The unit is the whole story
Metered AI helpdesks bill per outcome: Intercom at $0.99 per Fin outcome, Zendesk at $1.50 per automated resolution on a committed volume. The unit is what the AI did. Improve the help center, tune the bot, and the unit count rises. The bill is indexed to your own success.
Flat per-agent pricing uses a different unit: people. Kerux is $29 (Basic), $49 (Growth) or $79 (Scale) per agent per month, and the AI is uncapped because it runs on a key you own. Double your AI volume and the Kerux line on the bill does not move. Your provider's line moves by cents.
Two teams, two bills
| AI fees per month | 200 outcomes | 1,500 outcomes |
|---|---|---|
| Metered, Intercom Fin at $0.99 | $198 | $1,485 |
| Your own key at about 3¢ an answer | $6 | $45 |
Seats excluded on both sides; they are flat either way and differ by plan. The 3¢ is a measured cost on a small, fast model and runs 1 to 5¢ with model and ticket length.
When metered is the better deal
Honestly: at low volume. A team producing 200 AI outcomes a month pays Intercom about $198 for Fin. That is annoying, not decisive, and if the rest of Intercom is earning its seat price you may be right to stay. The flat model starts to matter at hundreds of outcomes a month and becomes the whole decision in the thousands, which is also the point where a per-outcome bill has quietly become one of your larger SaaS lines.
What flat buys you besides money
- A budget you can set in January. Headcount × rate. No busy-month surprise, no end-of-quarter true-up.
- No incentive to throttle the AI. Nobody on your team should ever think "let's not let the bot answer that, it costs a dollar".
- Model choice. When the AI runs on your key you pick the model per answer quality and cost, and swap it when a better one ships.
That is the trade Kerux is built on. If you want the number for your own volume, the calculator below does it in a minute.
Intercom figure from its pricing page, verified 2026-08-07. Kerux prices from our pricing page; the trial is 30 days with no card.