Intercom
Help desk with in-app chat, email and an AI agent (Fin) that answers customers on its own, charged per seat plus per resolution.
- Price
- Essential at $29/seat/month ($19 with the new-customer discount), plus $0.99 per Fin AI outcome.
- Free plan
- No
- Setup
- A little code
- Up and running
- Chat in your app in an afternoon; give Fin a week of testing on your real questions before trusting it.
What Intercom is for
Intercom is a help desk with chat inside your app, email and an AI agent called Fin that answers customers on its own. Fin handles the repeated questions so your team only sees what really needs a person. You pay per seat and per conversation Fin resolves.
How it plugs into your product
- 1Start the 14-day trial (no credit card) and pick a plan.
- 2Paste the Messenger snippet in your app and send the logged-in user's data so chats are tied to accounts.
- 3Feed Fin your help articles and docs, and test its answers before turning it on for customers.
- 4Connect extra channels like WhatsApp through your Meta business account; outbound messages are billed by usage.
Does it fit your idea?
It fits if
- A SaaS with thousands of users and repeated questions (password, billing, how-to) that wants AI closing tickets first.
- A product where the chat must live inside the app, with banners and tooltips to guide new users.
- A funded team that already earns in dollars or can absorb a support bill of hundreds of dollars a month.
Look elsewhere if
- You're pre-revenue: there's no free plan, and Crisp or Chatwoot cover chat and email for little or nothing.
- Most of your support happens on WhatsApp: Chatwoot or Crisp handle it without Intercom's per-message fee on outbound.
- You get a few dozen tickets a month: per-seat pricing plus AI fees cost more than a person answering.
What people only find out after building
Read this before you build on it. Each item links to the official page that says so.
Fin charges $0.99 per outcome, including 'assumed resolutions': if the customer just leaves after Fin's answer, you're billed.
Official source: intercom.comWhatsApp messages your team starts in bulk cost $0.10 each for the first 500, on top of the seat price.
Official source: intercom.comSMS has no included volume on any plan; every segment is charged.
Official source: intercom.comOnly full seats can reply to customers; free Lite seats are for internal collaboration, so every person who answers adds a paid seat.
Official source: intercom.com
Price
Essential at $29/seat/month ($19 with the new-customer discount), plus $0.99 per Fin AI outcome.
No free plan; 14-day free trial with no credit card.
- Free tier
- No free plan (14-day trial)
- First paid plan
- $29/seat/month + $0.99 per AI outcome
- Channels
- Chat, email, in-app; WhatsApp, SMS, phone extra
Checked on Oct 28, 2026 · official pricing
What it costs in practice
SaaS with 3 agents on Essential: 3 × $29 = $87. Fin resolving 300 conversations: 300 × $0.99 = $297. About $384/month, or $354 with the 35% new-customer price. Estimated.
Estimate from the official price. Check it before you decide.
At a glance
- Free plan: no
- Open source: no
“Not stated” means the official site doesn’t say.
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