TranslateDesk vs Smartcat: Intercom Translation Without Enterprise Complexity

Intercom doesn't include built-in translation for help center articles, so you need external tools. Smartcat is a comprehensive enterprise translation management system (TMS) with AI translation, 500,000+ human translators, and integrations with dozens of platforms. TranslateDesk exists for one purpose: translating Intercom help center articles.

The short answer: If you need an enterprise-grade TMS with human translator networks and complex workflow automation, Smartcat delivers that. If you need to translate your Intercom help center without booking a demo or building manual workflows, TranslateDesk is faster, simpler, and purpose-built for exactly that job.

What Smartcat Is (And Isn't)

Smartcat is a full-featured translation management platform designed for enterprise localization needs:

• AI + Human hybrid: Combines machine translation with a network of 500,000+ professional translators
• Translation memory: Advanced AI that learns from your edits and improves over time
• Multi-engine MT: Chooses from eight translation engines based on language pair
• Glossaries and style guides: Enterprise consistency tools
• Workflow automation: Complex project management with multiple approval stages

These capabilities make sense for large enterprises translating millions of words across software, marketing, legal, and technical documentation.

For a support team that needs to translate 100 Intercom help articles? It's massive overkill.

The integration gap: Smartcat integrates with Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow, Contentful, WordPress, and many other platforms. But not Intercom. Despite having a marketing page targeting Intercom users, there's no native integration.

TranslateDesk focuses entirely on what Intercom teams actually need:

• Direct Intercom connection: No exports, imports, or file management
• Stale content detection: Know instantly when source articles changed
• One-click translation: Select articles, choose languages, done
• DeepL quality: Professional-grade machine translation

The Workflow Gap

Translating Intercom with Smartcat

1. Book a demo with Smartcat's sales team
2. Go through enterprise onboarding
3. Set up your Smartcat workspace and project
4. Export Intercom content manually (no integration exists)
5. Convert to a format Smartcat accepts
6. Upload to Smartcat
7. Configure translation settings, choose AI vs. human, set up workflows
8. Wait for translation (human translators add turnaround time)
9. Export translated content
10. Convert back to Intercom format
11. Manually import to Intercom
12. Repeat steps 4-11 every time articles change

Translating Intercom with TranslateDesk

1. Connect to Intercom (one-time, OAuth)
2. Select articles and languages
3. Click translate
4. Review and publish
5. Get notified when articles need re-translation

Smartcat is powerful but wasn't designed for Intercom. There's no native sync, no content detection, no awareness of Intercom's help center structure.

Feature Comparison

Feature	TranslateDesk	Smartcat
Direct Intercom integration	✅ Native	❌ None
Setup time	2 minutes	Days (enterprise onboarding)
Stale content detection	✅ Yes	❌ No
Translation engine	DeepL	8 MT engines + human
Human translators	❌ No	✅ 500,000+ network
Learning curve	Minutes	Significant
Zendesk integration	❌ No	✅ Yes
Enterprise workflows	❌ No (not needed)	✅ Yes
Pricing model	Pay-as-you-go	Enterprise quotes

When to Choose Each

Choose Smartcat If:

• You need human translators for legal, regulated, or brand-critical content
• You're localizing across multiple platforms (not just Intercom)
• You have an enterprise localization team managing millions of words
• Budget and time for enterprise onboarding isn't a constraint
• You already use Zendesk or another platform Smartcat supports

Choose TranslateDesk If:

• Your primary need is Intercom help center translation
• You want to start translating in minutes, not days
• Machine translation quality (DeepL) meets your needs
• You're a lean support team without localization specialists
• Pay-as-you-go pricing fits better than enterprise contracts

Pricing Comparison

Smartcat: Enterprise pricing, typically requires sales conversation. They advertise "up to 70% savings" compared to traditional translation agencies, but actual costs depend on volume, language pairs, and whether you use human translators.

TranslateDesk: Transparent pay-as-you-go pricing:

• 5 free translations to start
• Credit packs from $79 (25 translations)
• Volume discounts for larger packs
• No subscriptions or commitments

For a team translating 50 Intercom articles to 3 languages, TranslateDesk costs are predictable and self-serve. Smartcat requires a sales conversation to even get pricing.

The Integration Reality

Smartcat's marketing targets Intercom users with pages like "Enterprise Solution for Intercom." But visiting their integrations page reveals the truth: Intercom isn't listed.

Their supported help desk integration is Zendesk, not Intercom.

For Intercom teams, this means:

• Manual content export required
• No automatic sync when articles update
• No native awareness of Intercom's collection structure
• Managing two disconnected systems

TranslateDesk exists because this gap is frustrating. We built native Intercom integration from day one.

Bottom Line

Smartcat is an excellent enterprise TMS for organizations with complex, multi-platform localization needs and budget for human translator networks. It's especially strong for Zendesk users.

For Intercom help center translation specifically? TranslateDesk is faster to set up (minutes vs. days), simpler to use (no enterprise onboarding), and designed exactly for this use case.

Start translating your Intercom help center →