Compare Intercom and Zendesk to choose the best customer relationship management system for your business in 2025.
Understanding the unique attributes of Zendesk and Intercom is important in this comparison, because choosing the right customer service platform is pivotal for enhancing business-client interactions. Zendesk is renowned for its comprehensive range of functionalities, including advanced email ticketing, live chat, phone support, and a vast knowledge base. Its ability to seamlessly integrate with various applications further amplifies its versatility.
Intercom, while differing from Zendesk, offers specialized features aimed at enhancing customer relationships. It is notable for its focus on personalization and flexible customer service experiences.
While both platforms have a significant presence in the industry, they cater to varying business requirements. Zendesk is often preferred by businesses seeking an all-encompassing customer support solution.
Intercom is ideal for those focusing on CRM capabilities and personalized customer interactions.
What is Intercom?
Intercom is a customer service platform that offers customizable live chat widgets, omnichannel support capabilities, and integrations with multiple apps.
While Intercom is primarily a support solution, it does have add-ons that offer other functionalities such as product tours.
Intercom helps you track/optimize product adoption through its add-ons and third-party integrations.
Some of the features of Intercom are Help Desk, AI Chatbot, and Proactive Support — so you can keep costs low, support teams happy, and customers satisfied.
What is Zendesk?
Zendesk is a CRM tool that focuses on meeting the needs of sales teams. It is a cloud-based platform that integrates easily with other Zendesk products. Zendesk Sell is also an ideal software for businesses looking to align their sales and customer service teams.
Customer behavior can also be analyzed and tracked using Zendesk's solutions for managing customer interaction information. Additionally, it enables you to make customised templates for customer service responses, call alerts, and task automation.
Intercom vs Zendesk-Comparison Table
| Features | Intercom | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Live chat | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-chat & Offline form | Yes | Yes |
| Access to mobile device | Yes | Yes |
| User friendly interface | Yes | Yes |
| Shared inbox | Yes | Yes |
| Help Desk | Yes | Yes |
Intercom vs Zendesk Feature Comparison
Key Features of Intercom
- Live chat
- Pre-chat & offline form
- Access to mobile devices
- Email Marketing
- Shared inbox
- Integrates with Mailchimp, Calendly, Google analytics, Salesforce, Pipedrive
Key Features of Zendesk
- User-friendly interface
- Integration with social media platforms
- Flexible customization
- Optimization of work
- Integrates with Jira, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, Google analytics.
Intercom vs Zendesk: Pros and Cons
Intercom Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to install
- Rich integration capabilities
- Great for scaling
- Automated messages
- Fully customizable
- User-friendly
Cons
- Too expensive
- Confusing pricing model
- Poor support
- Too much focus on automation features rather than human support.
Zendesk Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to use interface
- Tagging of tickets
- Outbound phone calls
- Chatbot
Cons
- Allowing secondary emails to receive ticket status updates
- More status updates and report on them
- Native Integrations with more eCommerce platforms
Intercom vs Zendesk Pricing
Intercom Pricing
- Essential Plan: Starts at $39/month.
- Advanced Plan: Starts at $99/month.
- Expert Plan: Starts at $139/month.
- Proactive Support Plus: Starts at $99/month
Zendesk Pricing
- Suite Team: costs $49 per user per month, billed annually.
- Suite Growth: costs $79 per user per month, billed annually.
- Suite Professional: costs $99 per user per month, billed annually.
- Suite Enterprise: costs $150 per user per month, billed annually.
Choosing between Intercom and Zendesk
The two things that Zendesk lacks in comparison to Intercom are in-app messages and email marketing tools. On the other hand, Intercom lacks many ticketing functionality that can be essential for big companies with a huge client support load.
To sum up the comparison between Intercom vs Zendesk, the latter is a great support-oriented tool that will be a good choice for big teams with various departments. Intercom feels more wholesome and is more client-success-oriented, but it can be too costly for smaller companies.
If you’re looking for a middle ground, I’d also recommend you test some other alternatives — like Distrobird. It has all the necessary features, and it is more affordable than Intercom and Zendesk.
What is Distrobird?
Distrobird helps you manage your entire sales process, with sequences, cloud call center, shared inbox, form tracking and more on a single platform. Seamlessly run cold email & SMS sequences, inbound and outbound calling, unified inbox, form tracking, lead routing, and more in one place.
- Features: Distrobird features include data enrichment, contact management, cloud call centre, form tracking, block list, shared inbox, Office 365, Gmail, and custom SMTP inbox sync, campaign exclusions, and scheduled campaigns.
- Integrations: HubSpot, Gmail, Stripe, Microsoft Outlook, Twilio, Zapier, Clearbit, Zoho, Telnyx, Salesforce and NGP VAN.
- Pricing: There is a free plan for the Voice, Sequences, and Shared Inbox products. Startup plan for the Shared Inbox is $8/month. Startup, Growth & Enterprise plans for both the Sequences and Voice products are $25, $50, and $75 respectively.
What sets Distrobird Apart?
Distrobird stands out as a comprehensive solution to help you manage your sales process on a single platform. It offers data enrichment, email verification, and lead management, with sequences, a cloud call center, shared inbox, and form tracking.
It also automates time-consuming tasks like caller verification and lead detail capture, allowing your sales team to focus on building relationships and closing deals.
Distrobird's affordable plans makes it a cost-effective option for businesses of all sizes, and its all-in-one functionality can streamline your sales process and boost your outreach effectiveness.
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