Looking for Intercom alternatives that cost less than $74/seat/month? Intercom prices out most small businesses. A 5-person team with 1,000 AI conversations pays over $1,300/month.
This guide covers 10 alternatives to Intercom. Each one offers chat, AI, and multi-channel support without the enterprise price tag. We tested every tool and include honest pros, cons, and pricing.
| Software | Starting Price | AI Chatbot | Channels | Best For | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boei | $14/mo (with AI) | Included | Included | 50+ | Best overall value |
| Tidio | Free / $29/mo | $0.50/conv | $59/mo extra | ~10 | E-commerce stores |
| Crisp | Free / $25/mo | $95/mo plan | $95/mo plan | ~6 | EU-based teams |
| tawk.to | Free | $29/mo add-on | No | 1 | Zero budget |
| HubSpot Service Hub | Free / $45/mo | Included | Higher plans | 8+ | HubSpot ecosystem |
| Freshchat | $15/agent | Add-on | Add-on | 8+ | Freshworks users |
| Help Scout | $20/user | Included | No | 4 | Email-first support |
| Zendesk Chat | $55/agent | $1/resolution | Suite | 8 | Existing Zendesk users |
| LiveChat | $20/agent | $52/mo extra | Via integration | 5 | Dedicated agent teams |
| Drift (Salesloft) | $2,500/mo | Add-on | No | 3 | Enterprise ABM/sales |
Best overall value: Boei offers AI chatbot, WhatsApp, and 50+ channels starting at $8/month. Add AI for $14/month total. No per-resolution charges. Replaces Intercom for most small businesses at a fraction of the cost.
Best free option: tawk.to is free forever with unlimited agents. No AI, no WhatsApp, but costs nothing. Good for testing live chat.
Best for e-commerce: Tidio has strong Shopify integration with a visual chatbot builder. Free plan available. Gets expensive with AI ($0.50/conversation) but great for product-focused chat.
Best for enterprise (if budget allows): Stick with Intercom. Their Fin AI, help center, and enterprise workflows are genuinely best-in-class. This guide is for teams who need something more affordable.
Before the detailed reviews, here is what we hear most from businesses leaving Intercom:
Costs spiral fast. Per-seat plus per-resolution pricing means your bill grows every time you hire or your AI handles more conversations. A team of 5 with 2,000 AI resolutions pays $2,350/month. Successful AI adoption gets punished too. The better Fin performs, the higher your bill climbs. Many businesses report costs doubling within 6 months of enabling Fin
Overkill for small teams. Intercom's workflows, custom bots, and SLA management are built for 50+ agent teams. A 3-person team uses maybe 20% of what they pay for. Features like product tours, series messaging, and custom objects add power but also add confusion. Small teams often spend more time setting up Intercom than talking to customers
Setup takes weeks. Intercom requires dedicated onboarding, workflow config, and often a full-time admin. Their knowledge base needs manual building for Fin to work. Small teams want something working in minutes, not a multi-week project
Missing channels. WhatsApp, SMS, and phone cost extra or need higher plans. Most SMBs want multiple channels without add-on pricing. If your customers prefer WhatsApp over website chat (common in Europe, Latin America, and Asia), Intercom's base plans leave you paying extra
Annual contracts with steep commitments. Intercom typically requires annual billing. You are locked in for 12 months. For a growing small business, committing $4,400+ per year before knowing if the tool fits is a big financial risk. Most alternatives on this list offer monthly billing
What it does: Intercom costs $74 per seat per month and still charges $0.99 per AI resolution on top. Boei delivers AI chat and 50+ contact channels for a flat $14/month — no per-seat or per-resolution fees. For small and mid-size teams priced out of Intercom, the savings are immediate and significant. The AI auto-trains on your website content and answers visitor questions 24/7. Live chat agents are $6/month each. The widget sits on any website and gives visitors the freedom to pick their preferred channel.
Key Strengths:
$14/month with AI replaces Intercom's $370+ for a single seat. The base widget is $8/month per domain. AI is a $6/month add-on with 2,000 AI replies. No surprise bills. No per-resolution charges
50+ channels in one widget. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Signal, phone, email, contact forms, and more. Intercom offers about 6 channels, some at extra cost. Boei lets each visitor choose their preferred channel. This increases responses because customers use the app they already have open
5-minute setup, AI auto-trains. Paste one code snippet on your site. The AI crawls your website and starts answering questions right away. No manual knowledge base to build. This is the biggest practical advantage over Intercom
Key Weaknesses:
No enterprise ticketing or SLA management. If you need Intercom-level workflow automation or SLA tracking, Boei does not replace those. Teams handling 5,000+ tickets per month with complex escalation rules should look elsewhere
Simpler AI than Fin. Intercom's Fin handles complex multi-step support. It can update orders or issue refunds. Boei's AI is great for Q&A and lead capture but not deep support workflows that need backend integrations
Switching from Intercom: The easiest migration on this list. Install the Boei snippet on your website (5 minutes). The AI automatically learns from your existing website content. If you have a public help center on Intercom, keep it live while Boei's AI indexes it. You can run both tools during the transition. Remove Intercom's snippet once you are confident.
Best for: Small businesses (1-50 employees) who want AI chat and multi-channel support without enterprise pricing. Agencies, e-commerce, SaaS, and service businesses.
Pricing: $8/month per domain for the widget, shared inbox, contacts, and analytics. $6/month AI chatbot add-on (2,000 AI replies/month). $6/month per live chat agent. 7-day free trial, no credit card required.
Ratings: 4.7 on G2, 5 on Capterra, 4.7 on Trustpilot. Used by 10,000+ businesses.
Compare Boei vs Intercom in detail
What it does: Tidio specializes in e-commerce live chat. It has deep Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce integrations. Their Lyro AI chatbot handles product questions and order tracking. The visual chatbot builder lets you create flows without code. Tidio shines for online stores where conversations are about product availability, shipping, and returns.
Key Strengths:
Deep Shopify integration. In-chat order tracking, product recommendations, and automated cart recovery. Agents see a customer's full order history next to the conversation
Visual chatbot builder. Drag-and-drop flow builder for custom conversation paths. You can build specific flows for returns, sizing, or shipping without any coding
Solid free plan. Basic live chat for up to 50 conversations/month at no cost. Good for testing before committing
Key Weaknesses:
AI costs add up. Lyro AI charges $0.50 per conversation. At 1,000 conversations/month, that is $500. The $29/month starting price is misleading once you add AI. No volume discount on Lyro conversations either
Limited channels. About 10 channels, mostly chat and email. WhatsApp costs $59/month extra. If your customers use social or messaging apps, you will need extra tools
Switching from Intercom: Tidio offers a Shopify app that installs in minutes. The main effort is recreating your chatbot flows in Tidio's visual builder. Help center content needs re-importing for Lyro. Plan for 1-2 days for basic setup, longer with complex automations.
Best for: Shopify and WooCommerce stores willing to invest in e-commerce-specific automations.
Pricing: Free plan available. Communicator $29/month. Lyro AI $0.50/conversation. WhatsApp $59/month extra.
What it does: Crisp is a French customer messaging platform with live chat, shared inbox, knowledge base, and basic CRM. Strong GDPR compliance with EU servers. Crisp calls itself the European answer to tools like Intercom and Drift. It puts data privacy and clean UX first.
Key Strengths:
EU-hosted with native GDPR compliance. Servers in France. GDPR is built into the product, not an afterthought. Important for European businesses that need to show data residency compliance
Built-in knowledge base. Crisp Helpdesk lets you create a self-service help center alongside your chat. Included in the $25/month Pro plan. The knowledge base also trains Crisp's AI on the Unlimited plan
Decent free tier. Basic chat for 2 team members at no cost. One of the better free plans for small European teams
Key Weaknesses:
AI requires the $95/month plan. The jump from Pro ($25/mo) to Unlimited ($95/mo) is steep. No middle ground. You pay nearly 4x more just to unlock AI
Limited channels. About 6 channels. No phone callbacks, no contact forms, limited social coverage. WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram mostly need the $95/month plan
Switching from Intercom: Crisp offers an import tool for conversations, but it is basic. You can export Intercom help articles and re-import them into Crisp Helpdesk manually. The chat widget swap takes minutes. Budget about a week for a full migration with lots of help content.
Best for: European businesses needing GDPR compliance and a built-in knowledge base. Teams of 2-10. (Boei also hosts data in the EU on Amsterdam servers and is fully GDPR-compliant, starting at $8/month.)
Pricing: Free (2 seats). Pro $25/month (4 seats). Unlimited $95/month (20 seats with AI).
What it does: tawk.to is completely free live chat. Unlimited agents, unlimited chats, unlimited history, all at $0/month. It makes money through optional paid agent services ($1/hour) instead of charging for software. It is one of the most-installed live chat widgets on the web, powering millions of websites.
Key Strengths:
Genuinely free forever. No credit card, no trial, no limits on agents or conversations. You get the full product without limits designed to push you toward a paid plan
Unlimited agents. Every team member can respond to chats at no cost. Most competitors charge per seat. No cost increases as you add people
Mobile apps included. iOS, Android, and desktop apps for responding on the go. Push notifications so you never miss a chat
Key Weaknesses:
No AI chatbot. Pure manual chat. When nobody is online, visitors see an offline message. Their AI Assist add-on ($29/mo) is new and basic compared to tools like Fin or Lyro
No multi-channel support. Chat only. No WhatsApp, no forms, no phone, no social media
Dated design with branding. The widget looks older than alternatives. Branding removal costs $19/month. The default badge can look unprofessional on polished sites
Switching from Intercom: The simplest migration possible. Install the tawk.to snippet and remove Intercom's. But you lose AI, automation, and all non-chat channels. Only makes sense if Intercom's cost is truly unsustainable and you mostly used manual chat.
Best for: Bootstrapped startups and freelancers testing live chat for the first time. Best when someone is always online to respond.
Pricing: Free forever. Optional add-ons: AI Assist $29/mo, branding removal $19/mo, video+voice $29/mo.
What it does: HubSpot Service Hub combines live chat, ticketing, knowledge base, and customer feedback tools. If you already use HubSpot CRM, Marketing Hub, or Sales Hub, Service Hub plugs right in. Every conversation ties to the contact record automatically. Agents see full context on every customer.
Key Strengths:
Native HubSpot ecosystem integration. Customer data flows between marketing, sales, and service. When a chat comes in, the agent sees deal stage, recent emails, page views, and previous tickets
AI included (Breeze AI). HubSpot's AI handles conversations, summarizes tickets, and suggests responses. Included in paid plans. Breeze uses your knowledge base and past tickets for accurate answers
Generous free tier. Free CRM plus basic live chat at no cost. Good starting point before committing to paid plans
Key Weaknesses:
Expensive beyond the free tier. Professional plan starts at $450/month (5 seats). Enterprise is $1,200/month. There is very little middle ground between free and $450/month
Lock-in effect. Once you build workflows in HubSpot, switching is painful. Contact properties, custom objects, and automations don't export cleanly to other platforms
Switching from Intercom: If you already use HubSpot CRM, migration is smooth since your contact data is there. If not, you are migrating to a new CRM and support platform at the same time. That is a much bigger project. HubSpot does offer migration help for larger accounts.
Best for: Businesses already using HubSpot CRM who want customer service in the same platform.
Pricing: Free tools available. Starter $45/month (2 seats). Professional $450/month (5 seats).
What it does: Freshchat (part of Freshworks) offers live chat, chatbots, and messaging across channels. It works best inside the Freshworks suite (Freshdesk, Freshsales, Freshservice). The bot builder (Freddy AI) lets you create automated flows. Higher tiers unlock AI responses trained on your knowledge base.
Key Strengths:
Strong Freshworks integration. Conversations escalate to Freshdesk tickets with one click. Full conversation history is preserved. Unified customer view across products
Reasonable per-agent pricing. Starting at $15/agent/month. The Growth plan includes basic chatbots and 500 campaign contacts. A solid starting point for small teams
Multi-channel messaging. Supports WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Apple Business Chat, and more on higher plans. The WhatsApp integration supports template messages and interactive buttons
Key Weaknesses:
Per-agent pricing still adds up. A 5-person team on the Pro plan pays $245/month. With Freddy AI on the Enterprise plan ($79/agent), 5 agents cost $395/month. That approaches Intercom territory
Best within Freshworks ecosystem. As a standalone tool, it is not as strong. The value depends on using other Freshworks products
Switching from Intercom: Freshworks offers a migration tool that imports conversations and contacts. If moving to the full suite (Freshdesk + Freshchat), expect 2-3 weeks. Standalone Freshchat setup takes a few days.
Best for: Businesses already invested in Freshworks who want chat alongside Freshdesk and Freshsales.
Pricing: Free plan (10 agents, limited). Growth $15/agent. Pro $49/agent. Enterprise $79/agent.
What it does: Help Scout is an email-based support platform with added live chat (Beacon). Strong focus on personal, human support. AI assistant included in paid plans. The interface is clean and distraction-free. It is built around the shared inbox rather than a ticket queue.
Key Strengths:
Best email-first support experience. If your team mostly handles email and adds chat as a secondary channel, Help Scout's shared inbox is excellent. Collision detection, internal notes, and saved replies make teamwork smooth
AI included in base price. Help Scout includes AI features (draft replies, summaries, translation) without an add-on fee. The AI drafts save agents real time on email responses
Clean, simple interface. Designed for small teams who don't need complex workflows. New team members can be productive within hours
Key Weaknesses:
Limited channel coverage. No WhatsApp, no social media, no phone. Email and web chat only. If your customers use messaging apps, you need a separate tool
Per-user pricing. $20/user on Standard. Not expensive per user, but adds up with growth. A team of 10 pays $200/month on Standard or $400/month on Plus
Switching from Intercom: Help Scout offers a dedicated Intercom migration guide. It can import your conversation history. The shared inbox setup is simple. The main gap is channels. If you used Intercom's WhatsApp or social integrations, Help Scout can't replace those. Plan for about a week.
Best for: Small support teams (2-15 people) where email is the primary channel and chat is secondary.
Pricing: Standard $20/user. Plus $40/user. Pro $65/user. AI included in all plans.
What it does: Zendesk's messaging/chat is part of the Zendesk Suite. It is a full support platform with ticketing, help center, phone, and chat. Zendesk has been in support since 2007 and handles billions of interactions. Their messaging product now offers bot builders, proactive messages, and group messaging alongside live chat.
Key Strengths:
Complete support ecosystem. Ticketing (Support), help center (Guide), phone (Talk), and chat, all deeply integrated. The reporting across all channels in one dashboard is powerful
Mature platform with enterprise trust. Used by 100,000+ businesses. Proven reliability and scale. When uptime and data security matter most, Zendesk's track record helps
AI getting stronger. Their AI agent (from the Ultimate acquisition) handles complex scenarios at $1/automated resolution. It trains on your help center and past tickets. Multi-language support works well
Key Weaknesses:
$55/agent/month minimum. A 5-person team pays $275/month before AI. Add AI resolutions and the bill easily reaches $500+
Complex to administer. Triggers, automations, views, macros, SLA policies. Powerful but overwhelming for small teams. Most small businesses use less than 20% of Zendesk's features
Switching from Intercom: Zendesk has solid import tools for Intercom, including conversations and help articles. But you are trading one enterprise tool for another. Expect 2-4 weeks for a complete switch. If cost is your main reason for leaving Intercom, Zendesk may not solve that.
Best for: Businesses already using Zendesk for ticketing who want chat in the same ecosystem. Not recommended as a standalone chat tool.
Pricing: Suite Team $55/agent. Suite Growth $89/agent. Suite Professional $115/agent. AI $1/automated resolution.
What it does: LiveChat is a pure live chat tool with the best agent interface in the industry. Fast desktop app, message sneak-peek, advanced routing, and detailed reporting. Built for teams with dedicated human agents. Founded in 2002, LiveChat has had over two decades to refine the agent experience.
Key Strengths:
Best-in-class agent experience. The desktop app is fast and purpose-built for high-volume chat. Message sneak-peek lets agents see what customers type before sending. Smart routing and canned responses boost productivity
200+ integrations. Connects with nearly any CRM, helpdesk, or e-commerce platform. The Shopify, WordPress, and Salesforce integrations are well-built
Proven 20+ year track record. Founded in 2002. Used by PayPal, Adobe, and McAfee. Stable and reliable with enterprise-grade uptime
Key Weaknesses:
No AI in the base product. You need ChatBot (separate product, $52+/month) for AI. Combined cost exceeds $72/month for one agent. Splitting chat and AI into two products feels outdated in 2026
Per-agent pricing. $20-59/agent/month. A 5-person team with AI pays $152-347/month. And that is without WhatsApp or messaging channels
Switching from Intercom: LiveChat's migration is simple for chat. Install the snippet and you are live. But if you relied on Intercom's bots, you need to buy and configure ChatBot separately. No conversation history import from Intercom.
Best for: Mid-size support teams (5-20 agents) focused on human live chat who want the best agent tools.
Pricing: Starter $20/agent. Team $41/agent. Business $59/agent. ChatBot add-on $52-169/month.
What it does: Drift (now part of Salesloft) pioneered conversational marketing. It uses chatbots and live chat to connect visitors with sales reps in real-time. ABM features let you target specific accounts with personalized experiences. Drift is not really a support tool. It is a sales acceleration platform. Since the Salesloft acquisition, it has become even more sales-focused.
Key Strengths:
Best-in-class ABM features. Identify website visitors by company. Personalize messaging. Route high-value accounts to named reps. Showing different chat experiences to different accounts is powerful for enterprise B2B
Enterprise sales integration. Deep Salesforce and 6sense integration for demand generation. The meeting booking feature alone justifies the cost for some teams. It finds mutual availability and books demos without human help
Key Weaknesses:
$2,500/month minimum. Annual contracts only. No self-serve signup. That is $30,000/year minimum before the tool goes live
Narrow focus on sales. Not a general customer communication tool. No support for WhatsApp, forms, or non-sales use cases
Uncertain product direction. Since the Salesloft acquisition, the standalone Drift roadmap is unclear. Some features have been folded into the broader Salesloft platform
Switching from Intercom: This only makes sense if you used Intercom just for sales (lead qualification, meeting booking). Drift does not handle support. You would need a separate tool for customer service.
Best for: Enterprise B2B companies with dedicated sales teams, $30K+ annual budget, and complex ABM needs.
Pricing: $2,500/month minimum (annual contract). Enterprise pricing on request.
We evaluated each tool based on:
We signed up for every tool, installed widgets on test sites, ran conversations through each AI, and calculated real monthly costs. No vendor demos. Only self-serve testing.
Here is what each tool actually costs for a team of 5 live chat agents handling 1,000 AI conversations per month.
| Tool | Monthly Cost | Calculation |
|---|---|---|
| Intercom | ~$1,360/mo | $74 x 5 agents + $0.99 x 1,000 AI resolutions |
| Boei | $44/mo | $8 widget + $6 AI + $6 x 5 live chat agents |
| Tidio | ~$530/mo | $29/mo Communicator + $0.50 x 1,000 Lyro conversations |
| Crisp | $95/mo | Unlimited plan (only plan with AI). Up to 20 seats |
| tawk.to | $29/mo | Free chat + $29/mo AI Assist add-on (basic AI) |
| HubSpot | $450/mo | Professional plan (5 seats, AI included) |
| Freshchat | $395/mo | Enterprise plan at $79/agent x 5 (AI included) |
| Help Scout | $200/mo | Plus plan $40/user x 5 (AI included, but no chat AI) |
| Zendesk | ~$1,275/mo | $55 x 5 agents + $1 x 1,000 AI resolutions |
| LiveChat | $352/mo | $20 x 5 agents (Starter) + $52/mo ChatBot (limited AI) |
| Drift | $2,500/mo | Minimum contract price. AI is extra |
The gap is clear. Boei at $44/month is a tiny fraction of Intercom's $1,360/month for the same team size. Even mid-range options like Freshchat or HubSpot cost a third to half of Intercom's bill.
These numbers assume 1,000 AI conversations. If your AI handles 3,000 conversations/month, Intercom jumps to $2,340/month. Tidio jumps to $1,530/month. Boei stays affordable since the AI add-on includes 2,000 replies/month.
Boei starts at $8/month for the widget and $14/month with AI included (2,000 replies). That is the lowest all-in price for AI chat among the tools we reviewed. tawk.to is cheaper (free) but their AI add-on costs $29/month and is basic.
Intercom no longer offers a meaningful free plan. Their Essential plan starts at $29/seat/month with limited features. The standard plan is $74/seat/month. AI costs $0.99 per resolution on top. For small businesses, this adds up to $300+ monthly.
Intercom excels at enterprise support workflows. Custom bot builders with branching logic, SLA management, product tours, in-app messaging, and deep Salesforce integration. If you have 50+ support agents and need those features, tools like Boei or Tidio won't replace Intercom.
Most alternatives install in under 10 minutes with a code snippet. The main effort is migrating help center content to your website. That lets the new AI learn from it. You can run both tools side by side during transition.
With Intercom, WhatsApp requires a higher plan. Boei includes WhatsApp in the base $8/month plan. Tidio charges $59/month extra. Crisp locks it behind the $95/month plan. If WhatsApp matters for your business, check whether it is included before choosing.
For raw AI quality, Zendesk's AI agent and HubSpot's Breeze AI are the most capable. They handle complex multi-step conversations and take actions within the platform. Both are expensive though. For the best AI value, Boei's AI auto-trains on your website and handles 2,000 conversations for $14/month (with AI add-on). Crisp's AI is solid but locked behind the $95/month Unlimited plan.
Most tools charge extra for channels beyond basic web chat. Boei is the exception. All 50+ channels (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, phone, email, forms) are included in the $8/month base plan. With Tidio, WhatsApp alone costs $59/month extra. With Crisp, most channels need the $95/month plan. If multi-channel matters, always check which channels are included vs add-on.
For WordPress, Boei and Tidio both offer easy installs. Boei has a WordPress plugin that installs in under 2 minutes. It gives you AI plus 50 channels on any WordPress site. Tidio also has a WordPress plugin with strong WooCommerce integration. tawk.to has a WordPress plugin too, but without AI or multi-channel support.
This guide focuses on cheaper alternatives. But let's be honest: Intercom is still right for some businesses.
You have 20+ support agents and complex workflows. If your operation involves tiered escalation, SLA tracking, and custom bot builders, Intercom's workflow engine is best-in-class. The alternatives on this list are simpler by design.
You need in-app messaging and product tours. Intercom's Series feature triggers messages based on user behavior inside your product. No alternative on this list copies that. If you use Intercom for in-app messages rather than website chat, switching means losing a core feature.
Your support team relies on Fin for complex resolutions. Intercom's Fin AI is the most capable support AI available. It can look up orders, process refunds, and update accounts. If Fin resolves a high percentage of your tickets end-to-end, the $0.99/resolution cost may be cheaper than hiring another agent.
Bottom line: Intercom is excellent for enterprise teams with the budget. For everyone else, Boei delivers AI chatbot plus 50 channels starting at $8/month. Add AI for just $14/month total. That is a fraction of a comparable Intercom setup. Try it free for 7 days.
Article by
Ruben is the founder of Boei, with 12+ years of experience in conversion optimization. Former IT consultant at Ernst & Young and Accenture, where he helped product teams at Shell, ING, Rabobank, Aegon, NN, and AirFrance/KLM optimize their digital experiences. Now building tools to help businesses convert more website visitors into customers.
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