# Intercom vs SupportWire

> Intercom seats plus Fin at $0.99/resolution from the first one, even assumed exits. SupportWire: $19/seat, Kal $0.49 after 50 free/mo. Never charged when Kal hands off. (Verified intercom.com + supportwire.ai, 11 July 2026, US/USD.)

## The short version

With Intercom, the meter is always running. On its own pricing page every tier card stacks a **per-seat price AND "From $0.99 per Fin outcome"**: two meters on one card. SupportWire is one flat number: **$19 per seat per month** (billed monthly) with AI, copilot and analysis included, and Kal metered only on real resolutions. (Verified against intercom.com/pricing, help article 8205718, and supportwire.ai on 11 July 2026, US geo/USD.)

## How Intercom is priced

Intercom is billed **per seat/month across three tiers**. Annual rates: **Essential $29 / Advanced $85 / Expert $132** per seat/mo; monthly billing is **$39 / $99 / $139**. (Free "lite" view-only seats: 0 on Essential, 20 on Advanced, 50 on Expert.) The billing period matters: a bare Intercom number next to SupportWire's monthly plan would mislead, so we always label it. Seats are only the first meter.

## How SupportWire is priced

**$19 per seat per month, billed monthly, everything included**: Kal (AI agent), agent-assist copilot, conversation analysis, SSO/SAML, audit logs and GDPR are not add-ons. Lite seats are free and unlimited. One plan, one number.

## AI pricing: Fin vs Kal

**Fin** is **$0.99 per resolution ("outcome"), billed from the first one**: there is no free monthly pool on the base support plans. Intercom's own definition of a billable resolution: it is counted when, following Fin's last answer, the customer either *confirms* the answer helped (confirmed resolution) **or exits the conversation without requesting further assistance (assumed resolution)**. So an *assumed* exit can bill at $0.99. If the customer later returns to the same conversation for more help, that resolution is deducted and not charged.

**Kal** is **$0.49 per resolution after the first 50 free every month**, a little over half of Fin's rate, plus a free monthly pool Fin doesn't offer. Kal's billable definition is narrower: it charges only for a conversation Kal **closes on its own, without handing off to a human**. Nothing is charged on an escalation.

The add-ons stack separately on Intercom, too: **Copilot** (agent-assist) is $29/agent/mo billed annually ($35 monthly); **Pro** (conversation analysis) is $99/mo for 1,000 conversations; **Proactive Support Plus** (outbound) is $99/mo for 500 messages. On SupportWire, copilot and analysis are in the $19 seat.

## Corporate note

Intercom's parent company **renamed itself to Fin** in May 2026; the helpdesk product is still called "Intercom", and "Fin" is the AI brand. Salesforce **signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fin** (~$3.6B) on 15 June 2026. The deal is **signed, not closed** (expected to complete by Q4 of Salesforce's fiscal 2027).

## Where Intercom genuinely wins

SupportWire is cheaper at every same-seat, same-volume configuration, so we're honest about where Intercom is the better fit:
- **Outbound & lifecycle marketing.** Intercom's Proactive Support Plus and messaging tooling are a real product category; SupportWire is inbound support, not a marketing-automation platform.
- **The most mature AI brand.** Fin is one of the most battle-tested customer-service AI agents on the market; Kal is newer.
- **A broad app ecosystem.** Intercom's app store and partner ecosystem is large and deep.
- **No native phone.** SupportWire has **no native phone/voice channel**, a real limitation if voice is core to your support.

## How Intercom is rated

As of July 2026: **4.5/5 on G2** (3,880 reviews, the listing now reads as "Fin"), **4.5/5 on Capterra** (1,134 reviews), and **2.3/5 on Trustpilot**, but Trustpilot is a **small sample of just 10 reviews** (80% one-star), so we don't lean on it. The recurring critique across sources is billing that "very quickly turned into every month there's extra fees involved," especially around Fin's "assumed resolved" charges.

## Migrating from Intercom

Free migration from Intercom is on us: conversations, contacts and macros move across with engineering support, and most Intercom migrations finish within a day. Run Intercom and SupportWire side-by-side while you verify, then cut over. Start from a 14-day trial (no card) or a 30-minute demo; Kal runs during the trial too.

Prefer a plain calculator? Run your own seats-plus-resolutions numbers with the [Intercom pricing calculator](/free-tools/intercom-pricing-calculator).

See also: [Pricing](/pricing.md), [Kal](/ai.md), [Switch](/switch.md)

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Source: https://supportwire.ai/intercom-vs-supportwire
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