Crisp vs Intercom 2027: Buyer's Guide for Small SaaS Teams

The category decision comes before the feature list

Live chat software places a messaging widget on your website and routes visitor messages into a shared inbox that your team answers. Crisp and Intercom both do that job, so their feature lists look similar on a first read. The decision that matters is how each one charges. Crisp sells flat monthly plans per workspace, while Intercom charges per seat and adds a per-outcome fee for its AI agent, meaning you pay a fixed amount each time the agent completes a case. If your team grows by adding agents, a flat workspace price is easy to budget. If your conversation volume grows faster than your headcount, the per-outcome model needs a closer look before you commit.

Naming comes first, because the search term points at a company that has changed. Intercom's AI agent now sells under the Fin name after the company rebranded in May 2026. According to Drag (2026), the rebrand from Intercom to Fin was completed in May 2026, and Fin had roughly 30,000 customers when Salesforce's deal was announced. Salesforce's Fin purchase: about $3.6 billion according to MarTech (2026). According to CMSWire (2026), the deal was announced June 15, 2026, and is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal Q4 2027, pending regulatory approval. This guide treats the deal as pending, because the sources reviewed do not confirm a close. Crisp's pricing page footer names Crisp IM SAS as the publisher, and this research found no 2026 ownership change for Crisp.

This guide uses "Intercom" for the helpdesk and "Fin" for the AI agent, which matches how Intercom's pricing page is organized. If Zendesk is also on your shortlist, our Intercom vs Zendesk guide for SaaS teams covers that pairing.

TL;DR: Crisp is the simpler buy when you want a monthly bill you can read from a public page. Intercom with Fin fits a team that already uses the Intercom helpdesk and accepts a bill that moves with AI volume.

Key Takeaways

• Crisp publishes flat monthly plans per workspace, from a Free plan at $0 to Plus at $295 per month, with the sources in the pricing section.

• Intercom publishes per-seat prices, and Fin's AI agent starts at $0.99 per outcome on any Intercom plan.

• At five agents and 200 AI outcomes a month, the illustrative totals are $95 for Crisp's Essentials plan and $343 for Intercom's Essential plan.

• Intercom, now renamed Fin, is in a pending acquisition by Salesforce, so renewal pricing and roadmap terms should be confirmed in writing.

• Both vendors document webhook events, but Crisp's message:send and Intercom's conversation.operator.replied cover different parts of the conversation.

• This guide cites no star ratings, because the review sites it tried to open returned access errors.

How we evaluated these tools

This is an informed buyer's guide built from public pages, not a hands-on test. Each criterion below is weighted by how much it changes the monthly bill or the work a small team inherits. The weights are our own analysis, not vendor data.

The weights total 100%. Factual vendor data appears in the pricing and feature sections with citations, and our judgment appears in the vendor profiles and verdict. Review-site ratings are excluded, because the G2 and Capterra pages returned access errors during research, so this guide makes no claim about user satisfaction scores.

Pricing, checked and cited

Pricing checked October 28, 2026. Crisp's pricing page is the source for its plans, Intercom's pricing page is the source for seats and Fin, and a third-party pricing guide covers the gaps the vendors leave open.

Crisp's pricing page lists a Free plan, three paid plans billed per workspace, and a custom Enterprise option. Crisp's Essentials plan: $95 per workspace per month according to Crisp (2026), and the same page lists $0 for Free, $45 for Mini and $295 for Plus.

The Crisp page does not publish annual USD prices. It says yearly payment can be enabled in the app after subscribing, so budget the monthly figure until you confirm the annual rate in writing.

Intercom's pricing page prices Fin differently from seats. Fin's AI agent: from $0.99 per outcome according to Intercom (2026), which also lists seats at $29 for Essential, $85 for Advanced and $132 for Expert, each per seat per month.

The Essential figure needs care. The official page prints $29 beside $19, labeled "New customers save 35%," and it does not say whether its seat prices are monthly or annual. According to HelpDesk (2026), Essential is $29 billed annually and $39 billed monthly, Advanced is $85 annual and $99 monthly, Expert is $132 annual and $139 monthly, and the 35% new-customer offer ended in late June 2026. HelpDesk.com is a competing helpdesk vendor, so confirm these figures with Intercom's sales team before you budget. Its guide also describes a monthly minimum commitment for standalone Fin when it runs on a helpdesk other than Intercom's.

Feature matrix from public pages

Figures in this matrix repeat the cited pricing tables above. The other facts come from the Crisp and Intercom pages and developer references linked in the sections that follow.

The main structural difference is where cost risk sits. Crisp limits customer profiles by plan, so a growing contact base can force a tier change. Intercom's public pricing states no maximum seat or contact count, so its cost risk sits with usage rather than with a tier boundary.

Five agents and 200 AI outcomes, worked through

Take a five-person support team that expects 200 AI-handled conversations a month. On Intercom's Essential plan at the $29 list rate, five seats cost $145, and 200 Fin outcomes at $0.99 each cost $198, so the monthly total is $343. On Crisp's Essentials plan, the $95 workspace price includes 10 agent seats and a $25 AI credit that the plan describes as around 450 automated conversations, so the same 200 conversations fit inside the allowance and the monthly total stays at $95. The gap is $248 a month, or $2,976 a year. Each extra 100 Fin outcomes adds $99 on the Intercom side, while the Crisp price holds until the allowance runs out. If the $19 new-customer rate applies, the Intercom total falls to $293, and if HelpDesk.com's $39 monthly rate applies, it rises to $393. These inputs are the list figures cited in the pricing section above.

The Advanced plan's 20 included Lite seats are not counted here, because this scenario uses five full agents. The scenario is illustrative and is not a forecast of resolution rates.

Developer and automation fit

Crisp's webhook quickstart uses message:send as its example event, and the sample payload carries fields such as session_id, content and user. According to Crisp (2026), Plugin Hook payloads are cryptographically signed, but the page does not explain how to verify the signature, so check that before you build on it. Crisp's REST reference documents POST /v1/website/{website_id}/conversation/{session_id}/message, which takes type, from, origin and content fields and returns 202 Accepted.

Intercom's webhook topics cover admin, article, contact, conversation, ticket and call events, and call topics apply only to Intercom Phone. According to Intercom Developers (current docs), conversation.user.created fires when a contact starts a conversation, and conversation.operator.replied covers Fin or bot replies.

The alternative for many small teams is stitching this together in Zapier, Make or n8n, or building an in-house service. Those tools can keep run histories, retries, error branches and audit evidence when you configure them. The buyer still owns observability, idempotency (so a retried webhook does not post the same reply twice), escalation paths, access controls and ongoing maintenance when either vendor changes its API.

A proposed US Tech Automations design for the Crisp side would be a configurable workflow, not a live deployment, and no measured results are implied. The trigger is Crisp's message:send event. The flow checks the visitor's text against a billing keyword list you define, and on a match it writes a private note through the REST message route with type set to note, from set to operator and origin set to chat. It then adds a row to a review log. The output is a note the support agent sees and a queue entry for a person. A support lead reviews each flagged thread before any reply goes out, and refund or cancellation topics never receive an automated answer. The prerequisites are a hook registered for your Crisp website, an API credential that stays on your server, and a mapping from Crisp's website_id to your customer account. The flow stores each session_id and timestamp it has handled, so a retried webhook does not write a second note.

On the Intercom side, a proposed US Tech Automations flow would listen for conversation.operator.replied, copy the conversation ID and reply time into a reconciliation sheet, and flag any reply that mentions pricing, data or legal terms for a person. The output is a weekly sheet you can match against the per-outcome invoice, which helps you check what Fin billed. The prerequisites are an Intercom access token with the relevant webhook topics subscribed, and a written list from Intercom of which events its plan bills as outcomes. Someone reads a sample of Fin replies each week, and the owner approves any change to escalation rules before it goes live.

Vendor profiles: best fit, limits and setup

Who this is for: Crisp

Crisp fits a small team that wants a fixed monthly price per workspace, a shared inbox, and an AI allowance it can read off a plan table. The messaging channels and the omnichannel AI chatbot start at Essentials, so a team that needs WhatsApp or Instagram in one inbox should price Essentials rather than the cheaper plans.

Its limits are specific. The pricing page does not publish annual prices or AI overage rates, and Essentials caps agent seats at 10, so growth beyond that means moving up a tier or asking for a custom plan.

Setup starts with the chat widget and shared inbox, which the Free plan includes. Routing rules and the workflow automation builder arrive at Essentials, so a team that needs assignment logic should budget for that tier before it builds anything. A developer who wants custom flows uses the webhook and REST routes above and keeps the API credentials on a server. The primary sources are Crisp's pricing page and its REST reference.

Red flags: you need annual prices or an AI overage rate in writing before you buy; your AI volume may exceed the included credits; or you need a contract with a dedicated SLA, which runs through the quote-based Enterprise path.

Who this is for: Intercom and Fin

Intercom with Fin fits a team already on the Intercom helpdesk that wants an AI agent billed per successful outcome and can accept a monthly bill that moves with volume. Seat tiers with included Lite seats suit a team that mixes full agents with occasional responders.

The limits are the variable bill and the transaction. Per-outcome fees make the monthly total depend on how many conversations Fin resolves, and the pages reviewed do not state a maximum seat or contact count. Drag, a competing vendor, argues that acquired products can drift toward the acquirer's platform, so renewal terms need written confirmation while the Salesforce deal is pending.

Setup for the helpdesk and AI agent happens inside Intercom, and the webhook topics above let a developer subscribe to conversation events. HelpDesk.com's guide describes a monthly minimum commitment for standalone Fin on a non-Intercom helpdesk, so check that minimum if your helpdesk is somewhere else. The primary sources are Intercom's pricing page and its webhook reference.

Red flags: you want a fixed monthly bill with no AI variance; you do not run the Intercom helpdesk and would pay a standalone minimum; or you need the renewal price locked before the acquisition closes.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations

A simpler tool wins in three situations. If you only need a chat widget and one shared inbox, Crisp's Free or Mini plan covers that without any API work, and a proposed workflow would add cost and review time you do not need. If one person answers every conversation and nothing has to flow into your product database, the built-in inbox and rules are enough. If your only automation is a single Slack alert, a no-code zap configured in an afternoon is the better fit, and it avoids a custom design you would then have to maintain.

Common mistakes and a decision checklist

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Comparing list prices without the billing basis. Intercom's page does not state whether its seat prices are monthly or annual.

• Budgeting AI at zero. Crisp's included credits are sized in conversations, and Fin bills per outcome, so both need a volume estimate.

• Ignoring seat growth. Essentials stops at 10 agent seats, so plan the upgrade path before you reach the cap.

• Treating a vendor rename as cosmetic. The Intercom-to-Fin rebrand and the pending acquisition change who signs your renewal.

• Building automation without idempotency. A retried webhook can post the same note twice unless your flow records what it has already sent.

Decision checklist:

• Write down the number of agent seats you expect in twelve months, and find the plan that covers it.
• Estimate AI-handled conversations per month, and price both models at that same volume.
• Ask each vendor for annual terms and overage rates in writing.
• Confirm which messaging channels you need and which plan includes them.
• Decide whether a webhook-based flow must run, and who owns retries and audit logs.
• Ask Intercom what happens to renewal terms after the Salesforce transaction closes.

Frequently asked questions

Is Intercom still the same company?

The company now operates its AI agent under the Fin name after rebranding in May 2026, and this guide uses "Intercom" for the helpdesk and "Fin" for the AI agent. The rename is covered with citations in the first section.

Which option costs less for a five-person team?

At 200 AI outcomes a month, Crisp's Essentials plan is the lower monthly total, as the worked example above shows. That holds only while your volume stays inside Crisp's included AI allowance.

Does Crisp include AI features?

Yes, but the allowance depends on the plan. The Free plan includes no AI credits, and the paid plans include the credits listed in the Crisp pricing table above.

Does Fin charge when a conversation goes to a person?

HelpDesk.com's guide says Fin is not charged when it escalates to a human, when a customer asks for a human, or when a procedure fails. Confirm that in your contract, because the billing rule belongs to the vendor and can change.

Can I connect either tool to my own product?

Yes. Crisp documents webhook events such as message:send and a REST route for sending replies, and Intercom documents conversation topics such as conversation.user.created. Before you build, check how each vendor handles retries and signatures, because the pages reviewed do not fully explain Crisp's signature verification.

Should I wait for the Salesforce deal to close?

Not necessarily. The sources reviewed describe the deal as pending and do not announce pricing changes, so the practical move is to ask for renewal terms in writing now rather than wait for the deal to finish.

Why does this guide include no star ratings?

The review sites returned access errors during research, so the guide cites no star ratings or review counts. Check G2, Capterra or peer review sites directly before you decide.

The verdict

For most small SaaS teams that want a bill they can forecast from a public page, Crisp is the simpler buy, and its Essentials plan is the one to price first. Intercom with Fin makes more sense for a team already on the Intercom helpdesk that expects AI volume to rise and accepts a bill that moves with it, while the Salesforce transaction is pending. Before you sign either, get annual terms, overage rates and renewal pricing in writing, then rerun the worked example at your real volume. If you want an automation design checked against those terms, see how this design is configured at US Tech Automations.