Chatwoot vs Intercom
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Intercom is the stronger AI pick in Live Chat & AI Support: it has a visibility score of 46.2 versus 2.4 for Chatwoot, and ranks ahead in 100% of the answers that name both.
Choose Chatwoot if…
- You want a free plan to start
- Free self-hosted option
- Best open-source option
- Robust free plan with basic chat widgets
Choose Intercom if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (46.2 vs 2.4)
- AI answers describe it more positively (41% vs 22% positive)
- You need ISO 27001 or ISO 42001 or ISO 27701 or AIUC-1 or CCPA coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (1,001–5,000 employees)
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Chatwoot | Intercom |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 2.4% | 46.2% |
| Change vs last week | up+0.5% | up+2% |
| Rank in Live Chat & AI Support | #19 | #2 |
| Share of voice | 1% | 10.1% |
| Mentions this run | 5 | 48 |
| Positive in AI answers | 22% | 41% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Chatwoot +0.5pp · Intercom +1.9000000000000057pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Intercom leads on 3 of 3 engines
Head to head in AI answers
3 engine answers name both brands
| Prompt | Engine | Chatwoot | Intercom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternatives to the most popular live chat tool | ChatGPT | #9 | #1 |
| Official website of the top live chat tool vendors | ChatGPT | #15 | #1 |
| Official website of the top live chat tool vendors | Perplexity | #15 | #2 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Chatwoot | Intercom |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $19 per seat / mo | $29 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No · 14-day trial |
| Deployment | Self-hosted or Chatwoot Cloud | Cloud (SaaS), with US, EU and AU data hosting |
| Integrations | — | 450+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, ISO 27701, AIUC-1, GDPR, CCPA |
| Support | Live chat on the website, Email hello@chatwoot.com | — |
| Founded | 2020 | 2011 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Employees | 11–50 | 1,001–5,000 |
| Funding | Seed · $2M raised | Debt financing · $242M raised |
| Best for | Support teams that want one inbox for chat, email and messaging, with the option to self-host. | Support teams from startups to large enterprises that want AI-first customer service with human agents and an AI agent in one system |
Plans side by side
Chatwoot
Intercom
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Chatwoot
- Free self-hosted option
- Best open-source option
- Robust free plan with basic chat widgets
- Hosted free tier has usage limits
- Free plan limits agents, chat history, and advanced automations
Intercom
- AI-first customer support with the Fin AI agent
- Strong for in-app messaging and product-led SaaS
- Unified conversation history for smooth handoffs to humans
- Lower per-seat cost when billed annually
- Praised as the best overall chat and AI experience
- Per-seat and usage-based AI charges can add up in cost
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Chatwoot vs Intercom”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/chatwoot-vs-intercom, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.