The best alternatives to Intercom Fin are Tidio Lyro for small stores, the agent built into your own helpdesk if you use Zendesk, HubSpot or Freshdesk, and Ada if you need an enterprise platform with voice and contact-center integrations.
Fin scores highest on our rubric, so switching is rarely about quality on paper. It is about ownership, billing rules or fit with the platform you already run.
Why teams look beyond Intercom Fin
- Salesforce has agreed to buy Fin, and you want a vendor whose future is clearer.
- You do not want to pay for assumed resolutions after 24 hours of silence, or for configured handoffs.
- Your helpdesk has its own agent, and one vendor is simpler than two.
The alternatives, ranked
Tidio Lyro
Small online stores that want to start this week7.9- Price from
- $24.17 per month
- Pricing model
- Per conversation
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
Lyro is Tidio's AI agent for small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses. It works as an add-on to Tidio, on its own, or on Zendesk, Intercom and Salesforce through Lyro Connect. Entry prices are public, data is hosted in the EEA, and it supports 48 languages.
The catch: A conversation thread closes after 15 idle minutes, so a visitor who comes back is billed again, and the free quota never resets.
HubSpot Customer Agent
Companies already on HubSpot Professional or Enterprise7.7- Price from
- $0.50 per resolution
- Pricing model
- Credits
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Requires HubSpot Service Hub
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
HubSpot's Customer Agent answers customers using your CRM data and knowledge base. It is available only to Service Hub Professional and Enterprise subscribers, and since April 2026 it costs $0.50 per resolved conversation, paid in HubSpot Credits.
The catch: A conversation counts as resolved if the visitor does not ask for a human within 72 hours, and lead qualifications are billed too.
Zendesk AI Agents
Teams already running support on Zendesk7.5- Price from
- $55 per seat per month
- Pricing model
- Seats plus usage
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Requires Zendesk Suite
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
Zendesk's AI agents are built into Zendesk Suite and Support plans. Since May 2026 the agentic features are included in every plan and only resolutions verified by a model are billed. What Zendesk still does not publish is what a resolution costs.
The catch: The price per automated resolution is not published anywhere. The only figure in the open is a 2025 forum comment from a Zendesk product manager.
Ada
Mid-market and enterprise teams that want an agent on top of their current helpdesk7.4- Price from
- est. $36,079 per year
- Pricing model
- Quote only
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- No
Ada is a Toronto company whose agent works across messaging, email and voice on top of the helpdesk you already have. It sells by quote, but it is the one enterprise vendor with substantial procurement data: a median contract of $72,000 a year across 114 purchases.
The catch: Ada's own AI decides which conversations count as billable resolutions, and the contract allows the count to be calculated from a sampled rate.
Decagon
Large enterprises with high volume and a six-figure budget5.8- Price from
- est. $105,000 per year
- Pricing model
- Quote only
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- No
Decagon builds AI agents for chat, email and voice at large consumer, fintech and telecom brands. It publishes no prices and offers no trial. Procurement data puts the median contract at $432,750 a year.
The catch: No public prices, and the pricing most often observed by buyers is per conversation, so you may pay for conversations the AI does not resolve unless you negotiate otherwise.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Price from | Works on your existing helpdesk | Self-serve sign-up | EU data residency | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Fin | 9.1 | Per resolution | $0.99 per resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Teams that want a price they can calculate today |
| Tidio Lyro | 7.9 | Per conversation | $24.17 per month | Yes | Yes | Yes | Small online stores that want to start this week |
| HubSpot Customer Agent | 7.7 | Credits | $0.50 per resolution | No | Yes | Yes | Companies already on HubSpot Professional or Enterprise |
| Zendesk AI Agents | 7.5 | Seats plus usage | $55 per seat per month | No | Yes | Yes | Teams already running support on Zendesk |
| Ada | 7.4 | Quote only | est. $36,079 per year | Yes | No | Yes | Mid-market and enterprise teams that want an agent on top of their current helpdesk |
| Decagon | 5.8 | Quote only | est. $105,000 per year | Yes | No | Not documented | Large enterprises with high volume and a six-figure budget |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to Fin?
Per resolution, HubSpot at $0.50 and Help Scout at $0.75 publish lower prices, but both require their own platform's seats.
Which alternatives are independent of a helpdesk vendor?
Ada, Decagon, Sierra, Gladly and Tidio are not owned by a major helpdesk vendor. Forethought belongs to Zendesk, and Fin is due to belong to Salesforce.
Related pages
- Intercom Fin reviewreview
- Intercom Fin pricing explainedpricing
- The best AI customer service agents in 2026best list
Sources
- Fin homepage — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Fin pricing — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Intercom pricing — Intercom (Fin) · September 18, 2026
- Fin pricing: outcomes — Fin Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Anthropic customer story — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Lightspeed customer story — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Fin channels — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Fin integrations — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Use Fin AI Agent in multiple languages — Fin Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Regional data hosting — Fin Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Intercom security — Intercom (Fin) · September 18, 2026
- Fin AI Agent explained — Fin Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Today, Intercom becomes Fin — Intercom (Fin) · September 18, 2026
- Salesforce signs definitive agreement to acquire Fin — Salesforce · September 18, 2026
- Lyro AI Agent — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Tidio pricing — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- The Lyro AI agent limit — Tidio Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Lyro, the conversational AI agent — Tidio Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Lyro multilanguage support — Tidio Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Privacy policy and GDPR compliance — Tidio Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Lyro: build and integrate — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Lyro achieves best resolution rates in industry (31 March 2025) — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Borrowell case study — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Tidio support team achieves 58% automation with Lyro — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- Tidio earns SOC 2 Type 2 certification (14 October 2025) — EIN Presswire · September 18, 2026
- About Tidio — Tidio · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot Customer Agent — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Service Hub pricing — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot Credits — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot product and services catalog — HubSpot Legal · September 18, 2026
- Customer Agent and Prospecting Agent: now you pay when the task is complete (14 April 2026) — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- Understand the customer agent — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 18, 2026
- Set up the customer agent — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 18, 2026
- Deploy the customer agent to channels — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 18, 2026
- Set up and customize the customer agent's handoff process — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot cloud infrastructure and data hosting FAQ — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot security and compliance — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot Trust Center — HubSpot · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot Q2 2026 earnings call transcript — The Motley Fool · September 18, 2026
- HubSpot switching AI pricing from per-use to per-resolution — SaaStr · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk AI agents — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk pricing — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About automated resolutions for AI agents — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- About automated resolution tiers — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- What happens when I exceed my automated resolutions limit — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Announcing expanded access to AI agent capabilities for all Zendesk customers — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Community forum comment by a Zendesk product manager on the automated resolution list price (August 2025, unofficial) — Zendesk Community · September 18, 2026
- TeamSystem customer story — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Hello Sugar customer story — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Languages supported by AI agents — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Regional Data Hosting Policy — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk Trust Center — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk says its new AI agent can solve 80% of support issues — TechCrunch · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk acquires agentic customer service startup Forethought — TechCrunch · September 18, 2026
- Ada homepage — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Ada platform — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Ada messaging — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Ada integrations — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Service-specific terms — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Understand and improve your AI agent's automated resolution rate — Ada Docs · September 18, 2026
- About multilingual support — Ada Docs · September 18, 2026
- Ada subprocessors — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Ada trust — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Epos Now case study — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Life360 case study — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Ada doubles YoY growth as demand for agentic customer service surges (3 March 2026) — Ada · September 18, 2026
- Ada pricing (buyer data, 114 purchases) — Vendr · September 18, 2026
- Ada company profile — Sacra · September 18, 2026
- Decagon homepage — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Decagon integrations — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Decagon Voice — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Decagon security — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- AI customer support setup — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- What is resolution-based pricing? — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Chime case study — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Rituals case study — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Series D announcement — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Introducing Duet Autopilot — Decagon · September 18, 2026
- Decagon AI raises $250M at $4.5B valuation — SiliconANGLE · September 18, 2026
- Decagon company profile — Sacra · September 18, 2026
- Decagon AI pricing (buyer data) — Vendr · September 18, 2026
- Decagon (company) — Wikipedia · September 18, 2026
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: How we review