Zendesk vs Intercom: which help desk for a team
A small team outgrowing a shared inbox should pick Intercom: Fin, its AI agent, answers from your help centre and hands the rest to your team in the same inbox, and setup is lighter. Zendesk is the pick for a larger support operation that takes tickets from email, chat, phone and social and needs routing, SLA tracking and detailed reports. Zendesk's entry plan is $19 a month, $10 below Intercom's $29. Zendesk asks more setup work in return for that depth.
Which one to pick
Your support team is growing past a handful of agents, takes calls and social messages as well as email, and managers need SLA tracking and Jira links.
You run a software or online business with steady questions and want an AI agent to answer from your help centre before a person steps in.
Side by side
Questions
Is Zendesk cheaper than Intercom?
Zendesk begins at $19 a month and Intercom at $29. You will not find a free plan on either. The entry price is only part of the bill, since AI answers and extra channels can cost more on both. Price the plan with the channels you use day to day.
Do both include an AI agent?
Yes, both offer AI agents that answer common questions. Intercom builds its service around Fin, which answers from your support content and hands over when it cannot help. Zendesk adds AI agents to a ticketing system built for larger teams. Intercom rates higher on automation in our data.
Is Zendesk too much for a team of two or three?
Intercom fits small teams in our data, while Zendesk is listed for medium and large teams. A team of two or three gets a shared inbox, live chat and AI answers from Intercom without a long setup. Zendesk's routing and reporting pay off once you have several agents and shifts. Start small and move up only when the inbox demands it.
Can we switch from Zendesk to Intercom, or the other way?
Yes, both let you export tickets, contacts and help centre articles, and each offers import routes. Rebuild your macros and routing rules after the move, since they rarely transfer cleanly. Move the help centre first so the AI agent has content to answer from. Run both for a short overlap.
Do they support customers in Spanish, German, French and Italian?
Both are available across our European markets, and both run a help centre your customers can read in their language. Check that the AI agent answers well in each language you support before going live. Prices are in US dollars. Ask each vendor where your ticket data is stored if your customers need an EU answer.