Gladly vs Intercom
Gladly and Intercom, side by side across AI, pricing, channels, security, and seven more categories. We pull every figure from public sources and don’t pick a winner.
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Gladly
The only AI built for LTV. People-centered AI support; no ticket model.
Best for Mid-market to enterprise retail, ecommerce, and hospitality (Ulta, Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, TUMI).
2014 · San Francisco, CA.
Intercom
AI-first helpdesk built around an autonomous AI agent (Fin).
Best for Mid-market and enterprise SaaS/tech teams wanting a unified AI agent plus human helpdesk.
2011 · San Francisco, CA.
Claimed: from the vendor, not independently verified.
3rd-party: sourced elsewhere, not on the vendor's site.
Everything else: from the vendor's own pages and verifiable.
Pricing
List prices, seat rules, trials, and pricing transparency.
- Pricing model
- GladlyPer agent/mo, annual; usage fees for voice, SMS, and AI; not published on site.
- IntercomPer-seat (Full seats) plus per-outcome Fin AI. Lite seats free on Advanced/Expert.
- Free trial / guarantee
- GladlyNo (enterprise); 30-day trial with 100 AI interactions via Shopify only.
- Intercom14 days, no credit card.
- Price
- Gladly~$180/agent/mo (Hero, annual). · ~$210/agent/mo (Superhero, annual). · Not disclosed. Enterprise quote above Superhero.(3rd-party)source
- IntercomEssential: $29/seat/mo (annual); $39 monthly. · Advanced: $85/seat/mo (annual); incl. 20 free Lite seats. · Expert: $132/seat/mo (annual); incl. 50 free Lite seats.
- Unlimited agents
- GladlyNo. Priced per agent.(3rd-party)source
- IntercomNo. Per-seat (Lite seats limited-function, free on higher tiers).
- Implementation fee
- GladlyNot disclosed. Custom quote; Professional Services.(3rd-party)source
- IntercomNot disclosed. Premier Onboarding is a paid add-on (contact sales).
- Transparency
- GladlyOpaque. No pricing on site; requires a demo.
- IntercomSeat and Fin per-outcome prices public; Premier/services require sales.
Channels
Where each tool can talk to customers.
- GladlyNative
- IntercomNative
- Live chat
- GladlyNative
- IntercomNative
- In-app messenger
- GladlyNative
- IntercomNative (web, Android, iOS Messenger).
- Voice
- GladlyNative. Built-in, enterprise-ready.
- IntercomNative (Intercom Phone; also AWS Connect, Talkdesk, Twilio Flex, Zoom Phone via SIP).
- SMS
- GladlyNative
- IntercomNative (2-way; per-message charges).
- GladlyNative (via WhatsApp Business API).
- IntercomNative
- Social
- GladlyNative. Facebook Messenger, Instagram.
- IntercomNative Instagram and Facebook DMs; X no longer supported.
- Unified inbox
- GladlyNative. Single people-centered timeline (no tickets).
- IntercomNative
Voice & Telephony
Native voice vs telephony integrations.
- Native vs via integration
- GladlyNative. Voice and IVR built-in, no third-party telephony needed.
- IntercomBoth. Native Intercom Phone plus 3rd-party (AWS Connect, Talkdesk, Twilio Flex, Zoom Phone).
- Voice AI / transcription
- GladlyYes. AI voice summaries and transcription (Deepgram).
- IntercomYes. Full transcription, AI call summaries, recordings.
- Telephony billed separately
- GladlyYes. Per-minute on top of the seat fee (inbound local ~$0.0186/min).(3rd-party)source
- IntercomYes. Voice priced in Order Form, not in seat price.
AI & Automation
Autonomous resolution, agentic actions, models, and how AI is priced.
- Autonomous AI agent
- GladlyYes. Gladly Sidekick resolves end-to-end on chat, SMS, and voice (email soon); human handoff.(claimed)source
- IntercomYes. Fin AI Agent resolves conversations end to end.
- Copilot / Assist mode
- GladlyYes. Team Assist: AI-drafted responses, real-time translation, and summaries.(claimed)source
- IntercomYes. Copilot add-on, $29/agent/mo.
- Claimed automation rate
- Gladly76% of conversations fully resolved by AI (homepage); KUHL 59%.(claimed)source
- IntercomUp to 65% end to end. Fin 2 averaged 66% across 6,000+ customers.(claimed)source
- AI channel coverage
- GladlyChat, SMS, and voice (Sidekick Voice); email launching soon; social not confirmed.(claimed)source
- IntercomChat, email, voice/phone, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Slack, Discord.
- Agentic actions (API) vs answer-only
- GladlyBoth. Refunds, cancellations, and booking updates via connected commerce and logistics APIs.(claimed)source
- IntercomBoth. Fin Tasks, Procedures (NL plus data connectors and conditional logic), and 3rd-party actions (refunds, cancellations).
- Knowledge sources
- GladlyBrand KB (Guides), conversation history, and integrated commerce, logistics, and order data.(claimed)source
- IntercomHelp Center, internal content, PDFs, external URLs, past conversations, Zendesk imports, Google Docs/Notion SOPs.
- Underlying model
- GladlyNot publicly disclosed; uses Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Deepgram (voice).
- IntercomFin Apex 1.0. Proprietary post-trained model (replaced GPT/Claude Sonnet 4.0 as of Mar 2026).
- Trains on past tickets
- GladlyYes. Learns from every conversation, including human resolutions; not used to train its own models.(claimed)source
- IntercomPast conversations are a knowledge source. Fin Guidance uses human instructions; no disclosed active retraining.
- Pre-deploy simulation / sandbox
- GladlyNot disclosed
- IntercomYes. Fin Flywheel Test phase: fully simulated conversations plus batch test before go-live.
- Multilingual
- GladlyPartial. Platform translation in 70+ languages; Sidekick AI authoring English-only; IVR 30 languages.
- IntercomYes. 43+ languages (AI Answers); Fin Voice 28 languages; real-time translation.
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- GladlyNative only. Sidekick needs Gladly as the primary helpdesk.
- IntercomBoth. Native on Intercom or standalone on Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk, Dixa, Front, Zoho Desk, Sprinklr.
- AI pricing model
- GladlyUsage-based (per conversation or resolution) on top of a per-agent fee.(3rd-party)source
- IntercomPer-outcome (resolution). $0.99 per resolved conversation; 50 outcome/mo minimum when standalone.
- AI unit price
- Gladly~$0.60/conversation (enterprise); $1.50/AI Resolution + $0.25/AI Assist (Shopify tier).(3rd-party)source
- Intercom$0.99 per outcome (all plans).
- Copilot / Assist price
- GladlyNot disclosed (Team Assist not broken out).
- Intercom$29/agent/mo (unlimited usage).
How Open.cx compares
Open.cx runs on top of Gladly or Intercomas an AI layer, or works as its own helpdesk. Here's where it lands on the same questions.
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- Both. Add it on top of the helpdesk you already run, or use it as your own inbox. Works with Zendesk, Intercom, Front, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365, Twilio Flex, and Creatio.
- Autonomous AI agent
- Yes. Autopilot resolves tickets end to end on its own, across every channel.
- AI pricing model
- Per resolution, so you pay for outcomes. Escalations to a human are free.
- Claimed automation rate
- 77% average automation; up to 80% (Trunkrs)(claimed)source
Security & Compliance
Certifications, data residency, and access controls.
- SOC 2 Type II
- GladlySOC 2 Type II (and AI sub-processors).
- IntercomSOC 2 Type II (via Trust Center on request).
- GDPR
- GladlyYes. DPAs with AI vendors; VeraSafe EU/UK representative.
- IntercomYes. DPA available.
- HIPAA / PCI
- GladlyNot disclosed. PCI-DSS and GDPR confirmed; HIPAA not referenced.
- IntercomYes. Annual attestation; BAA available.
- SSO / SAML
- GladlyYes. SSO; SAML certificates.
- IntercomYes. SAML SSO (Expert plan); new SP cert required by Dec 2026.
- Data residency
- GladlyPartial. 9 global regions for voice; no explicit customer-selectable residency.
- IntercomUS, EU, or Australia. Advanced/Expert annual only; new workspace required.
Integrations
Marketplace breadth, APIs, and developer tooling.
- Marketplace / integrations (approx.)
- Gladly60+ integrations.
- Intercom~250–450 apps (one aggregator lists 565).(3rd-party)source
- Shopify depth
- GladlyDeep native. Customer and purchase history, order management, returns (via Loop), and shipping; Shopify App Store trial.
- IntercomDeep native. Bidirectional order/customer sync, order events, and agent actions (refund, edit shipping, draft orders). Shopify Plus partner.
- Open / public API
- GladlyYes. Open APIs; developer.gladly.com.
- IntercomYes. REST API with OpenAPI spec on GitHub; webhooks.
- Developer SDK / MCP
- GladlyYes. SDKs, sample apps, and testing; webhooks via Messaging Automation APIs.
- IntercomYes. Developer Platform; Messenger and Inbox app framework.
Automation & Workflows
Builders, triggers, routing, and SLAs.
- Workflow builder
- GladlyRouting and entry-point config; no named workflow builder.
- IntercomYes. Visual no-code Workflows builder.
- Triggers / automations
- GladlyYes. Automated routing, proactive outreach (voice, SMS, email), and entry-point rules.
- IntercomYes. Event/condition triggers across chat, email, WhatsApp, IG, FB, SMS, Slack.
- Routing
- GladlyYes. People Match intelligent routing (history, skills, attributes).
- IntercomYes. Assignment rules, team prioritization, workload mgmt, auto-unassign.
- Macros / canned responses
- GladlyYes. Quick Reply (button responses) and macros.
- IntercomYes. Macros supported.
- SLA management
- GladlyYes. SLA Business Hours and Entry Point SLA settings.
- IntercomYes. SLA rules via workflows/settings.
Collaboration
How support teams work a queue together.
- Internal notes
- GladlyYes. Notes and @mentions.
- IntercomYes. Editable, timestamped.
- Collision detection
- GladlyReferenced in comparisons; not confirmed on a Gladly page.(3rd-party)source
- IntercomYes. Teammates presence prevents simultaneous editing.(3rd-party)source
- Side conversations
- GladlyNot disclosed
- IntercomYes. Email or Slack side conversations on parent threads.
- Shared inbox
- GladlyYes. Unified inbox; task management tied to customer threads.
- IntercomYes. Central shared workspace plus team inboxes.
Self-Service & Knowledge
Knowledge base, help center, and deflection.
- Knowledge base
- GladlyYes. Answers KB for agents and AI; configured via non-developer Guides.
- IntercomYes. Knowledge Hub: articles, snippets, folders, bulk mgmt, audience targeting.
- Help center
- GladlyYes. Customer-facing, 45+ languages.
- IntercomYes. Native, multiple Help Centers, customizable branding.
- Community forum
- GladlyNot offered
- IntercomIntercom runs its own user forum; not a deployable end-user forum feature.
- AI answers from knowledge base
- GladlyYes. Sidekick serves answers from the Answers KB autonomously.(claimed)source
- IntercomYes. Fin and Copilot resolve from Knowledge Hub content.
Reporting & Analytics
Dashboards, custom reports, and CSAT.
- Dashboards
- GladlyYes. Liveboards (real-time) and Insight Builder.
- IntercomYes. 12 pre-built reports; real-time dashboards.
- Custom reports
- GladlyYes. Insight Builder custom reports.
- IntercomYes. Drag-and-drop (9 chart types); Advanced and Expert only.
- Included in lowest tier
- GladlyReporting tier restrictions not published; appears standard.
- IntercomEssential: pre-built only; custom plus advanced CSAT on Advanced/Expert.
- CSAT surveys
- GladlyYes. Native CSAT; integrates Delighted, SimpleSat, Stella.
- IntercomYes. On close (all plans); Fin CSAT; advanced attrs Advanced/Expert only.
Onboarding & Support
Implementation, CSM tiers, and partners.
- Onboarding
- GladlyDedicated implementation team; Professional Services; guided docs.
- IntercomSelf-serve (14-day trial); Premier Onboarding (paid add-on, contact sales).
- Support channels
- GladlyGladly Support team (bugs, how-tos, config); dedicated CSM post-implementation.
- IntercomMessenger/email; Premier Support (<1hr urgent); Rapid Response (~10 min, dedicated POC).
- Dedicated CSM
- GladlyYes. All customers get a dedicated CSM post-implementation.
- IntercomPremier Rapid Response includes a dedicated point of contact; a named ongoing CSM is not documented.
- Implementation partners
- GladlyNot disclosed. No partner or SI page found.
- IntercomYes. Solution Partner Program (certified implementation partners).