Searching for the best Intercom alternatives in 2025?
Our guide covers ten leading options that cater to diverse business needs, enhancing customer support beyond what Intercom offers.
From unique functionalities to competitive pricing, these tools are designed to optimize your customer engagement.
Top 3 Reasons to Consider Intercom alternatives?
Businesses considering Intercom alternatives often prioritize factors such as frequent bug incidents, subpar customer support, and higher-than-average pricing plans.
These reasons drive organizations to investigate more reliable and cost-effective communication solutions that can better meet their needs and improve customer interactions.
Frequent Bug Incidents
Amidst the persistent bug incidents in Intercom that have been causing user dissatisfaction and operational disruptions, exploring alternative communication platforms becomes a prudent consideration for organizations aiming to uphold seamless customer interactions and support processes.
Implementing bug resolution strategies, user experience improvements, technical support enhancements, platform stability measures, and customer satisfaction initiatives are vital factors to address the shortcomings faced by users due to the frequent bugs in Intercom.
Subpar Customer Support
Given the ongoing challenges with Intercom’s customer support, businesses are increasingly considering alternative communication platforms.
Issues such as slow response times and inadequate attention from the support team have prompted this shift.
Customers are seeking alternatives with better support efficiency, improved response times, improved customer attention, higher service quality, and increased support responsiveness.
These criteria aim to address the shortcomings experienced with Intercom’s customer service.
Higher-Than-Average Pricing Plans
Considering the high pricing plans of Intercom, it is wise for organizations to investigate alternative communication platforms that offer competitive rates without compromising on quality and functionality.
Pricing comparison, value proposition, feature analysis, user experience, and scalability options are important factors to take into account when exploring alternatives.
Understanding the cost-effectiveness and benefits of different platforms can lead to a more informed decision that aligns with the organization’s needs and budget constraints.
If you are interested in understanding the individual feature comparison, you will love to read these:
- The 12 Best Help Desk Ticketing Systems for 2025
- 11 Best AI Chatbot for your business in 2025
- 10 Best Free Knowledge Base Software in 2025
Lets look at Best Intercom Alternatives.
Top Intercom Alternatives
1. Desku.io
Desku.io is an AI-driven help desk and chat platform built for modern support teams. It unifies all customer conversations – including email, live chat, social messaging, and even WhatsApp – into a single inbox. Desku.io also includes built-in AI chatbots (called Lyro) for instant answers, a no-code chatbot builder, and a knowledge base for self-service. E-commerce features like order lookups and product recommendations are integrated directly into the support agent workspace. In short, Desku.io combines ticketing, live chat, bots, and CRM into one platform to streamline customer service for growing businesses.
Key features
- Unified inbox: Centralize email, website chat, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more in one dashboard
- AI Chatbots: Automated Lyro chatbots handle common questions 24/7, reducing the load on agents.
- Live chat & tickets: Real-time chat and traditional ticketing are built in, with easy handoff between bot and human when needed.
- Automation: Custom workflows, triggers and assignments with no coding required. Agents get automatic alerts, round-robin ticket routing, collision detection, and reports.
- Knowledge base: Create a searchable help center so customers can find answers on their own and agents can quickly share helpful links.
- E-commerce integration: Syncs with Shopify/WooCommerce stores. Agents can view orders, update shipments and suggest products right from the help desk.
Strengths & use cases
- AI-powered support: Desku’s conversational AI and automation cut ticket volume (by answering simple questions and summarizing tickets), freeing agents for complex issues.
- E-commerce and SMB focus: With built-in integrations for e-commerce platforms, it’s great for online stores and small SaaS companies that need order lookup and purchase history in support tickets. Desku’s affordable pricing (starting at just $9 per user/month) also suits small teams.
- Fast iteration: The Desku team frequently adds new features (like recent email viewer, favorites, improved UI) at a quick pace, showing a responsive development roadmap.
- Ease of use: It has a clean, intuitive interface. Non-technical users can set up chatbots and automations via wizards. Many reviewers praise its user-friendly design and solid onboarding.
Pricing
Desku.io offers a free 14-day trial (no credit card required). Paid plans (billed annually) start at $9 per user/month (Startup), with higher tiers for more automation and support features. For example, the Startup plan includes unlimited tickets and basic chatbot, while higher plans (Team $19/mo, Business $29/mo) add CSAT surveys and SLA management. Overall, pricing is affordable for the feature set.
Comparison to Intercom
- Broader support scope: Desku targets traditional help desk needs (ticketing, shared inbox, workflows) in addition to chat, whereas Intercom is more chat/engagement-oriented.
- AI and automation: Both have chatbots, but Desku’s AI is tightly integrated with help desk automation. Intercom’s bots focus more on lead-gen and product tours, while Desku’s aim to deflect support tickets.
- Ease of use: Many users find Desku simpler to set up than Intercom, especially if you just need core support tools.
- Pricing: Desku’s entry-level plan (~$9/mo) is much lower than Intercom’s starter plans, making it budget-friendly for startups and small businesses
Read More : Customer Engagement: Desku vs Intercom – Who Delivers More
2. Zendesk
Zendesk is a leading all-in-one customer support platform that emphasizes a unified agent workspace and self-service. It handles tickets from email, chat, phone, social and more in one place. Agents see a 360° customer view with history and context, making support faster. Zendesk also offers a full knowledge base, community forums and AI-powered bots to let customers help themselves. Its strength is flexibility: you can customize ticket workflows, add dozens of apps from the marketplace, and scale from small teams to enterprise.
Key features
- Omnichannel support: Email, web chat, phone and social in one interface
- Unified agent workspace: Agents see all interactions (tickets, chats, calls) with one customer in a single view.
- Self-service & knowledge base: Build a help center and AI chatbots so customers can find answers without contacting support.
- Advanced ticketing: Custom ticket forms, SLAs, macros, side conversations and intelligent triage tools keep tickets organized.
- Reporting and analytics: Built-in dashboards and custom reports track team performance, CSAT, ticket volume, and more.
- Marketplace integrations: Hundreds of apps (e.g. Salesforce, Jira, Slack, Shopify) let you extend Zendesk’s functionality to fit your workflow.
Strengths & use cases
- Enterprise-ready: Scales easily to large teams and global businesses. Handles complex use cases (call centers, multi-brand support) with multi-level permissions and workflows.
- Customization: Highly configurable – you can tailor support processes, agent roles, ticket forms, and automated flows to fit any industry.
- Self-service focus: Strong emphasis on deflecting tickets via KB, communities and AI. Great if you want customers to solve simple issues on their own.
- Support for all channels: If your customers use diverse channels (email, phone, SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.), Zendesk can pull them together in one place.
Pricing
Zendesk’s Support Suite plans start at $19 per agent/month (Support Team) and go up to $115/mo for enterprise tiers. Add-ons like voice, self-service portals, and advanced AI raise the cost. It’s higher-end compared to Intercom, but includes more robust ticketing features. A free 14-day trial is available.
Comparison to Intercom
- Ticketing vs. chat-first: Zendesk is built as a ticketing-centric helpdesk, whereas Intercom is built around live chat and in-app messaging. Zendesk offers more advanced ticket workflows, SLAs and self-service features.
- Customization: Zendesk has a more flexible workspace and more integrations, while Intercom’s interface is simpler but less configurable.
- Pricing: Zendesk’s entry-level plans are similarly priced to Intercom’s (starting around $19–$25/agent/mo), but its higher tiers can get more expensive with all channels included.
- Use case: Many companies use Zendesk when they need mature support processes and extensive reporting, while Intercom is often chosen by startups wanting conversational, product-led support and onboarding tools.
Read More : 10 Best Zendesk Alternatives for Customer Service in 2025
Intercom Vs Zendesk : Which One Is Best? Contract Buyout Terms
3. Freshdesk
Freshdesk (by Freshworks) is a versatile help desk for multichannel support. It pulls messages from email, phone, chat, Facebook/Twitter and turns them into tickets that agents work on one screen. Freshdesk is known for a clean, modern interface and strong automation (powered by its AI assistant “Freddy”). Common tasks like assigning tickets by skill or round-robin, sending notifications, and prioritizing tickets can all be automated. It also includes a self-service portal and knowledge base so customers can get answers on their own.
Key features
- Multichannel ticketing: Route email, calls, live chat, social and website inquiries into one support queue
- Intelligent automation: Freddy AI can auto-assign tickets, suggest responses, and triage repetitive queries. Automations include workflows, canned responses and collision alerts
- Self-service portal: Publish FAQs, forums or help articles so users find answers without contacting support
- Reporting: Dashboards track metrics like ticket volume, resolution time, and customer satisfaction, with custom reports for deeper analysis.
- Integrations: Connects to popular apps (Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, etc.) and telephony systems.
Strengths & use cases
- Easy to scale: Freshdesk can serve startups up to large enterprises. Smaller teams benefit from the free Sprout plan (basic email support) and straightforward setup. Larger teams can add Freshdesk’s omni-channel plans for phone and chat.
- Strong automation: Organizations that want to reduce manual work (like smart ticket routing and SLA enforcement) will appreciate Freshdesk’s workflow tools.
- Freddy AI features: Freddy can automatically suggest answers and even auto-close simple tickets, which boosts agent productivity.
- Customer engagement: Freshdesk includes built-in customer surveys (CSAT) and feedback collection.
Pricing
Freshdesk offers a free Sprout plan (email and social ticketing) for basic use. Paid plans (billed annually) range from Growth ($15 per agent/month) to Enterprise ($79 per agent/month) for more advanced features (automation, round-robin, custom reports). Freshdesk’s pricing is competitive and has multiple tiers to match team size.
Comparison to Intercom
- Feature scope: Both handle chat and email support, but Freshdesk provides a more unified ticketing approach. Unlike Intercom (which has separate “Conversations” for chat and email), Freshdesk’s interface covers everything in one queue.
- Ease of use: Freshdesk’s agent UI is very intuitive, similar to an email client, which can be easier for teams used to email support.
- Automation: Freshdesk is stronger at ticket automation (Freddy’s ticket assignment and SLAs) than Intercom’s business messenger, which leans more toward marketing automations.
- Pricing: Freshdesk’s free tier and relatively low starting price make it attractive for small teams. Intercom tends to be pricier once you need multiple seats or higher-tier features.
Read More : 12 Best Freshdesk Alternatives & Competitors (2025)
4. Help Scout
Help Scout is a simple, email-centric help desk designed to feel like a shared inbox. Customers’ messages are converted into conversation threads, but the interface looks and feels like managing email (no ticket numbers). It adds helpful features on top of email, such as private notes for agents, collision detection, and workflows. Help Scout also includes a customizable knowledge base (Docs) and a chat widget (Beacon) that can trigger auto-messages.
Key features
- Shared inbox: Agents see a collaborative email inbox with automation for assigning mail based on rules or tags
- Knowledge base: Create branded help center articles (Docs) for FAQs and guides.
- Live chat (Beacon): Add a website chat widget that links to the support inbox and offers targeted messages.
- Customer profiles: Each conversation sidebar shows customer info and history (from metadata or integrated CRM).
- Reports: Basic dashboards for response times, open conversations, and customer satisfaction ratings.
Strengths & use cases
- Ease of use: Help Scout is often praised for its clean, straightforward UI. Teams can jump in with minimal setup, which suits small and medium businesses.
- Personal support: Because it’s email-focused, responses feel more personal (no technical ticket lingo). Great for businesses that want to feel hands-on (e.g. SaaS, agencies, e-commerce).
- Billing simplicity: Pricing is per user, with all features included (no per-mailbox fees).
- Collaborative tools: Features like private notes, @mentions, and saved replies help small teams handle conversations smoothly.
Pricing
Help Scout’s plans (billed annually) are Standard $20, Plus $40, and Pro $65 per user/month. Even the lowest plan includes unlimited mailboxes, Docs help center, and basic automation. There’s a 15-day free trial.
Comparison to Intercom
- Email focus: Unlike Intercom’s chat-first design, Help Scout excels at email support (though it also supports chat via Beacon). If your customers prefer email, Help Scout feels very natural.
- Simplicity over bells: Help Scout covers the essential tools (shared inbox, knowledge base, basic workflows) with less complexity. Intercom offers more features (like product tours and in-app messaging), but some find Help Scout’s setup more straightforward.
- Customer data: Both show contact details, but Intercom’s profiles are deeper (with tagging, segments, events). Help Scout focuses on conversation context rather than rich CRM data.
- Price/scale: Help Scout can be cheaper for small teams. Intercom’s base price starts higher per seat.
Read More : Top 9 Help Scout Alternatives for Superior Customer Support
5. Drift
Drift is a conversational marketing and sales platform that’s built around chat and targeted messaging. It puts bots and live chat on your website to engage visitors, capture leads, and route chats to reps. Drift’s chatbots can qualify leads and book meetings, and it also integrates with phone and email. It’s especially popular for B2B and SaaS companies focusing on sales growth through real-time conversations.
Key features
- Live chat and bots: Customize chat flows that proactively greet visitors and answer FAQs. Bots can route conversations, ask qualifying questions or hand off to a human when needed.
- Route to reps: Define rules to send chats to the right salesperson or support rep based on visitor behavior or data. Includes routing by availability and priority.
- Meeting scheduler: Built-in calendar tool lets visitors book demos or calls during chat.
- Video/voice chat: Agents can launch a video or phone call directly from the chat window for richer conversations.
- Analytics and feedback: Track chat performance, conversion rates, and trigger chat responses on events like page visits.
Strengths & use cases
- Sales-focused: Drift is ideal if you want to use chat as a sales and marketing channel. It integrates with CRM (like Salesforce) so leads from chat flow directly into sales pipelines.
- Account-based marketing (ABM): Drift’s “playbooks” and routing rules work well for targeting key accounts and delivering personalized messages on your site.
- High-touch support: If you need to provide immediate help or escalation (even with a call), Drift’s seamless switch from chat to voice/video is useful.
Pricing
Drift’s pricing is aimed at larger teams. The Premium plan is around $2,500 per month (for several seats and bots). Higher tiers (Advanced, Enterprise) require contacting Drift for custom pricing. Drift does not offer a free plan or trial by default.
Comparison to Intercom
- Marketing vs. support: Intercom started as a messaging platform with features for support and onboarding, while Drift is squarely focused on capturing leads and accelerating sales. Drift has more sales/marketing automation (like email follow-ups and ABM targeting), whereas Intercom offers more support-oriented tools (like ticketing and knowledge base).
- Scale and cost: Drift is generally more expensive and geared towards mid-to-large businesses. Intercom has more pricing tiers and can be cheaper for small teams.
- Chat capabilities: Both offer chatbots, but Drift’s chat flows and routing are designed for lead qualification, whereas Intercom’s bots can do support tasks and product tours in-app.
- Enterprise features: Drift includes some built-in voice/video support, which Intercom lacks natively.
Read More : Top 9 Drift Alternatives in 2025
6. Tidio
Tidio is a cloud-based help desk and live chat tool popular with e-commerce and SMBs. It provides a shared inbox where email, chat, and Facebook Messenger all flow together. The standout feature is Lyro, an optional AI chatbot add-on that can answer simple questions automatically. Tidio’s interface is simple and mobile-friendly, making it easy for small teams to collaborate.
Key features
- Multichannel inbox: Manage email tickets, live chat, and social chats from one dashboard.
- Live chat widget: Add chat to your website for real-time visitor support. You can brand and customize the chat widget to match your site.
- AI chatbot (Lyro): Respond to common inquiries (like “Where’s my order?”) instantly with an automated bot. This is a paid add-on.
- Automation: Set up triggers and canned responses to proactively reach out (e.g. pop up a message if someone is stuck on a page).
- Visitors tracking: See real-time visitor info (like location and page history) to personalize chats.
Strengths & use cases
- E-commerce friendly: Tidio integrates easily with Shopify, WordPress, and other site builders via plugins. Its automatic chat bot and live chat help online stores convert browsers to buyers.
- Simplicity: Small teams appreciate Tidio’s easy setup. Non-technical users can start chatting with customers in minutes.
- AI chat support: Having a built-in chatbot option (Lyro) means basic questions get answered 24/7, which is a big help if you don’t have a large support staff.
- Affordable/free: Tidio has a generous free plan (up to 3 agents) and low-cost paid plans, making it accessible to startups.
Pricing
Tidio offers a free plan (for up to 3 seats). Paid plans include Starter ($29/mo), Communicator ($25 per agent/mo), and Chatbots ($29/mo). There’s also a high-tier Tidio+ ($394/mo) for power users. A 7-day free trial is available. Overall, Tidio’s pricing is transparent and scales with usage.
Comparison to Intercom
- Ease of use: Tidio is very straightforward compared to Intercom. If you just need chat plus basic ticketing, Tidio gets you up and running quickly.
- AI chat: Both offer bots, but Tidio’s Lyro is sold as an add-on. Intercom’s bots are included in higher plans and integrated with its Inbox. Tidio’s chatbots are a simpler, more DIY option.
- Feature depth: Intercom has more advanced features (like in-app messaging, product tours, advanced campaigns). Tidio stays focused on customer chat/support.
- Pricing: Tidio’s free tier and low starter price make it cheaper than Intercom’s entry-level plans.
Read More : 10 Best Tidio Alternatives & Competitors for 2025
7. Crisp
Crisp is a multichannel messaging platform known for its live chat and collaborative inbox. It can handle website chat, email conversations, and even Twitter or SMS in one interface. Key features include team collaboration tools (private notes and @mentions), real-time view of what visitors are typing, and built-in chatbots for FAQs. Crisp also includes a simple CRM and knowledge base. This makes it a handy all-in-one for small support teams and sales reps.
Key features
- Shared inbox: Combine emails, live chat messages, and social chats into one ticketing inbox.
- Real-time typing view: See what the customer is typing before they send it. This helps agents prepare faster responses.
- Built-in bots: Automate greetings and simple answers. (Crisp has pre-made bots like FAQ Answer Bot.)
- Collaboration: Tag teammates in tickets with @mentions, leave internal notes, and assign tickets to departments.
- Knowledge base: Create and publish help articles that customers can search or agents can link during conversations.
- Mobile apps: Crisp has iOS/Android apps so agents can chat on the go.
Read More :11 Best Crisp Chat Alternatives for Efficient Customer Support
Strengths & use cases
- Startup-friendly: Crisp has a free tier and affordable paid plans. This makes it popular for startups and SMBs on a budget.
- Personalized support: Features like typing view and rich profiles allow agents to respond quickly and personally.
- All-in-one messenger: It handles multiple channels (chat, email, social) with fewer integrations needed.
- European base: Headquartered in France, it’s often used by EU companies concerned with data privacy (GDPR-friendly).
Pricing
Crisp has a free plan for up to 2 seats. Paid plans are Pro ($25 per workspace/month) and Unlimited ($95/workspace/month) (with more features and seats). Higher enterprise tiers are custom-priced. A 14-day trial is available on paid plans.
Comparison to Intercom
- Unified chat: Both allow multichannel chatting, but Crisp’s free/shared inbox is simpler to set up. Intercom’s Inbox is more powerful but also more complex.
- Feature set: Intercom has more advanced marketing and engagement tools (e.g. product tours, targeted in-app messages). Crisp focuses on communication channels and doesn’t do in-app messaging.
- Scale: Intercom is often chosen by high-growth startups needing scalability. Crisp is aimed at smaller teams needing core chat and collaboration tools without high cost.
8. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is part of Zoho’s suite of business apps, focusing on help desk and customer support. It offers multichannel support (email, phone, live chat, social) and a strong knowledge base. Zoho Desk lets you set up multiple brands or departments, each with its own help center and SLAs. It also has context-aware AI assistance (“Zia”) that suggests answers and can auto-categorize tickets. Zoho’s advantage is tight integration with CRM, projects, and other Zoho tools, making it appealing if you already use Zoho apps.
Key features
- Multichannel ticketing: Support via email, chat, phone, social media (Facebook, Twitter) and messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram).
- Help center: Build multiple self-service portals with knowledge base and community forums for different products or regions.
- AI assistant: Zia analyzes tickets for sentiment, suggests responses, and can recommend macros or answers as you type.
- Workflows and SLAs: Create rules to auto-assign, escalate, or close tickets. Set service level targets per pipeline or department.
- Reporting: Custom dashboards and pre-built reports on KPIs like resolution time, agent productivity, and customer happiness.
- Customizations: Add custom fields, templates and workflows; or use Zoho Marketplace to integrate apps (CRM, Slack, etc.).
Strengths & use cases
- Integrations with Zoho suite: If your business uses Zoho CRM, Projects, or Books, Desk plugs right into that ecosystem for a unified customer view.
- Good for multiple brands: You can run separate help desks under one account (e.g. [email protected] and [email protected]).
- Mobile support: Strong mobile apps let agents respond quickly anywhere.
- Affordability: Offers a lower entry price point and even a free tier (up to 3 agents) for small teams.
Pricing
Zoho Desk’s paid plans (billed annually) start at $14 per user/month (Standard), then $23 and $40 for higher tiers. A limited free version (up to 3 agents) is also available. Standard includes email and social support, a help center and simple dashboards. More advanced plans add features like multi-brand support, AI, and advanced customization.
Comparison to Intercom
- Scope: Zoho Desk and Intercom both offer ticketing and chat, but Zoho Desk is more traditional helpdesk-oriented. Intercom shines in targeted messaging, whereas Zoho excels at organizing tickets across channels.
- User experience: Intercom’s interface is more modern and chat-focused. Zoho Desk has more menus and modules (since it’s part of a larger suite), which can feel more complex.
- Pricing: Zoho’s entry-level pricing is cheaper than Intercom’s. Also, Zoho’s free plan (3 agents) gives more features than Intercom’s lowest plan.
- Ecosystem: If you need CRM, VoIP, or project management integrated, Zoho’s integrated apps may be a strong advantage over Intercom.
9. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is an omnichannel help desk that brings together email tickets, live chat, call center, and social messaging into one platform. It’s feature-rich, combining a powerful ticketing system with real-time chat and call support. For example, it includes a built-in call center module for phone support, a knowledge base builder for self-service, and even integration with social media (Facebook, Twitter). LiveAgent is often praised for its robust features at a reasonable price, making it popular with small to mid-size businesses.
Key features
- Shared inbox: Centralize email, chat transcripts, phone calls and social posts in one ticket queue.
- Live chat: Add chat to your website. Includes visitor monitoring, pre-chat forms, and offline messaging.
- Call center module: Manage inbound/outbound calls with call routing and call recording (VoIP integration).
- Social integrations: Respond to Facebook comments, Twitter mentions, and more from the help desk.
- Knowledge base: Build a public help center or private manuals. Useful for deflecting tickets.
- Automation & reporting: SLA rules, ticket tagging, canned responses and detailed reports/analytics come standard.
Strengths & use cases
- Affordable bundles: LiveAgent’s plans are based on features rather than per-seat. Even the “Small Business” plan ($9/agent/mo) includes chat and email; higher plans add phone and social.
- All-in-one: If you want a single tool for chat, email, and phone support, LiveAgent is a solid one-stop solution.
- Customization: Highly configurable ticket fields, workflows, and roles let you adapt to many business models.
- E-commerce and SMBs: Many online stores use LiveAgent, often via integrations with Shopify or Magento, to keep costs down while covering needed channels.
Pricing
Plans are billed per agent/month (annual billing): Small Business $9, Medium Business $29, Large $49, Enterprise $69. (There’s also a free plan with limited features.) Each step adds more agents, chats or calls. A 7- or 30-day free trial is offered. Note: unlike flat per-agent pricing, each plan unlocks more features, so be sure to pick the one with the tools you need.
Comparison to Intercom
- Feature depth: LiveAgent arguably offers more built-in features (like full call center integration and social media) than Intercom’s base product. Intercom would require add-ons or separate tools for calling.
- User interface: Intercom’s UI is modern and conversation-focused. LiveAgent has more menus and screens to manage all features, which can have a learning curve.
- Integration: Intercom has a strong developer ecosystem, but LiveAgent’s built-in features mean you often need fewer third-party apps.
- Price: LiveAgent’s starting price per agent is lower than Intercom’s. Even its top plan is generally cheaper than Intercom for similar seats, especially considering included features.
10. Gorgias
Gorgias is an ecommerce-centric helpdesk built specifically for online stores. It integrates tightly with platforms like Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce. The main selling point is that agents can view and edit customer orders, shipment info, and account details directly from the ticket (without leaving Gorgias). It also uses AI to automate responses: Gorgias claims its AI can resolve around 60% of incoming inquiries on its own. Channels supported include email, live chat, Facebook/Instagram Messenger, SMS and voice (via add-ons).
Key features
- Ecommerce integrations: Connect your Shopify or Magento store. Agents see order history, cart items, and can issue refunds or discounts right in the support ticket.
- Conversational AI: Automated answers for common e-commerce questions (order status, returns, tracking), with machine learning that learns from your past tickets.
- Multichannel support: Centralize email, live chat, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and (with add-ons) phone/SMS.
- Macros and automation: Use rule-based automations to tag tickets or apply actions (e.g. auto-close paid invoices after shipment).
- Real-time analytics: Dashboards on ticket volume, response time, and financial KPIs (like revenue influenced by support).
Strengths & use cases
- Ecommerce focus: If your primary sales channel is online retail, Gorgias will surface shopper info right in the agent view. Agents can cross-sell or up-sell easily because they have product data at hand.
- AI efficiency: Many Shopify merchants use Gorgias to reduce support overhead. By automating repetitive answers, teams of any size can handle large ticket volumes (especially common during sales or holidays).
- Unified data: Since Gorgias integrates with payment providers, you can even see lifetime value or LTV directly, helping in support & marketing alignment.
- Large brand adoption: It’s trusted by thousands of e-commerce brands (some million-dollar stores).
Pricing
Gorgias’s pricing (as of 2025) starts at around $60 per month for the Starter plan (typically up to 3 agents, ~500 tickets). Higher tiers scale to more tickets and additional channels (Pro at ~$360, Advanced $900). There’s also custom “Enterprise” pricing. Additional costs apply per ticket for support loads above plan limits. A free trial is available by sign-up.
Comparison to Intercom
- E-commerce vs. SaaS: While Intercom serves many industries, Gorgias is laser-focused on online retail. If you run a Shopify store, Gorgias’s deep store data integration is much stronger than anything Intercom offers.
- Features for support vs. engagement: Both support live chat and email. Intercom adds in-app messaging and product tours (useful for apps), whereas Gorgias includes things like embedded order edits and auto-response AI tailored to shop questions.
- Automation: Gorgias leans heavily on macro/AI for tickets, similar to Intercom’s bots but specifically trained for orders and returns. Intercom’s bots are more general and also oriented toward marketing actions.
- Pricing: For similar seat counts, Gorgias and Intercom are in the same range, though Gorgias’s AI and advanced features can push costs up if you need the higher plans.
Read More : 11 Best Gorgias Alternatives for eCommerce 2025
Comparison Table
| Tool | Key Features | Starting Price | Best For |
| Desku.io | Unified inbox, AI chatbot, e-commerce tools, live chat | $9/user/mo | E-commerce, SMBs |
| Zendesk | Omnichannel support, advanced ticketing, AI bot | $19/user/mo | Large enterprises |
| Freshdesk | Freddy AI, multichannel ticketing, self-service | $15/user/mo | Startups to mid-size |
| Help Scout | Shared inbox, knowledge base, Beacon chat | $20/user/mo | Email-centric support |
| Drift | Conversational marketing, lead gen bots, video chat | $2500+/mo | B2B/SaaS sales |
| Tidio | Live chat, chatbot builder, email/social inbox | Free, then $25-29/mo | E-commerce, small teams |
| Crisp | Live chat, shared inbox, chatbot, typing preview | $25/mo (Pro) | Startups, SMBs |
| Zoho Desk | Multichannel, AI (Zia), CRM integration | $14/user/mo | Zoho users, mid-size |
| LiveAgent | Tickets, live chat, call center, knowledge base | $9–69/user/mo | Budget-focused, SMBs |
| Gorgias | E-commerce tools, AI for order queries | $60+/mo | Shopify/online stores |
Why Desku is the Best Alternative to Intercom?
Desku emerges as a superior alternative to Intercom due to its cost-effective pricing structure, seamless change process, and essential features tailored for efficient communication and support solutions.
Conclusion: Choose the Best Intercom Alternative
When evaluating potential Intercom alternatives, it is crucial to carefully analyze the features and capabilities that align best with your business’s communication and support needs. Conduct a thorough feature comparison, pricing analysis, and review customer feedback to make an informed decision.
Consider integration options and customization possibilities to guarantee the chosen alternative seamlessly fits your requirements and improves your overall communication and support processes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do these alternatives compare in terms of features?
Many alternatives offer features such as live chat, shared inboxes, knowledge bases, and AI-powered tools. For instance, Desku provides Omnichannel Inbox, AI Chatbot, AI Automations and Unified Inbox, while Tidio offers live chat and chatbot builders.
Are there cost-effective alternatives to Intercom?
Yes, platforms like Desku and Tidio offer competitive pricing models that can be more affordable, especially for growing businesses. Desku’s plans start at $12 per team member per month & Offeres a Free plan also while Tidio offers a free version with limited conversations.
Which alternative provides the best customer support?
Desku is renowned for its dedicated support team, available 24/6, and offers resources like live classes and a robust help center.
How easy is it to migrate from Intercom to these alternatives?
Many platforms offer straightforward migration processes. For example, Desku provides free data migration from Intercom upon request.
Which platforms offer robust AI features?
Platforms like Desku offeres AI-powered tools, including a AI Chatbot, AI Assistant for team to help with copy’s spelling, grammar, tone, length, and translation, and AI CoPilot called Eva AI for assisting team finding right answers.
