AI Agent Billing Model Picker
Per-resolution, per-seat, per-minute, flat-tier, contact-sales — the right billing model depends on your channel, volume and team. Answer three quick questions to see which model usually wins for you, why, and which vendors fit.
Recommended billing model
Flat-tier
At medium volume, a flat-tier bucket (Crisp, Kommunicate, Tidio) is the most predictable — you fill the bucket and your cost-per-resolution falls as you use more of it.
Vendors that fit
How it works
- 1Pick your channel: chat, voice, or both.
- 2Estimate your monthly volume: low, medium, or high.
- 3Tell us your build capacity: no-code or technical.
- 4Get the recommended billing model, the reasoning, and a vendor shortlist.
Why this matters
Most buyers pick a vendor and inherit its billing model by accident — then get surprised by the bill. The smarter order is to choose the billing model that fits your volume and channel first, then shortlist vendors that use it. Low-volume chat wins with per-resolution; high-volume chat wins with per-seat or a large flat-tier; non-technical voice wins with a done-for-you flat fee; technical voice wins with unbundled per-minute. This tool encodes that logic.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI billing model is cheapest?
There's no single cheapest — it depends on volume. Per-resolution is cheapest at low volume (you only pay for successes). Flat-tier wins at medium volume (you fill the bucket). Per-seat with automation wins at high volume (cost is decoupled from traffic). Per-conversation is almost always the worst deal for buyers because it bills failed interactions too.
What's wrong with per-conversation pricing?
Per-conversation models (Ada, Kustomer bots, Salesforce) charge for every interaction — including the ones where the AI fails and hands off to a human. At equal rates it's strictly worse than per-resolution, which only charges for successful outcomes. Treat a per-conversation rate as acceptable only if it's far below the per-resolution alternative.
When should I just call sales instead?
When you're a large enterprise with high volume and procurement leverage. Contact-sales-only vendors (Ada, Sierra, Decagon, PolyAI) start around $30k–$400k+/year with implementation fees — great for enterprises, out of reach for SMBs who can't even self-evaluate the price.