The short answer
- For 5 agents on Intercom Advanced, Chatwoot's cloud plan covers email, live chat, assignment, macros and a help center, and is modeled to save $3,060 in year one. the math
- For 1 person answering support email, an agent skill that drafts replies did the job in our test: 12 of 12 test tickets passed a strict grader after 5 rounds (Stackcut's own test, not a customer). our test
- Help Scout's free plan (5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month) may already cover a tiny team. the math
- Stay on a help desk if you need SLAs, assignment, reporting or a shared team inbox, or if replies must go out without a person checking them. our test
Who should switch, and who shouldn't
Switch if
- You handle under about 20 tickets a day and 1 or 2 people answer email. our test
- You use email, chat, assignment, macros and a help center, not Fin, voice or complex routing. recipe
- Your renewal is coming up. Zendesk needs 30 days' notice before the term ends, or it auto-renews. support.zendesk.com
Stay if
- You rely on SLA policies and timers, CSAT surveys, assignment rules or support reporting. support.zendesk.com
- An AI agent answers tickets for you: none of these paths matches Intercom's Fin, which is billed at $0.99 per outcome on top of seats. intercom.com
- Tickets carry regulated data such as health or payments. our test
What Zendesk and Intercom cost today
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk Support Team | not shown | $19/agent/mo | |
| Zendesk Suite Team | not shown | $55/agent/mo | |
| Zendesk Suite Professional | not shown | $115/agent/mo | |
| Intercom Essential | $39/agent/mo | $29/agent/mo | |
| Intercom Advanced | $99/agent/mo | $85/agent/mo | |
| Intercom Expert | not shown | $132/agent/mo |
- Intercom's Fin AI agent is billed on top at $0.99 per outcome. intercom.com
The alternatives, ranked
4 ways out, ranked by modeled saving in the first year after setup and upkeep (3 priced). Modeled, not measured: each figure links the math on the recipe page.
- Chatwoot paths are modeled for 5 agents against Intercom Advanced at $85/agent/mo billed yearly; the agent skill for 1 person against Zendesk Suite Team. recipe
- Tested by Stackcut: 12 of 12 test tickets passed a strict independent grader after 5 rounds. our test
- No new subscription if you already pay for an agent that runs skills: a skill is a folder of files the agent loads. agentskills.io
- Drafts only: nothing is sent, deleted or changed without a person. our test
- No ticket queue, assignment, SLAs, reporting, live chat or help center. our test
- Fixing one rule can break another reply; re-run the whole ticket set after every change. our test
- Help Scout's free plan (5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month) may already cover a tiny team. helpscout.com
What support costs at 1, 5 and 20 agents
Per-agent list prices, billed yearly where the vendor offers it. Free plans stop at a set number of agents.
| Option | List price | 1 agent | 5 agents | 20 agents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zendesk Support Team today | $19/agent/mobilled yearly | $19 | $95 | $380 |
| Zendesk Suite Team today | $55/agent/mobilled yearly | $55 | $275 | $1,100 |
| Intercom Essential today | $29/agent/mobilled yearly | $29 | $145 | $580 |
| Intercom Advanced today | $85/agent/mobilled yearly | $85 | $425 | $1,700 |
| Help Scout Standard | $25/agent/mobilled yearly | $25 | $125 | $500 |
| Front Starter | $25/agent/mobilled yearly | $25 | $125 | up to 10 users |
| Chatwoot Startups (cloud) | $19/agent/mobilling not stated | $19 | $95 | $380 |
| Chatwoot Hacker (free cloud) | $0/agent/mofree, 500 conversations a month | $0 | up to 2 users | up to 2 users |
| Help Scout Free | $0/agent/mo1 inbox, 100 contacts a month | $0 | $0 | up to 5 users |
| Agent skill that drafts repliesdrafts only; a person sends | $0/moruns in the agent you already pay for | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Chatwoot community (self-hosted) | $0 licensecommunity and paid editions differ | $0+ your server | $0+ your server | $0+ your server |
How to leave Zendesk and Intercom
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
- Keep answering from your current tool while the new one runs for a week, then re-point your support address and chat widget, then cancel. recipe
How to leave Zendesk
Export first
- Tickets, users, organizations: Admin Center → Account → Tools → Reports (after Support enables it) (JSON, CSV (no comments), XML (≤500 MB)). Suite Growth+/Support Professional+; Team plans must use the REST API. Can take a day; links last ≥3 days. support.zendesk.com
What you lose
- SLA policies and timers
- CSAT surveys
- Assignment, collision detection, reporting
Cancel
- Export tickets as JSON (CSV leaves out comments). The account owner must first ask Zendesk Support to enable exports.
- Admin Center → Account → Billing → Subscription → Manage → Remove products or cancel account (account owner only; sales-assisted accounts must contact Sales).
- Takes effect
- End of the billing cycle.
- Refunds
- Fees are non-cancelable and non-refundable.
- Notice
- 30 days before the term ends, or the term auto-renews (revops@zendesk.com).
- After you cancel
- Data deletion starts 90 days after cancellation; tickets are then removed within 40 days, irreversibly.
How to leave Intercom
Export first
- Conversation data: Reports → Dataset export (CSV, JSON to Amazon S3). The CSV holds IDs, timestamps, attributes and metrics, not message text; exporting a single conversation from the inbox gives the full transcript. Data goes back up to 2 years. intercom.com
Cancel
- Export conversation data first (see export).
- Settings → Subscription → Billing → Payment details → Cancel subscription.
- On a contract, talk to your account manager instead of cancelling in the app.
- Takes effect
- You keep access until the end of the current billing period, then lose it.
- Refunds
- Annual subscriptions are paid upfront and aren't refunded pro rata if you cancel early.
- Notice
- Contract customers must give written notice at least 30 days before the renewal date, or the contract renews for another 12 months.
- After you cancel
- Cancelling doesn't delete your data, but you lose access to it once the subscription ends unless you restart a plan.
How to leave Help Scout
Export first
- Conversations, customers, users: Inbox API (rate limit by plan: 200/400/800 per minute) (JSON) docs.helpscout.com
- Knowledge base articles: Docs API (JSON) docs.helpscout.com
- Reports: Reports → Export (CSV, XLSX) docs.helpscout.com
What you lose
- SLA policies
- Satisfaction surveys
- Workflow auto-assignment
- Report history
Cancel
- Export conversations (Inbox API) and Docs articles (Docs API) first.
- Avatar → Your Plan (→ Manage your plan) → Delete Account (account owner only).
- Takes effect
- Immediately: access ends when you delete, so export first.
- Refunds
- 30-day money-back guarantee on your first payment; otherwise no refunds for partial or annual periods.
- Notice
- None.
- After you cancel
- Terms allow restoring data on written request within 14 days (the cancel doc says 60): plan around 14.
Not covered by the paths above, per the recipe: Fin parity, Voice, Complex routing, Enterprise SLAs, SSO and audit parity in free editions. If you rely on one of these, keep the incumbent or check the path closely.
Open-source and forkable options
- Chatwoot community: 5 agents; email and basic website support License: Community and paid editions differ. Self-hosted pricing: https://www.chatwoot.com/pricing/self-hosted-plans
Open source means no license fee, not free to run: the server, backups and upgrades are yours. Read the license before you fork or resell; several of these are open-core or source-available.
Replace with AI, or hand it to an agent skill
Agent skill Agent skill: draft support repliesTested by Stackcut · Works, with caveats: 1 person answering support email from their normal inbox. The skill drafts replies from your help docs and suggests tags; a person checks and sends every reply. First year: saves $160 (modeled, not measured).
Replace with AI Replace with AI: small-team support inbox: Configure a maintained inbox and migrate supported history; optionally add a supervised draft assistant. Not priced in the catalog yet.
Tested by Stackcut
Stackcut's own test, not a customer: we ran the path end to end on one of our own products.
Help desk seat → an agent skill that drafts support replies
Question. Can a skill folder (SKILL.md plus reference files) draft support replies good enough to send after a quick human check, without a help desk subscription?
Numbers
- 12 test tickets, strict independent grader
- Pass rate by round: 9, 9, 11, 11, 12 of 12
- Longest passing draft: 136 words
- About 6.5 minutes of agent time per test round
Verdict
Good replacement for a low-volume help desk if a person reviews every draft before sending. Budget a few hours to write the reference files and a test set, and re-test after every change.
Good fit when
- Under ~20 tickets a day
- Your answers live in a few pages of facts and policies
- One or two people answer email
Not a fit when
- You need SLAs, ticket assignment, reporting or a shared inbox for a team
- Replies must go out without a person checking them
- You handle regulated data (health, payments) in tickets
FAQ
Can I leave Zendesk mid-contract?
You can cancel, but Zendesk fees are non-cancelable and non-refundable, cancelling takes effect at the end of the billing cycle, and you need 30 days' notice before the term ends or it auto-renews. support.zendesk.com
How do I get my tickets out of Zendesk?
Export them as JSON, since CSV leaves out comments. The account owner must first ask Zendesk Support to enable exports, and Team plans have to use the REST API. support.zendesk.com
How do I cancel Intercom?
Settings → Subscription → Billing → Payment details → Cancel subscription. On a contract, give written notice at least 30 days before renewal through your account manager. intercom.com
Can an agent skill replace a help desk?
For 1 or 2 people answering email, it can, as long as a person checks and sends every draft. It has no ticket queue, assignment, SLAs, reporting, live chat or help center. Stackcut's own test, not a customer. our test
Keep reading
Check your own stack
Get your free stack audit
Stackcut finds every software subscription in your inbox and shows what to cancel, what to pay per use, and what AI can replace, with a spec and a cost for each. Your stack audit is free and takes about 2 minutes.
Or ask your agent
Connect the Stackcut MCP server (https://stackcut.io/mcp, no API key) and ask: “We're 3 people on Zendesk Suite Team and answer about 10 support emails a day. What should we do?”
find_alternatives({"vendor": "Zendesk", "seats": 3,
"features_used": ["Email support", "Macros", "Public help content"]})