Intercom Pricing Breakdown: Guide for Your Business

Intercom has established itself as a next-generation customer communication platform, designed for an AI-first world. It offers a demanding suite of features to companies aiming to improve their customer support, engagement, and relationship management.

Considering various Intercom pricing plans offered to businesses, it can be challenging to pick the ideal one for your business.

This comprehensive guide will break down the pricing structure of Intercom, so you can make an informed decision.

A Glimpse into the Three Main Intercom Pricing Tiers

Intercom offers three core pricing plans: Essential, Advanced, and Expert. Each plan provides a different level of functionality, catering to the specific needs of your business. Here’s a closer look at what each tier has to offer:

1.     Essential

Target Audience: Individuals, small businesses and startups

Price: $39/month per seat

The Intercom Essential plan, priced at $39 per user per month, is designed for startups and small businesses aiming to improve customer communication and support. Here’s a breakdown of the key features entailed in this plan:

• Intercom Messenger (Live Chat)
• Inbox (Shared Team Inbox)
• Basic Reporting
• Ticketing System
• AI Compose (Limited)
• Public Help Center
• Proactive Support (Basic)

2.     Advanced

Target Audience: Startups & small businesses with growing support teams and operations

Price: $99/month per seat

Designed for growing businesses, the Intercom Advanced plan expands on the Essential features. With this plan, businesses get access to the following additional features:

• Targeted Campaigns (Email & In-App)
• Custom User Attributes
• Integrations (Wider Range)
• User Roles & Permissions
• App Bots
• Custom Events Tracking
• Reporting & Analytics (Advanced)
• Multilingual Help Center
• Side Conversations

3.     Expert

Target Audience: Large enterprises

Price: $139/month per seat

This Intercom top-tier plan is suited for large enterprises with complex customer communication needs. It offers everything in the Advanced plan, along with the following additional features:

• Workload Management
• Team Office Hours & Reply Times
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Multiple Help Centers
• Switch: Phone Deflection to Messenger
• Extended API Limit
• Custom Roles
• SSO & Identity Management
• HIPAA Support
• Multi-brand Messenger
• Real-time Dashboard

Important Note: Intercom pricing is based on a “per seat” model, meaning you’ll be charged for each user who requires access to the platform. When making your decision, take into account the number of team members who will actively use Intercom since this can have a big impact on your final cost.

Understanding Usage-Based Charges

While the core plans offer a set of features, Intercom also has usage-based charges for specific functionalities, such as:

• Channel Usage: Intercom facilitates communication through various channels like email, SMS, WhatsApp, and phone calls. Each channel has its own pricing structure:
• Email: Per email sent, the cost ranges from $0.00025 to $0.045 depending on the volume.
• SMS: Sending and receiving SMS messages comes with a variable cost, ranging from $0.01 to $0.09 per message.
• WhatsApp: Conversations on WhatsApp are charged between $0.03 and $0.10 per conversation.
• Phone Calls: Intercom charges $0.0035 per minute for phone calls made through the platform.

Proactive Support Add-On

Intercom offers a Proactive Support Plus add-on (starting at $99/month) that unlocks features for proactive user engagement. This offers tools like targeted banners, in-app chat, and product tours.  Consider this add-on if you want to actively guide users and improve product adoption.

Is Intercom Worth the Investment?

With its wide range of features, Intercom helps meet the diverse needs of businesses, from startups to enterprise-level organizations. But is it worth your investment? Let’s get straight into its pros and cons:

Pros:

• Centralized Inbox: Intercom provides a unified platform for managing all customer interactions – emails, phone calls, live chat – via a shared inbox. This means you don’t have to navigate through various tools, fostering team collaboration.
• Targeted Communication: Intercom lets you segment users based on various criteria and deliver personalized messages. This can be through targeted campaigns, in-app messaging, or product tours, ultimately improving user experience and driving engagement.
• AI-powered Features: Intercom offers AI features like chatbots (Fin) and automated message recommendations. Simple questions can be diverted by Fin, which reduces the effort for support staff, and AI suggestions can expedite agent responses.
• Self-Service Options: Intercom lets you build a powerful Help Center with searchable articles and FAQs. This empowers users to find solutions independently, reducing support ticket volume and freeing up agents’ time.
• Analytics & Reporting: Intercom provides robust analytics and reporting tools that offer valuable actionable insights into customer behavior and interaction effectiveness, helping businesses make data-driven decisions.

Cons:

• Cost: Intercom Pricing can be relatively high, particularly for startups or smaller businesses.
• Learning Curve: Though user-friendly, the comprehensive suite of features can be overwhelming for new users, requiring effort and time to fully comprehend and utilize effectively.
• Usage-based Charges:  Features like Fin resolutions, phone calls, and outbound messages can incur additional charges based on usage. This can quickly increase your monthly bill if not carefully tracked and managed.

Taking pros and cons into account, Intercom might not be the ideal solution for small businesses or startups with simple needs such as basic live chat functionality. Also, businesses with limited budgets should consider looking for other options.

Conclusion

­No doubt, understanding Intercom pricing is complex, and selecting the right plan is crucial. It requires careful consideration of several factors such as the size and needs of your business.

Fortunately, Intercom offers a free trial to explore the platform’s functionalities before committing to a paid plan.

For startups, Intercom offers a whopping 95% discount. So, if you’re a startup, this can be a great way to get started with the platform at a minimal cost. Moreover, the platform also offers custom quotes for large enterprises with complex needs.