How do their pricing structures compare?

Intercom charges a fixed rate of $139/mo/seat (with additional seats at the same rate) and does not specify a contacts limit, whereas Zendesk starts from $115/mo/agent for the full suite, includes unlimited contacts, and both use dynamic annual savings.

What are their similarities regarding inbox features?

Both platforms offer robust cloud-hosted inbox features including mobile apps, customer ratings, routing rules, API access, file sharing, and other essential tools like shared email and customer portals.

How do the chat widget capabilities differ?

Intercom offers features such as a web chat widget, mobile SDKs, co-browsing, video/audio calls, and a measured speed impact (1,6 s), while Zendesk emphasizes live translation and customizable chat, but lacks native support for video/audio calls and co-browsing.

What are the key differences of their chatbot?

Intercom's chatbot solution includes draft scenarios, input fields, custom iframes, and detailed analytics, whereas Zendesk offers a chatbot builder with API integration and multi-channel support but omits draft scenarios and condition blocks.

How do the AI features stack up between them?

Both platforms leverage similar AI capabilities such as internal data processing, copilot features, virtual assistants, categorization, summary generation, and multilingual support, providing comparable advanced AI functionality.

How do they compare in their email campaign management?

Both Intercom and Zendesk offer comprehensive campaign management, including targeting options, dynamic data, email/chat sequences, and ready-to-use templates, ensuring effective customer engagement strategies.

What are the common features of both helpdesk softwares?

Each platform provides a full-featured knowledge base with functionalities such as password protection, multilingual support, personalization, and custom domain options, helping deliver organized and secure self-help resources.

How do the CRM of Intercom and Zendesk compare?

Both solutions offer extensive contact management tools including user profiles, advanced filters, tag segmentation, CRM and Zapier integrations, contact import capabilities, and tracking of user activity, ensuring effective contact organization and analysis.

Discover how Intercom compare with Zendesk

What is the best software for your business? Looking to compare Intercom with Zendesk? Enjoy a detailed comparison of Intercom vs Zendesk.

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Enjoy a detailed comparison table about features and pricing

Pricing

Intercom

Highest Plan$139/mo/seat
Chat Seat Included1
Additional seat$139/mo
Contacts-
Annual billing for 10 users$33,360

Zendesk

Highest Planfrom $115/mo/agent
Chat Seat Included1
Additional seatfrom $115/mo/agent
ContactsUnlimited
Annual billing for 10 users$27,600

Shared Inbox

Livechat

Chatbot

Artificial intelligence

Campaigns

Knowledge base

Contact management

	Intercom	Zendesk
Pricing
Highest monthly plan as displayed on the pricing page Highest Plan	$139/mo/seat	from $115/mo/agent
Number of seats included in the highest plan Chat Seat Included	1	1
The cost for each additional seat added to the monthly bill Additional seat	$139/mo	from $115/mo/agent
Number of contacts allowed for the plan Contacts	-	Unlimited
Total yearly price to be paid Annual billing for 10 users	$33,360	$27,600
Shared Inbox
Platform that works in the browser, no need to download any software Cloud-hosted
Ability to work from Android or iOS Mobile apps
Ability to install dedicated software for Windows and MacOS Desktop apps
Measure customers' satisfaction through dedicated surveys Customers' ratings
Route and assign conversations manually or automatically between teams Routing rules
Centralize inbound messages from messaging apps Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email & WhatsApp
Collaborate in real-time with teammates Private notes & mentions
Setup alerts to follow up on specific cases Reminders
Build custom behaviors through dedicated APIs API
Ban abusive visitors or customers from contacting you Visitor banning
Share files through multiple channels File sharing
Access templated messages from a shared library Canned responses
Add a contact form on your website Contact form
Centralize tickets into an individual view for each customer Customer portal
Make your email aliases and shared mailbox collaborative Shared email
Livechat
Get visitors' details when you receive a message Visitors details
The website chat widget is loaded using Javascript Javascript integration
Push proactive messages through the chatbox Chat trigger
Build custom behaviours for your chat widget using Javascript code Live chat Web SDK		-
See what the user is writing before the message is sent Sneak peak message
Automatically translate messages on multiple channels Live translate
Send a sum up of the conversation Chat transcript
Personalize the way the chatbox is displayed Customizable chat widget
Access customers' screen to co-browse with no additional plugin Co Browsing
Ability to be used through multiple websites Multisite
Start an audio or video call from the live chat with no additional plugin Video and audio calls
The time it takes the live chat to be fully loaded Speed Impact	1.6s	-
Prevent the brand's vendor to be displayed Branding removal
Adapt the live chat context to customers' language Multilingual website chat
Chatbot
Craft chatbot scenarios without coding skills Chatbot builder
Experience chatbot workflow in draft mode Draft scenarios
Form and lead capture through chatbot Input fields
Slider mode to display multiple images in a conversation Carousels
One template to answer questions on multiple channels Multichannel
Embedded third-party solution Custom iframe
Trigger chatbot based on specific keywords Keyword intents
Adapt the behavior on specific conditions Condition blocks
Pre-trained AI models that are ready to use Artificial intelligence
Connect external data or LLM models Chatbot API
Get in-depth data analysis on how your chatbots perform Analytics
Artificial intelligence
Combine multiple data and content sources to create custom AI agents Internal data ingestion
AI-powered virtual assistant for teams Copilot
Answers suggested automatically thanks to AI Virtual assistant
Automated conversation categorization Categorization
Transform audio messages into texts Speech-to-text
Get an instant summary from your conversation Summary
AI models able to speak your users languages Multilingual AI
Leverage an In-house, private, custom built LLM Custom LLM
Campaigns
Personalize the list of targeted users Targeting options
Insert dynamic data in your templates Dynamic data
Push sequences on multiple channels Email, WhatsApp & Chat sequences
Save and manage email or chat templates Templates
Knowledge base
Create a help center for your customers and leads Knowledge base
Personalize interactions with Javascript Web SDK
Protect your articles with a password Password protected
Make your articles available in multiple languages Multilingual
Customize the look and feel of your knowledge base Personalization
Attach the knowledge base available to your domain Custom domain name
Contact management
Detailed view of your customers' information User profile
Create a customized list of users Advanced filters
Tag a group of users to gather them under one flag Tags & Segments
Connect your inbox with leading CRMs CRM integrations
No-code integrations Zapier, Make or N8N integrations
Import contact from a file Contact import
See users' activity on your website Users' activity
See detailed pricing	Learn more	Learn more

Crisp

Crisp, the fast-growing customer experience software

Crisp is a really good alternative when you compare customer experience platforms like Intercom and Zendesk. This enables companies to offer a real multichannel customer support system that is easy, modern, and—most of all—productive. At the core of Crisp is an intuitive chat platform that allows for effortless use by support teams and customers alike. Its strong point is that it remains simple without losing out on features, for instance, co-browsing and shared inboxes, and collaborative tools. While Intercom and Zendesk provide advanced customer support tools, Crisp brings a more user-friendly and cost-effective solution—especially interesting for small to medium businesses that want to enhance the customer experience without being caught up in too much complexity.

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Intercom

What is Intercom?

Intercom was founded in 2011 by four co-founders and is today credited with enabling companies to scale customer communication using an omnichannel messenger, marketing automation, and analytics. Many users like it mainly because of the feature of real-time messaging and the ability to create a unified inbox for support teams. And a personalized type of communication with customers is ensured with Intercom. But some users find it quite expensive when scaling features. Also, Zendesk is somewhat a direct competitor to Intercom, while providing more of a traditional approach with advanced ticketing, the smooth interface of a live chat by Intercom is more appealing to users who are seeking conversational customer support.

Access a detailed comparison between Crisp and Intercom

Zendesk

What is Zendesk?

Founded in 2007 by three Danish entrepreneurs in Copenhagen, Zendesk is best known for its full-featured ticketing system that easily and effectively integrates between several communication channels, together with the automations. Perfect for big companies with structured workflows, reporting tools, and scalable support solutions. Users love Zendesk's capacity in streamlining the support of a customer over different platforms, making it easier for the user to manage huge query volumes. Some find its user interface a bit dated compared to Intercom. The features of both platforms are strong: Zendesk excels at automation and ticketing in more complicated service environments, while Intercom is strong on the conversational interface side.

Access a detailed comparison between Crisp and Zendesk

Intercom vs Zendesk Comparative FAQ

This FAQ offers a comparative overview of Intercom and Zendesk, covering key areas such as pricing, inbox features, livechat, chatbot functions, AI capabilities, campaigns, knowledge base solutions, and contact management. Use this guide to quickly understand the strengths of each platform and make the best decision for your business.