Intercom vs. Zendesk Sunshine Conversations

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
Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Zendesk's Sunshine Conversations (formerly Smooch.io) lets users unify messages from every channel into a single conversation, and build interactive messaging experiences anywhere. Smooch was acquired by Zendesk in May 2019.N/A
Pricing
IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
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
IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
Considered Both Products
Intercom
Chose Intercom
Before we had Zendesk as the main customer care system, but it wasn't the ideal tool for us. Tickets could be assigned to different people there was no certainty for the customer if he was gonna have an answer or a solution at the moment. Intercom in the other hand gives that …
Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
Chose Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
We were able to reduce our monthly license cost in nearly 50% which is key on emerging markets and being a startup with a reliable solution that integrates with most of our internal systems. Support and documentation in spanish was also a key factor in our case as we are based …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
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
Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
-
Ratings
Organize and prioritize service tickets8.4103 Ratings00 Ratings
Expert directory8.069 Ratings00 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications7.768 Ratings00 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation8.276 Ratings00 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission8.3106 Ratings00 Ratings
Ticket response7.9111 Ratings00 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
Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
-
Ratings
External knowledge base7.4116 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal knowledge base7.2101 Ratings00 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
Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
-
Ratings
Customer portal8.591 Ratings00 Ratings
IVR7.737 Ratings00 Ratings
Social integration7.570 Ratings00 Ratings
Email support8.8108 Ratings00 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration8.582 Ratings00 Ratings
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IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
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Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Quadient Inspire
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Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP Service Cloud
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Score 8.7 out of 10
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Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(263 ratings)
7.6
(5 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.9
(19 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(171 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.1
(10 ratings)
-
(0 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
IntercomZendesk Sunshine Conversations
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.
Read full review
Zendesk
Is a cost-effective platform that will help you to have a better communication with your customers and users. Easy to integrate with most common platforms with key reporting features if you care for customer experience. In terms of compliance, does a great job on the ability to check customer data and where is stored, for GDPR this was a key feature.
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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
Zendesk
  • Connects all customer data
  • Easy to connect
  • Easy to use reporting
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
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Support for special characters (ñ and accents)
  • Better integration with exsiting tickets in ZenDesk
  • Android App is lacking
  • Support for mobile browsers
  • Support for iOS devices
Read full review
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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Zendesk
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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Zendesk
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
Intercom
always there
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Zendesk
No answers on this topic
Performance
Intercom
works perfect
Read full review
Zendesk
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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Zendesk
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Intercom
Easy to know the learning path
Read full review
Zendesk
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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Zendesk
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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Zendesk
First and foremost, we are able to send responses quicker. In the past, a team member had to go out every morning and share queries. That meant we would take almost 24 hours to respond. Now with Zendesk Sunshine, we had automated the conversations.
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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
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Overall I have great experience with Zendesk Sunshine Conversations
Read full review
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.