Quick answer
AI customer support software has split into two camps in 2026. The first camp is the AI agent that lives inside a help desk: Zendesk AI, Freshdesk's Freddy AI and Tidio's Lyro all sell the AI next to the inbox your human agents use. The second camp is the standalone AI agent that sits on top of whatever help desk you already have: Ada, Decagon and Forethought work this way, and Intercom's Fin now does both.
For most teams, Intercom Fin is the safest starting point. It has a public price ($0.99 per outcome), a 14-day trial with unlimited outcomes, it covers chat, email and voice, and it runs on Intercom or on top of Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk and other help desks. That means you can test it on real traffic without migrating anything.
If you are a small business watching every dollar, Tidio Lyro has a free plan and paid AI from $32.50 a month (billed annually). If you already run Zendesk or Freshdesk, start with the AI your help desk includes before adding another vendor. If you are an enterprise brand with millions of conversations a year across voice and messaging apps, shortlist Ada and Decagon, and look at Forethought if you want AI for triage and QA as well as deflection.
How we picked
We compared AI customer support tools on what actually decides cost and quality once the AI is live:
- Pricing model and transparency. Per outcome, per resolution, per conversation, per session or per seat. We only list prices the vendor publishes on its own site as of October 2026. Where a vendor quotes privately, we say so.
- Where it runs. Does the AI agent require you to move to the vendor's help desk, or does it plug into Zendesk, Salesforce and others?
- Channels. Chat is table stakes. Email, voice and messaging apps (WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS) separate the field.
- Actions, not just answers. Can the AI look up an order, process a refund or change a booking through APIs, or does it only answer from help articles?
- Control and testing. How a non-engineer changes the AI's behavior, and whether you can test changes before customers see them.
- Help for human agents. Copilot-style drafting and summaries for the people who handle what the AI escalates.
We did not count vendor-reported resolution rates as proof. They are measured differently by each vendor and on each vendor's own customers. Where we mention them, we label them as the vendor's own claim.
Intercom Fin: best for most support teams
Who it's for: support teams of any size that want a proven AI agent with a public price, whether they run Intercom or another help desk.
Pricing in plain terms: Fin costs $0.99 per outcome. An outcome is a resolution (the customer confirms the issue is solved or doesn't ask for more help after Fin answers), a procedure handoff, a disqualification or a self-serve routing. Lead qualifications are billed at $9.99 each. If you use Fin on another help desk, there is no seat fee, but there is a minimum of 50 outcomes a month. If you use Intercom's own help desk, you also pay for seats: Essential $29, Advanced $85 and Expert $132 per seat per month, billed annually. Copilot, the assistant for human agents, is $29 per agent per month billed annually or $35 monthly. The 14-day trial includes unlimited Fin outcomes and needs no credit card.
Strengths: Fin is the most flexible option on this list. Intercom says it works natively across voice, chat, email, Slack, social and other channels, speaks dozens of languages, and plugs into Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Freshdesk and other help desks. Procedures let Fin follow multi-step workflows, and data connectors, APIs and MCP let it pull customer data and take actions. Intercom reports an average resolution rate of 76% across more than 12,000 customers; treat that as the vendor's figure, not a guarantee for your queue.
Limits: per-outcome pricing scales with success. If Fin resolves 2,000 conversations in a month, that is $1,980 before any seats. That is usually cheaper than a human agent's time, but it is harder to cap than a flat subscription. Procedures and data connectors also need setup work, and Fin is only as good as the help content you feed it.
Zendesk AI: best for teams already on Zendesk
Who it's for: teams that run Zendesk for tickets, or are choosing a full help desk now, and want AI agents and agent assist from the same vendor.
Pricing in plain terms: Zendesk bills AI agents by automated resolution (AR). Support Team ($19 per agent per month, annual) and Suite Team ($55) include 5 ARs per agent per month. Suite Professional ($115) includes 10. Extra resolutions cost $1.50 each with a commitment or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Monthly billing raises seat prices to $25, $69 and $149. The Copilot add-on for human agents is $50 per agent per month billed annually. Suite Enterprise is quote-based. The trial runs 14 days on Suite Professional.
Strengths: the AI lives inside the ticketing, help center, routing and reporting your team already uses, so escalations arrive with context and there is one admin console. Zendesk says its AI agents work on social, web, mobile, voice and email channels and support 80 languages, switching automatically to the customer's language. In March 2026 Zendesk completed its acquisition of Forethought, and it says the deal strengthens its AI agents with self-improving capabilities and lets them run on other platforms too.
Limits: the included allowance is small. A 10-agent team on Suite Team gets 50 resolutions a month; if the AI resolves 1,000, the other 950 cost $1,425 at the committed rate. Copilot is extra. If you don't use Zendesk as your help desk, a standalone AI agent is a better fit.
Tidio Lyro: best for small businesses and online stores
Who it's for: small businesses and e-commerce stores that want an AI agent plus live chat, at a price they can see up front.
Pricing in plain terms: Tidio's free plan includes 50 billable conversations a month and 50 one-time Lyro conversations. Lyro can be bought on its own or with Tidio's help desk. It starts at $39 a month billed monthly, or $32.50 a month billed annually, for 50 Lyro conversations, and scales to $700 a month (monthly billing) for 1,000. Tidio's Customer Service plans start at $29 a month (Starter, 100 billable conversations; $24.17 billed annually) and $59 a month (Growth, from 250 conversations; $49.17 billed annually). Plus starts at $300 a month plus usage, and Premium is quote-based. There is a 7-day free trial.
Strengths: this is the easiest AI agent on the list to start with. Lyro answers from your knowledge base and hands off to a human when needed, and Smart Actions handle order updates, lead qualification and ticket routing. For stores, Lyro can recommend products in real time. Tidio says its customers average a 75% Lyro resolution rate, which again is the vendor's own figure.
Limits: per-conversation tiers mean a busy month pushes you up a tier. Running Lyro on Zendesk, Salesforce or another help desk (Lyro Connect) is only available on Plus and Premium. For multi-system enterprise workflows, Ada or Decagon are better suited.
Ada: best for enterprise omnichannel automation
Who it's for: mid-market and enterprise brands with large conversation volumes across many channels and languages.
Pricing in plain terms: Ada does not publish prices. You book a demo and get a quote.
Strengths: Ada's channel list is the broadest here: voice, email, chat, Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram, in-app and custom channels. Playbooks let the AI follow complex standard operating procedures step by step with real-time data. Coaching applies feedback on past conversations to future ones, and the Performance Center includes simulations so you can test changes before they go live. Ada lists integrations with Zendesk, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Freshworks, Genesys, Amazon Connect, Aircall and Twilio Flex, and compliance credentials including SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR and PCI DSS.
Limits: no public price and no self-serve trial, and you still need a help desk for your human agents. Small teams will pay for capability they don't use.
Decagon: best for custom enterprise AI agents
Who it's for: large consumer brands that want a highly tailored AI agent and are willing to work closely with the vendor on rollout. The brands shown on Decagon's site are mostly large consumer companies.
Pricing in plain terms: Decagon offers two models. Per-conversation pricing charges a fixed rate for every incoming conversation, with lower rates at higher volume. Per-resolution pricing charges a higher fixed rate only for fully resolved conversations, with no charge for escalations. Decagon says most of its customers choose per-conversation. Rates are not published.
Strengths: Agent Operating Procedures (AOPs) let your team define agent workflows in natural language instead of code. Decagon covers chat, email and voice, and its platform includes experiments (A/B tests), testing and QA, Watchtower monitoring, insights reporting and AI-suggested knowledge.
Limits: like Ada, there is no public price or trial, and Decagon is built for enterprise volumes. It publishes less detail about its integrations than Ada or Forethought, so ask for your exact help desk and order system in the demo.
Forethought: best for AI across the whole ticket life cycle
Who it's for: support teams that want AI for more than deflection, including triage, QA and spotting knowledge gaps, on top of their current help desk.
Pricing in plain terms: Forethought has three plans (Team, Professional and Enterprise). Pricing blends a platform access fee with an outcome-based cost, plus optional add-ons, and is quoted privately. Instead of a free trial it offers a Proof of Value on your own data.
Strengths: Forethought is a set of agents: Solve resolves customer issues across channels, Triage classifies and routes tickets, QA scores 100% of human agent tickets, and Discover surfaces knowledge gaps. It lists more than 70 connectors, including Zendesk, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Freshworks, Help Scout, Intercom, Kustomer, Gorgias and Front.
Limits: Forethought has been part of Zendesk since March 28, 2026. It is still sold on its own, but if you run a competing help desk, ask how the roadmap and support for your platform will look over your contract term.
Freshdesk Freddy AI: best budget help desk with AI included
Who it's for: small and mid-sized teams that want one low-cost help desk with an AI agent already in the box.
Pricing in plain terms: every Freshdesk plan includes Freddy AI Agent with 500 sessions. Extra sessions cost $49 per 100. Plans billed annually are Growth $19, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89 per agent per month. Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent per month billed annually. You get a 14-day trial of Enterprise; there is no permanent free plan on the pricing page.
Strengths: one vendor, one bill, a low starting price, and 500 AI sessions before you pay anything extra. Freshdesk's ticketing, automation, SLAs and knowledge base are solid for the price.
Limits: beyond the included sessions, $49 per 100 works out to $0.49 per session; note that a session and an outcome are different units, so compare like for like with your own volume. Freddy only makes sense if Freshdesk is your help desk.
Pricing comparison
| Tool | Pricing model | Entry price (published) | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Fin | Per outcome | $0.99 per outcome (50/month minimum on other help desks) | 14-day trial |
| Zendesk AI | Included ARs, then per resolution | Suite Team $55/agent/month (annual); extra ARs $1.50-$2.00 | 14-day trial |
| Tidio Lyro | Per AI conversation tier | $32.50/month (annual) or $39 monthly for 50 conversations | Free plan, 7-day trial |
| Ada | Custom | Not published | Demo |
| Decagon | Per conversation or per resolution | Not published | Demo |
| Forethought | Platform fee plus outcomes | Not published | Proof of Value |
| Freshdesk Freddy AI | Included sessions, then per 100 | Growth $19/agent/month (annual), 500 sessions | 14-day trial |
What 1,000 AI-handled conversations a month might cost
These are rough illustrations from published prices only, and assume every conversation counts as a billable unit:
- Intercom Fin on your existing help desk: 1,000 outcomes x $0.99 = $990 a month.
- Tidio Lyro: the 1,000-conversation tier is $700 a month on monthly billing.
- Zendesk Suite Team, 10 agents: $550 in seats (annual), 50 included ARs, then 950 x $1.50 = $1,425 at the committed rate.
- Freshdesk Growth, 10 agents: $190 in seats (annual), 500 included sessions, then 5 x $49 = $245 for the next 500.
Units differ: outcomes, resolutions, conversations and sessions are each defined by the vendor. Ask every vendor how a conversation that the AI starts and a human finishes is billed.
How to choose
- You want to try AI this month without migrating: start a Fin trial on your current help desk and measure resolutions on real traffic.
- You run Zendesk: turn on Zendesk's included AI agents first and see how far 5 to 10 resolutions per agent gets you before buying more or adding a vendor.
- You run Freshdesk: use the 500 included Freddy sessions before buying anything else.
- You are a small business or Shopify-style store: Tidio gives you live chat, a free plan and AI with published prices.
- You are an enterprise with voice and messaging volume: run a structured bake-off between Ada and Decagon, and include Fin. Ask each for a pilot on the same slice of traffic.
- You need triage and QA, not just a chatbot: Forethought covers more of the ticket life cycle.
Setup notes that decide results
Whichever tool you pick, the AI is only as good as three things:
- Help content. Clean, current help articles and macros matter more than the model. Fix outdated articles before launch.
- Actions. The biggest gains come when the AI can check an order or change an account through an API. Budget engineering time to connect those systems.
- Clear handoff. Decide which topics always go to a human (billing disputes, legal, safety) and test the handoff before going live.
Start with a narrow set of topics, measure resolution and customer satisfaction weekly, and widen the scope as the numbers hold.
Bottom line
Intercom Fin is our pick for most teams because it combines a public price, a real trial and the freedom to keep your current help desk. Zendesk and Freshdesk customers should use the AI they already pay for first. Tidio Lyro is the friendliest option for small businesses. Ada, Decagon and Forethought are enterprise platforms; they don't publish prices, so plan for a demo, a pilot and a negotiation.
Marcus Williams