Tidio vs Intercom

by Gralio Feb 03, 2025

Tidio and Intercom are both customer service platforms with AI-powered chatbots. Tidio is a good budget-friendly option with essential features and strong e-commerce integrations. Intercom is a better choice for businesses needing advanced AI and broader capabilities, but comes at a higher cost.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 5044 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 4 hours, 31 minutes of reading.

Tidio

Intercom

About

Tidio is a customer service platform designed for small and medium businesses. It uses AI-powered chatbots to automate conversations, answer questions, and offer support to website visitors 24/7. This can help your team manage a high volume of inquiries, potentially reducing response times and increasing customer satisfaction. Tidio also offers live chat, allowing for real-time interaction with customers when needed. Key features include website visitor tracking, customizable automated messages, and integration with popular business tools like Shopify and Mailchimp.

Intercom is a customer service platform designed to improve customer experience and streamline support operations. It utilizes AI in three key ways: an AI chatbot for instant responses, an AI assistant for agents to quickly find information, and AI-powered analytics for support leaders. This approach aims to provide faster resolutions, increase agent efficiency, and offer data-driven insights for optimizing the customer service process. Intercom is suitable for businesses of all sizes seeking to enhance their customer support through automation and AI.

Summary

Main difference

Tidio is a more affordable option with a free plan and tiered pricing based on usage, making it suitable for budget-conscious smaller businesses. Intercom, while more expensive, offers more comprehensive features and advanced AI capabilities like Fin, catering to larger businesses or those with complex support needs.

Relative strengths of Tidio (compared to Intercom)

Offers a free plan and more affordable paid plans.
Integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify.
Provides real-time website visitor tracking and proactive chat features.

Relative weaknesses of Tidio (compared to Intercom)

Limited customization options compared to Intercom.
Fewer advanced AI features than Intercom (e.g., no AI assistant for agents).
Mobile app has reported stability issues.

Who is using Tidio and Intercom?

JAGUAR

Glovo

No data

Who should use Tidio VS. Intercom

Tidio is a customer service platform ideal for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to enhance customer support through automation. Users praise its easy setup, intuitive interface, and effective chatbots, especially for e-commerce integration. However, some find the free plan limiting and desire more chat widget customization. Tidio excels at automating customer interactions and providing real-time visitor insights.

Intercom's AI-powered platform helps businesses of all sizes enhance customer support. FIN, the AI bot, automates answers and assists agents, while analytics offer data-driven insights. Users praise the intuitive interface and integrations but note some issues with email threading and search functionality. Consider Intercom if you need robust self-service features and streamlined customer interactions.

Best for small to medium businesses.
Ideal for software, marketing, and media companies.

Best for small, medium, and large businesses seeking AI-powered customer support.
Ideal for software, IT, telecommunications, and various other industries.

Tidio and Intercom features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

AI Customer Support Automation

Supported

Tidio offers AI-powered chatbots and Lyro AI to automate customer support.

Supported

Intercom offers AI-powered chatbots and automation features for customer support, although human intervention may still be needed for complex issues.
Live Chat and Proactive Chat

Supported

Tidio offers both live chat and proactive chat features.

Supported

Intercom offers live chat and proactive chat to engage visitors and offer assistance.
AI agent for customer service

Supported

Tidio offers an AI-powered chatbot, Lyro, with many features for enhanced customer service.

Supported

Intercom's Fin 2 AI bot satisfies all the requirements.
Internal chat

Not supported

Tidio does not support internal chat for users to chat with each other within the software.

Not supported

Intercom does not support internal chat for general user-to-user communication within the software.
Live chat

Supported

Tidio supports the ability for users to chat with website visitors in real time.

Supported

Intercom supports live chat, enabling users to chat with website visitors in real time.
Multi-channel integration

Supported

Tidio supports multi-channel integration, allowing users to integrate with communication channels like email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and live chat.

Supported

Intercom supports multi-channel integration, allowing businesses to integrate with communication channels like email, social media, and other messaging services.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

-0.34

Rather negative sentiment

-0.66

Rather negative sentiment
Customer Service

+0.5

Rather positive sentiment

+0.67

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Use

+0.88

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.91

Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.33

Rather positive sentiment

+0.34

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Implementation

+0.72

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.51

Rather positive sentiment
Scalability

-0.56

Rather negative sentiment

+0.52

Rather positive sentiment

Tidio and Intercom Pricing

Tidio offers a tiered subscription model based on the number of handled conversations per month. They offer additional automation features through their AI Chatbot (Lyro) and Flows, which have their own pricing tiers. A 7-day free trial of all features is available.

Plans

User sentiment

Rather negative

-0.34

See full Pricing page

Intercom offers a tiered pricing model based on the features included in each plan. Each plan requires a certain number of seats be purchased to access the platform. In addition to the base plan, there are extra usage charges for services like Fin AI Agent, WhatsApp, SMS, Email Campaigns, and Proactive Support Plus.

Plans

User sentiment

Rather negative

-0.66

See full Pricing page

Tidio and Intercom review insights

5018 reviews analysed from and

Users love

Easy setup and intuitive interface
Chatbots are effective at automating customer interactions
Seamless integration with Shopify and other platforms
Provides real-time visitor insights and the ability to proactively engage with customers

FIN AI agent is very helpful
User-friendly interface and easy to navigate
Seamless integrations with other systems
Robust self-service features like the Help Center

Users dislike

Limited customization options for the chat widget
The free plan limitations can feel restrictive for growing businesses
It can be difficult to keep track of conversations and missed messages can occur
Some users have reported issues with the mobile app logging them out unexpectedly

Email threading with Fin is messy
Search functionality can be inaccurate
High pricing tiers for add-on features like Proactive Support
The mobile app has limited functionality

Tidio and Intercom Ratings

G2

4.7/5

(1505)
TrustPilot

2.3/5

(26)
Glassdoor

4.4/5

(62)

G2

4.5/5

(2479)
Capterra

4.5/5

(1034)

Company health

Employee growth

2% decrease in the last year

No change in the last year

Web traffic

2% decrease in the last quarter

No data

Financing

January 2022 - $27M

No data

How do Tidio's Shopify-specific features compare to Intercom's?

While both Tidio and Intercom integrate with Shopify, Tidio is generally considered to have more features specifically tailored to the e-commerce platform. Tidio emphasizes its seamless Shopify integration, allowing for features like abandoned cart recovery and personalized product recommendations within the chat. Intercom's Shopify integration focuses more on customer support and communication, lacking the direct e-commerce specific features of Tidio.

Which product offers better chatbot customization for lead qualification?

Tidio offers better chatbot customization for lead qualification due to its explicit focus on customizable automated messages and chatbot flows. While Intercom leverages AI for customer support and resolution, Tidio's emphasis on conversational marketing and lead qualification through chatbots suggests more robust customization options for tailoring interactions to specific lead qualification goals. Tidio's integration with platforms like Shopify further enhances its suitability for e-commerce businesses looking to qualify leads directly from their website.

What are the advantages of Tidio?

Tidio's advantages include its ease of setup and use, effective AI-powered chatbots for automating customer interactions, seamless integrations with platforms like Shopify, real-time visitor insights enabling proactive engagement, and a free plan option. This makes it particularly appealing to small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses looking for affordable and easy-to-implement customer service automation.

What are the disadvantages of Tidio?

Tidio's disadvantages include limited customization options for the chat widget, restrictive free plan limitations, difficulty tracking conversations with potential for missed messages, and reported issues with the mobile app unexpectedly logging users out. Additionally, its scalability is rated negatively, suggesting potential challenges for growing businesses.

Is Tidio cheaper than Intercom?

Tidio offers a free plan and paid plans starting at $29/month. Intercom's pricing starts at $74/month billed annually. Therefore, Tidio is cheaper than Intercom.

Alternatives to Tidio and Intercom

Zowie

Zowie is an AI-powered customer service platform designed for e-commerce businesses. It uses chatbots and automation to handle a large volume of customer inquiries, aiming to resolve over 70% of issues automatically. Zowie integrates with various platforms, operates in multiple languages, and provides data-driven insights to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction. It focuses on automating tasks like answering questions, managing returns, and offering personalized support, aiming to free up human agents for more complex issues.

Drift

Drift is a conversational marketing and sales platform designed to help businesses connect with website visitors in real-time. Offering tools like chatbots, live chat, and email automation, Drift helps businesses capture leads, qualify prospects, and provide instant customer support. Its AI-powered features aim to personalize interactions and improve the buyer's journey. Drift primarily targets B2B companies and focuses on increasing sales efficiency and revenue growth.

Chameleon

Chameleon is a platform designed to help your users get the most out of your software. With Chameleon, you can build interactive guides, in-app messages, and surveys that are tailored to each user's needs. This helps users learn your software faster and reduces the need for support. Chameleon integrates seamlessly with your existing tools and is used by leading companies to improve user satisfaction and drive growth.

Rezo.ai is a cloud-based software that automates customer service using AI. It offers conversational AI chatbots, automated workflows, and real-time performance analysis. Rezo.ai focuses on improving customer experience and streamlining operations for businesses of all sizes across various industries. Its AI-powered features aim to understand and respond to customer queries, freeing up human agents for more complex issues.

Desku.io is a customer service platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It offers a range of tools to help automate and streamline customer interactions, including a help desk, AI chatbots, and live chat. Desku.io is designed to be easy to use, with a no-code chatbot builder and a unified inbox for managing all customer communications. It integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. Desku.io aims to help businesses improve customer satisfaction and boost efficiency.

WalkMe

WalkMe helps employees use software more effectively. It identifies where people struggle in software and provides on-screen guidance and automation to help them complete tasks. This reduces errors, speeds up work, and lessens the need for support. WalkMe works with your existing software and provides data on how it's being used. Companies use WalkMe to improve onboarding, streamline processes, and get more value from their software investments.

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