Zendesk vs Intercom in 2023: Detailed Analysis of Features, Pricing, and More

In short, Zendesk is perfect for large companies looking to streamline their customer support process; Intercom is great for smaller companies looking for advanced customer service features. However, you’ll likely end up paying more for Zendesk, and in-app messenger and other advanced customer communication tools will not be included. Zendesk chat allows you to talk with your visitors in real time through a small chat bar at the bottom of your site. When visitors click on it, they’ll be directed to one of your customer service teammates. The Intercom versus Zendesk conundrum is probably the greatest problem in the customer service software world. They both offer some state-of-the-art core functionality and numerous unusual features.

Ada also allows its consumers to leverage their services over mobile SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, and more platforms. Furthermore, there are over 100 languages available within the platform, so language barriers will never be a problem with this customer messaging software. This is because they offer many paid add-ons that allow you to customize their platform to meet the needs of your business. However, Intercom offers more customization when it comes to appearance and layout, while Zendesk limits chat widget functionality for those not using their default theme.

Intercom or Zendesk: Help desk and ticketing

However, we saw complaints about how limited customization with HubSpot. Also, many users find combining its products and hubs complex and expensive. As a Zendesk Sell user, you’ll get a unified platform with access to everything you need to manage leads and contacts and monitor them through a sales process. Zendesk’s interface intuitive and easy to use, making it easier for your teams to navigate and collaborate on interacting with customers at the appropriate time and with the best approach. You’ll get a complete view of customer information and interactions and real-time insights into key sales metrics, which will help your sales reps prioritize their efforts on leads and contacts.

• Both Zendesk and Intercom offer automation features that improve efficiency and reduce your labor costs.
• Due to our intelligent routing capabilities and numerous automated workflows, our users can free up hours to focus on other tasks.
• But with perks like more advanced chatbots, automation, and lead management capabilities, Intercom could have an edge for many users.
• You’d probably want to know how much it costs to get Zendesk or Intercom for your business, so let’s talk money now.

Intercom focuses on real-time customer messaging, while Zendesk provides a comprehensive suite for ticketing, knowledge base, and self-service support. What sets Zendesk apart is its user-friendly interface, customizable workflows, and scalability. It caters to a wide range of industries, particularly excelling in e-commerce, SaaS, technology, and telecommunications. It is favored by customer support, helpdesk, IT service management, and contact center teams. To select the ideal fit for your business, it is crucial to compare these industry giants and assess which aligns best with your specific requirements. Further, if companies plan to create multi-channel campaigns, Intercom makes a great fit.

Tidio Alternatives for Better Customer Service in 2024

The right side of the screen displays all customer contact information and company interaction history, and the agent can contact the customer via any channel with just a few clicks. The workspace left-hand column notifies agents of all ticket updates. The top of the agent workspace shows an agent’s open tickets, ticket statistics, and satisfaction statistics, as well as tabs depicting all current tickets. The admin and manager dashboard provides a zoomed-out view of all activity taking place in each inbox, for whole departments and individual agents. Intercom offers admin full visibility and control over all company inboxes, as well as agent access controls and role management.

The primary function of Intercom’s mobile app is the business messenger suite, including personalized messaging, real-time support tools, push notifications, in-app messaging and emailing. Intercom also does mobile carousels to help please the eye with fresh designs. It is great to have CRM functionality inside your customer service platform because it helps maintain great customer experiences by storing all past customer engagements and conversation histories. This method helps offer more personalized support as well as get faster response and resolution times.

Like with many other apps, Zapier seems to be the best and most simple way to connect Intercom to Zendesk. Intercom’s native mobile apps are good for iOS, Android, React Native, and Cordova, while Zendesk only has mobile apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. No matter what Zendesk Suite plan you are on, you get workflow triggers, which are simple business rules-based actions to streamline many tasks. You get call recording, muting and holding, conference calling, and call blocking. Zendesk also offers callback requests, call monitoring and call quality notifications, among other telephone tools.

• It allows businesses to engage users while they’re active in the app, delivering information based on relevant time or behavior triggers.
• The main idea here is to rid the average support agent of a slew of mundane and repetitive tasks, giving them more time and mental energy to help customers with tougher issues.
• Founded in 2007, Zendesk started off as a ticketing tool for customer support teams.

Zendesk also packs some pretty potent tools into their platform, so you can empower your agents to do what they do with less repetition. Agents can use basic automation (like auto-closing tickets or setting auto-responses), apply list organization to stay on top of their tasks, or set up triggers to keep tickets moving automatically. Zendesk has an app available for both Android and iOS, which makes it easy to stay connected with customers while on the go. The app includes features like push notifications and real-time customer engagement — so businesses can respond quickly to customer inquiries. Zendesk offers a free 30-day trial, after which customers will need to upgrade to one of their paid plans.

It has very limited customization options in comparison to its competitors. In addition, some of the services Zendesk offers have a free plan (find them below in the tables). “Favorable” and “Critical” user reviews are selected using the review helpfulness score. The helpfulness score predicts the relative value a user receives from a given review based on a number of factors. Factors may include the content in the review, feedback provided by other readers, the age of the review, and other factors that indicate review quality.

Choose Zendesk for a scalable, team-size-based pricing model and Intercom for initial low-cost access with flexibility in adding advanced features. Both platforms have their unique strengths in multichannel support, with Zendesk offering a more comprehensive range of integrated channels and Intercom focusing on a dynamic, chat-centric experience. Here is a Zendesk vs. Intercom based on the customer support offered by these brands. However, customers can purchase multiple Intercom plans to use together, or purchase add-ons to select just the features they want. Intercom’s Messenger lets users schedule timely, targeted, and personal messages sent based on triggers and customer actions, and is automatically translatable into over 30 languages. Zendesk wins the self-service tools category because it provides extensive help center customization options.

Intercom

Intercom is 4 years younger than Zendesk and has fancied itself as a messaging platform right from the beginning. Intercom lets businesses send their customers targeted in-app messages. Zendesk offers more flexibility with its pricing options and also has free services. In addition, the costs of Zendesk’s services are slightly easier to calculate. However, regardless of whether your choice is zendesk or intercom, you will be spending some time trying to figure out how much you will pay for the services.

Basically, if you have a complicated support process, go with Zendesk, an excellent Intercom alternative, for its help desk functionality. If you’re a sales-oriented corporation, use Intercom for its automation options. 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. One place Intercom really shines as a standalone CRM is its data utility.

The future of customer service is integrated, AI-enhanced—and powered by Intercom

Discover customer and product issues with instant replays, in-app cobrowsing, and console logs. Now that we’ve covered a bit of background on both Zendesk and Intercom, let’s dive into the features each platform offers. Aitvaric is an easy-to-use theme with side panel navigation and an optional toggle for your users to switch between light and dark mode.

Both older and larger than Intercom, Zendesk has over 150,000 customer accounts in 160 countries and territories. They also have a worldwide presence with offices in New York, Mexico City, Tokyo, Paris, Singapore, São Paulo, and Dublin. Before you make your choice, check out Messagely’s features and compare them to discover which platform is best for you.

It’s much easier if you decide to go with the Zendesk Suite, which includes Support, Chat, Talk, and Guide tools. There are two options there — Professional for $109 or Enterprise for $179 if you pay monthly. The difference between the two is that the Professional subscription lacks some things like chat widget unbranding, custom agent roles, multiple help centers, etc.

You can also set ticket status and ticket priority levels, among other features. Similarly, Freshdesk also emphasizes a very friendly UI and toolkit to help its users waste little time in getting set up with the software. Say what you will, but Intercom’s design and overall user experience are leaving all its competitors far behind. It’s beautifully crafted and thought through, and their custom-made illustrations are just next level stuff.