GladlyIntercomGladly vs Intercom

Gladly vs Intercom: customer service or customer messaging

A customer service platform against a customer messaging platform: Intercom is $475 a month cheaper for five people. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick Gladly if you want one timeline per customer instead of a ticket queue, across voice and messaging. Pick Intercom if your support lives in the website messenger and in-app, and you want product tours and outbound messages in the same tool. For five people, Intercom is $475 a month cheaper than Gladly ($900 a month on Gladly against $425 on Intercom), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $380 under Intercom. Gladly and Intercom both include website chat and email in the price; only Gladly has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Gladly nor Intercom includes Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Gladly and Intercom sell here at one price.

At a glanceGladlyGladlyIntercomIntercom
Built aroundThe customer, not the ticket · one timeline per personThe Messenger · tickets came later
Entry planQuote · no printed prices$29/seat/mo · Essential: inbox and Messenger
Chat in the priceQuote · all channels in the seat$29/seat/mo · Essential, with tickets
AI agentSidekick · per resolution, by quoteFrom $0.99 per outcome · Fin, printed on the pricing page
Copilot for agentsIn Sidekick$29/agent/mo
Free planNone · demo firstNone · 14-day trial

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    GladlyGladly

    As a moment on the customer's timeline, whatever the channel; there is no ticket number. Intercom raises a ticket where Gladly keeps a conversation.

    IntercomIntercom

    As a message in the Messenger, with ticketing available from Essential. Gladly has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    GladlyGladly

    No price is printed; older summaries put seats near $180 a month, with a demo before a quote. $900 for five people, against $425 on Intercom.

    IntercomIntercom

    $29 buys the inbox, Messenger and ticketing. Advanced at $85 adds workflows and round-robin routing. $425 for five people, against $900 on Gladly.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    GladlyGladly

    Sidekick, the AI agent, is sold per resolution, priced in the quote. Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats as well.

    IntercomIntercom

    Fin is $0.99 or more per outcome on every plan, printed on the pricing page, on top of seats. Gladly meters AI (Sidekick) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    GladlyGladly

    Voice, email, chat, SMS, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp on one timeline; no Telegram. WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Intercom.

    IntercomIntercom

    Messenger and email on every plan; WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go lines. Gladly adds WhatsApp and Instagram, which Intercom lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    GladlyGladly

    Voice with IVR, a help center and task management for retail service teams. Intercom is a customer messaging platform instead.

    IntercomIntercom

    Product tours, banners, surveys and outbound campaigns; Proactive Support Plus is $99 a month. Gladly is a customer service platform instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    GladlyGladly

    A sales cycle, then a guided onboarding. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team.

    IntercomIntercom

    An afternoon for a website-first team: install the Messenger, invite the team, answer. Gladly is a sales cycle, then a guided onboarding.

Sources: Gladly pricing · Intercom pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Gladly customer timeline: calls, chats and emails from one person in one thread
GladlyGladly. The Gladly customer timeline: calls, chats and emails from one person in one thread
The Intercom Inbox: a conversation list with the Messenger thread and the customer profile
IntercomIntercom. The Intercom Inbox: a conversation list with the Messenger thread and the customer profile

Pricing references: Gladly pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification); Intercom pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Gladly, Intercom and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureGladlyGladlyIntercomIntercomSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Quote; AI per resolution
Per seat; Fin per outcome; channels metered
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None
None; 14-day trial
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
In the seat
The Messenger, all plans
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
In the seat
All plans
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Plus fees
Pay-as-you-go
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
In the seat
Via integration
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not offered
Not native
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Not offered
Slack notifications
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Sidekick
Fin, trained on your help center
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
Per resolution, quoted
From $0.99 per outcome, on top of seats
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to a hero
Fin hands to a teammate
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Timeline, not tickets
Included from Essential
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Rules and routing
Visual builder, Advanced and up
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reporting
Reports; custom on higher plans
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser only
Browser and mobile only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Gladly if

  • You want one timeline per customer instead of a ticket queue, across voice and messaging.
  • You are a consumer brand with a team large enough for a sales-led rollout.
  • You need WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Intercom does not include outright.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales cycle, then a guided onboarding here and an afternoon for a website-first team on Intercom.

Pick Intercom if

  • Your support lives in the website messenger and in-app, and you want product tours and outbound messages in the same tool.
  • Fin's AI quality matters more to you than its per-outcome price.
  • Five people cost $475 a month less than on Gladly ($425 against $900), before AI.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Gladly does not have.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Gladly or Intercom who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $900 a month on Gladly against $425 on Intercom for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Gladly meters AI (Sidekick) above the seats, Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Gladly nor Intercom includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Gladly: $900 a month for five (5 seats × about $180, from older summaries); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Intercom on Advanced: $170, $425 and $850 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $855 less than Gladly and $380 less than Intercom for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $755 under Intercom.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Gladly is a customer service platform built around the customer, not the ticket; Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger. Neither has a free plan: Gladly offers no trial, Intercom a 14-day trial, no card. Gladly and Intercom both include website chat and email in the price; only Gladly has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Gladly nor Intercom includes Telegram outright. Gladly (Sidekick) and Intercom (from $0.99 per outcome) both meter AI above the seats. Intercom has tickets and Gladly does not, and neither Gladly nor Intercom ships a desktop app. Gladly is a sales cycle, then a guided onboarding; Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team.

What each price leaves out

Gladly: Sidekick is priced per resolution in the quote. Intercom: Fin AI agent from $0.99 per outcome on every plan; Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly ($35 monthly). WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go. Beside Gladly's Sidekick and Intercom's from $0.99 per outcome, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How these figures were read

Gladly does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (No prices printed; a demo, then a quote. Older summaries put seats at about $180 a month.), so they are marked unverified here beside Intercom's, and Gladly's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    GladlyGladlySee vendorNot quoted
    IntercomIntercom$0.99$475
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    GladlyGladly · None; demo first
    IntercomIntercom · 14-day trial, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

Gladly vs Intercom: the questions people ask

Gladly is a customer service platform built around the customer, not the ticket; Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger. Intercom has tickets and Gladly does not, and neither Gladly nor Intercom ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Gladly Quote (no printed prices); Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential: inbox and Messenger).
  • Chat in the price: Gladly Quote (all channels in the seat); Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential, with tickets).
  • Sellio puts every channel in one inbox: Telegram, which neither Gladly nor Intercom has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Gladly and Intercom rows is on the shared inbox page.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

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