Fin
Intercom, Inc. (trading as Fin since May 2026) ·fin.ai· As of: 2026-07-30
Work through this tool with an AI
Our verdict
No edge: the vendor sells the same tool to more than 12,000 companies, your competitors among them. No boost to the core product either, unless support is the product. But more than case-by-case efficiency, because it changes the shape of the support cost curve. Keep answering every first contact with people and your cost grows in step with your customer count while you reply slower than the company next door. That is exactly the point here: it keeps you from falling behind and buys no distance.
Evidence:Price per outcome, price per qualification, minimum volume, two mutually exclusive routes (your existing helpdesk with no seat cost, or the vendor's helpdesk at 29 USD per seat), add-ons, definition of an outcomeOpen sourceAcquisition by Salesforce for about 3.6 billion USD, closing expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027, more than 30,000 customers of the company across all productsOpen sourceRenaming from Intercom to Fin on 12 May 2026Open sourceCertificates, data hosting regions, model providers used, fine-tuning with opt-outOpen sourceProcessing addendum automatically part of the contract, transfer mechanism, deletion periods of 30 and 180 days, backups 14 daysOpen sourceSubprocessors with countries, AI processing on AWS Bedrock in the USA, 20 days notice on changesOpen sourceEU regional hosting with explicitly named exceptions for account data and support accessOpen sourceISO/IEC 42001 issued by Schellman, vendor states alignment with the EU AI ActOpen source
Who it fits
Solo
suitable with caveats
The floor is 50 outcomes a month, roughly 50 dollars, provided Fin runs on the helpdesk you already have. That route carries no seat cost at all, since the vendor promises unlimited teammates at no extra charge. Only if you also buy the vendor's own helpdesk do you add from 29 dollars per seat per month. Anyone with fewer than 50 cases a month pays for unused volume and solves a problem they do not yet have.
Mid-market
suitable
This is where the model fits best. The bill grows with cases resolved rather than with team size, and in exactly this range the question of whether growth forces you to hire more support staff is a real decision.
Enterprise
suitable with caveats
Technically sound, commercially restless. At five-figure monthly ticket volumes, 99 cents per case turns into a five-figure monthly line item that cannot be capped. On top of that, EU hosting carries documented exceptions and the vendor is in the middle of being acquired.
Buy, switch or build
Off-the-shelf
Seat-priced helpdesk with knowledge base and rule-based bot
The grown route: ticket system, self-service articles, a bot that answers on keywords. The advantage is predictability, since the bill hangs on team size rather than customer growth. The price is a low deflection rate. Every case the rule-based bot does not know reaches a human, so headcount keeps growing with the business.
AI-native
Outcome-billed answering agent, the class this tool belongs to
An agent reads your knowledge base, answers in its own words and escalates on its own. You pay per case. That shifts risk toward the vendor and is more honest than seats, as long as the definition of success holds up. Anyone taking this route should pin down three things: what counts as an outcome, what happens when the rate drops, and whether the agent may run on a third-party helpdesk. Without those three, you are buying a variable bill with nothing promised in return.
Build it yourself
Your own agent on a model API and your own knowledge search
Technically feasible today, and raw model cost per conversation sits below the per-outcome price. What you build and then maintain forever is everything else: connectors for every channel, human handover, answer quality across languages, a regression suite so a new model version does not quietly get worse, and the evidence your regulator will ask for. The rule of thumb is simple: building your own pays off when support is the product, or when the outcome bill permanently exceeds the cost of one engineer.
Our advice
- Solo: Wait until you clear 50 requests a month. Below that the floor is not worth it.
- Mid-market: Buy, but run it on your existing helpdesk and hold the outcome definition against your own satisfaction measurement.
- Enterprise: Buy with a cap. Before signing, settle the volume ceiling, EU processing and the Article 50 disclosure in writing, plus what the acquisition changes.
Who is behind it
Staying power: Established
The vendor's survival is not in question. The open question is a different one: Salesforce has signed the acquisition, and what happens to pricing, roadmap and the ability to run on competing helpdesks after closing is not committed to anywhere.
- Acquisition: Salesforce signed a definitive purchase agreement worth around USD 3.6 billion on 15.06.2026, closing expected in the fourth quarter of Salesforce's fiscal year 2027; the acquirer puts the acquired customer base at more than 30,000 companies across all of the company's productsAcquisition by Salesforce for about 3.6 billion USD, closing expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027, more than 30,000 customers of the company across all productsOpen source · As of 2026-06-15
- Corporate name: renamed from Intercom to Fin on 12.05.2026; the legal documents still name Intercom, Inc. and Intercom R&D Unlimited Company as the contracting partiesRenaming from Intercom to Fin on 12 May 2026Open source · As of 2026-05-12
- Customer count: more than 12,000 companies use the Fin tool, a figure the vendor states on its own home page; the higher number of more than 30,000 companies in the acquisition announcement covers the company's entire customer base across all products, not the users of this toolfin.aiOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
- Certification: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27018, ISO 42001, AIUC-1, HIPAACertificates, data hosting regions, model providers used, fine-tuning with opt-outOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
- AI management system certification: ISO/IEC 42001:2023, issued by Schellman as an ANAB-accredited bodyISO/IEC 42001 issued by Schellman, vendor states alignment with the EU AI ActOpen source · As of 2025-04-29
- Vendor performance claim: an average of 76 percent of support requests closed without human involvement, a figure stated by the vendor and the acquirer, not independently verifiedfin.aiOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
Cost of leaving: Moderate
Conversation data comes out in full, through the API, through a two-year export to S3 or Google Cloud Storage and through the privacy export as CSV or JSON. What does not come out is the configured work: the curated knowledge base, procedures, handover rules, fine-tuning. What decides the cost is what Fin runs on. Run it over a third-party helpdesk and your system of record stays put while you swap only the answering layer. Use the bundled helpdesk as your core system and leaving means migrating the whole support operation.
Regulation and data
| Data processing agreementdocumented, no condition attached: Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag öffentlich abrufbar und ohne weitere Bedingung Bestandteil des Vertrags; oder er entfällt nachvollziehbar begründet, weil kein Anbieter Kundendaten verarbeitet.documented, tied to a condition: Vertrag existiert, ist aber an einen Tarif gebunden, nur nach Anfrage einsehbar oder allein in den Nutzungsbedingungen geregelt statt als eigenes Dokument.documented, but unfavourable: Kein Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag im üblichen Sinn: entweder weil der Anbieter für das Kerngeschäft eigenständig Verantwortlicher ist und stattdessen eine andere Konstruktion gilt, oder weil öffentlich offen bleibt, ob überhaupt einer angeboten wird.open on a point that decides usability: Weder ein Vertrag noch ein dokumentierter Weg zu einem Vertrag; der Einkauf hätte nichts, worauf er sich stützen kann. | documented, no condition attachedyes, a data processing addendum that automatically forms part of the agreementProcessing addendum automatically part of the contract, transfer mechanism, deletion periods of 30 and 180 days, backups 14 daysOpen sourceThe document does not need separate signing; it takes effect with the main agreement. It covers subprocessors, deletion periods and transfer mechanisms.As of 2026-07-30 |
|---|---|
| Storage locationdocumented, no condition attached: EU-Speicherort ohne Zusatzkosten und ohne Tarifbindung, oder der Ort ist vollständig selbst bestimmbar, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: EU-Speicherort möglich, aber an einen Tarif, einen gesondert zu aktivierenden Zusatz oder einen Umzug in eine getrennte Umgebung gebunden; oder die EU-Region ist nicht die Voreinstellung.documented, but unfavourable: Kein EU-Speicherort, der Ort ist aber eindeutig benannt, sodass die Folgen bewertbar sind.open on a point that decides usability: Der Speicherort ist öffentlich nicht benannt oder vom Kunden nicht steuerbar, sodass sich die Verarbeitung nicht verorten lässt. | documented, tied to a conditionEU (Ireland) selectable via the Regional Data Hosting Addendum, otherwise the USA; Australia also offeredEU regional hosting with explicitly named exceptions for account data and support accessOpen sourceThe addendum names the exceptions itself: account and payment data run through US systems, support access happens from outside the region, and individual features move data out. The subprocessor list additionally shows AI processing on AWS Bedrock taking place in the USA. EU storage is therefore substantiated but not airtight.As of 2026-07-30 |
| Subprocessorsdocumented, no condition attached: Vollständige öffentliche Liste der Unterauftragnehmer mit Zweck und Land; oder es gibt keine, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Liste existiert und ist benannt, aber nur nach Anfrage oder nach Zugang zu einem Vertrauensportal einsehbar, oder sie nennt Zweck und Land nicht vollständig.documented, but unfavourable: Keine geführte Liste; namentlich stehen nur einzelne Dienste in der Datenschutzerklärung, überwiegend solche der eigenen Website.open on a point that decides usability: Weder eine Liste noch eine Nennung der Verarbeiter des Produkts, und kein dokumentierter Weg, sie zu erfahren. | documented, no condition attachedcomplete public list with countries, 20 days' notice before changes, right to objectSubprocessors with countries, AI processing on AWS Bedrock in the USA, 20 days notice on changesOpen sourceNamed entries include AWS, Snowflake, PlanetScale, Cloudflare, Twilio and Mailgun, plus OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft as model providers. Anthropic is listed for the USA and Australia only, not for the EU region.As of 2026-06-25 |
| Third-country transferdocumented, no condition attached: Keine Übermittlung in ein Drittland, oder die Übermittlung findet statt und die Grundlage ist benannt und im Vertrag verankert, etwa Standardvertragsklauseln, Angemessenheitsbeschluss oder EU-US-Datenschutzrahmen.documented, tied to a condition: Übermittlung findet statt, eine Grundlage ist genannt, aber ohne Zuordnung, welcher Empfänger auf welcher Grundlage arbeitet.documented, but unfavourable: Übermittlung findet statt und die eigenen Unterlagen widersprechen sich, oder die genannte Grundlage bezieht sich erkennbar nur auf einen Randbereich wie die Marketing-Website.open on a point that decides usability: Übermittlung findet erkennbar statt und eine Grundlage wird nirgends genannt. | documented, no condition attachedcertified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, with standard contractual clauses as a fallbackProcessing addendum automatically part of the contract, transfer mechanism, deletion periods of 30 and 180 days, backups 14 daysOpen sourceThe processing addendum relies primarily on the framework and treats the standard contractual clauses as automatically incorporated should it be invalidated, modules two and three for customer data.As of 2026-07-30 |
| Training on customer datadocumented, no condition attached: Vertraglich oder in der Datenschutzerklärung ausdrücklich ausgeschlossen, mit Erstreckung auf die eingesetzten Modellanbieter; oder es gibt keine Datenübertragung an einen Anbieter.documented, tied to a condition: Ausschluss ab einem bestimmten Tarif, oder die Zusage steht nur auf einer Dokumentationsseite statt im Vertrag, oder die Frage stellt sich für das Werkzeug sachlich kaum und der Anbieter schweigt dazu.documented, but unfavourable: Nutzung ist die Voreinstellung und nur ein Widerspruch beendet sie; oder der Anbieter trainiert eigene Modelle auf bereinigten Kundendaten.open on a point that decides usability: Keine Aussage, obwohl das Werkzeug KI-Funktionen auf Kundeninhalten betreibt. | documented, but unfavourableanonymised customer data is used for fine-tuning, opt-out possible at any time, deletion within 30 daysCertificates, data hosting regions, model providers used, fine-tuning with opt-outOpen sourceThe vendor's wording describes an opt-out, not an opt-in. Anyone who does not want the use has to switch it off actively. For the model providers involved, the vendor states they are contractually barred from using customer data for their own training.As of 2026-07-30 |
| Retention and deletiondocumented, no condition attached: Löschfristen nach Vertragsende beziffert und die Löschung oder Rückgabe zugesagt; oder die Fristen bestimmt der Betreiber selbst, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Löschung ist zugesagt, die Fristen sind aber nur teilweise beziffert, oder Sicherungskopien sind ausdrücklich ausgenommen.documented, but unfavourable: Nur der Grundsatz der Erforderlichkeit ohne jede Frist nach Vertragsende, oder Fristen sind allein für Randbereiche wie Website-Protokolle genannt.open on a point that decides usability: Keine Aussage zu Aufbewahrung und Löschung. | documented, no condition attachedpersonal customer data deleted within 30 days of a written request, otherwise automatically 180 days after the contract ends; backups a further 14 daysProcessing addendum automatically part of the contract, transfer mechanism, deletion periods of 30 and 180 days, backups 14 daysOpen sourceDo nothing after termination and your data sits with the vendor for another six months. That belongs on the offboarding checklist rather than being taken for granted.As of 2026-07-30 |
| Certificationsdocumented, no condition attached: Mehrere anerkannte Nachweise, benannt mit Norm, Fassung und Geltungsbereich, und bezogen auf den Anbieter selbst.documented, tied to a condition: Ein anerkannter Nachweis für den Anbieter belegt, der Bericht aber nur auf Anfrage, oder der Nachweis hängt an einem Tarif, oder der Geltungsbereich bleibt teilweise offen.documented, but unfavourable: Nur pauschale Nennung ohne Norm-Fassung und Geltungsbereich, oder bloße Selbstauskunft, oder die Nachweise gehören dem Infrastrukturanbieter statt dem Anbieter, oder der Prüfzeitraum ist erkennbar veraltet, oder die eigenen Angaben widersprechen sich.open on a point that decides usability: Kein Nachweis genannt und keine Sicherheits- oder Vertrauensseite vorhanden. | documented, no condition attachedSOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 27018, ISO 42001, AIUC-1, HIPAA, HDSCertificates, data hosting regions, model providers used, fine-tuning with opt-outOpen sourcePer the vendor, the evidence is self-serve in the trust center at trust.intercom.com. The ISO 42001 attestation was issued by Schellman, an ANAB-accredited body.As of 2026-07-30 |
| EU AI Act, Article 50documented, no condition attached: Der Anbieter macht eine belegte Aussage, die die eigene Pflicht trägt, etwa Modelldokumentation und Zertifizierung nach ISO/IEC 42001; oder das Werkzeug enthält nachvollziehbar begründet kein KI-System im Sinne der Verordnung.documented, tied to a condition: Der Anbieter äußert sich zur Verordnung oder ordnet die eigene Funktion ein, eine benannte Zusage zu den Transparenzpflichten aus Artikel 50 fehlt aber; oder das Werkzeug enthält kein KI-System, das gegenüber Menschen auftritt, und der Anbieter schweigt.documented, but unfavourable: Das Produkt enthält KI-Funktionen, der Anbieter schweigt dazu oder trägt ein Selbstetikett ohne Nachweis; die Kennzeichnung ist vom Betreiber aber selbst setzbar.open on a point that decides usability: KI spricht im Produkt unmittelbar mit Endkunden und der Anbieter sagt zu Artikel 50 nichts; die Kennzeichnung lässt sich ohne Zusage des Anbieters nicht sicher setzen. | documented, tied to a conditionISO 42001 certified, vendor states alignment with the EU AI Act; a named commitment on the Article 50 transparency duties is not publicly findableISO/IEC 42001 issued by Schellman, vendor states alignment with the EU AI ActOpen sourceThe trust page, the processing addendum and the certification announcement were checked. A management system certification is a strong indicator but no substitute for a commitment that the contact can tell they are talking to a machine. That belongs in contract talks.As of 2026-07-30 |
| Audit loggingdocumented, no condition attached: Nachvollziehbares Protokoll über Zugriffe und Änderungen in allen Tarifen enthalten, mit benannter Frist und Ausleitung in eigene Systeme; oder die Nachvollziehbarkeit liegt vollständig in eigener Hand, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Protokoll vorhanden, aber an einen höheren Tarif oder einen kostenpflichtigen Zusatz gebunden, oder die Ausleitung fehlt in den unteren Stufen; Reichweite und Frist sind benannt.documented, but unfavourable: Protokolle sind nur anbieterseitig beschrieben, oder Reichweite und Frist bleiben offen, sodass sich Nachweispflichten nicht planen lassen.open on a point that decides usability: Öffentlich nicht belegt, ob der Kunde überhaupt ein auswertbares Protokoll erhält. | documented, no condition attachedTeammate Activity Logs on every plan, one year back, and additionally retrievable through an APIintercom.com/…Open sourceLogged events include settings changes, data exports and campaign launches. API retrieval allows handover to your own analysis system, which is what you need for retention beyond one year.As of 2026-07-30 |
What it really costs
Entry price
0.99 USD per outcome, meaning per resolution, per procedure handoff and per disqualification. 9.99 USD per qualification. Minimum 50 outcomes a month, which puts the floor at roughly 50 USD. The pricing page sets out two routes that exclude one another: on the helpdesk you already run, Fin costs outcomes only, with unlimited teammates at no extra charge. Take the vendor's own helpdesk instead and you pay from 0.99 USD per outcome plus 29 USD per seat per month. A seat is therefore not a mandatory part of the entry price but a consequence of that choice. Billing is in US dollars only. Fourteen-day trial without a payment method.Price per outcome, price per qualification, minimum volume, two mutually exclusive routes (your existing helpdesk with no seat cost, or the vendor's helpdesk at 29 USD per seat), add-ons, definition of an outcomeOpen source
As of 2026-07-30
What gets expensive
In two places. First the definition: an outcome is billed even when the customer simply stops writing after the last answer. You are paying for silence rather than proven success, and anyone who does not hold that against their own satisfaction measurement is buying a metric instead of a result. Second, growth: at 10,000 requests a month and the advertised rate you land at roughly 7,500 USD monthly for outcomes alone, plus 35 USD per user for the copilot, 99 USD for the analysis of 1,000 conversations, telephony on custom terms and channel fees for SMS and WhatsApp. Run the vendor's helpdesk as well and the seats come on top. That bill grows exactly in step with your customer count, which is the opposite of a fixed cost block.
What it displaces
- Seat-priced first-line support
- Rule-based chatbot with a decision tree
- Outsourced call center for standard questions
Interfaces
- Runs on third-party helpdesks: Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk
- Channels: chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone, Slack
- Conversation export to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage, historical and ongoing
- API for conversations, contacts and activity logs
Matching methods
- Service BlueprintingA blueprint separates what the customer sees from what happens behind the line, and Fin occupies the front row, first contact, which forces the hand-off backstage to be designed rather than left to chance.
- Value Metric PricingThe method looks for a pricing unit that grows with customer value, and Fin demonstrates that shift in its own model by charging per resolved case rather than per seat.
- Tiered LTV:CAC Targets (3/6/9/12)The tiering raises the required return with every person involved in delivery, and Fin attacks exactly that point by taking first-contact volume out of the headcount-bound cost curve.
Sources
- 1.Price per outcome, price per qualification, minimum volume, two mutually exclusive routes (your existing helpdesk with no seat cost, or the vendor's helpdesk at 29 USD per seat), add-ons, definition of an outcome (opens in a new tab)fin.ai/pricing · As of 2026-07-30
- 2.Acquisition by Salesforce for about 3.6 billion USD, closing expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2027, more than 30,000 customers of the company across all products (opens in a new tab)investor.salesforce.com/…/default.aspx · As of 2026-06-15
- 3.Renaming from Intercom to Fin on 12 May 2026 (opens in a new tab)intercom.com/blog/today-intercom-becomes-fin · As of 2026-05-12
- 4.Certificates, data hosting regions, model providers used, fine-tuning with opt-out (opens in a new tab)fin.ai/trust-reliability · As of 2026-07-30
- 5.Processing addendum automatically part of the contract, transfer mechanism, deletion periods of 30 and 180 days, backups 14 days (opens in a new tab)intercom.com/legal/data-processing-agreement · As of 2026-07-30
- 6.Subprocessors with countries, AI processing on AWS Bedrock in the USA, 20 days notice on changes (opens in a new tab)intercom.com/legal/subprocessors-list · As of 2026-06-25
- 7.EU regional hosting with explicitly named exceptions for account data and support access (opens in a new tab)intercom.com/legal/regional-data-hosting-addendum · As of 2026-07-30
- 8.ISO/IEC 42001 issued by Schellman, vendor states alignment with the EU AI Act (opens in a new tab)intercom.com/blog/intercom-achieves-iso-42001-certification · As of 2026-07-30
- 9.fin.ai (opens in a new tab)As of 2026-07-30
- 10.intercom.com/… (opens in a new tab)As of 2026-07-30
Last reviewed: 2026-07-30 by Dr. Oliver Gausmann, Convios GmbH
Details out of date? Let us know.