Independent · source-cited · 41 vendors
Price AI support by break-even. Not vendor hype.
The independent verdict on AI customer-support and voice agents. We normalize per-resolution, per-minute, per-seat, and flat-tier pricing into one number you can actually compare. Free calculators, real numbers, no sign-up. We never rank vendors by what they pay us.
30 vendors source-verified · every price dated & cited · pricing changes flagged
Pricing matrix proof
Verified June 2026Break-even: a $200 flat tier beats $0.99 per-resolution after 203 resolved chats/month. Below that point, per-resolution can still win.
The same job, very different bills
1,000 AI-resolved chats / month
Verdict: at 1,000/mo, a flat tier is ~3–7× cheaper than per-resolution — but at 100/mo, per-resolution wins. Find your break-even →
Illustrative — rates from our verified dataset. Confirm with the vendor.
41
vendors profiled
6
billing models decoded
30
source-verified
$0
to use · no sign-up
Why AI pricing is a maze
The real cost is buried on purpose. Ask a chatbot "what will this actually cost me" and it can't tell you — the numbers aren't public. So we found them.
Hidden behind sales
Salesforce blocks bots from its pricing page. Zendesk publishes seat prices but hides its per-resolution AI rate. Ada, Sierra, Decagon and PolyAI won't quote at all.
Success is penalized
Per-resolution pricing means the better your AI gets, the more it resolves — and the higher your bill climbs. The cheapest model flips with your volume.
The "$0.05/min" half-truth
A voice agent isn't one price — it's STT + LLM + TTS + telephony + a platform fee, all metered per minute. The headline becomes $0.15–$0.30 all-in.
Free cost calculators
Put your own numbers in. Every calculator runs in your browser — nothing to upload, no sign-up.
The 6 billing models, decoded
Pick the model that fits your volume and channel first, then shortlist the vendors that use it. Get the order wrong and the bill scales against you.
Pay only when the AI resolves an issue. Risk-free at low volume — but success raises the bill.
Pay for every interaction — even failed ones that escalate. The worst deal for buyers.
Flat fee per human agent, AI layered on top. Wins at high volume with heavy automation.
Voice talk-time. The headline is the platform fee only — real all-in is 2–4× higher.
A fixed price for a bucket of volume. Most predictable; great for high-volume SMBs.
No published price at all. The opacity itself signals enterprise-only budgets.
Most-searched vendor breakdowns
The pricing pages readers reach for most — real entry prices, AI usage rates, and our independent verdict on each.
From $29/seat/mo
The category benchmark — excellent product, but model your monthly resolution volume before you commit, because success raises the bill.
Zendesk pricing & alternativesSuite from $55/agent/mo (Support from $19)
Powerful but the least transparent of the majors on AI cost — you have to call sales to learn the per-resolution rate, which tells you who it's priced for.
Freshdesk (Freddy) pricing & alternativesFrom $19/agent/mo
The budget pick on seats, but re-check session pricing — Freshworks quietly 5×'d it, and that's the number that scales.
Gorgias pricing & alternativesFrom $60/mo (300 tickets) + $0.40/extra ticket
The right pick for a Shopify store and the wrong one for anyone not on Shopify — and watch the double-charge on resolved tickets.
Tidio (Lyro) pricing & alternativesFree; paid from $24.17/mo
The easiest free start for a small store — just watch the Lyro + Flows add-ons, which stack quietly.
Help Scout pricing & alternativesFree (≤5 users); paid from $25/user/mo
The best-value per-resolution rate for a small, email-first team — and the AI is only billed when it actually answers.
Vendor cost profiles
All 41 vendorsFrom $29/seat/mo
The category benchmark — excellent product, but model your monthly resolution volume before you commit, because success raises the bill.
Free (≤5 users); paid from $25/user/mo
The best-value per-resolution rate for a small, email-first team — and the AI is only billed when it actually answers.
Free; paid from $24.17/mo
The easiest free start for a small store — just watch the Lyro + Flows add-ons, which stack quietly.
Free start (60+ min/mo); usage-based
The builder's choice — but the famous $0.05/min is orchestration only; budget $0.15–0.25 all-in once you add the stack.
Starter $79/mo; Growth $129/mo; Scale $249/mo
A clean, flat-fee receptionist for a small service business — unlimited minutes makes the monthly bill genuinely predictable.
From $60/mo (300 tickets) + $0.40/extra ticket
The right pick for a Shopify store and the wrong one for anyone not on Shopify — and watch the double-charge on resolved tickets.
Best AI agent for your industry
Shortlists scoped to how each business actually books, sells, and answers — dental, law, restaurants, e-commerce and more.
Why you can trust the verdict
We make money from optional affiliate links — but our data has no commission field, so it's structurally impossible to rank vendors by what they pay us. Every price is dated and cited; figures we can't verify are flagged and excluded from search.
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