IntercomNewDesk

The Intercom alternative that never bills you per seat or per answer.

An AI agent trained on your own website, live chat, tickets, WhatsApp and voice and video calls, for your whole team. Free during the beta, then one flat payment a quarter or a year.

Start freeCompare the bill
Unlimited agentsNo fee per AI answerVoice and video calls in the widgetA person always one click awayYour articles in one paste
Shopify SupportWarren now · people back in a minute
PelotonOn a call · 02:14
Nike SupportAnna is here · replies in 2 min
WaterstonesLumi now · people back in a minute
AllianzOn a call · 02:14
NewDeskLatest news
Xero SupportAnna is here · replies in 2 min
MonzoOn a call · 07:41
NotionAssistant now · people back in an hour
Stripe SupportOn a call · 04:02
DoorDash SupportDash now · people back in a minute
Air India SupportPradeep now · people back in a minute

$0

to start, on the Free license

Intercom: $29 a seat a month

Unlimited

agents on every license

Intercom: every seat billed

$0

per AI answer

Intercom: from $0.99 per resolution

$0

for the AI copilot

Intercom: $29 an agent a month

The bill, before and after

Intercom bills you four ways. NewDesk bills once.

On Intercom every agent is a seat, every answer Fin resolves is a charge, and the AI help for your agents and the messages to your visitors are add-ons. The bill grows with your team and with every question your customers ask.

  • Unlimited agents and conversations on every license.
  • No fee per AI answer: unlimited on Premium and Self-Owned for the beta.
  • The AI copilot for your team is in the license, not an add-on.
  • One payment a quarter or a year. Nothing is billed by the month.

Your support bill, before and after

Three months, for your team.

Intercom$1,1163 months
NewDesk$0Free, 100 AI answers a month
You keep a quarter$1,116
A year$4,464
Your licenseFree
Get your free licenseSee pricing

Intercom: $261 seats + $297 AI answers + $261 AI help for agents + $297 visitor messages. Its published prices on the cheapest plan, billed annually, for 3 agents and 100 AI answers a month.

The more you grow, the further apart they get.

Intercom adds to the bill with every agent you hire and every answer the AI gives. NewDesk’s Premium year is $299 whether your team is one person or fifty.

A year of support, by team sizeAgents on your team, at 1,000 AI answers a month, on each one’s published prices
IntercomNewDesk, $299 at every size
Intercom, 25 agents, a year$30,468
NewDesk Premium, a year$299
You keep$30,169
Never a bot wall

Ask for a person. Get one.

This is Intercom’s Fin, asked for a human: an email, a customer type, a name, a form, and then a person who asked what it was about.

NewDesk keeps Warren and your team in one thread. Ask for a person and you get one: no quiz, no lead form, and the whole conversation goes with you.

Intercom

Busted customer experience
F

Fin

AI Agent

September 14

Hi there 👋

You are now speaking with Fin. How can I help?

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

Can I speak to a person, please?

I can help get you to the right place. First, could you share your business email? This will help me follow up in case you need to step away.

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

sam@mybakery.com

Thanks. I can help connect you appropriately: are you an existing Intercom customer needing support, or are you looking to speak with someone about Fin for your business?

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

Existing customer. I need a person.

Got it. What do you need help with in your Intercom account?

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

A human. Any human.

I understand you would like to speak with a human. Before I connect you, these articles might help:

How to talk to a humanWhat Fin can do for youGetting the most from Fin

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

Did that answer your question?

That helped 👍Not really 👎

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

Not really 👎

Sorry about that! Could you describe your issue in a few words?

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

HUMAN AGENT

I can help with that. What’s your name?

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

Sam

Yes, I want to speak to a human agent.

Which of the following applies to you:

I’m a customerI’m a visitor

Fin • AI Agent • 2w

I’m a customer. I said that.

Email

sam@mybakery.com

Company name

My Bakery

Company size

2

How did you hear about Fin?

I did not

A teammate will be with you as soon as possible.

Fin • 2w

New

Fin team joined the conversation

Hi there 👋 I’m from the Fin team in Sydney

How can I help you? ☺️

Hi there - checking in on your inquiry into Fin?

Happy to be a resource to you while you explore your options!

Fin team • 2w

September 15

Hi there 👋 I’ll go ahead and close this out for now.

If you were trying to get in touch with us about something specific, feel free to reach me by email and I’d be glad to assist!

Fin team • 2w

Your conversation has ended

  • Pay per seat
  • Pay per feature
  • $0.99 per AI answer
  • Agent AI is extra
  • Quiz before a human
  • A lead form first
  • Pitched, not helped
  • Closed the next day

Dramatised from a real chat with Intercom’s Fin.

NewDesk

$99 a quarter
BakehouseAnna is here
AnnaCustomer Success
Hi 👋 Sam, I’m Anna from the Bakehouse team. Anything Warren can’t settle lands with me in this same thread, you won’t have to repeat yourself.
WarrenAI
And I’m Warren, Bakehouse’s AI assistant. I’ll answer most things straight away, and bring the Bakehouse team in the moment I can’t.
Message a personPast tickets
Common questionsWhere is my order?How do I reach a person?
I was charged twice this month. Can I talk to a person?
WarrenAI
Perfect, I already have your details since you’re signed in, Sam (sam@mybakery.com), so there’s nothing to type. Passing this over now.
Warren passed this to the Bakehouse team
WarrenAI
I’ve passed this to Anna. They’ll reply right here and by email to sam@mybakery.com, usually within 5 min.
AnnaCustomer Success
Hi Sam, Anna here. I can see both payments on the 3rd and the 4th. The second one is refunded now and lands back on your card in 3 to 5 working days.
Reply to Anna…
Person in one tapUnlimited AI answersWarren by voiceVoice, video callsScreen sharingCancel subscriptionsBook a callAgents unlimited

Asked once, answered by a person in the same thread, no quiz first. It is a ticket the moment it goes over.

NewDesk vs Intercom, line by line.

What each one charges for the same help desk, with the numbers instead of the adjectives.

What you pay forNewDeskIntercom
Price to start$0, the Free license, no card$29 a seat a month (Essential, billed annually)
AgentsUnlimited on every licenseEach seat billed
AI answers for your customers100 a month on Free, unlimited on Premium and Self-Owned for the betaFin, from $0.99 per resolution
AI help for your agentsIncludedCopilot, $29 an agent a month
Messages to visitors on your siteIncluded: live visitors, journeys and on-site broadcastsProactive Support Plus, $99 a month
How it is billedOne payment a quarter ($99 or $169) or a year ($299 or $499)Every month: seats, plus what the AI resolved, plus add-ons

Intercom’s prices are its own published list at intercom.com/pricing, billed annually, read September 2026.

Switch from Intercom in an afternoon.

Keep Intercom running while you try it. Nothing there is changed, and you switch when you are ready.

01

Bring your Intercom articles

Paste your help center’s address. Every published article syncs into Warren’s knowledge, with no export and no API key, and is read again every night.

Pull your help articles into Warren AI

ZendeskIntercomFreshdeskHelp Scout
Move your articles
02

Put one tag on your site

The widget wears your colour, names your teammate, and opens with the questions you get most. Calls, forms and bookings happen inside it.

One line, just before </body>

<script src="…/widget.js" data-key="…">

Step by step for the way your site is built

WordPressShopifyWebflowWixSquarespaceFramerNext.jsTag Manager
Warren is live on acme.com. Your desk sees the tag the first time a page loads it. Not yours to edit? Send it to your developer from the desk.
Create your desk
03

Reply in one line

What Warren cannot answer becomes a ticket with the whole conversation attached. Say your reply in a few words and the copilot writes it.

You type “refund done, lands in 3 to 5 days”

Hi Sam,

Your refund has gone through. It will be back on your card in 3 to 5 working days, and we will email you the moment it lands.

Best regards,
Priya
Acme team

Start free

One desk for the whole job, in every license.

Free, Premium and Self-Owned carry the same desk. They differ in AI answers, email allowance and branding, never in what your team needs to do the work.

An AI agent on your own knowledge

Trained on your website, your help center, files, your own answers and solved tickets you approve. It shows the source behind every answer and hands what it does not know to your team.

websitehelp centerfilessolved ticketssources shown

Voice and video calls in the widget

Customers call from the chat, or book a time on your team’s hours. Several agents on one call, and the customer can share their screen.

call nowschedule a callvideoscreen share

One ticket inbox

Chat, email forwarded from your support address, WhatsApp, Telegram and SMS land in one inbox, on the web and in the mobile app.

emailchatWhatsAppTelegramSMS

Skills that get things done

Stripe invoices, refunds, cancellations and booking a call, in the chat, with the customer’s yes, refund limits and a manager’s approval where you want one.

invoicesrefundscancelbook a call

A copilot that writes the reply

On a ticket, say what you want to tell the customer in a few words. A finished reply appears in the composer, greeting and sign-off included, yours to edit.

summarisenext stepwrite the reply

Your own assistant can run the desk

Let Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor read the queue and solve tickets over MCP, with unlimited tool calls on every license.

ClaudeChatGPTCursorMCP

Questions teams ask before leaving Intercom.

Short answers. Ask Warren in the corner for the rest.

Talk to us

Yes, during the beta. The Free license is $0 with no card: the whole desk for the whole team, unlimited agents and conversations, and 100 AI answers a month for your customers. Premium, at $99 a quarter or $299 a year, and Self-Owned, at $169 a quarter or $499 a year, carry unlimited AI answers for the beta.

Intercom’s published list, billed annually, starts at $29 a seat a month on Essential, adds from $0.99 for every conversation Fin resolves, $29 an agent a month for Copilot and $99 a month for Proactive Support Plus. NewDesk is one payment for the term, the same for one agent or fifty, with no fee per AI answer.

Yes. Paste the address your customers read it at, intercom.help/yourcompany or your own domain. Every published article syncs into the AI agent’s knowledge, with no export and no access token, and it is read again every night.

No, on purpose. Customers ask the AI agent in the chat, in their own words, and it answers from your articles. You can read and edit every article under Training.

It says so instead of guessing and passes the chat to your team, where it becomes a ticket with the whole conversation attached. A customer who asks for a person gets one.

Yes, on Self-Owned: rename the assistant, give it your own avatar and remove the NewDesk branding from the widget. Free and Premium show Warren, our assistant.

Yes, on every license. Customers start a voice or video call from the chat widget or book one on your team’s hours, share their screen, and your team answers in the browser or the mobile app.

Yes. Your Intercom help center is only read, never changed. Run both side by side for as long as you like and switch when you are ready.

Leave the Intercom bill behind. Start free today.

The whole desk for your whole team, no card needed. Bring your Intercom articles in one paste, and your customers get answers the same afternoon.

NewDesk never fails to escalate to your team.

Get your free licenseNo card required