Intercom is a popular and essential tool for any online business. The system helps manage customer conversations, uses automated help desk software to address customer satisfaction issues and can curate useful artificial intelligence chatbots.

Yet it comes with a hefty price-tag. You need an Intercom alternative. You can get all the feature-rich essentials of the Intercom package for a lot less if you dig a little deeper than the big name on the market. That’s a similarly powerful chat widget for a lot less.

Read on to find out about the best alternatives to Intercom for large and small businesses.

Comparing the Best Intercom Alternatives 2023

Let’s take a quick glance at some of the Intercom alternatives on the market right now.

1. Freshchat
2. Helpcrunch
3. Olark
4. Crisp
5. Customerly
6. Twillio
7. Hubspot
8. Drift
9. Live Agent
10. ClickDesk
11. LiveChat
12. Helpscout
13. Zendesk
14. Tidio
15. LivePerson

15 BEST INTERCOM ALTERNATIVES IN 2023

There are plenty of Intercom alternatives out there, all featuring a range of similar tools, widgets and customizable add-ons. Some of the key players have broader features than others though, or offset with an easier interface, cheaper monthly cost or other perks.

Let’s take a look at some of the other big names in the business chat widget sphere.

1. Freshchat

FreshChat is a customer engagement platform that focuses on providing live chat and messaging capabilities for reaching your customers in real-time.

It is part of the Freshworks suite of products, which includes customer Support, sales, and marketing automation tools.

Key features

• Create bespoke email marketing campaigns for continuous comms with your engaged customers, ideal for ecommerce.
• Data encryption and full security suite keeps customer data secure.
• Mobile app for on-the-go comms, notifications and customer support.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL
• GROWTH – $15+
• PRO PLAN – $39+
• ENTERPRISE – $65+

Read more on Freshchat vs Intercom

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2. HelpCrunch

HelpCrunch is a platform offering multi-channel support across your omnichannel communication streams.

Everything is gathered in one dashboard, which makes managing your comms a lot easier. HelpCrunch is renowned for a strong customer support record and fair pricing across their options.

Key features

• Unlimited chats.
• Integration with social media platforms.
• Good customer support.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL – 14 days
• BASIC – $12 pp/month
• PRO – $20 pp/month

3. Olark

Olark is a specialist solution for small to mid-sized businesses. A live chat system, Olark helps you set up automated chat responses and AI-driven chatbots to communicate with your customers via your website, anywhere, anytime.

All chats are saved too, so you can recall information from your chat tool or use the data to generate future responses.

Key features

• Use automation and AI to create canned responses and chatbot comms.
• Live chat features to engage with customers from your dashboard.
• Recall old chat transcripts to help tailor new responses and future content.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL – 14 days
• BASIC – $29 pp/month
• PRO – unique pricing plan

4.Crisp

Crisp is an alternatice customer communication platform to Intercom, renowned for customer support and quick helpdesk responses.

Unlike many of its rivals, you can get by with Crisp’s unrestricted free tier but the paid options have more customization features.

Key features

• Shared inbox for multi-chat management.
• Reputable free tier with most features.
• Automated messages for busy periods.

Pricing

• ESSENTIAL – free forever plan (2 people)
• PRO – $25/month (4 people)
• UNLIMITED – 95$/month (20 people)

5. Customerly

Customerly offers unlimited contacts and communication channels between your team and your customers. Beyond that, the software is renowned for having a strong and active customer support base.

The pro plan can be on the pricier side, with restrictions on users compared to other options.

Key features

• Unlimited contacts.
• NPS surveys available to customers.
• Help Center and customer support base.

Pricing

• FREE TIER – 14-day trial
• PRO TIER ($82 p/10 users)

6. Twilio

Twilio is a data-based tool that safely gathers customer information to help you build personas of your broader customer profiles.

Using the reams of data information, you can tailor your comms and responses to the way your customers expect you to interact with them, building on your existing customer relationships and improving the experience for inbound and prospective customers.

Key features

• Data-driven responses.
• Interactive audio and video for live responses in-chat.
• Collate customer data in a large database for analysis.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL – includes limited complimentary account balance.
• FLEXIBLE – feature usage-based pricing plan.

7. Hubspot Service Hub

Hubspot is a sales platform packed with tools to help make managing your business a whole lot easier.

Among the many features is the Hubspot live chat system. Omnichannel messaging and inbox management enables easier comms with customers across your various media platforms, website and beyond.

Key features

• Voice calls for direct comms with customers online.
• Popular platform with plenty of available support and online groups.
• Easily accessed CRM platform with simple tools and user-friendly interface.

Pricing

• FREE – free plan for basic CRM
• STARTER – $45/month (2 people)
• PROFESSIONAL – $375/month (5 people)
• ENTERPRISE – $1,200/month (10 people)

 8. Drift

Drift is a popular live chat platform that focuses on conversational marketing and sales. It’s designed to help businesses engage with website visitors, generate leads, and facilitate sales conversations in a more personalized and real-time manner.

Key features

• Real-time messaging for immediate responses to customer queries from within your website.
• Engage with customers to generate leads and gather useful customer data for future personalization.
• AI-led chatbots for conversational tone and brand awareness.

Pricing

• FREE – free plan available (1 seat)
• PLANS – Bespoke

9. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is another alternative to Intercom that enables live chat and multichannel comms with your customers across a range of engagement options.

Key features

• Email ticketing to convert inbox emails into indexable support tickets for your team to manage.
• Embedded live chat support for in-website interactions between customers and your team.
• Social media integration for multichannel comms wherever you engage with your audience.

Pricing

• FREE – free limited plan available (1 person)
• TICKET – $15 pp/month
• TICKET & CHAT – $29 pp/month
• ALL-INCLUSIVE – $49 pp/month

10. ClickDesk

ClickDesk combines live chat, helpdesk ticketing, and voice chat features to enhance customer engagement and support.

Key features

• Voice chat integration to enable voice-calls between customers and your staff for personalized support.
• Convert emails into support tickets for indexable management.
• Real-time visitor monitoring to help build detailed personas of your customers.

Pricing

• FREE – free plan for 10 users
• LITE – $14.99 pp/month
• PRO – $24.99 pp/month
• ENTERPRISE – $39.99 pp/month

11. LiveChat

LiveChat provides real-time assistance to your customers though is primarily focused on helping your business generate leads and data information via your interactions.

Key features

• Share documents, images and more for easy support with customer-centric file sharing.
• Chat ratings let customers rate your interactions for improved responses.
• Set up canned responses and pre-written answers for quick answers during busy periods.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL – 14 days
• STARTER – $24 pp/month
• TEAM – $49 pp/month
• BUSINESS – $69 pp/month

12. HelpScout

HelpScout’s primary support channel is email, making it suitable for businesses that rely heavily on email for customer communication. It centralizes email inquiries, allowing support teams to manage and respond to messages efficiently.

Key features

• Shared mailboxes allow for multiple team members to communicate with customers, so you can pick up chat threads no matter where your staff are.
• Support ticket solution for tracking and recall of all queries.
• Live chat enables real-time comms and support for customers via the website.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL – 15 days
• STANDARD – $25 pp/month
• PLUS – $50 pp/month
• PRO – $65 pp/month annual plan

13. Zendesk

Zendesk offers a suite of tools and features designed to streamline customer service, improve experience, and drive customer loyalty.

Key features

• Build a knowledge base with blog and article creation support to answer queries and questions while boosting your SEO performance.
• Full customization for branding across webchats, emails and more.
• Community forum creation helps foster customer engagement and a loyal following.

Pricing

• FREE TRIAL – 14 days
• SUITE TEAM – $49 pp/month
• SUITE GROWTH – $79 pp/month
• SUITE PROFESSIONAL – $99 pp/month

14. Tidio

Tidio includes a chatbot builder that enables businesses to create automated chatbots to assist with routine inquiries, collect customer information, and engage with users 24/7. Chatbots can be customized to match your brand’s tone and style.

Key features

• Multi-language support for businesses in the global market.
• Analytics and reporting suite for customer management and persona creation.
• Mobile app for on-the-go support and live chat.

Pricing

• FREE – free limited plan available (1 person)
• COMMUNICATOR – $19 pp/month
• CHATBOTS – $39 pp/month
• TIDIO+ – $289 pp/month

15. Live Person

LivePerson provides messaging capabilities through various channels, including website chat, SMS, Apple Business Chat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more. This multi-channel approach allows businesses to reach customers where they are most comfortable.

Key features

• Third-party and CRM integration for easy co-opting with your existing apparatus.
• Full branding support for chat windows and canned responses.
• Multi-language support for global market engagement.

Pricing

•   Pay As You Go

How to find the best intercom alternative?

The best Intercom alternative for your business will depend on how you interact with your customers and what they can expect from your brand.

Consider your usual approach to customer interaction and what your customers would expect when communicating with you. You might want to consider whether a general all-in approach suits and opt for a chatbot with generic responses, or perhaps something more personalized fits the bill?

Of course, if you think your customer communication is in need of an overhaul then now is a good time to do so. Launching new customer interaction and communication tools is the ideal time to refresh the way you chat with those people most important to your business – your customers.

Some of the factors you might you to consider before choosing an Intercom alternative that fits your needs include:

• Social media integration. If you use social media pages to interact with your customers, you’ll want to choose a chat system that allows for integration with the big names, like Facebook and Instagram.
• Growth plans. Most customer engagement tools will restrict the number of interactions you can have with customers to a specific pricing band. The more you pay, the more customer chats you can have. If you’re on the smaller side of things, having just a few customer interactions a month is probably fine. However, if you plan to grow your business you may find that you’re soon restricted by your price plan and are leaving customers out in the cold.
• Customer support. Sometimes things can go wrong, especially when we don’t want them to. Choose a provider that offers reputable and rapid customer support for help when you need it.

Why should you use an Intercom alternative?

There are several reasons you might consider going with one of Intercom’s rivals.

Pricing

Intercom can get expensive. Depending on the size of your business and your budget, it may make more sense to go with a cheaper alternative. Or, if you’re a small-scale business, it may make sense to go with a supplier that restricts the number of customers you interact with for a lower price as you may not be meeting the top-end requirements yet anyway.

Feature fit

As with any rival packages, Intercom’s alternatives feature different tools, apps and add-ons to their big-name competitor. You might find that Intercom doesn’t have the elements you need or it’s just not the right fit for you. Maybe one of the alternative programs is a better fit.

Scalability

As your business grows, your requirements for customer engagement tools might change. An alternative platform may be more scalable and flexible, allowing you to adapt to evolving needs more easily.

Integration:

If you already have existing tools and software in your tech stack, you might prefer an alternative that integrates seamlessly with them. Compatibility and ease of integration can streamline your operations.

Customer Support

The level of customer support and service offered by the alternative platform may better suit your preferences. Some businesses value highly responsive support teams and resources.

Why Freshchat is the best Intercom Alternative

Freshchat from Freshworks is a customer messaging platform that provides an easy to integrate platform across your chat channels. Easily scale your communication needs and meet customers on the messaging platforms that they prefer in the language they require – without scattering your information or interuppting workflows.

Access a central knowledge hub so you can get the information you need to help customers effectively regardless of the platform you use.

Utilise AI-enabled chat bots across all channels in a way that suits you. Reduce queues and enable self-service with intelligent scripts and easily scale your support desk.

Don’t get penalized for growing – scale from the start with Freshchat and enjoy transparent pricing and unparalleled integration.

Learn more about Freshchat vs Intercom to know why it is the best alternative to Intercom.

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FAQ

What type of tool is Intercom?

Intercom is a customer engagement tool that supports businesses looking to manage, monitor and improve the way they interact with the customers. The tool features a range of elements that improve customer engagement, such as chatbots, live chat and personalized communication strategies.

How does Intercom work?

Intercom works by collecting customer data when one visits your website. The tool will help you to build a personalized user profile of your audience based on the way they move around and interact with your website.

Using that data, Intercom is able to segment your customers into broader categories and then make suggestions on how best to interact with these customers to help them achieve their aims and boost customer experience.

The Intercom tools features a range of communication elements to make interacting with customers quicker and easier.

 What are the benefits of Intercom?

• Intercom has a range of benefits for businesses looking to improve their customer engagement. Benefits include:
• Improved customer communication.
• Personalization.
• Automation & Scalability.
• Customer support and helpdesk.
• Analytics & Insights.
• Customer self-service.
• Integration capabilities.

What can I use instead of Intercom?

There are a variety of intercom alternatives for customer support, including LiveChat, Tidio, Hubspot Services Hub and Freshdesk. Generally, you want to look out for important features and functionality such as live chat, a shared inbox, and other utilities like auto follow-ups.

How can I get free Intercom?

While free trials exist, getting genuine, free intercom isn’t an option. You may be able to find deals incorporating it into a transparent package as part of other customer support software such as with Freshchat.

What is Intercom good for?

An intercom system can enable communication across teams – when used with AI-powered tools it can boost customer service efficiency and scale your online businesses support centre.

Why is Intercom better than a phone?

Intercom is scalable and can incorporate with other systems to provide a range of benefits such as improved and personalized customer communication, customer self-service and comes with a wealth of integration opportunities.

 

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