Zendesk vs Intercom: Which Solution to Choose in 2024?

By doing so, you can make an informed decision that best aligns with your business goals and enhances your customer support efforts. The customer support platform starts at just $5 per agent per month, which is a very basic customer support tool. If you want dashboard reporting and integrations, you’ll need to pay $19 per agent per month. Multilingual content and other advanced features come with a $49 price per agent per month. Freshdesk is a more unique Intercom alternative, as it offers the functionality to support businesses that use call centers for customer support.

They offer more detailed insights like lead generation sources, a complete message report to track customer engagement, and detailed information on the support team’s performance. A collection of these reports can enable your business to identify the right resources responsible for bringing engagement to your business. Messagely’s chatbots are powerful tools for qualifying and converting leads while your team is otherwise occupied or away.

Both Zendesk and Intercom have their own “app stores” where users can find all of the integrations for each platform. With a very streamlined design, Intercom’s interface is far better than many alternatives, including Zendesk. It has a very intuitive design that goes far beyond its platform and into its articles, product guides, and even its illustrations.

This unpredictability in pricing might lead to higher costs, especially for larger companies. While it offers a range of advanced features, the overall costs and potential inconsistencies in support could be a concern for some businesses​​​​. Intercom’s pricing is based on the number of users and the desired features, making it more suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. Zendesk, on the other hand, offers tiered pricing plans based on the number of agents, making it a better choice for larger enterprises. It’s important to consider your budget and the specific needs of your business when evaluating the pricing options.

Reviewers were frustrated by how long it took for their tickets to get resolved, as well as the complexity with which they were tossed around from department to department. Given that these are two services predicated on making you better at customer support, you’d think they’d be able to handle it better themselves. However, reading the reviews, it’s probably more accurate to say that Zendesk is “mixed” on customer support, whereas Intercom doesn’t have a stellar record.

Intercom:

Having easy-to-use software is far more controllable and saves time whether you’re a tiny and growing business or a massive multinational. This article will compare Intercom vs Zendesk, outlining each tool’s features, ease-of-use, pricing and plans, pros and cons, and user-support options. Intercom, of course, allows its customer support team to collaborate and communicate too, but overall, Zendesk wins this group.

And while many other chatbots take forever to set up, you can set up your first chatbot in under five minutes. However, if you’re looking for a streamlined, all-in-one messaging platform, there is no better option than Messagely. Chat agents also get a comprehensive look at their entire customer’s journey, so they will have a better idea of what your customers need, without needing to ask many questions. Since Intercom doesn’t offer a CRM, its pricing is divided into basic messaging and messaging with automations. It’s divided into about 20 topics with dozens of articles each, so navigating through it can be complicated.

These premium support services can range in cost, typically between $1,500 and $2,800. This additional cost can be a considerable factor for businesses to consider when evaluating their customer support needs against their budget constraints. While both platforms have a significant presence in the industry, they cater to varying business requirements. Zendesk, with its extensive toolkit, is often preferred by businesses seeking an all-encompassing customer support solution. Understanding the unique attributes of Zendesk and Intercom is crucial in this comparison. Zendesk is renowned for its comprehensive range of functionalities, including advanced email ticketing, live chat, phone support, and a vast knowledge base.

• There is automatic email archiving and incoming email authentication.
• However, the right fit for your business will depend on your particular needs and budget.
• Considering its affordable pricing, ProProfs can be a great option for small to medium-scale businesses.
• Zendesk directly competes with Intercom when it comes to integrations.
• It divides all articles into a few main topics so you can quickly find the one you’re looking for.

Finally, you can pay $199 per month per user for unlimited sales pipelines and advanced reporting along with other features. NovoChat, on the other hand, is great for businesses that primarily engage with their clients through messaging apps. The program is simple to use and includes all of the necessary capabilities for providing good customer service. To automate operations and reduce your employees’ workload, it is critical that customer support systems allow integration with other products. This enables organizations to work more efficiently and easily integrate their software without having to alter their present business processes. Simplicity is an important consideration when selecting the best customer service software.

Each additional 1,000 contacts on a Starter plan will cost you $25/mo. Pro plan is rather a team plan that costs $395/mo and includes 5 seats. But that’s not it, if you want to resolve customer common questions with the help of the vendor’s new tool – Fin bot, you will have to zendesk or intercom pay $0.99 per resolution per month. Zendesk also has an Answer Bot, which instantly takes your knowledge base game to the next level. It can automatically suggest relevant articles for agents during business hours to share with clients, reducing your support agents’ workload.

Intercom feels more wholesome and is more client-success-oriented, but it can be too costly for smaller companies. Yes, you can integrate the Intercom solution into your Zendesk account. It will allow you to leverage some Intercom capabilities while keeping your account at the time-tested platform. In this paragraph, let’s explain some common issues that users usually ask about when choosing between Zendesk and Intercom platforms. Say what you will, but Intercom’s design and overall user experience leave all its competitors far behind.

Here, we’ve outlined the support options that Intercom and Zendesk provide to companies using their platforms. Zendesk’s chatbot, Answer Bot, automatically answers customer questions asynchronously in up to 40 languages–via any text-based channel. Self-service tools let customers resolve their own issues quickly and 24/7, improving satisfaction and reducing excessive agent workload. In fact, agents can even add customers to private messaging chats when necessary, and the customer will receive the whole conversation history by email to ensure they’re up to date. Automatic assignment rules establish criteria that automatically route tickets to the right agent or team, based on message or user data.

Intercom wins the automation and AI category because its chatbots have some impressive capabilities, like lead qualification and advanced routing. Zendesk for Service transforms customer queries and conversations from all channels–call, web chat, tweet, text, or email–into tickets in the Agent Workspace. Pre-selected assignment rules customize each ticket’s destination, assigning routing paths to agents or departments based on customer priority status, query type, or issue details.

“The Zendesk Suite” (Chat + Support + Guide + Talk)

An inbound customer message through any of these channels becomes a ticket for your support agents, whose reply reaches the customer through the same channel they originally used. So, by now, you can see that according to this article, Zendesk inches past Intercom as the better customer support platform. Zendesk’s mobile app is also good for ticketing, helping you create new support tickets with macros and updates. It’s also good for sending and receiving notifications, as well as for quick filtering through the queue of open tickets. There are pre-built workflows to help with things like ticket sharing, as well as conversation routing based on metrics like agent skill set or availability.

You can even improve efficiency and transparency by setting up task sequences, defining sales triggers, and strategizing with advanced forecasting and reporting tools. Starting at $19 per user per month, it’s also on the cheaper end of the spectrum compared to high-end CRMs like ActiveCampaign and HubSpot. Using this, agents can chat across teams within a ticket via email, Slack, or Zendesk’s ticketing system. This packs all resolution information into a single ticket, so there’s no extra searching or backtracking needed to bring a ticket through to resolution, even if it involves multiple agents. When it comes to which company is the better fit for your business, there’s no clear answer.

We are going to overview only their helpdesk/communication features to make the two systems comparable. Moreover, these are new prices as they’re in the middle of changing their pricing policy right now (and they’re definitely not getting cheaper). If you thought Zendesk’s pricing was confusing, let me introduce you to Intercom’s pricing. It’s virtually impossible to predict what you’re going to pay for Intercom at end of the day. To sum things up, one can get really confused trying to make sense of Zendesk’s pricing, let alone to calculate costs. You’d probably want to know how much it costs to get Zendesk or Intercom for your business, so let’s talk money now.

There are also several different Shopify integrations to choose from, as well as CRM integrations like HubSpot and Salesforce. No matter what Zendesk Suite plan you are on, you get workflow triggers, which are simple business rules-based actions to streamline many tasks. We have numerous customers that do this and benefit greatly from our out-of-the-box integration with Intercom. Yes—as your business’s needs grow, you will require a more sophisticated case management system.

Zendesk has many amazing team collaboration and communication features, like whisper mode, which lets multiple agents chime in to help each other without the customer knowing. There is also something called warm transfers, which let one rep add contextual notes to a ticket before transferring it to another rep. You also get a side conversation tool. In the category of customer support, Zendesk appears to be just slightly better than Intercom based on the availability of regular service and response times. However, it is possible Intercom’s support is superior at the premium level.

As you dive deeper into the world of customer support and engagement, you’ll discover that Zendesk and Intercom offer some distinctive features that set them apart. Let’s explore these unique offerings and see how they can benefit your business. Intercom’s messaging system enables real-time interactions through various channels, including chat, email, and in-app messages.

Intercom’s Inbox organizes all of an agent’s core functions into one interface. Below, we’ve compared the usability of Zendesk’s and Intercom’s agent dashboards and administrator controls. Survey composer allows you to create the question and answer format, also customizing color, rating scales, and greetings.

Since both are such well-established market leader companies, you can rest assured that whichever one you choose will offer a quality customer service solution. Intercom is the go-to solution for businesses seeking to elevate customer support and sales processes. With its user-friendly interface and advanced functionalities, Intercom offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to effectively communicate and engage with customers. They offer an omnichannel live chat solution that integrates with multiple messaging platforms and marketing channels and even automates incoming support processes with bots. It is quite the all-rounder as it even has a help center and ticketing system that completes its omnichannel support cycle. Intercom’s ticketing system and help desk SaaS is also pretty great, just not as amazing as Zendesk’s.

Don’t miss out on the latest tips, tools, and tactics at the forefront of customer support. It’s where customers ask the questions that may result in the largest sales in your company’s history. But Intercom’s friendliness for growing companies is something you can’t afford to ignore. If your business is established and you need to cut down on those ticket resolution times, Zendesk may be worth it. A proficient email support software is the backbone of any thriving customer service department. Zendesk’s per-agent pricing structure makes it a budget-friendly option for smaller teams, allowing costs to scale with team growth.

Zendesk’s AI (Fin) helps with automated responses, ensuring your customers get quick answers. On the other hand, Intercom’s AI-powered chatbots and messaging are designed to enhance your marketing and sales efforts, giving you an edge in the competitive market. Experience the comprehensive power of Intercom for effective customer communication, automation, support tools, integrations, and analytics. As your business grows, so does the volume of customer inquiries and support tickets. Managing everything manually is becoming increasingly difficult, and you need a robust customer support platform to streamline your operations. It’s an opportunity for Zendesk to differentiate itself, but unfortunately it didn’t get very high marks from users, either.

Intercom isn’t as great with sales, but it allows for better communication. With Intercom, you can keep track of your customers and what they do on your website in real time. Like Zendesk, Intercom allows you to chat with online visitors and assist with their issues.

In terms of G2 ratings, Zendesk and Intercom are both well-rated platforms. Zendesk has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars, based on over 5,600 reviews. Intercom has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on over 2700 reviews. Zendesk, less user-friendly and with higher costs for quality vendor support, might not suit budget-conscious or smaller businesses. When comparing the omnichannel support functionalities of Zendesk and Intercom, both platforms show distinct strengths and weaknesses.

Pricing

I was able to get responses to virtually every question each time I was asking within a few hours, even considering the time zones. While there is an abundance of help desk tools available out there, only a few get the fervour when it comes to value for money. KindGeek was founded in Ukraine; our co-founders are from Ukraine, and all of our team members call Ukraine home. Creating multiple support request forms to quickly find out the most relevant problems of your clients.

Picking customer service software to run your business is not a decision you make lightly. Intercom’s solution offers several use cases, meaning the product’s investments and success resources have a broad focus. But this also means the customer experience ROI tends to be lower than what it would be if you went with a best-in-class solution like Zendesk. If a customer starts an interaction by talking to a chatbot and can’t find a solution, our chatbot can open a ticket and intelligently route it to the most qualified agent. In 2023, conversational messaging will play an essential role in customer service.

It can team up with tools like Salesforce and Slack, so everything runs smoothly. And considering how appropriate Zendesk is for larger companies, there’s a good chance you may need to take them up on that. All plans come with a 7-day free trial, and no credit card is required to sign up for the trial. If that’s not detailed enough, then surely their visitor browsing details will leave you surprised. This enables your operators to understand visitor intent faster and provide them with a personalized experience.

With chatbots, you can generate leads to hand over to your sales team and solve common customer queries without the need of a customer service representative behind a keyboard. On the other hand, Zendesk’s customer support includes a knowledge base that’s very intuitive and easy to navigate. It divides all articles into a few main topics so you can quickly find the one you’re looking for. It also includes a list of common questions you can browse through at the bottom of the knowledge base home page so you can find answers to common issues. Intercom focuses on real-time customer messaging, while Zendesk provides a comprehensive suite for ticketing, knowledge base, and self-service support. Intercom’s app store has popular integrations for things like WhatsApp, Stripe, Instagram, and Slack.

The Sell dashboard, different from the Service dashboard, features pre-built widgets that agents can organize however they want, to view the metrics they care most about. Behavior-based messaging allows you to customize every last detail of triggers and rules including–which channel sends the message, when it sends, where it sends, and who gets targeted. Sequence all channels–chat, web post, email, chatbot outreach, tour message, banner, push notification, or carousel–mixing and matching modes of outreach to fit campaign goals.

Why don’t you try something equally powerful yet more affordable, like HelpCrunch? Intercom has a wider range of uses out of the box than Zendesk, though by adding Zendesk Sell, you could more than make up for it. Both options are well designed, easy to use, and share some pretty key functionality like behavioral triggers and omnichannel-ality (omnichannel-centricity?). But with perks like more advanced chatbots, automation, and lead management capabilities, Intercom could have an edge for many users. Intercom is second to none when it comes to providing great customer service, particularly in terms of proactive contact and the customisation of in-app experiences.

Zendesk’s pricing structure provides increasing levels of features and capabilities as businesses move up the tiers. This scalability allows organizations to adapt their support operations to their expanding customer base. Higher-tier plans in Zendesk come packed with advanced functionalities such as chatbots, customizable knowledge bases, and performance dashboards.

A messenger platform that helps engage customers on your website or app. It provides bots and chats automation features to make communication with clients more efficient. Zendesk’s customer support is also very fast, though their live chat is only available for registered users. What makes Intercom stand out from the crowd are their chatbots and lots of chat automation features that can be very helpful for your team.

Both tools can be quite heavy on your budget since they mainly target big enterprises and don’t offer their full toolset at an affordable price. Zendesk is billed more as a customer support and ticketing solution, while Intercom includes more native CRM functionality. Intercom isn’t quite as strong as Zendesk in comparison to some of Zendesk’s customer support strengths, but it has more features for sales and lead nurturing. Powered by Explore, Zendesk’s reporting capabilities are pretty impressive. Right out of the gate, you’ve got dozens of pre-set report options on everything from satisfaction ratings and time in status to abandoned calls and Answer Bot resolutions.

They have a nice implementation of live chat in their product as well, it’s actually thoughtful (and further customer-focused). Intercom is a customer messaging platform for sending both automated and live chat messages directly to the customer. Panoply’s Intercom integration makes it possible to load your data directly into your own data warehouse, without an ETL process in place or costly data infrastructure. If you’re looking for the best messaging option or a tool that offers the best interface, choose Intercom. If you wish to strengthen both your sales and customer support teams and enjoy plenty of integrated features, go for Zendesk.

Intercom has a dark mode that I think many people will appreciate, and I wouldn’t say it’s lacking in any way. But I like that Zendesk just feels slightly cleaner, has easy online/away toggling, more visual customer journey notes, and a handy widget for exploring the knowledge base on the fly. However, the right fit for your business will depend on your particular needs and budget.

You can even create an internal knowledge base to keep your agents well-trained and ready to delight customers. You can add agents, create teams, and set agent roles & permissions to decide their level of access to the tool. Automated ticket routing ensures that all tickets have an owner and are shared with the most capable agents.

Intercom has more customization features for features like bots, themes, triggers, and funnels. The internal notes tool makes working together even better by giving team members a place to add context, share insights, or talk about specifics within the platform. This feature is great for keeping communication clear and organised because it lets team members work together on jobs, projects, or interactions with clients without any problems. Intercom puts a lot of effort into making a sleek and easy-to-use interface. They want to make a space that makes it easy for people to find their way around and quickly adopt the app.

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. People have also said nice things about Intercom’s proactive message features, which let businesses talk to users before they even complain, which improves the overall customer experience. If your team is looking for a robust live chat option to engage website visitors, Olark is the perfect Intercom alternative for you. The bot feeds customers and employees the relevant articles upon making a query. The main difference is its connectivity with the Intercom Team Inbox. This makes things faster for support teams to access information without bothering other users.