Crisp vs Intercom

Crisp Essentials costs $95/month for 10 seats with Hugo AI included, while Intercom Advanced costs $85/seat/month per agent — a 10-agent team pays $95 on Crisp vs $850 on Intercom, a 9x difference before AI add-ons. The pricing models are fundamentally different: Crisp charges per workspace with fixed seat limits; Intercom charges per seat with uncapped scaling. Both platforms rate 4.5/5 on G2, but Crisp has 183 reviews while Intercom has ~3,496 — reflecting their different market sizes.

Crisp targets SMBs that want CRM, knowledge base, chatbot builder, and co-browsing (MagicBrowse) bundled into one subscription. Intercom targets funded SaaS companies that want AI-first autonomous support with product tours and outbound campaigns. The overlap is limited: Crisp bundles more tools at a lower price; Intercom offers deeper AI automation at a premium.

Intercom offers deeper AI autonomy and customer engagement tooling; Crisp bundles more built-in features at a fraction of the cost. Intercom's Fin AI Agent handles conversations independently, product tours guide users through your app, outbound messaging nurtures customers through lifecycle stages, and the workflow builder creates multi-step automation sequences. Copilot costs $29/agent/month for reply suggestions.

Crisp bundles CRM contact management, Docs knowledge base, Hugo AI chatbot (credit-based: ~90 conversations on Mini, ~450 on Essentials, ~1,350 on Plus), MagicBrowse co-browsing, video calls, and a chatbot builder into the workspace price. When Hugo AI credits run out, the chatbot stops responding until the next billing cycle — there are no overage charges, but no AI either.

Channel support: Crisp covers email, Telegram, WhatsApp (Essentials+), Instagram (Essentials+), Messenger, and web chat. Intercom covers email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS, and web chat — no native Telegram. Neither supports Discord or Zalo. Crisp gates WhatsApp behind $95/month; Intercom includes WhatsApp on all paid plans but charges per-conversation Meta fees with a markup.

A 5-agent team on Crisp Essentials pays $95/month; the same team on Intercom Advanced pays $425/month base — and that gap explodes once Intercom's AI fees are added. Crisp tiers: Free ($0, 2 seats), Mini ($45/month, 4 seats), Essentials ($95/month, 10 seats), Plus ($295/month, 20+ seats). Intercom tiers: Essential ($29/seat), Advanced ($85/seat), Expert ($132/seat). All annual billing.

At 5 agents with AI: Crisp Essentials + Hugo AI = $95 + $25 = $120/month. Intercom Advanced + 500 Fin resolutions ($495) + Copilot ($145) = $1,065/month. That is an 8.9x difference. At 10 agents with AI: Crisp Essentials still $120/month (10 seats included). Intercom: ($85 × 10) + $990 (1,000 resolutions) + ($29 × 10) = $2,130/month. The cost ratio widens to 17.8x.

The AI cost model is the key difference. Crisp's Hugo AI has hard credit caps — when they run out, the chatbot stops. No surprises, but no AI until next month. Intercom's Fin charges $0.99 per resolution with no cap — effective AI means escalating bills. A team successfully deflecting 2,000 queries monthly pays $1,980 in Fin fees alone, on top of seat costs.

Choose Crisp if you want bundled tooling — CRM, knowledge base, chatbot builder, MagicBrowse co-browsing, and Hugo AI — in one workspace subscription. The Essentials plan at $95/month for 10 seats is hard to match on value. Crisp also supports Telegram natively, which Intercom does not. Best for SMBs that want one tool instead of five.

Choose Intercom if you want AI handling front-line support autonomously. Fin AI Agent reads your help center and resolves queries at $0.99 per resolution before routing to humans. Intercom also offers product tours, outbound campaigns (Proactive Support Plus at $99/month), and a 450+ integration marketplace. Best for funded SaaS companies that prioritize AI deflection.

Crisp delivers bundled breadth (CRM, knowledge base, co-browsing, chatbot) at workspace pricing that caps costs. Intercom delivers AI depth (autonomous resolution, product tours, outbound campaigns) at per-seat pricing that compounds. The decision comes down to whether you need one affordable tool that does many things or a premium platform that does AI-first support deeply.

For teams that need messaging-first support across WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, and Zalo, Converge offers all channels at $49/month flat for up to 15 agents — including Discord and Zalo that neither Crisp nor Intercom supports.