The ability to swiftly and effectively support customers is paramount for business success. An efficient customer support team improves brand reputation, boosts customer retention, generates referrals, and increases long-term profitability.

Intercom is a popular AI-driven customer service solution. Apt for large enterprises, SMBs, and startups, and has features like AI chatbots and automation, CRM integrations, custom agent workspaces, and robust knowledge base creation. 

Despite its many advantages, Intercom’s effectiveness depends on factors such as the size of your customer support team, short-term and long-term goals, and budget. Intercom might not be the right solution for every business and falls short in many areas:

• Does not offer enhanced monitoring and supervision capabilities
• Fails to deliver the expected level of customer support
• Does not integrate with home-grown systems
• Pricing can be prohibitive, especially as the number of agents increases

As a customer service operations manager, keep reading if you're well aware of Intercom’s limitations and looking for alternatives in the market that align with your customer service goals. 

This blog post delves into 10 Intercom alternatives, their features and limitations, and pricing plans to help you find the best fit for the job.

What are the key features to consider in Intercom alternatives?

When reviewing your options:

• Look for transparent, scalable pricing solutions to fit your budget without sacrificing quality
• Choose a tool known for its intuitive interface, user-friendly design, and customization options
• Consider whether a platform specializes in your industry or offers niche-specific features
• Identify essential features you genuinely need without being overwhelmed by unnecessary functionalities
• Evaluate the level of support provided, including availability, responsiveness, and resources like knowledge bases

10 Top Intercom Alternatives to Consider 

1. Plivo CX Service

‍

‍

Plivo CX Service is a cloud contact center solution that elevates customer service with AI. It allows you to integrate email, voice, live chat, SMS, email, and WhatsApp into a single platform—working multiple channels to support your customers simultaneously.

Powered by Plivo, it offers reliable calling and messaging capabilities, enhancing agent productivity and enabling real-time coaching opportunities.

Plivo CX Service reduces the need for live agents by over 50% with OpenAI-powered chatbots, making it a strong contender for Intercom alternatives. What sets it apart as the best Intercom alternative is the easy-to-use web-based application for Mac and Windows, a drag-and-drop customer journey builder, and local and toll-free numbers in 50+ countries. 

Plivo CX Service best features

• Allows you to use customer data to automatically route customers to the most appropriate agents with Contacto Voice; also enables self-select for quicker routing, shorter wait times, and faster resolution 

• Enables agents to send a photo or link while on a call to the customers with Contacto SMS/text messaging; resolves issues faster

• Contacto Whatsapp helps deflect common questions to automated responses with powerful bots in WhatsApp

• Natively integrates live chat with your mobile app to help your agents give the best response every time with snippets using Contacto Live Chat

Plivo CX Service limitations

• Does not have features related to quality assurance and workforce management 
• Does not have a mobile version for support agents

Plivo CX Service pricing

• Growth: $32/user/month
• Business: $59/user/month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing 

Plivo CX Service ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 (700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (80+ reviews) 

Plivo CX Service is best suited for

Midsize businesses looking for a scalable and affordable solution for SMS messaging and telephony services

2. Cloudtalk

Cloudtalk is a VoIP business calling solution used by sales and support teams that automates workflows and increases your team’s calling efficiency and performance with built-in analytics.

Moreover, your customer support team can speak to the callers first and determine what they need, routing them based on agent skills, custom fields, and CRM or helpdesk info.

This Intercom alternative operates in 160+ countries, allowing you to improve your pick-up rates by making local calls from anywhere globally.

Cloudtalk best features

• Helps agents structure their calls with customizable notes, call scripts, and questionnaires
• Allows labeling phone calls and tracking metrics like interactions, goals, and outcomes
• Disconnects and blacklists unwanted spam calls immediately

Cloudtalk limitations

• Unstable performance noticed in the Cloudtalk iOS app, widespread crashes in using features like "callback"
• Difficult to access live support due to time zone differences
• Customer service is supported only through voice channels

Cloudtalk pricing

• Starter: $25/user/month
• Essential: $30/user/month
• Expert: $50/user/month
• Custom: Custom pricing 

Cloudtalk G2 rating

• 4.3/5 (800+ reviews)

CloudTalk is best suited for

Small teams with basic call routing needs, customer service centers, and sales teams

3. Avaya

Avaya’s Experience Platform is a cloud contact center solution that supports customer communication across multiple touchpoints, from voice and video calls to chat messaging.

It gives your agents a 360-degree view of the customers from both your on-premises and cloud interactions. This Intercom alternative offers a simple, flexible, secure cloud experience with worry-free upgrades, support, and administration. 

Avaya is used by businesses in the healthcare, education, financial services, and public sectors for their remote contact centers to manage customer interactions. 

Avaya best features

• Flexible cloud deployment models match varying business needs, whether it’s entirely cloud-based, hybrid, or an on-premises solution
• Offers collaboration tools like instant messaging, video conferences, ring groups, and file sharing, maximizing contact center performance
• Empowers agents and supervisors to be the best at what they do with in-call monitoring and live coaching tools.

Avaya limitations

• Innovation and feature roll-out is slow
• Setting up, customizing, and managing the platform can be complex and may require specialized skills or resources
• There can be challenges when interfacing with older systems or third-party applications not directly supported by the platform
• Since the platform is not built cloud-first, a lot of features available in the on-premise software are unavailable in the cloud version

Avaya pricing

• Custom pricing 

Avaya G2 rating

• 4.1/5 (100+ reviews)

Avaya is best suited for

Enterprises that need a customizable and sophisticated communication solution

4. Aircall

‍

Aircall is a phone and communication platform for improving productivity, customer service, and team collaboration.

On top of common features like call routing and recording, queue callback, and AI-generated call summaries, your contact center agents can create and share select contacts with their team so everyone can follow the conversation.

Benefit from the one-click setup from this Intercom alternative’s admin dashboard and manage all settings in one place.

Aircall best features

• Hosts up to five people in the same live conference call with Aircall’s VoIP calling solution
• Streamlines internal communication and better assigns tasks to your agents with Aircall’s shared inbox
• Allows you to send, receive, and manage SMS text messages between you and your contacts for personalized conversations

Aircall limitations

• Does not have additional support capabilities like helpdesk, knowledge base
• The platform lacks flexibility since the rudimentary workflow designer cannot be used to create custom journeys
• Text integration in Aircall with Hubspot CRM could be improved with the automatic ticketing system that Aircall generates
• Occasional call quality issues, where calls can be choppy or experience dropped connections, have been reported

Aircall pricing

• Essentials: $30/license
• Professional: $50/license
• Custom pricing: 25-licenses minimum 

Aircall G2 rating

• 4.3/5 (900+ reviews)

Aircall is best suited for

Medium-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use cloud-based call center solution with excellent CRM integrations

5. RingCentral

RingCentral Contact Centre is an easy-to-use cloud-based communications system for customer support teams and contact centers. It is equipped with the most standard features, including audio conferencing, unlimited calling, and video meetings.

This Intercom alternative has a centralized portal for agent activity to manage inbound and outbound conversations easily. RingCentral is ideal for large businesses with multichannel communication.

RingCentral best features

• Enables you to gamify incentives to boost agent performance and encourage learning and development
• Shares reports summarizing agent availability, call traffic fluctuations, and training progress
• AI-powered tools like automated call scorecards, feedback modules, and keyword tracking

RingCentral limitations

• Limited to generic calling usage across functions
• Slow at innovating and rolling out new features
• Delayed customer support due to differences in the time zones
• The system is complex and requires training for setup
• Lacks features that cater to the needs of the support team, like a customer’s past interaction history

RingCentral pricing

• Custom pricing 

RingCentral G2 rating

• 3.9/5 (700+ reviews)

RingCentral is best suited for

Midsize businesses that want comprehensive cloud communication platform with an extensive feature set and reliability

6. Genesys Cloud

‍

Genesys is a cloud platform that provides enterprise-grade communications, collaboration, and contact center management capabilities on a global scale.

This Intercom alternative helps you transform your customer experience, no matter where the conversations start or end, across digital channels like email, text, chat, and social media. Genesys offers AI-powered agent assistance and native CRM integrations for business optimization.

Genesys Cloud best features

• Delivers deep analytics and reporting features built into the user interface
• Integrates all critical apps with off-the-shelf functionality or custom-built solutions when needed
• Comes with self-service options like speech-enabled IVR, voice bots, and chatbots, empowering customers to interact with you when and how they choose

Genesys Cloud limitations

• Requires engaging an implementation partner, so setup and maintenance are expensive
• Customizing customer journey workflows is a complex and time-consuming process
• The default application capabilities, such as agent assistance, voice transcriptions, surveys, and reports, are limited
• Eventually costly due to numerous add-ons added for system customization
• Since the platform is not built cloud-first, a lot of features available in the on-premise software are unavailable in the cloud version

Genesys  pricing

Genesys offers five types of pricing plans:

• Genesys Cloud 1 (Voice): US$75 per month
• Genesys Cloud 2 (Digital): US$95 per month
• Genesys Cloud 2 (Digital + Voice): US$75 per month
• Genesys Cloud 3 (Digital + WEM): US$75 per month
• Genesys Cloud 3 (Digital + WEM + Voice): US$75 per month

Genesys G2 rating

• 4.3/5 (1300+ reviews)

Genesys Cloud is best suited for

Enterprises looking for a robust, scalable cloud contact center solution

7. Zendesk

‍

‍

Zendesk is one of the oldest customer service platforms in the market, with a unified agent workspace. It enables customer support reps to converse with customers on any channel, whether email, chat, WhatsApp, or Apple Business Chat.

Shared inbox tracking, knowledge base management, and comprehensive reporting are the other capabilities offered by Intercom alternative. From large enterprises to startups, Zendesk serves 160,000 global customers in 30+ languages. 

Zendesk best features

• AI-powered bots support customers with natural, human language in a tone set by you
• Allows you to easily customize a live chat widget to match your brand colors, get access to unlimited chat history, and format direct messages the way you like
• Robust tools like routing, CSAT ratings, time tracking, and service level agreements ensure your agents never miss any request

Zendesk limitations

• Slow response times from the support team, taking hours or even days for basic inquiries
• Zendesk does not offer conversational support - the outdated ticketing system makes customer service cumbersome
• Complicated processes for adjusting subscription levels, such as adding or removing users, with up to 60 days notice required for some changes

Zendesk pricing

Zendesk offers four pricing plans:

• Suit Team: $55 per agent per month
• Suit Growth: $89 per agent per month
• Suit Professional:$115 per agent per month
• Suit Enterprise: Talk to sales

Zendesk G2 rating

4.3/5 (5799 reviews)

Zendesk is best suited for

Midsize businesses seeking a strong customer service software with seamless integration into their support and sales pipelines

8. Talkdesk

‍

Talkdesk is an AI-powered cloud contact center platform that transforms customer experiences, dramatically reduces costs, and supercharges operational efficiencies. Enable multichannel communication and personalize and automate workflows for your agents.

This Intercom alternative comes with 70+ pre-built CRM and collaboration tool integrations. Customize and scale your platform with AI apps within Talkdesk to boost agent productivity and optimize customer journeys.

Talkdesk best features

• Delivers high reliability and call quality, backed by an enterprise-grade uptime SLA
• Comes with 30+ security certifications, including SOC 2 and 3, ISO 27001, PCD DSS Level 1, HIPAA, and GDPR
• Offers flexible cloud contact center deployment options; store key data in the region of your choice for compliance

Talkdesk limitations

• Needs an additional primary helpdesk software to manage and capture customer interactions
• Lacks features to provide omnichannel support
• Lacks the flexibility to customize workflows and ticket organization to accommodate unique operational styles
• Does not provide sufficient guidance and resources during the onboarding and setup process

Talkdesk pricing

• CX Cloud Digital Essentials: $85/user/month
• CX Cloud Essentials: $85/user/month
• CX Cloud Elevate: $115/user/month
• CX Cloud Elite: $145/user/month

Talkdesk G2 rating

• 4.4/5 (2100+ reviews)

Talkdesk is best suited for

Midsize companies requiring a cloud contact center solution with strong AI and analytics capabilities to improve customer service efficiency

9. Five9

‍

Five9 is a cloud-based contact center solution integrating advanced features such as an automated dialer, comprehensive lead management, and detailed reporting tools.

With a focus on optimizing call management processes, Five9 aims to improve efficiency and effectiveness in handling customer interactions. 

This Intercom alternative’s cloud software architecture delivers flexible application and storage capacity and can scale rapidly on demand.

Five9 best features

• Enables agents to be more effective on the phone by giving them more time with live prospects
• Helps maximize agent productivity by increasing the amount of connections they can make with customers with predictive dialing solutions
• Real-time and historical reporting, recording, workforce management (WFM), quality monitoring, and CRM integrations creates consumer-centric omnichannel experiences 

Five9 limitations

• Has an outdated UI
• Needs an additional primary helpdesk software to manage and capture customer interactions
• Lacks features to provide omnichannel support
• Users have reported a rise in unwanted or unclear calls since switching to Five9, indicating potential issues with call filtering or management
• Defaults to a callback option that provides insufficient information for the user to understand the context of the callback

Five9 pricing

• Digital: $1499/month
• Core: $149/month
• Premium: $169/month
• Optimum: $1999/month
• Ultimate: $229/month

Five9 G2 rating

• 3.9/5 (300+ reviews)

Five9 is best suited for

Midsize contact centers that need a comprehensive, cloud-based solution

10. Dixa

Dixa is a customer service platform that enhances how businesses interact with customers by providing a unified view of multichannel communications, including phone, email, chat, and social messaging.

This Intercom alternative includes popular call functionalities such as IVR (Interactive Voice Response), click-to-call, call recordings, intelligent routing, and analytics.

Dixa also provides tools for tracking team performance, analyzing and auditing customer interactions, and coaching agents when necessary.

Dixa best features

• Smart algorithms and agent priority feature automatically ensure the most qualified agents handle the most critical conversations first
• Helps track and improve team performance with easy-to-read dashboards and built-in QA
• Gives access to customer account information, historical conversations, and company documentation in one unified, detailed view

Dixa limitations

• Does not offer native support for text/SMS channels
• The current system for transferring calls or interactions appears to be restrictive, as users cannot communicate with someone in a different queue without transferring the customer call directly to them
• When customers use the chat feature on a website, agents currently cannot see what part of the website the customer is viewing

Dixa pricing

• Essential: $49/month
• Growth: $109/month
• Ultimate: $169/month
• Custom: Contact sales

Dixa G2 rating

• 4.2/5 (300+ reviews)

Dixa is best suited for

Medium to large businesses focusing on customer friendship platforms

Maximize Your Customer Service Capabilities with Contacto

Selecting the right Intercom alternative could improve your customer support capabilities, optimize workflows, and yield insightful data.

Book a complimentary demo with our team if you are specifically keen to learn about Plivo CX and whether it aligns with your immediate requirements and can scale as your business grows. We will take you through all its features and answer your queries.