# Intercom

> Helpdesk with live chat and the Fin AI agent priced per outcome

Intercom is a customer service helpdesk that combines a chat Messenger for websites and apps, a shared inbox with tickets, and a help center. Its Fin AI Agent answers customers first and is billed per resolved conversation on top of seat prices. The company behind it renamed itself from Intercom to Fin in 2026, while the helpdesk keeps the Intercom name.

- **Category:** Help Desks & Live Chat
- **Made by:** Intercom, Inc. (since 2011)
- **Website:** https://www.intercom.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

Intercom is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $29 per seat / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial with all features, Fin and add-ons, no credit card required.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Essential | $29 per seat / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly) | Messenger live chat, a shared inbox and tickets, pre-built reports, a public help center and basic automation. Fin costs $0.99 per outcome on top. |
| Advanced | $85 per seat / month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly) | Adds a workflow automation builder, multiple team inboxes, round-robin assignment, a private and multilingual help center and 20 free Lite seats. |
| Expert | $132 per seat / month, billed annually ($139 billed monthly) | Adds SSO and identity management, HIPAA support, SLAs, a multibrand Messenger and help center, and 50 free Lite seats. |

Read from https://www.intercom.com/pricing on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Intercom before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save up to 26% with annual billing** (Annual discount): Intercom's pricing page says paying annually saves up to 26%: Essential is $29 per seat a month billed annually against $39 billed monthly. Source: https://www.intercom.com/pricing
- **Early Stage: 93% off the first year** (Startups): Startups with under $10M raised and fewer than 15 employees get 93% off in year one, 50% in year two and 25% in year three, plus a year of Fin with 300 outcomes. Source: https://www.intercom.com/early-stage

## Key features

- **Fin AI Agent:** Answers customers across channels and hands off to the team inbox. It costs $0.99 per outcome, charged at most once per conversation and not when a human takes over.
- **Messenger live chat:** A chat widget for websites and mobile apps that feeds the same inbox as email and other channels.
- **Shared inbox and tickets:** Conversations and tickets in one inbox with pre-built reports. Advanced adds multiple team inboxes and round-robin assignment.
- **Help center:** A public help center on every plan; Advanced adds private and multilingual help centers and Expert adds one per brand.
- **Workflows:** Basic automation on Essential and a visual workflow automation builder from Advanced up, with SLAs on Expert.
- **Copilot:** An AI assistant in the inbox. Each agent gets 10 Copilot conversations a month free; unlimited use is a paid add-on per agent.

## Good for

- Software and app companies that support customers through in-app chat
- Teams that want an AI agent answering first, paid only when it resolves
- Teams already on Zendesk or Salesforce that want to add Fin alone

## Worth knowing

- Every Fin outcome costs $0.99 on top of seats, and WhatsApp, SMS, phone and bulk email are billed by usage.
- Unlimited Copilot costs $29 per agent / month billed annually ($35 monthly); the Pro add-on with Operator starts at $100 a month per workspace.
- Fin can run on another helpdesk such as Zendesk or Salesforce for $0.99 per outcome with a monthly minimum and no seat fees, sold through sales.
- Outbound features such as product tours and surveys need Proactive Support Plus, from $99 a month for 500 messages.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. Intercom puts a chat Messenger in your website or app, a shared inbox and help center behind it, and its Fin AI agent in front, answering before a person has to. It suits software and app companies best. The bill is the thing to watch: seats from $29, then $0.99 for every conversation Fin resolves, then usage for WhatsApp, SMS and phone.

- **Value for money: C.** Essential is $29 a seat a month billed yearly ($39 monthly), above this category's middle of $24 but short of the dearer quarter. Fin is $0.99 per resolved conversation on top, and workflows and team inboxes need Advanced at $85.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A 14-day free trial with all features, Fin and the add-ons, and no card needed, so it is a proper look. There is no free plan to drop back to when it ends, though.
- **Features: B.** The Messenger for websites and apps, a shared inbox with tickets, a help center on every plan, the Fin AI agent, workflows and Copilot in the inbox. Product tours and surveys cost extra, but the support job itself is covered.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. The Messenger has to go into your site or app, Fin learns from your content, and the automations come with a builder to learn. Not a quick switch-on.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, Stripe, Statuspage, Zendesk and WhatsApp. Fin can even run on top of Zendesk or Salesforce. No desktop app, though.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Intercom's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among help desk and live chat tools

- Intercom's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 6 of the 19 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 5.
- It stands best on features (B, above 9 of 19) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $29 a month for each person, against a middle price of $24.17 for the category: 11 of the 18 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/customer-support

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Intercom you would be making one mailbox that several people work at once. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 8 of the 19 other help desk and live chat tools grade higher. It costs $348 a year.

- You could make: Help desk, help center and reports: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: One mailbox that several people work at once.
- You could not: An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
- You could not: A chat box on your site that reaches you the moment a customer types.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Salesforce, HubSpot and Shopify among them.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- You could not: Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, Stripe, Statuspage, Zendesk, WhatsApp

**Tags:** Help desk, Live chat, Shared inbox, Help center, AI support agent, AI features, Reports

## Alternatives

- [Zendesk](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zendesk): Ticketing, messaging, help center and AI agents for support teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/intercom-vs-zendesk)
- [Help Scout](https://toolgpa.com/tools/help-scout): Shared inbox and help desk with a knowledge base and AI answers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/help-scout-vs-intercom)
- [Front](https://toolgpa.com/tools/front): Shared inbox and customer operations platform with AI and ticketing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/front-vs-intercom)
- [Freshdesk](https://toolgpa.com/tools/freshdesk): Email ticketing help desk with a knowledge base and AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshdesk-vs-intercom)
- [Crisp](https://toolgpa.com/tools/crisp): Live chat and shared inbox priced per workspace, not per seat. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crisp-vs-intercom)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://www.intercom.com/pricing
- https://www.intercom.com/early-stage
- https://www.intercom.com/integrations
- https://www.intercom.com/legal/terms-and-policies
- https://fin.ai/about
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/intercom-conversations/id739927601
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.intercom.android

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/intercom
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).