Not for good: the first paid plan costs about €25 a month (29 dollars). Libredesk does the same thing for free, in open source.

Is Libredesk really free?

Yes. Libredesk is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Intercom, on the other hand, costs €25 a month.

Do I need to code to install Libredesk?

No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 30 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.

How is it different from Intercom?

Libredesk does most of what Intercom does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.

Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

Free alternative

Free alternative to Intercom

Intercom costs €25 a month. Libredesk does the same job for free, in open source: you install it on your machine or a small server, and you stop paying.

Price taken from Intercom’s website (intercom.com): Essential plan, price per agent per month for a new customer, converted from dollars. Over a year, that is €300 that stays in your pocket.

How much does Intercom cost in 2026?

Intercom’s public plans, checked on 26 October 2026 on intercom.com. Prices rounded up to the next euro.

Essential
about €25 a month (29 dollars)
Per agent. Messenger live chat, shared inbox and tickets, public help center, ready made reports. Price for a new customer, valid for as long as the subscription runs (39 dollars otherwise). About €17 a month (19 dollars) billed yearly.
Advanced
about €86 a month (99 dollars)
Per agent. Workflow automation, multiple team inboxes, round robin assignment, private and multilingual help center, 20 free Lite seats. About €74 a month (85 dollars) billed yearly.
Expert
about €120 a month (139 dollars)
Per agent. Single sign-on (SSO), HIPAA support, service level agreements, multibrand, 50 free Lite seats. About €114 a month (132 dollars) billed yearly.
Fin AI Agent
about €0.85 per resolution
Intercom's AI agent, billed on top of the subscription (0.99 dollar) each time it settles a request without human help.

Prices in dollars, per agent and per month, converted to euros here. Copilot, the AI assistant for agents, costs about €31 per agent per month on top (35 dollars). 14 day free trial with no card. See the official pricing page ↗

What replaces Intercom

The main alternative

Libredesk

🟡 Intermediate⏱️ ~30 min to installSave €25/mo

Libredesk is the open source alternative to Intercom: a shared inbox for email, website live chat and WhatsApp. The chat widget reaches out to your visitors based on the page they are reading, and your team replies from the same inbox: tags, automatic assignment, saved replies, response targets. It also publishes a multilingual help center and measures satisfaction. Its AI assistant answers on its own from your knowledge base, with Claude, OpenAI or a local model through Ollama, and hands over to a human when it gets stuck. It runs on your server with PostgreSQL and Redis, under the AGPL-3.0 license: everything is included, with no paid plan and no per agent pricing. The limit: no mobile app and no product tours, and the AI is still in beta.

Loucash’s verdict on Libredesk

8/10

Libredesk covers the core of Intercom Essential: shared inbox, live chat on your website, WhatsApp, help center and AI assistant. And without paying per agent: with five people on the team, Intercom already costs about €125 a month before its AI answers anything. What I like: everything really is free. Their FAQ says it plainly, every feature is included and there is no paid plan. The project moves fast (WhatsApp and proactive messages arrived on October 22) and it installs as a single program. Why 8 and not more: the project is younger and less complete than Intercom. No mobile app, no product tours or email campaigns, fewer channels, and the AI is still in beta. You also need an online server, with PostgreSQL and Redis, that you back up yourself.

Who it is for: You run support for a small business or an online shop and want email, chat and WhatsApp in one place, without paying for every agent. If you need a mobile app for your agents, product tours or many channels, Intercom stays ahead.

See the full page →See the tool ↗

Libredesk versus Intercom: the match

Price
Libredesk
€0 on your server
Intercom
€25/month per agent (Essential)
Agents
Libredesk
Unlimited
Intercom
Each one pays for a seat
Channels
Libredesk
Email, live chat, WhatsApp
Intercom
Plus SMS, phone and social media, pay as you go

Intercom ↗

VS	Libredesk	Intercom ↗
Price	€0 on your server	€25/month per agent (Essential)
Agents	Unlimited	Each one pays for a seat
Channels	Email, live chat, WhatsApp	Plus SMS, phone and social media, pay as you go
AI agent	Your model (Claude, OpenAI or free Ollama), in beta	Fin, about €0.85 per resolution
Help center	Included, multilingual	Included, multilingual from Advanced
Mobile app, product tours	No	Yes
What you need	A server with PostgreSQL and Redis	A subscription per agent

The prompt that installs Libredesk

Paste this prompt into Claude: it checks the repository, asks you its questions and installs the tool step by step.

Installe Libredesk sur mon serveur : c'est l'outil open source de service client qui remplace Intercom (dépôt GitHub abhinavxd/libredesk, documentation docs.libredesk.io). Vérifie d'abord que Docker et Docker Compose sont installés. Suis ensuite le guide d'installation Docker de la documentation : récupère le docker-compose.yml et le config.sample.toml du dépôt, copie ce dernier en config.toml, mets une clé de chiffrement aléatoire de 32 caractères dans app.encryption_key, remplace les mots de passe d'exemple par des valeurs solides, puis lance l'ensemble. Définis le mot de passe de l'utilisateur System avec la commande prévue, et vérifie que l'interface répond sur le port 9000. Place-la ensuite derrière mon nom de domaine en HTTPS avec un proxy inverse, comme le recommande la documentation, sinon le chat ne marchera pas sur mon site. Aide-moi à créer mon premier agent, à brancher ma boîte e-mail de support (Google, Microsoft ou IMAP) et à poser le widget de chat sur mon site. Si je veux l'assistant IA, branche un fournisseur compatible OpenAI (ma clé Anthropic ou OpenAI, ou Ollama pour un modèle local gratuit) avec un modèle d'embeddings, et teste-le d'abord sur une boîte à faible volume. Explique-moi aussi comment sauvegarder la base et mettre Libredesk à jour. Explique chaque étape simplement, je débute.

Review the GitHub repository and check whether it is safe to install given my machine and my infrastructure. Ask me as many questions as possible, using widgets, to clarify my request and be as precise as you can.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Intercom cost?: Essential: about €25 a month (29 dollars); Advanced: about €86 a month (99 dollars); Expert: about €120 a month (139 dollars); Fin AI Agent: about €0.85 per resolution. Prices checked on 26 October 2026 on intercom.com.
Is Intercom free?: Not for good: the first paid plan costs about €25 a month (29 dollars). Libredesk does the same thing for free, in open source.
Is Libredesk really free?: Yes. Libredesk is open source: the code is public and installing it costs nothing. At most you pay for hosting if you put it on a server, often a few euros a month. Intercom, on the other hand, costs €25 a month.
Do I need to code to install Libredesk?: No. The level is intermediate and the install takes about 30 minutes with the prompt from the page: Claude does the work, you answer its questions.
How is it different from Intercom?: Libredesk does most of what Intercom does, without a subscription, and your data stays with you. The point by point comparison is on the page.
Do I own my data?: Yes. With an open source tool installed on your side, your files stay on your machine or your server. Nobody can close your account or change the price.

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