IntercomOlarkIntercom vs Olark

Intercom vs Olark: customer messaging or live chat

A customer messaging platform against a live chat software: Olark is $280 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Intercom and Olark, 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 Olark if you want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter. For five people, Olark is $280 a month cheaper than Intercom ($425 a month on Intercom against $145 on Olark), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $100 under Olark. Intercom and Olark both include website chat in the price; only Intercom has email. Neither Intercom nor Olark includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Intercom and Olark for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceIntercomIntercomOlarkOlark
Built aroundThe Messenger · tickets came laterA simple chat box · AI agent at a flat price
Entry plan$29/seat/mo · Essential: inbox and Messenger$29/agent/mo · human-only chat
Chat in the price$29/seat/mo · Essential, with tickets$29/agent/mo · the whole product is chat
AI agentFrom $0.99 per outcome · Fin, printed on the pricing page$400/mo flat · unlimited AI conversations, 1 seat
Copilot for agents$29/agent/moNone
Free planNone · 14-day trialNone · trial, no card

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. Olark has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

    OlarkOlark

    As a chat in the box on your site, with transcripts emailed afterwards. Intercom raises a ticket where Olark keeps a conversation.

  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 $145 on Olark.

    OlarkOlark

    $29 buys a human agent seat; the AI Website Agent is $400 a month flat with one seat included. $145 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. Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan instead.

    OlarkOlark

    A flat $400 a month for unlimited AI conversations, with no token or per-outcome charge. Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    IntercomIntercom

    Messenger and email on every plan; WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go lines. email is here and not on Olark.

    OlarkOlark

    Website chat only; no email inbox, WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Intercom adds email, which Olark lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    IntercomIntercom

    Product tours, banners, surveys and outbound campaigns; Proactive Support Plus is $99 a month. Olark is a live chat software instead.

    OlarkOlark

    Transcripts, reports and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot and help desks. 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. Olark is minutes.

    OlarkOlark

    Minutes: paste the snippet. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team.

Sources: Intercom pricing · Olark 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 Olark agent console: the chat list and the conversation with visitor details
OlarkOlark. The Olark agent console: the chat list and the conversation with visitor details

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, AI conversations on Olark

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.

OlarkOlark

$145/mo

Human agent seat.

5 × $29 seats
$145
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Olark's AI agent is a flat $400 a month for unlimited conversations; add that to the seats rather than a per-conversation rate. 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); Olark 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, Olark 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.

FeatureIntercomIntercomOlarkOlarkSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
The Messenger, all plans
The whole product
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
Transcripts only
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
Not offered
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 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
AI Website 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
$400 a month flat
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Fin hands to a teammate
Hands to a human seat
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Included from Essential
Chats only
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Visual builder, Advanced and up
Chat rules only
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports; custom on higher plans
Chat reports
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.
  • You need email in the price, which Olark does not include outright.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Olark does not have.

Pick Olark if

  • You want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter.
  • Website chat is the only channel and simplicity beats features.
  • Five people cost $280 a month less than on Intercom ($145 against $425), before AI.
  • You want the AI in the seat price ($400/mo flat) rather than Intercom's meter at from $0.99 per outcome.

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 against $145 on Olark 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 Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Intercom nor Olark 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. Olark on Live chat: $58, $145 and $290 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 $100 less than Olark for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $755 under Intercom and $195 under Olark.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box. Neither has a free plan: Intercom offers a 14-day trial, no card, Olark a free trial. Intercom and Olark both include website chat in the price; only Intercom has email. Neither Intercom nor Olark includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats; Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan. Intercom has tickets and Olark does not, and neither Intercom nor Olark ships a desktop app. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team; Olark is minutes.

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. Olark: AI Website Agent $400 a month flat, extra human seats $29 each. Beside Intercom's from $0.99 per outcome and Olark's $400/mo flat, 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
    OlarkOlarkAssumed $0$0
    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
    OlarkOlark · Free trial, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Intercom vs Olark: the questions people ask

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box. Intercom has tickets and Olark does not, and neither Intercom nor Olark ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential: inbox and Messenger); Olark $29/agent/mo (human-only chat).
  • Chat in the price: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential, with tickets); Olark $29/agent/mo (the whole product is chat).
  • Sellio puts every channel in one inbox: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Intercom nor Olark has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Intercom and Olark 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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