Freshdesk vs Intercom: Scale smarter with a complete solution that grows with you
Stop paying premium prices for basic features. Freshdesk gives you more out of the box—at a price Intercom can’t match.
How do you choose the right customer support solution?
Superior support
Team collaboration
Transparent pricing
Advanced routing
Omnichannel support
AI-first support solution
6 reasons why Freshdesk wins over Intercom
Work smarter, not harder with advanced ticketing
Why Freshdesk is the better choice
Freshdesk’s advanced ticketing capabilities automate workflows and enhance team collaboration. Admins can assign tickets based on an agent’s skill, load, or just round-robin. Additionally, agents can seamlessly collaborate with internal and external experts in the same conversation pane, leading to faster resolution and higher CSAT.
Why Intercom might not fit your growing needs
Intercom is relatively new to the ticketing space and lacks advanced routing and collaborating capabilities, which makes scaling customer service harder. The absence of skill-based routing and ticket triaging leads to increased manual processes.
Pay 75% less for Freddy Self Service
Why Freshdesk is the better choice
Freddy Self Service offers AI-powered chatbots to resolve issues faster. These bots can emulate your agents' behavior and personalize answers based on customer interactions. Its session-based pricing model offers cost stability, as multiple issues can be resolved in a single session, avoiding fluctuating expenses.
For example, 1000 sessions with a 50% resolution rate cost only $100.
Why Intercom might not fit your growing needs
Intercom’s AI chatbot uses a pay-per-resolution model at $0.99 per automated resolution. This can lead to unpredictable costs, as expenses fluctuate with customer issue volumes.
For example, 1000 sessions with a 50% resolution rate would cost $495.
Affordably scale with maximum ROI
Why Freshdesk is the better choice
Freshdesk helps you grow cost-effectively with a pricing model that gives you access to advanced features at just $69/agent/month on the Pro plan.
Why Intercom might not fit your growing needs
Intercom’s pricing starts at $29/agent/month, but key features like custom roles and social media integrations are locked behind higher-tier plans (costs 19% more on the Advanced plan), forcing expensive upgrades for basic features.
Meet your customers in the channel they prefer
Why Freshdesk is the better choice
With Freshdesk, agents can seamlessly manage multiple dedicated support email addresses, enabling streamlined ticket assignment and advanced routing for faster, more efficient handling of support queries. Its intuitive UI organizes threaded conversations clearly, offering complete visibility into ticket history so agents can resolve issues with complete context and minimal back-and-forth.
Why Intercom might not fit your growing needs
Intercom’s conversational inbox blends email with other messaging channels, which, while seamless in theory, often muddles the context of email interactions. This can slow down support as agents struggle to understand the full history of an issue quickly.
Speed up resolution by 38% with AI Copilot
Why Freshdesk is the better choice
Freshdesk offers Freddy AI Copilot which has groundbreaking productivity features that can speed up resolution by 38% and improve CSAT by 6%. It serves as a real-time coach for agents, delivering feedback post-resolution, prioritizing issues with negative sentiments, and automatically summarizing tickets and calls, among other features.
Why Intercom might not fit your growing needs
Intercom’s AI Copilot falls short in prioritizing tickets based on customer sentiment, which may delay agents in addressing issues from frustrated customers. Agents also can’t assess their performance after every resolution, resulting in diminished support quality.
World-class support from a support-first company
Get started faster with Freshdesk
Freshdesk prioritizes customer success with 24/7 email support and 24/5 phone and chat for paid plans. Our complimentary onboarding helps you get started faster and tailor the product to suit your specific needs.
Why Intercom might not fit your growing needs
Basic queries can take 2-3 days to resolve, and weekend support is limited. The wait often drives users to self-help forums, where they find others with unresolved issues.
Freshdesk vs. Intercom
Decoding the best support solution for your growing business
Criteria | Freshdesk | Intercom |
|---|---|---|
Free Plan |
| |
Pricing | Pro plan starts at $69 / agent / month / billed yearly
| Advanced plan starts at $85 / agent / month / billed yearly |
Bring your own channel and telephony, LINE, Google Business Messages
|
|
|
Advanced email workflow automation | ||
Skill-based routing
| ||
Collaborate with internal & external stakeholders
| ||
AI Chatbot Pricing
| $100/1000 sessions (save up to 75% with Freddy Self Service)
Predictable costs with session-based pricing
| $0.99/automated resolution (*$495 for 1000 sessions & at 50% resolution rate)
Fluctuating costs with resolution-based pricing
|
Prioritize queues based on sentiments (AI Copilot)
| ||
Voice call transcription summary (AI Copilot)
| ||
Post-resolution quality coach (AI Copilot)
| ||
Call transfer (Inbound and Outbound)
| ||
Data centers | US, EU, IN and AU, MEA | US, AUS, and EU only |
Trusted by 68K+ businesses worldwide
Freshdesk has helped us install more efficient workflows and processes while still maintaining HIPAA compliance. It has been a game-changer for agents and members.
Other comparisons
See how Freshdesk compares with other key players in the customer service and helpdesk industry.
Frequently asked questions
To evaluate ticketing tools, learn more about admin, channel coverage, scalability, trial offers, and other key considerations for customer service leaders.
Which is better: Intercom or Freshdesk?
Freshdesk is better for comprehensive support with advanced ticketing capabilities, clean UI, and 24/7 support to get the most out of the solution.
What is Freshchat?
Freshchat enables businesses to deploy AI chatbots or use chat tools to resolve customer issues via web, mobile app, SMS, social, and more.
Which is better: Freshchat or Intercom?
Both are conversational support platforms, but Freshchat has an edge in channel coverage, ease of setup, and usability, as well as customer support and simplicity of pricing.
Do Freshchat and Freshdesk offer free trials?
Yes, both Freshchat and Freshdesk offer a 14-day free trial with access to features in the Enterprise plans.
Is Freshdesk suitable for businesses of all sizes?
Absolutely. Freshdesk is designed to scale, making it suitable for small businesses to large enterprises. Its flexible features and versatile plans cater to the unique needs of any organization.
Experience the seamless, AI-powered omnichannel solution
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