Crisp vs Intercom for Shopify app developers: which to pick

For most small Shopify app teams, Crisp is the better pick of the two: it costs less, has a free plan, and its Essentials plan at $95 a month per workspace includes a help center, an AI chatbot and 10 seats. Intercom is the better pick for funded teams that need outbound campaigns, product tours and deep automation, and can pay $29 to $132 per seat a month plus its Fin AI agent from $0.99 per outcome. In what we found on their public pages, neither shows a Shopify merchant’s plan or MRR beside the conversation. Crisp bills each extra website as its own workspace, and Intercom needs its Expert plan at $132 per seat for more than one brand, which matters if you run more than one app.

Ownership update, October 2026: the company behind Intercom renamed itself Fin, after its AI agent, and Salesforce completed its acquisition of Fin, formerly Intercom, on 10 September 2026. The help desk keeps the Intercom name, and Salesforce says Fin will continue to serve its customers as part of its AI Labs.

This guide compares the two on price, features and AI for a Shopify app team, explains when each is the right choice, and covers what neither does. Prices were checked on each vendor’s pricing page on 30 September 2026. We make Convot, a competing help desk, so we keep it to the later sections and use each vendor’s published prices.

How do Crisp and Intercom compare at a glance?

Crisp vs Intercom comes down to pricing model: Crisp charges per workspace, from free to $295 a month, and Intercom charges per seat, from $29 to $132 a month. The full comparison:

What does Crisp cost for a Shopify app team?

Crisp costs $95 a month for one app on Essentials, the first plan with a knowledge base and an AI chatbot, which includes 10 seats and about $25 of AI credits. Crisp also has a free plan with 2 seats, Mini at $45 and Plus at $295, all priced per workspace.

Crisp’s Mini plan is cheaper but has no help center or AI chatbot, so for an app team that wants self-serve answers, Essentials is the realistic comparison. Each website is its own workspace, so 3 apps on Essentials cost $285 a month, or about $228 if Crisp’s 20 percent multi-workspace discount applies to all three.

What does Intercom cost for a Shopify app team?

Intercom costs $29, $85 or $132 per seat a month, billed annually, with a one-seat minimum and no free plan. For a team of 3 that is $87, $255 or $396 a month before AI.

Intercom’s Fin AI agent is charged on top, from $0.99 per outcome. As a worked example, 500 resolved conversations a month would add at least $495. Running more than one brand, with a separate Messenger and help center for each, needs the Expert plan at $132 per seat.

How do Crisp and Intercom compare on AI?

Intercom Fin costs from $0.99 per resolved outcome, on top of seat prices, while Crisp’s AI chatbot is bundled: Essentials includes about $25 of AI credits, which Crisp sizes at roughly 450 automated conversations, or about $0.055 each. The units differ, because Crisp counts automated conversations and Fin counts resolutions, so the two figures are not a like-for-like price.

What is Crisp good at for Shopify apps?

Crisp is good at giving a small team chat, a shared inbox, a help center and an AI chatbot at a low price, with a free plan to start. It also brings messaging channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS into the inbox, which matters if your merchants reach you there.

Crisp’s limits for an app team are that it is a general-purpose tool, it does not show Shopify Partner data such as plan or MRR in the conversation, its public pricing lists no changelog, roadmap voting or scheduling, and each additional app is another workspace on another bill.

What is Intercom good at for Shopify apps?

Intercom is good for Shopify app teams that need depth, at $29 to $132 per seat a month: outbound messages and product tours, detailed automation, reporting, a large set of integrations and a mature AI agent. A funded team with a dedicated support function can use most of it.

For a small app team, the trade-off is cost and complexity. Per-seat pricing grows with every founder, engineer or contractor who answers, Fin adds a per-outcome cost, and multiple brands need the top plan. Its public pages list no roadmap voting or status page.

What does neither Crisp nor Intercom do for Shopify apps?

Neither Crisp nor Intercom shows you, inside the conversation, what a merchant pays for your app. A merchant on your highest plan reporting a bug looks the same as a merchant on a free install asking a setup question, so you either check the Shopify Partner Dashboard separately or treat everyone the same.

Neither Crisp nor Intercom is built around running several apps either. Crisp charges per website and Intercom per seat, so a team with three apps pays three times for Crisp workspaces, or moves up to Intercom’s top plan for more than one brand.

How do they compare for a team running several apps?

Running 3 apps costs $228 to $285 a month on Crisp Essentials and $396 a month for 3 seats on Intercom Expert, before Fin. Crisp’s cost grows with each app; Intercom’s grows with each seat:

Crisp ranges show prices with and without its 20 percent discount for 3 or more workspaces; Crisp Essentials includes 10 seats per workspace and Convot Starter includes 3. Intercom prices by seat, not app, and needs Expert for more than one brand; Fin is extra.

Where does Convot fit between Crisp and Intercom?

Convot fits Shopify app teams that run one or more apps and want the merchant’s revenue beside each conversation. It covers the support essentials Crisp and Intercom both offer, live chat, a shared inbox, a help center and mobile apps, and adds a changelog, roadmap with voting, status page and in-chat scheduling for each app, in one inbox priced by how many apps you run.

For Shopify apps, Convot connects to your Partner account and shows each merchant’s plan, MRR and lifetime revenue to date beside the conversation, once your app identifies the shop with a signed shop_hash. It is free under $1,000 MRR with 1 app and 3 seats, then $49 a month, with $20 per extra app. The Cove AI agent is on paid plans at $0.20 per resolved conversation in which it sent an automatic reply: cheaper than Fin’s $0.99 per outcome, though not cheaper than Crisp’s bundled credits.

Convot does not include WhatsApp, Instagram or SMS, which Crisp does, or the outbound campaigns and product tours Intercom offers. The full comparisons are on Convot vs Crisp and Convot vs Intercom.

How do you move from Crisp or Intercom?

Moving from Crisp to Convot uses a built-in importer for contacts, conversations from the last 180 days and help articles, one Crisp website at a time, and Convot’s widget accepts Crisp-style commands; the Crisp migration guide covers each step. Moving from Intercom has no self-serve importer; the Convot team runs it for you, free, keeping the original dates on imported conversations.

What should a Shopify app team check before choosing?

A Shopify app team should check five things before choosing a support tool, because the differences that matter most are rarely on the feature list:

1. Total cost in 12 months, not this month. Count every person who will answer, every app you plan to run, and your expected AI volume, then price both tools at that size.
2. Where support happens. Test the widget inside your embedded app in the Shopify Admin, not only on your marketing site, because that is where merchants get stuck.
3. How merchants are identified. Check whether conversations attach to the right merchant across sessions and devices, and whether identity can be signed on your server so it cannot be faked.
4. What the AI answers from, and what it does when it does not know. Ask for the handoff behaviour, not just the deflection rate.
5. How hard it is to leave. Check what the tool exports and what a migration would cost later.

How do you test Crisp or Intercom before committing?

Test a support tool on your real work for one or two weeks before committing, using the free plan or trial. A useful test:

Keep notes as you go. The tool that feels best after a week of real conversations is usually the right one, whatever the feature lists say.

Which should a Shopify app team pick?

For a Shopify app team, Crisp is the best fit on cost for one app, Intercom is the best fit for outbound messaging and deep automation, and Convot is the best fit for several apps with merchant revenue beside the chat. Between the two, Crisp is the cheaper, at $95 a month for 10 seats on Essentials.

Common questions about Crisp vs Intercom

Is Crisp cheaper than Intercom? Crisp is usually cheaper for a small team: it has a free plan and Essentials at $95 a month per workspace with 10 seats, while Intercom has no free plan and costs $29 to $132 per seat a month. For one person who needs only basic chat, Intercom Essential at $29 can cost less than Crisp Essentials.

Does Crisp or Intercom integrate with Shopify? Both offer integrations, but we did not find either showing a Shopify app merchant’s Partner billing data, such as plan or MRR, inside the conversation. Check each vendor’s integration list for your needs.

Can I use Crisp or Intercom inside an embedded Shopify app? Both can load a chat widget from a script tag, so in principle either can run inside your embedded app’s HTML. Test it on a development store first, checking that the widget loads inside the Shopify Admin and that signed-in merchants are identified correctly.

What if I run more than one Shopify app? Price each tool at your real app count. Crisp bills one workspace per website, so costs multiply with each app, and Intercom needs its Expert plan for several brands; tools priced by app count, such as Convot, add a smaller fee per extra app.

Which has the better AI agent? Intercom Fin is the more mature AI agent, at $0.99 per resolved outcome. Crisp’s AI chatbot costs less, about $0.055 per automated conversation from bundled credits, but it counts conversations, not resolutions. Test both on your own help center before deciding.

Crisp vs Intercom, in summary

1. Crisp is cheaper and simpler, with a free plan and AI credits included.
2. Intercom is deeper and more expensive, with per-seat pricing and Fin per outcome.
3. Neither shows Shopify merchant revenue in the conversation.
4. Crisp bills each extra app as another workspace, and Intercom needs its top plan for more than one brand.
5. Convot covers several apps in one inbox, with merchant revenue beside each chat.

Start free while you are under $1,000 MRR, with 1 app and 3 seats.

About the author

Tarang Agarwal is the founder of Convot. Convot is built by Sidepanda, a small studio that runs several Shopify apps of its own, including Appointo, Depo and Panda Bundle, and supports all of them from one Convot inbox.