AI Customer Service Agent Pricing Compared in 2026: What 1,000 Resolved Conversations a Month Cost
Short answer: for 1,000 resolved conversations a month and 5 human agents, checked 20 Oct 2026, Help Scout is the cheapest of the seven vendors whose AI rate can be priced at that volume, at $875.00 a month once one-time trials are excluded ($750.00 for 1,000 AI Answers resolutions at $0.75, plus five Standard seats at $25 billed yearly). HubSpot follows at $920.00 plus a one-time $1,500 onboarding fee, then Freshdesk at $1,075.00 and Intercom Fin at $1,135.00. Salesforce's Help Agent AI fee alone is $2,000.00 before seats.
Ten vendors compared on billing unit, seat plan and monthly cost for one scenario, with prices read on vendor pages on 20 Oct 2026.
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The same 1,000 resolved conversations are billed in at least six units, and the unit moves the invoice more than the headline rate does. Fin charges per outcome, Zendesk, Help Scout and Salesforce's Help Agent per resolution, Freshdesk per session, Tidio per conversation, HubSpot in credits and Gorgias per automated interaction plus a ticket fee. A per-conversation fee also bills the conversations the AI fails; a per-resolution fee does not. Toolradar data: Toolradar tracks 37 AI for customer service tools, and 41% of them are free, freemium or open source, yet a free plan says little here, because the bill is set by the unit an AI agent is billed on.
Every total uses one scenario, S1: 5 human agents, 2,000 conversations a month reaching the AI agent, 1,000 of them resolved. The 50% resolution rate is our assumption. Per-resolution vendors are charged for 1,000, per-conversation or per-session vendors for all 2,000. Seats are the cheapest plan on which each vendor's page shows the AI agent, in their own column. Totals are our arithmetic on printed prices for a steady month, billed yearly unless a row says otherwise; one-time allowances and trials are listed, not netted off.
Methodology: we started from the 37 tools in the AI for customer service category and the helpdesks that sell an AI agent beside it, and kept ten whose own pricing pages print a dollar price for the AI or its plan. Seven have a rate we can price at S1 and are ranked cheapest first; Gorgias's place rests on its pricing page, as its blog gives a wider overage range. Crisp, Zoho Desk and Tidio follow unranked, as none prints a per-resolution rate we can apply to 2,000 conversations.
Top Picks
Picked by editorial review, informed by G2 and Capterra review volume and rating and by media mentions, the signals behind our category rankings. How we rate
AI Answers bills per resolution on any paid plan, so S1 costs $750.00 in AI fees plus $125.00 in seats.
Starting price
$0.75 /resolution; Standard seats
4.4 (431 reviews)
Best for
Small teams that want a flat per-resolution fee and low seat prices.
Customer Agent uses 50 credits per resolved conversation at $0.010 a credit, or $0.50, on Professional or Enterprise seats.
Starting price
$0.50 /resolution; seats $90/mo
4.4 (8,500 reviews)
Best for
Teams already on HubSpot whose volume passes about 1,180 resolutions a month.
Freddy AI Agent costs $49 per 100 sessions, resolved or not, and comes with the Growth plan.
Starting price
$0.49 /session; Growth seats
4.4 (3,771 reviews)
Best for
Teams where the AI resolves more than about half of the conversations it touches.
| Tool | Starting price | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout Visit | $0.75/resolution; Standard seats | 4.4 431 reviews | Small teams that want a flat per-resolution fee and low seat prices. |
| HubSpot Service Hub | $0.50/resolution; seats $90/mo | 4.4 8,500 reviews | Teams already on HubSpot whose volume passes about 1,180 resolutions a month. |
| Freshdesk Visit | $0.49/session; Growth seats | 4.4 3,771 reviews | Teams where the AI resolves more than about half of the conversations it touches. |
| Intercom Fin | $0.99/outcome; seats from $29/mo | 4.5 3,906 reviews | Teams that want outcome-only billing, on Intercom or on a different helpdesk. |
| Gorgias Visit | Pro $471/mo billed yearly | 4.6 716 reviews | Ecommerce brands that want one bill and no per-agent pricing. |
| Zendesk Visit | $1.50/resolution (committed) | 4.3 11,165 reviews | Teams already on Zendesk that can commit to resolution volume in advance. |
| Salesforce Agentforce | $2/resolution (Help Agent) | 3.2 2,129 reviews | Salesforce-centred enterprises that can negotiate a contract and need agents beyond support. |
| Crisp | Essentials $95/mo per workspace | 4.5 350 reviews | Small teams that prefer a flat workspace price and can live with token-based AI usage. |
| Zoho Desk | Express $7/user/mo billed yearly | 4.4 10,148 reviews | Budget teams ready to build their own agent or bring their own API key. |
| Tidio Visit | Lyro from $39/mo for 50 conversations | 4.6 2,552 reviews | Small stores under 1,000 AI conversations a month that want a stand-alone add-on. |
Help Scout
AI Answers bills per resolution on any paid plan, so S1 costs $750.00 in AI fees plus $125.00 in seats.
- 4.4 on G2 (431 reviews)
- Starting price
- $0.75/resolution; Standard seats
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.4 (431 reviews)
Best for: Small teams that want a flat per-resolution fee and low seat prices.
- Pro: A resolution is charged only if the customer gets an AI answer and does not escalate, search or ask again
- Pro: Standard is $25 per user per month on the yearly toggle, so 5 agents cost $125.00
- Pro: A monthly spending cap switches AI Answers off for the rest of the cycle once reached
- Con: No volume discount is priced, though the card says pre-paid discounts exist: 5,000 resolutions cost $3,750.00
- Con: The seat price is the yearly toggle; the monthly price is not in these totals
It's best for small to medium-sized businesses prioritizing ease of use and essential customer support tools.
HubSpot Service Hub
Customer Agent uses 50 credits per resolved conversation at $0.010 a credit, or $0.50, on Professional or Enterprise seats.
- 4.4 on G2 (8,500 reviews)
- Starting price
- $0.50/resolution; seats $90/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.4 (8,500 reviews)
Best for: Teams already on HubSpot whose volume passes about 1,180 resolutions a month.
- Pro: The lowest printed per-resolution rate among the ranked rows
- Pro: Professional includes 3,000 credits a month, worth 60 resolutions
- Pro: A 14-day free Customer Agent trial comes with a Professional or Enterprise seat
- Con: Five Professional seats cost $450.00 at $90 each on the pay-annually option ($100 list)
- Con: Professional requires a one-time onboarding fee of $1,500
HubSpot Service offers a generous Free Tools tier, making it highly accessible for small businesses.
Watch out
Onboarding fees for higher tiers
- Starting price
- $0.49/session; Growth seats
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.4 (3,771 reviews)
Best for: Teams where the AI resolves more than about half of the conversations it touches.
- Pro: Beats Fin's per-outcome fee once the AI resolves about half of what it touches
- Pro: Growth, the cheapest paid plan, already includes Freddy AI Agent
- Pro: An email AI session is one 72-hour window, however many replies the AI sends
- Con: Sessions are billed whether or not the AI resolves the conversation, so S1 pays for 2,000
- Con: The 500 free sessions are once per account: month one is $735.00, later months $980.00
Freshdesk offers the best free tier in customer support (2 agents, email ticketing) and competitive per-agent pricing for basic ticketing.
Watch out
Copilot translation limited to 40 translations per license per month
Intercom Fin
Fin charges per outcome, once per conversation at most, and nothing when it cannot answer or the customer asks for a human.
- 4.5 on G2 (3,906 reviews)
- Starting price
- $0.99/outcome; seats from $29/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.5 (3,906 reviews)
Best for: Teams that want outcome-only billing, on Intercom or on a different helpdesk.
- Pro: A reopened conversation refunds its outcome, and spending limits and alerts cap the bill
- Pro: Runs on Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshdesk and HubSpot helpdesks with no seat cost from Fin
- Pro: Every Intercom plan includes Fin
- Con: An outcome also counts when the customer stops asking, and when a workflow ends in a handoff
- Con: Some visitors see a lower Essential seat price in a price experiment on the page
Intercom is the gold standard for AI-first customer support with its Fin AI agent resolving ~60% of conversations.
- Starting price
- Pro $471/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.6 (716 reviews)
Best for: Ecommerce brands that want one bill and no per-agent pricing.
- Pro: No per-agent price: Basic and Pro list 500 user seats
- Pro: The pricing page lists $0.90 per extra automated interaction on Basic and Pro and $0.85 on Advanced
- Pro: Pro splits into $300 of helpdesk and $171 of AI Agent a month billed yearly
- Con: A ticket fee and an automation fee both apply when the AI resolves a ticket alone
- Con: Starter lists 3 user seats; above 5,000 conversations a month the page points to a custom plan
However, the jump to $300/month for the Pro tier for 2K tickets, and the overage fees, can make it expensive for growing businesses with fluctuating ticket volumes.
Watch out
AI Agent: $0.90 per resolved ticket.
- Starting price
- $1.50/resolution (committed)
- Free plan
- No
- Rating
- 4.3 (11,165 reviews)
Best for: Teams already on Zendesk that can commit to resolution volume in advance.
- Pro: Support Team, the cheapest plan listed, carries the email AI agent and the agent builder
- Pro: Zendesk says an LLM verifies each resolution before it is counted
- Pro: Each agent adds 5 included resolutions a month
- Con: S1 pays for 975 resolutions above the 25 included: $1,462.50 committed or $1,950.00 pay as you go
- Con: The chat AI agent needs Suite Team at $55 per agent a month billed yearly
Zendesk publishes yearly agent prices on zendesk.com/pricing.
Watch out
AI agents are included on Support and Suite, then priced on successful resolutions (official FAQ). That is a second meter next to the seat.
Salesforce Agentforce
Customer-service Help Agent resolutions cost $2 each; the generic SKU bills per conversation, or 20 Flex Credits an action.
- 4.3 on G2 (1,477 reviews)
- 1.5 on Trustpilot (610 reviews)
- 3.9 on PeerSpot (42 reviews)
- Starting price
- $2/resolution (Help Agent)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 3.2 (2,129 reviews)
Best for: Salesforce-centred enterprises that can negotiate a contract and need agents beyond support.
- Pro: Flex Credits cost $0.005 each, so one 20-credit action is $0.10
- Pro: The page's own order-status example, two actions, prices at $0.20 on Flex Credits
- Pro: On Flex Credits there is no overage penalty; usage above the entitlement bills at the contracted rate
- Con: At S1 the Help Agent price is $2,000.00 before any seat; the generic conversation SKU would be $4,000.00 for 2,000 conversations
- Con: Both prices sit behind contact-sales pages, and the conversation SKU is not offered on PayGo or Pre-Commit
- Starting price
- Essentials $95/mo per workspace
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.5 (350 reviews)
Best for: Small teams that prefer a flat workspace price and can live with token-based AI usage.
- Pro: Price is per workspace, not per agent: Essentials includes 10 seats
- Pro: Included AI credits reset monthly and rise by plan, from $5 on Mini to $75 on Plus
- Pro: Crisp's own estimate for a full AI conversation is $0.05 to $0.10
- Con: No unit price is printed: usage is token-based, so $0.05 to $0.10 is an estimate only
- Con: At S1's 2,000 conversations the estimate runs well past the included credits
Crisp prices per workspace, not per agent.
Watch out
Pricing is per workspace, so separate brands or sites need separate subscriptions
- Starting price
- Express $7/user/mo billed yearly
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.4 (10,148 reviews)
Best for: Budget teams ready to build their own agent or bring their own API key.
- Pro: Five Express seats cost $35.00 a month billed yearly
- Pro: Up to 30 million tokens a month on Zoho's own models, on every edition per the comparison page
- Pro: Answer Bot starts at Standard, $14 per user a month billed yearly
- Con: No per-resolution or per-conversation fee is printed, and the pages do not say how many conversations 30 million tokens cover
- Con: Express is capped at 5 users on the comparison page, so S1 fills it exactly
The Free plan is generous for very small teams.
- Starting price
- Lyro from $39/mo for 50 conversations
- Free plan
- Yes
- Rating
- 4.6 (2,552 reviews)
Best for: Small stores under 1,000 AI conversations a month that want a stand-alone add-on.
- Pro: Lyro can be bought alone and added to Zendesk, Salesforce or another help desk
- Pro: Every account gets 50 free Lyro conversations once, and annual billing gives 2 months free
- Pro: The help center says nothing is deducted from the quota when Lyro hands off immediately
- Con: A conversation counts when Lyro first replies in a thread, resolved or not, and above the 1,000 top step the page points to Plus at $300 a month plus unprinted usage rates
- Con: The pricing page counts a returning customer as one conversation, while the help center closes a thread after 15 minutes of inactivity and counts the next message again
It's best for small to medium businesses prioritizing live chat and chatbot automation, with the Plus plan targeting enterprise-level needs.
Watch out
Conversation limits can lead to overage if not monitored.
Other AI for Customer Service tools worth considering
More published tools from our AI for Customer Service category, ordered by our category ranking. They are not part of the editorial picks above.
What an AI customer service agent is
An AI customer service agent is software that answers customer questions and completes actions such as order lookups in chat or email, then hands off to a human when it cannot finish. Most vendors bill it by usage rather than by seat.
Most buyers pay two layers: helpdesk seats and the AI usage fee. Intercom, Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot and Help Scout sell both, and Gorgias bundles them. Fin and Tidio's Lyro can also run on another vendor's helpdesk. For seat prices alone, see cheapest help desk software; for a head-to-head, see Intercom vs Zendesk.
Why the billing unit decides the invoice
A per-resolution fee bills only the conversations the AI finishes; a per-conversation or per-session fee bills every conversation it touches. The break-even is the per-conversation price divided by the per-resolution price: Freshdesk's session fee beats Fin's outcome fee once the AI resolves more than 49.49% of what it touches, Help Scout's above 65.33% and Zendesk's committed fee above 32.67%. Salesforce's generic conversation SKU costs more than Fin, Help Scout, HubSpot and Zendesk's committed rate even at 100%, and its Help Agent price per resolution equals only Zendesk's pay-as-you-go rate.
Volume changes the order, assuming 2 conversations per resolution (600 at 300 resolutions, 10,000 at 5,000). Help Scout leads at 300 resolutions a month ($350.00), then Freshdesk ($389.00), Gorgias Basic ($440.00, on pricing-page rates) and Fin ($442.00). HubSpot has costly seats and cheaper credits: it overtakes Help Scout above 1,180 resolutions a month on the $90 seat option (1,380 at the $100 list price) and leads at 5,000 ($2,920.00, against $3,875.00 for Help Scout, $4,995.00 for Freshdesk and $5,095.00 for Fin). Gorgias points to a custom plan above 5,000 conversations, so it has no price there.
Key Features to Look For
What counts as billable (Essential)
Fin counts an outcome when the customer confirms, stops asking, or Fin finishes a workflow. Help Scout counts a resolution only without escalation, search or a follow-up question. HubSpot needs no human takeover within 72 hours. Freshdesk bills any AI interaction.
Seat plan the AI needs (Essential)
Fin comes with every Intercom plan. Zendesk's email AI agent starts on Support Team, its chat agent on Suite Team. HubSpot needs a Professional or Enterprise seat, Freshdesk Growth, Help Scout Standard; Gorgias bundles seats.
Allowances and minimums (Important)
Zendesk includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month, HubSpot Professional 3,000 credits, Gorgias Pro 190 automated interactions, and Freshdesk 500 sessions once per account. Fin has a 50-outcome monthly minimum on another helpdesk.
Billing toggle (Important)
Monthly billing costs more per seat: Zendesk Support Team is $25, Freshdesk Growth $23 and Intercom Essential $39. Help Scout and Zoho Desk open on yearly prices; their monthly prices are not in these totals.
Spend controls and trials (Nice to have)
Fin, Help Scout, Crisp and HubSpot offer spending limits or caps. Help Scout gives new accounts 3 months of unlimited AI Answers, and Fin lists up to 93% off Intercom plus a year of Fin for startups under $10M raised with 15 or fewer employees.
What to check before you pick an AI agent on price
-
Resolution rate first. S1 assumes 50%; your own rate decides whether per-session beats per-outcome billing.
-
Billable definition second. Fin counts a quiet ending as an outcome and Freshdesk counts every AI interaction.
-
Seats third. Price the plan that unlocks the AI agent, not the cheapest plan on the pricing page.
-
Volume last. Re-run the totals at half and double your volume, because HubSpot and Help Scout swap places at a volume of a little over a thousand resolutions a month.
Evaluation Checklist
Write down the conversations reaching the AI each month and your expected resolution rate.
Find each vendor's billing unit and its definition of a billable conversation.
Price the seat plan that includes the AI agent for your real agent count, on both billing toggles.
Subtract allowances that repeat every month, ignore one-time allowances, and add one-time fees such as HubSpot onboarding.
Set a spending cap before the AI goes live.
Pricing Overview
Per resolution or outcome
Help Scout, HubSpot, Intercom Fin, Zendesk (committed rate up to pay as you go) and Salesforce's Help Agent bill only conversations they count as resolved; Gorgias adds a ticket fee.
$0.50 to $2.00 per resolution
Per conversation or session
Freshdesk, Tidio's Lyro and Salesforce's generic SKU bill every conversation the AI takes part in, so a strong resolution rate lowers the effective price.
From $0.49 per conversation
Bundle with allowances
Helpdesk and AI Agent in one plan with 2,000 tickets and 190 automated interactions, and no per-agent price.
$471 to $550 a month for Gorgias Pro
Flat plan with AI credits or tokens
Crisp bundles monthly AI credits into a workspace plan with 10 seats; Zoho Desk lists AI Agents with a free token allowance from Express.
$7 per user (Zoho Express) to $95 per workspace (Crisp Essentials)
Pricing Comparison
| Tool | AI billing unit and rate | Seat plan for 5 agents | AI fee at S1 | Seats at S1 | Total at S1 | Allowance or trial | Billing basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$0.75 per AI Answers resolution | Standard, $25 per user a month | $750.00 (1,000 resolutions) | $125.00 | $875.00 | 3 months of unlimited AI Answers for new accounts | Seats on the yearly toggle; AI billed monthly | |
50 credits per resolved conversation at $0.010 a credit ($0.50) | Service Hub Professional, $90 per seat a month ($100 list) | $470.00 (50,000 credits less 3,000 included) | $450.00 | $920.00 | 3,000 credits a month; 14-day Customer Agent trial | Pay-annually option; $1,500 one-time onboarding not included | |
Freshdesk | $49 per 100 sessions ($0.49 a session), resolved or not | Growth, $19 per agent a month | $980.00 (2,000 sessions) | $95.00 | $1,075.00 | First 500 sessions free once per account (month one: $735.00) | Seats billed yearly ($23 billed monthly) |
$0.99 per outcome, one per conversation | Essential, $29 per seat a month (some visitors see $19) | $990.00 (1,000 outcomes) | $145.00 | $1,135.00 | 14-day trial; 50-outcome monthly minimum on another helpdesk | Seats billed yearly ($39 billed monthly) | |
Gorgias | $0.90 per automated interaction above 190 included (pricing page; blog: $0.83 to $1.67 annual), plus a ticket fee | Pro bundle: helpdesk $300 plus AI Agent $171 a month | $900.00 ($171 bundled plus $729.00 for 810 extra) | $300.00 (helpdesk) | $1,200.00 ($1,143.30 to $1,823.70 on the blog's rates) | 2,000 tickets and 190 automated interactions included | Billed yearly ($471 a month); $550 billed monthly |
Zendesk | $1.50 per committed automated resolution; $2.00 pay as you go | Support Team, $19 per agent a month (email AI agent) | $1,462.50 (975 after 25 included); $1,950.00 pay as you go | $95.00 | $1,557.50 | 5 automated resolutions per agent a month included | Seats billed yearly; chat AI agent needs Suite Team at $55 |
Help Agent $2 per resolution; generic SKU $2 per conversation; Flex Credits $500 per 100,000 | Not printed on the Agentforce or Self-Service pricing pages | $2,000.00 (1,000 Help Agent resolutions); generic SKU $4,000.00 (2,000 conversations) | Not printed | AI fee only; no seat price printed | None printed; both pages say to contact sales for detailed pricing | Contact-sales pricing; generic conversation SKU not offered on PayGo or Pre-Commit | |
Crisp | Token-based; vendor estimate of $0.05 to $0.10 per AI conversation | Essentials, $95 a month per workspace (10 seats) | $100 to $200 estimated, less the included credits | $95.00 flat | $170 to $270 (estimate, unranked) | Included monthly AI credits rise with the plan | Monthly workspace price; the yearly option is enabled in the app |
No per-resolution fee printed; up to 30 million free tokens a month | Express, $7 per user a month (up to 5 users) | Not printed per unit | $35.00 | $35.00 plus any AI usage beyond the allowance (unranked) | 30 million tokens a month on Zoho's models | Seats billed yearly; the monthly price is not used here | |
Tidio | $700 a month for 1,000 Lyro conversations ($0.70 each, our division) | Human conversations sold in separate plans; not computed | Not priced: 2,000 conversations exceed the 1,000 top step | Not computed | Not priced (unranked) | 50 free Lyro conversations once per account | Monthly steps from $39 for 50; annual billing gives 2 months free |
Prices checked on 20 Oct 2026 on Help Scout pricing, HubSpot Service Hub pricing, HubSpot Customer Agent and the HubSpot product catalog, Freshdesk pricing, Intercom pricing and Fin pricing, Gorgias pricing, Gorgias billing docs and Gorgias AI Agent pricing blog, Zendesk pricing and Zendesk automated resolutions, Salesforce Agentforce pricing and Salesforce Self-Service pricing, Crisp pricing and Crisp Hugo billing, Zoho Desk pricing and Zoho Desk edition comparison, Tidio pricing and Tidio Lyro limit. S1 is five human agents and 2,000 conversations reaching the AI, 1,000 of them resolved (our assumption). Ranked rows are ordered by total at S1, cheapest first.
Mistakes to Avoid
- ×
Comparing rates across units. Fin's per-outcome fee and Freshdesk's per-session fee look 50 cents apart, yet at S1 their AI fees are $990.00 and $980.00 a month.
- ×
Forgetting the seat layer. HubSpot has the lowest per-resolution rate here, but Professional seats are $450.00 of its $920.00 total.
- ×
Treating a free allowance as monthly. Freshdesk's 500 sessions are once per account, so month two costs $980.00 in AI fees, not $735.00.
- ×
Reading a yearly seat price as the monthly one. Zendesk, Freshdesk and Intercom all charge more per seat when billed monthly.
- ×
Pricing a per-conversation SKU on resolved volume. Salesforce's generic conversation SKU bills all 2,000 conversations at S1, not 1,000.
- ×
Missing caps in the plan table. Gorgias Starter lists 3 user seats, Zoho Express 5 users, and Tidio's Lyro steps stop at 1,000 conversations.
Expert Tips
- →
Estimate your own resolution rate before you read a pricing page; it decides whether a per-session fee beats a per-outcome fee.
- →
Ask each vendor what happens when a customer reopens a resolved conversation; Fin's page says the outcome is refunded.
- →
Set a spending limit before launch: Fin, Help Scout, HubSpot and Crisp each offer one.
- →
Use free windows to measure your real rate: Help Scout's 3 months of unlimited AI Answers, and the 14-day trials of Fin and HubSpot Customer Agent.
- →
Run the totals at your own volume: Help Scout is the cheapest ranked row from a few hundred to about 1,180 resolutions a month, and HubSpot above it.
Red Flags to Watch For
-
A price per conversation with no definition of a resolved conversation.
-
An included allowance that is a one-time trial, as with Freshdesk's 500 sessions, shown beside monthly prices.
-
Two vendor pages that disagree, as with Fin's 50-outcome minimum against a monthly dollar minimum, or Gorgias's pricing page against its blog.
-
A cap hidden in the plan table, such as 3 user seats on Gorgias Starter or 5 users on Zoho Express.
-
Pricing that stops at a volume: Gorgias above 5,000 conversations, Tidio's Lyro above 1,000, and Agentforce asking you to contact a sales rep.
The Bottom Line
At 1,000 resolved conversations a month and 5 agents, Help Scout is the cheapest of the seven ranked rows, with HubSpot cheaper once volume passes about 1,180 resolutions. Pick Freshdesk over Intercom Fin when the AI resolves more than 49.49% of what it touches, and Fin when you want outcome-only billing on any helpdesk. Treat Salesforce as the expensive end of the ranked rows. For a ranking by fit rather than price, see best AI customer service agents; for switching, see Intercom alternatives.
Cite this: Toolradar, "AI Customer Service Agent Pricing Compared in 2026", Oct 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an AI customer service agent cost for 1,000 resolved conversations a month?
For 5 human agents, 2,000 conversations reaching the AI and 1,000 resolved, billed yearly and checked 20 Oct 2026, monthly totals are Help Scout $875.00, HubSpot $920.00, Freshdesk $1,075.00, Intercom Fin $1,135.00, Gorgias $1,200.00 on its pricing-page rates and Zendesk $1,557.50. Salesforce Agentforce is at least $2,000.00 before seats. These are our arithmetic on printed prices, assuming a 50% resolution rate.
How much does Intercom Fin cost per resolution?
Fin charges $0.99 per outcome, at most one per conversation, and nothing when it cannot answer or the customer asks for a human. An outcome counts when the customer confirms, stops asking, or Fin finishes a workflow. Essential seats are $29 each billed yearly. On another helpdesk Fin adds no seat fees but has a 50-outcome monthly minimum. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
How much do Zendesk AI agents cost?
Zendesk bills $1.50 per automated resolution bought ahead (committed) and $2.00 pay as you go, with 5 automated resolutions per agent a month included. Seats start at $19 per agent a month billed yearly on Support Team for the email AI agent, and $55 on Suite Team for chat. For S1 that is $1,462.50 in committed resolutions plus $95.00 in seats, so $1,557.50. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
How much does Gorgias AI Agent cost?
Gorgias sells helpdesk and AI Agent as one bundle with no per-agent price: Pro is $471 a month billed yearly ($550 billed monthly) with 2,000 tickets and 190 automated interactions. Extra automated interactions cost $0.90 on Pro and a ticket fee also applies, so S1 totals $1,200.00, though the blog's annual overage rates of $0.83 to $1.67 would give $1,143.30 to $1,823.70. Above 5,000 conversations the page points to a custom plan. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
How much do Freshdesk Freddy AI Agent and Help Scout AI Answers cost?
Freshdesk bills $49 per 100 sessions, a session being any AI interaction, with the first 500 free once per account, on Growth seats billed yearly. Help Scout bills $0.75 per resolution on Standard seats with 3 free months for new accounts. At S1 Freshdesk totals $1,075.00 and Help Scout comes in lower. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
Is per-resolution or per-conversation pricing cheaper?
It depends on the resolution rate. Per-conversation billing is cheaper when that rate is above the per-conversation price divided by the per-resolution price. Freshdesk's $0.49 per session beats Fin's $0.99 per outcome above 49.49%, Help Scout's rate above 65.33% and Zendesk's committed rate above 32.67%. Salesforce's generic conversation SKU beats none of them, even at 100%.
Is there a free AI customer service agent?
Vendors give free allowances or trials rather than a free rate: Help Scout 3 months of unlimited AI Answers, Fin and HubSpot Customer Agent 14-day trials, Freshdesk 500 sessions once per account and Tidio 50 Lyro conversations once. Zoho Desk's comparison page shows up to 30 million tokens a month for its agent studio on every edition, Free included, and Crisp includes $5 to $75 of monthly AI credits by plan. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
Cite this page: Toolradar, "AI Customer Service Agent Pricing Compared in 2026: What 1,000 Resolved Conversations a Month Cost", updated October 2026, https://toolradar.com/guides/ai-customer-service-agent-pricing-compared
Spotted an outdated price or a wrong fact? Suggest a correction: we check it against the vendor's own page. Work for one of these vendors? Claim your listing to update it yourself.
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