Best Intercom Competitors & Alternatives

1. Saufter.io
2. Userlike
3. PureChat
4. LiveChat
5. Olark
6. Zendesk
7. Tidio
8. Tawk.to
9. Freshdesk

Saufter

Saufter is more than just chat software for your business; it is a complete customer service solution. It’s a great choice for small businesses and enterprise teams that have never used communication channels before. The live chat software is very simple to set up, and it even comes with integrations with many third-party tools to make your customer service process as seamless as possible. By providing AI-suggested responses based on previous tickets handled, the helpdesk also improves response time and productivity.

Pros:

• You can manage all customer interactions and communications in one place.
• Saufter integrates email support and provides AI-drafted emails.
• Integrations with e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Magneto, and Woo-commerce, among others, are available with a single click.

Cons:

• Some workflow issues were discovered by users, which have since been resolved.
• There aren’t many options for visual customization.

Userlike (Overall ratings: 4.4/5⭐, 437 reviews)

Userlike is an alternative to Intercom that consolidates all of your customer interactions into a single location. Userlike is packed with features such as AI-powered automatic language translation, integration with various third-party platforms, smart notifications, and so on. You can also use Userlike to filter and search for customers, post customer ratings, and view comparative analytics.

Pros:

• Userlike offers more customization options than most other customer service apps.
• Userlike provides advanced data privacy and GDPR features.
• Their sticky chat rule connects you with previous users in order to strengthen customer relationships.

Cons:

• There is a risk of missing messages because there is no mobile integration.
• Userlike’s pricing structure is quite steep.
• Because there isn’t much documentation or video tutorials available, it may take some time to complete the setup.

Zoho Cliq (Overall ratings: 4.4/5⭐, 115 reviews)

If you want to streamline, customize and automate your customer conversational support, Zoho Cliq might be the tool for you.  With Cliq, you can assign tickets to specific teams on various channels to enable efficient resolution of customer issues. Cliq’s website chat widget also allows users to provide feedback, letting you know whether or not the canned response was helpful.

Pros:

• We can set up Rooms or Channels for specific discussions.
• Zoho Cliq makes it much easier to create and export CRM reports.
• Custom bots can be built to automate tasks.

Cons:

• The initial setup can be challenging to implement.
• Sending large files takes time with Zoho Cliq.
• You can’t put another agent in the middle of a call with a user. 

PureChat (Overall ratings: 4.4/5⭐, 204 reviews)

Purechat may be the live chat software for your business if you want to be able to manage multiple requests in real-time with a seamless platform. It allows you to customize the appearance of the chatbox, the option to have questions emailed to you, the mobile vs. desktop appearance, and so on. We also discovered that the PureChat customer support team is extremely knowledgeable and is always available to assist you with any onboarding issues that can arise. 

Pros:

• Pure Chat is simple to configure and works well on both desktop and mobile devices.
• You can use canned responses to communicate with customers more quickly.
• It saves a record of each chat session so you can go back and review or improve on responses.

Cons:

• Tracking and analytics are not included in the free plans.
• Agents are signed out if they are inactive for an extended period of time.
• There is no option to email users back through the platform using your own email address.

LiveChat (Overall ratings: 4.5/5⭐, 742 reviews)

LiveChat is a chat support platform that includes a wide range of tools that allow your service agents to quickly resolve customer inquiries. This platform’s standout feature is the ability to send personalized greetings to your customers based on their time spent, location, and pages visited in your store. You can also initiate integrations with third-party applications such as CRM, email, and so on.

Pros:

• Saves time by automatically assigning sales inquiries and support requests to the appropriate team members.
• It includes dashboards and analytics tools for gaining valuable customer insights.
• The Traffic feature displays a live list of all visitors to your site.

Cons:

• There is no work scheduler feature available with the basic subscription.
• The platform isn’t very scalable, so it won’t be able to serve a large number of customers.
• When dealing with multiple sites, the URL rules console is inefficient to manage.

Olark (Overall ratings: 4.3/5⭐, 221 reviews)

Olark’s is a live chat software that is designed to provide your website visitors with a consistent experience. Olark is an all-in-one platform that also allows you to use data to better understand customer behavior. It includes real-time dashboards on chat metrics and customer feedback, as well as analytical reports. Another standout feature of Olark is the ability to customize the appearance of your live chat box to match the theme of your company.

Pros:

• When compared to other customer service solutions, it is less expensive.
• Olark includes the ability to program auto-responses.
• Personalized starter messages can be created based on the user’s behavior, location, and even search history.

Cons:

• The platform has been reported to display the incorrect activity status at times. 
• The customization options are not very user-friendly.
• There is no limit to the number of users you can connect to at the same time.

Zendesk (Overall ratings: 4.3/5⭐, 4,892 reviews)

Zendesk is a live chat solution that enables you to connect live chat across multiple platforms and respond quickly by keeping all conversations in a single interface. It is a feature-rich product with a polished AI-enabled chatbot that assists in the speed of support and is highly customizable. Zendesk also gives you the option of selecting different templates or fine-tuning the design to your liking.

Pros:

• Customers can use the screen-casting feature to capture their screen and share it with your team in order to accurately communicate the error or problem.
• Visitors can be identified as returning customers by tagging them with their name or company.
• You can also manage all of your customer data, including previous chats and responses, in one place.

Cons:

• There are no warning messages when a user is unable to add new users to their account.
• Some users have reported difficulty switching between multiple chats.
• The suspended filter isn’t very good at predicting what is and isn’t spam.

Tidio (Overall ratings: 4.7/5⭐, 1,231 reviews)

Tidio is a chat support app that can assist you in engaging and converting more website visitors. It has highly dependable live chat support, live visitor tracking, an advanced ticketing system, a knowledge base where your customers can look for quick solutions, and much more. It also includes a notification feature that enables your agents to easily track and respond to missed live chat messages.

Pros:

• It is extremely simple to install and configure.
• With Tidio’s analytics, you can keep track of your team’s performance and chat traffic.
• By using canned responses and auto-replies to frequently asked questions, you can save a lot of agent time and effort.

Cons:

• There is no built-in call tracking module.
• For the basic pricing plan, the chatbot is limited to only 100 visitors.
• There is no option to change the language of the chat or the website itself.

Tawk.to (Overall ratings: 4.6/5⭐,162 reviews)

Tawk is a free intercom alternative solution that includes all of the features needed to assist your customers. The platform enables your team to manage all customer inquiries via email, social media, and chat in a single interface. Tawk also provides real-time live chat reports that are not limited to chat conversations. The platform’s best feature is how simple it is to integrate with your website.

Pros:

• You can change the chat icon to match your company’s branding and colors.
• Custom trigger and welcome message settings are available.
• You can easily integrate it into your website with a few lines of code.

Cons:

• For first-time users, the UI can be a little puzzling.
• Tawk’s chatbot has no configuration options.
• The Reports section is sparse and does not provide much information.

Freshdesk (Overall ratings: 4.4/5⭐, 2,670 reviews)

Freshdesk is an all-in-one customer service platform that includes a chat box that allows you to communicate with customers in real-time. The standout feature is that your agents can categorize conversations, and your customers can connect with the appropriate teams to get reliable solutions. You can also create a pool of predefined responses for common queries to reduce response time.

Pros:

• You can easily create automation rules for common use cases.
• Freshdesk offers numerous customization options and can be tailored to meet specific business requirements.
• Users have found the platform to be extremely user-friendly.

Cons:

• User switching is not possible in the Freshdesk app.
• The platform is unable to connect to and sync with Google Workspace.
• In the growth plan, the dashboard view is not customizable.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the best customer service solutions will make a significant difference in your lead generation, conversions, customer support, and satisfaction. All of these live customer service tools have their own set of features that can be tailored to your specific needs. We hope this guide helps you in selecting the platform that best meets your business needs.

If you want to make it easier for customers to contact your service team while also empowering your support reps to provide the best service possible, the Saufter could be the platform for you.  If you’re starting from scratch, you can opt for managed customer support services tailored for your business starting at $399 per month.