Any good Intercom alternatives?
Hey IH’rs!
Quick question for you!
So I use (and love) Intercom inbox, messaging, and helpdesk for Upscribe but my “early stage” deal just expired. So now, instead of paying $49/month, it’s $189/month and will go up depending on how many users we have and how many customer service reps.
I’m not even paying myself a full time wage yet so it’s painful to pay this much (even though, like I said, I love Intercom). I’m trying to be frugal.
My questions is; what are you using as alternatives to Intercom for the following tools (and how much do they cost?):
- Live Chat
- Sending emails/in-app messages to custom segments of users
- Helpdesk (searchable from live chat is ideal!)
Thanks in advance!
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You should checkout https://crisp.chat/en/ - It's sleek 👌
The design is a bit dated. Have you used it? How is the experience?
I see. I haven't implemented it yet. But it'll be my top choice when I have to. I like the fact that the interface is crisp(just like its name) and very minimal. It doesn't feel obtrusive like others I have come across.
Their mobile app is also well rated. See Crisp and from the reviews, they seem to be listening to customers.
Hope this helps...Cheers!
I'm exploring hubspot.com for my service, maybe suite to you
Thanks for the reply! It looks like Hubspot can get super expensive. How much do chat end up costing you? Do they have a helpdesk solution?
Hubspot have a free plan which offers the CRM and free chat, it works well for me.
Thanks Kenny! Good to know!
We've been using crisp ($99 a month) with the live chat, helpdesk and for automated e-mails at nixstats.com Works great and it's a fixed fee so no per user/seat pricing.
Thanks for the response @vfuse! Yeah, Crisp has a lot of great features and the pricing is fair. But I'm really not crazy about the design. I may just have to compromise on that though lol.
And you are crazy about Intercom's design? Their page looks like a rip-off of Notion's and their widget is just a vanilla indigo/blue box...
To be fair, I prefer a Notion-rip off to misshapen people with tiny heads, twig legs and huge blocky torsos, but on the widget itself, I'm not sure I see Intercom as the winner.
For sure; I would say Intercom is still leading the way for product design. The design is breathable and consistent, the animations are smooth. It's definitely the more pleasing aesthetically of its competitors.
Regarding the homepage though; Intercom and Notion are definitely not the first to use bold black text on a white background.
I COMPLETELY agree with you on the illustrations. It's so old now; it's gotten to the point where it's almost better to just have text than to have a generic illustration or stock photo.
Interesting... as a consumer I hate intercom's "breathable" design. It takes up so much space and forces me to type into a tiny view port. I probably haven't ever quit a service over it, but their UX is a huge turnoff to me (much like new reddit's).
Just to tell you, we release a new version of Crisp in the incoming weeks :)
Great to know! Can I see any screenshots of what it will look like?
Yeah it's been a while since they updated the design, which specific part don't you like?
You can ask if they have plans to renew the design since they do develop the product a lot. What was most important for me was the live chat, users are much more likely to use this compared to other live chats for the simplicity (no need to enter e-mail/name etc. just chat right away).
Everything is so cramped (not a lot of breathing room in the chat modal), the icon has too much of a whimsical aesthetic.
This thing sits on every page of my website and will be associated with my brand.
Functionally & feature-wise though, Crisp is a great tool.
Hey guys, we're live on PH with Crisp V3 > https://www.producthunt.com/posts/crisp-3-0-2
Hey @joshanderton there are no such alternative to Intercom for now. We were also at the same stage but couldn't find any perfect alternative to Intercom. Crisp is very bad when it comes to reporting and UX
Thanks @utsavnakrani, this is super helpful. Yeah, I am starting to get that idea. What did you end up going with?
We came to the same conclusion. We tried Drift, it was OK, but given the price is almost the same as Intercom and the UI/experience with Intercom is so much better, we just had to bite the bullet and pay. If it helps any, that's basically the only thing we pay a significant amount for on a monthly basis.
Yup. Intercom has done a great job at setting the bar crazy high. They can absolutely get away with charging as much as they do. It’s just harder for those of us still in the early days of a startup.
@joshanderton we end up going with Helpscout. Really good for support peoples. But we are still missing Intercom. 😆
I have been using Crisp for a month now, so far only possitive feedback.
Thanks for your response @Dohxis! I really appreciate it.
drift
Drift is expensive as Intercom.
Right. I’ve used Drift on a project and it’s free until you need to add more team members.
Thanks for the comment!
HubSpot is running a special now.
To support small businesses through this uncertain time, we're reducing the cost of our Starter Growth Suite from $112.50/month to $50/month with a 12-month commitment.
Starter Growth Suite
You can see the free bot in action hyperjump.co right now. It is a little limited though.
Hey, I've just shared my product idea with the community and found your question. Would love to hear if it could be a solution for you https://www.indiehackers.com/post/888e71136d :)
Thanks @Alexman! I took a look.
So how does it work? You’ve built chat, email, etc. and you automatically install it on servers in my AWS account?
Would love to see screenshots of some of the tools.
You are right. You just press a button in our Admin Console and the services you need get deployed to your AWS infrastructure. You can mange them and apply updates in the same Admin Console. We'll let you know once we finish our MVP, so you could try it if you'd like. Thanks for you interest.
Very cool. I will keep an eye out for it! Excited to give it a try.
We use and are very happy with Help Scout (https://www.helpscout.com/).
I've heard lots of good things about HelpScout. Have also listened to a great interview with HS's founder on @Shpigford's show Founder Chats (I highly recommend!). Thanks for your reply!
Do they allow you to send in-app messages and emails to a custom segment of users?
I'm not a 100% sure as we don't need that functionality ourselves. I know Help Scout are building Messages, which sounded from the marketing copy like it could do that.
We are currently using Freshchat at https://geedesk.com. We moved out of Intercom due to cost. Its been good so far.
Thanks! I’ll check it out. Do they offer helpdesk or sending emails to user segments?
They do have a Helpdesk software called Freshdesk. But we do not use that. We use a product called Hilfedesk - https://hilfedesk.com/
Nice. Do you know if you are able to search for helpdesk responses through the chat widget?
In freshchat?
Or freshdesk. Do they have anything like that?
Not sure about that though.
Hi Joshua,
I use Gist at https://hyper.host which is pretty much a clone of Intercom (I moved from intercom due to costs). Works 100% for me and I’m sure it will for you at a much more sustainable price 😀
You can check it out at https://getgist.com
Cheers
Tony
Thanks!! Gist looks like it has everything but it ends up being even more expensive because of the contact limit pricing.
I'm currently using Chaport on https://trackmylift.co.uk
Go on there and send a message to try it out and I'll reply.
I've also tried; Drift, Crisp and Facebook Messenger plugin.
Drift is amazing however without hacking the JS, it pops out the chat window automatically which I just did not like. Chaport sits nice and neat
Thanks for your reply!
Chaport looks nice but I’d still need to find tools for a helpdesk and sending emails/in-app messages to user segments.
What did you think of Crisp?
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Very cool! Thanks for the reply! Will check it out!