IntercomHubSpot Service HubIntercom vs HubSpot Service Hub

Intercom vs HubSpot Service Hub: $425 or $75 for five people

A customer messaging platform against a CRM-based help desk: HubSpot Service Hub is $350 a month cheaper for five people. Where Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub split, and a third option for small teams.

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 Intercom if your support lives in the website messenger and in-app, and you want product tours and outbound messages in the same tool. Pick HubSpot Service Hub if your sales and marketing already live in HubSpot and support should share the CRM. For five people, HubSpot Service Hub is $350 a month cheaper than Intercom ($425 a month on Intercom against $75 on HubSpot Service Hub), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45, comes in $30 below HubSpot Service Hub. Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub both include website chat and email in the price. Neither Intercom nor HubSpot Service Hub includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Intercom against HubSpot Service Hub, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceIntercomIntercomHubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub
Built aroundThe Messenger · tickets came laterThe CRM record · help desk on top of HubSpot
Entry plan$29/seat/mo · Essential: inbox and Messenger$15/seat/mo · Starter, yearly
Chat in the price$29/seat/mo · Essential, with tickets$0 · Free tools: chat with HubSpot branding
AI agentFrom $0.99 per outcome · Fin, printed on the pricing page$9 per 1,000 credits · 50 credits per resolution
Copilot for agents$29/agent/moBreeze · in the plans
Free planNone · 14-day trialYes · 2 users, branded chat

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    IntercomIntercom

    As a message in the Messenger, with ticketing available from Essential. HubSpot Service Hub raises tickets too, from the CRM record.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    As a ticket on the CRM contact, with every marketing and sales touch beside it. Intercom raises tickets too, from the Messenger.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    IntercomIntercom

    $29 buys the inbox, Messenger and ticketing. Advanced at $85 adds workflows and round-robin routing. $425 for five people, against $75 on HubSpot Service Hub.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    Starter is $15 a seat; Professional is $90 with a $1,500 onboarding fee, and that is where routing and SLAs start. $75 for five people, against $425 on Intercom.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    IntercomIntercom

    Fin is $0.99 or more per outcome on every plan, printed on the pricing page, on top of seats. HubSpot Service Hub meters AI ($9 per 1,000 credits) above the seats as well.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    Customer Agent costs 50 credits per resolved conversation, and credits are $9 per 1,000, so about $0.45 a resolution. Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    IntercomIntercom

    Messenger and email on every plan; WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go lines. The same set as HubSpot Service Hub.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    Chat, email and Messenger on the lower plans; WhatsApp and calling on Professional; no Telegram. The same set as Intercom.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    IntercomIntercom

    Product tours, banners, surveys and outbound campaigns; Proactive Support Plus is $99 a month. HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk instead.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    The rest of HubSpot: marketing, sales, CMS and the shared CRM. Intercom is a customer messaging platform instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    IntercomIntercom

    An afternoon for a website-first team: install the Messenger, invite the team, answer. HubSpot Service Hub is an afternoon on Starter.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    An afternoon on Starter; Professional comes with a paid onboarding. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team.

Sources: Intercom pricing · HubSpot Service Hub 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 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
The HubSpot help desk workspace: the ticket with the CRM contact and its timeline
HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub. The HubSpot help desk workspace: the ticket with the CRM contact and its timeline

What your team would pay

Move the sliders. Yearly-billing rates from each vendor’s pricing page, next to Sellio’s plan for the same number of seats.

5 people who answer customers

50

300 Fin outcomes on Intercom, resolved conversations on HubSpot Service Hub

3000+
IntercomIntercom

$722/mo

Adds workflows, multiple inboxes and round robin.

5 × $85 seats
$425
300 Fin outcomes × $0.99
$297
Copilot, 5 × $29
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. From $0.99 per Fin outcome on every plan, as printed on the pricing page. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

$206/mo

Shared inbox, chat, 500 credits.

5 × $15 seats
$75
290 resolved conversations × $0.45
$131

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. 50 credits per resolution at $9 per 1,000 credits; Starter's 500 credits cover about ten. Rates recorded on 2026-09-13.

Sellio · Mini

$55/mo

One price for the workspace: 3 channels, 2 AI agents, $5 AI credit a month.

Workspace, 5 of 5 seats
$45
AI past 100 included conversations
$10
Copilot for agents
Included

About $0.05 per AI conversation past the credit, with a daily and monthly cap you set. Yearly billing takes 20% off. See every plan.

Pricing references: Intercom pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); HubSpot Service Hub pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13). Calculator uses yearly-billing rates. Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

5 people, website chat plus 2 more channels, 2 AI agents: $45 a month. Start free, no card.

Start freeSee every plan

Intercom, HubSpot Service Hub 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.

FeatureIntercomIntercomHubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service HubSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; Fin per outcome; channels metered
Per seat; onboarding fees; AI by credits
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; 14-day trial
2 users, HubSpot branding
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

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

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Fin, trained on your help center
Customer Agent
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
From $0.99 per outcome, on top of seats
50 credits per resolution, $9 per 1,000
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Fin hands to a teammate
Creates a ticket
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Included from Essential
On the CRM record
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Visual builder, Advanced and up
Professional and up
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports; custom on higher plans
Reports; advanced on Professional
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

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.
  • Time to the first reply is an afternoon for a website-first team here and an afternoon on Starter on HubSpot Service Hub.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than HubSpot Service Hub's: per seat per month, billed yearly, one full seat minimum. No free plan.

Pick HubSpot Service Hub if

  • Your sales and marketing already live in HubSpot and support should share the CRM.
  • You want an AI agent priced per resolution at under a dollar.
  • Five people cost $350 a month less than on Intercom ($75 against $425), before AI.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Intercom offers a 14-day trial, no card.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $425 a month on Intercom against $75 on HubSpot Service Hub for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats, HubSpot Service Hub meters AI ($9 per 1,000 credits) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Intercom nor HubSpot Service Hub includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Intercom on Advanced: $170, $425 and $850 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. HubSpot Service Hub on Starter: $30, $75 and $150 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $380 less than Intercom and $30 less than HubSpot Service Hub for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $755 under Intercom and $55 under HubSpot Service Hub.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk built around the CRM record. Only HubSpot Service Hub has a free plan (2 users, branded chat); Intercom offers a 14-day trial, no card. Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub both include website chat and email in the price. Neither Intercom nor HubSpot Service Hub includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Intercom (from $0.99 per outcome) and HubSpot Service Hub ($9 per 1,000 credits) both meter AI above the seats. Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub both raise tickets, and neither Intercom nor HubSpot Service Hub ships a desktop app. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team; HubSpot Service Hub is an afternoon on Starter.

What each price leaves out

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. HubSpot Service Hub: HubSpot Credits at $9 per 1,000; Customer Agent uses 50 credits per resolved conversation. Beside Intercom's from $0.99 per outcome and HubSpot Service Hub's $9 per 1,000 credits, 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 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
    IntercomIntercom$0.99$475
    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub$0.45$212
    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.

    IntercomIntercom · 14-day trial, no card
    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub · Free tools, no trial clock
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Intercom vs HubSpot Service Hub: the questions people ask

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk built around the CRM record. Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub both raise tickets, and neither Intercom nor HubSpot Service Hub ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential: inbox and Messenger); HubSpot Service Hub $15/seat/mo (Starter, yearly).
  • Chat in the price: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential, with tickets); HubSpot Service Hub $0 (Free tools: chat with HubSpot branding).
  • Sellio: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Intercom nor HubSpot Service Hub has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub 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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