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Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support

Gong vs Hiver vs Intercom

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Gong

4.0

Free to start

Hiver

3.9

From $25/user/mo

Best overall

Intercom

4.2

From $0.99 per outcome

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Gong4.0

Pick it if: Sales leaders running a team of reps who want to coach from real calls and forecast deals more accurately.

Best valueEasiest to use

Pick it if: Small and mid-sized teams who answer customers or suppliers from a shared Gmail address and want structure without leaving Gmail.

Best overall

Pick it if: Online businesses and software companies with a support team that wants an AI agent to take the first pass at every question.

Intercom scores highest overall, but Hiver gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.

Overview

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
In one lineRecords and analyses sales calls and emails to coach reps and forecast deals.Shared inbox and helpdesk that runs inside Gmail, with AI that drafts and answers replies.Customer support inbox, help centre and chat, with the Fin AI agent answering first.
Pricing modelPaidPaidPaid
Starting priceSee website$25/user/mo$0.99 per outcome
Free plan No No No
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
Overall rating4.03.94.2Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.5
4.0
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
5.0
4.0
5.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
3.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
2.5
4.0
3.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
3.5
4.5

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
Access & platform
Free plan No No No
Mobile app Yes Yes Yes
Desktop app–––
Browser extension Yes Yes–
API access Yes Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files–– Yes
Understands images–– Yes
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code– No No
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style–– Yes
Works in many languages Yes– Yes
Capabilities score8/ 177/ 1710/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
Plans

Platform fee

Custom (billed yearly)

Every Gong customer pays this, scaled to team size.

Growth

$25/user/mo billed yearly, or $35 monthly

Small teams running one or two shared inboxes.

Fin on its own

$0.99 per outcome, monthly minimum

Teams happy with their current helpdesk who want the AI agent only.

Per-user licenceOur pick

Custom per user (billed yearly)

Each rep or manager who records and reviews calls.

ProOur pick

$55/user/mo billed yearly, or $65 monthly

Support teams that need targets and connected tools.

Essential

$29/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Small teams starting out with live chat and an AI agent.

Add-ons (Engage, Forecast, Enable)

Custom

Teams that want outreach, forecasting or coaching in Gong too.

Elite

$85/user/mo billed yearly, or $95 monthly

Larger teams wanting AI quality checks and tighter security.

AdvancedOur pick

$85/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Growing support teams that need automation and several inboxes.

Expert

$132/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Larger teams with security and multi-brand needs.

Which plan to pickStart with the core licence for reps who run customer calls and add Forecast or Engage only once the team uses Gong daily. Push back on bundles and multi-year terms during negotiation.Growth is enough for a small team that just needs a tidy shared inbox with AI help. Choose Pro if you need response-time targets, CRM or Shopify data next to each email, or the API. Voice is an add-on at $30 per seat.Start the 14-day trial and see how many conversations Fin handles, because that number drives the bill more than seats do. Most teams with more than a couple of agents end up on Advanced for the workflows. If you already run Zendesk or Salesforce and like it, try Fin on its own first.

Key features

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
Standout features
  • Call recording and transcripts
  • Deal insights
  • AI summaries and follow-ups
  • Coaching
  • Forecasting
  • Ask anything
  • Shared inbox in Gmail
  • AI agents
  • AI copilot
  • Collaboration
  • Hiver Omni
  • Fin AI agent
  • Shared inbox and tickets
  • Messenger chat widget
  • Help centre
  • Workflows
  • Copilot for agents

Pros and cons

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
Pros
  • Very accurate call analysis and deal warnings
  • Easy for reps: it records and summarises with no extra work
  • Strong coaching tools for managers
  • Wide range of integrations with CRMs and dialers
  • Almost no training: the team keeps working in Gmail
  • AI agents and copilot included from the cheapest plan
  • Good for non-support teams like finance and HR
  • Cheaper than Zendesk or Intercom for small teams
  • 24/7 support on every plan
  • Fin gives some of the most accurate answers of any AI support agent
  • Inbox, chat, help centre and AI all built to work together
  • Fin can run on top of another helpdesk, so you can trial it without moving
  • Clean, modern inbox that support staff pick up quickly
  • Public API and an official MCP server
Cons
  • Expensive, with a platform fee on top of per-user licences
  • No public pricing and pressure toward multi-year deals and bundles
  • Renewal price increases are a common complaint
  • Small teams often use only a fraction of the features they pay for
  • Gmail add-on can be slow, lose connection or log users out
  • Search and formatting are weaker than in a full helpdesk
  • Key integrations and the API only start on Pro
  • Seats sold in blocks, with a two-seat minimum
  • Per-seat plus per-conversation pricing makes the monthly bill hard to predict
  • You pay for a Fin outcome even when a customer leaves after a weak answer, by some users' accounts
  • Many useful features sit on higher plans or paid add-ons
  • Slow or patchy responses from Intercom's own support in user reviews
  • Ownership change (renamed Fin, being bought by Salesforce) adds uncertainty

Who each one is for

AttributeGongHiverIntercom
Best for
  • Coaching reps from real call recordings
  • Spotting at-risk deals early
  • Sales forecasting and pipeline reviews
  • Learning why deals are won or lost
  • Running support@ or info@ as a team
  • Assigning and tracking customer emails
  • Finance and HR shared mailboxes
  • AI-drafted email replies
  • Teams that want to stay in Gmail
  • Answering common customer questions automatically
  • Website and in-app live chat
  • A shared support inbox with ticketing
  • Building a help centre the AI learns from
  • Support across chat, email and phone in one place
You'll find it used by
  • Sales leaders
  • Account executives
  • Revenue operations
  • Customer success teams
  • Customer support teams
  • Finance and accounts teams
  • Operations teams
  • Logistics companies
  • Agencies
  • Support teams
  • Software companies
  • Online stores
  • Customer success teams

Questions people ask

Which is better, Gong, Hiver or Intercom?

Intercom scores highest overall in our ratings (Gong 4.0/5, Hiver 3.9/5 and Intercom 4.2/5). Gong is best for coaching reps from real call recordings and spotting at-risk deals early. Hiver is best for running support@ or info@ as a team and assigning and tracking customer emails. Intercom is best for answering common customer questions automatically and website and in-app live chat.

Which is cheaper, Gong, Hiver or Intercom?

Gong: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote. Hiver: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $25/user/mo. Intercom: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $0.99 per outcome.

Which is easier to use, Gong, Hiver or Intercom?

Hiver rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Small and mid-sized teams who answer customers or suppliers from a shared Gmail address and want structure without leaving Gmail.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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