Intercom Customer Communications Platform vs Zendesk comparison

Intercom Customer Communica...

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93% willing to recommend

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Zendesk and Intercom are competing customer communication platforms. Zendesk seems to have the upper hand in pricing and support, while Intercom is favored for its advanced features, appealing to those prioritizing functionality.

Features: Zendesk is valued for its comprehensive ticketing system, multi-channel support, and powerful analytics and automation. Intercom emphasizes live chat, in-app messaging, and personalized automated messaging flows.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zendesk's deployment benefits from thorough documentation and robust customer support, ensuring smooth integration. Intercom's intuitive setup and easy installation process are commendable, though it offers less extensive customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Zendesk provides various pricing tiers with extensive support options, potentially enhancing ROI. Intercom's higher pricing is offset by its advanced features, which can justify the cost for businesses maximizing its capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Intercom Customer Communications Platform vs. Zendesk Report (Updated: September 2025).

Intercom Customer Communications Platform vs. Zendesk

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Helped 869,095 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Intercom Customer Communica...

Ranking in CRM Customer Engagement Centers

9th

Ranking in CRM

22nd

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Social CRM (6th)

Zendesk

Ranking in CRM Customer Engagement Centers

6th

Ranking in CRM

18th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (8th), IT Service Management (ITSM) (7th), Sales Force Automation (8th), Reporting (14th), Knowledge Management Software (4th), Community Platforms (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the CRM Customer Engagement Centers category, the mindshare of Intercom Customer Communications Platform is 1.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zendesk is 6.8%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

CRM Customer Engagement Centers Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Zendesk	6.8%
Intercom Customer Communications Platform	1.8%
Other	91.4%

CRM Customer Engagement Centers

Featured Reviews

Kumar Abhishek Anand

Director at Revivo Technologies

Customer support has improved significantly with seamless chat integration for quick resolutions

The feature we appreciate most about the Intercom Customer Communications Platform is the messenger functionality. We are able to integrate it into our application and provide support to customers directly through our application. The messenger works efficiently, allowing users to have conversations without entering their details repeatedly. There is conversation history available for each customer interaction, and they can access the help section within the chat itself. The Finn AI agent handles conversations both in chat and WhatsApp, which is particularly beneficial. Regarding automation tools, we have enabled the AI agent to answer customer queries instantly, reducing the need for constant staff presence. The AI agent quickly responds to customers and summarizes their issues, informing us when it cannot resolve a problem independently.

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JohanSkibdahl

CEO at Etcetera Networks

Automating customer support with advanced AI capabilities and seamless communication

Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls. It allows us to handle more support cases with fewer people due to its advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. This intelligent tool can manage complex queries before users even realize they are interacting with a non-human. Additionally, we have integrated Zendesk with Datto and Klaviyo, enhancing our workflows.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The live chat is pretty good because you can create a macro, which is a predefined input we can give customers."

"The feature we appreciate most about the Intercom Customer Communications Platform is the messenger functionality, allowing users to have conversations without entering their details repeatedly."

"It's a very stable tool, very powerful."

"Zendesk Support has a lot of good APIs."

"It is a scalable solution."

"It has good management, the ability to sign tickets based on content, the multi-channel support, the self service portal, the integration with Salesforce, the setup process, and the product features as we are currently using them."

"One of the most valuable features is that Zendesk gives you a lot of configurability, and a lot of leeway in terms of customizing the look and theme. Zendesk offers you the facility to design your own landing page, as well as the look and feel of the entire knowledge base. At the same time, they offer themes that you can simply purchase and implement. Either way, it can really be turned into the right look and feel of the knowledge base required by our company, which is very important—if you have a bland-looking page, most of the time, people will lose interest. Zendesk also allows you to test the customizations before you publish it. It gives you a sandbox location where you can test everything new that you're trying to create and publish, which is very interesting."

"We rarely had issues with Zendesk."

"The stability has been very good."

"Zendesk has been invaluable in automating communications such as email and phone calls."

More Zendesk pros

Cons

"Sometimes, the solution lags and takes time to update something."

"It would be beneficial if there was a way to train the AI to better understand customer language."

"Zendesk Guide's customization could be improved. I would like it to be easier and maybe open-sourced, so that if you have a developer in your company, you can do it yourself. Right now, that isn't allowed, so you need to have it done via the integrator. Another improvement—this is nit-picking—is that it could be less easy to make changes. Some things are so easy that they sometimes look a little amateur-ish. Most of the templates are built-in so they can be used directly, so they are very simple."

"You couldn't give administrative access to new hires."

"The solution could integrate better with QR codes from some websites such as Facebook."

"Report generation is still slightly tricky and not very customizable as per my inquiries."

"They have something called Zendesk Explore, which isn't as good as what they had in place previously."

"The solution itself wasn't easy to set up."

"It wasn't easy to set up so we're only using a third of all of the features,"

"The dashboard could be better."

More Zendesk cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"From what I hear, Zendesk's pricing is a little expensive."

"Zendesk's licensing is not cheap. For Enterprise, we are paying $200 per agent. It's a per-month cost, so it's pretty steep. There are some services you need to pay extra for. For example, with Zendesk Guide, we had to buy the most expensive offering in order to get Multibrand and everything. We also had to pay a lot of money for themes."

"You have to pay extra for better support. So it's not only the license that you pay for, but you have to pay extra for the support as well."

"The price is very competitive."

"There are different plans that are offered. We are using the entry-level plan. The overall price of the solution should be reduced. The price is too high."

"We pay for the solution on a yearly basis and my understanding is that the cost is about $30,000. That's the cost for 24 to 25 agents."

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869,095 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	29
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Intercom Customer Communications Platform?

For the Intercom Customer Communications Platform, we are updating our knowledge base to help the AI read more proactively. It would be beneficial if there was a way to train the AI to better under...

What is your primary use case for Intercom Customer Communications Platform?

When asked about AI tools and AI coding tools, we were using ChatGPT until recently. We switched to GitHub Copilot, which we have integrated into our IDE for software development purposes. Regardin...

What advice do you have for others considering Intercom Customer Communications Platform?

I would recommend the Intercom Customer Communications Platform to other users as it enables superior customer service delivery. Having tried other platforms, this has proven to be the most effecti...

What do you like most about Zendesk Support?

I found the user experience with vendors on Zendesk to be straightforward, especially when it comes to understanding and searching for specific tickets. The search and navigation tools are easy to ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zendesk Support?

Zendesk's pricing is reasonable. It is not the cheapest solution nor the most expensive, but it provides value for money.

What needs improvement with Zendesk Support?

I'm going to piggyback on what I said regarding Freshdesk concerning what could be better in Zendesk: incorporate more AI. I know many CRM tools are already on the way to do that.

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Product Reports

CRM Customer Engagement Centers

Download Intercom Customer Communications Platform product report

Intercom Customer Communications Platform report

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Also Known As

Intercom

Zendesk Support, Zendesk Guide, Zendesk Sell

Overview

Intercom Customer Communications Platform enhances interactions by offering robust tools designed to streamline customer engagement and support, effectively catering to modern business communication needs.

Providing a comprehensive approach to customer interaction, Intercom facilitates seamless conversation management through its adaptable suite of messaging, logistical, and analytical features. Frequently utilized for customer support and marketing, its flexibility and user-friendly design encourage efficient communication. While offering valuable insights through analytics, some users note areas for improvement in customizability and pricing models, pointing towards a potential enhancement in fine-tuning its cost-effectiveness and adaptability to diverse business strategies.

What are the standout features of Intercom?

Live Chat: Immediate customer support through real-time messaging.
Automated Bot: Streamlines inquiries by handling routine questions.
Integration Capabilities: Connects seamlessly with third-party tools.
Inbox Management: Organizes conversations for efficient response.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Faster resolutions lead to happier clients.
Improved Team Efficiency: Automation reduces manual workload.
Actionable Analytics: Data-driven insights optimize strategies.
Scalable Solutions: Adapts to growing business demands.

Industries such as e-commerce, SaaS, and tech-driven businesses often implement Intercom for its ability to provide personalized customer journeys. Its messaging platform excels in maintaining customer relationships and resolving issues quickly, which is crucial in these fast-paced sectors.

Intercom

Zendesk Support is intuitive, and it's built with support agents in mind. Everything they need lives in a single, dynamic help desk interface so it's easy to be productive and manage customer interactions.

Sample Customers

Expensift, Moz, Invision, Salesforce, Droplr, Vend, BugHerd, Ghost, Put.io, Codeship

Mailchimp, Tesco, Vimeo, Instacart, Mediaocean, Slack, Uber

Intercom Customer Communications Platform vs. Zendesk