Tidio vs Intercom: Pricing for Local Business

October 24, 2026·Nataliia· 8 min read All posts

For a small local business, Tidio is the easier and cheaper start: it has a free plan, a Starter plan at $24.17 a month and a Lyro AI add-on from $32.50. Intercom charges per seat, from $19 per seat per month, and $0.99 for each outcome its Fin AI agent handles. Intercom is built for support teams, so a shop with one person answering chats usually pays for features it will not use.

This guide is for owners of salons, studios, cafes and service businesses weighing a website chat tool. We opened both pricing pages on 2026-10-24. Examples with invented inputs are labelled as assumptions. The two vendors count usage differently, so the totals below are rough comparisons, not quotes.

$0→

Tidio Free plan, per month

Tidio pricing page, 2026-10-24

$24.17→

Tidio Starter, per month

Tidio pricing page, cycle not labelled

$19→

Intercom Essential, per seat per month

Intercom pricing page, 2026-10-24

$0.99→

Intercom Fin AI, per outcome

Intercom pricing page, 2026-10-24

Estimates for illustration; actual numbers vary.

What Does Tidio Cost?

Tidio's pricing page lists five plans: Free at $0 with 50 billable conversations, Starter at $24.17 a month with 100, Growth from $49.17 with 250 or more, Plus from $300 plus usage, and Premium by quote. The page does not label monthly against annual prices. It says annual billing gives "2 months free", and 24.17 times 12 is about $290, which suggests the listed prices are annual-billed equivalents. Check the toggle on the live page.

The Free plan includes 10 seats, a lifetime allowance of 50 Lyro AI conversations, and 100 Flows visitors a month. All plans have a 7-day free trial without a credit card, after which an account drops to Free unless you upgrade.

What Do Tidio's AI and Automation Add-Ons Cost?

Tidio sells its AI agent and automation flows separately from the plan. Lyro AI Agent starts at $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations, with paid quotas from 50 to 1,000 conversations a month. Flows start at $24.17 a month for 2,000 visitors reached, with quotas up to 100,000 visitors.

So a small business that wants an AI agent answering opening-hours and booking questions pays for the plan plus the add-on. The page does not show the price of each Lyro quota between 50 and 1,000, so we do not state it.

What Does Intercom Cost?

Intercom lists three seat-based plans.

Plan	Per seat per month	Free Lite seats	Fin AI
Essential	$19 (shown against $29, with "New customers save 35%")	None listed	$0.99 per outcome
Advanced	$85	20	$0.99 per outcome
Expert	$132	50	$0.99 per outcome

Fin can also run on an existing helpdesk at $0.99 per outcome with no seat costs and a minimum monthly commitment, for example 50 outcomes. The minimum is one Full seat. Messaging and Fin usage are pay-as-you-go. There is a 14-day trial without a credit card, and Intercom says monthly or annual self-serve plans exist for Essential and Advanced. Contracts are optional for these plans and required for Enterprise needs.

How Do Tidio and Intercom Compare Side by Side?

	Tidio	Intercom
Free plan	Yes, 50 conversations, 10 seats	No, 14-day trial
Entry paid price	Starter $24.17 a month, cycle not labelled	Essential $19 per seat per month
What you pay for	Conversation quota, add-ons	Seats, plus usage
AI agent	Lyro, from $32.50 a month for 50 conversations	Fin, $0.99 per outcome
Trial	7 days, no card	14 days, no card
Contract	Not stated on the page we read	Optional on Essential and Advanced
Built for	Small sites with a few chats a day	Support teams with several agents

"Outcome" and "conversation" are not the same unit. Intercom counts what Fin resolves. Tidio counts conversations Lyro takes part in. Do not compare the headline numbers directly.

Which One Should a Local Business Pick?

Pick Tidio if one person handles chats, you want to start free, and you plan to add an AI agent for repeat questions such as hours, prices and booking.
Pick Intercom if you have several support staff, need a shared inbox with roles, and your customer volume is high enough that per-outcome pricing is predictable.
Start with neither if chats are rare. A contact form and a clear Google Business Profile may answer most questions, and our post on live chat for local business explains when chat pays off.
Look at the AI side separately if your main goal is bookings and FAQs. See AI chatbots for booking and FAQs and AI chatbot vs live chat.

A Worked Example: One Seat and 50 AI Conversations

All inputs are assumptions. They are chosen to match the smallest paid AI quota on the Tidio page, and the two units are not identical.

Input (assumption)	Tidio	Intercom
Humans answering chats	1	1 seat
AI handled per month	50 conversations	50 outcomes
Plan	Starter, $24.17	Essential, $19 (or $29 if the new-customer discount does not apply)
AI cost	Lyro, $32.50	50 times $0.99, $49.50
Monthly total	about $56.67	about $68.50 (or $78.50)

On these inputs Tidio is cheaper by roughly $12 to $22 a month. The gap changes with volume. Intercom's AI cost grows linearly at $0.99 per outcome, so 300 outcomes would be $297 a month on AI alone, while Tidio's cost depends on the quota band you need, which the page does not show.

Do This Today

Count how many chats or messages your site and Instagram get in a typical week. Multiply by four. That monthly number decides whether you need a free plan, an AI add-on or a paid helpdesk.

Is AI Chat Worth Paying For at All?

It is worth paying for when the same five questions fill your inbox. Opening hours, price lists, parking, cancellation rules and booking links are the usual ones. If your chats are mostly one-off complaints or custom quotes, a human reply is still better. Our guide to AI chatbots for fitness studios shows how the repeat-question pattern looks for one niche.

FAQ

Is Tidio free?

Yes. The Free plan costs $0 and includes 50 billable conversations, 10 seats, a lifetime allowance of 50 Lyro AI conversations and 100 Flows visitors a month.

How much does Intercom's AI agent cost?

Intercom lists Fin at $0.99 per outcome. On an existing helpdesk there are no seat costs, but there is a minimum monthly commitment, for example 50 outcomes.

Is Intercom too expensive for a small business?

It depends on seats and volume. Essential at $19 per seat is modest for one person, but Advanced at $85 and Expert at $132 per seat are priced for support teams, and AI outcomes add $0.99 each.

Do I need a contract?

Intercom says contracts are optional on Essential and Advanced and required for Enterprise needs. The Tidio page we read did not state contract terms.

Which has a longer trial?

Intercom offers 14 days with no card, and Tidio 7 days with no card.

Sources

Tidio: Pricing (checked 2026-10-24; plans, free plan limits, Lyro and Flows add-ons, trial; monthly versus annual not labelled)
Intercom: Pricing (checked 2026-10-24; seat prices, Fin price, minimums, trial, contract wording)

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Nataliia

Local marketing strategist with 10+ years at global agencies — OMD, Dentsu, GroupM, and BBDO. Now helping small businesses get the same data-driven edge. Based in Europe, working with clients in the US, UK, Australia, and beyond.

About Nataliia