Fin by Intercom vs. Zendesk Chat

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Fin by Intercom
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Fin is Intercom’s AI Agent for customer service, designed to deliver high-quality answers, even for complex queries. It works with any helpdesk, or it can be paired with Intercom’s next-generation Helpdesk to get the full Intercom Customer Service Suite.
$0.99
one-time fee per 1 resolution
Zendesk Chat
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is a live chat tool developed by the Singaporean company also called Zopim, acquired by Zendesk in April 2014.
$11.20
per month
Pricing
Fin by IntercomZendesk Chat
Editions & Modules
Fin with your current helpdesk
$0.99
one-time fee per 1 resolution
Copilot add-on
$35
per month per user
The Early Stage program
$65
per month (6 support seats)
Proactive Support Plus add-on
$99
per month
Fin with Intercom’s Helpdesk
from $39 + $0.99 per Fin resolution
per month per seat
Lite
$0
per user
Basic
$14
per user
Advanced
$25
per user
Premium
$55
per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Fin by IntercomZendesk Chat
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsFin comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. Here's how it works: Use Fin in at least 250 conversations within the first 90 days after trial. If you're not satisfied, you can request a refund of up to $1M. Refund requests must be submitted within 90 days of starting the subscription.The pricing above is price per user per month. You will get a discount when you opt for annual payment.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Fin by IntercomZendesk Chat
Considered Both Products
Fin by Intercom
Chose Fin by Intercom
I have used Zendesk Chat and LiveChat with my previous company and I tried to compare them with Intercom but with all the features it can provide, I can say that Intercom is much more advance and dependable. With the line of work that we have, a reliable tool is needed and this …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom is a little more user friendly than Zendesk. Also, the ability to have all tickets flow to one channel as opposed to having to have Zendesk Chat & Zendesk Support was a big factor.
Chose Fin by Intercom
Zendesk Chat provides live chat functionality and is part of the larger Zendesk suite, which includes customer support and ticketing solutions. However, we chose Intercom after careful consideration of our specific needs, budget, and the level of integration with our existing …
Chose Fin by Intercom
I used Zendesk briefly but found it difficult to navigate — I often couldn’t tell what was going on or how to simply reply to a ticket. In contrast, Intercom is much more intuitive and user-friendly. Its clean interface and support for multiple communication formats like …
Chose Fin by Intercom
As explained previously, most of these platforms were focused on tickets, most reports only work with tickets, there is no way to postpone a service without turning it into a ticket, and since our response time target is a maximum of 2 minutes, these platforms were unable to …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Honestly, we haven't really looked at this, but we do use it for another team because a third-party works with it.

Otherwise, I am extremely happy with Intercom and have not looked towards another software.
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom missing the merging option, it's way easier but the merging is very important. However, Zendesk is little bit old fashion and not modern like Intercom
Chose Fin by Intercom
The ease of usage and AI abilities of Intercom make it the best out of the group
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom is better for those, as It is easier to customize and implement integrations/automation. The UI/UX is much simpler in Intercom.
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom does an exceptional job of linking my service offerings to customer support. Its proactive support is a significant differentiator among all these competitors, which sets it apart the most. It dramatically enhances customer engagement and streamlines communication …
Chose Fin by Intercom
We found Intercom's layout to be more user-friendly and the options for integration and setup to be much easier than with other products we looked for.
Chose Fin by Intercom
LiveChat was our previous solution and was so bad for us that we decided to switch - the functionalities are so basic and/or requires dev support for everything, that it was hard to maintain.
Zendesk was not a flexible enough system for us and the LiveChat support was not good …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom is a lot smoother and has more integration ability. It's macro features are a lot easier to navigate and control as well. The help center is also a huge bonus and the way it integrates into the chat is a lot less stressful to put together and utilize. Intercom makes …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Beats them all in my opinion, Intercom's ease of use and intuitive design cannot be beat compared to others. We had a look at both Zendesk and Freshchat in the past and we saw very quickly that we're already using the best tool for the job. My only "complaint" would be the cost …
Chose Fin by Intercom
I didn't make the call. It was my manager or leadership who decided that, so this one does not apply to me, unfortunately. However, as I've mentioned, it should've been for ease of use and efficiency. The exact reasons are not disclosed to me. Great job Intercom you're doing it …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Zendesk was very slow and clunky to operate.
The system often bugged out and the assigning of emails was poor at best, once assigned it would be very hard to find that ticket again unless it was assigned to you directly.
The search function and live chat function of Zendesk were …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Better on all fronts. Crisp is buggy. Drift is fine. Zendesk is horrific.
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom is known for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, designed to facilitate easy communication and collaboration. It offers a modern and visually appealing experience for both agents and customers. Zendesk, on the other hand, provides a robust and comprehensive …
Chose Fin by Intercom
Intercom, although significantly more expensive than Zendesk, is just simpler and easier to use. The startup easing in for me was an absolute necessity also. In a technical sense, I feel that api access via intercom is such a necessity also, and will be more so as we evolve, …
Zendesk Chat

No answer on this topic

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User Ratings
Fin by IntercomZendesk Chat
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(320 ratings)
9.0
(18 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(21 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(228 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.8
(10 ratings)
8.4
(3 ratings)
Online Training
7.4
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
6.6
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Fin by IntercomZendesk Chat
Likelihood to Recommend
Intercom
While Fin is an awesome investment, the setup and tuning of responses to meet brand alignment and delivery have taken some time. If you prioritize not just resolution rate and accuracy, but style and delivery, it's a bigger lift. However, for the vast majority of businesses, the step and its impact on resource management are a worthy investment.
Read full review
Zendesk
Zendesk Chat is suited for all the support teams that provide real-time assistance. Like if someone wants to block the debit/credit card, it is a high-priority case that needs real-time assistance. Whereas issues like close my account, and invoice request doesn't need real-time assistance, where Zendesk tickets support will be perfect.
Read full review
Pros
Intercom
  • Answer easy questions based off of the knowledgebase I provided
  • It's decent with redirecting customers who aren't satisfied to a human agent (me)
  • I like how it quotes the article that it is using to the customer, I'm not sure how often they're actually clicking on that article, but it's nice that the option is there
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Extremely fluid chat interface allows for easy communication.
  • It can be used directly on a website page or as a widget.
  • Allows the end user to translate the chat into their own native language.
  • Notifies you with pending chats via on-screen notifications and sound effects.
Read full review
Cons
Intercom
  • Customizing Fin by Intercom's escalation paths could be easier (ex. if there are some inquiries we don't want passed to the human team)
  • Reporting on conversations handled to completion by Fin by Intercom (not just those that are marked as "resolved")
  • It would be helpful to be able to indicate to Fin by Intercom when an answer is wrong, or train it on things that it shouldn't do (not only what it should do)
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Linking with a telephone, so the agent is only working on 1 channel at a time
  • More simplified way to create and use templates
  • Link users who may have provided us a new/different email from what we have on file for them
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.
Read full review
Zendesk
Due to staffing issues, we have temporarily stopped offering chat as an available channel. We're also interested in the best ways to integrate chat with our FAQs and AI to provide quick responses, either during off-hours or prior to speaking with a live agent. I've also found that reporting is rather limited where some of the interesting and useful data made available and visible during the chat cannot be pulled post-chat; it would be great to pull a high-level report so we can analyze this data.
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Usability
Intercom
It's incredibly useful. You're honestly a little silly if you don't because it can handle simple conversations very easily and more in-depth conversations if you're willing to put in the work. It's great both as a customer success representative (with the AI agent) and as a higher-level customer success reporter.
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Zendesk
As mentioned previously, it's a clunky product that lacks user-friendliness. It feels old and behind the times compared to other products we have used. The inability to have a wrap-up time before a new chat comes in is also a big issue for our team.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Intercom
always there
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Zendesk
Getting assistance and/or troubleshooting anything with Zendesk can be quite frustrating. In my years of experience with Zednesk, I have almost never found the answer to my question without going through multiple articles, ultimately getting frustrated and reaching out to our contact for more assistance. So for a consumer, the support is not as relieving as Zendesk Chat is to our customers in getting the questions answered by us.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Zendesk
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Intercom
I used Zendesk briefly but found it difficult to navigate — I often couldn’t tell what was going on or how to simply reply to a ticket. In contrast, Intercom is much more intuitive and user-friendly. Its clean interface and support for multiple communication formats like emails, posts, and banners make client communication clear and efficient.
Read full review
Zendesk
Zendesk Chat is far more user friendly than some of the other competitors on the market. It has a very all the features that you require to ensure your customers are contacted in 'real time'. Its main tools include a live chat interface for quick communication, customisable chat widgets to fit your brand, mobile responsiveness for all devices, and canned responses for common questions. The platform can also start chats based on visitor actions, like time on a page or exit intent. A real must for any leading company
Read full review
Return on Investment
Intercom
  • Since we implemented Fin AI in February, we have been able to support customer queries during non-business hours. This is a game changer. Fin has brought down response times and is also extremely capable of handling complex queries from our customers. We have seen closure rates go down by 24-30 hours, which is quite phenomenal.
Read full review
Zendesk
  • Positive impact - Compared to our old system, this newly updated system provides features and functionality that has increased our agent productivity and provided customer insight like we've never had before. This has resulted in fewer hold times and higher customer satisfaction.
  • Negative impact - Our reporting team still struggles with obtaining the right information from time to time with the chats. This leads to loss of productivity and more resources dedicated to reporting.
  • Positive impact - Due to Zopim's embed, we are able to more successfully place them on the appropriate self-service portals and pages, reaching a larger audience, and being more readily available to answer our client's questions. This has resulted in an increase in our self-service portal usage, driving down the phone and email support channels, which in turn reduces support costs.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Fin by Intercom Screenshots

Screenshot of Fin, delivering conversational support experience to customers.Screenshot of where to monitor, analyze, and optimize Fin by spotting trends, filling content gaps, and fixing quality issues topic by topic.Screenshot of where to customize Fin's tone of voice, teach it support knowledge and policies, and configure how it handles complex tasks in over 45 languages.Screenshot of where to test answers, review the sources and settings that shape them, and get tailored recommendations to optimize performance.Screenshot of Fin, as it appears across email and live chat to phone, SMS, and social. Fin can answer any question, across any channel, any time.

Zendesk Chat Screenshots

Screenshot of How Zopim Chat Widget looks on the website.Screenshot of This is how the chat window looks like to your visitorsScreenshot of This is a screenshot of the visitor list.Screenshot of