IntercomKayakoIntercom vs Kayako

Intercom vs Kayako: seats, channels and the AI meter

A customer messaging platform against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. What decides between Intercom and Kayako, 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

No credit card. Live in minutes.

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 Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $425 a month on Intercom, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Intercom and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price. Neither Intercom nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Intercom and Kayako for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceIntercomIntercomKayakoKayako
Built aroundThe Messenger · tickets came laterTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$29/seat/mo · Essential: inbox and MessengerQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$29/seat/mo · Essential, with ticketsQuote · widget included
AI agentFrom $0.99 per outcome · Fin, printed on the pricing page$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agents$29/agent/moIn Kay
Free planNone · 14-day trialNone · talk to a pricing expert

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. Kayako raises tickets too, from tickets and a customer journey.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. 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; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; Intercom prints $425.

  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. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. 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 Kayako.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. 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. Kayako is a help desk instead.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. 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. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team.

Sources: Intercom pricing · Kayako 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 Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

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

Intercom, Kayako 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.

FeatureIntercomIntercomKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
The Messenger, all plans
Widget included
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
Included
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Pay-as-you-go
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Via integration
Messenger and X 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 integration
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

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

Support operations

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

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile only
Browser only
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.
  • It prints its price ($425 a month for five) where Kayako quotes.
  • Time to the first reply is an afternoon for a website-first team here and a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding on Kayako.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding here and an afternoon for a website-first team on Intercom.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Intercom's: seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $425 a month on Intercom, and a quote on Kayako for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats and Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Intercom nor Kayako 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. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $380 less than Intercom and against a quote on Kayako 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

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Neither has a free plan: Intercom offers a 14-day trial, no card, Kayako no trial. Intercom and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price. Neither Intercom nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Intercom (from $0.99 per outcome) and Kayako ($1 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Intercom and Kayako both raise tickets, and neither Intercom nor Kayako ships a desktop app. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

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. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Intercom's from $0.99 per outcome and Kayako's $1 per resolution, 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

Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Intercom's, and Kayako'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
    IntercomIntercom$0.99$475
    KayakoKayakoSee vendorNot quoted
    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
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Intercom vs Kayako: the questions people ask

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Intercom and Kayako both raise tickets, and neither Intercom nor Kayako ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential: inbox and Messenger); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential, with tickets); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio's inbox: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Intercom nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Intercom and Kayako on the same rows.

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

No credit card required