Comparisons
Intercom and LiveChat alternatives for Kenyan businesses
10 November 2026 · 7 min read
The short answer
On 10 November 2026, Intercom Advanced is listed at $85 (KES 11,044) a seat a month and LiveChat Growth at $79 (KES 10,264) a user a month billed annually, so five people cost $425 (KES 55,220) and $395 (KES 51,322). SautiDesk Basic is KES 5,000 for five people, with web chat, WhatsApp, calls, SMS and email on one ticket per customer.
An Intercom alternative or LiveChat alternative for a Kenyan business is live chat software that prices in shillings and answers WhatsApp and phone calls from the same inbox. Intercom and LiveChat charge per seat in US dollars. Five people cost $425 (KES 55,220) a month on Intercom Advanced and $95 (KES 12,343) on LiveChat Essential billed annually. On SautiDesk Basic they cost KES 5,000, with web chat, WhatsApp, calls, SMS and email included.
Intercom’s seat prices
Intercom’s pricing page lists its plans per seat a month. The page has a billed annually and billed monthly toggle and does not say which period each seat price follows. It states that WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go: WhatsApp is charged per message sent, SMS per message and varying by region, and phone by usage. The page sets no rate for any of them.
| Plan | Per seat a month | WhatsApp, SMS and phone |
|---|---|---|
| Intercom Advanced | $85 (KES 11,044) | Pay-as-you-go, no rate on the page |
| Intercom Expert | $132 (KES 17,151) | Pay-as-you-go, no rate on the page |
| SautiDesk Basic | KES 1,000 per person | WhatsApp inbox, calls, SMS and email included |
| SautiDesk Pro | KES 3,000 per person | Everything in Basic, plus reports, live floor and campaigns |
LiveChat’s seat prices
LiveChat’s pricing page lists its plans per user a month, paid yearly or monthly. Its plan lists cover chat, an inbox and ticketing, Shopify and SMS through Twilio, and name no phone line.
| Plan | Paid yearly | Paid monthly |
|---|---|---|
| LiveChat Essential | $19 (KES 2,469) | $25 (KES 3,248) |
| LiveChat Growth | $79 (KES 10,264) | $99 (KES 12,863) |
| SautiDesk Basic | KES 1,000 a month | KES 1,000 a month |
| SautiDesk Pro | KES 3,000 a month | KES 3,000 a month |
LiveChat Enterprise has no published price on the page, only a request for a call, so it is not in the table. SautiDesk has one price per person a month, paid from a prepaid balance by M-Pesa or card, so there is no yearly price to choose.
Live chat software for five people: the monthly cost
Multiply the seat price by five. The Intercom figures are the listed seat prices, and the LiveChat figures use both billing periods.
| Plan | Five people a month |
|---|---|
| Intercom Advanced | $425 (KES 55,220) |
| Intercom Expert | $660 (KES 85,754) |
| LiveChat Essential, paid yearly | $95 (KES 12,343) |
| LiveChat Essential, paid monthly | $125 (KES 16,241) |
| LiveChat Growth, paid yearly | $395 (KES 51,322) |
| LiveChat Growth, paid monthly | $495 (KES 64,315) |
| SautiDesk Basic | 5 × KES 1,000 = KES 5,000 |
| SautiDesk Pro | 5 × KES 3,000 = KES 15,000 |
Add the phone number to the SautiDesk lines: one number is KES 500 a month, so five people on Basic are KES 5,500. Incoming calls are free and outgoing calls are KES 0.05 per second, so a ten-minute outgoing call is 600 seconds, or KES 30. There is no SautiDesk charge per WhatsApp message, and Meta’s own charges are in WhatsApp Business API pricing in Kenya. The price calculator works out the total for your own team.
WhatsApp and voice in the same inbox
Customers reach a business by web chat, WhatsApp and phone. On SautiDesk the website live chat, the shared WhatsApp inbox and calls on your Kenyan number all land in one inbox, and each one joins the customer’s ticket. An agent who takes a call sees the chat the same customer started that morning.
A visitor who leaves a phone number or email in the chat joins their existing contact, so their past tickets open with the chat. The agent can carry on by WhatsApp or SMS if the visitor leaves a number. The chat box takes your colours, and the code is one line that most website builders let you paste yourself.
How to add live chat to your website
- Copy the one line of chat code from SautiDesk.
- Paste it into your website. Most website builders have a place for it.
- Answer the first chat from the shared inbox, next to your WhatsApp and calls.
One ticket per customer across chat, WhatsApp and calls
SautiDesk is a help desk and call centre in one product. Calls, WhatsApp, SMS, email and web chat become one ticket per customer, a missed call opens a ticket with an owner, and agents answer calls in the browser with a headset. Pro adds the live floor view, listening in on calls and reports by agent, channel and disposition.
For what the per-agent help desks charge in shillings, read Zendesk vs Freshdesk vs Zoho Desk vs SautiDesk. For how a ticket per customer works day to day, read what a ticketing system is.
Start on SautiDesk
- Pick Basic at KES 1,000 per person a month, or Pro at KES 3,000 if you want reports, the live floor view and campaigns.
- Add your people. Each person is one seat, billed by the month.
- Choose a Kenyan number for calls and SMS at KES 500 a month.
- Connect your WhatsApp Business number and your support email address, and paste the web chat code into your site.
- Top up your balance by M-Pesa or card, then answer your first chat in the browser.
Web chat, WhatsApp, calls, SMS and email are on both plans. See every plan and rate on the pricing page.
Exchange rate used on this page, as of 10 November 2026: 1 US dollar = KES 129.93. Intercom and LiveChat publish their prices in US dollars, so the shilling figures move with the rate.