Compare Support Tools
Head-to-head comparisons built on the same sourced pricing and capability data as every product page, published only where both sides have enough of it to be worth reading.
Freshdesk vs Zendesk
12 of the 47 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in QA & workforce and Enterprise. Freshdesk starts at $19/seat/mo, Zendesk at $19/seat/mo.
Intercom vs Zendesk
Both sit in customer service platforms and both bill a seat plus an AI unit, so the shortlist is real. The split is which unit you can predict. Zendesk publishes $19, $55 and $115 an agent against automated resolutions at $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go, with 5 to 10 included per agent per month; Intercom publishes $29, $85 and $132 an agent against outcomes at a flat $0.99 with no included allowance on the seat plans. Zendesk verifies each resolution with its own LLM and bills what passes. Intercom bills on the customer walking away satisfied, refunds a resolution if they come back, and never charges when the customer asks for a human. On capability the gates decide it: CSAT surveys, skills-based routing, ticket forms, side conversations, IVR and custom reports are all Suite Professional at $115 on Zendesk, and audit logs, custom agent roles and data retention policies are unavailable on every publicly priced Zendesk plan. Intercom holds SSO, HIPAA, SLAs and the real-time dashboard at Expert. The honest summary is that Zendesk is the deeper platform sold in more pieces, and Intercom is the cheaper annual seat with the more predictable AI bill and the shorter feature list underneath it.
Help Scout vs Zendesk
25 of the 55 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in QA & workforce and AI assist. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, Zendesk at $19/seat/mo.
Zendesk vs Zoho Desk
20 of the 52 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist and QA & workforce. Zendesk starts at $19/seat/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.
Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk
10 of the 48 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist. Freshdesk starts at $19/seat/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.
Freshdesk vs Help Scout
17 of the 54 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist and Knowledge base. Freshdesk starts at $19/seat/mo, Help Scout at Free, then $25/seat/mo.
Freshdesk vs Intercom
8 of the 39 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in QA & workforce. Freshdesk starts at $19/seat/mo, Intercom at $29/seat/mo.
Crisp vs Intercom
The closer of the two Crisp comparisons, and the more interesting one: 8 differences across 48 shared capabilities. Both are messenger-first products with an AI agent, a help centre, a workflow builder and an in-product widget on every plan, so most of the matrix agrees. The money differs in shape rather than degree. Intercom charges $29, $85 and $132 a seat billed annually plus $0.99 per Fin outcome with no included allowance on the seat plans, so ten agents on Advanced is $850 a month before a single AI conversation. Crisp charges per workspace, with agents and AI credits bundled: Essentials is $95 for 10 agents and credits covering roughly 450 automated conversations. Almost every difference that remains sits in governance. Intercom carries SAML SSO at Expert, custom roles mappable from identity provider groups, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, a real-time dashboard and a UI export for contacts. Crisp publishes no SSO anywhere, says plainly that it has never been through a SOC 2 audit, has no live dashboard, and exports conversations only through its API because they "cannot be exported as a native CSV from the Crisp dashboard at the moment". Neither does workforce management, and QA is an Intercom add-on against nothing at Crisp. Crisp's counters are real though narrow: reply drafting is included rather than a $29 an agent Copilot, and hosting is EU-only in the Netherlands and Germany by default rather than an enterprise upgrade.
Help Scout vs Intercom
16 of the 46 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI resolution and Enterprise. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, Intercom at $29/seat/mo.
Crisp vs Freshdesk
14 of the 42 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist and Self-service. Crisp starts at Free, then $45/mo, Freshdesk at $19/seat/mo.
Crisp vs Help Scout
12 of the 51 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI resolution and Self-service. Crisp starts at Free, then $45/mo, Help Scout at Free, then $25/seat/mo.
Crisp vs Selvo
30 of the 62 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Channels and AI resolution. Crisp starts at Free, then $45/mo, Selvo at $29/mo.
Crisp vs Zendesk
This is the widest price gap in the directory between two products a team would genuinely shortlist together. Crisp bills per workspace: $95 a month on Essentials covers 10 agents, with SMS, voice, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Line and Viber all included, plus AI credits for roughly 450 automated conversations. Zendesk bills per agent: Suite Team is $55 an agent billed annually, so the same ten people cost $550, voice arrives as an $83 an agent Contact Center add-on, SMS is a further add-on, and social channels carry additional fees on top. The AI assist tools Crisp bundles into every plan (reply drafting, summarising, auto-tagging) are Zendesk's Copilot add-on at $50 an agent, available only from Suite Professional. EU hosting is Crisp's default and Zendesk's paid Data Center Location add-on. What the extra money buys at Zendesk is governance and depth, and the list is long: SAML SSO, custom agent roles, audit logs, real-time reporting, a genuine CSV export, IVR, community forums, article versioning, approvals, and QA and workforce management as add-ons. Crisp has none of them. Two of those gaps disqualify it outright for many buyers rather than merely constraining them: Crisp publishes no SSO of any kind, and states in its own help centre that it "hasn't been over any SOC2 audit". Crisp is roughly a fifth of the price with more channels included. Zendesk is what you buy when the security review, rather than the support team, makes the decision.
Crisp vs Zoho Desk
12 of the 50 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Channels and AI resolution. Crisp starts at Free, then $45/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.
Freshdesk vs Selvo
33 of the 58 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Routing & automation and AI assist. Freshdesk starts at $19/seat/mo, Selvo at $29/mo.
Help Scout vs Selvo
32 of the 66 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Routing & automation and AI assist. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, Selvo at $29/mo.
Help Scout vs Zoho Desk
10 of the 53 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist and AI resolution. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.
Intercom vs Selvo
33 of the 51 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI resolution and Routing & automation. Intercom starts at $29/seat/mo, Selvo at $29/mo.
Intercom vs Zoho Desk
8 of the 39 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI resolution and AI assist. Intercom starts at $29/seat/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.
Selvo vs Zendesk
43 of the 64 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist and Channels. Selvo starts at $29/mo, Zendesk at $19/seat/mo.
Selvo vs Zoho Desk
30 of the 65 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Channels and AI resolution. Selvo starts at $29/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.