Four reasons we stopped using Intercom Articles — and what we use instead
Intercom is a great messaging platform. Their help center is not. After years on Intercom Articles, here is what finally pushed us to switch.
1. The indexing problem
Intercom's help center renders a significant portion of its content via JavaScript. Google doesn't see what readers see — it sees a partially-rendered page and has to wait for JavaScript execution before it can index the actual content.
The result: articles take weeks to appear in search, and some never rank at all. Intercom's own documentation acknowledges this. For a knowledge base whose primary job is to help customers find answers before they file a ticket, this is a fundamental failure. If Google can't read your articles, your KB is doing half its job.
2. White-label requires their most expensive plan
To remove Intercom branding from your help center — the subdomain, the footer, the email notifications — you need Expert tier. Expert is $132 per seat per month.
Not per account. Per editor.
We have four people who contribute to documentation. That's $528/month just to have a help center that doesn't say "Powered by Intercom." We also support multiple brand partners who each need their own portal. Each partner requires a separate Intercom workspace — a separate subscription. The math stops making sense quickly.
For a detailed comparison, see our Multibase vs Intercom page.
3. Localizations cost extra
Automated translation is a paid add-on in Intercom. Multilingual support is not part of the standard or Expert plan — it requires an additional purchase. For teams that document their product in more than one language, this is a recurring cost stacked on top of an already expensive per-seat model.
4. Branding is everywhere
Even on Expert tier, Intercom's presence is visible throughout the experience. Subdomain structures, cookie behavior, notification email footers — subtle signals that break the white-label illusion for partner brands. For a product we sell as fully white-labeled, any visible third-party branding is a problem we can't route around.
What we use now
We built Multibase specifically to solve these four problems.
Every portal is server-side rendered — full content in the initial HTML, indexed by Google immediately, no JavaScript rendering delay. White-label is included on every paid plan from $49/month. Multilingual support is built in, not an add-on. Unlimited editors on all paid plans, no per-seat charges.
If you're paying for Intercom Expert primarily to remove their logo from your help center, we built the import tool for you.
Alex P. is Co-Founder of Integrilla.io. He built Multibase after failing to find an affordable white-label knowledge base for his own products.