Intercom Pricing: Plans, Costs and What You Get
The quick answer
Quick answer: Intercom charges for two things: seats for your support team and usage, mainly the Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome. There are three plans. Essential is $29 per seat a month billed annually ($39 billed monthly), and the pricing page currently shows new customers $19 per seat a month on annual billing. Advanced is $85 per seat a month billed annually ($99 monthly) and Expert is $132 billed annually ($139 monthly). There is no free plan, but there is a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and eligible startups can get up to 93% off in year one. What drives the bill is the number of full seats, how many conversations Fin resolves, and any add-ons or paid channels such as SMS, WhatsApp and email campaigns. Prices are as of November 2026, from Intercom's own pricing page and calculator.
Intercom plans compared
| Plan | Price (as of November 2026) | What is included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $29 per seat a month billed annually ($19 for new customers), $39 monthly | Fin, Messenger, shared inbox and ticketing, pre-built reports, public help center | Individuals, startups and small teams |
| Advanced | $85 per seat a month billed annually, $99 monthly | Essential plus workflows, multiple team inboxes, round robin, private and multilingual help center, 20 free Lite seats | Growing support teams that need automation |
| Expert | $132 per seat a month billed annually, $139 monthly | Advanced plus SSO, HIPAA support, SLAs, multibrand Messenger and help center, 50 free Lite seats | Large or regulated support teams |
| Fin AI Agent only | $0.99 per outcome, no seats | Fin on your current helpdesk, such as Salesforce; a monthly minimum applies | Teams that want to keep their helpdesk |
Every plan includes Fin at $0.99 per outcome on top of the seat price. Intercom also says all plans include free, unlimited live chat, support email, in-app chats, banners and tooltips.
Essential
Essential is the entry plan, aimed at individuals, startups and small businesses. It covers the core of a support setup: the Messenger for live chat on your site and in your app, a shared inbox and ticketing, pre-built reports, a public help center and Fin for service, sales and ecommerce questions.
The list price is $29 per seat a month on annual billing and $39 on monthly billing. At the time of writing, the pricing page labels Essential "New customers save 35%" and shows $19 per seat a month on annual billing, so check whether that offer still applies when you buy. There is a one full seat minimum and no platform fee.
Limits to know: Essential has no workflows builder, only one team inbox, and the help center is public only.
Advanced
Advanced adds the automation most support teams reach for once volume grows: the Workflows automation builder, multiple team inboxes, round robin assignment and a private and multilingual help center. It also includes 20 free Lite seats, which suit colleagues who need to see conversations and collaborate internally but do not reply to customers.
It costs $85 per seat a month billed annually or $99 billed monthly. For many SaaS support teams, this is the plan to compare against other helpdesks.
Expert
Expert is built for large support teams with security and multi-brand needs: SSO and identity management, HIPAA support, service level agreements and a multibrand Messenger and help center, plus 50 free Lite seats. It costs $132 per seat a month billed annually or $139 billed monthly. Enterprise contracts, premier support and custom terms go through sales.
Fin AI Agent pricing
Fin is priced at $0.99 per outcome. Intercom counts an outcome when a customer confirms the issue is resolved, when they do not ask for more help after Fin responds, or when Fin completes a Procedure, including a handoff to a person. You are charged once per conversation, even if Fin answers several questions in it.
If you already use another helpdesk, you can buy Fin on its own at the same $0.99 per outcome with no seat costs. Intercom says a minimum monthly commitment applies, giving 50 outcomes as an example.
What drives the bill
- Full seats. Every teammate who replies to customers needs a paid full seat. Lite seats are free on Advanced and Expert for internal collaboration, but they cannot send messages.
- Fin outcomes. At $0.99 each, a high-volume help desk can spend more on Fin than on seats. Intercom's calculator lets you enter expected outcomes before you commit.
- Paid channels. WhatsApp and SMS are charged per message, email campaigns per bulk email sent, and phone by usage. Inbound support, such as replying to customer emails, is included.
- Add-ons. Copilot (an AI assistant in the inbox) is $29 per agent a month billed annually or $35 monthly; every agent gets 10 Copilot and 10 AI auto-translation conversations free each month. Proactive Support Plus is $99 a month with 500 messages and covers product tours, surveys, in-app messages, mobile push and carousels. Pro is $100 a month for AI analysis, quality monitoring and the Operator agent, with 6,000 credits included and extra credits at $0.01 each.
- Annual vs monthly. Annual billing saves $10 a seat on Essential, $14 on Advanced and $7 on Expert compared with monthly billing. Monthly self-serve plans need no contract, and downgrades usually take effect at renewal.
A worked example
This is an illustration built only from Intercom's published unit prices, not a typical customer bill. Take a team with 3 full seats on Advanced, billed annually, where Fin produces 400 outcomes a month:
- Seats: 3 x $85 = $255 a month
- Fin: 400 x $0.99 = $396 a month
- Total: $651 a month, before any paid channels
Add Proactive Support Plus for product tours and in-app surveys and the total becomes $750 a month. On monthly billing the seats would cost 3 x $99 = $297 instead of $255. Notice that in this example Fin costs more than the seats, so the resolution rate matters as much as headcount.
How to keep the cost down
- Use Lite seats for people who only read. On Advanced and Expert, product managers and engineers who follow conversations can use the free Lite seats instead of full seats.
- Model Fin before you switch it on. Use Intercom's pricing calculator with your real monthly conversation volume, and improve your help articles first so more answers resolve on the first try.
- Pay annually once the setup is stable. Start monthly during the trial and the first weeks, then move to annual billing for the lower seat price.
- Check the Early Stage program. Startups with up to $10M in funding, fewer than 15 employees and no current Intercom account can apply for 93% off in year one, 50% off in year two and 25% off in year three, with 300 Fin outcomes a month included in year one. The discount does not apply to extra outcomes, phone, SMS or WhatsApp.
- Skip add-ons you can cover elsewhere. If you only need a few product tours or surveys, a dedicated in-app tool may cost less than Proactive Support Plus. Our guide to in-app messaging software compares the options.
Cheaper or different alternatives
If the per-seat plus per-outcome model does not fit, these tools price support differently. All prices were checked on each vendor's own pricing page in November 2026.
- Zendesk: Support Team is $19 per agent a month paid yearly for email and ticketing. Messaging and live chat start with Suite Team at $55 per agent a month paid yearly ($69 monthly), and AI agents are billed per automated resolution.
- Freshdesk: Growth is $19 per agent a month billed annually, with Freddy AI Agent's first 500 sessions included and extra sessions at $49 per 100.
- Help Scout: a Free plan for 5 users with 1 inbox and 1 Docs site, then Standard at $25 per user a month. Its AI Answers assistant costs $0.75 per resolution.
- Crisp: prices per workspace, not per seat: Free, then Mini at $45 a month with 4 seats.
- PLG OS (our product): not a helpdesk, but an embeddable Help Hub plus onboarding components, with a free tier and Starter at $49 a month.
For a full comparison, see our Intercom alternatives guide, and our PLG OS vs Intercom breakdown if in-app onboarding matters as much as support. If you are still deciding which kind of tool you need, our list of in-app support tools compares chat, help centers and AI agents side by side.
FAQs
Is Intercom free?
No. Intercom has no free plan, but it offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card that includes all features, Fin and add-ons. Startups that qualify for the Early Stage program can get 93% off in the first year.
How much does Intercom cost per month?
Seats cost $39, $99 or $139 per seat a month on monthly billing for Essential, Advanced and Expert, or $29, $85 and $132 billed annually. Fin adds $0.99 per outcome, so a team's monthly bill depends on its seat count and resolution volume.
Does Intercom charge per user?
Yes, per full seat. Each teammate who replies to customers needs a paid seat, while Lite seats for internal collaboration are free on Advanced (20 included) and Expert (50 included).
How much does Intercom Fin cost?
Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, charged once per conversation. You can also use Fin with another helpdesk at the same price with no seat costs, subject to a minimum monthly commitment.
Is Intercom expensive for small teams?
It can be, because Fin usage is added on top of seats. A small team can start on Essential with one seat, apply to the Early Stage program if eligible, or compare lower-cost tools such as Help Scout or Crisp.