Intercom alternative
An Intercom alternative for live chat your people answer
Intercom charges for every seat and again for every answer its AI gives. If what you need is a chat bubble on your websites and a team that replies, that is two meters for one job. ReplaChat is live chat you buy once for $299, with unlimited agents, websites and chats, on your own server.
Why people look for an Intercom alternative
The seat price
$29 a seat billed yearly on Essential, $39 monthly. Every teammate who accepts an invite is billed.
The answer price
Fin costs $0.99 per outcome. A busy month means a bigger bill, and you find out at the end of it.
A second website
Separate brands with their own Messenger need Multibrand, which is on Expert at $132 a seat.
More than you use
Product tours, outbound campaigns and an AI agent are paid for whether you need them or not.
Prices from Intercom’s pricing page and help centre on 9 October 2026. The full breakdown is in our Intercom pricing guide.
What three people cost for a year
| Option | How it charges | A year | With 300 AI answers a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Essential | $29 per seat + $0.99 per Fin outcome | $1,044 | $4,608 |
| Intercom Expert (several brands) | $132 per seat + $0.99 per outcome | $4,752 | $8,316 |
| Crisp Essentials | $95 per workspace | $1,140 | not compared |
| Chatwoot Cloud Business | $39 per agent | $1,404 | not compared |
| ReplaChat | $299 once + your server | $429 | no AI, so no fee |
Each company’s own pricing, read on 9 October 2026, billed yearly where offered. Crisp and Chatwoot publish monthly prices only. ReplaChat’s first year is the licence plus about $130 of server; after that it is the server, and an optional $49 a year for updates.
Intercom alternatives, by what you want
Live chat your team answers, several websites, paid once: ReplaChat
Every website gets its own bubble, colours, greeting and opening hours. Every chat arrives in one inbox. Each person is ticked for the shops they answer and never sees the others. One price, whatever the size of the team.
A cheaper hosted suite: Crisp
Crisp charges per workspace, not per seat: $45 a month for 4 seats on Mini, $95 for 10 on Essentials. Its branding stays unless you are on Plus at $295.
Free, hosted by them: tawk.to
Unlimited agents for nothing, on tawk.to’s cloud only. Removing its branding is $29 a month per website, billed yearly.
Open source you host: Chatwoot
MIT core with a commercial enterprise folder; free to self-host, with WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS. Roles, branding and AI need $19 per agent a month. Compared in full on Chatwoot alternative.
Intercom and ReplaChat, side by side
| Intercom | ReplaChat | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29–$132 per seat a month, yearly | $299 once |
| AI answers | Fin, $0.99 per outcome | None: your people answer |
| Several websites | One shared Messenger on any plan; separate brands on Expert | Unlimited shops, each with its own bubble |
| Who sees what | Custom roles on Expert | Owner, admin and agent roles, plus per-shop ticks, included |
| Channels | Chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp, phone | Website chat, email, Telegram |
| Where data lives | Intercom’s cloud | Your own server |
| Shop data | Through integrations | WooCommerce basket via the WordPress plugin; orders via API, Zapier or Make |
The ReplaChat inbox: chats from several shops in one list.
What it deliberately isn’t
Not an AI support suite
No bot, no product tours, no outbound campaigns. It is live chat, done well, for teams that answer their own customers.
Not open source
You get the full source code with the licence, but it is a paid licence, not a community project.
Not SMS or WhatsApp
Website chat, email and Telegram arrive in the one inbox.
You need a server
About €5–15 a month, installed with one command. Or have us install it for $798.
Questions about leaving Intercom
What is the best Intercom alternative?
It depends on why you are leaving. For a cheaper all-in-one support suite, Crisp prices per workspace rather than per seat. For free, tawk.to costs nothing but runs on its cloud. For open source you host yourself, Chatwoot. For live chat your own people answer, across several websites, paid once and hosted on your own server, ReplaChat.
Is there an open-source Intercom alternative?
Chatwoot is the best known: its core is MIT-licensed and can be self-hosted free, though roles, branding and its AI need a paid tier from $19 per agent a month. ReplaChat is not open source: it is a paid licence that includes the complete source code, which you may change for your own use.
Why is Intercom so expensive?
Two meters run at once. Every teammate is a seat, from $29 a month billed yearly, and Fin, its AI agent, adds $0.99 for every conversation it resolves. A second brand with its own Messenger needs Expert at $132 a seat. Prices from Intercom’s own pages on 9 October 2026.
Can I move from Intercom to ReplaChat?
Yes. Remove Intercom’s Messenger snippet and add ReplaChat’s, or upload its WordPress plugin. Your Intercom history stays in Intercom; ReplaChat starts a fresh inbox on your own server. Contacts can be sent in through the REST API.
Does ReplaChat have an AI agent like Fin?
No, on purpose. Rules can label, assign and send a set reply on their own, and saved replies and macros make your people quick, but a person writes the answers.
Do I need my own server?
Yes, a small one of about €5–15 a month; one command installs ReplaChat with HTTPS. Or we install it for $798 once, or host it for $79 a month and the licence stays yours.
Own your live chat.
$299 once. Every shop, every person, one inbox. Nobody charges you per agent again.
The demo is read-only, with its logins on the homepage. Questions first? hello@replachat.com, or the chat bubble in the corner, which is ReplaChat itself.