Intercom vs. Twilio SendGrid

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Intercom
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Intercom creates modern Customer Service software that aims to redefine how businesses support their customers. The platform connects businesses directly to customers using powerful messaging and automation. According to the vendor, Intercom enables teams to scale support without investing more resources - leading to happier customers and more efficient support teams.
$39
per month per seat
Twilio SendGrid
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns provides users with segmentation, campaign editing, and deliverability. According to the vendor, Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns is trusted by over 80,000 customers globally, including Airbnb, Spotify and Uber. Twilio SendGrid Marketing Campaigns aims to help users by providing: MORE EFFICIENT EMAIL BUILDING The campaign building process is free from frustrating, rigid step-by-step wizards that slow users down. The vendor says…
$15
per month
Pricing
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
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
Basic
$15
per month
Advanced
$60
per month
Free
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
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
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
Considered Both Products
Intercom
Twilio SendGrid

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
8.1
111 Ratings
3% above category average
Twilio SendGrid
-
Ratings
Organize and prioritize service tickets8.4101 Ratings00 Ratings
Expert directory8.068 Ratings00 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications7.767 Ratings00 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation8.275 Ratings00 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission8.3104 Ratings00 Ratings
Ticket response7.8109 Ratings00 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
7.3
115 Ratings
6% below category average
Twilio SendGrid
-
Ratings
External knowledge base7.4114 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal knowledge base7.299 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
8.2
111 Ratings
7% above category average
Twilio SendGrid
-
Ratings
Customer portal8.589 Ratings00 Ratings
IVR7.736 Ratings00 Ratings
Social integration7.569 Ratings00 Ratings
Email support8.8105 Ratings00 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration8.580 Ratings00 Ratings
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
-
Ratings
Twilio SendGrid
7.7
46 Ratings
5% below category average
WYSIWYG email editor00 Ratings7.733 Ratings
Dynamic content00 Ratings7.936 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content00 Ratings8.034 Ratings
Landing pages00 Ratings7.522 Ratings
A/B testing00 Ratings8.526 Ratings
Mobile optimization00 Ratings9.034 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting00 Ratings7.546 Ratings
List management00 Ratings5.940 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences00 Ratings7.520 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
-
Ratings
Twilio SendGrid
8.0
46 Ratings
3% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings8.544 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings8.544 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings7.028 Ratings
Pre-Send Testing
Comparison of Pre-Send Testing features of Product A and Product B
Intercom
-
Ratings
Twilio SendGrid
9.1
8 Ratings
7% above category average
URL Validation00 Ratings9.38 Ratings
Link Tracking00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Image Validation00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Inbox Display00 Ratings9.38 Ratings
Email Accessibility Tools00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Spelling and Grammar Check00 Ratings8.76 Ratings
Spam Testing00 Ratings9.38 Ratings
Email Previews00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
Small Businesses
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
ReachMail
ReachMail
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
Emma by Marigold
Emma by Marigold
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(260 ratings)
5.5
(57 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(19 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(168 ratings)
1.0
(4 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(10 ratings)
3.0
(9 ratings)
Online Training
8.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.5
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
IntercomTwilio SendGrid
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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Twilio
I think Sendgrid is a great tool for sending out emails of all types. I've primarily used it for transactional emails as we've had other solutions for marketing emails, but I'm sure it would do just a good job - there is a "Marketing" section within the app you can use. Sendgrid integrates really easily with the development frameworks I've used, such as Laravel and Lumen; I've also integrated it with Moodle with ease.
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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
Twilio
  • Managing email lists / audiences is easy with features like groups and segments.
  • They provide pre-built email templates that are very easy to modify. It is also super easy to create new email templates with their drag-and-drop email builder.
  • Provides clear / easy-to-read analytics of email campaigns.
  • I can easily import large email contact lists all at once or add a user manually one-at-a-time, when needed.
Read full review
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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Twilio
  • Not necessarily their Email API but their email in general - they are currently in beta for automated email sequences but are still bare bones. Much more work is needed before it can be used mainstream and be able to convert everything to SendGrid.
  • Helping with warming up our dedicated IP for the best-sending score.
  • We seem to hit the promotions folder a decent amount (maybe the IP problem above) and even a lot of their emails hit my spam or promotions folder (whether they be transactional or marketing) which isn't a great sign when trusting an ESP.
  • Transactional email sequences would be a huge plus.
  • Now that Twilio owns SenGrid, having an integrated platform where you could see all our transactional emails together.
  • Better reporting and split reporting between transactional and marketing emails.
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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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Twilio
No answers on this topic
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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Twilio
It has the potential to be really cool. However, it feels as if it was created by developers for developers (and I work with developers, yet even for me the instrument was somewhat not easy to use - just read SendGrid's help manuals...) However, if you are into data and your way of thinking is more mathematical rather than lyrical, you'll enjoy this instrument
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Reliability and Availability
Intercom
always there
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Twilio
No answers on this topic
Performance
Intercom
works perfect
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Twilio
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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Twilio
Twilio SendGrid Email API is everything we want it to be, and we have no reason to look for any other solution. Features and pricing match exactly what we need. As developers for SaaS products, Twilio SendGrid Email API provides a great service. I hope that they stay this way and don't inflate the service with too many marketing oriented features, because there are other tools for that and Twilio SendGrid Email API is a API for sending email first and foremost.
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Online Training
Intercom
Easy to know the learning path
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Twilio
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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Twilio
No answers on this topic
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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Twilio
If given a choice between the two, I would pick Mandrill over SendGrid. Mandrill is slightly more expensive but the data & reports that you receive from it make the service worth it. Mandrill lets you export reports over a period of time, view the actual content of emails that you've dispatched and the customer support is way better. If you can bear the slightly higher cost, Mandrill would be a better choice.
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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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Twilio
  • Our clients experience significant ROI from their web forms - without receipt of forms, many of them would not still be in business.
  • As a solution for clients' sites, we find SendGrid is a fast installation and a 1 stop problem solver, saving us man-hours.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Intercom Screenshots

Screenshot of Support Bots: Intercom brings upleveled support automation that scales support teams by resolving 33% of common questions.Screenshot of Shared Inbox: From quick to complex questions, the Intercom Inbox workflows helps resolve issues in real time and improve team efficiency—without sacrificing CSAT.Screenshot of Product Tours: Connect the dots from sign-up to success with Intercom' interactive product tours.Screenshot of Campaign Builder: Series, Intercom's visual campaign builder, lets users send cohesive messages across channels—inside the app and out.Screenshot of Intercom Surveys: In-context customer surveys, Intercom Surveys connects users to valuable customer insights—and then helps to turn those insights into action, automatically.Screenshot of The Intercom Messenger