Smith.ai Chatbot vs. Intercom

Compare features and see how your business can better capture leads and serve clients with the fully automated Smith.ai Chatbot.

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The Smith.ai Advantage

Capture leads 24/7
No staff
needed
Free & unlimited chats

Smith.ai: The best alternative to Intercom

Smith.ai
Intercom
INCLUDED FOR FREE
Unlimited chat conversations
100% bot-answered chats, 24/7
Captures email on every conversation
Captures phone number if desired
Automated lead qualification
Smart Q&A database
Custom AI bot
Pre-chat disclaimer
Mobile-friendly
Custom branding
Public API
Email support
Activity Dashboard
BOOSTED SERVICE
Seats for your staff
0
No seats needed
1</br>More seats with premium plans
Add professional live-chat agents
From $140/mo
Totally optional
X – live chat is available, but has to be staffed by you
Unlimited Q&A and knowledge base
$50/month
X – you'll have to go elsewhere for this feature
Unlimited conversation playbooks
$50/month
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
CRM integrations
$0.50/chat
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
Zapier integration
$0.50/chat
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
White-glove setup option
$150 one-time fee
Totally optional
X – you'll have a CSM for support, but your team will do the work
Custom programming
$200/hr
Totally optional
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
Read our reviews
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Automated Chatbots vs. Live Chat Software

Automated Chatbot
Live Chat Software
Answers messages w/o extra staff
Yes
No
Quick one-time setup
Yes
No
Responds immediately 24/7
Yes
No
Automates lead qualification & intake
Yes
Sometimes
Triages chats automatically
Yes
No
100% consistency
Yes
No
Screens spam & sales
Yes
No

Smith.ai Chatbot gives you the convenience of automated lead capture and the comfort of live chat for today’s users. Intercom has a Business Manager to help streamline lead capture and communication, but you’ll have to set it up yourself.

Intercom and Smith.ai are two companies that are answering the latest call of the customer service world: chatbots, instant answers, and access to all kinds of resources at any given moment in time.

Businesses like yours are now tasked with an even bigger feat: choosing the right chatbot for your organization. Fortunately, this guide will help you get an apples-to-apples look at Smith.ai’s own chatbot and Intercom, which offers an intelligent chatbot of its own.

Intercom saves chat history, and the Business Manager offers apps, bots, and in-app connections to create a link with your customers like never before. You can stream every communication in one place with the Inbox and even check out the proactive and self-service support options.

And if self-service isn’t what's on your mind, that’s okay. After all, while the Intercom Business Manager is pretty impressive, it’s not going to deliver the white glove service that comes from Smith.ai starting on day one.

There's something to be said for taking care of business, for real, and when that is the business of chatbots, Smith.ai has it all. You’ll get unlimited chats, 24/7 availability, pre-screening questions, auto-responses, and an AI-powered bot that learns as it grows.  

Intercom offers a customer data platform that can help you grow and evolve in your chat offerings. It also offers dynamic integrated messaging so that you can reach more people in less time and do it without compromise. Smith.ai offers all of that and then some, and comes with integrated scheduling, intake, and more.

So, what’s the bottom line? While Intercom is making a good effort, they lack many features and some transparency. That’s why the Smith.ai chatbot wins this round.

THE BASICS!

Live chat agents on duty 24/7
Real-time lead qualification & intake with CRM integration for complete workflows
Appointment & call-back scheduling with calendar integration
AI technology powers automatic responses, real-time English-Spanish translation, and more.
Payment collection with online billing and invoice links
Instant chat transcripts via email. Contacts and chat conversations logged in your CRM.

What our customers are saying

“Great customer care and functionality. I love using Smith.ai. They do such a great job in following instructions on how I'd like my cases handled. I especially love the fact that I get email transcripts of all chats. I have never had incorrect information obtained (contact info) from any potential clients by Smith.ai. They are very detail oriented!”
"Smith allows us to converse with website visitors and turn them into potential clients. They've made it easier for us to be there at all times, even when we're not. We've worked with other vendors in the past and have found Smith.ai among the easiest to use. They're very responsive, they communicate well, and serve as our front lines for client communications."
Scott Peterson
“Simple way to start a great client experience. There are a lot of Chat options available, but this was a no brainer for us because of our great experience with Smith.ai as a company. Everything they do is focused on simplicity. Stuff just works. They make everything easy and have focused on hiring great people, which is evident by the way they treat us as a customer and the people that they chat with on our behalf.”
Brian Waller
“Love Smith.ai Chat! There is no way that I could staff a feature like that in house with my small business. Smith.ai makes the chat feature available around the clock. I am a lawyer and this feature is great for clients who are nervous or shy about making that initial phone call, or who are up thinking about the problem that they need help with outside of business hours. The Smith.ai Website Chat also integrates perfectly with my CRM/case management software. It has really been a boost to my business. I have tried other companies. Smith.ai is the best!”
Nicole G.

Unlimited chats answered 24/7/365

FREE AI
CHATBOT

$0
Per Month
Unlimited
chat conversations
includes
4 q&A and 1 playbook

ADD-on
Pricing

Unlimited playbooks - $50/mo
Unlimited Q&A - $50/mo
CRM Integrations - $0.50/chat
White-glove installation - $150

We integrate with your software

Contacts and chat transcripts are instantly logged in your systems
Clio
Clio Grow
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zapier
PracticePanther
Capsule CRM
Lawmatics
Lead Docket
Wealthbox

Small businesses trust Smith.ai Chatbot to capture more leads