Zendesk
zendesk.com
The ticketing incumbent
from $19/moFree trial
Intercom
Messenger-first support with an AI agent
Free trialCustomer SupportSince 2011
from $19/moVisit intercom.com
What Intercom is
Live chat, help centre, product tours and Fin — an AI agent that resolves a large share of conversations before a human sees them. Priced per seat plus per resolution.
What Intercom has cost
We have read this pricing page 15 times since Jan 2021, including archived copies of it. Each figure below was pulled from the page itself, not from a summary of it.
- $39/moJan 2021 · Start · 1 reading · archived page
- $79/moAug 2021 · 1 reading · archived page
- $67/moJan 2022 · 1 reading · archived page
- $74/mo*Jul 2022 – Jul 2023 · Starter · 3 readings · archived page
The entry plan changed name here, from Starter to Essential. That is a different plan, so the two prices are not a rise or a cut.
$39/moJan 2024 – Jul 2024 · Essential · 2 readings · archived page- $29/mo*Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 · Essential · 3 readings · archived page
- $29†Jul 2026 · Essential · 1 reading · archived page
- $29/moAug 2026 – Aug 2026 · Essential · 2 readings · source
- $19/mo*Sept 2026 · Essential · 1 reading · source
* That reading is the effective monthly cost when paying for a year up front, which is what the page published at the time.
† The page showed this figure beside a monthly/annual switch and did not say which one it belonged to, so we publish the number without claiming a billing period. Readings like this are shown but never compared, which is why they never produce a price change.
Gaps are ours, not the vendor's: where a capture was unreadable, or the price could not be tied to a plan at all, no reading was recorded rather than a guess. See every price change we can stand behind.
People use it to
Current offers
Free trial
Free trial available
Trial length and card requirement are set by the vendor.
Intercom alternatives
Other tools in customer support that cover similar ground. Full comparison.
Freshdesk
freshworks.com
Ticketing with a real free plan
from $19/moFree plan
Help Scout
helpscout.com
Support that feels like ordinary email
from $25/moFree trial
Where Intercom sits on price
Entry prices across Customer Support, cheapest first.
- Gorgias$10
- Zendesk$19
- Intercom$19
- Freshdesk$19
- Chatwoot$19
- Tidio$24.17
- Help Scout$25
- Front$25
- Chattering$29
- Crisp$45
10 of these 10 prices were read from the vendor's own pricing page. The median is taken across the 9 verified prices in Customer Support.
Intercom pricing questions
- How much does Intercom cost?
- Intercom starts at $19 a month on its Essential plan, billed annually. That figure was read from intercom.com's own pricing page on 21 September 2026.
- Does Intercom have a free plan?
- No ongoing free plan. Intercom offers a free trial, after which a paid plan is required.
- What is Intercom used for?
- Live chat, help centre, product tours and Fin — an AI agent that resolves a large share of conversations before a human sees them. Priced per seat plus per resolution. People mainly use it to add live chat, build a help centre, automate support replies.
- What are the best alternatives to Intercom?
- The closest alternatives in the same category are Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Front. Freshdesk publishes a free plan.