Intercom vs Tidio: which fits your store?

Last verified 2026-08-29

Intercom and Tidio are both helpdesk & cx app tools compared here on pricing verified 2026-08-29, published plans, App Store standing, and themes from recent merchant reviews. Tidio starts cheaper (free vs $0.99/mo); Tidio has a free tier, Intercom does not. On the Shopify App Store, Intercom holds 4.6 ★ across 16 reviews and Tidio holds 4.8 ★ across 1,247. Tidio: These reviews suggest the app fits Shopify merchants that want quick-to-launch live chat, AI-assisted customer support, and basic sales or lead-capture help across an online store. — from tracked pricing and recent App Store review analysis.

How do Intercom and Tidio compare?

	Intercom	Tidio
App Store rating	4.6 ★ (16 reviews)	4.8 ★ (1,247 reviews)
Price from	$0.99/mo	free
Free tier	✗ no	✓ yes
Published plans	7	7
Data confidence	high	high

App Store rating

Intercom 4.6 ★

Tidio 4.8 ★

→ Tidio rates higher

Review volume

Intercom 16

Tidio 1,247

→ Tidio has the larger base

What would you actually pay?

Intercom plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Essential	—	$0.99 per Fin outcome; other usage-based charges apply for email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, and Phone; 1 Full seat minimum.
Advanced	—	$0.99 per Fin outcome; includes 20 free Lite seats; other usage-based charges apply for email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, and Phone; 1 Full seat minimum.
Expert	—	$0.99 per Fin outcome; includes 50 free Lite seats; other usage-based charges apply for email campaigns, SMS, WhatsApp, and Phone; 1 Full seat minimum.
Fin AI Agent for existing helpdesk	$0.99	$0.99 per resolved outcome, charged at most once per conversation; minimum monthly commitment applies, with 50 outcomes given as an example; no seats required.
Pro add-on	$99	Includes analysis of 1,000 conversations per month and 2,000 Operator credits per month; additional credits cost $0.01 each; included credits scale with conversation volume.
Copilot add-on	$35	Unlimited paid usage; every agent also receives 10 Copilot conversations and 10 AI Auto-translation conversations free per month.
Proactive Support Plus add-on	$99	Includes 500 messages per month; additional messages are charged per unit.

All displayed prices are in USD. Core seat prices appear under the billed-annually selection.

Verified 2026-08-29 from vendor pricing page.

Tidio plans

Plan	Monthly	Limits / notes
Free	$0	50 billable conversations per month; first 50 Lyro AI conversations free for lifetime; 100 Flows visitors reached per month; 10 seats
Starter	—	100 billable conversations; 50 one-off Lyro AI Agent conversations; 100 Flows visitors reached; 10 seats
Growth	—	Starts at 250 billable conversations and scales up to 2,000; 10 seats
Plus	—	$300 per month base plus monthly usage; custom billable conversations, Lyro AI conversations, Flows visitors, and seats
Premium	—	Custom billable conversations and limits; from 3,000 Lyro AI conversations; pay-per-resolution billing
Lyro AI Agent (standalone add-on)	—	Starts with 50 Lyro AI conversations per month; selectable paid quotas range from 50 to 1,000, with custom quotas available
Flows (standalone add-on)	—	Starts with 2,000 visitors reached per month; selectable quotas scale to 100,000, with custom quotas available

Prices are in USD. The Annually option appears selected and states '2 months free,' so displayed recurring prices are recorded as annual USD per month; separate month-to-month prices are not shown.

Verified 2026-08-29 from vendor pricing page.

Which features does each include?

Feature	Intercom	Tidio

Extracted from each vendor's App Store listing (2026-07-20); "—" = not stated there. Verify tier availability on vendor pricing pages.

What do merchants say about them?

No review analysis yet for Intercom.

Tidio

Recent merchant sentiment is strongly positive, with most visible reviews emphasizing faster support workflows, easy setup, and useful AI/chat automation. The app is also credited with helping conversions, lead capture, and reducing routine customer questions. The main visible caveat is a missing export capability, with a few reviews too early in usage to be definitive.

＋ Support efficiency — Merchants often say the app helps them respond faster, manage support more smoothly, and handle customer conversations across their store.
＋ Easy setup and use — Several reviews describe setup, configuration, and everyday use as simple or straightforward.
＋ AI assistance quality — Merchants praise the AI for learning store information, answering product questions accurately, handling multiple languages, and supporting sales conversations.
＋ Conversion and lead impact — Some reviewers connect the app with better conversion, sales assistance, lead capture, or reduced repetitive pre-sale questions.

－ Limited export options — One reviewer objects that customer questions and agent answers cannot be exported from the app.
－ Early-use uncertainty — A couple of recent users are positive but note they have not used the app long enough to fully judge it.

Watch out: Merchants needing full export of customer chat questions and answers should verify that workflow before relying on the app.

Synthesized from the 18 most recent App Store reviews (2026-07-16); themes paraphrased.

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Intercom or Tidio?

Tidio starts lower at free, vs $0.99/mo for Intercom (verified 2026-08-29).

Does Intercom or Tidio have a free plan?

Tidio has a free tier; Intercom does not publish one.

Which is rated higher on the Shopify App Store?

Tidio rates higher at 4.8 ★, vs 4.6 ★ — though both counts matter: Intercom has 16 reviews and Tidio has 1,247.

How we compare: pricing and plans are collected automatically from vendor pages on a schedule and shown with verification dates; ratings come from the Shopify App Store; merchant sentiment is synthesized from the most recent App Store reviews (paraphrased, never quoted). We currently have no affiliate relationship with either vendor. Found an error? The data snapshot behind this page is dated — check the vendor's page for same-day changes.

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