Intercom vs. Spiceworks Help Desk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Intercom
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Intercom is an AI-first customer service platform that enhances the customer experience and improves operational efficiency, built on a single AI system with three major components: AI Agent, AI Copilot and AI Analyst (coming soon) to deliver customer service.
$39
per month per seat
Spiceworks Help Desk
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Spiceworks offers a set of free tools for IT network management and help desk support ticketing. The inventory management system essentially provides comprehensive device information for asset management. The Spiceworks Network Monitor provides information on observed IT for problem tracking and server performance monitoring. And finally, the Spiceworks Help Desk Software lets IT personnel stay on top of issues across the network with a ticketing system. Help desk roles with role-based…N/A
Pricing
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Editions & Modules
Essential
$39
per month per seat
Advanced
$99
per month per seat
Expert
$139
per month per seat
The Early Stage program
From $65 for 5 support seats
per month
Proactive Support Plus add-on
from $99
per month
All Tiers
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAI customer service features included in every plan. Intercom integrates Help desk, AI Chat bot, and Proactive support.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
8.1
113 Ratings
3% above category average
Spiceworks Help Desk
7.6
54 Ratings
4% below category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets8.4103 Ratings7.553 Ratings
Expert directory8.069 Ratings5.746 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications7.768 Ratings7.441 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation8.276 Ratings6.544 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission8.3106 Ratings9.353 Ratings
Ticket response7.9111 Ratings9.052 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
7.3
117 Ratings
6% below category average
Spiceworks Help Desk
7.4
51 Ratings
5% below category average
External knowledge base7.4116 Ratings8.847 Ratings
Internal knowledge base7.2101 Ratings5.947 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
8.2
114 Ratings
7% above category average
Spiceworks Help Desk
5.2
51 Ratings
38% below category average
Customer portal8.591 Ratings6.145 Ratings
IVR7.737 Ratings4.010 Ratings
Social integration7.570 Ratings3.026 Ratings
Email support8.8108 Ratings8.045 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration8.582 Ratings5.027 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Small Businesses
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(263 ratings)
8.8
(82 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(19 ratings)
10.0
(29 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(171 ratings)
8.6
(8 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(10 ratings)
8.7
(26 ratings)
Online Training
8.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.5
(5 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
IntercomSpiceworks Help Desk
Likelihood to Recommend
Intercom
Well suited for real time customer support needs - that's where it really shines. Well suited for proactive outreach and the ability to gather feedback from customers + surveys. Less appropriate for a non techie company to set it up, basically any sort of changes in integration have to be done by an engineer.
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
It's a great helpdesk solution - we currently have five years of data within it, roughly 25,000 tickets. The older edition is a great inventory and software license tracking tool. It is easy for users to use the interface and submit tickets and requests on the web, and its email integration is solid. The new version is a below-average system monitoring tool, only giving up/down status and a few other metrics.
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Pros
Intercom
  • Intercom's ability to centralize customer communication is a game-changer.
  • Intercom's automation features have saved us time and streamlined workflows.
  • Help desk for users.
  • Intercom seamlessly integrates with a variety of other tools and platforms, enhancing its functionality and making it a central part of our tech stack.
Read full review
Spiceworks Ziff Davis
  • It helps to multitask, even on the go with the mobile App.
  • We can customize to meet your needs with automated responses, notifications, and templates.
  • Detailed reports allow managers to keep track [of] and analyze data.
  • Allows for a database to store notes helpful for future tickets.
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Cons
Intercom
  • The AI tools should have a make shorter option
  • The research is difficult compared to other platforms such as Zendesk where it is easier to find stuff (accounts, emails, messages...)
  • I know that you could integrate better AI tools! The chatbot is amazing, so I'm just missing more AI tools to increase productivity
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
  • I have always wanted a way to redirect a support request into another IS bin, such as a development task.
  • It's possible to extract the data from the Spiceworks database, but it would be helpful if the process to do so were easier.
  • Improved ability to customize the system generated emails to improve the formatting and company branding.
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Likelihood to Renew
Intercom
We have been and will be continuing our journey with Intercom and nothing too concerning has happened that I have experienced or heard of that has us on the edge yet. If it ever happens it will be something along the lines of "Outgrowing" the use of need of the platform.
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
Spiceworks is a free tool, so there would be no hesitation if we are required to upgrade it. We have installed Spiceworks on a dedicated server with more than enough resources to get the most from this tool, so we will have this running in our department for years to come.
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Usability
Intercom
Everything is very straightforward and easy to see, explore, and use. Intercom provides walkthroughs and helps guides in case something is not apparent to the user and has their agents available to help. I always feel confident when exploring new features or making changes that I can have it accomplished due to the service they provide.
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
Spiceworks is user friendly and easy to set up. It can be customized to suit your needs. If there are any problems, you can go to the community forums for support and be in contact with many IT Pros, as well as the Spiceworks support staff and development teams who are always happy to help users out
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Reliability and Availability
Intercom
always there
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
We use it both locally on our own server so up time is decided by us and we also use the hosted help desk. We have never had an outage of that.
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Performance
Intercom
works perfect
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Intercom
Intercom is the premier customer support/engagement model and it definitely has one of the top tier customer support teams as well. I don't think I have ever waited more than 5 minutes to get the information I need or get help with an issue. They are incredible and I aim to model our customer service department after them.
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
Spiceworks has been working out of the box, and some of the basic customizations have been successful with just our internal staff handling. We don't have any other issues with the tool. It provides us with the inventory information we want in a quick and concise report in a variety of formats for our team.
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Online Training
Intercom
Easy to know the learning path
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Intercom
The implementation was surprisingly easy but we are having to adapt from our old process to work well with Intercom.
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
If you can spin up a VM to run it on, you'll thank yourself later. If you have remote sites, set up a local server (or dedicated computer) at each site and set them up as remote collectors for the main site. You'll save time and bandwidth
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Alternatives Considered
Intercom
We've used both Drift and Salesforce chat at Owl Labs in the past, and I didn't find them to meet our needs or customer needs the way Intercom has been able to. Intercom ranks higher for us regarding Integrations offered, customization, AI functionality, and user-friendliness. In the past, if chat visitors would click around our website, they'd have to start their chat over again from the start and lose their communication history with us. We also found that Salesforce chat did not have enough customization that we needed. One small example is that in Intercom, you can see when another teammate is looking at a chat and tag them in notes to collaborate. We didn't have access to anything like that when using Salesforce chat. Intercom has made it easy to work alongside one another to be more efficient.
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
EGroupware UI is clunky and hard to use, Jira is great but the pricing is expensive in comparison with spice works that has a free version and you can test it out properly before buying and make a correct decision based on your business plan and company objectives with the right software.
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Return on Investment
Intercom
  • I like how easy it is to spot the user data needed to assist our members.
  • Love how easy it is to link articles on the chat that will help both us and the customers.
  • I like that the sales force or the tickets is already connected on the chat
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Spiceworks Ziff Davis
  • Positive - Allow organizations to implement structured Help Desk procedures.
  • Positive - IT can begin to quantify their tickets and uncover needs within the organization.
  • Positive - IT can develop a solid roadmap with [the] management of future needs, equipment refresh schedules, etc.
  • Positive - IT can pinpoint employees who may need extra training or updated equipment based on historical ticketing data.
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ScreenShots

Intercom Screenshots

Screenshot of AI Agent - The agent resolves 50% of support volume.Screenshot of AI Copilot - A personal AI assistant for every support agent.Screenshot of Omnichannel inbox - AI-enhanced to increase productivity.Screenshot of Tickets - Intercom tickets are designed for collaboration so complex issues are resolved faster.Screenshot of Help Center -  The help center powers AI and self-serve support.Screenshot of Workflows - Automations are built using the Intercom no code visual builder.