Helpin vs Intercom at a glance
Intercom and Helpin both help support teams answer customers with AI. They differ in what happens after the answer, in how AI is billed, and in where the product can run.
Intercom is a mature, support-first platform built around its Fin AI agent, with a broad set of channels and a large app marketplace. In May 2026 the company renamed itself Fin, and Salesforce completed its acquisition in September 2026. The helpdesk product is still called Intercom.
Helpin is a newer, open-source platform that puts support, projects, CRM, meetings and docs on one customer history, with AI agents that can take a question all the way to a shipped fix.
This guide compares Helpin and Intercom feature by feature, with list prices checked in September 2026, so you can decide which fits the way your team works.
- Intercom is built around the conversation: resolving it quickly across many channels, with Fin handling a growing share on its own.
- Helpin is built around the customer history: the conversation, the task it becomes, the pull request that fixes it and the follow-up when it ships.
Here’s how the two compare across the capabilities teams ask about most. A check means included, a dash means partly or on some plans, and a cross means not available.
| Capability |  HelpinCloud or self-hosted | IntercomAI customer support |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Price model | Per workspace | Per seat: $29, $85 or $132 a month billed annually |
| Teammates | Unlimited teammates on every plan | Each full seat is paid; Lite seats on higher plans |
| AI agent | AI usage allowance included in every Cloud plan | Fin at $0.99 per outcome |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | 14 days, no card |
| Open source and self-hosting | Free Community edition (AGPL-3.0, 0.1 beta) | |
| Support | ||
| Channels | Web chat and email | Chat, email, phone, WhatsApp, SMS, social, Slack and more |
| AI answers with human handoff | ||
| Help center | Custom domain, AI answers, API reference | Public help center; multilingual on Advanced |
| Widget SDKs | Web: JavaScript, React, Next.js, Vue | Web, iOS, Android, React Native |
| Support reporting | Knowledge-gap and project reports | Pre-built reports; custom reports on Advanced |
| SSO and SLA policies | Expert plan | |
| Beyond support | ||
| Project management | Roadmaps, sprints, objectives, epics | Through integrations such as Jira |
| CRM with deals | Contacts, companies, deals | Contacts and companies; deals through integrations |
| Meeting notes | Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex | |
| Coding agents | Opens GitHub PRs and GitLab MRs for review | |
| MCP server | Hosted and self-hosted (beta) | Hosted |
Comparison data verified September 2026.
Core feature comparison
Feature names can sound alike across tools. What matters is how each product handles the work, and what your team does next.
Inbox and channels
Intercom’s shared inbox covers Messenger chat and email on every plan, with phone, WhatsApp, SMS, social channels, Slack, Discord and Microsoft Teams available, several of them billed by usage. Workflows, multiple team inboxes and round-robin assignment arrive on the Advanced plan.
HelpinHelpin handles web chat and email in one shared inbox, with team inboxes, tags, saved replies, internal notes, business hours and CSAT surveys. AI conversation routing and round-robin assignment are part of the Growth plan. It doesn’t offer phone, WhatsApp or social channels today.
The difference: If you need phone or messaging apps in the same inbox, Intercom covers far more channels. If chat and email are your main channels, both handle the everyday work well.
AI agents
Fin is Intercom’s AI agent. It answers from your content and data, hands conversations to your team, and can run multi-step procedures. It’s billed at $0.99 per outcome on top of seats. Copilot helps teammates draft replies, with 10 free conversations per teammate each month before a paid upgrade.
HelpinHelpin’s AI agents answer from your docs and the customer’s history, and hand off to your team with what they found. They can also go further: plan the work, open a pull request for review and prepare the follow-up. You choose each agent’s tools and which actions need approval, and usage comes from an allowance included in every Cloud plan.
The difference: Fin is a proven, support-focused agent. Helpin’s agents work across support and the product work behind it, with usage included in the plan price.
Help center and knowledge
Intercom includes a public help center on every plan, with multilingual and private help centers on Advanced and multibrand help centers on Expert. Fin uses your articles and other content to answer.
HelpinHelpin Knowledge publishes help articles, product guides and interactive API reference docs on a Helpin address, your own domain, or a path like /docs through a reverse proxy. Agents draft updates from unanswered questions and shipped changes, and nothing goes live until your team publishes it.
The difference: Both publish a help center that feeds their AI. Helpin adds API reference docs and agent-drafted updates your team reviews.
From question to fix
Intercom resolves the conversation and hands engineering work to other tools, such as its Jira integration. The conversation lives in Intercom and the task lives elsewhere, so context has to travel between them.
HelpinHelpin includes projects with roadmaps, sprints, objectives and epics. A conversation can become a task with the customer’s history attached, a coding agent can open a GitHub pull request or GitLab merge request for review, and the team can follow up in the original conversation when the fix ships.
The difference: If support often hands off to engineering, keeping both on one history is Helpin’s biggest difference.
Customer records, CRM and meetings
Intercom keeps contacts, companies and leads, and connects to CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot for deals. It doesn’t record meetings.
HelpinHelpin includes a CRM with contacts, companies, deals and pipelines, and a meeting notetaker for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex. Decisions and action items from calls stay on the same customer record as the conversations and tasks.
The difference: Teams that already run a separate CRM may be happy with Intercom’s integrations. Teams that want one record per customer get it built in with Helpin.
Developers and integrations
Intercom offers a REST API, iOS, Android and React Native SDKs, more than 450 apps and integrations, and a hosted MCP server for AI tools.
HelpinHelpin offers web SDKs for JavaScript, React, Next.js and Vue, a Helpin MCP server (in beta, hosted or self-hosted), connections to external MCP servers for agents, and GitHub and GitLab integrations. It doesn’t have native mobile SDKs or a large app marketplace yet.
The difference: Intercom’s ecosystem is far larger today. Helpin focuses on connecting your product, your code and your AI tools.
Why teams look beyond Intercom
Four common reasons teams give for looking elsewhere, and how Helpin handles each one.
- Conversation
- Jira or another tool
Helpin- Conversation
- Task
- Pull request
- Follow-up
The fix happens in another tool
Intercom focuses on resolving the conversation and hands product work to tools like Jira. In Helpin, a support conversation can become a task on the roadmap, and the history stays attached so the team can follow up when the fix ships.
- Seats
- + $0.99 per outcome
Helpin- Workspace price
- AI allowance included
AI costs rise with every outcome
Intercom charges $0.99 for each Fin outcome, on top of seats. Helpin includes an AI usage allowance in each Cloud plan, with optional metered overage on paid plans. Self-hosted installs use your own AI provider.
- Paid per full seat
Helpin- Unlimited teammates
Every new teammate is another seat
Intercom prices by seat, so each full teammate adds cost. Helpin charges per workspace, which makes it easier to give engineering, sales and success access to the same customer history.
- Hosted by Intercom
Helpin- Helpin Cloud
- or your servers
You can’t run it yourself
Intercom is a hosted service. Helpin is open source under AGPL-3.0: use Helpin Cloud, or run the Community edition on your own infrastructure with Docker Compose.
Pricing and value
Intercom charges per seat: $29, $85 or $132 a month billed annually for Essential, Advanced and Expert. Fin adds $0.99 per outcome, and channels such as phone, SMS and WhatsApp, and add-ons such as Copilot and Proactive Support, are billed separately.
HelpinHelpin charges one price per workspace, with unlimited teammates. Starter is $79 and Growth $239 a month billed annually ($99 and $299 billed monthly), and each includes an AI usage allowance. The self-hosted Community edition is free.
Estimate what your team would pay
Change the team size, plans and AI volume to match your team. The estimate uses list prices and says plainly when Intercom costs less. See Helpin pricing.
Estimated at list prices · 8 teammates · 1,000 Fin AI outcomes a month · billed annually
Helpin costs $17,172 less a year than Intercom.
HelpinGrowth$239/moHelpinGrowth, billed annually
- Growth plan, one workspace
- $239
- 8 teammates
- Included
- AI usage allowance
- $239 included
- Per month
- $239
- Per year
- $2,868
Heavy AI use can go past the allowance; overage is metered.
IntercomAdvanced, billed annually
- 8 × Advanced at $85
- $680
- 1,000 Fin AI outcomes × $0.99
- $990
- Per month
- $1,670
- Per year
- $20,040
- Intercom’s channel usage (phone, SMS, WhatsApp) and add-ons such as Copilot and Proactive Support are not included.
- Helpin measures AI usage in tokens, not resolutions. Paid plans can turn on metered overage beyond the allowance.
Hosting and data
Intercom is a hosted service, and there’s no way to run it on your own infrastructure.
HelpinHelpin is open source under AGPL-3.0. Use Helpin Cloud, or run the Community edition (0.1 beta) on your own infrastructure with Docker Compose and your own AI provider. Nothing leaves your servers unless you connect it.
Switching and onboarding
Intercom offers a 14-day trial with no card. It has no one-click importer: moving historical data into Intercom is a scripted, API-based migration, and conversations can be exported as CSV, through the API or to cloud storage.
HelpinHelpin’s trial runs for 14 days on the Growth plan, with no card. Our team will help you plan the move: what to set up first, how to run both tools side by side, and when to cut over.
Moving from Intercom.
Start with part of your support, then move the rest when you’re ready.
Take from Intercom
- Conversations, as CSV or through the API
- Contacts and companies
- Help center articles
- Saved replies and tags you want to keep
Set up in Helpin
- Chat widget on your site or app
- Support address, forwarded to Helpin
- Help center on your own domain
- Team inboxes, tags and saved replies
- AI agent guidance and approval rules
- 01
Run Helpin alongside Intercom
Available nowInstall the widget on a few pages and connect a support address. Move queues over when your team is ready, ideally before your next renewal.
- 02
Rebuild your help center
Available nowRecreate your articles in Helpin Knowledge and publish them on your own domain.
- 03
Import conversations and contacts
Coming soonAn Intercom importer is coming soon. Until then, Intercom exports conversations as CSV or through its API.
Where Intercom is stronger
Intercom is a good product. These are the areas where it’s ahead of Helpin today.
Channels.
Phone and voice AI, WhatsApp, SMS, social channels, Slack, Discord and Microsoft Teams. Helpin supports web chat and email.
Ecosystem.
More than 450 apps and integrations, and native mobile SDKs for iOS and Android.
Maturity.
Over 30,000 customers and years of support-specific features, including SLAs, SSO and custom reports.
Proactive messaging.
Product tours, surveys and targeted in-app messages through add-ons.
Which one fits your team?
If support is a self-contained function, Intercom is a strong choice. If customer questions regularly turn into product work, Helpin keeps that work connected.
Choose Intercom if…
- You need many channels in one inbox: phone, WhatsApp, SMS, social and Slack.
- You need native iOS and Android SDKs or a large integration marketplace.
- You need SSO, SLA policies and detailed support reporting today.
Choose Helpin if…
- Customer questions often become bugs, features or project tasks.
- You want AI agents that can plan the fix and open a pull request for review.
- You want one price per workspace instead of per seat and per AI outcome.
- You want the option to self-host an open-source product.
Questions about Helpin vs Intercom
Is Helpin a good Intercom alternative?
It is if your team wants AI support connected to product work, CRM and meetings, or wants to self-host. If you depend on phone, WhatsApp or social channels, or on native mobile SDKs, Intercom covers more today.
Is Helpin cheaper than Intercom?
For most teams with several support teammates, yes. Helpin charges one price per workspace with AI usage included. Intercom charges per seat plus $0.99 per Fin outcome. Use the calculator above with your own team size and volume.
Is Intercom now called Fin?
The company renamed itself Fin in May 2026 and was acquired by Salesforce in September 2026. The helpdesk product is still called Intercom.
Can Helpin import my Intercom data?
An Intercom importer is coming soon. You can export conversations from Intercom today and start Helpin alongside it while you move over.
Can we run Helpin alongside Intercom?
Yes. Add the Helpin widget to a few pages or forward one support address, and keep Intercom for everything else while your team tries the workflow. Move the rest when you’re ready.
How is AI billed in Helpin?
Every Cloud plan includes a monthly AI usage allowance, measured in tokens at published rates. On an active paid plan you can turn on metered overage if you need more. Self-hosted installs use your own AI provider and pay it directly.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. The 14-day trial runs on the Growth plan, needs no card, and includes $140 of AI usage.
Can we self-host Helpin?
Yes. The Community edition is free and open source under AGPL-3.0, and runs with Docker Compose. It is a 0.1 beta, and coding agents arrive with the 0.2 release.
Will you help us switch?
Yes. Book a call and we’ll plan the move with you: what to set up first, how to run both tools side by side, and when to cut over.