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Best Thena Alternatives

Written by Paddy Stobbs

Co-Founder & CEO

Edited by Steph Leung

Product & Operations Lead

Updated onMar 14, 2025
Thena is emerging as a notable player in the customer support software landscape, offering a Slack-centric approach to help desk management that emphasizes simplicity and integration with existing workflows. However, as businesses evaluate their support technology options in 2025, several alternatives provide compelling advantages for specific use cases. Gorgias delivers specialized ecommerce support with deep platform integrations and order management capabilities. Plain stands out with its developer-first approach, offering unparalleled API flexibility for technical teams. Front excels with sophisticated automation capabilities for complex workflow management. Intercom provides comprehensive omnichannel coverage essential for B2C businesses engaging customers across multiple platforms. Meanwhile, Zendesk for Service remains the enterprise-grade solution with robust customization options and advanced features for large-scale operations. This comparison explores how these alternatives to Thena address specific business requirements across different support environments.

Best alternatives to Thena

For ecommerce customer support:

Gorgias product logo

Gorgias

Stackfix Rating:

6.0 / 10

Gorgias stands out as an ecommerce customer support solution through its comprehensive channel coverage, deep ecommerce integrations, and robust analytics capabilities. Its Shopify integration enables agents to view customer order history and automate common ecommerce requests like order tracking and delivery rescheduling. The platform supports multiple communication channels including email, live chat, phone, SMS, and social media, providing a unified inbox for all customer interactions. Additionally, Gorgias offers powerful analytics tools that provide detailed insights into support performance across channels, agent productivity, and AI automation effectiveness.

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For developer-centric technical support:

Plain product logo

Plain

Stackfix Rating:

7.1 / 10

Plain’s developer-centric approach to technical support outshines Thena through its superior API capabilities and streamlined interface. Plain’s GraphQL API is uniquely comprehensive – it’s the same one their team uses internally, allowing unlimited extensibility with thorough documentation. The platform’s data model is fully configurable, letting developers define and nest custom fields without restrictions. While Thena offers basic API access, Plain’s implementation represents a standard for developer-first design. Additionally, Plain’s modern interface requires about 10 minutes to master versus Thena’s steeper learning curve, featuring intuitive keyboard shortcuts that help technical teams resolve issues faster.

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For teams requiring sophisticated automation:

Front product logo

Front

Stackfix Rating:

7.7 / 10

Front’s sophisticated automation capabilities make it a compelling choice for teams requiring advanced workflow management. Its event-based and time-based automation systems allow for complex workflow creation, while its AI-powered features enable intelligent ticket routing and response generation. Front’s comprehensive analytics dashboard provides real-time workload visibility and detailed efficiency insights, essential for optimizing automated processes. Additionally, Front’s extensive integration ecosystem (110+ pre-built integrations) and robust API enable teams to create custom automation workflows across their entire tech stack.

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For omnichannel customer support for B2C businesses:

Intercom product logo

Intercom

Stackfix Rating:

7.9 / 10

Intercom provides omnichannel customer support in B2C businesses through comprehensive channel coverage, AI capabilities, and customer-facing features. While Thena primarily focuses on Slack-based support with limited channel options, Intercom offers support across WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook, Instagram, and phone channels – essential for B2C customer engagement. Intercom’s AI chatbot ‘Fin’ delivers automated responses with custom voice matching, and its live chat functionality allows rich interactions including video embeds, custom forms, and proactive messaging. The platform’s help center capabilities are also more mature, supporting 40+ languages and detailed analytics, compared to Thena’s beta-stage knowledge base. For B2C businesses requiring robust omnichannel support, Intercom’s broader channel coverage and advanced customer engagement features are a stronger choice.

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For complex enterprise support operations:

Zendesk for Service product logo

Zendesk for Service

Stackfix Rating:

5.5 / 10

Zendesk for Service excels over Thena for complex enterprise support operations through superior automation capabilities, comprehensive channel coverage, and enterprise-grade customization. While Thena offers basic ticket routing and a Slack-centric approach, Zendesk provides omni-channel routing with skills-based assignment, supports 40+ languages, and enables sophisticated workflow automation across all major communication channels. Zendesk’s AI Co-Pilot feature empowers agents with contextual suggestions and automated workflows, while its highly customizable help center with semantic search and team publishing workflows better serves large-scale knowledge management needs. For enterprises managing high ticket volumes across multiple channels, Zendesk’s robust SLA management, advanced reporting, and extensive integration ecosystem make it the more capable solution.

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PS

Meet your expert: Paddy Stobbs

Stackfix Co-Founder & CEO

I've spent over a decade deep in the world of business software - personally managing more than $2M in purchases across companies I've built and led. From intimate 10-person teams to organizations of 150+, I've developed a particular obsession with Sales and HR tools – testing, implementing, and scaling them at every stage of growth. My journey started at Cambridge University, led me through Google, and most recently culminated in selling my previous venture to TikTok. Now, I'm channeling all of that hands-on experience into helping others navigate the complex landscape of business software.

Thena logo

Thena

Gorgias logo

Gorgias

Plain logo

Plain

Front logo

Front

Intercom logo

Intercom

Zendesk for Service logo

Zendesk for Service

Our rating
Functionality
7

Functionality

7/10

<p>Thena is one of a handful of up and coming support platforms tailored to B2B focused customers. It's focus is on Slack-centric teams (where it excels), however, it also provides support for email, a basic live chat widget, MS teams and forms. Additionally, we were pleased to see that you can configure an AI agent to respond to messages for you as well as the ability to set up a basic help centre.</p><p>However, it lacks support for many channels that non B2B focused businesses might want such as all social platforms or phone calls.</p>
7

Functionality

7/10

<p>As a product tailored to e-commerce brands, Gorgias offers a fairly robust range of features. It offer support for all the channels you'd expect including email, live chat, phone, text and socials. Additionally, you'll also find a decent help centre offering and AI agent functionality provided natively too. Though Gorgias does not excel in any one particular area, we did find each feature to be relatively well executed.</p>
5

Functionality

5/10

<p>Plain's positioning focuses on delivering exceptional functionality for B2B software teams. This includes excellent support for channels such as Slack, MS Teams, email etc. However, compared to other CS tools, Plain lacks some common functionality you might expect such as the ability to create help centres or configure chatbots.</p>
8

Functionality

8/10

<p>Front offers most of the support functions that small and medium-sized businesses need, including live chat, email, and integration with channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. It also features a help center, comprehensive AI, automation, and reporting tools. However, it lacks advanced features like the extensive chat customizability and automation of the likes of Intercom and Zendesk.</p>
9

Functionality

9/10

<p>Intercom provides most of the essential support functionality needed by SMBs, covering a wide range of communication channels (excluding Twitter, Slack, and Discord) and offering industry-leading live chat capabilities. It also includes advanced AI, automation, and reporting features. However, some features that larger teams may find valuable, such as approval workflows, community forum management, and advanced telephony capabilities (e.g., group routing and overflow handling), are not currently supported.</p>
10

Functionality

10/10

<p>Zendesk packs all the essential support tools most SMBs—and even enterprises—could ask for. It stands out with the most comprehensive range of support channels in our curation, making it easy to manage seamless cross-channel communication with customers within a single ticket. Plus, its advanced automation, AI capabilities, and robust reporting features are hard to beat.</p><p>In our experience, Zendesk tends to be the go-to platform for companies looking to level up their customer support as they grow.</p>
Ease of Use
6

Ease of Use

6/10

<p>Thena's web app is well presented, however, given the sheer breadth of features, it can feel overwhelming at times. Instead of a traditional email style inbox, it places a focus on a kanban-style tickets view which may be unintuitive for agents who aren't used to project management platforms. Despite this, the UI was designed well to present information and buttons are intuitively placed such that the learning curve is not too steep. It would take an average SMB employee an hour to master the tool.</p>
5

Ease of Use

5/10

<p>Though individual screens were generally well presented, we did find the sheer breadth of features slightly overwhelming at times. Gorgias' sidebar navigation system is non-standard which initially made it hard to navigate between core features swiftly (like between inboxes and analytics pages).</p>
9

Ease of Use

9/10

<p>As a result of it's focus on B2B software teams and opinionated product positioning, Plain has created a focused and intuitive product with a shallow learning curve. An average SMB employee would require less than 30 minutes and no guidance to master the product. It's onboarding process is simple, short and easy to understand. Additionally, it's web app is beautifully designed and intuitive to use.</p>
9

Ease of Use

9/10

<p>Front is one of the most beginner-friendly and intuitive support platforms we've tested. There were many things that stood out to us. It's clear Front uses simple language as opposed to industry jargon. "SLA" is "reply time goals". Automation templates come with graphics to show you exactly what's happening.</p><p>From an agent perspective, replying to tickets is exactly the same as replying to emails, making the learning curve extremely gentle. The onboarding is also excellent, offering clear, step-by-step guidance for setting up the system.</p>
7

Ease of Use

7/10

<p>Due to its rich functionality and customisability, Intercom has a moderate learning curve but is generally user-friendly. An average SMB employee can become proficient with the platform after 1-2 days and some guidance.</p><p>The interface is intuitive, making daily use straightforward for most team members.&nbsp;</p>
2

Ease of Use

2/10

<p>Zendesk has one of the steepest learning curves we’ve seen. The interface can feel overwhelming, with settings spread out across different areas like Zendesk Chat and the Admin Center. If you don’t have an admin with prior experience configuring and managing Zendesk, getting up to speed can quickly become frustrating.</p>
Look and feel
7

Look and feel

7/10

<p>Thena's web app is well designed, fast to load and easy to use. It has a modern feel to it and looks great in both dark mode or light mode. We especially appreciated the addition of keyboard shortcuts across the inbox that help agents zip through the platform when tackling a large backlog of tickets.</p>
6

Look and feel

6/10

<p>Overall, we found Gorgias to be relatively well designed and intuitive to use. Most interfaces were modern and fast to load (load times &lt; 2 seconds). However, some interfaces did lack refinement or were hidden away in settings - for example, creating chatbots with the same interface used to generate other rules/workflows in the product presented some challenges - a simple drag and drop interface would have been preferable here.</p>
9

Look and feel

9/10

<p>Plain stands out as one of the best designed products on the market. It's clear that the team have crafted the product with a lot of care. The web app is modern, slick and very fast to use. Animations and sound effects are used with taste to add a high level of polish to the user experience.</p><p>Additionally, the web app neatly labels core buttons with a corresponding keyboard shortcut enabling agents to rattle through support tickets faster than they might have done with just a mouse.</p>
8

Look and feel

8/10

<p>Front offers a visually appealing interface that is fast to load. The design is clean and modern, making it pleasant to use on a daily basis.</p>
7

Look and feel

7/10

<p>We find Intercom's interface modern, sleek, with just the right touch of colour. However, page load times can be a bit slow, sometimes taking 2-3 seconds.</p>
4

Look and feel

4/10

<p>From both an agent and admin perspective, Zendesk’s interface feels plain, and some pages can come across as cluttered and overwhelming. But on the bright side, page load times are quick.</p>
Customisability
6

Customisability

6/10

<p>Thena offers a number of facets for customization. It's internal facing interfaces offer the most scope - with things like inbox views, AI agent context and workflows, all fully configurable.</p><p>However, its external facing interfaces are limited in their customizability. For example, both its live chat widget and help centres only offer basic aesthetic options such as colours and logos.</p>
6

Customisability

6/10

<p>At present, Gorgias offers a fairly standard set of customization options for both internal and external interfaces. For its live chat widget and help centre, you can customize the usual elements including logos, colours and titles. For internal facing screens we appreciated the ease of saving custom views or adding custom tags to tickets to suit your specific business needs.</p>
7

Customisability

7/10

<p>Though Plain has built an opinionated product, it's API-centric nature provides a number of options for customisability. For example, businesses are able to sync customer data right into Plain via their API by connecting their backend to the platform and configuring custom fields. This means that businesses don't have to worry about syncing customer data or integrations. However, it's worth noting that whilst this is great for modern B2B software teams, businesses looking for something a little less developer focused should look elsewhere.</p>
7

Customisability

7/10

<p>Front offers a good level of customisability. Users can create custom fields, views, and reports. The live chat and help centre have standard customisation features, and there's a chatbot builder.</p><p>However, it lacks some advanced customization options like custom objects and custom actions. The level of customization available should be sufficient for most SMBs users, but power users might find it somewhat limiting.&nbsp;</p>
9

Customisability

9/10

<p>Intercom is one of the most customisable Customer Support we've come across. User-facing elements (e.g. live chat, help centre) allow for deep customisation in appearance and layout.</p><p>Intercom also allows you to create custom data objects and track custom events about your customers to create highly personalised proactive messages and workflows.</p>
10

Customisability

10/10

<p>Zendesk offers a high level of customization for both internal and external pages. Externally, you can deeply customize the style and layout of your Help Center (supporting over 40 languages), even using custom code to make it uniquely yours. Internally, the agent workspace is also highly flexible—you can tailor the layout and how information is displayed, with dynamic updates based on the content of each ticket.</p>
Ease of Setup
4

Ease of Setup

4/10

<p>Unfortunately, Thena does not offer a self-serve free trial for its platform. Instead you'll need to hop on a sales demo to get access. However, the sales call is often with the founder and was helpful and swift. One we got access, initial setup was limited and the platform can feel slightly overwhelming given the sheer breadth of features and facets you can customize. However, given its Slack centricity, getting connected to it is very simple thanks to a native integration which only takes a few clicks.</p>
7

Ease of Setup

7/10

<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Gorgias offers a simple self-serve free trial for their platform. We found the initial setup to be simple, taking less than 30 minutes. Setting up your first channels is also a simple process - for example connecting your email can be done with just a couple clicks instead of needing to set up email forwarding manually.&nbsp;However, some features do require some up-front investment to get the most out of such as their AI agents feature as well as any ticket-routing automations you might want.</span></p>
7

Ease of Setup

7/10

<p>Plain offers a simple self-serve free trial for their platform. We found the initial setup to be simple, taking &lt;5 mins. Setting up your first channels are particularly easy too - given Plain's focus on Slack and similar channels these take only a few clicks to connect and configure. However, when it comes to longer term customization, there are endless options available to teams who wish to take advantage of Plain's very flexible API.</p>
8

Ease of Setup

8/10

<p>Despite it's power, we find Front to be one of the easiest tools to get started with in the sector. It offers a simple, self-serve free trial for their platform. Once in, the initial setup is very brief, taking less than 5 minutes. Connecting your first channels is a one-click process too across many core providers from social media sites like Facebook/X to email platforms like Gmail and Outlook.</p>
7

Ease of Setup

7/10

<p>Intercom offers a simple, self-service free trial for their platform. Initial setup is relatively simple, taking less than 10 minutes to complete. Connecting your initial channels is fairly simple too with simple scripts for live widget integrations and easy email connection options. However, when it comes to deeper customization, there are a number of rabbit holes within which you could spend days e.g. setting up FinAI or customizing help centre appearances. </p>
3

Ease of Setup

3/10

<p>We found Zendesk's onboarding process to be clunky and a bit overwhelming. Configuring even a basic setup can take over 30 minutes, largely because the interface feels disjointed, with settings scattered in different places. Connecting your first channels can be especially frustrating—for instance, linking external emails requires manual configuration unless you’re using Gmail. And because the platform is so customizable, it’s easy to spend an entire week fine-tuning everything to fully unlock its potential.</p>
Customer Support
8

Customer Support

8/10

<p>Thena primarly provides support via a 1:1 slack channel with their team. When tested, agents responded in &lt;15 minutes and were well versed and very helpful, even for complex setup style questions. Additionally, Thena provide a well written and rich help centre that can answer most queries.</p>
4

Customer Support

4/10

<p>You can contact Gorgias' support agents via a live chat widget in their web app. When tested, you initially have to get through an AI agent which we found to be relatively helpful, however, unable to answer more complex queries. Real agents took an average of an hour to respond and though helpful, often seemed biased to wanting to book demo/sales calls if questions around pricing were asked.</p>
5

Customer Support

5/10

<p>Plain's support team can be contacted via email or in app form. We find their agents to be fairly responsive (response times &lt;12 hours), knowledgeable and helpful. When tested, they are often able to troubleshoot issues within one response.</p>
4

Customer Support

4/10

<p>Front's customer support is somewhat limited. Unless you pay for the "Scale" plan ($100 per seat per month, minimum of 20 seats), you only get access to email support. However, when tested, we've found the Front support team to be helpful and responsive.</p>
8

Customer Support

8/10

<p>Intercom provides in-app live chat with Fin AI and their support team. We’ve found that while Fin AI delivers helpful responses, and it's possible to connect with a human agent - although this can take up to 6 business hours which can be painfully long in our experience.</p>
2

Customer Support

2/10

<p>Multiple users we’ve spoken to have raised concerns about Zendesk’s customer support. A common frustration is the support team’s tendency to provide unhelpful responses, often redirecting users to irrelevant Help Center articles and requiring far too much back-and-forth. We also found navigating Zendesk’s Help Center to be a challenge—it’s missing the clear visuals and video guidance that other platforms do so well.</p>
Integratability
5

Integratability

5/10

<p>Thena offers integrations with popular task management platforms (Jira, Linear), CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot) and incident management platforms (Rootly, Incident.io). We would like to have seen a Zapier integration like many of its peers offer though. That being said, Thena does offer an API through which technical teams can interact with the platform directly.</p>
7

Integratability

7/10

<p>For their target customer segment, e-commerce brands, Gorgias offers a very comprehensive integrations store - providing integrations with all the major players like Shopify, BigCommerce etc. Additionally, we appreciated the fact that they also offer a mobile app with which you can handle tickets on the go more easily.</p>
7

Integratability

7/10

<p>Plain offers a handful of built in integrations with popular CRMs (such as Salesforce and Hubspot) as well as project management tools (such as Linear). However, it does lack the breadth of pre-built integrations that some of its competitors offer. That being said, its best in class API offers additional extensibility, though this is best suited to developer centric software teams.</p>
8

Integratability

8/10

<p>Front offers over 110 pre-built integrations. These cover a wide range of commonly used apps including CRMs (Pipedrive, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho), Project Management tools (Linear, Jira, Trello), and more. It also has an API for custom integrations.</p>
10

Integratability

10/10

<p>Intercom boasts a robust integrations ecosystem that includes popular CRMs like HubSpot and Pipedrive, project management tools such as JIRA, and email marketing platforms like Mailchimp. They also offer an API for custom integrations and are continually expanding their integration offerings, with the flexibility to develop new ones upon request.</p>
9

Integratability

9/10

<p>Zendesk boasts a massive ecosystem of pre-built integrations that cover most of the tools startups rely on. This includes popular CRMs like HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Salesforce, email marketing tools like Mailchimp, and project management platforms like Asana, Jira, and Trello. Beyond that, it offers an extensive marketplace for even more integrations, plus a robust API for building custom connections.</p>
Ease of Migration
7

Ease of Migration

7/10

<p>Thena offers self-serve export functionality to CSV/JSON for tickets and their details within their web app. Additionally, Thena offers an API through which you can interact with tickets directly.</p>
5

Ease of Migration

5/10

<p>Users can export data on tickets and other analytics via a self-serve option directly within Gorgias' dashboards.</p>
3

Ease of Migration

3/10

<p>Plain does not currently offer any self serve data export functionality, however, they do offer this on-demand to customers on their highest pricing tier.</p>
5

Ease of Migration

5/10

<p>Front's data export capabilities appear to be limited. While reports can be exported directly from Front, users need to contact support to export other data (e.g. conversations).</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>Users can export key data independently through self-serve options, while most other data can be accessed via API or provided upon request. Additionally, Intercom enables seamless data exports to relevant third-party vendors through pre-built integrations.</p>
8

Ease of Migration

8/10

<p>Zendesk allows you to self-serve export key data with ease. For most other data, exports are available either through the API or by making a request to their support team.</p>

Gorgias: Thena alternative for ecommerce customer support

Gorgias product logo
Gorgias

Stackfix Rating:

6.0 / 10

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Starting at

$10

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Updated onMar 14, 2025
Gorgias stands out as an ecommerce customer support solution through its comprehensive channel coverage, deep ecommerce integrations, and robust analytics capabilities. Its Shopify integration enables agents to view customer order history and automate common ecommerce requests like order tracking and delivery rescheduling. The platform supports multiple communication channels including email, live chat, phone, SMS, and social media, providing a unified inbox for all customer interactions. Additionally, Gorgias offers powerful analytics tools that provide detailed insights into support performance across channels, agent productivity, and AI automation effectiveness.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Thena vs. Gorgias.

Pros

  • Best-in-class Shopify Integration

  • Solid Live Chat Implementation

  • Comprehensive Analytics Suite

  • Strong Integration Capabilities

  • Efficient Setup Process

Cons

  • Poor Customer Support Experience

  • Clunky Rules-Based Chatbot Interface

  • Mediocre Help Centre Functionality

  • Navigation and Usability Issues

  • Limited Data Export Capabilities

Compare all Customer Support toolsRead the full review

Plain: Thena alternative for developer-centric technical support

Plain product logo
Plain

Stackfix Rating:

7.1 / 10

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Starting at

$39

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Updated onMar 14, 2025
Plain’s developer-centric approach to technical support outshines Thena through its superior API capabilities and streamlined interface. Plain’s GraphQL API is uniquely comprehensive – it’s the same one their team uses internally, allowing unlimited extensibility with thorough documentation. The platform’s data model is fully configurable, letting developers define and nest custom fields without restrictions. While Thena offers basic API access, Plain’s implementation represents a standard for developer-first design. Additionally, Plain’s modern interface requires about 10 minutes to master versus Thena’s steeper learning curve, featuring intuitive keyboard shortcuts that help technical teams resolve issues faster.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Thena vs. Plain.

Pros

  • Outstanding API Capabilities

  • Exceptional User Interface and Design

  • Intuitive and Modern Shared Inbox

  • Streamlined User Experience

Cons

  • Limited Data Export Capabilities

  • Functionality Gaps

  • Limited Customer Support Coverage

  • Limited Channel Support

Compare all Customer Support toolsRead the full review

Front: Thena alternative for teams requiring sophisticated automation

Front product logo
Front

Stackfix Rating:

7.7 / 10

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Starting at

$29

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Updated onMar 14, 2025
Front’s sophisticated automation capabilities make it a compelling choice for teams requiring advanced workflow management. Its event-based and time-based automation systems allow for complex workflow creation, while its AI-powered features enable intelligent ticket routing and response generation. Front’s comprehensive analytics dashboard provides real-time workload visibility and detailed efficiency insights, essential for optimizing automated processes. Additionally, Front’s extensive integration ecosystem (110+ pre-built integrations) and robust API enable teams to create custom automation workflows across their entire tech stack.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Thena vs. Front.

Pros

  • Sophisticated Chatbot Functionality

  • Exceptionally User-Friendly Interface

  • Powerful Collaborative Features

  • Comprehensive Analytics

  • Advanced Integration Capabilities

Cons

  • Poor Customer Support

  • Limited Data Export Capabilities

  • Basic Help Centre Customization

  • Live Chat feels a bit clunky

  • Missing Advanced Features

  • Automations not as advanced as some competitors

Compare all Customer Support toolsRead the full review

Intercom: Thena alternative for omnichannel customer support for B2C businesses

Intercom product logo
Intercom

Stackfix Rating:

7.9 / 10

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Starting at

$39

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Updated onMar 14, 2025
Intercom provides omnichannel customer support in B2C businesses through comprehensive channel coverage, AI capabilities, and customer-facing features. While Thena primarily focuses on Slack-based support with limited channel options, Intercom offers support across WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook, Instagram, and phone channels – essential for B2C customer engagement. Intercom’s AI chatbot ‘Fin’ delivers automated responses with custom voice matching, and its live chat functionality allows rich interactions including video embeds, custom forms, and proactive messaging. The platform’s help center capabilities are also more mature, supporting 40+ languages and detailed analytics, compared to Thena’s beta-stage knowledge base. For B2C businesses requiring robust omnichannel support, Intercom’s broader channel coverage and advanced customer engagement features are a stronger choice.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Thena vs. Intercom.

Pros

  • Sophisticated analytics and reporting

  • Best-in-class live chat functionality

  • Powerful "Fin" chatbot and automation capabilities

  • Comprehensive integration ecosystem

  • Advanced customization options

Cons

  • Complex pricing that gets expensive

  • Limited AI Context Suggestions

  • No Kanban Board View

  • Limited Content Collaboration

  • No Community Forum Functionality

  • Limited Social Media Channel Support

Compare all Customer Support toolsRead the full review

Zendesk for Service: Thena alternative for complex enterprise support operations

Zendesk for Service product logo
Zendesk for Service

Stackfix Rating:

5.5 / 10

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Starting at

$69

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Updated onMar 14, 2025
Zendesk for Service excels over Thena for complex enterprise support operations through superior automation capabilities, comprehensive channel coverage, and enterprise-grade customization. While Thena offers basic ticket routing and a Slack-centric approach, Zendesk provides omni-channel routing with skills-based assignment, supports 40+ languages, and enables sophisticated workflow automation across all major communication channels. Zendesk’s AI Co-Pilot feature empowers agents with contextual suggestions and automated workflows, while its highly customizable help center with semantic search and team publishing workflows better serves large-scale knowledge management needs. For enterprises managing high ticket volumes across multiple channels, Zendesk’s robust SLA management, advanced reporting, and extensive integration ecosystem make it the more capable solution.

Want to know more? See a detailed comparison of Thena vs. Zendesk for Service.

Pros

  • Richest Functionality Of All Customer Support Tools

  • Excellent Help Centre Functionality

  • Best-In-Class Telephony

  • Highly Customizable

  • Advanced Ticket Routing System

  • Strong Integration Capabilities

Cons

  • Steep Learning Curve

  • Expensive

  • Poor Customer Support Experience

  • Underwhelming Live Chat Experience

  • Uninspiring User Interface

Compare all Customer Support toolsRead the full review

How we test products

With countless Customer Support platforms available, we focus on identifying the best options for small and midsize businesses. Our evaluation process is built around real-world usage, prioritizing functionality, ease of use, and overall value. Here’s how we do it:

Functionality

Great customer support software should help businesses resolve issues quickly and efficiently. We start by identifying key use cases—ticket management, live chat, automation, and reporting—then test how well each platform delivers on these needs. Tools that offer essential features without unnecessary complexity score highest.

User Experience & Onboarding

Support teams need fast, intuitive tools. We test each platform’s interface by navigating core features without prior training and track onboarding time—from account setup to resolving a first ticket. Software that requires extensive setup or technical expertise loses points.

Automation & AI Capabilities

Automation can streamline customer support and reduce response times. We evaluate each platform’s automation features, such as chatbots, canned responses, workflow automation, and AI-driven ticket triaging. We prioritize tools that improve efficiency without adding unnecessary complexity.

Integrations & Compatibility

Customer Support software must work seamlessly with CRMs, knowledge bases, and communication tools. We test how well each platform integrates with essential business systems and assess whether native integrations or third-party connectors are required.

Pricing & Value

We compare pricing across competitors, analyzing what each plan includes and whether critical features are locked behind paywalls. Hidden costs—such as per-agent fees, add-ons for automation, or premium support tiers—are factored into our assessment. Platforms that offer strong core functionality at a fair price score highest.

Stackfix’s Fit Score

All of these factors contribute to Stackfix’s Fit Score, a proprietary ranking system that measures how well each Customer Support tool aligns with a buyer’s needs. It combines two key elements:

  • Requirements Met – How many buyer requirements the software fulfills
  • Stackfix Rating – Our expert assessment of the software’s overall quality, usability, and value

The result? A clear, data-driven recommendation that helps businesses choose the right Customer Support software—without hours of trial and error.

FAQs

What is Customer Support Software?

Customer support software helps teams manage tickets, live chat, and self-service. Consider ease of use, integrations, scalability, and pricing. Avoid overcomplex tools, ignoring automation, and poor planning. The key features of customer support software usually include:

  • Ticketing System: A structured way to track customer inquiries from start to resolution, ensuring that no requests slip through the cracks.
  • Live Chat & Chatbots: Tools that enable real-time communication with customers, including AI-powered bots that can handle common questions automatically.
  • Self-Service Knowledge Base: A library of FAQs, guides, and troubleshooting articles that empower customers to find answers without contacting support.
  • Automation & Workflows: Features like automated ticket assignment, canned responses, and escalations to reduce manual work and speed up resolution times.
  • Reporting & Analytics: Insights into response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores to help teams continuously improve their service.

What should I consider when buying Customer Support Software?

Start by assessing your current and future support requirements. Are you handling a high volume of tickets daily? Do you need omnichannel support (email, chat, social media)? Are you focused on automation or personalized service? Here are the key factors to consider before making your decision.

  1. Your Support Needs. Start by assessing your current and future support requirements. Are you handling a high volume of tickets daily? Do you need omnichannel support (email, chat, social media)? Are you focused on automation or personalized service? Identifying your priorities will help you choose the right tool.
  2. Ease of Use. Support software should make your team’s job easier, not harder. Look for an intuitive interface that agents can pick up quickly without extensive training. Overly complex platforms can slow down response times and frustrate both customers and agents. That’s why Stackfix rates every support platform on ease of use—click into each product above to see how they compare.
  3. Integration with Your Tech Stack. Your support platform needs to work seamlessly with your CRM, email, chat, and other essential business tools. If you’re using Slack for internal communication or Shopify for e-commerce, check if the software offers native integrations or if third-party connectors are needed.
  4. Scalability & Flexibility. As your business grows, your support needs will evolve. Ensure that the software can handle increased ticket volume, support multiple teams, and offer advanced automation features when you’re ready for them. Look at the vendor’s product roadmap to see if they regularly release useful updates.
  5. Pricing & Hidden Costs. Support platforms often charge per agent, but costs can add up with extra fees for automation, integrations, or advanced analytics. Check pricing tiers carefully—what looks affordable now could become expensive as you scale.
  6. Customer Support from the Vendor. Ironically, not all customer support tools come with great support. If something breaks or you need help with setup, will the vendor be there? Look at response times, support availability (24/7 or business hours?), and self-serve resources like help centers or forums. Stackfix rates each platform on support quality—click into each product to see how they compare.

What are the common mistakes to avoid when buying Customer Support software?

Some platforms are packed with advanced features but are overly complicated for smaller teams. Make sure you’re picking a tool that fits your workflow, not just one with an impressive feature list. Here are some of the biggest mistakes startups make—and how to avoid them.

  1. Choosing based on features, not usability. Some platforms are packed with advanced features but are overly complicated for smaller teams. Make sure you’re picking a tool that fits your workflow, not just one with an impressive feature list.
  2. Ignoring automation & AI. Many startups manually handle support requests when automation could significantly reduce workload. Look for tools that allow automated responses, ticket routing, and AI-driven suggestions.
  3. Forgetting about self-service. A knowledge base can dramatically reduce support volume by enabling customers to find answers on their own. Make sure the platform includes an easy-to-use self-service portal.
  4. Not planning for scaling. Startups often pick software based on current needs, without considering future growth. Will the platform support more agents, additional features, or multi-channel support when you need it?
  5. Overlooking integration depth. A platform might “integrate” with your CRM, but does it sync customer data properly? Always test integrations before committing to a tool.

How much does Customer Support Software typically cost?

Most solutions range from $20-150 per agent monthly, with entry-level options starting around $15-25 and premium solutions exceeding $150 monthly. Most vendors provide structure pricing in tiers based on features and scale, so be sure to enter your requirements as accurately as possible in our pricing calculator. 

Many providers offer free plans with core functionality for very small teams but restrict users, contacts, or available channels.

For enterprise plans and above, you can expect to speak to sales for a bespoke price. To skip the demo calls, be sure to check out our pricing calculator.

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