Apptivo vs. Kustomer

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apptivo
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Apptivo provides small and medium sized businesses with applications that include CRM, project management and invoicing solutions.
$10
Per User per Month
Kustomer
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Kustomer is a customer service CRM platform built for managing high support volume by optimizing experiences throughout the customer service journey. Kustomer was acquired by Facebook in late 2020, but spun out in 2023 and re-launched as an independent entity, Kustomer, LLC.
$89
per month, per user
Pricing
ApptivoKustomer
Editions & Modules
Premium
$10
Per User per Month
Ultimate
$25
Per User per Month
Starter
Free
Per User per Month
Enterprise
N/A
Enterprise
$89
per month, per user
Ultimate
$139
per month, per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ApptivoKustomer
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll plans require an annual subscription and 8 users minimum.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ApptivoKustomer
Considered Both Products
Apptivo
Chose Apptivo
Although Constant Contact, Robly, and Mailchimp are more email based, they deal with contacts in a similar manner. Apptivo has more options for things like adding time limits to subscription, assigning leads to certain contacts, etc. Also, exporting addresses is a lot easier …
Chose Apptivo
Apptivo is very comfortable and easy to use. It allows you to obtain a vision of what is happening with the business and control the sales, marketing and customer service processes from a single point. It also has a large number of integrations and administrative facilities …
Chose Apptivo
The price was right for what we needed to use Apptivo for (the CRM and the contact management/project management models). And, we needed something basic and easy to implement so we could get up and running with little down time. The other systems we evaluated didn't seem to …
Chose Apptivo
Sellsy is the app that comes closest in terms of feature set. It is a lot more expensive but even with its flaws and terrible Google integration is still is a measurably better product in terms of taking care of your business. Unfortunately for Apptivo it tries to do everything …
Kustomer
Chose Kustomer
I think that Kustomer is the most user friendly BUT I think the other platforms are built to do a lot more and can be much more customized
Chose Kustomer
I find it baffling how little data can be stored or associated with a customer in many other systems, and how difficult that can be to set up. It is fine if you already have a robust CDP that you can hook up and use to power your CRM, but it is rare that an organization has the …
Chose Kustomer
It has improved a lot of the training time needed for our new hires to understand the Kustomer interface and how to handle communications fully. The time invested went significantly down, and the learning curve improved a lot as well.
Chose Kustomer
Apps like Intercom, Zendesk, and Gorgios all treat customer inquiries as tickets, just tracking that one issue or interaction with a customer. Kustomer treats each customer as an individual, which allows us to provide top-notch customer service. Customers love that we're able …
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer is more modern and capable of so much more any of my other systems have compared to in technical support customer interfaces.
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer is a great fit for our organization because we can cut down on multiple contacts from the same customer and see all their information in one place. It's also infinitely customizable, so if we need changes made we can make them while still using the same platform. This …
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer is different from slack since Slack is just for communicating with the whole team while Kustomer is more on communicating with our customers.
Chose Kustomer
I have never used anything besides Kustomer and I don't know if I ever will because Kustomer is just so helpful!!
Chose Kustomer
The UI of Kustomer is a lot cooler than what we are using before. There are a lot of features that Kustomer has that make things easier and more convenient than Desk.com.
Chose Kustomer
I use both in my role with the company. Our social media channels are managed through Khoros, but we use Kustomer to notate and contact customers outside of social media. I'd much rather bring our social media channels into Kustomer, to help with efficiency.
Chose Kustomer
I have not had any experience with other programs like Kustomer.
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer has a great team that is easy to work with. They are always there to support and are pleasant, as well.
Chose Kustomer
Zendesk: In my opinion, Kustomer is more powerful when used to its full potential due to its workflows/automations.
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer is far more intuitive, personal, and holistic than Zendesk. As a company who has a lot of interaction with a single customer, it is such an advantage to take the customer approach rather than a single ticket approach. Zendesk was very limited in a lot of the actions …
Chose Kustomer
All other systems I have used have been internally-made programs that were a lot more basic order-taking systems, no notes or call functions outside of when order was placed. Doesn't really compare here.
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer simply does more than any other platform I've been able to work with. Sure some others will give you a handful of neat tricks built in for managing a channel or two but those rarely offer any external integrative capacity or limit what you can do in connections. …
Chose Kustomer
Intercom, Kayako, Zendesk, Freshdesk have all been used by myself in the past, and were evaluated before we chose to go with Kustomer.
Chose Kustomer
I was not personally involved in the decision-making process when selecting a new CRM and ultimately settling on Kustomer. That said, I'm happy with the decision to partner with them. Compared to our previous CRMs, it is much easier to work with everything in one place and we …
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer was better suited to the personalized nature of the service that we're trying to provide.
Chose Kustomer
Glovo was using Zendesk before. Kustomer is much more flexible in terms of integration capabilities and customisation.
Chose Kustomer
Moving from Zendesk to Kustomer was driven by the clarity that the customer timeline brings for advocate engagement alongside the custom workflow abilities.
Chose Kustomer
Zendesk did not give a big picture of the customer. It was more of a ticketing platform, and only gave statistics of those conversations. We were unable to track customer sentiment, or other attributes of the customer.
Chose Kustomer
Kustomer is far more scalable and flexible than Zendesk, and it provides a real omni-channel experience far from the "Zendesk for mails, Zendesk chat for chats" we were used to. On the automation and customisation features, it gets even clearer how Kustomer can deal with a lot …
Chose Kustomer
I've used Desk and other platforms in the past and none of them are as interactive or user friendly as Kustomer.
Features
ApptivoKustomer
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
7.7
Ratings
0% below category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Customer data management / contact management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow management6.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Territory management4.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Opportunity management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Contract management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Quote & order management7.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Interaction tracking1.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
9.7
Ratings
25% above category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Case management9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Call center management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Help desk management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
10.0
Ratings
27% above category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Lead management10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Email marketing10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
8.9
Ratings
16% above category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Task management8.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
10.0
Ratings
28% above category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Forecasting10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Pipeline visualization10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
7.2
Ratings
4% below category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Custom fields5.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom objects6.60 Ratings00 Ratings
API for custom integration9.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
10.0
Ratings
18% above category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
7.9
Ratings
7% above category average
Kustomer
-
Ratings
Mobile access7.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
-
Ratings
Kustomer
8.1
Ratings
1% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Expert directory00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Ticket response00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
-
Ratings
Kustomer
8.5
Ratings
8% above category average
External knowledge base00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Internal knowledge base00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Apptivo
-
Ratings
Kustomer
8.0
Ratings
3% above category average
Customer portal00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
IVR00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Email support00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings6.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ApptivoKustomer
Small Businesses
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 10.0 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.7 out of 10
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Agiloft Service Desk (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.7 out of 10
SysAid
SysAid
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ApptivoKustomer
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.6
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
3.6
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.9
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.2
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ApptivoKustomer
Likelihood to Recommend
If you need a CRM system to help manage projects, this is a great option. Some of the other apps we didn't use such as accounting, etc. Because we only needed a basic system, we chose Apptivo. Also, because the price was right. Also if you need immediate support, Apptivo is great! If it's complicated though, it did get a bit challenging.
Read full review
It works really well for you to ask a teammate to review a case/email/message and provide some input since you can all review the same conversations and client accounts. They can also cover your inbox using your email handle in case you are out of the office suing some well deserved PTO.
Read full review
Pros
  • Allows for various address lists to make sure contacts are in the correct category.
  • Can assign contacts to different leads.
  • Allows you to add notes and personal information for each contact.
  • Program is all online, so it doesn't take up any space on your computer.
Read full review
  • All customer data (past orders, communication with customer service, rewards account data) is in one place. This helps agents avoid confusion and reduces the number of tabs they need to open.
  • The Knowledge Base (or K Base) is very helpful. Any time we roll out a new policy or have a limited-time promotion, we can add all the relevant information and worksheets there for the convenience of the agents. That way they can stay in a chat while looking up the answer to a question.
  • We can seamlessly move from chat into email if the customer leaves or the queue times are too long. All the interactions will stay on the customer profile page, so they are kept up to date.
Read full review
Cons
  • Homescreen claims to be the center of the application however the sub sections are mostly flawed or do not function as one would expect.
  • The built in email client kinda works but depending on which section of the app you are in the default font will be different from your signature. Also you cannot add a cell phone to staff signatures. I asked about this for months. It was never fixed. When will CRM companies learn that email is STILL the center of many business. It is unacceptable to have different fonts in the same mail and signatures that change from client to client.
  • They frequently messed up our contact data.
  • Multi currency exists on invoices but not on other apps.
  • Fragmentation with their apps....some apps are still on version 3 some on 4 and some on version 5. This means you are forced to deal with 2 or more different user interfaces within the same app.
  • No consistency between the apps.
  • Often there is little or no integration between the apps inside Apptivo.
Read full review
  • For our team, the feature that defaults all notes to begin in "done" status is difficult. Throughout each day we need to have notes open and assigned back and forth to different teams, and we have to remember to manually "open" each note. There is too much room for human error with this setting, and it is easy for important notes to be missed if a user forgets to open the note.
  • Similarly, it can be hard to remember to assign emails/notes to a particular team in addition to a user. We almost exclusively work out of team inboxes, and if someone on Care writes an email to a customer, the email will automatically be "done" when it is created, and it will be assigned to the user who wrote it, but not also to the user's team. There are instances where an email needs to be snoozed for several days/hours with further action needed, and unless the user remembers to assign the email to their team it may "awake" from the snooze and not be visible to anyone except the user who created it. Similarly to my first comment, this leaves a lot of room for human error and is not very intuitive.
  • Personally, I do not love that all tickets/emails/notes are jumbled together in the same inbox. While this gives visibility to everything on the "to do" list at the same time, it can be visually overwhelming. We have created unique folders for certain types of projects or categories of work, but have experienced tech glitches or just the awkwardness of another step to manually read the note, determine what type of category it is, and then manually assign it to another folder. Would love to have things auto-sort and take out this manual lift.
  • I love the idea of the autopilot setting, but we have not been able to use this for our work because it sorts items based on time, and not based on priority. In our line of work, we may have an urgent situation arise that needs attention before an email that was sent in 60 minutes ago. The autopilot feature would push the email to my associates sooner than it would the urgent situation from 5 minutes ago. Due to this, we manually monitor inboxes and assign work to ourselves and others.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
Because there's no other tool like Kustomer
Read full review
Usability
Without a doubt, the best thing about Apptivo is that it has become a perfect internal and external communication platform. This platform will allow you to know who is taking care of certain tasks with clients and control all projects with your clients. With very affordable plans for your pocket, it has a free version for up to 3 users. It far surpasses quite a few CRMs in the same category. Apptivo CRM allows you to customize many details and work with it does not consume time or resources. You are faced with a very comfortable software to use, simple and well designed.
Read full review
There is a learning curve, but it is more than worth it, especially to have a dedicated resource pointed at Kustomer and any other software it interacts with. The basic implementation is useful, and powerful - certainly a MASSIVE upgrade over taking care of your customers in an email inbox or shuffling between multiple windows and applications! It is also set up really well to grow and reconfigure with your business. I'm a big fan.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Because Kustomer is available when you need it
Read full review
Performance
No answers on this topic
Because ages load quickly, reports complete in a reasonable time frame, given their complexity
Read full review
Support Rating
Apptivo is always quick to respond whenever we have had a problem over out time of using the program. The customer service reps are always very polite and professional in their responses and are very knowledgeable! I have never gone to them with a problem that they don't do everything in their power to help solve, and most times they have (abbreviating states is the only issue we weren't able to solve).
Read full review
It’s a great tool that has helped our company and overall customer service. I believe if we were able to edit certain setting for our specific company that would be hopeful. We have been told before that certain desires of ours would make a change throughout all of Kustomer. Which is not something we would want, we would just want that to change for our business.
Read full review
In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
Because they are very hands-on in training us and very approachable
Read full review
Online Training
No answers on this topic
It was very easy to understand.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
If you are starting a business and want a free app or nearly free app that can grow with you....then apptivo could be for you. However if you grow faster than them then you will be quickly seeking alternatives
Read full review
Nothing really because it is easy to use. After an hour of using it, we're already getting the hang of it.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Although Constant Contact, Robly, and Mailchimp are more email based, they deal with contacts in a similar manner. Apptivo has more options for things like adding time limits to subscription, assigning leads to certain contacts, etc. Also, exporting addresses is a lot easier which comes in great handy for mailings and for CASS certifying the addresses
Read full review
I find it baffling how little data can be stored or associated with a customer in many other systems, and how difficult that can be to set up. It is fine if you already have a robust CDP that you can hook up and use to power your CRM, but it is rare that an organization has the resources or the customer-focus to rally behind setting up their customer service/experience team up for success. With a platform like Kustomer, you can actually evolve the relationship over time, or use the past experiences (number of contacts, purchases, previous issues, etc.) to power your next steps with a customer, making for a much more nuanced relationship with a human, not just a ticket.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
Because customer is flexible and scalable
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • It allows me to get a vision of what is happening with the business
  • control sales, marketing and customer service processes from a single point
  • facilitates administrative tasks
Read full review
  • We’re getting so much positive feedback — which is not something you traditionally associate with a customer care team — because we’re making it effortless for customers to deliver both positive and negative feedback, and we can now resolve the bad feedback really really quickly.
  • Primarily from our increased efficiency with Kustomer, we’ve seen a significant reduction of $3 to $4 for every cost per contact.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Apptivo Screenshots

Screenshot of Customize each app by dragging and dropping each attributeScreenshot of Project management gantt chartScreenshot of Convert a lead into a contact, customer, and/or opportunity

Kustomer Screenshots

Screenshot of Example of a customer profile within Kustomer.Screenshot of Example of how Kustomer’s automated chats can save agents time by handling less complex requests automatically.