Moving from Intercom (and Fin AI)

Migrating from Intercom to Crisp (and from Fin AI to Hugo)? You're in the right place.

Switching support tools is rarely about features. Most of the time, it’s about how well your setup scales: pricing predictability, flexibility, and how easily AI fits into your existing workflows.

If you're currently using Intercom and considering Crisp, your main concern is simple: will you lose anything, and how hard is it to switch?

This guide is designed to answer that. It will help you understand how conversations flow inside Crisp, how your current Intercom setup translates, and how to migrate step by step without breaking your workflow.

You'll find:

The key idea: you won’t need to rebuild your setup, you’ll translate it.

How AI works inside Crisp

Artificial Intelligence is now a core part of modern customer support. In Crisp, AI is not an add-on, but a system designed to reduce repetitive work and structure how conversations reach your team.

If you're coming from Intercom, this will feel familiar.

Just like Fin AI, Hugo sits at the entry point of your support and handles incoming conversations before they reach your team.

A simple, two-step conversation flow

When a user sends a message, Hugo analyzes the request and tries to answer it using your knowledge base and data.

If the request can be resolved automatically, the conversation is handled instantly. If not, it is escalated to your team with full context.

In practice, this means:

simple questions are handled immediately
complex conversations are routed to your team

How to get started with Hugo?

How to configure Escalation with Hugo AI Agent

How this appears inside your inbox

This flow is directly visible inside the Crisp inbox.

In many setups, conversations are first processed inside an Automated inbox, where Hugo handles incoming requests. Only conversations that require human input are then routed to your main inbox.

This helps your team focus only on what actually needs attention, while keeping visibility on automated conversations.

How Hugo handles conversations automatically?

Now that you understand how conversations are handled inside Crisp, let’s look at what actually changes in the interface, and how your current Intercom setup maps to it.

How Intercom maps to Crisp

The goal here is simple: help you quickly understand how your current habits translate inside Crisp.

If you're coming from Intercom, most of the interface will feel familiar.

The core concepts are the same, but a few elements work slightly differently. These are the ones that matter most in your daily workflow.

1. Reminder (vs Snooze)

In Intercom, you can snooze a conversation to temporarily remove it from your inbox and bring it back later.

In Crisp, this is handled through reminders. Instead of hiding the conversation, you explicitly schedule a follow-up.

This makes follow-ups more intentional and easier to track, especially when managing multiple conversations at once.

How do Reminders work?

2. Conversation status

Intercom uses statuses like open, closed, or snoozed.

Crisp uses a slightly different model: Open, Pending, and Resolved.

In Crisp, Pending is typically used when the conversation requires additional work before it can be resolved.

For example, when you need to investigate an issue, check something internally, or wait before providing a complete answer.

This helps structure your workflow more clearly:

Open → needs immediate action
Pending → being handled, but not resolved yet
Resolved → completed

As a result, your team gets a clearer view of what requires attention versus what is already in progress.

3. Tags

Tags exist in both Intercom and Crisp and serve a similar purpose.

In Crisp, they appear in the sidebar under “Segments for conversation” and provide immediate context about the request (topic, channel, priority, etc.).

They can be added manually, automatically via workflows, or by Hugo.

Tags are commonly used to filter conversations, trigger automations, and structure your inbox.

What is a segment and how can it help your team?

How can I automatically set user segments?

4. Message shortcuts (vs Macros)

Intercom macros are called message shortcuts in Crisp.

They work the same way: predefined replies that you can insert instantly when responding to customers.

Shortcuts can be managed and imported directly inside Crisp, making it easy to reuse your existing content.

How can I use Shortcut replies / Canned messages ?

5. AI Agent (Hugo)

In Crisp, the AI agent is managed from the AI Agent section.

This is where you configure how Hugo responds, when it escalates conversations, and how it integrates into your workflow.

Rather than being a separate layer, it is directly connected to how conversations are handled in your inbox.

Navigating the Hugo interface and features

What changes when switching from Intercom

Switching from Intercom to Crisp doesn’t mean learning a completely new way of doing support.

At a high level, the core concepts remain the same: conversations, inboxes, tags, automation, and AI.

What changes is not what you can do, but how the system is designed to be used.

You won’t lose any capabilities

Everything you rely on today can be reproduced in Crisp.

You can:

manage conversations across channels
assign, tag, and prioritize
automate workflows
use AI to handle incoming requests
structure your inbox and team processes

The goal is not to remove flexibility, but to offer a simpler and more unified system.

Avoid rebuilding your previous setup

A common mistake when switching tools is trying to recreate the exact same setup.

Crisp works differently.

Instead of rebuilding your Intercom workflows piece by piece, it’s more effective to rely on the way Crisp is structured: a clear inbox model, simple statuses, and an AI layer that filters conversations upstream.

Adapting to this structure usually leads to a more straightforward and maintainable setup.

Learn the system, don’t fight it

Crisp is designed to work as a system.

The more you align with how it handles conversations (AI first, structured inbox, lightweight workflows), the more efficient your support becomes.

This may require small adjustments at the beginning, but it quickly simplifies how your team operates on a daily basis.

A note on pricing

While this article focuses on product usage, one difference often comes up during migrations: pricing.

Crisp offers a more predictable model, without usage-based costs tied to each automated resolution.

This makes it easier to scale your support without unexpected increases.

In short: you’re not losing anything, you’re simplifying how everything fits together.

Migration: step by step

Once you understand how Crisp works, the next step is simple: migrating your existing setup.

The goal is not to rebuild everything from scratch, but to move your data and recreate your structure progressively.

Here is the recommended order to ensure a smooth transition.

Step 1: Import your contacts

Start by importing your users so you can immediately recognize who you're talking to.

You can do this in two ways:

Option A — CSV import (recommended)

Export your contacts from Intercom as a .csv file
Go to Contacts → Import in Crisp
Upload your file and map the fields
Validate the import

This is the fastest way to get started.

How to import my user data?

Option B — REST API (advanced)

If you want to automate or sync data continuously, you can use the Crisp REST API.

Typical use cases:

sync users from your database
update user properties in real time
push events or custom data

How to use the Crisp REST API

Step 2: Import your conversations (optional)

If you need to keep historical data, you can import past conversations using the API.

This is useful for:

maintaining context on long-term customers
keeping support history for your team

This step requires development work, as it relies on the API.

REST API documentation

Step 3: Import your knowledge base

Your help center can be migrated in just a few steps.

Go to Knowledge Base settings
Select Import from another provider
Enter your existing Help Center URL
Review and validate the import

Crisp will automatically recreate your structure and flag any content that needs attention.

How to import your Knowledge Base

Step 4: Import your message shortcuts

If you were using macros in Intercom, you can reuse them as message shortcuts in Crisp.

Export your macros as a .csv file
Go to Settings → Message Shortcuts
Click Import
Upload your file

Shortcuts are shared across the workspace, making them easy to reuse across your team.

How to import / export message shortcuts

Step 5: Set up your inbox and AI agent

Once your data is in place, configure how conversations will be handled.

Start with:

setting up your chatbox widget
enabling your knowledge base
configuring Hugo (AI Agent)
defining basic routing rules if needed

This step is where your new workflow takes shape.

Getting started with Crisp

Getting started with Hugo AI Agent

Step 6: Test your workflow

Before going live, simulate real conversations.

Check that:

Hugo answers correctly
conversations are routed as expected
shortcuts and tags are working
your team is comfortable with the inbox

This ensures a smooth transition without impacting your users.

Recommendation

You don’t need to migrate everything at once.

Most teams start with:

Then progressively import and refine the rest.

This approach allows you to go live quickly, while improving your setup over time.

Ready to make the switch?

Switching from Intercom to Crisp doesn’t mean starting over.

Your conversations, workflows, and content can all be transferred.

The core of your support stays the same, but the way everything fits together becomes simpler.

Instead of rebuilding your previous setup, the goal is to adapt to a system designed to reduce noise, structure conversations, and make AI easier to adopt from day one.

In practice, this means less manual work, clearer workflows, and a more predictable way to scale your support.

If you’re considering the switch, the best way to understand the difference is to try it with your own setup.

→ Compare Crisp vs Intercom

→ Ask ChatGPT

→ Ask Claude

→ Ask Perplexity

Need help with your migration?

Our team is here to guide you. Don’t hesitate to reach out directly from your workspace or through our website.

Updated on: 30/03/2026

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