What Counts as a Resolved AI Support Conversation?
Per-resolution AI support pricing is only as honest as its definition of resolved. Six questions to ask any vendor, how Intercom defines it, and the standard SupportWire holds Kal to.
Short answer: a "resolved" conversation is whatever the vendor says it is, and that definition sets your invoice. Before you sign up for per-resolution AI support pricing, get the definition in writing and test it on your own conversations. The six questions below cover what to ask.
Why the definition matters more than the price per resolution#
Two vendors can both charge "per resolution" and bill very differently on the same 1,000 conversations. One counts a conversation when the customer says thanks. Another counts it when the customer stops replying. A third counts it only when the work was actually finished. The price per unit is the same line on the pricing page, and the unit is not the same thing.
What Intercom counts as a resolution#
Intercom's help center defines it this way (fetched 15 Nov 2026): "A resolution is a type of outcome that is counted when, following Fin's last answer in a conversation, the customer either confirms the answer was satisfactory (confirmed resolution), or exits the conversation without requesting further assistance (assumed resolution)."
Three details from the same page are worth knowing. A customer who leaves after receiving Fin's answer without asking for more help is counted as an assumed resolution and charged. If a customer returns to the same conversation asking for more help, the resolution is deducted and not charged. And handoffs are split in two: if Fin hands off because a Procedure you configured says to, that is a billable outcome at $0.99, while a default escalation, such as when a customer asks for a person or shows frustration, is not billed. Source: Intercom: Fin AI Agent resolutions.
HubSpot also prices its Customer Agent per resolved conversation, paid in HubSpot Credits, and its announcement page does not define "resolved" (fetched 15 Nov 2026). If you are evaluating it, ask HubSpot for the definition. Source: HubSpot announcement.
Six questions to ask before you buy#
1. Does a customer going quiet count as resolved?
Silence can mean the problem was solved. It can also mean the customer gave up, switched to email or called your phone line. If the vendor bills on silence, you pay for some conversations that were never solved. Ask for a yes or no.
2. Is a handoff to a human billed?
We think it should not be: if the AI hands off, a person did the work. Vendors differ. Intercom bills a handoff that follows a configured Procedure but not a default escalation, so ask which kind of handoff is charged, and whether that holds when the handoff happens late in the thread.
3. What happens if the customer comes back to the same conversation?
A conversation marked resolved on Monday can reopen on Tuesday. Ask whether the charge is reversed, and for how long. Intercom says it deducts the resolution if the customer returns to the same conversation, even across billing periods.
4. Does "resolved" require the action to be finished in your systems?
For refunds, cancellations and plan changes, the honest standard is that the billing system confirmed the change. An agent can tell a customer a refund or cancellation is done while the order is still active, so ask what it checks before it says "done".
5. Can I see why each conversation was counted?
You want a per-conversation record, not a monthly total. Ask to see one resolved conversation with the reason it was counted, and one that was not counted.
6. Can I run it on my own past conversations first?
Your mix of simple and hard tickets is what sets the bill. Test the agent on conversations you already closed and compare its count with yours. Our guide to rolling out an AI support agent safely covers draft mode and widening scope one topic at a time.
The standard SupportWire holds Kal to#
SupportWire bills $0.49 per AI resolution after the first 50 each month, on top of $19 per seat per month. Here is what counts, from the Auto-Resolve page:
| Counts as resolved | Never counts |
|---|---|
| Kal ran a real action (a refund, a plan change, an account update) and the system that did it confirmed it | The customer went quiet. A timeout is not a resolution |
| Kal gave a verified answer with a citation to the source, and the customer's actual question was answered | Kal handed the thread to a human. Handoffs are free, every time |
| The conversation closed. Not deflected to a help article, not left half-done for a rep | A canned "did this help?" with nothing behind it |
Every action writes an audit trail: who asked, what was checked, which API answered and what came back. See pricing for the full plan.
How to compare vendors fairly#
Put each vendor's answers to the six questions in one table, then run the same 50 real conversations through each tool. If you are replacing Intercom, the Intercom pricing calculator models seats and AI volume, and Fin alternatives compares the options for small SaaS teams.
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the vendor, and the definition decides your bill. Intercom counts a resolution when the customer confirms the answer was satisfactory or exits without asking for more help. SupportWire counts one only when Kal closes the conversation on its own: a real action that the system confirmed, or a verified, cited answer to the customer's actual question.
With some vendors, yes. Intercom's help center says a customer who leaves after Fin's answer without asking for more help is counted as an assumed resolution and charged. SupportWire's standard says a customer going quiet never counts, and a timeout is not a resolution.
Ask the vendor in writing. On SupportWire a handoff is free every time: if Kal passes the thread to a person, nothing is billed for that conversation. Intercom says a default escalation, such as when a customer asks for a person or shows frustration, is not billed, but a handoff that follows a configured Procedure is a billable $0.99 outcome.
Look for a log that shows which system was called and what it returned. SupportWire writes an audit trail for each action: who asked, what was checked, which API answered and what came back. A reply that says the refund is done is not proof until the billing system confirms it.
Updated November 2026
