IntercomThe only helpdesk designed for the AI Agent era
vs
Retell AIAI Voice Agents That Automate Phone Calls
Comparison · AI Agents · weekly run Nov 3
Intercom vs Retell AI
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 AI Agents: it has a visibility score of 5.5 versus 2 for Retell AI.
Choose Intercom if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (5.5 vs 2)
- You need ISO 42001 or ISO 27701 or AIUC-1 or CCPA coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (1,001–5,000 employees)
- Per seat pricing suits your budget better than usage-based
Choose Retell AI if…
- You want a free plan to start
- You need a self-hosted or on-premises option
- You need HIPAA coverage
- Usage-based pricing suits your budget better than per seat
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Intercom | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 5.5% | 2% |
| Change vs last week | New | New |
| Rank in AI Agents | #21 | #42 |
| Share of voice | 1.1% | 0.5% |
| Mentions this run | 7 | 3 |
| Positive in AI answers | 41% | — |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Intercom 0pp · Retell AI 0pp over 0 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Intercom leads on 2 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
IntercomRetell AI
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Intercom ranked higher
0Retell AI ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Intercom | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | Usage-based |
| Entry price | $29 per seat / mo | Contact sales |
| Free plan | No · 14-day trial | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), with US, EU and AU data hosting | Cloud platform, with enterprise on-premises deployment available |
| Integrations | 450+ | — |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, ISO 27701, AIUC-1, GDPR, CCPA | HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, ISO 27001 |
| Support | — | Community and email support, 24/7 omnichannel support with dedicated portal (Enterprise), Dedicated implementation support (Enterprise), Named account manager (Enterprise) |
| Founded | 2011 | 2023 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States | Redwood City, California |
| Employees | 1,001–5,000 | 51–200 |
| Funding | Debt financing · $242M raised | Seed · $5M raised |
| Best for | Support teams from startups to large enterprises that want AI-first customer service with human agents and an AI agent in one system | Businesses that run high call volumes in healthcare, insurance, financial services, logistics and similar fields, and teams that want to build and change voice agents themselves. |
Plans side by side
Intercom
Essential$29seat/mo
Advanced$85seat/mo
Expert$132seat/mo
Fin AI Agent (with existing helpdesk)$0.99Fin outcome
Retell AI
Pay as you go$0per minute, $0.07-$0.31 for voice agents
EnterpriseCustomcustom pricing
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
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
Retell AI
- Highly rated by developers and SMBs
- One of the highest customer star ratings
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Intercom vs Retell AI”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/intercom-vs-retell-ai, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.