An Intercom alternative for B2B SaaS ticket support
StayUpfront is the best support tool for small and medium-sized B2B SaaS companies. Intercom is built around chat and an AI agent billed by outcome. StayUpfront is built around tickets from businesses, with Una's drafts included and everyone on the team in the price.
One inbox, Una's first drafts, docs and a branded customer portal for your whole team. And when something breaks, the tickets already know about the incident.
Prices are the vendors' own list prices, checked on 25 October 2026, in US dollars as published. StayUpfront is in pounds, excluding VAT.
The short answer
- Choose StayUpfront for ticket-based B2B support: inbox, Una, docs and a company-wide portal, with no seat or outcome bill.
- Choose Intercom if live chat and an AI agent inside your product are the centre of your support.
Tickets first, with AI that drafts and your team sends
- Inbox and replies. Assignment, categories, internal notes, @mentions and watchers. Optional SLAs on every plan; on Intercom, SLAs are on Expert.
- Una. Triage and reply drafts on every plan, and an automatic, labelled first acknowledgement, with an off switch. Intercom's Fin is $0.99 per outcome on every plan, and Copilot is $35 per agent a month ($29 annual).
- Docs and portal. A searchable help centre plus a portal where customers see their company's tickets, docs, changelog and status.
One record when something breaks
Incidents and the status page live alongside tickets, linked both ways, so the reply and the status update tell one story. On-call and monitoring are included on every plan.
StayUpfront vs Intercom, side by side (checked 25 October 2026)
| Intercom Essential | Intercom Advanced | StayUpfront Starter | StayUpfront Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per seat, plus Fin per outcome | Per seat (20 Lite seats included), plus Fin | Contacts; whole team | Contacts; whole team |
| Five people, monthly (annual) | $195 ($145) plus $0.99 per Fin outcome | $495 ($425) plus Fin | £79 (founding £49) up to 100 contacts | £149 (founding £99) up to 500 contacts |
| Live chat | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Help centre | Public | Private and multilingual | Yes, with per-group visibility | Yes, with per-group visibility |
| SLAs | No (on Expert) | No (on Expert) | Yes | Yes |
| Incidents and status page | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Best for | Chat-led support, small team | Chat at scale with light seats | Small B2B SaaS tickets | Growing B2B SaaS |
Intercom figures are list prices. New customers are currently offered 35% off annual Essential ($19 a seat, so $95 for five) and 25% off monthly Essential (checked 25 October 2026).
Prices checked 25 October 2026 on each vendor's pricing page; next re-check w/c 30 November 2026. Sources: Intercom.
Intercom's full seats are priced per person and Fin is priced per outcome, so cost rises with both headcount and volume. StayUpfront's price follows customer contacts only. Very early startups on Intercom's Early Stage programme (up to 93% off) may pay less for a while.
When Intercom is the better buy
- Live chat and in-product messaging are your main channel. StayUpfront has no chat widget, and no social or WhatsApp channels.
- You want an AI agent to resolve conversations on its own at volume. Una drafts and your team sends.
- You qualify for Intercom's Early Stage discount. It can make Intercom the cheaper choice for a while.
- You need to import your history. StayUpfront has no importer yet.
More on running one tool instead of several: why support tools sprawl.
Questions people ask
How much does Intercom cost for a small team?
On 25 October 2026: Essential lists at $39 per seat billed monthly ($29 annually), plus $0.99 per Fin outcome. New customers are currently offered 35% off an annual Essential plan ($19 a seat) and 25% off a monthly one, for as long as they stay subscribed.
Does StayUpfront have live chat?
No. Support arrives as tickets, through the inbox and the customer portal.
Is Una charged per resolution?
No. Una is included on every plan.
Does StayUpfront include SLAs?
Yes, optional SLAs on every plan, with first-response, next-response and resolution clocks.
Can I move from Intercom?
No importer yet; customers load via the bulk API and docs import as Markdown.
Related comparisons
Try it with your own queue.
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