Free Intercom Alternatives: Live Chat and Customer Messaging Tools With a Real Free Plan
Intercom is one of the strongest customer messaging platforms, with a Messenger widget, a shared inbox and the Fin AI agent. It is also built for teams that can pay for it: there is no free plan, every seat costs money, and Fin charges for each conversation it resolves. If you run a small startup, you can answer website visitors and customers for free with another tool. We checked every tool below on its official pricing page on 10 November 2026, using the default view only, and kept only tools with a free plan that does not expire. For each one you get the seat and chat limits, what the free plan includes in AI, and the first paid price. Several tools from the earlier version of this list no longer have a free plan or have changed their name; they are in a separate section.
Quick answer: for a free website chat with no limit on agents, use tawk.to. For a free Intercom-style inbox with a small AI allowance, use Tidio (10 seats, 50 conversations a month). Teams of up to 10 agents get the most seats with Freshchat Free, HubSpot CRM users should start with HubSpot's free live chat, and if you may self-host later, Chatwoot has a free cloud plan on top of open-source code.
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Does Intercom Have a Free Plan in 2027?
No. The Intercom pricing page (checked November 2026, billed annually by default) lists three plans. Essential costs $29 per seat per month, shown at $19 for new customers with a 35% discount, and covers the Messenger live chat, a shared inbox and ticketing, a public help centre and basic automation. Advanced costs $85 per seat per month and Expert $132. On every plan, the Fin AI Agent costs $0.99 per outcome; Intercom says you pay nothing if Fin cannot answer or the customer asks for a human, and at most one outcome per conversation. Fin Voice is sold through sales at $1.99 per voice outcome, and the Copilot assistant costs $29 per teammate per month after 10 free conversations per agent per month. What Intercom does offer is a 14-day Essential trial without a credit card, and an Early Stage programme with 93% off for startups that have raised under $10 million and have 15 employees or fewer.
Free Intercom Alternatives Compared
Sources: each vendor's official pricing page, default view, checked 10 November 2026. Prices exclude VAT; Crisp showed euros from our location.
The Best Free Intercom Alternatives in 2027
1. Tidio: free live chat and ticketing with a small AI allowance
Tidio is the closest free match to Intercom's mix of live chat, ticketing and an AI agent. On the Tidio pricing page, the Free plan costs $0 and includes 50 billable conversations a month (conversations a human agent replies to), 10 seats, live chat and ticketing. Your first 50 conversations with Lyro, Tidio's AI agent, are free once for the lifetime of the account, and your first 100 visitors reached through Flows automations are free. Starter costs $24.17 a month on annual billing and covers 100 billable conversations. Every account starts with a 7-day trial without a credit card and then drops back to the Free plan.
2. Crisp: a free shared inbox for website chat
Crisp looks and feels close to Intercom: a chat widget on your site, a shared inbox, mobile apps and chat SDKs for your own app. The Crisp pricing page calls its Free plan free forever, for solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, with 2 seats, a contact form and e-commerce integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce and others, but no AI credits. The first paid plan, Mini, costs €45 a month per workspace (shown in euros from our location) and adds a shared email inbox, 4 seats and a small AI credit allowance. Every paid plan can be tried free for 14 days.
3. tawk.to: free live chat for the whole team
tawk.to gives the software away and makes money on extras. Its live chat page says you can add unlimited team members, and the Why Free page explains the model: the product is free for life if you keep the small "Powered by tawk.to" branding, and removing it costs $29 a month. AI Assist, a chatbot that answers from your knowledge base, starts at $29 a month, with a forever-free plan for sites with limited chat volume. If nobody can staff the chat, tawk.to offers hired human agents at $1 an hour. Besides the chat widget, the dashboard has an inbox, a CRM, a pipeline, automations and a knowledge base.
4. HubSpot: free live chat inside a free CRM
HubSpot's live chat is part of its free CRM: according to the product FAQ, you can start with live chat and the chatbot builder for free with no credit card, and every chat is logged on the contact record, so sales and support see the history. A free shared inbox collects chat and other conversations. The HubSpot Service Hub pricing page lists the Free plan at €0 a month from our location, with paid Starter, Professional and Enterprise plans priced per seat. It is the obvious pick if your contacts and deals already live in HubSpot.
5. Zoho SalesIQ: free chat with visitor tracking
Zoho SalesIQ combines live chat with a view of who is on your website right now. The Zoho SalesIQ pricing page (served in Dutch from our location) lists a free plan with 3 operator licences, 100 chat sessions a month, visitor insights for 10,000 visitors a month and 1 brand. Chatbots start on the Basic plan, which raises the limit to 1,000 chat sessions including bot conversations. Paid plans can be tried for 15 days without a credit card, and prices vary by region, so check them in your own currency. SalesIQ connects with Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk.
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6. Freshchat: free messaging for up to 10 agents
Freshchat is the Freshworks messaging product, and the most generous free plan on this list for seats. The Freshchat pricing page shows Free at $0 for up to 10 agents, with a chat widget for websites and mobile apps, a shared inbox, email and roles and permissions. Growth costs $19 per agent per month billed annually and adds social messengers, text messaging, reports and the Freddy AI Agent at $49 per 100 sessions. New accounts start with a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan.
7. JivoChat: free chat plus social messengers for 5 agents
JivoChat puts website chat and messengers in one app. On the JivoChat pricing page, the Free plan includes 5 agents, online chat for websites, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and Viber, a callback feature, offline forms and desktop and mobile apps. Basic costs $28 per agent per month billed annually. WhatsApp ($27 a month), an AI writing assistant ($13 a month) and an AI agent ($69 per agent per month) are paid extras, and you can drop back to the free version at any time.
8. Smartsupp: a free start for one person
Smartsupp is popular with small European online shops. The Smartsupp pricing page lists a Free plan that is free forever with 1 operator, 25 conversations a month, a 14-day history and live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram in one inbox. That is enough to test chat on a new site; for more operators, unlimited conversations or email you need a paid plan, which you can try for 14 days without a credit card.
9. Chatwoot: a free cloud plan on open-source code
Chatwoot is an open-source customer messaging platform, so you can start on its cloud and move to your own server later. The Chatwoot pricing page lists the Hacker plan at $0 for up to 2 agents and 500 conversations a month on the live chat channel, with 30 days of data retention. It leaves out Captain AI, the help centre, teams and automation rules. Startups costs $19 per agent per month and includes 300 Captain AI credits a month; paid plans start with a 15-day trial. If you want to self-host Chatwoot for free, read our open-source Intercom alternatives.
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No Free Plan, Renamed or Changed: What Happened to the Old List
The 2025 version of this article listed ten tools. Six of them are not on the list any more, because their official pricing pages no longer show a free plan or the product has changed:
- LiveChat: the LiveChat pricing page lists paid plans with a free trial and no free plan.
- Olark: live chat without AI costs $29 per agent per month, with a 14-day trial and no free plan. See our Olark vs Intercom comparison.
- Zendesk Chat: live chat is now part of Zendesk Suite, which starts at $55 per agent per month billed annually after a 14-day trial. Our free Zendesk alternatives cover help desks with free plans.
- LiveAgent and HelpCrunch: both offer free trials (30 days for LiveAgent) but no free plan.
- Missive: a shared inbox with a 30-day trial; paid plans start at $14 per user per month billed yearly.
- ChatSimple: chatsimple.ai now redirects to Expertise AI, which prices by use through sales.
- Freshdesk and HubSpot Service Hub: both are still around, but for chat the free options are now Freshchat Free and HubSpot's free live chat, listed above.
- Brevo: its free plan is an email marketing plan; we could not confirm a free chat allowance on the default pricing view, so it is not listed.
Which Free Intercom Alternative Should You Choose?
- You want free chat for a whole team with no seat limit: tawk.to.
- You want an Intercom-style inbox with a little AI to try: Tidio.
- You have up to 10 support agents: Freshchat Free.
- Your contacts and deals are in HubSpot: HubSpot's free live chat.
- You sell through Instagram, Facebook or Telegram as well: JivoChat or Smartsupp.
- You want to see who is on your site before you chat: Zoho SalesIQ.
- You may move to your own server later: Chatwoot.
- You need Fin-level AI and can pay for it: stay with Intercom and check its Early Stage discount, or compare it in Intercom vs Zendesk.
How Founders Run Customer Chat on a Free Plan
A free plan works if you keep it simple. Put the chat widget only on the pages where people decide to buy, such as pricing, checkout and sign-up, and set office hours so visitors see an email form when nobody is online. Write ten saved replies for the questions you get every week, and turn the best answers into help pages so you get fewer chats over time. When you outgrow the free limits, compare the paid plans by the number of conversations you really have, not by seats alone. For a side-by-side of chat and help desk tools, read Tidio vs Zendesk, Zendesk vs Olark and Olark vs LiveChat.
If you prefer to host your own tools, see the open-source Zendesk alternatives, open-source Zendesk AI alternatives and open-source Freshdesk alternatives. HubSpot users can compare the free HubSpot Service Hub alternatives and open-source HubSpot Service Hub alternatives, and email marketers HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign. If your customers need to log in and see their own orders or files, a portal fits better than chat: see our open-source Knack alternatives. Before you add chat to a new product, validate your startup idea with real users, and write your help pages with the F/MS AI SEO Tool so customers find answers in Google and AI assistants before they open a chat.
FAQ About Free Intercom Alternatives
Is there a free version of Intercom?
No. When we checked in November 2026, Intercom had no free plan: Essential cost $29 per seat per month ($19 for new customers), Advanced $85 and Expert $132, plus $0.99 per Fin AI outcome. It offers a 14-day trial without a credit card and a 93% Early Stage discount for eligible startups.
What is the best free alternative to Intercom?
tawk.to is the best fully free option, with unlimited team members if you keep its branding. Tidio is the closest match to Intercom's chat, ticketing and AI mix, with 10 seats and 50 conversations a month for free.
Which free Intercom alternative includes AI?
Tidio's Free plan includes your first 50 Lyro AI conversations once, tawk.to's AI Assist has a forever-free tier for sites with little chat volume, and HubSpot's free tools include a chatbot builder. Crisp, Freshchat, Zoho SalesIQ and Chatwoot keep AI on paid plans.
Which free live chat tool allows the most agents?
tawk.to allows unlimited team members. Tidio allows 10 seats, Freshchat Free up to 10 agents, JivoChat 5 agents, Zoho SalesIQ 3 operators, and Crisp and Chatwoot 2.
How much does Intercom's Fin AI Agent cost?
$0.99 per outcome on every plan. Intercom says you are charged at most once per conversation and nothing if Fin cannot answer or the customer asks for a human. Fin Voice costs $1.99 per voice outcome through sales.
Is there an open-source alternative to Intercom?
Yes. Chatwoot is open source and also has a free cloud plan for 2 agents and 500 conversations a month. For self-hosted options and their licences, see our open-source Intercom alternatives guide.
Do Freshdesk and LiveChat have free plans?
LiveChat lists no free plan, only a trial. Freshworks' free chat plan is Freshchat Free, for up to 10 agents; Freshdesk itself is a help desk product.
Can I use a free live chat on Shopify or WordPress?
Yes. Crisp lists e-commerce integrations including Shopify and WooCommerce, and most tools on this list install with a code snippet or a plugin. Check the plugin in your platform's app store before you install.
When should a startup pay for Intercom instead?
When you need Fin to resolve a large share of conversations, product tours and in-app messages, or advanced workflows and reporting. Check the Early Stage programme first: Intercom lists 93% off for startups under $10 million raised with 15 employees or fewer.
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About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
