If you work in marketing or customer service, you've probably heard of Intercom. When it came out, it changed the way customer service operated. It added messaging, bots and a unified inbox. However, as businesses grew, it just wasn’t enough.
This article is for you if you are looking for an affordable and feature-rich intercom alternative that can help you improve customer service.
Why Businesses Seek Intercom Alternatives?
There are a lot of issues that thousands of people are having significant problems with:
- High prices
- Unscalable & unpredictable billing
- Email automation tools that don't work right
Looking into an intercom alternative can help you find one that better fits your business's needs and budget, and aligns with your plans for growth. Here are some of the top reasons to look for other options:
- Cost-effectiveness: Intercom gets more expensive as your business expands. Looking into other options can help you find ones that are more economical but still have the same features.
- Scalability: You need a platform that can seamlessly scale with you as your customer base grows.
- Customer service: Not all customer service alternatives are the same. You might be able to find other options that offer better customer service and support that fit your business's needs.
- User experience: It can help you find a platform with a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, which will make it easier for your team to use it effectively.
- Advanced features: Depending on what you need, you might find alternatives that have advanced features like AI-powered chatbots or detailed analytics that work better for your team.
- Security and compliance: Different platforms have different levels of security and compliance. Your business may need one that meets your needs for data security and compliance.
- Future-proofing: Staying open to other options makes sure you're ready to change with the times in terms of technology and business needs.
Top picks for Best Intercom Alternatives in 2025
Compare these top Intercom alternatives, their pricing and what each is best suited for to help you find the right fit for your business.
Compare Intercom Alternatives: Pros, Cons, Features and Pricing
Before choosing a platform, it's essential to understand how each option given above differs. Below is a comprehensive comparison of leading Intercom alternatives:
1. Kaily AI
Features:
- Uses advanced AI-powered automation that can understand customer questions and perform tasks.
- Provides scalable pricing plans that grow with your business
Pros:
- Easy to set up and does not require advanced technical knowledge
- Provides an omnichannel solution that supports all major customer channels.
- Offers multilingual chat support for seamless communication
Cons:
- Some workflow customisations may require initial onboarding time
- Limited third-party integrations
Pricing:
- Flexible and scalable pricing designed to support startups, small businesses and large teams
2. Zendesk
Features:
- It's famous for its help desk app, which essentially keeps all inquiries from across different channels in a centralised workspace
- Offers live chat functionality for better engagement. You can also customise the chat widget to match your brand colours
- Helps you create a knowledge base where customers can find answers to common questions and troubleshoot issues independently.
Pros:
- Helps you build a knowledge base that reduces the dependency on service agents for routine queries
- Can integrate the software with various third-party email marketing tools such as Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp, etc.
Cons:
- Poor customer support
- Optimising the platform for specific tasks requires technical skills.
Pricing:
- Its basic plan costs $69 per agent/month and can go up to $149 per agent/month for large businesses.
3. Zoho Desk
Offers Zoho CRM (customer relationship management), wherein businesses can use one inbox for different customer service channels. It allows you to track leads, automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows.
Pros
- Chat widgets can be embedded on websites, allowing one to initiate an instant conversation with support agents. Integration of live chat is also possible across WhatsApp, Facebook, X and more
- Offers Zoho Campaigns, which allows users to create, send targeted email campaigns and automate email workflows based on customer experience.
Cons:
- Poor customisation opportunities
- Lack of third-party tools for integration
Pricing:
- Standard pricing plan starts at $20/mo per user, whereas Professional and Enterprise plans start from $35-$50/ month, respectively.
4. Freshdesk
Features:
- Provides advanced reporting and valuable insights into user behaviour that help companies make data-driven decisions
- Its live chat features allow support agents to engage with visitors in real time.
Pros:
- Allows you to provide conversational marketing, schedule personalised email campaigns, and more based on customers' behaviour
- Helps you to create a help hub and integrate it into the live chat, which allows users to get the best answer
Cons:
- Due to the tool's complexity, one needs technical help to set up the platform correctly
- Not reasonably priced for small businesses and startups
Pricing:
- Offers a free limited plan. For the Pro and Enterprise packages, the plan starts from $59-$95 per month, respectively.
5. Front
- Automation capabilities streamline repetitive tasks and speed up response time, thus helping you provide excellent customer support.
- Can help you create a collaborative hub for user queries.
Pros
- Can integrate popular messaging channels like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp into a single platform
- Can integrate the knowledge base with other help centre platforms for better user satisfaction.
Cons:
- Learning process of this tool is a little tricky
- Some simple functionalities can be challenging to find
Pricing:
- The basic plan starts at $19/mo per seat. It also offers a subscription for Growth, Scale and premier versions, which start from $59/mo per seat.
How to Choose the Right Intercom Alternative?
- Ease of use: Top Intercom alternatives should be easy to use and shouldn't require your team to train for weeks. Drag-and-drop setup, flexible dashboard and clean UI should be at the top of your list.
- Scalability: Choose a tool that offers predictable pricing and can handle high volumes without lag.
- AI-powered Automation: As per Gartner, AI will be able to handle 80% of routine service requests on its own by 2029, thus saving 30% of costs. AI is now used by modern platforms to route tickets, make suggestions based on the context and respond quickly.
- Dependable Service and Support: Some Intercom alternatives have better customer service. Look for quick response times, dedicated managers and transparent SLAs.
Why should you choose Kaily Ai?
If you're looking for something other than Intercom, here are some reasons to choose Kaily:
- AI-Driven Automation: Kaily AI doesn't just give you pre-written responses. Its advanced automation can understand complex customer problems, fetch data and perform actions. This helps to reduce the workload of agents.
- Built for Omnichannel Support: Intercom is mostly about website and in-app chat, but Kaily covers all the channels your customers use.
- Multilingual Support: If your customers are in different areas of the world, Kaily's multilingual support makes sure that your customers get accurate translations in real time.
- Simple to set up: One doesn’t need a tech team to set up chat flows, automations and integrations.
- Scalable Pricing: Kaily has flexible and predictable plans that can grow with your business.
Conclusion
Intercom has a few positive aspects, but looking into other options can help you find new ways to improve customer support and engagement. Keep in mind that the best tool is the one that allows your team to do well and meets your specific business needs.
