Intercom is a customer service helpdesk whose live chat widget, the Messenger, comes with every plan, sold per full seat from US$29 a month on annual billing and US$39 on monthly billing. Its Fin AI Agent is available on all plans and billed separately at US$0.99 per outcome. The company behind it renamed itself Fin in May 2026 and has been owned by Salesforce since September 10, 2026; Intercom suits teams that want a full helpdesk with an AI agent built in and can pay per seat for it.
Bottom line
- Best for: Support teams building around an AI agent
- Not for: Intercom is a poor fit for a small team on a tight budget, because there is no free plan, every full seat is billed and every Fin outcome is charged on top.
- Paid plans from: US$29 per seat per month, billed annually
- The catch: Intercom has no free plan and no included Fin allowance on standard plans, so the bill is seats at up to US$39 each plus US$0.99 for every Fin outcome, including customers who simply leave after Fin's answer.
Score breakdown
Intercom scores 5.4 out of 10 on rubric v1.0. The rubric rates what can be verified from public information, not how the widget performs on a live site.
No free plan. At most a time-limited trial.
More than 125 and up to 250 a month.
Price and unit are public and defined in writing, including the edge cases, but no allowance is included in any plan, or the AI is only sold in a separate product or a higher tier.
Website chat, email and at least one of Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp, with WordPress and one major ecommerce platform.
EU hosting exists but only on higher plans or by contract; or EU hosting on every plan without an independent security audit (SOC 2 or ISO 27001) of the vendor itself.
Key facts
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, USA · founded 2011
- Pricing model
- Seats plus AI usage
- Paid plans from
- US$29 per seat per month, billed annually
- Prices published in
- USD
- Free plan
- No free plan · 14-day trial
- AI chatbot
- Fin AI Agent — billed per resolution
- Channels
- Website chat, Email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Voice
- Languages
- Widget in 45+ languages · German: Yes · Spanish: Yes
- EU data hosting
- On some paid plans
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27018, ISO 42001, AIUC-1 (Fin), HIPAA (Expert), GDPR, CCPA
- Integrations
- WordPress, Shopify, Stripe, Klaviyo, Salesforce, HubSpot
Strengths
- The Messenger, a shared inbox, ticketing, a public help centre and Fin AI Agent are included on every plan, and inbound conversations are not metered.
- The Fin outcome is defined in writing, including when you are not charged and the refund if a conversation is reopened.
- Intercom publishes a 90-day money-back guarantee on Fin, plus spending limits and alerts.
- The Messenger is translated into 45 languages, German and Spanish included, and Fin is listed as supporting 45 languages.
- Intercom lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27018 and ISO 42001, with HIPAA support on Expert.
Weaknesses
- There is no free plan; the cheapest route is the 14-day trial, then Essential.
- Intercom branding can only be removed on Advanced and Expert, not on Essential.
- Fin charges for assumed resolutions, where the customer leaves without asking for more help, and for procedure handoffs you configured to end with a human.
- EU or Australian hosting is only for new workspaces on Advanced or Expert with a contract account, and an existing workspace cannot be migrated.
- WhatsApp, SMS, bulk email and phone are usage-charged on top of seats; SMS in the US and Canada costs US$0.01–US$0.06 per segment, by volume tier.
What the free plan allows
Intercom has no free plan. The 14-day trial needs no credit card and, according to the pricing page, includes all features, Fin and add-ons, with Fin outcomes unlimited during the trial. After the trial, the cheapest route is Essential at US$29 a seat a month on annual billing, which keeps the Intercom branding on the Messenger. Startups that have raised no more than US$10,000,000, are not already customers and meet a headcount limit can apply to Early Stage: 93% off in year one, with 300 Fin outcomes a month, falling to 50% and 25% off in the next two years. Intercom states the headcount limit two ways: the pricing page says 15 employees or fewer, the help article says fewer than 15. Leaving the programme forfeits the remaining discounts.
Free-plan audit: does your team fit a free live chat plan? · Is a free live chat plan enough for your team?
Published prices
| Plan | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | US$29 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Essential | US$39 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Advanced | US$85 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Advanced | US$99 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Expert | US$132 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Expert | US$139 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Fin AI Agent, per outcome | US$0.99 per resolution | Source |
| Fin AI Agent, per sales qualification | US$9.99 | Source |
| Fin Voice, per voice outcome (via sales) | US$1.99 | Source |
| Copilot add-on | US$29 per seat per month, billed annually | Source |
| Copilot add-on | US$35 per seat per month, billed monthly | Source |
| Proactive Support Plus add-on | US$99 per workspace per month | Source |
| Pro add-on | US$99 per workspace per month | Source |
| Early Stage (eligible startups, year 1) | US$33 per workspace per month | Source |
Intercom charges per full seat, with a minimum of 1: Essential costs US$39 a seat a month billed monthly or US$29 billed annually, Advanced US$99 or US$85, and Expert US$132 billed annually. The monthly figures come from data embedded in the pricing page, whose visible toggle defaults to annual, and the page's FAQ names only Essential and Advanced as self-serve plans, so Expert's US$139 monthly figure may not be available without a contract. A team of 2 on Essential pays twice the seat price, a team of 5 five times and a team of 10 ten times, before any Fin outcomes, usage-charged channels or add-ons such as Copilot (US$35 an agent a month billed monthly). Advanced adds 20 free Lite seats for internal collaborators, but Lite seats cannot send messages. Eligible startups can apply to the Early Stage programme, which starts at US$33 a month in year one; Fin and Salesforce had announced no change to Intercom pricing as of this review. See the Intercom vs Zendesk comparison for how its seat prices compare.
How the AI is billed
Intercom bills Fin AI Agent per outcome, at most one per conversation: US$0.99 for a resolution, a procedure handoff or a disqualification, and US$9.99 for a sales qualification. Intercom's help article counts a resolution when the customer either confirms the answer was satisfactory or exits without requesting further help after Fin's last answer, so silence is billed as an assumed resolution; the article we read does not state how long the silence must last. A procedure handoff is billed even though a human takes over, if you built the Procedure to end with a handoff. You pay nothing when Fin cannot answer, fails an action or the customer asks for a human, and a resolution is refunded if the conversation is reopened. There is no included allowance on standard plans. Fin Voice costs US$1.99 per voice outcome through sales on intercom.com, while fin.ai/pricing still describes voice as custom pricing. Fin on another helpdesk, without Intercom seats, has a minimum of 50 outcomes a month. Intercom claims a 76% average resolution rate in the Messenger; that is the vendor's figure. The guide to how vendors bill for AI compares outcomes with sessions and credits. Source
Data hosting and languages
Intercom hosts on AWS in the United States (N. Virginia), the EU (Dublin) and Australia (Sydney). The US is the default; EU or Australian hosting is only for new workspaces on Advanced or Expert with a contract account, is not available through Early Stage, and an existing workspace cannot be moved, so historical conversations stay where they are. Intercom lists no UK region and does not state an extra fee for regional hosting, nor where Fin's language-model processing runs for EU workspaces. Intercom's security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27018, ISO 42001, AIUC-1 for Fin, GDPR and CCPA, with HIPAA support on Expert. The Messenger is available in 45 languages, a count that includes German and German (Formal) separately, plus Spanish; the agent interface is in 7 languages, including German and Spanish. The EU-hosted live chat list shows tools with a self-serve EU region.
Verdict
Intercom is a strong candidate for a support team that wants a helpdesk built around an AI agent and has the budget for per-seat pricing, because Fin is available on every plan and its outcome billing is documented in detail. It is expensive for small teams: there is no free plan, Essential keeps the branding, and every Fin outcome, including assumed resolutions, is charged on top. The ownership change to Salesforce on September 10, 2026 has not come with any announced pricing change, but it is worth watching before signing an annual term. Teams that want a cheaper chat widget should read Intercom alternatives or compare Crisp vs Intercom.
Related pages
- Intercom pricing explainedpricing
- The best Intercom alternativesalternatives
- Intercom vs Zendeskvs
- Crisp vs Intercomvs
- Best live chat software in 2026best list
Frequently asked questions
Does Intercom have a free plan?
No. Intercom offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card, then paid seats from US$29 a month billed annually. Eligible startups can apply to the Early Stage programme, which starts at US$33 a month in year one.
How much does Intercom's Fin AI Agent cost?
Fin costs US$0.99 per outcome, charged at most once per conversation, and US$9.99 per sales qualification. An outcome includes a customer leaving without asking for more help after Fin's answer. There is no included allowance on standard plans, and the seats are billed separately.
Is Intercom now owned by Salesforce?
Yes. The company renamed itself from Intercom to Fin on May 12, 2026, keeping Intercom as the name of its helpdesk and Messenger, and Salesforce completed its acquisition of Fin on September 10, 2026. Neither company had announced a change to Intercom's pricing when this review was written.
Can I remove the Intercom branding from the Messenger?
Only on Advanced and Expert. Intercom's workspace settings article says branding can be removed from the Messenger, outbound emails and Help Center on those plans, so Essential users keep it.
Does Intercom host data in the EU?
Yes, in Dublin, but only for new workspaces on Advanced or Expert with a contract account. Essential and Early Stage workspaces are hosted in the US, and an existing workspace cannot be migrated to another region.
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
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