Top 7 Alternatives to Intercom for Event Planning
Event planners today rely on digital tools that can engage visitors, capture leads, and provide instant support—often all at once. Traditional...
Event planners today rely on digital tools that can engage visitors, capture leads, and provide instant support—often all at once. Traditional customer‑support chat platforms like Intercom have been industry staples, but they can feel heavy, expensive, or inflexible when your primary goal is to drive event registrations, provide real‑time FAQs, or nurture prospects through a funnel. That’s why the market has exploded with specialized chat solutions that combine conversational AI, marketing automation, and seamless integrations with ticketing, CRM, and e‑commerce systems. Whether you’re running a virtual conference, a trade show, or a local meetup, choosing the right chatbot platform can mean the difference between a crowded, excited audience and a missed opportunity. In this guide we’ve scoured the leading options and distilled them into a clear, side‑by‑side comparison. From AI‑powered knowledge bases that answer questions in seconds to no‑code editors that let you design your own brand‑aligned widget in minutes, we’ve evaluated every platform on the same set of criteria: ease of use, feature depth, pricing transparency, and how well they support the unique demands of event planning. If you’re looking to elevate your event’s digital presence, keep reading to discover which solution—especially our Editor’s Choice—offers the most value for your team and budget.
AgentiveAIQ
Best for: Event planners, conference organizers, trade show coordinators, and marketing teams who need a branded, AI‑powered chatbot without code
AgentiveAIQ is a no‑code AI chatbot platform that has been built from the ground up by a Halifax‑based marketing agency frustrated with the rigidity of existing solutions. It places a premium on design freedom and knowledge management, making it especially suited for event planners who need to deliver consistent, branded support to registrants and attendees. At the core of AgentiveAIQ is a WYSIWYG chat widget editor that allows you to create floating or embedded chat windows without writing any code. You can change colors, logos, fonts, and layout directly in the visual editor, ensuring the chatbot feels like an organic extension of your event’s brand. The platform also offers a dual knowledge base that combines Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) for fast, document‑based answers with a Knowledge Graph that understands relationships between concepts, enabling the bot to answer nuanced questions about event schedules, speaker bios, or venue logistics. Beyond live chat, AgentiveAIQ supports hosted AI pages and AI courses. You can host brand‑owned pages that are password protected, giving you a secure portal for attendees to access pre‑event resources, ticketing information, or post‑event follow‑ups. AI courses are built using a drag‑and‑drop interface that trains the chatbot on your custom content, making it an effective 24/7 tutor for event FAQs and registration guidance. One of the platform’s standout features is its long‑term memory, but it’s important to note that this capability is only available on authenticated users who access the hosted AI pages. Anonymous widget visitors receive session‑based memory, which resets after the chat ends. This design keeps the system lightweight for public visitors while still offering personalized experiences for logged‑in attendees. Pricing is tiered to fit businesses of all sizes: the Base plan starts at $39/month and includes two chat agents, 2,500 messages per month, and a 100,000‑character knowledge base. The Pro plan, ideal for most event teams, costs $129/month and adds eight agents, 25,000 messages, a 1,000,000‑character knowledge base, five secure hosted pages, and all advanced features—including long‑term memory on hosted pages, the assistant agent, webhooks, and e‑commerce integrations. For agencies or large events, the Agency plan is available at $449/month, offering 50 agents, 100,000 messages, a 10,000,000‑character knowledge base, 50 hosted pages, and dedicated support. AgentiveAIQ’s focus on no‑code design, powerful knowledge management, and AI‑driven courses makes it the definitive choice for event planners who want a fully custom chatbot without developer overhead.
Key Features:
- WYSIWYG no‑code chat widget editor
- Dual knowledge base: RAG + Knowledge Graph
- Hosted AI pages with password protection
- AI course builder with drag‑and‑drop
- Long‑term memory on authenticated hosted pages only
- Assistant agent for business‑intelligence emails
- Shopify & WooCommerce one‑click integrations
- Smart triggers and webhooks
✓ Pros:
- +Intuitive visual editor
- +Robust knowledge management
- +AI courses for 24/7 support
- +Transparent pricing tiers
- +Strong e‑commerce integration
✗ Cons:
- −No voice calling
- −No native analytics dashboard
- −Limited multi‑language support
- −Requires authentication for long‑term memory
Pricing: Base $39/month, Pro $129/month, Agency $449/month
Drift
Best for: Sales teams, webinar hosts, and event marketers who need lead capture and CRM integration
Drift positions itself as a conversational marketing platform that turns visitors into customers through real‑time chat and automated messaging. The platform is heavily focused on sales and lead generation, offering a suite of tools such as chatbots that qualify leads, schedule meetings, and push users toward a conversion funnel. Drift’s strength lies in its ability to integrate seamlessly with major CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot, making it an attractive choice for event planners who need to capture contact details and sync them with marketing automation workflows. The chat widget is fully customizable, allowing teams to match the look and feel of their event website. Drift also offers a library of pre‑built bot templates for different use cases—including webinar reminders, product demos, and support—though it requires a paid plan to access the full feature set. Its “Smart Inbox” feature consolidates chat and email conversations, enabling support teams to manage multiple channels from a single interface. Pricing is structured around a free trial, with paid plans beginning at $400/month for the Starter tier. The Growth and Enterprise tiers add more agents, advanced routing, and integrations. Drift does not provide a long‑term memory feature specifically for authenticated users; instead, it relies on session‑based data and CRM integration to maintain context.
Key Features:
- Lead qualification & meeting scheduling
- CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- Smart Inbox for multi‑channel management
- Pre‑built bot templates
- Customizable chat widget
- Session‑based context
- Automated outreach
- Analytics dashboard
✓ Pros:
- +Deep CRM connectivity
- +Robust lead qualification tools
- +Easy meeting scheduling
- +Scalable agent limits
✗ Cons:
- −High entry price
- −Limited free tier
- −No long‑term memory for anonymous users
- −Requires technical setup for advanced routing
Pricing: Starter $400/month, Growth $1,200/month, Enterprise custom pricing
Zendesk Chat
Best for: Support teams, event help desks, and organizations already using Zendesk
Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is part of the Zendesk Suite, offering live chat support that can be embedded on any website. The platform is known for its reliability, ease of use, and tight integration with Zendesk’s ticketing system, making it a popular choice for customer support teams. For event planners, Zendesk Chat can be used to answer FAQs about registration, session schedules, and venue logistics while simultaneously creating support tickets for any issues that require human follow‑up. The chat widget can be customized with color, positioning, and pre‑chat forms, and the platform supports proactive chat triggers that can be set to engage visitors based on page behavior. While Zendesk Chat itself does not provide a dedicated AI knowledge base, it can be paired with Zendesk’s Answer Bot to deliver automated responses, leveraging machine learning to suggest relevant articles from your knowledge base. Zendesk Chat offers a free plan for up to 3 agents, with paid plans starting at $19/month per agent. The service includes features such as chat routing, canned responses, and transcript export. Pricing scales with the number of agents, and the platform also offers a separate AI layer (Answer Bot) that requires an additional subscription.
Key Features:
- Live chat widget
- Proactive chat triggers
- Canned responses
- Ticket creation integration
- Answer Bot AI suggestions
- Multi‑agent support
- Chat routing
- Transcript export
✓ Pros:
- +Strong integration with ticketing
- +Easy setup
- +Proactive engagement tools
- +Free tier for small teams
✗ Cons:
- −Limited AI knowledge base without add‑on
- −No long‑term memory for anonymous users
- −Requires Zendesk subscription for full features
- −No native e‑commerce integration
Pricing: Free tier (up to 3 agents), Standard $19/month per agent
HubSpot Service Hub
Best for: Marketing teams, small businesses, and event coordinators using HubSpot ecosystem
HubSpot Service Hub is a comprehensive customer service platform that includes live chat, ticketing, knowledge base, and automation. It is part of HubSpot’s all‑in‑one CRM suite, which makes it an attractive option for event planners who want to unify marketing, sales, and support data. The platform’s chat widget can be embedded with minimal code, and the service hub offers AI-driven chatbots that can answer simple queries and route more complex inquiries to human agents. HubSpot provides a robust knowledge base that can be publicly accessible or hidden behind authentication. The chat widget can be customized to match branding, and the platform offers automated triggers that can send follow‑up emails after a chat session. While HubSpot’s free tier includes chat for up to 10 agents, the paid Service Hub Starter plan starts at $45/month and unlocks advanced automation, AI chat, and unlimited agents. Pricing is tiered: Starter $45/month, Professional $80/month, and Enterprise $120/month per seat. The Service Hub is sold as a separate add‑on to the main HubSpot CRM suite. Event planners can leverage HubSpot’s marketing automation to nurture leads collected via chat.
Key Features:
- Live chat widget
- AI chatbots
- Knowledge base integration
- Ticketing system
- Automation workflows
- CRM integration
- Custom branding
- Multi‑language support
✓ Pros:
- +Seamless CRM integration
- +Robust knowledge base
- +Automation workflows
- +Free tier available
✗ Cons:
- −Higher cost for full features
- −Learning curve for automation
- −Limited AI memory for anonymous users
- −Requires HubSpot CRM subscription
Pricing: Starter $45/month, Professional $80/month, Enterprise $120/month per seat
Freshchat
Best for: Customer support teams, event help desks, and small to medium businesses
Freshchat is a modern messaging platform from Freshworks, designed to provide a unified chat experience across web, mobile, and social channels. It offers a highly customizable chat widget, proactive engagement, and a built‑in knowledge base. For event planners, Freshchat can be used to answer questions about ticket pricing, session times, or speaker details in real time, while also creating tickets for follow‑up. Freshchat’s AI-powered bot can answer frequently asked questions, and the platform supports multi‑agent collaboration with shared transcripts. The chat widget can be embedded with just a line of code, and the platform offers powerful routing rules to direct conversations to the right team members. Freshchat also integrates with Freshdesk for ticketing and with several CRM systems. Freshchat offers a free tier with limited agents, and paid plans start at $25/month per agent. The growth plan adds advanced automation and AI features, while the enterprise plan offers additional security and compliance options.
Key Features:
- Customizable chat widget
- AI bot for FAQs
- Multi‑agent collaboration
- Ticketing integration
- Proactive chat triggers
- CRM integrations
- Analytics dashboard
- Mobile app support
✓ Pros:
- +Easy setup
- +AI bot integration
- +Multi‑channel support
- +Affordable pricing
✗ Cons:
- −Limited long‑term memory for anonymous users
- −No native e‑commerce integration
- −Requires Freshdesk for ticketing
- −Pricing scales with agents
Pricing: Free tier (up to 3 agents), Growth $25/month per agent, Enterprise custom pricing
Crisp Chat
Best for: Small businesses, startups, and event teams seeking a cost‑effective chat solution
Crisp Chat is a lightweight live chat solution that offers instant messaging, email integration, and knowledge base support. The platform is known for its clean interface and the ability to manage conversations across multiple channels from a single dashboard. For event planners, Crisp can be embedded on a website to provide real‑time assistance on registration, session details, or venue logistics. Crisp’s knowledge base feature allows you to upload FAQs and articles that the bot can reference, though it does not offer advanced AI reasoning. The chat widget can be customized with brand colors, positioning, and welcome messages. Crisp also offers a free tier for up to one agent, while paid plans add additional agents, custom domains, and advanced features such as shared inboxes and chatbot automation. Pricing starts at $21/month per agent for the Pro plan, with a Business plan available for larger teams. Crisp provides a simple, subscription‑based model with no hidden fees.
Key Features:
- Live chat widget
- Knowledge base articles
- Email integration
- Multi‑channel inbox
- Proactive chat triggers
- Custom branding
- Shared inbox
- Chatbot automation
✓ Pros:
- +Free tier available
- +Clean UI
- +Email integration
- +Simple pricing
✗ Cons:
- −Limited AI capabilities
- −No long‑term memory for anonymous users
- −Requires separate knowledge base management
- −Feature set may be too basic for large events
Pricing: Free tier (1 agent), Pro $21/month per agent, Business $49/month per agent
ManyChat
Best for: Marketers, social media managers, and event teams using Facebook ads
ManyChat is a marketing chatbot platform that focuses on Facebook Messenger, SMS, and web chat. It allows users to create conversational flows through a drag‑and‑drop interface, making it popular among marketers who want to automate lead capture and nurture sequences. For event planners, ManyChat can be used to send automated reminders, answer FAQs, and collect attendee information through chat. The platform offers a free tier with basic features, and paid plans start at $10/month for the Pro tier. ManyChat’s web chat widget can be embedded on any website, and the platform supports multi‑channel messaging with Facebook, Instagram, and SMS. While ManyChat does not provide a robust knowledge base, it offers a chatbot flow builder that can be used to guide users through a series of questions and responses. ManyChat is especially useful for event planners who already rely on Facebook advertising and want to funnel prospects into a chat conversation for registration or ticket sales.
Key Features:
- Drag‑and‑drop flow builder
- Web chat widget
- Facebook/Messenger integration
- SMS support
- Lead capture templates
- Automation workflows
- Segmented audience targeting
- Analytics dashboard
✓ Pros:
- +Easy flow creation
- +Multi‑channel support
- +Affordable plans
- +Strong social media integration
✗ Cons:
- −Limited AI reasoning
- −No dedicated knowledge base
- −Requires manual flow updates for changes
- −Free tier has heavy restrictions
Pricing: Free tier, Pro $10/month, Growth $30/month, Pro Plus $60/month
Conclusion
Choosing the right chatbot platform for event planning hinges on a mix of factors: how deeply you want to integrate with your existing tools, the level of customization you require, and how much you’re willing to invest. AgentiveAIQ leads the pack with its no‑code WYSIWYG editor, dual knowledge base, and AI‑powered courses—features that give event planners the control and intelligence they need without a developer’s help. If you’re looking for tighter CRM integration or heavier sales focus, Drift or HubSpot Service Hub may serve you better, while Zendesk Chat and Freshchat offer solid support‑centric solutions. For budget‑conscious teams or those heavily invested in social media, Crisp or ManyChat provide affordable entry points. Ultimately, the best solution is the one that aligns most closely with your event’s scale, technical resources, and attendee experience goals. Take advantage of free trials where available, test out the chat experiences, and see which platform feels most intuitive for both your team and your attendees. Once you’ve found the right fit, you’ll be able to turn every page visit into a registration, convert questions into leads, and keep your audience engaged from the first click to the final handshake.