Crisp vs Intercom
Intercom scores 8.2 to Crisp's 7.1 among the helpdesks we rate, and is the better pick for 2 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
Intercom wins, 8.2 to 7.1
Crisp offers a free plan forever; Intercom has none, only a 14 day trial. Intercom is cheaper to start, at $39 a month against Crisp's $45 a month, and is ISO 27001 certified where Crisp is not. Crisp keeps all data in the EU; Intercom lets you choose the US, EU or Australia. Both hand human agents a summary or copilot assist, and both host a customer facing help center.
Pick Crisp if you want a free plan that never expires.
Pick Intercom if you want more data region choices and ISO certification.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
- Free plan: Crisp yes, Intercom no
- AI included in the price: Included against Per_resolution
- Languages the AI answers in: 50 languages against 45 languages
- SLA policies: Intercom yes, Crisp no
- Channels it works in: Email, live_chat, voice, whatsapp, sms, messenger, instagram, slack against Live_chat, email, messenger, instagram, sms, whatsapp, voice
- SOC 2: Intercom yes, Crisp no
- HIPAA: Intercom yes, Crisp no
- ISO 27001: Intercom yes, Crisp no
- But Crisp leads on does not train AI on your data: Yes against unless you opt out
How they score
Both are scored the same way, against the other helpdesks we rate, from facts on each vendor's own pages. Intercom leads on 4 of 7 criteria.
Where they differ
Every point where the two vendors' published facts disagree, with a link to where each fact was read. "Not published" means the vendor does not say either way.
Published by only one of them
Where they match (6)
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
Crisp
Intercom
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
Crisp
- Flat-fee workspace pricing eliminates per-seat chaos, making costs predictable for growing SMB teams.
- Shared inbox consolidates WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, email, and website chat into a single unified view.
- Built-in knowledge base allows teams to publish articles that Hugo AI can train on without extra add-on costs.
- Hugo AI ingests website content and PDFs for custom training, a capability some competitors charge extra for.
- Support CRM is included in the platform rather than sold as a separate product.
- The feature set is wider than expected at the price point, bundling chatbot builder, helpdesk, and AI agent together.
- Crisp targets the underserved market gap between free chat widgets and enterprise-tier Intercom pricing.
- All-in-one consolidation reduces the need for a stack of multiple point solutions.
- The chatbot builder and Hugo AI workflow tool are two separate systems, which frequently confuses new users.
- Third-party integrations are gated behind the Plus plan, limiting flexibility on lower tiers.
- The platform lacks the depth required to fully satisfy larger support teams operating at scale.
- Not all supported channels are named upfront on the marketing page, making it harder to evaluate fit quickly.
Intercom
- Fin, Intercom's native AI agent, is architecturally integrated into the same system human agents use, preserving full customer context across handovers.
- The platform supports 45+ languages, making it genuinely viable for international support teams.
- Intercom connects with hundreds of tools including Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Jira, Shopify, and Slack via its marketplace.
- The unified platform bundles live chat, ticketing, AI agent, and knowledge base into a single coherent product rather than stitched-together tools.
- Intercom 2 brought over 60 product updates, signaling active and fast-moving development.
- The platform runs across web, iOS, Android, and a Chrome extension, covering most agent workflows.
- With 30,000+ businesses on the platform since 2011, Intercom has a long and verifiable track record.
- Key features like SLAs, multilingual Help Center, and white-label options are gated behind higher-tier plans, pushing real costs well above the entry price.
- The Essential plan starts at $39/month but the features most teams actually need require more expensive upgrades.
- Intercom is explicitly not positioned as a budget tool, making it a poor fit for cost-sensitive or early-stage teams.
- The full changelog for Intercom 2's 60+ updates hasn't been clearly published, making it hard to evaluate what actually changed.
- Fast product iteration may introduce instability or learning curve for teams that need consistency in their support tooling.
Crisp vs Intercom: common questions
Which is better, Crisp or Intercom?
Intercom scores 8.2 and Crisp 7.1 out of 10 among the helpdesks we rate. Intercom is ahead on channels, security and privacy, running a support team and support and branding. Crisp is ahead on aI that answers your customers and pricing.
Is Crisp or Intercom cheaper?
Crisp's cheapest paid plan is $45/mo and Intercom's is $39/mo. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Do Crisp and Intercom have a free plan?
Crisp does and Intercom does not.
What can Crisp do that Intercom cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: free plan.
What can Intercom do that Crisp cannot?
On the facts both vendors publish: sOC 2, hIPAA, iSO 27001, single sign-on, audit log and sLA policies.
