See which support tool fits your team before you book a demo.
Six questions about your team. Three tools that fit, each with the price its vendor publishes for a team your size. If the tool you have still fits, the result says so. Six questions. Three tools that fit, priced for a team your size.
Michael Kansky, founder of LiveHelpNow (2003).
Your three matches
Your answers
How we priced this
Each vendor counts an AI answer in its own unit, so the AI line is an estimate. See each vendor's unit.
Prices as listed on vendor sites, checked October 2026. The info mark beside each price opens the vendor's own page.
Get the full breakdown by email
Your three matches plus two backups, each priced for 12 months with AI and without, and the questions to ask each vendor in a demo.
67% of B2B buyers prefer to buy without a sales rep.
Gartner survey of 646 B2B buyers, reported by Digital Commerce 360, March 17, 2026.
Most teams arrive with one of these
Five problems we hear most. The quiz above turns yours into three tools that fit.
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Two of us, and email is a mess.
Requests sit in one shared inbox, two people answer the same message, and nobody knows what is still open.
Shared inbox shortlist -
Most tickets ask where the order is.
The same order questions arrive all day, and the answers live in the store, not in the inbox.
Help desk shortlist -
We need chat on the site today, for free.
Visitors leave with questions, and there is no budget for a paid tool yet.
Live chat shortlist -
We want AI, but we cannot compare the bills.
Every vendor counts an AI answer its own way, so two quotes for the same month look nothing alike.
AI support agents shortlist -
The renewal quote went up.
The contract renews soon at a higher price, and there is no time left to compare before it does.
Renewal guide
Shortlists by job
Each list ranks the tools for one job against our seven published criteria.
Our Top 10, and how a tool earns its place
Seven criteria, each made of checks you can verify on the vendor's own pages. A feature counts only where the vendor shows it.
See the Top 10-
1
Core support workflow
Assignment rules, SLAs, saved replies, collision detection and a customer portal, and the cheapest plan that has each one.
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2
Automation and AI
Rules and workflows, an AI agent that answers from your own help content, a handoff to a person with the history, and AI that acts in your systems.
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3
Pricing and value
Public prices, a free plan, a published AI price, monthly billing, and the monthly bill for a team of five, worked out with our calculator.
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4
Integrations
The size of the vendor's own app directory, a documented API and webhooks, and native CRM, Slack and Zapier connections.
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5
Setup effort
Starting alone without a sales call, a trial with no card, a setup guide, and a way to move in from another tool.
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6
Reporting and analytics
Response and resolution time reports, satisfaction surveys, custom dashboards and data export.
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7
Support and documentation
Live chat or phone help on the cheapest plan, 24/7 support, a public status page and onboarding help.
Each vendor bills its AI by a different unit
Pick the tools you are weighing. Every price is the vendor's own, in the vendor's own unit. Nothing is converted or put on one scale, because one session and one interaction are not the same thing.
Pick a tool above to see how it bills its AI.
| Vendor | Bills AI per | Price, as the vendor publishes it | Vendor's page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk | session | 500 AI agent sessions once per account, not each month, then $49 per 100 | Pricing page |
| Tidio | conversation | Lyro from $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations, billed annually ($39 monthly). The first 50 are free once per account, not each month | Pricing page |
| Help Scout | resolution | $0.75 per AI Answers resolution, on the paid plans, with a monthly cap you set | Pricing page |
| Gorgias | interaction | $0.90 per automated interaction on annual plans, $1.00 on monthly plans | Pricing page |
| Fin (formerly Intercom) | outcome | $0.99 per outcome. Fin with another help desk has a minimum monthly commitment, for example 50 outcomes | Pricing page |
| Zendesk | resolution | $1.50 per automated resolution committed, $2.00 pay as you go, after 5 a month included per agent | Pricing page |
| HubSpot Service Hub | resolution | $0.50 per resolution, on Professional and Enterprise only | Pricing page |
| Botpress | conversation | AI-only and human-assisted conversations are counted the same toward the plan. Plus includes $25 AI usage (the cost of calling an LLM), every conversation includes $0.10 of AI usage covered by Botpress, and past the limit a $10 credit grant of AI spend is bought automatically, sold at cost | Pricing page |
| Chatbase | message credit | 700 message credits/month on Hobby, 4,000 on Basic, 15,000 on Business. Each request made to the AI model costs a certain number of message credits depending on the chosen model. Auto recharge credits cost $40 per 1000 message credits and do not expire | Pricing page |
| Chatfuel | AI credit | Business S includes US$20 AI credits / mo. The page estimates one bot reply at about US$0.0093 (recommended quality, medium knowledge) and calls its figures estimates in US dollars, not quotes | Pricing page |
| Collect.chat | AI answer | Lite includes 500 AI answers per month (Free 50, Standard 1,000, Unlimited 10,000). If you run out, the chatbot keeps running and skips AI answers until the allowance resets | Pricing page |
| Confluence | Rovo credit | 25 Rovo credits per user per month on Standard (70 on Premium, 150 on Enterprise), pooled at the organization level; extra usage $0.01 per Rovo credit, or $10 per 1,000 credits, from December 3, 2026 | Pricing page |
| Drag | resolution | $0.50 per AI-resolved conversation, on the Pro plan | Pricing page |
| Forethought | outcome | No published price: a blend of platform access fees and an outcome-based pricing cost, through sales | Pricing page |
| Freshchat | session | $49 per 100 Freddy AI Agent sessions, after 500 once per account, on the paid plans | Pricing page |
| Front | resolution | $0.89 per Autopilot resolution, pay as you go, invoiced monthly, on all plans | Pricing page |
| Jira Service Management | assisted conversation | 1,000 assisted conversations a month included on Premium and Enterprise, then from $0.30 each | Pricing page |
| KnowledgeOwl | AI credit | AI credits included in the plan: 100 on Basic, 500 on Pro, 1,000 on Business, 10,000 on Enterprise | Pricing page |
| Landbot | AI chat | Every plan includes its own AI-chat allowance (100 on Starter, 300 on Professional, 500 on Professional WA). Beyond it, $0.10 per AI chat | Pricing page |
| LiveChat | resolution | 10 AI resolutions a month included on Essential, then $49.50 per 50 more | Pricing page |
| LiveHelpNow Affiliated | AI Answer | Knowledge AI from $99 /mo with 2,000 AI Answers on Professional, 5,000 on Premium; Conversational AI from $499 /mo + premium with 1,000 AI Conversations on Professional, 3,000 on Premium; Conversational AI Plus from $799 /mo + premium with 7,000+ AI Conversations on Premium | Pricing page |
| Smartsupp | conversation | Mira AI Agent $16 per 100 conversations a month on an annual plan, $20 on monthly billing | Pricing page |
| Voiceflow | credit | Credits per unit on the self-serve table: chat usage $0.005 every time a user sends a message, phone usage $0.05 per minute, plus LLM tokens priced per 1K input and output tokens by model | Pricing page |
Why you can trust this
A named expert you can talk to, and what he has built.
Owns LiveHelpNow, a live chat and help desk software company.
- He founded LiveHelpNow in 2003 and built it with no outside funding.
- He founded HelpSquad in 2015.
- 25 years as a founder and operator
- #84 peak on the Inc. 5000, four years on the list
- 6 U.S. patents in real-time communication
- 7 companies launched, three sold
Tools we compare across the whole site
Every product our rankings, guides and quiz cover.
- Ada
- Botpress
- Chatbase
- Chatfuel
- Collect.chat
- Confluence
- Crisp
- Decagon
- Document360
- Drag
- Fin (formerly Intercom)
- Forethought
- Freshchat
- Freshdesk
- Front
- Gmelius
- Gorgias
- Guru
- Help Scout
- Helpjuice
- Hiver
- HubSpot Service Hub
- Jira Service Management
- Keeping
- KnowledgeOwl
- Landbot
- LiveAgent
- LiveChat
- LiveHelpNow Affiliated
- ManyChat
- Missive
- Olark
- Salesforce Agentforce
- Sierra
- Smartsupp
- Tawk.to
- Tidio
- Voiceflow
- Zendesk
- Zoho Desk
- Zoho SalesIQ
- Want your tool on this list?
Security certifications, checked for every tool we compare
Which certifications to look for, and what each one means. The full table shows which tools hold them, as each vendor states it: confirm with the vendor before you rely on it.
The full table-
SOC 2 Type II
An outside auditor tested the vendor's security controls over several months, not on a single day.
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GDPR
The vendor signs a data processing agreement for personal data of people in the EU.
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ISO 27001
The vendor runs a certified information security management system, checked by an auditor every year.
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HIPAA
The vendor signs a business associate agreement, needed before health data can pass through the tool.
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ISO 42001
A certified management system for how the vendor builds and runs AI.
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AIUC-1
A standard for AI agents that covers security, safety and reliability, with testing by a third party.
Read before you decide
All guides
Support Pricing Outcome-based support pricing: how the shift rolls out by 2027
Outcome-based support pricing will spread through 2027, but it stalls where buyers can't audit what counts as a resolution. Here's what to check first.
Help Desk Software Help desk migration: 7 things that break when you switch
Tickets usually move cleanly in a help desk switch. See why custom fields, macros, attachments, history, integrations, SLAs and routing break, and how to…
Help Desk Software Shared inbox vs help desk: which does your team need?
Switch from a shared inbox to a help desk once routing, SLAs or reporting run on manual workarounds. Learn the signs, the real costs and what to test…
Support software news
All news- Wonderchat study of 5.85 million support conversations finds a 42-point resolution gap between businesses running identical AI CustomerThink Oct 23, 2026
- Microsoft Contact Center Intelligence Takes Aim at CCaaS AI The Futurum Group Oct 22, 2026
- Freshworks to acquire Israeli startup Torii to help companies control AI costs CTech Oct 12, 2026
- Freshworks to Acquire Torii to Add Software, AI Spend Management Yahoo Finance Oct 12, 2026
Questions before you start
What buyers ask about a matcher like this one, answered plainly.
Is the matcher free?
Yes. Six questions, about 2 minutes, no sign-up and no email. Your three matches show on screen, each with the price its vendor publishes for a team your size.
How do you make money?
Through vendors’ partner programs. When you buy a tool through a link on our site, the vendor may pay us a commission. The vendor pays it, not you. Your three matches come only from your answers: no vendor can pay to be in them or to move up.
How does the matcher pick my three tools?
Your team size rules out the tools built for much smaller or much bigger teams. Your kind of business, where customers reach you, the job you want AI to do and your budget then score the rest, and a tie goes to the higher place in our overall ranking. The tool you use now is set aside, and the result says so if it scores as well.
Where do the prices come from?
From each vendor's own pricing page, the same prices our cost calculator uses. The info mark beside each price in your result opens that page. Each match is priced on the vendor's entry plan for your team, at 200 conversations a month per person, with a quarter of them answered by AI if you want AI. A real quote changes with the plan, add-ons and any discount you negotiate.
Why is AI priced so differently from tool to tool?
Each vendor bills AI by its own unit: the session, the conversation, the resolution, the outcome or the interaction, and each one counts a unit its own way. Your result prices AI in each vendor's own unit and shows the math, so you see what a month would cost.
What if the tool I use now still fits?
Then the result says so. Tell the matcher what you use and when it renews. If your tool scores as well as the three, you see that above them, with a line on timing: when to ask for the renewal quote, or how to trial one of the three before you sign again.
Will vendors contact me?
Not because of your matches: they show on screen without an email. Only if you ask for the full breakdown by email do you agree that matched vendors may contact you, and the form says so before you send.
Can I talk it through with a person?
Yes. Book 15 free minutes with Michael Kansky, who founded LiveHelpNow in 2003 and still owns it. Bring your result and talk it through.
Three tools that fit your team, priced for its size.
Six questions, about 2 minutes, no sign-up. If the tool you have still fits, the result says so.
Start the quiz