Top 4 Tidio Alternatives Based on 27,000+ Reviews

With customers rapidly shifting their service encounters to social media, businesses have the opportunity to harness these channels to enhance the quality of their service (See figure below).

Source: HubSpot and Brandwatch.¹

Tidio is one of the social customer service software companies; nevertheless, with dozens of solutions on the market, Tidio may not position itself as the most suitable vendor for each company. Users and executives may excel and evaluate other products with diverse social media customer service features to create positive customer experiences.

This article dives into the features, user ratings, and pricing of Tidio along with its top four competitors to provide companies with vendor insights.

Comparison of Tidio and its top 4 alternatives

Table 1: Comparison by market presence

Vendors	Total number of employees*	Total reviews**	Average ratings**	Ease of use***	Quality of support***	Free trial	Pricing: starts from per seat/month
Tidio	179	1,827	4.8	9.4	9.4	7-day	$29.00
Zendesk Support Suite	6,275	10,321	4.3	8.5	8.4	14-day	$55.00
Salesforce Service Cloud	70,443	4,593	4.4	8.1	8.1	30-day	$25.00
Freshdesk	12,917	6,753	4.4	8.8	8.8	14-day	$15.00
Intercom	1,324	4,041	4.4	8.9	8.7	14-day	$39.00

*Based on the total number of employees on LinkedIn as of 11/14/2023.

**Based on the total number of reviews and average ratings on Capterra, Gartner, and G2 software review platforms as of 11/14/2023. 

***Ease of quality and quality of support data is based on G2 ratings as of 14/11/2023.

Table 2: Comparison by features

Vendors	AI chatbot	Social media monitoring	Opportunity tracking	Case Management	Advanced analytics	# of integrations*	Supported languages
Tidio	Add-on	In premium plans	✖	✖	In premium plans	350+	6
Zendesk Support Suite	Add-on	In premium plans	✅	✅	In premium plans	1200+	30+
Salesforce Service Cloud	Add-on	In premium plans	✅	✅	In premium plans	2500+	35+
Freshdesk	Add-on	In premium plans	✅	✅	✅	650+	30+
Intercom	✅	✖	✅	✖	In premium plans	350+	44+

Note: With Tidio at the top followed by sponsored vendors (Zendesk Support Suite and Salesforce Service Cloud), other solutions are sorted in descending order according to the total number of reviews.

Disclaimer: Tidio is positioned at the top of the list followed by sponsored vendors (Zendesk Support Suite and Salesforce Service Cloud), other alternatives are listed in descending order given the total number of reviews they have.

Vendor selection criteria

Considering the numerous social customer service providers available in the market, the list above has been narrowed down based on the vendor criteria listed below to assist businesses in making more accurate decisions.

• Employee size: 150+ employees on LinkedIn
• Number of reviews: 1,000+ total reviews on Capterra, Gartner, and G2. 
• Average rating: 4.0+/5 on Capterra, Gartner, and G2.
• Ease of quality and quality of support rating: 8.0+/10 on G2.

What is social customer service software?

Social service software is a system that allows human representatives to respond to any questions customers may have about products or services via social media channels such as live chat, email, messages, or forums.

Tidio

Tidio is a customer service software used by over 300,000 organizations that enables support agents to respond to consumer inquiries across many channels, including social media. 

Tidio offers social media service and live chat software features, including real-time chat customer conversations with up to 50 users (in free trial), intelligent chatbot sessions with up to 100 users, a ticketing system, and 350+ third-party app integrations.²

Pros

Low-code / no-code: Users with no prior programming experience appreciate the fact that they can utilize the platform with a no-code drag-and-drop interface.³

Customer support: Users claim that Tidio’s support team provides robust service. They are constantly open to feedback and regularly respond to questions.⁴

Live chat functionality: Users say that they were able to quickly communicate with prospective customers and address any inquiries they had about the products with Tidio’s live chat app.⁵

Cons

Pricing model: Some users find the pricing models complicated, expressing that they have had difficulty determining the difference between what features they receive with a paid model.⁶

Limited features: Some users highlight that the free plan has limited features noting that Tidio does not integrate with Twitter, and the mobile widget has low customization options.⁷

Insufficient functionality: Some users complain about the functional drawbacks of Tidio such as limited language support, inaccurate replies, and shortcomings in dealing with complicated inquiries.⁸

User Ratings

• Capterra: 4.8/5
• Gartner: No information is available
• G2: 4.7/5

Pricing (per seat/month)

Starter: €29.00

Communicator: €25.00

Chatbots: €29.00

Free trial: 7-day⁹

Top 4 Tidio alternatives

1- Zendesk Support Suite

Zendesk Support Suite is designed to provide customer service through numerous social media platforms including Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and X.

With Zendesk Support Suite, each social media message can be converted into a service ticket that can be handled from the shared mailbox. Users with access to the inbox may handle inquiries by leveraging chatbots, virtual assistants, and self-service automation capabilities.

Zendesk offers social customer service features such as “Answer Bot”, a customizable automated chatbot, that can be integrated into your software, mobile application, and social channels. It can assist with deflecting tickets by directing website visitors through a dialogue to improve their support requests, recommending self-service guidance, and pull customer data from your customers before providing them to a live agent. 

Figure: Answer chatbot generating customized texts

Source: Zendesk¹⁰

Pros

Automation: Users appreciate the fact that Support Suite can create specific queues, as well as configure macros and automated triggers, and use robotic process automation (RPA) for service desk requests.¹¹

Integrated communications with chatbots: Users appreciate the integrated email and chat tool, and the ability to manage valuable reporting with automatic chatbot responses.¹²

User interface: While few users complain that the platform has a complex UI design (see below cons section), others perceive Zendesk’s user interface as visually appealing to use.¹³

Cons

UI design and navigation: Zendesk Support Suite does not provide enough design functionality and is far too complex to utilize. It is too difficult to use and practically impossible to figure out the pathways to take to go where you need to go, with various navigations to follow.¹⁴

Connection: Some users complain that the software’s connection may become weak or unpredictable, causing users to encounter poor performance and dropped connections.¹⁵

Setup configurations: A few reviewers claim that it is difficult to set default system configurations once the system has been implemented, causing them to have less flexibility while customizing the product.¹⁶

User Ratings

• Capterra: 4.4/5
• Gartner: 4.2/5
• G2: 4.3/5

Pricing (per seat/month, billed annually)

• Suite team: $55.00
• Suite growth: $89.00
• Suite professional: $115.00
• Suite enterprise: Custom pricing
• Free-trial: 14-day¹⁷

2- Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer service solution that includes cloud-based social media service capabilities with more than 70,000 employees and 150,000 registered users globally.¹⁸

The software can maintain customer interactions across a variety of social communication channels, including email, texting, real-time chat, and social media sites, allowing support agents to keep track of customer cases and respond to consumer requests efficiently.

For a monthly subscription fee, Service Cloud Einstein is one of the add-on solutions that can be incorporated into a Salesforce system. Einstein automates repetitive operations and provides analytical insights to social customer service teams using real-time analytics, automated workflows, and generative (AI).

Figure: Einstein conversational AI bot interacting with a customer on a messaging screen

Source: Salesforce¹⁹

Pros 

Social customer service AI: Several reviewers emphasize that Salesforce Service Cloud has effective artificial intelligence features, which assist them in providing tailored social customer service and increasing agent efficiency.²⁰

Social media interactions: Users note that the software provides powerful digital engagement and enables seamless communication with clients via social media channels such as WhatsApp and Live Web Chat.²¹

Communication monitoring: According to user comments, Service Cloud is a robust product for centralizing customer interaction and smoothly monitoring various streams of communication.²²

Cons

Pricing: Some user reviews highlight that Service Cloud might be expensive for small organizations on a limited budget.²³

System reliability: Some users point out that the platform can become inconsistent; when tabs are used actively for too long, the system might reset the open tabs automatically.²⁴

Flexible reporting: Some users state that Service Cloud’s reporting might be improved since they claim the platform does not allow other departments to examine outside customer cases.²⁵

User Ratings

• Capterra: 4.4/5
• Gartner: 4.4/5
• G2: 4.3/5

Pricing (per seat/month, billed annually)

• Starter: $25.00
• Professional: $80.00
• Enterprise: $165.00
• Unlimited: $330.00
• Free trial: 30-day²⁶

3- Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a customer support platform with social customer service capabilities that serves businesses of all sizes and has over 60,000 customers.²⁷

Freshdesk lets users engage with social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook from a single interface, eliminating the need to move between apps. All important brand mentions, feedback, likes, and responses from these social channels are then converted into case tickets. The software lets users monitor posts that are not directed at your business but contain mentions of your brand by leveraging social listening. 

Freshdesk also offers a chatbot called “Freddy bot” which may also assist customer service. Freddy utilizes machine learning to “read” existing material such as knowledge base documents and correlate them to what it estimates customers are seeking. The more discussions Freddy has “read” or learned from, the more accurate his prediction will be.

Figure: Freddy chatbot offering suggestions related to a customer ticket

Source: Freshworks²⁸

Pros

Ease-of-use (customer support tickets): Users say that each user receives their ticket, making it incredibly simple to follow customer interactions with the business.²⁹

Multi-channel communication: Users claim that they are efficiently and rapidly capable of handling chat, email, phone, and social media.³⁰

Canned responses: Users have positively commented on the structure and functionality of canned responses.³¹

Cons

Removal of X integration: Some users say that the recent removal of integration with the Twitter/X platform was the most significant disadvantage of the platform.³²

Social media integrations: According to some users, the integration capabilities with social networking sites might be enhanced, noting that more comprehensive social media monitoring and engagement options would be useful for managing and responding to consumer questions.³³

Learning curve: Some users say that while Freshdesk Omnichannel is not user-friendly, support agents may need some time to learn and adjust to the platform, particularly if they are unfamiliar with customer support software or have low technical expertise.³⁴

User Ratings

• Capterra: 4.5/5
• Gartner: 4.4/5
• G2: 4.4/5

Pricing (per seat/month)

• Growth: $15.00
• Omni-channel growth: $29.00
• Pro: $48.99
• Omni-channel pro: $59.00
• Enterprise: $69.00
• Omni-channel enterprise: $99.00
• Free trial: 14-day³⁵

4- Intercom

Intercom is a customer support platform with social media service tools that assist organizations in communicating with customers and users through in-app messaging, chatbots, live chat, messages, and social media.

The platform can automatically send messages and emails to teams or customers via social media networks, allowing users to manage all support questions from their inboxes.

Intercom offers a technology called “Fin”, a built-in chatbot with a live chat feature, powered by a combination of extensive language models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4, which is claimed to resolve up to 50% of your support queries.³⁶

Figure: Demonstration of Fin AI chatbot

Source: Intercom³⁷

Pros

AI chatbots: Some users claim that the Fin AI chatbot has reduced the first reaction times by 75%, and average resolution times by 50%. They note that the AI chatbot helps manage social customer queries and present critical information before they start the conversation.³⁸

Ticketing system: Users have positively commented on Intercom’s flexibility, automation, and ticket management features for organizing their work.³⁹

Interface and workflows: Reviewers complement the platform’s conversational interface and workflows. They say that the workflows combined with conversational capabilities make it simple and natural to communicate with customers.⁴⁰

Cons

Social media integration: Some users believe that social media platforms such as Facebook should be corrected since this causes communication gaps.⁴¹

Notifications: Some users remark that Intercom could have specific notification settings.⁴²

Customization: Some users expect to see more customization options available in the help center.⁴³

User Ratings

• Capterra: 4.5/5
• Gartner: 4.1/5
• G2: 4.5/5

Pricing (per seat/month, billed annually)

• Essential: $39.00
• Advanced: $99.00
• Expert: $139.00
• Free-trial: 14-day⁴⁴

7 compared features of Tidio alternatives

1- AI chatbots

AI chatbots are interactive platforms with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities that deliver customer assistance via message, voice commands, or both across a variety of channels, such as brand websites, apps, or social media platforms. 

AI chatbots such as customer service chatbots may manage the user experience, conversation flow, and response time on social media. This allows customers to receive quick replies on social media sites.

2- Social media monitoring

Social media monitoring is a technique for examining and responding to company-related social media activities such as important mentions, comments, posts, trends, tags, hashtags, and keywords. 

3- Opportunity tracking (sales)

Opportunity tracking for sales on social media is a sales-oriented social monitoring technique that sets up alerts and keywords to tell you when someone discusses your brand, product, service, business rivals, or any other relevant issues on the sales pipeline.

Opportunity tracking features can monitor and evaluate the internet discussions related to your search terms, and utilize services like Google Alerts or Search Engine Mention to locate the most recent and accurate topics.

4- Case management 

Case management is a tool that allows users to assist customers, business partners, and internal stakeholders more quickly and accurately by assigning a ticket (or case ID) to each support inquiry. Users can execute case management initiatives to track the issues to tickets from the start to the end.

Organizations may use the case management function in social customer service software to: 

• Resolve issues more quickly
• Manage each channel of communication.
• Give agents a comprehensive perspective of their customers.
• Display the history of the customer issue.

5- Advanced analytics

Advanced analytics is the statical study (e.g. predictive modeling, machine learning algorithms, deep learning, business process automation, and others) of data or content (image or voice) using complex methodologies and tools, often beyond those of standard business intelligence (BI), to find deeper insights, make forecasts, or develop recommendations. 

6- Software integrations

Software integration is the process of connecting one software application with another often combined with third-party applications such as CRM and social media software. 

7- Multilingual support

Multilingual support is customer service provided by a company in different languages as part of the entire customer journey. The goal is to eliminate the barrier to communication so that foreign clients may explain their demands and receive support in their language.

Transparency statement

AIMultiple serves numerous tech companies, including Salesforce and Zendesk.

Further reading

Read our transparent, up-to-date articles to learn more about social customer service alternatives and customer engagement automation.

For more on customer service, check out our data-driven list of customer experience software.

Contact us to find out more about social customer service:

Find the Right Vendors

External Links

1. ”The 2023 Global Social Media Trends Report with Brandwatch“. (PDF). HubSpot and Brandwatch. January, 2023. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
2. ”Free live chat tool for all your conversations“. Tidio. April 13, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
3. ”Tidio Reviews“. Capterra. March 3, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
4. ”Tidio Reviews“. G2. March 31, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
5. ”Tidio Reviews“. G2. January 30, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
6. ”Tidio Reviews“. G2. February 5, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
7. ”Tidio Reviews“. G2. July 14, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
8. ”Tidio Reviews“. G2. January 31, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
9. ”Tidio Pricing“. Tidio. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
10. ”Zendesk Community“. Zendesk. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
11. ”Zendesk Support Suite Reviews”. G2. Aug 18, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
12. ”Zendesk Support Suite Reviews”. G2. January 17, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
13. ”Zendesk Support Suite Reviews”. Capterra. October 4, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
14. ”Zendesk Support Suite Reviews”. Gartner. November 16, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
15. ”Zendesk Support Suite Reviews”. Capterra. January 15, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
16. ”Zendesk Support Suite Reviews”. Capterra. October 4, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
17. ”Zendesk Pricing 2023“. Zendesk. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
18. ”Salesforce”. LinkedIn. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
19. ”Einstein Bots“. Salesforce. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
20. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Reviews“. G2. September 12, 2023.  Retrieved December 11, 2023.
21. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Reviews“. G2. August 10, 2023.  Retrieved December 11, 2023.
22. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Reviews“. TrustRadius. June 24, 2022.  Retrieved December 11, 2023.
23. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Reviews”. TrustRadius. April 23, 2021.  Retrieved December 11, 2023.
24. ”Salesforce Service Cloud”. Capterra. June 15, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
25. ”Salesforce Service Cloud Reviews 2023“. TrustRadius. April 20, 2021.  Retrieved December 11, 2023.
26. ”Salesforce Editions & Pricing – Service Cloud Lightning 2023“. Salesforce. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
27. ”Freshdesk”. Freshworks. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
28. ”Transform your Agent Experience with Freddy AI“. Freshworks. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
29. ”Freshdesk Reviews”. G2. November 11, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
30. “Freshdesk Reviews“. Gartner. September 26, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
31. ”Freshdesk Reviews”. G2. April 11, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
32. ”Freshdesk Reviews”. G2. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
33. ”Freshdesk Reviews”. Capterra. May 25, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
34. ”Freshdesk Reviews”. G2. April 13, 2023. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
35. ”Freshdesk Pricing 2023“. Freshworks. December 11, 2023.
36. ”How customer service chatbots are redefining customer experience”. Intercom. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
37. ”Intercom-Fin“. Intercom. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
38. ”Intercom Reviews”. G2. March 30, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
39. ”Intercom Reviews”. G2. October 29, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
40. ”Intercom Reviews”. G2. September 18, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
41. ”Intercom Reviews”. G2. June 16, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
42. ”Intercom Reviews”. G2. April 24, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
43. ”Intercom Reviews”. G2. August 28, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
44. ”Intercom Pricing 2023“. Intercom. Retrieved December 11, 2023.