Intercom has no free plan and bills per seat, then bills AI on top: Essential is US$39 per seat a month billed monthly, and every Fin AI Agent outcome adds US$0.99. The alternatives below either cost less per seat, price the whole workspace at once, or include EU hosting that Intercom reserves for contract accounts.
Each alternative is listed for a documented reason, drawn from that vendor's own pricing and help pages. The worked examples further down show what each one costs a team of 2, 5 and 10 at list prices. For the head-to-heads, see Intercom vs Zendesk and Crisp vs Intercom; for the background, the Intercom review.
Why teams look beyond Intercom
- No free plan. Intercom offers a 14-day trial, then every seat is billed, from US$39 a month on Essential billed monthly.
- AI is billed on top of seats. Fin AI Agent costs US$0.99 per outcome with no included allowance, so the bill moves with AI volume as well as headcount.
- Branding stays on the entry plan. Intercom allows logo removal only on Advanced and Expert; Advanced costs US$99 per seat a month billed monthly.
- EU hosting is not self-serve. Regional hosting is limited to new Advanced and Expert workspaces on a contract account.
- Ownership has changed. The company renamed itself Fin in May 2026 and Salesforce completed its acquisition on 10 September 2026, so buyers who assess vendor ownership may want to re-check contract terms.
The alternatives, ranked
Freshchat
Teams wanting many agents on a free plan8.1- Paid plans from
- US$19 per seat per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Freshchat is Freshworks' live chat and messaging product, with a Free plan for up to 10 agents and paid plans billed per agent from US$19 a month on annual billing. Its Freddy AI Agent is sold in packs of 100 sessions for US$49, available from the entry paid plan. It suits small and mid-sized teams that want several people on chat for free and may later move up to Freshworks' helpdesk.
The catch: Freddy AI Agent is billed per 24-hour session whether or not the question gets resolved, and rule-based bot flows and builder previews draw from the same session pool.
HubSpot Live Chat
Two-person teams already on HubSpot CRM7.7- Paid plans from
- US$20 per seat per month, billed monthly
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes — Free tools
- EU data hosting
- Yes
HubSpot Live Chat is the chat widget and shared inbox that come with HubSpot's free CRM, for up to 2 users at no charge. Removing the HubSpot branding, routing chats and adding the AI customer agent all require paid Service Hub seats, billed per seat, with the agent's resolutions billed in HubSpot Credits on top. It suits small teams that already use, or plan to use, HubSpot as their CRM.
The catch: The widget keeps HubSpot's branding until you buy a paid seat, and HubSpot's own pages list three different Starter prices: US$7, US$10 and US$20 a seat a month.
Crisp
Teams wanting flat pricing and EU hosting7.2- Paid plans from
- US$45 per workspace per month, billed monthly
- Pricing model
- Per workspace
- Free plan
- Yes — Free
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Crisp is a French customer support suite (shared inbox, chat widget, CRM, knowledge base) that charges a flat monthly price per workspace with a fixed number of seats and no conversation cap. Paid plans run from Mini at US$45 a month for 4 seats to Plus at US$295 for 20, and the Hugo AI agent is metered through included USD credits. Crisp suits small and growing teams that want a predictable bill, many channels and data held in the EU.
The catch: The Crisp watermark stays on every plan below Plus at US$295 a month, and the Free plan has no full conversation history and caps you at 100 customer profiles.
Chatwoot
Technical teams willing to self-host, or US-based teams6.7- Paid plans from
- US$19 per seat per month, billed monthly
- Pricing model
- Per seat
- Free plan
- Yes — Hacker
- EU data hosting
- No
Chatwoot is an open-source customer support inbox from Chatwoot Inc. in San Francisco, sold as a US-hosted cloud service billed per agent and as a free, MIT-licensed Community Edition you run on your own servers. The cloud plans cover website chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Telegram and, on Business and Enterprise, voice. Its Captain AI is metered in credits, with 1 credit per AI message or action.
The catch: Chatwoot Cloud is hosted only on AWS in the United States, so keeping data in the EU means self-hosting and maintaining the software yourself.
LiveChat
Established teams with budget per agent5.5- Paid plans from
- US$19 per seat per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Per seat
- Free plan
- No free plan · 14-day trial
- EU data hosting
- Yes
LiveChat is a paid live chat and messaging platform from Text, a Polish company, billed per agent account from US$19 a month on annual billing or US$25 billed monthly. There is no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and the autonomous AI Agent is sold in Text and ChatBot.com plans rather than in classic LiveChat plans. LiveChat suits established sales and support teams that want wide channel coverage and can afford a price that rises with every seat.
The catch: LiveChat has no free plan and Starter holds a single user, so any team of two or more pays the Team rate of US$59 per person a month billed monthly, or US$49 billed annually.
Zendesk
Multichannel support teams wanting one helpdesk5.3- Paid plans from
- US$55 per seat per month, billed annually
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No free plan · 14-day trial
- EU data hosting
- On some paid plans
Zendesk sells live chat and messaging only as part of the Zendesk Suite, a per-agent helpdesk that starts with Suite Team at US$55 an agent a month billed annually or US$69 billed monthly; standalone Zendesk Chat is no longer sold to new customers. Zendesk AI agents are billed per automated resolution, with a small free allowance per agent each month. It suits teams that want chat, email, voice and social channels in one ticketing system and have the budget for per-agent Suite seats.
The catch: Live chat starts at Suite Team, US$69 an agent a month billed monthly, and the Zendesk branding can only be removed on Suite Enterprise, which is quote-only.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Paid plans from | Free plan | AI chatbot | EU data hosting | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom | 5.4 | Seats plus AI usage | US$29 per seat per month, billed annually | No free plan · 14-day trial | Fin AI Agent — billed per resolution | On some paid plans | Support teams building around an AI agent |
| Freshchat | 8.1 | Seats plus AI usage | US$19 per seat per month, billed annually | Yes — Free | Freddy AI Agent — billed per session | Yes | Teams wanting many agents on a free plan |
| HubSpot Live Chat | 7.7 | Seats plus AI usage | US$20 per seat per month, billed monthly | Yes — Free tools | Customer agent — billed per resolution | Yes | Two-person teams already on HubSpot CRM |
| Crisp | 7.2 | Per workspace | US$45 per workspace per month, billed monthly | Yes — Free | Hugo — billed per credit | Yes | Teams wanting flat pricing and EU hosting |
| Chatwoot | 6.7 | Per seat | US$19 per seat per month, billed monthly | Yes — Hacker | Captain AI — billed per credit | No | Technical teams willing to self-host, or US-based teams |
| LiveChat | 5.5 | Per seat | US$19 per seat per month, billed annually | No free plan · 14-day trial | AI Agent (sold in Text and ChatBot.com plans) — billed per resolution | Yes | Established teams with budget per agent |
| Zendesk | 5.3 | Seats plus AI usage | US$55 per seat per month, billed annually | No free plan · 14-day trial | Zendesk AI agents — billed per resolution | On some paid plans | Multichannel support teams wanting one helpdesk |
What it costs at 2, 5 and 10 seats
| Product | 2 seats · 100 conversations a month | 5 seats · 500 conversations a month | 10 seats · 2,000 conversations a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom | US$78 a month (Essential) | US$195 a month (Essential) | US$390 a month (Essential) |
| Freshchat | Free (Free) if the undocumented conversations limit allows; otherwise US$46 a month (Growth) | Free (Free) if the undocumented conversations limit allows; otherwise US$115 a month (Growth) | Free (Free) if the undocumented conversations limit allows; otherwise US$230 a month (Growth) |
| HubSpot Live Chat | Free (Free tools) | US$100 a month (Service Hub Starter) | US$200 a month (Service Hub Starter) |
| Crisp | Free (Free) | US$95 a month (Essentials) | US$95 a month (Essentials) |
| Chatwoot | Free (Hacker) | US$95 a month (Startups) | US$190 a month (Startups) |
| LiveChat | US$118 a month (Team) | US$295 a month (Team) | US$590 a month (Team) |
| Zendesk | US$138 a month (Suite Team) | US$345 a month (Suite Team) | US$690 a month (Suite Team) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest alternative to Intercom?
Among the alternatives listed, Crisp and HubSpot Live Chat start with free plans for a small team, and Crisp Essentials covers 10 seats for US$95 a month. Intercom Essential costs US$39 per seat billed monthly. The free-plan audit works out the cheapest route for your team size.
Which Intercom alternative has the most similar AI agent billing?
Zendesk and HubSpot Live Chat also bill per resolution, at US$1.50 (committed) and US$0.50 respectively, against Intercom's US$0.99 per Fin outcome. Zendesk includes some free resolutions per agent; Intercom includes none. See how vendors bill for AI.
Which Intercom alternatives host data in the EU on every plan?
Crisp states EU hosting on every plan, and LiveChat lets you choose EU hosting at sign-up. Freshchat lets you choose an EEA region at sign-up. See EU-hosted live chat and the privacy and law guide.
Related pages
- Intercom reviewreview
- Intercom pricing explainedpricing
- Best live chat software in 2026best list
Sources
- Shopify integration — Fin (Intercom) · 18 September 2026
- WordPress plugin — Fin (Intercom) · 18 September 2026
- Intercom pricing — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Fin pricing — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Fin AI Agent outcomes — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Your workspace settings — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Early Stage program — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Usage-based channels — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Regional data hosting — Fin · 18 September 2026
- How data is hosted and processed in Intercom — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Intercom security — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Localize the Messenger to work with multiple languages — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Use Intercom in your preferred language — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Omnichannel helpdesk — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Intercom live chat — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Installing Intercom — Fin · 18 September 2026
- About Fin — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Today, Intercom becomes Fin — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Salesforce signs definitive agreement to acquire Fin — Salesforce · 18 September 2026
- Salesforce completes acquisition of Fin — Salesforce · 18 September 2026
- Lightspeed customer story — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Intercom on the Vendr marketplace — Vendr · 18 September 2026
- Shopify integration — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- WordPress plugin — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freshchat pricing — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freddy AI Agent and chatbot sessions FAQs — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Understanding Freddy AI features and pricing — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- How can I remove the Freshworks branding from the widget? — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Provide multilingual support to your customers — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Where are your data servers located? — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freshworks sub-processors — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freshworks Trust Center — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- What is Freshchat? — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freshchat live chat software — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freshchat developer documentation — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Freshworks announces winners of the 2026 Global Customer Awards — Freshworks · 18 September 2026
- Shopify integration — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- WordPress plugin — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Service Hub pricing — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Service Hub Preise (hubspot.de) — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- HubSpot Product & Services Catalog — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Service Hub pricing (HubSpot blog) — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Service Hub product page — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- HubSpot live chat — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- AI customer service agent — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Understand the customer agent — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- HubSpot cloud infrastructure and data hosting FAQ — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- HubSpot security — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Create and customize a mobile chatflow — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Our story — HubSpot · 18 September 2026
- Crisp pricing — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Getting started with the Free plan — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Hugo pricing and billing explained — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- How to increase my limits and quotas — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Crisp EU GDPR compliance status — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Crisp compliance status with SOC 2 — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Crisp compliance with ISO 27001 — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Crisp sub-processors — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- What languages are supported by Crisp — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Chatbox SDKs — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- About Crisp — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Crisp live chat — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Crisp AI Core Update (Hugo launch, AI replies become paid) — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Summer 2026 Crisp product update — Crisp · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot Cloud pricing — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot self-hosted plans — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- How AI credits work in Captain — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Captain AI credits and billing — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Fair use policy — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot security — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot home page — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot for enterprise — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot integrations — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot changelog — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot handbook: company — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- Chatwoot LICENSE — Chatwoot · 18 September 2026
- WooCommerce integration — Text · 18 September 2026
- LiveChat pricing — Text · 18 September 2026
- Text pricing (plans with the AI Agent) — Text · 18 September 2026
- ChatBot.com pricing — Text · 18 September 2026
- Pay-per-agent pricing model — Text · 18 September 2026
- LiveChat subscription policy — Text · 18 September 2026
- Data storage policy — Text · 18 September 2026
- Data Processing Addendum — Text · 18 September 2026
- List of sub-processors — Text · 18 September 2026
- How to change the chat widget language — Text · 18 September 2026
- LiveChat Marketplace — Text · 18 September 2026
- LiveChat features — Text · 18 September 2026
- Shopify integration — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- WordPress plugin — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk pricing — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk free trial — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- About automated resolutions for AI agents — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- About automated resolution tiers — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Announcing expanded access to AI agent capabilities for all Zendesk customers — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- About the Data Center Location add-on — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Regional Data Hosting Policy — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Messaging vs live chat: which is right for you? — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- About Zendesk Chat plan types (legacy) — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk Trust Center — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk live chat — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk AI agents — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk Copilot — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk for Startups — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Hello Sugar customer story — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk completes acquisition of Forethought — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Consortium led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira completes acquisition of Zendesk — Permira · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk press — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk on the Vendr marketplace — Vendr · 18 September 2026
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not installed or tested these products ourselves. Method: How we review