Intercom vs Mailgun
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Intercom and Mailgun, verified . Intercom is primarily live chat; Mailgun is primarily transactional email.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
Intercom
- Essential
Messenger, shared inbox, ticketing, help center
$29/mo - Advanced
Workflow automation plus 20 free Lite seats
$85/mo - Expert
SSO, HIPAA, SLAs, multibrand, 50 free Lite seats
$132/mo - Fin AI Agent
Standalone AI agent (no seat fee)
Custom
Mailgun
- Free
Hobby tier capped at 100 emails per day
Free - Basic
Entry paid tier with 10,000 emails/month included
$15/mo - Foundation
50,000 emails/month with template builder and full inbound routing
$35/mo - Scale
100,000 emails/month with SAML SSO, dedicated IP, and live support
$90/mo - Enterprise
Custom contracting for high-volume senders
Custom
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Essential (Intercom) against Basic (Mailgun). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Intercom | Mailgun |
|---|---|---|
| Emails / month | · | 10,000 |
| Team seats | 1 seat (per-seat pricing) | · |
When Intercom wins
- SaaS support teams that need both human chat and high-quality AI deflection
- Enterprises wanting messenger, ticketing, and help center in one tool
- Companies deflecting tier-1 with Fin AI
Where Intercom is the wrong fit
- Small teams who can run on Crisp or Help Scout for far less
- Teams averse to per-AI-outcome pricing
- Cost-conscious buyers who don't need the messenger pedigree
When Mailgun wins
- Developers integrating receipts, notifications, and password-reset emails
- Teams already on a marketing ESP that need a separate transactional channel
- High-volume B2B applications with strict deliverability requirements
Where Mailgun is the wrong fit
- Marketing teams seeking campaign tooling (use Mailchimp or Kit)
- Creators sending newsletters (use Kit or beehiiv)
- Free-tier hobbyists with low total volume but spiky daily-cap-bumping use cases
Common questions
- Is Intercom cheaper than Mailgun?
- At the entry tier, Mailgun starts at Free versus Intercom at $29/mo. Mailgun is cheaper at the entry. Pricing scales differently above that, so check the full plan grid.
- Does Intercom or Mailgun have a free plan?
- Only Mailgun has a permanent free plan. Intercom only offers a free trial.
- Are Intercom and Mailgun in the same category?
- No. Intercom is primarily a live chat tool; Mailgun is primarily a transactional email tool. They overlap on use case but sit in different primary categories, so the comparison is between adjacent tools rather than direct competitors.
- Which has more plans, Intercom or Mailgun?
- Mailgun ships 5 plans; Intercom ships 4. Mailgun's longer ladder gives more granular upgrade steps, which can mean smoother price escalation as your team scales.
- Where can I see alternatives to Intercom or Mailgun?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/intercom for Intercom and /alternatives/mailgun for Mailgun. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/pricing · Mailgun: https://www.mailgun.com/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.