Intercom Fin is a capable AI agent, and like most, it answers from help articles your team writes and keeps up to date. Ellie Desk writes that help centre from your product, rewrites it when you ship, and answers your customers by email and chat from it. Here's where each one is the better fit.
Fin answers from articles your team maintains. Ellie writes the help centre from your product, keeps it current and answers from it.
No card needed. Your trial includes Support, three products and your whole team.
your product changes faster than anyone updates the help centre, you run more than one product and don't want a higher tier to answer them from one inbox, or you want a monthly price that doesn't grow with every seat and every AI answer.
you run a large support team already built around Intercom's inbox and workflows, you need channels beyond email and website chat today (Ellie Desk adds more later), or you rely on apps from Intercom's ecosystem. Switching takes time, and those are good reasons to stay.
Intercom Fin details from intercom.com, checked 3 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Fin answers from the articles and content your team gives it. Ship a change, miss one article, and the agent repeats the old steps with full confidence until someone notices. Ellie Desk starts from the other end: Ellie writes your help centre from your product, checks it against every release once your code is connected, re-captures screenshots when screens change, and links the articles she used in every answer.
Intercom puts multi-brand support on its Expert tier. On Ellie Desk, any paid plan can add products at $29 a month apiece, each with its own help centre, website chat and support address, all answered from one inbox on one bill.
As of November 2026, Intercom charges from $29 per seat plus $0.99 for each Fin outcome, so a busier month or a better bot means a bigger invoice. Ellie Desk has no seat fee and counts conversations against a monthly allowance instead. At the limit Ellie keeps drafting for your team and you're never charged automatically.
When Ellie isn't sure, she says so. You set how sure she must be to answer on her own; below that she drafts for your team or hands over with what the customer needs, what they've been told and a suggested reply. A question she couldn't answer can become a help-centre draft, so next time she can.
Like for like: three products, two people answering, about 300 AI-answered conversations a month. List prices as of November 2026, excluding tax.
Starter with two extra products ($29 each) plus the Support add-on, billed yearly ($216 billed monthly): three products, email and website chat, and enough seats and Ellie conversations for this example. No seat fee and no charge per answer.
2 seats at $29 ($58) plus 300 Fin outcomes at $0.99 ($297), as of November 2026. Several brands in one workspace need the Expert tier, which isn't priced in here.
You don't have to move everything at once. Give Ellie your website and the address of your current help centre: she imports your articles as drafts and writes the rest from your product. Then forward your support email and add the chat, and watch Ellie draft before you let her answer on her own.
Yes, from its public web address. Each article comes across as a draft next to the ones Ellie writes from your product, so you can keep, improve or replace it. There's no direct Intercom connection, so past conversations stay in Intercom.
For a small team, yes. Three products, two people and 300 AI-answered conversations a month come to about $355 a month on Intercom at list prices as of November 2026, before the Expert tier that multi-brand needs. On Ellie Desk the same comes to $182 a month billed yearly.
A conversation counts once in a month if Ellie replied to your customer at least once, however long it runs. Spam, drafts and notes for your team, and conversations handed to a person before Ellie replied don't count. At your plan's limit Ellie keeps drafting for your team and stops replying to customers until next month. You're never charged automatically; top up or move up a plan if you want.
Start free for 14 days. Support, three products and your whole team included. No card.
Start free for 14 days