What is the Fin Guarantee and is it right for you?

Intercom has been making some noise with a seriously bold marketing move: the Fin Guarantee. You've probably seen the headlines floating around, they're promising up to $1M back if you’re not satisfied, or a $1M payout if their AI agent, Fin, doesn't meet its performance targets. In a tech space crowded with AI support tools, that’s a pretty big statement.

But whenever a promise sounds that good, it’s smart to ask what’s really going on behind the curtain. This article is here to help you do just that. We’re going to break down what the Fin Guarantee actually involves, figure out who it’s really for, and look at other, more flexible ways you can get started with AI automation without the high stakes.

What is a financial guarantee in this context?

In plain English, a financial guarantee is just a promise from one company to cover another’s loss if certain things don’t happen as planned. Think of it like a souped-up insurance policy for a big business decision. It’s the B2B equivalent of a car company offering a full refund if their new engine doesn’t perform as advertised.

This kind of thing is incredibly rare in the software world. A company is literally putting its money on the line, which signals a massive amount of confidence in its own product. That’s exactly why the Fin Guarantee has grabbed so much attention. It’s a high-stakes way of saying, “We think our AI is the best, and we’re willing to bet a million dollars on it.”

A closer look at the Fin Guarantee

What exactly is Intercom offering here? It's not one simple promise, but two separate programs, and each one comes with its own rulebook. Let's dig into the details based on their own documentation.

First up is a 90-Day Satisfaction Guarantee. If you're a brand-new Intercom customer and you’re not thrilled with Fin after using it for at least 250 paid conversations in your first 90 days, you can ask for a refund on what you spent on Fin, up to $1 million.

The second, much bigger promise is the $1M Performance Guarantee Success Program. This one is aimed at the heavy hitters. If you sign up for this and Fin fails to achieve a 65% resolution rate, Intercom says they’ll cut you a check for $1 million.

Here’s a quick breakdown of who can actually get in on these offers:

That 250,000 monthly conversation minimum for the performance guarantee is a huge tell. This part of the deal isn’t for just any business; it’s designed from the ground up for massive enterprises with support volumes that look like a call center’s.

The Fin Guarantee: The promise vs. the reality

A million-dollar promise sounds great on a billboard, but the reality is that the strict rules make it out of reach for most businesses.

Who is the Fin Guarantee really for?

Let’s be honest: a company that handles over 250,000 support chats a month is a huge enterprise, not your typical startup or even a mid-sized company. While the guarantee is impressive, it’s a marketing tool aimed squarely at the very top of the market. For almost everyone else, the bar is just set too high.

Proving an AI's value without a high-stakes guarantee

So what if you could get that same level of confidence in an AI’s performance before you sign a massive contract or move your entire support platform?

This is where the idea of simulation comes in. Modern AI platforms don't need to make million-dollar bets because they can just show you the results upfront. They can run a test on your own historical support tickets in a safe, contained environment, giving you a crystal-clear picture of what you can expect.

For example, a platform like eesel AI lets you run simulations on thousands of your past tickets. In just a few minutes, you can get an accurate forecast of your potential automation rate, see the kinds of tickets the AI can handle, and get a solid estimate of your cost savings. It gives you all the data-backed confidence you need, without the risk, the high stakes, or the enterprise-level price tag.

eesel AI's simulation feature allows you to test its performance on historical tickets, providing a clear forecast of automation rates and cost savings without the high stakes of the Fin Guarantee.

The hidden costs of an all-in-one AI platform

Another little detail worth noting is that the Fin Guarantee is for new Intercom customers. This strongly suggests it’s being used as a powerful hook to get companies to migrate their entire helpdesk over to the Intercom ecosystem.

But switching helpdesks is a massive project. It means retraining your whole team, rebuilding workflows you’ve spent years perfecting, and potentially losing access to years of historical ticket data. That’s a huge operational cost that often gets glossed over.

Why being locked into one system limits your knowledge

The truth is, a company’s real knowledge isn't stored neatly in one place. It’s spread all over the place, living in Confluence pages, shared Google Docs, internal wikis, and a million different Slack threads. An AI agent that’s locked into a single platform, like Fin is with Intercom, can’t see any of that. It only knows what's inside its own four walls, which often leads to incomplete answers and missed chances for automation.

The Fin model pretty much requires you to move all your knowledge into Intercom for the AI to work well. Any info you have in external spots is basically invisible to it.

An infographic illustrating how eesel AI connects with multiple knowledge sources, unlike systems that are locked into a single platform. This is a key alternative to the Fin Guarantee's ecosystem constraints.

Unify your knowledge without workflow constraints

There’s a much simpler way to do this: use an AI layer that just plugs into the tools you already have.

This is where a tool like eesel AI really stands out. Instead of making you move everything, it connects directly to your existing helpdesk, whether that’s Zendesk, Freshdesk, or even Intercom. You can get it running in a few clicks. There’s no big "rip and replace" project needed.

Even better, it can also connect to over 100 other knowledge sources. You can train it on your Confluence space, Google Docs, Notion, and even your past tickets to build an AI that has a complete picture of your business. This creates a much smarter and more accurate AI agent because it learns from your entire company's knowledge, not just one small piece of it.

Comparing pricing models: Predictable costs vs. big commitments

When you're adopting new tech, especially AI, you need pricing that’s clear and predictable. The last thing anyone wants is a surprise on their monthly bill.

The problem with confusing pricing models

A lot of AI tools have pricing models that can feel a bit like a trap. A common one is charging "per resolution." It sounds simple enough, but it means your bill goes up every time the AI does its job correctly. If you have a busy support month, you could get hit with a massive invoice, essentially penalizing you for your own success.

While the Fin Guarantee isn't a pricing model itself, it's tied to large, enterprise-level contracts that just don't have the flexibility most growing businesses need. It’s a high-commitment approach, both in terms of the platform and the cost.

An alternative model: Transparent pricing you can understand

In contrast, eesel AI was built with a totally different idea about pricing. The goal is to be simple, predictable, and fair.

• No per-resolution fees: The plans are based on a set number of monthly AI interactions. You always know what your bill will look like.

• All features included: You get access to all the main products (AI Agent, Copilot, and Triage) on every single plan. No sneaky add-on fees.

• Flexible plans: You can start with a month-to-month plan and cancel anytime. It’s a low-risk way to get started and prove the value for yourself.

A screenshot of eesel AI’s transparent pricing page, an alternative to the complex, high-commitment contracts associated with offers like the Fin Guarantee.

Here’s a look at the pricing structure for full transparency:

The verdict: Is the Fin Guarantee the best path to AI automation?

The Fin Guarantee is, without a doubt, a powerful statement from Intercom. But it’s built for a very, very small slice of the market: a massive enterprise with over 250,000 monthly tickets that’s also ready to commit its entire support operation to the Intercom ecosystem.

For the other 99% of businesses, the focus shouldn’t be on million-dollar promises. It should be on flexibility, control, ease of use, and getting a clear, predictable return on your investment.

A smarter way to build confidence in AI

You don't need a million-dollar guarantee to feel good about your AI support tool. What you really need is transparency, control, and the ability to prove that the tool works on your own terms, with your own data.

A platform like eesel AI offers a more practical way forward. You can:

1. Prove the value first with risk-free simulations using your own data.

2. Connect to your existing tools in minutes, without a painful migration process.

3. Get predictable pricing that grows with you, not against you.

AI for customer support is more accessible and powerful than ever. You no longer need an enterprise-sized budget or a high-stakes guarantee to get started. You just need the right tool for the job.

Get started with AI you can trust

Ready to see what AI can actually do for your support team, without the enterprise-level strings attached? You can simulate eesel AI on your own historical tickets to get a data-backed forecast of your automation potential, or just connect your helpdesk and go live in under 5 minutes. Start your free trial today.