My AskAI v Intercom Fin AI agent

Created time

Sep 2, 2025 09:41 AM

Ready for draft

Author

Mike Heap

Ecomm?

I can use AI to reply in Intercom now…?

Yes.

Unless you have been hiding under an AI rock you will be aware that since early 2023, Intercom has provided customers with the ability to use AI to automatically reply to conversations, emails and tickets using their AI agent, Fin AI.

What you might not have been aware of, is that, for almost as long, there have been approved 3rd party apps (live in Intercom’s app store) that you can use to replace (most of) Fin AI functionality, all without moving from your Intercom helpdesk.

A screenshot of the Intercom app store, with a search query of “My AskAI” entered and the My AskAI app circled, with an arrow pointing to it.

How does an AI customer service agent work in Intercom?

Principally, all AI customer service helpdesk apps for Intercom work in a similar way, whether they are Fin AI or 3rd party:

Train the AI agent with your company or product knowledge.

Turn it on - replying to customers (generally as a ‘tier 1’ agent).

If the AI can’t answer, or if the customer wants to speak to a person, it will hand over the conversation (or ticket) to a human agent to respond so the customer can get the support they need.

That is the 10,000ft explanation.

There are, however, many variations on how all of that is done.

So let’s get into the comparison:

What are the different ways I can use my AI agent in Intercom?

Direct replies

The main way people use AI agents (both Fin AI and My AskAI) is to directly reply to customers within the chat, conversation or ticket itself.

A screenshot of the Fin AI chat widget with the Fin AI agent asking “Hi Sara, how can I help?” and the reply from the customer saying “What’s the main difference between my current PayVona plan and the Pro plan?”

However, this isn’t the only way AI customer service can be used or tested.

Copilot replies

Both Fin and My AskAI have ‘Copilot’ options for their AI agents.

These allow you to use your AI agent to reply behind-the-scenes.

The Fin AI agent copilot is embedded into the Intercom helpdesk, whereas My AskAI’s is injected into the Intercom helpdesk via a Chrome Extension.

In both cases, as a message comes in, you can just click a button to generate a response.

Also, in both cases, you can choose for content to be used that is internal-only, so your human agents can use more knowledge than your AI agent uses for direct replies to users.

Internal note replies

This one is exclusive to My AskAI (with no Fin AI equivalent).

It allows you to run the My AskAI AI agent as if it were responding to all the messages in a conversation or ticket BUT only via internal notes, so only the human agent can see them.

A screenshot of the My AskAI agent within Intercom replying in notes mode to a user question.

This is a great way to see how the AI agent will behave in a real conversation before putting it live.

A lot of our users start with this (plus the Copilot replies) so they can get a feel for things and check they are ready to go-live.

Which is easier to setup, Intercom Fin AI or My AskAI?

As Fin is Intercom’s own AI agent (and their big new bet for revenue in their business), it goes without saying that it is very easy to turn on, especially if you primarily want to train on an existing Intercom Help Center or website.

My AskAI, being a 3rd party app, is marginally more work (we’re talking an extra 5-10 mins) as you need to:

Connect your Intercom Help Center and/or website.

Install the My AskAI Intercom AI agent app.

However, all of this can be done without having any specialized technical knowledge.

After the initial setup is where things differ.

Because Intercom has a legacy helpdesk product that their Fin AI agent has been “added to”, it isn’t always the easiest to find features within Fin.

Combining this with Fin’s rich feature set (more on this later), means that it can be a little overwhelming if you aren’t already an Intercom power-user.

My AskAI, on the other hand was built from the ground up as an AI customer service agent.

Therefore, it has a simpler menu and navigation with fewer opportunities for confusion.

This makes it a lot easier to explore and get your head around the capabilities of your new AI agent.

How do they differ in what they can be trained on?

The first thing you need to do with an AI customer service agent (much like with a human) is train it - give it the information and content so it can answer questions.

Fin and My AskAI can both be trained on a variety of different sources - here’s how they compare:

‘Static’ content

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI
Intercom Help Articles	✅	✅
Zendesk Help Articles	✅	✅
Freshdesk Help Articles	✅	✅
Websites	✅	✅
Google Drive	❌	✅
Notion	🟠 - for copilot only	✅
Confluence	🟠 - for copilot only	✅
Guru	🟠 - for copilot only	❌
OneDrive	❌	✅
Dropbox	❌	✅
SharePoint	❌	✅
Shopify	🟠 - via MCPs	✅
Salesforce	❌	✅

So, My AskAI has many more ways you can bring more static content (help center articles or SOPs) into your AI agent.

There are also a number of sources that Fin only allows agents to use when using “Copilot” mode (this is where an agent can click a button in Intercom to generate an answer and edit before sending).

In My AskAI, all “internal” sources. e.g. Google Drive, Notion et al, can be set to only be used in its Copilot mode, so you get the best of both worlds.

In addition to these 3rd party sources of information, both Fin AI agent and My AskAI allow you to add content and answers directly into their respective AI agents, via Custom Answers and Knowledge Snippets.

A screenshot of the Improve - Custom Answers section of the My AskAI dashboard, showing how to add a new custom answer.

‘Dynamic’ content

Where Intercom’s Fin stands apart from most AI customer service agents on the market today is its ability to connect to dynamic data sources via its “Actions” and “Data Connector” features.

These utilize MCPs to enable connections to almost any service.

A screenshot demonstrating Fin AI’s actions allowing the customer to get their order information from Shopify.

In Fin’s own words (slightly edited for readability…):

“Fin integrates with dynamic data sources through features called Data connectors and MCP connectors.

These allow Fin to connect to any external system that has an API, including custom internal tools or third-party platforms like Shopify, Salesforce, Stripe, and Jira.

You can set up these integrations to let Fin access real-time information, retrieve customer-specific data, or even perform actions in those systems.

Data connectors support both JSON and XML responses, and you can configure them to pass dynamic attributes or transform data as needed. MCP connectors further expand these capabilities, enabling Fin to interact with a wide range of business tools for more complete and efficient customer resolutions”

That is all to say - you could technically connect your Fin AI agent to pretty much anything in your company that you can expose via API.

The same is true for My AskAI, although currently this can only be done via custom Actions/Tools (not via MCPs).

Either way, if you are going beyond the ‘out of the box’ Stripe and Shopify actions or tools, you will need a developer on your team involved (or you’ll need to spend a hefty amount of time with ChatGPT…).

Which has better answer quality, Intercom Fin AI or My AskAI?

I would love to categorically show you some data that showed this either way, however, there isn’t really any simple, real-world test that can show this.

So, we will compare based on real-world data that is out there and let you be the judge.

As of the time of writing, Fin AI had resolved 36,088,817 conversations, with a last 30-day resolution rate of 65%.

A screenshot from Fin AI’s website showing their total resolved conversations (36,088,817) along with a chart showing their climbing average resolution rate each month, peaking at 65% in Jul 2025.

My AskAI, on the other hand, had resolved 1,170,303 conversations, with a last 30-day resolution rate of 74.9%.

A screenshot from My AskAI’s website showing their total customer support tickets resolve by AI agents (1,170,303), along with their AI resolution rate for the last 30 days of 74.9%

Not much in it.

To give another real-world example:

One of our customers, Freecash, were offered a free trial of Fin for 30 days on over 50,000 conversations.

After Intercom threw their finest support engineers at it, 30 days later they were only able to show a 1% improvement in resolution rate over My AskAI (not ideal for a 483% increase in price!)

A case study testimonial card from Howard Blick, Customer Service Team Lead at Freecash, a B2C Intercom user, it reads: “It (My AskAI) now resolves 71% of queries (over 35,000 every month), meaning more time solving complex issues and improving UX”, it goes on to say “My AskAI’s Intercom integration stood out not only because of its impressive answer accuracy but also because of how well it worked with our existing Intercom setup. The combination of precision and effortless setup made it invaluable”.

Both tools also have “Test” features that allow you to try out your AI agent on a batch of your historic tickets, so you can see exactly how questions would have been answered.

At the end of the day, the only way you can really get a feel for answer quality is by testing out for yourself and seeing which you prefer; sometimes it just comes down to preference!

Which AI agent is easier to improve over time?

Training your AI customer service agent is only the first step in the process.

To improve your AI resolution (deflection) rate (aside from overall model improvements by Intercom and My AskAI), you need to monitor how your agent is responding, identify areas it can’t answer and update your knowledge base to address these gaps.

Both Fin and My AskAI have features that help with this. Here’s an overview:

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI
Resolution rate	✅	✅
AI CSAT/CX Score	✅	✅
Knowledge gap identification	✅	✅
Learn from historic tickets	✅	✅
Batch testing	✅	✅
Content performance	✅	✅
Inspect answers	✅	✅
Content optimization	✅	❌
Optimize dashboard	✅	❌
AI knowledge articles	✅	❌

Both agents will show you which conversations and tickets are resulting in human handovers, and both have tools that will help you identify where you have missing knowledge in your help centers.

Both tools will also let you generate a new knowledge snippet or custom answer from your human agents’ responses.

A screenshot of the Improve - Knowledge Gaps section of the My AskAI dashboard, showing an example identified knowledge gap and an AI draft from past tickets.

With Fin this is done directly from the ticket itself, and with My AskAI this is done from a linked note that takes you to your Dashboard.

A screenshot from Intercom showing an internal note generated by the My AskAI agent with an option to “Inspect the conversation” in the My AskAI dashboard.

You can also set up tests based on historic tickets in Intercom to see how your AI agent is performing at any time too, so you can review the impact your new knowledge or guidance has had on responses.

Where the Fin AI agent separates itself is through allowing you to improve your existing articles and create articles in full from Intercom itself, this is a feature My AskAI doesn’t have.

Also, Fin’s Optimize Dashboard can be useful for super detailed debugging, owing to their deeper integration of Fin within the Intercom platform.

A screenshot of the Fin AI agent Optimize Dashboard with funnel charts.

These are however, more advanced features and the bulk of your improvements will come from simple knowledge gap identification, inspecting and testing.

Which has more features, Intercom Fin AI or My AskAI?

The short answer is: Intercom Fin has a few more features.

But the longer answer is more interesting (and probably more useful).

Intercom are at a unique point in history where they are able to move like a startup, despite being a unicorn ($1bn+ company).

This has meant they are able to be truly innovative and first-to-market with a lot of features in their Fin AI agent.

However, it doesn’t mean, that you need them all, or that My AskAI can’t follow very quickly behind.

Here’s a quick summary of their current features at the time of writing:

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI
AI direct replies	✅	✅
AI note replies	❌	✅
AI copilot	✅ (paid add-on)	✅
Channels	Email, Live chat, API, WhatsApp, Messenger	Email, Live chat, API, WhatsApp, Messenger
Voice	✅	❌
Trained on help centers	✅	✅
Trained on website	✅	✅
Trained on internal knowledge sources	✅ (only for copilot)	✅
Image input	✅	❌
Multilingual	✅	✅
Human handover	✅	✅
Personalized user data responses	✅	✅
Actions/tools	✅	✅
Guidance	✅	✅
Tasks/Procedures	✅	✅
AI CSAT	✅	✅
Conversation monitoring	✅	✅
Insights/analytics	✅	✅
Knowledge gap identification	✅	✅
Answer inspection	✅	✅
Batch testing	✅	✅
Audience testing	✅	❌
AI tagging	✅	✅
AI translations	🟧 Incoming only	✅
Slack integration	✅	✅
Teams integration	❌	✅
Zapier integration	❌	✅
API	✅	✅

As you can see, both AI customer service agents are pretty closely matched in terms of features.

Fin AI has a few additional advanced features, like voice support, image inputs but My AskAI has more extensive reply and translation features.

One of the more powerful features of both products are there features that allows the completion of complex, multi-step processes.

Think things like: transaction disputes, account updates and refunds, where you need a combination of decisions, data collection, lookups and actions.

Fin AI uses “Procedures” to do this (replacing “Tasks”).

These allow you to write instructions in natural language and tag tools (data connectors) and update tags.

A screenshot showing Fin’s Procedure feature.

My AskAI has a similar feature in “Tasks”, which allow you to wrap multiple API (or tool) calls in one task so your agent can autonomously complete actions for you.

A screenshot showing My AskAI’s Tasks feature.

My AskAI also has a few integrations with other tools that Fin currently does not have, including native Microsoft Teams and Zapier integrations.

So it really will depend here what is important for your use case.

If you get a lot of images sent in or most of your tickets are voice, then Fin may suit you, if not, then it may come down to other factors.

Is it easy to customize them both?

Both Fin AI and My AskAI have extensive customization options.

Fin has more in-product customization - as it has more features and can build on the base on their Intercom helpdesk platform, however, almost every Fin feature can be replicated by My AskAI.

You can use My AskAI in workflows, you can trigger for certain users, or on certain conversations.

If you have a custom set-up you are trying to replicate with My AskAI, get in touch because there is a good chance we have either seen it before or can come up with something to fit.

Where My AskAI stands out from Fin AI (and Intercom), is our ability to fit the product around your use case.

We can work with you to get set up and even develop custom features that may not be available in Fin or Intercom.

This is something you will struggle to get Intercom to do, unless you have a very large number of tickets and a big budget.

What about vendor lock-in?

Moving helpdesks is a big deal.

It’s not a decision anyone takes lightly and is only usually done as a last resort.

So knowing whether you are going to have to move is often an important consideration.

Both My AskAI and Fin AI can be used on platforms apart from Intercom, however some integrations are easier than others.

The easiest type of integration is an approved, native marketplace app, meaning you can use the AI agent without having to spend any money on expensive developers or agencies.

Not every integration, however, will be native, and so this is when the API integrations can be useful, however, this can be complex, time-consuming and expensive to set-up, so be warned.

Here’s a full list of vendors compatible (where you can use their AI agents) with Fin AI and My AskAI:

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI
Zendesk	✅	✅
HubSpot	Custom API	✅
Freshdesk	Custom API	✅
Gorgias	Custom API	✅
Zoho	Custom API	Custom API
Dixa	Custom API	Custom API
Front	Custom API	Custom API
Sprinklr	Custom API	Custom API

So while both AI agents can be integrated into other helpdesk platforms, My AskAI has the edge on native integrations.

A screenshot of the Channels section of the My AskAI dashboard showing the 5 native integration options of Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk and HubSpot.

This means you can move to another helpdesk (or stay with your existing) by just installing an app, rather than having to hire an agency for a migration or engaging a sales team.

Does either AI agent have any other AI features?

In addition to their core AI agent reply features, both AI agents have adjacent AI features that can help with your helpdesk management and agent replies.

Tagging

Currently in beta for Fin AI and already live in My AskAI, AI tagging removes the monotony of agents having to classify tickets manually.

Instead, based on a category name and short description, the AI will automatically tag conversations and tickets as they are raised.

This not only removes the manual reporting burden from people, but also can be used as a way to triage tickets or route to certain workflows more intelligently.

A screenshot showing the Auto-tagging setup for Intercom within the My AskAI Dashboard.

Agent translation

While both AI agents are multilingual in 95 languages, when the conversation is passed over to a member of your human team it isn’t always the case that they are fluent.

Both Fin AI and My AskAI can offer options to translate all messages in the conversation to a default language, in line, so the agent can understand what is going on.

Fin AI does this by changing the message itself, whereas My AskAI does this by adding a note reply subsequent to each message.

A screenshot in Intercom of the My AskAI agent translating a user’s message and showing the agent’s sent message in their language.

Where the two agents differ is in replies.

My AskAI also has a feature that allows the agent to type their response in their own language, before sending their response in the customer’s (with both languages visible).

A screenshot of the Intercom reply box that has a “Translate & Send” button next to the “Send” button, that has been added in by the My AskAI Copilot.

This makes it much easier for the human agent to respond in more languages.

Fin AI does not have a comparable feature currently.

What about security, is Fin AI more secure than My AskAI?

As a large business, with over $240m in funding, that has been around for almost 15 years, unsurprisingly, Intercom’s Fin has a few more security certifications than My AskAI.

This doesn’t mean that My AskAI is not secure though, far from it, you can read more about our security practices here.

We do know that some businesses have certification requirements though, so here are the two AI agents compared for the most popular certifications:

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI
GDPR	✅	✅
CCPA	✅	✅
SOC-2 Type II	✅	✅
HIPAA	✅	❌
ISO 270001:2022	✅	❌
ISO 27018	✅	❌
ISO 27701	✅	❌
ISO/IEC 42001:2023	✅	❌

If you want to use My AskAI but require one of the missing certifications, get in touch with us via our chat as we may already be starting work towards it!

The big question - how much do they each cost?

This is where we see the biggest difference between the two AI agents: Price.

There are 2 big differences here:

The pricing model

The Fin AI agent ushered in a new form of pricing, called ‘outcome-based’ pricing, aka ‘resolution’ pricing.

This means that Intercom essentially decides whether or not you should be charged for their service on each conversation or ticket.

Fin AI will charge $0.99 for each resolution or deflection by the agent.

So, if either of the following happens, you will be charged for the conversation:

The user asks a question, gets a response and doesn’t get transferred to a human agent in a 24-hour window

The user asks a question, gets a response and confirms that the response helped or resolved their question

But this also means if the user asks a question, gets a response that doesn’t answer their question, goes away frustrated or distracted, then you also get charged.

It also means that as the AI improves, both from Fin AI getting better but also from you doing the work to improve its knowledge, you will pay more, and that amount can vary considerably each month.

A screenshot from Reddit of a post titled: “My Intercom billing shot up by 120%, it was because of AI chatbot”. The body reads: “I used Intercom’s AI chatbot fin for my company, the cost shot up and I’m not able to see significant productivity improvement. I was already spending over $4k/month, with 40 agents. Now its shot up to $9k. Is it only me or others are also seeing it?”

My AskAI charges for every ticket its AI agent is involved in, but at a much, much lower rate.

Apart from the cost (more on that in a second), it also means:

You can easily predict your costs as you know how many tickets you get

As you improve the AI’s agent’s responses and as we improve our service, the cost per ticket overall decreases (as the AI resolves more tickets autonomously, without a person).

They are very different models of pricing: in theory, outcome-based pricing sounds fair, but the unpredictability and high per ticket cost can quickly mean you are facing very large bills.

The overall cost

The other important consideration is the absolute cost of each AI agent.

Let’s do a quick comparison example:

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI
Number of human agents	20	20
# of tickets/conversations	10,000	10,000
AI resolution rate	50%	50%
AI replies monthly cost	$4,950 (@ $0.99 per resolution)	$1,000 (@ $0.10 per ticket)
Copilot monthly cost	$700 (@ $35 per agent)	$0
Total monthly cost	$5,650	$1,000 ($4,650 saving)
Annual cost	$67,800	$12,000 ($57,800 saving)

In this scenario, My AskAI is over 5x cheaper than Fin AI!

A screenshot of My AskAI’s pricing plan for their Pro plan at $149/mo.

If we increase the resolution rate to a median of the two AI agents’ current resolution rates at around 70%, My AskAI becomes a massive 7.6x cheaper than Fin AI.

You can see what this would look like for your business using our AI Agent Pricing Comparison calculator here.

Conclusion - which should I choose?

Ok, thanks for sticking with me, now, it’s time to tally up our comparison and come up with a conclusion over which AI agent you should choose for your Intercom helpdesk.

Let’s start by summarizing our categories so far:

ㅤ	Intercom Fin AI Agent	My AskAI	ㅤ
Modes	8/10	9/10	My AskAI win
Ease of setup	8/10	7/10	Fin win
Training/Integrations	9/10	8/10	Fin win
Answer Quality	8/10	8/10	Tie
Improving	9/10	8/10	Fin win
Features	10/10	8/10	Fin win
Price	4/10	9/10	My AskAI win
Customization	6/10	8/10	My AskAI win
Lock-in	6/10	9/10	My AskAI win
Other AI features	7/10	8/10	My AskAI win
Security	10/10	7/10	Fin win

After all that, a fair share of wins for each AI agent, not a lot between them.

I could carry on, but I want to make it easy for you, so let’s make it super simple:

Ultimately, you should choose Intercom’s Fin AI agent if:

You need some of their advanced features today (literally as soon as you sign up, and can’t wait a few months), like MCP integrations

You need voice support or image inputs (again, if you need these today, as they are on our roadmap)

You have to have HIPAA, or ISO 27001 compliance

You are price-insensitive, and paying 5x to 8x what you could be paying to get marginal gains of a few % is worth it for your customer base

But if the above isn’t necessary, you are trying to actually save money by using AI, AND want direct support from the founders of the business, choose My AskAI.

FAQ

Can the My AskAI AI agent fully replace Intercom Fin AI inside Intercom?

Yes. Both support direct, automated replies and “copilot” (agent-assist) replies. My AskAI also adds an “internal-notes only” mode so you can trial answers safely before going live.

What can each AI agent be trained on?

Both train on help centers and websites. Fin AI restricts some internal sources to copilot mode, while My AskAI brings in more “static” sources (e.g., Google Drive, Notion, Confluence, OneDrive, Dropbox, SharePoint, Salesforce) and lets you mark sources as internal-only. For “dynamic” data, Fin offers Data Connectors/MCP; My AskAI supports custom Actions/Tools for similar outcomes.

How long does setup take and do we need developers?

Fin AI is very quick to turn on inside Intercom. My AskAI adds ~5–10 minutes (sign up, connect help center/site, install the Intercom app) with no special skills required. Developers are only needed if you’re wiring up custom, beyond-the-box actions/tools.

How do Fin AI vs My AskAI pricing models differ - and what might we actually pay?

Fin AI uses outcome-based (per-resolution) pricing, which can be volatile as resolution rates rise. My AskAI charges per ticket at a lower, predictable rate of $0.10 per ticket. Example: with 10k conversations, 20 agents and 50% AI resolution, Fin AI would cost $5,650/month vs My AskAI at $1,000/month (≈5x cheaper). At ~70% resolution, the gap widens further.

Can they handle multilingual support and agent translations?

Yes - both are multilingual. My AskAI additionally lets human agents write in their own language and “translate & send” to the customer, and it can add translation as notes so the original message stays intact; Fin AI doesn’t currently have this feature.

How do they compare on security and compliance?

Intercom Fin AI holds more certifications (e.g., HIPAA, ISO frameworks) in addition to GDPR/CCPA. My AskAI is GDPR and SOC-2 Type II compliant, documents its security practices and you can contact us if you require specific certifications not yet available.