Intercom Pricing, No-BS Breakdown for Every Company Size
Intercom is a customer service software that launched in 2011, at a time when customer service software was only just gaining traction
It gained a huge market share due to features that were not widely available on other platforms, like live chat and email marketing functions.
That being said, there has always been one point of contention amongst users since Intercom's early days, its pricing. Not only is it expensive, but there are so many different aspects to the pricing that it can become incredibly confusing to users.
Thankfully, we here at CustoQ are here to help. We have developed this guide to take you through the ins and outs of Intercom pricing, ensuring that you know what you will be paying for and what you will get for your money.
"Choose clarity over surprise"
And if you are looking for a simpler pricing model, you can calculate your fees right now on the CustoQ pricing page before paying a penny. We are all about transparency, and we know SaaS customers appreciate that. Without further ado, let us take a look at Intercom pricing.
In this article, we will delve into Intercom pricing, including
- Breakdown of the plans and main feature sets
- How Intercom calculates its pricing
- What factors can affect the price
- Pricing add ons
- Costs and company size pricing
This is going to be a long one, let us go
What is Intercom
Intercom is a comprehensive customer service software that unifies customer interactions with consistent and automated messaging. It comes with a variety of tools and add ons to streamline customer communications, allowing you to talk to users through channels like SMS, WhatsApp, automated chatbots, and more.
Intercom Solutions
An important aspect of Intercom pricing is understanding its solutions. These act almost as add on packages, and choosing one or more will incur additional costs. Let us break each of them down
Support
Intercom Support allows businesses to deliver in context support to customers for faster resolutions
Engage
Engage lets you automatically reach out to customers when they are most likely to engage, the onboarding process for example, can be tailored to each individual
Convert
Convert facilitates fast communication with website visitors and ensures their questions are answered accurately, Intercom Convert uses intelligent bots to route customers based on a set of rules
Fin, Advanced AI
Another add on that can incur an additional cost but can be essential to support teams is Fin, one of the more sophisticated AIs on the market. Its main purpose is to resolve simple customer queries, freeing time for support teams to deal with more pressing issues
Intercom Pricing Overview
Intercom comes with three plans
| Plan | Price per seat per month when billed annually |
|---|---|
| Essential | $29 |
| Advanced | $85 |
| Expert | $132 |
On the face of it, it looks simple enough, but do not be fooled, there are multiple factors that can affect the overall price, even on the starter plan, so that $29 per seat per month is not the whole story.
Let us break down these factors in a little more detail
- Intercom Solutions, these are essentially feature packs that focus on support, engagement and conversions, generally one of these packs can add around $100 to your monthly bill
- Seats, the number of customer service agents who can use Intercom, prices for seats depend on the plan you choose and are affected by your choice of Intercom solutions
- People reached, the number of people reached with your outbound messages, for the Starter plan you can reach 1,000 people, keep in mind that if you go over that limit even by one, you will be charged for another 1,000 reaches, usually around $50 per 1,000
- Customer Resolutions, if you are using Intercom's AI, Fin, you will be charged $0.99 for each resolution
- Add ons, aside from the Intercom Solutions there are individual add ons you can include in your plan, you will either be charged a flat rate or based on the number of agents using an add on, prices can range anywhere from $9 to $200 depending on the add on
As you can see, nailing down a concrete estimate of prices is almost impossible, there are so many options that can affect the price. Even if you have a quote from Intercom on your monthly charge, resolutions and going over your people reached limit can drastically change what you pay.
"Expect movement in your invoice"
How Does Intercom Calculate Price
Before diving into an in depth overview of pricing, it is important to understand how Intercom calculates its costs. Prices are highly personalised, taking into account not only the size of your business but also several key factors
- Fin AI Resolutions, resolutions are charged at $0.99 each. Unlike traditional models that charge per answer or deflection, Intercom only charges for successful resolutions, meaning you pay for actual results. While this ensures value for what you pay, it can also make it challenging to predict monthly costs in advance, especially as your support volume fluctuates
- Seats, seats refer to the number of individuals within your team who use Intercom. Each plan charges differently per seat, and the cost can increase depending on the features and add ons you choose. For instance the Essential plan costs $29 per seat per month, the Advanced plan is $85 per seat per month, the Expert plan charges $132 per seat per month. Additional seats in specialised add ons such as Fin AI Copilot can cost $29 per agent per month for unlimited usage
- Proactive Support Plus, adding advanced in app and outbound support features costs $99 per month. This includes product tours, surveys and other customer engagement features, which can drive up your total depending on usage
- Usage Based Channels, charges for channels like SMS, WhatsApp and Phone are based on actual usage, with rates varying by channel
- Email campaigns range from $0.00025 to $0.045 per email sent
- SMS costs $0.01 to $0.09 per SMS sent or received
- WhatsApp charges $0.03 to $0.10 per conversation
- Phone services including voice and video calls are billed at $0.0035 per minute
As you can see, several factors influence Intercom pricing, making it challenging to provide a one size fits all estimate. Costs can fluctuate based on your company requirements, usage levels and the number of seats or add ons you choose.
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"Clean pricing, clear choice"
How Intercom Plans Work
Another slightly confusing aspect of Intercom is its plan structure. There are three plans. There are also three products, which we discussed earlier, Support, Engage and Convert. Each product has its own selection of tools and features, but the features you get with each product will vary based on the plan. Each product also has a set of add ons you can include in your plans.
For example the banner messaging feature belongs to Intercom Engage, it is available as an add on for the Pro and Premium plans only. Intercom Messenger is included in all plans and is part of Intercom Support.
Intercom Plans and Pricing Structure
Now that we have broken down how prices are calculated, we can start discussing the actual prices. It is important to note that prices can vary depending on your company requirements. Generally you should expect to pay anywhere between $29 and $1,584 per month per seat, depending on the plan and additional features you choose.
Essential Plan
Intercom Essential is designed for individuals, startups and small businesses looking for a straightforward and affordable customer support solution. It is the most basic plan, making it accessible for those who need essential support features without the complexity or cost of more advanced plans
Key Features
- Fin AI Copilot for customer service with limited usage
- Intercom Messenger for branded messages across the customer journey
- Shared Inbox to combine messages from all channels into one place
- Basic help center to publish public articles and FAQs
- Ticketing system to manage and track customer issues
- Saved replies to store and reuse responses
- Company and behavioural data to personalise experiences based on customer actions
The Essential plan costs $29 per seat per month or $348 per year when billed annually. This includes access to core features, additional usage can be managed via optional add ons.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Affordable starting costs | Limited advanced automation and AI features |
| Good selection of essential features | No access to multiple team inboxes |
| Easy to set up for small teams | Some features like custom reports and SSO are unavailable |
Advanced Plan
The Advanced plan is tailored for growing support teams that require more powerful automation tools and AI driven features. This plan offers a balance of cost and advanced functionality, making it ideal for medium sized businesses looking to scale support operations
Key Features
- Advanced chatbots and automations for personalised workflows
- Multiple team inboxes to improve collaboration
- Workflows for advanced automations to automate repetitive tasks
- Proactive Support to send in context messages before customers reach out
- Fin AI Copilot with unlimited usage included
- Salesforce integration to streamline CRM workflows
The Advanced plan costs $85 per seat per month or $1,020 per year when billed annually. This includes more robust automation and AI features, with additional functionality available through add ons.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Tailored for scaling businesses | Higher cost per seat compared to Essential |
| Access to advanced workflow automation | Additional fees for certain messaging channels |
| Proactive support features | Some enterprise grade features still unavailable |
Expert Plan
The Expert plan is designed for large support teams that need advanced collaboration, security and reporting tools. While this plan offers the most features it is also the most expensive, catering to businesses that require extensive customisation and security measures
Key Features
- Workload management to balance team workloads automatically
- Multiple help centers to serve different segments
- Custom and real time reporting for detailed insights
- 2 factor authentication and Google SSO for enterprise grade security
- Private help center options for restricted audiences
- Fin AI Agent to automate a significant portion of support, billed at $0.99 per resolution
The Expert plan costs $132 per seat per month or $1,584 per year when billed annually. This plan includes the most advanced features, ideal for large, security conscious teams.
Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Comprehensive enterprise grade tools | Higher cost per seat |
| Enhanced security like SSO and 2 factor auth | Advanced features may be overkill for small teams |
| Advanced reporting and analytics | Additional costs for proactive messaging and channels |
Intercom Add on Pricing
This is the factor that can drastically increase the cost of your plan. Intercom offers a variety of add ons, each with its own pricing structure. These add ons range from advanced AI features to enhanced messaging and communication tools, allowing you to customise your Intercom plan to fit your needs
Keep in mind that while some add ons are billed at a flat rate, others particularly those related to customer support may have usage based pricing. Below are examples of common add ons
| Add on | Pricing model |
|---|---|
| Fin AI Agent | $0.99 per resolution |
| Fin AI Copilot | Free up to 10 tickets per agent per month, upgrade to unlimited for $29 per agent per month |
| Proactive Support Plus | $99 per month, includes product tours, surveys and other tools |
| Email campaigns | $0.00025 to $0.045 per email sent |
| SMS | $0.01 to $0.09 per SMS sent or received |
| WhatsApp Integration | $0.03 to $0.10 per conversation |
| Phone | $0.0035 per minute for calls and screen sharing |
These add ons provide flexibility, but they also create unpredictability in your invoice if you make heavy use of channels or AI resolutions.
"Add ons are where surprise bills hide"
How SMS Pricing Works
SMS is an optional add on for Intercom customers. It allows you to send personalised two way SMS messages for use cases like promoting products, scheduling appointments and notifying customers about account changes. Intercom users can send automated targeted SMS messages triggered by events like signing up for a trial.
Intercom claims SMS messages have a 98 percent open rate, which is considerably higher than average email open rates. But how much does it cost to reach customers via SMS Let us look at the details
Intercom users are charged per phone number they activate, and for the number of messages sent and received each month. The price of one activated phone number includes up to 500 SMS per month and costs $15 in the U.S.
If you live in the U.S. and want to send 1,000 messages per month, it will cost the price of the activated phone number plus an additional $15, therefore $30 in total.
| Region | Price per activated number, includes 500 messages |
|---|---|
| United States | $15 per month |
| Example overage | 1,000 messages, $30 total |
Free Trial and Demo Options
In the plans detailed above we included whether each offered a free trial, demo or both. To recap
| Plan tier | Trial | Demo |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Free trial | No demo |
| Pro | Free trial and demo | Demo available |
| Premium | Demo only | Contact sales |
To begin your free trial, sign up and you will begin your 14 day free trial. Once the trial ends your plan will continue and you will be billed monthly or annually unless you cancel first. If you want a demo for Pro or Premium, contact Intercom to arrange it. When you click Get a demo on the pricing page a chat box will ask for your email and you will go through the process to sign up for a demo.
Billing and Payment Options
Billing cycle
Your Intercom bill is based on your products, plan and the number of people your application is tracking. You can choose to be billed monthly or annually. Your bill is calculated every month in advance based on your usage in the previous month.
Overages and credits
Overages and credits are Intercom solutions for customers going over or under their monthly allowance for people reached or tracked. They may also be issued if you change your plan mid cycle. For example if you switch to a cheaper plan in the middle of the month you might receive credits because you already paid in advance for the more expensive plan.
Estimating Your Invoice
You can view your bill and all your fees in Billing Settings in your dashboard after you sign up. There is a price calculator to work out fees, potentially avoiding nasty billing surprises.
Who is Intercom For
Company Size
Intercom is suitable for companies of all sizes, from startups to enterprises. Let us look at what it offers at each stage
Early Stage
Intercom's Early Stage Program is designed to help eligible startups access the full range of features at a discounted rate. Launched in 2016 this program has supported over 10,000 startup customers with incremental pricing discounts that allow startups time to scale while benefiting from comprehensive support tools.
Startups accepted into Early Stage will be placed on the Advanced plan which includes a robust set of features tailored for growth
Key Features Included in Early Stage
- 6 full seats for your support team
- 6 Fin AI Copilot seats with unlimited usage to enhance agent efficiency
- 20 lite seats for additional team members with limited access
- 10 Fin AI Agent resolutions per month
- Proactive Support Plus features including advanced in app and outbound tools
Early Stage Pricing Example
In the first year you receive this comprehensive plan for just $65 per month, a significant discount from the original list price of $903. This pricing allows startups to access advanced features without the heavy upfront cost, with discounts that reduce over three years
| Year | Discount | Monthly price |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | 90 percent | $65 |
| Year 2 | 50 percent | $451.50 |
| Year 3 | 25 percent | $677.25 |
Note that some usage based charges still apply for AI resolutions, SMS, WhatsApp and Phone, which are billed at list price.
Mid Market and Enterprise
Using data from review websites pricing can range from $300 to over $1,000. Intercom can help mid market and enterprise businesses to scale, the more website visitors you have the more possibilities to encourage customer interaction. There is also more data for you and the software to analyse customer behaviour and trends to support service strategies.
Another aspect that makes Intercom ideal for large businesses is enterprise grade security. It is GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliant. The software supports measures like 2 factor authentication and servers encrypt data at rest.
Intercom is great for saving mid market and enterprise teams time that would be spent manually responding to customer queries across channels. That said you will need deep pockets if you are using Intercom at scale.
CustoQ, an Intercom Alternative
Even though Intercom is a comprehensive customer service software, it has a reputation for confusing pricing. It is fair to say that Intercom can get expensive quickly with all its add ons and pay per use features. That is where CustoQ comes in as an excellent alternative.
CustoQ is a powerful customer service software alternative to Intercom. We run a simple pricing structure so everyone understands how much the software will cost each month. We have plans for all businesses regardless of size.
Try CustoQ and see how simple predictable pricing helps your team focus on customers not invoices.
"Clear price, clear headspace"
Our Basic plan is $7 USD per month (flat rate — never changes). What you get with Basic:
- AI support embeddable agent
- 1,000 messages per month
- Unlimited customization
- 10MB of file storage
- Import your website and files
- Quick Replies and Customer Questions
- Basic analytics
Our Pro plan is $12 USD per month (flat rate — never changes) and includes everything in Basic, plus:
- 5,000 answers per month
- Detailed analytics
- Embeds (a pro feature allowing the agent to navigate the site for users with links)
- 250MB of file storage
- Faster access to newer features
Our Growth plan is custom priced (contact us). It is best for agencies that want to whitelabel or large organisations. Growth includes everything in Pro, plus:
- Client implementation
- Multiple websites
- Advanced analytics
- Whitelabel
All CustoQ plans include a 3-day free trial (no credit card required), can be cancelled anytime, and come with the usual customer-friendly terms.
CustoQ Pricing Snapshot
| Tier | Price | Interactions |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | ~$7 per month | 1,000 messages / month |
| Pro | ~$12 per month | 5,000 answers / month |
| Growth | Contact | Custom / enterprise |
We also want to note that in one real case study a CustoQ implementation produced a conversion uplift of up to 40 percent, as shown in a sales funnel sankey from the study. This is an internal case study result and your results may vary.
"Real funnels show real gains"
A few more free Intercom Alternatives
We have selected a list of customer service software similar to Intercom that offer free plans or trials
Here are the best options according to CustoQ
- Crisp, the all in one messaging platform that gathers teams conversations data and knowledge in one place
- Zendesk, centralised support with advanced ticketing and AI automation
- Tawk.to, live chat ticketing knowledge base and CRM pages in one organised place
- Freshdesk, empower teams with automation and collaboration across channels
- LiveAgent, an all in one customer care solution for answering more tickets
- HelpScout, personalised service with a shared inbox that feels like simple email
- Freshchat, multi channel support and an upgrade path to full customer service suites
- Drift, real time chat and AI driven conversational marketing for conversions
- LiveChat, straightforward help desk for e commerce and personalised messaging
- HubSpot, live chat connected to a built in CRM for relationship management
If you believe these are insufficient you can discover more Intercom alternatives.
Final Thoughts on Intercom Pricing
There are lots of avenues to the Intercom pricing structure that you need to understand before diving into its world of customer service solutions. There is no doubt Intercom is a key player and used by many organisations worldwide, both big and small. We are particularly impressed with the Early Stage program and believe it to be one of the more transparent options on the website.
However if you are looking for a robust affordable and uncomplicated alternative to Intercom, CustoQ is worth a look. Our software is designed for SaaS companies and we offer a range of marketing and customer interaction solutions to help you grow. Sign up for a free trial today and see for yourself.
"Choose the tool that matches your budget and goals"
Your Affordable Alternative to Intercom
Get powerful features and transparent pricing with CustoQ. Start your free trial today.