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Last checked October 15, 2026

Best Free Alternatives to Intercom (2026)

Intercom is the chat bubble on a marketing site plus a shared inbox for the people who answer it. The bill is per teammate, with a separate usage charge if you turn on Fin. The open-source options split that job: Chatwoot is the messenger, Zammad is the help desk with a knowledge base, and FreeScout is a shared mailbox.

Small teamsStartupsEnterprisesPrice checked

What Intercom costs

Intercom's pricing page lists Essential at $29 per seat per month, Advanced at $85, and Expert at $132. Fin is listed at $0.99 per outcome.

The pricing calculator shows Essential as an annual bill. Intercom's help center lists monthly full-seat prices of $39 for Essential, $99 for Advanced, and $139 for Expert, and says a yearly subscription can discount the seat. All three plans on the pricing page include Fin.

Intercom website·Pricing source

Ranked by Drop-in score

How we rank

#1 is the highest-scoring alternative that is not sponsored. A featured listing, when one is sold, is labeled and sits after #1.

  1. #1 · Best drop-inOpen source

    Zammad

    A help desk with email, chat, and a knowledge base.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · AGPL-3.0

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsMigration guideWebsite
  2. #2Open source

    Chatwoot

    A shared inbox. Community code is MIT.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · MIT (community)

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite
  3. #3Open source

    FreeScout

    A shared mailbox help desk.

    Last checked October 15, 2026 · AGPL-3.0

    WebSelf-host
    Cost and detailsWebsite

Feature by feature

Full is the whole job. Partial is a real version with a gap. Missing means it does not do this. Not checked counts as zero in the score.

Scroll sideways to compare every alternative.

Feature comparison. Full, partial, missing, or not checked.
FeatureZammad#1 · 88Chatwoot#2 · 86FreeScout#3 · 70
Website chat widgetWeight 10PartialZammad has a chat channel. It is a help desk that can chat, not a marketing-site messenger.FullWebsite live chat is the product.MissingA shared mailbox, not a site messenger.
Shared team inboxWeight 10FullFullFull
Help centerWeight 6FullKnowledge base, matching the Zendesk help-center mark.MissingThe Zendesk comparison on this listing marks the public help center as missing.PartialMatches the partial help-center mark on the Zendesk comparison.
Saved repliesWeight 5FullFullFull
A web app for agentsWeight 4FullFullFull
Self-hostingWeight 8FullFullFull

Real cost

Zammad

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Hard. Elasticsearch and a few services. Heavier than a shared mailbox.

Chatwoot

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Moderate. Plan on Docker or a small VM. A hosted plan, when one exists, is separate from the free self-host.

FreeScout

Free tier
The community edition can be self-hosted without a per-user fee. Hosted prices are not copied here. Unverified.
Hosted plan
No hosted price recorded.
Self-hosting
Easy. PHP and MySQL. Lighter than Zammad.

Did you switch?

If you left Intercom, tell us whether it worked and how long it took. Notes stay private until we approve them, and nothing is shown until at least five are approved.

How did it go?

Top pair

Migrate from Intercom to Zammad

Move the help center and the people. Conversation history and the messenger campaigns do not import themselves.

Read the migration guide

Questions