Intercom
Customer Support · www.intercom.com
Intercom is an AI-first customer service platform that combines the Fin AI Agent with a shared inbox, ticketing, help center, and messaging channels.
Switching to Help Scout, which covers 91% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Intercom alternatives
We compared 13 products and found 10 cheaper alternatives · vs Intercom Essential at $29/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Intercom costs $29/mo on the Essential plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 10 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 4 of them cover at least 75% of the 11 compared capabilities.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TOP PICK Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: SLA management, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, SAML single sign-on | 64% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $336 / year 97% cheaper | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, Voice / telephony, SAML single sign-on | 64% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $120 / year 34% cheaper | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, AI agents, AI copilot, SLA management, Routing & assignment, Support automations, SAML single sign-on | 36% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $120 / year 34% cheaper | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, Live chat & messaging, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, Routing & assignment, Support automations, Voice / telephony | 27% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $120 / year 34% cheaper | |
Tidio Starter plan · missing: Knowledge base / help center, SLA management, Voice / telephony live chat — adjacent | 73% | $24.17/mo how? ⓘ | $58.00 / year 17% cheaper | |
Help Scout Standard plan · missing: SAML single sign-on | 91% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | $48 / year 14% cheaper | |
Front Starter plan · missing: SLA management shared inbox — adjacent | 91% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | $48 / year 14% cheaper | |
LiveChat Starter plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, SLA management, Voice / telephony, SAML single sign-on live chat — adjacent | 64% | $25/mo how? ⓘ | $48 / year 14% cheaper |
Which Intercom alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- Help Scout — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 91%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $0/mo (Hacker plan) · covers 27%
- Best paid drop-in
- Helply — $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) · covers 64%
- Need ticketing, omnichannel inbox, live chat & messaging, knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, SLA management, routing & assignment, support automations or voice / telephony?
- Help Scout — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need SAML single sign-on?
- Tidio — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Intercom has that the top alternatives lack.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Tidio.
- SLA management — Set and track response-time targets for tickets.Missing from Crisp, Tidio.
- Voice / telephony — Handle customer support calls by phone.Missing from Tidio.
- SAML single sign-on — Sign in through your company's SAML single sign-on.Missing from Help Scout, Zoho Desk, Crisp.
Feature comparison
Intercom vs the top alternatives, on the 11 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Intercom | Help Scout | Zoho Desk | Crisp | Tidio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticketing from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Omnichannel inbox from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live chat & messaging from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Knowledge base / help center from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI agents from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI copilot from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SLA management from Expert | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Routing & assignment from Advanced | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Support automations from Advanced | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voice / telephony from Essential | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| SAML single sign-on from Expert | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $29/mo Essential | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Intercom covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Ticketing — from Essential
- ✓ Omnichannel inbox — from Essential
- ✓ Live chat & messaging — from Essential
- ✓ Knowledge base / help center — from Essential
- ✓ AI agents — from Essential
- ✓ AI copilot — from Essential
- ✓ SLA management — from Expert
- ✓ Routing & assignment — from Advanced
- ✓ Support automations — from Advanced
- ✓ Voice / telephony — from Essential
- ✓ SAML single sign-on — from Expert
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.intercom.com/pricing (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-31)
Frequently asked
How much does Intercom cost?
Intercom's Essential plan costs $29/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing).
Is there a free Intercom alternative?
Yes. Help Scout has a free plan that covers 91% of the 11 capabilities we compared against Intercom.
What is the cheapest Intercom alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Help Scout is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Intercom alternative with SAML single sign-on?
Tidio covers SAML single sign-on and costs $0/mo (Free plan) in our scenario.
Does Intercom have a free plan?
No. Intercom has no free plan on its official pricing page.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.