Best for — Customer Support
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Medium
Who is Intercom best for?
Quick fit guide: Who is Intercom best for, who should avoid it, and what typically forces a switch.
Sources linked — see verification below.
Freshness & verification
Best use cases for Intercom
- Chat-first support teams (5–50 agents) where live chat drives resolution
- SaaS companies using proactive messaging (tours, surveys) for engagement
- Teams wanting AI deflection (Fin) without per-seat AI licensing
- Support + engagement in one tool; product-led growth and onboarding
- Companies already using Intercom for sales/marketing; add support
- Startups qualifying for Early Stage (90% off + 1 year Fin free)
Who should avoid Intercom?
- Traditional ticket-queue workflows; Zendesk/Freshdesk better for queue-centric ops
- E-commerce support with order lookup—Gorgias native; Intercom requires integrations
- Email-heavy support; Help Scout's shared inbox and collision detection superior
- Budget-sensitive; Fin resolution costs unpredictable at high volume
- Need mature SLA policies and breach tracking—Expert tier $139/seat
- Collaborative inbox over tickets—Front built for multi-touch conversations
Upgrade triggers for Intercom
- Need multi-team inboxes and round-robin—Advanced $99/seat from Essential $39
- Workflows and automation—Advanced tier
- SLA policies and breach tracking—Expert $139/seat
- SSO, HIPAA, multibrand—Expert tier
- Fin resolution volume exceeds budget—cap available but disables AI when hit
- Proactive Support Plus messages exceed 500/mo—usage-based overage
Sources & verification
Pricing and behavioral information comes from public documentation and structured research. When information is incomplete or volatile, we prefer to say so rather than guess.