HubSpot Service Hub vs Intercom
Pick HubSpot Service Hub if your marketing or sales team already works in HubSpot, because the help desk then sits on their customer record and the Professional seat includes calling minutes and WhatsApp messages. Pick Intercom if support is mostly chat and you want an AI agent on the cheapest plan, month-to-month terms and no setup fee. Where the customer record lives decides most cases, and AI billing comes second, with HubSpot charging about $0.50 per resolved conversation and Intercom $0.99 per outcome.
| Fact | HubSpot Service Hub | Intercom |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $10/agent/mo | $39/agent/mo |
| Plans | Free, Starter, Professional, Enterprise | Essential, Advanced, Expert |
| Best for | HubSpot CRM customers, Marketing-led teams, CRM-attached support | SaaS products, Self-serve onboarding, In-app support |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Headquarters | Boston, US | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Founded | 2006 | 2011 |
| Facts checked |
Which one fits your team?
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Pick Intercom if
Tick what describes your team. We'll tell you which way it leans.
What each costs
Five agents, billed annually, each on the plan a five-agent team would realistically buy. For HubSpot that is Professional, the cheapest plan with the customer agent, the Help Desk Workspace and a knowledge base. For Intercom it is Advanced, the cheapest plan with the workflows automation builder, round robin assignment and more than one team inbox. AI volume is set at 400 conversations a month handled by the AI agent.
HubSpot Service Hub Professional
- Seats: 5 × $90 = $450 a month, $5,400 a year
- Onboarding: $1,500 once, required, and not in the price shown
- AI: 400 × 50 credits = 20,000 credits a month. Professional includes 3,000, so 17,000 are bought at $0.010 each, which is $170 a month or $2,040 a year
- First year: $5,400 + $1,500 + $2,040 = $8,940
Intercom Advanced
- Seats: 5 × $85 = $425 a month, $5,100 a year
- Onboarding: none listed
- AI: 400 outcomes × $0.99 = $396 a month, $4,752 a year
- First year: $5,100 + $4,752 = $9,852
At 400 a month HubSpot comes out $912 cheaper in year one, and the gap grows in year two once the onboarding fee is behind you. The break-even runs the other way at low volume. With seats and onboarding alone, Intercom is $1,800 cheaper in year one, and it stays cheaper that year until the AI agent handles about 245 conversations a month (HubSpot's included credits cover the first 60).
The fees the headline leaves out:
- Intercom's Copilot, the AI assistant for agents, is free for 10 conversations per agent a month. Unlimited use is $29 per agent a month billed annually, which adds $1,740 a year for five agents. HubSpot's seats include Breeze Assistant from Starter up
- Intercom bills phone, WhatsApp, SMS and email campaigns per use, and the rates are not on its pricing page. HubSpot Professional includes 3,000 calling minutes and up to 1,000 WhatsApp messages a month
- HubSpot's 3,000 credits are one monthly allowance for the account, other AI features draw on it too, and unused credits don't roll over
- Paying monthly: HubSpot Professional is $100 a seat but still commits you to a year, so $6,000 for five agents. Intercom Advanced is $99 a seat on a monthly self-serve plan, $495 a month
- Intercom's page currently shows a 35% new-customer discount on Essential only, which the prices above leave out. HubSpot shows Starter discounted from a $20 list price
HubSpot Service Hub plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | Free for up to 2 users, no credit card. |
| Starter | $10 | $7 | Shown as "starts at". |
| Professional | $100 | $90 | Shown as "starts at". |
| Enterprise | – | $150 | Shown as "starts at", sales-led (Talk to Sales). |
Prices are an agent a month, in US dollars. Source: hubspot.com/pricing/service, checked .
Intercom plans
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $39 | $29 | Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome on top of seats |
| Advanced | $99 | $85 | Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome. |
| Expert | $139 | $132 | Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome. |
Prices are an agent a month, in US dollars. Source: intercom.com/pricing, checked .
Where the features differ
28 of the 31 features we checked on both differ in availability or the plan you need. The other 3 are the same on both. Each answer links to the page on the vendor’s own site that says so.
| Feature | HubSpot Service Hub | Intercom |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | ||
| Contact form and widget | Some plansfrom Startersource | Every plansource |
| Every plansource | Every plansource | |
| Live chat | Every plansource | Every plansource |
| Phone | Some plansfrom Startersource | Paid add-onfrom Essentialsource |
| Social DMs | Every plansource | Some plansfrom Advancedsource |
| Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Paid add-onfrom Essentialsource | |
| AI and automation | ||
| Agent copilot | Some plansfrom Startersource | Paid add-onfrom Essentialsource |
| AI agent (customer-facing) | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Every plansource |
| AI agent takes actions | Some planssource | Every plansource |
| AI pricing published | Every plansource | Every plansource |
| Automation rules | Some plansfrom Startersource | Some plansfrom Advancedsource |
| Intent detection and routing | Some planssource | Some plansfrom Advancedsource |
| Macros and saved replies | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Every plansource |
| Voice AI | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Paid add-onsource |
| Self-service | ||
| Customer portal | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Some plansfrom Advancedsource |
| Customer-facing help centre | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Every plansource |
| Multilingual support | Every plansource | Some plansfrom Advancedsource |
| Workflow and admin | ||
| Migration import | Paid add-onsource | Every plansource |
| Native mobile app for agents | Every plansource | Every plansource |
| Public API | Every plansource | Every plansource |
| Roles and permissions | Some planssource | Some plansfrom Expertsource |
| Single sign-on | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Some plansfrom Expertsource |
| SLA management | Some planssource | Some plansfrom Expertsource |
| Reporting and quality | ||
| CSAT surveys | Some plansfrom Professionalsource | Every plansource |
| Custom reports and export | Some planssource | Some plansfrom Advancedsource |
| QA and agent scoring | Some planssource | Paid add-onsource |
| Reporting dashboards | Every plansource | Every plansource |
| Security and reliability | ||
| HIPAA | Some planssource | Some plansfrom Expertsource |
AI agents: what each one bills you for
HubSpot handles this better for a team with real AI volume, on price and on the billing definition.
- HubSpot counts a resolution when the customer agent handled the conversation and it wasn't handed to a human for 72 hours, or when the agent qualifies a lead. Each costs 50 credits, about $0.50. Voice is 50 credits a minute and still in beta
- Intercom counts an outcome when the customer confirms the issue is resolved, when they ask for nothing more after Fin replies, or when Fin completes a Procedure, including one that ends by handing the customer to an agent. It charges once per conversation at most
- The handoff rule is the difference that shows up on the invoice. A Fin Procedure that passes the customer to your team is billed, while a HubSpot conversation a rep picks up within 72 hours is not. Both bill a customer who goes quiet after a wrong answer
- Access cuts the other way. Fin runs on every Intercom plan, Essential included. HubSpot's customer agent needs Professional or Enterprise, and a new Professional seat comes with 14 days of unlimited use
- HubSpot's pricing page lets you set how much each AI feature can spend and when it stops, which is worth doing before you switch the agent on
In our view, a team that will lean on the AI agent should price both at its real monthly volume before anything else, because at 1,000 conversations a month the gap is $990 against $470 (HubSpot's 50,000 credits less the 3,000 included, at $0.010 each).
Phone, WhatsApp and the metered channels
HubSpot is the better buy for a phone-heavy team. Intercom covers more channels, and its phone, SMS and WhatsApp are billed per use.
- HubSpot Professional includes 3,000 calling minutes, up to 3 HubSpot numbers and up to 1,000 WhatsApp messages a month, all inside the seat price. Starter gets 500 minutes and 1 number
- Intercom lists email, phone, SMS, live chat, Slack, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Discord in one inbox, with native calling that includes video, screen sharing and no-code IVR routing
- Intercom's live chat, support email and in-app chat are free and unlimited. Phone, SMS, WhatsApp and email campaigns are pay-as-you-go, with SMS rates varying by region and WhatsApp rates by market, so get the rates in writing before you forecast
- HubSpot's help desk page names Facebook Messenger but not Instagram
Contracts and setup
Intercom is easier to trial and easier to leave.
- HubSpot Professional carries the $1,500 onboarding fee, about three months of seats for five agents. Enterprise carries $3,500
- On HubSpot, only Starter is a true monthly commitment. Professional's monthly option is still a 12-month commitment
- HubSpot has a free plan for up to two users with no card, which is enough to test the inbox but not the customer agent
- Intercom offers a 14-day trial with no card, and Essential and Advanced on monthly or annual terms. Contracts apply to enterprise needs, premier support and onboarding, and custom terms
- On Intercom, downgrades usually take effect at renewal, so an annual plan bought at the wrong level is yours for the year
- Both give non-agents free seats. Intercom's Lite seats (20 on Advanced) are for internal collaboration and cannot send messages to customers. HubSpot's view-only seats come at no extra cost
How we checked this
- The arithmetic is ours, from the published per-seat, per-credit and per-outcome prices
- Checked 2026-10-29
Sources
- hubspot.com/pricing/service
- legal.hubspot.com/hubspot-product-and-services-catalog
- hubspot.com/products/artificial-intelligence/ai-customer-s…
- hubspot.com/products/service/help-desk
- intercom.com/pricing
- intercom.com/help/en/articles/9121384-copilot-included-and-…
- intercom.com/helpdesk/omnichannel
- intercom.com/solutions/ecommerce
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