Skip to content

Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support

Intercom vs Lusha

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Best overall

Intercom

4.2

From $0.99 per outcome

Lusha

3.7

From From $37.45/mo

Comparing 2 tools. Add one more if you like.

At a glance

Best overall

Pick it if: Online businesses and software companies with a support team that wants an AI agent to take the first pass at every question.

Best valueEasiest to use

Pick it if: Sales reps, recruiters and founders who need someone's email or phone number quickly while browsing LinkedIn.

Intercom scores highest overall, but Lusha gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.

Overview

AttributeIntercomLusha
In one lineCustomer support inbox, help centre and chat, with the Fin AI agent answering first.Finds business emails and phone numbers for the people you want to sell to.
Pricing modelPaidFreemium
Starting price$0.99 per outcomeFrom $37.45/mo
Free plan No Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeIntercomLusha
Overall rating4.2Winner3.7
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
5.0
3.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
3.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.0
3.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.5
4.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeIntercomLusha
Access & platform
Free plan No Yes
Mobile app Yes–
Desktop app––
Browser extension– Yes
API access Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes–
Understands images Yes–
Makes images No No
Makes video No No
Writes code No No
Runs agents or automations Yes–
Learns your brand or style Yes–
Works in many languages Yes–
Capabilities score10/ 176/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeIntercomLusha
Plans

Fin on its own

$0.99 per outcome, monthly minimum

Teams happy with their current helpdesk who want the AI agent only.

Free

Free

Trying it, or finding the odd contact.

Essential

$29/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Small teams starting out with live chat and an AI agent.

StarterOur pick

From $37.45/mo billed yearly

One person prospecting regularly.

AdvancedOur pick

$85/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Growing support teams that need automation and several inboxes.

Pro

From $52.45/mo billed yearly

Small teams that want the API and signals.

Expert

$132/seat/mo, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome

Larger teams with security and multi-brand needs.

Premium

From $299.95/mo billed yearly

Sales teams sharing credits.

Scale

Custom

Large organisations.

Which plan to pickStart the 14-day trial and see how many conversations Fin handles, because that number drives the bill more than seats do. Most teams with more than a couple of agents end up on Advanced for the workflows. If you already run Zendesk or Salesforce and like it, try Fin on its own first.Use the free plan to check the data covers your market before paying. Starter suits one rep who mainly needs emails; if you need lots of phone numbers, work out the credits first, since each one costs 5. Yearly credits are given upfront and reset at the end of the year, while monthly plans roll unused credits over.

Key features

AttributeIntercomLusha
Standout features
  • Fin AI agent
  • Shared inbox and tickets
  • Messenger chat widget
  • Help centre
  • Workflows
  • Copilot for agents
  • Chrome extension
  • Prospecting search
  • Lookalikes and AI recommendations
  • Bulk enrichment
  • Buying signals
  • API and MCP

Pros and cons

AttributeIntercomLusha
Pros
  • Fin gives some of the most accurate answers of any AI support agent
  • Inbox, chat, help centre and AI all built to work together
  • Fin can run on top of another helpdesk, so you can trial it without moving
  • Clean, modern inbox that support staff pick up quickly
  • Public API and an official MCP server, so Claude and other AI tools can connect to it
  • Very quick to use from LinkedIn with the Chrome extension
  • Free plan to test the data
  • Phone numbers are a strength for many users
  • Monthly plans roll unused credits over
  • Lists GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2 and ISO 27701 compliance
Cons
  • Per-seat plus per-conversation pricing makes the monthly bill hard to predict
  • You pay for a Fin outcome even when a customer leaves after a weak answer, by some users' accounts
  • Many useful features sit on higher plans or paid add-ons
  • Slow or patchy responses from Intercom's own support in user reviews
  • Ownership change (renamed Fin, being bought by Salesforce) adds uncertainty
  • Overlaps Apollo, which gives more for the money
  • Phone numbers cost 5 credits each, so credits go fast
  • Mixed data accuracy, with out-of-date contacts after job changes
  • Very low Trustpilot score, and Italy's privacy regulator opened an investigation in 2025
  • Yearly plans reset unused credits at the end of the year

Who each one is for

AttributeIntercomLusha
Best for
  • Answering common customer questions automatically
  • Website and in-app live chat
  • A shared support inbox with ticketing
  • Building a help centre the AI learns from
  • Support across chat, email and phone in one place
  • Getting a prospect's phone number from LinkedIn
  • Filling in missing emails and phones in your CRM
  • Building small, targeted lead lists
  • Recruiters reaching candidates directly
You'll find it used by
  • Support teams
  • Software companies
  • Online stores
  • Customer success teams
  • Sales reps
  • Recruiters
  • Founders
  • Account managers

Questions people ask

Which is better, Intercom or Lusha?

Intercom scores highest overall in our ratings (Intercom 4.2/5 and Lusha 3.7/5). Intercom is best for answering common customer questions automatically and website and in-app live chat. Lusha is best for getting a prospect's phone number from LinkedIn and filling in missing emails and phones in your CRM.

Which is cheaper, Intercom or Lusha?

Intercom: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $0.99 per outcome. Lusha: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at From $37.45/mo.

Which is easier to use, Intercom or Lusha?

Lusha rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Sales reps, recruiters and founders who need someone's email or phone number quickly while browsing LinkedIn.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

Swap in another tool

More tools from Sales & Customer Support in the library.