options, weighing the benefits, and seeing what works for your team.

If you’re interested in delivering more delightful experiences to your customers, we offer a free 15-day trial of Help Scout. Try our platform today!

Additional content was written by Michael Keenan, Jesse Short, and the team at Help Scout.