October 2026 run

Helpdesk and AI customer service: benchmarked

What 34 vendors charge per AI resolution and per seat, and how many channels each one covers.

View leaderboards How we test

Benchmark runs: 3
Vendors tracked: 34
Data points: 82
Updated: Oct 2026

Leaderboards

October 2026 leaderboards

All leaderboards

Lower is better Full leaderboard

AI Price per Outcome

Per resolved conversation, 8 vendors, in USD

$0.50
HubSpot Service Hub , rank 1, $0.50/resolution
$0.75
Help Scout , rank 2, $0.75/resolution
$0.90
Gorgias , rank 3=, $0.90/automated interaction
$0.90
Lorikeet , rank 3=, $0.90/resolution
$0.99
eDesk , rank 5=, $0.99/outcome
$0.99
Intercom , rank 5=, $0.99/outcome
$1.00
Jira Service Management , rank 7, $1.00/AI agent resolution
$1.50
Zendesk , rank 8, $1.50/automated resolution

Lower is better Full leaderboard (11)

Seat Cost

25 agents, yearly cost on annual billing

1 Jira Service Management $5,650
2= Freshchat $5,700
2= Intercom $5,700
2= LiveChat $5,700
5= Help Scout $7,500

Higher is better Full leaderboard (33)

Channel and Language Coverage

Native channels, out of 12 tracked

1 Crisp 11
2= Zendesk 9
2= Zoho Desk 9
4= Ada 8
4= eesel AI 8

Seat cost

The cheapest helpdesk changes with team size

Yearly cost on annual billing. Tidio is cheapest at 5 agents. Jira Service Management is cheapest at 25 and 100 agents.

Cheapest at 25 agents

Jira Service Management

$5,650 a year

Seat cost leaderboard

1 Jira Service Management $5,650
2= Freshchat $5,700
2= Intercom $5,700
2= LiveChat $5,700
5= Help Scout $7,500
5= Hiver $7,500
7 Freshdesk $8,700
8 eDesk $11,700
9 Zendesk $16,500
10 Front $19,500
11 HubSpot Service Hub $27,000
Tidio
Crisp

Not ranked at 25 agents Zoho Desk (price varies by region), Kustomer (quote only), Gladly (quote only), Salesforce Service Cloud (conflicting prices), Tidio (no published price), Crisp (no published price), Richpanel (conflicting prices)

AI pricing

AI agents bill in six different units

Cheapest per resolved conversation: HubSpot Service Hub

hubspot.com/products/artificial-intelligence/ai-customer-service-agent

Messaging $0.50 per resolution

HubSpot Service Hub Per resolved conversation $0.50/resolution

Ranked vendors by billing unit

Per resolved conversation 8
Per session 2
Per conversation 1
Bundle pricing 1
Credits 1
Per automated ticket 1

20 of 34 vendors publish no comparable AI price

Ranked 14
No published price 14
Quote only 3
Conflicting prices 3

How we test Benchmark runs

Best software

Best helpdesk and AI customer service software

All lists

Best AI customer service software

Ranked by AI price per outcome

Best help desk software

Ranked by seat cost at 25 agents

Help Scout alternatives

Ranked by seat cost at 25 agents

Intercom competitors

Ranked by seat cost at 25 agents

Zendesk competitors

Ranked by seat cost at 25 agents

Best AI help desk software

Ranked by AI price per outcome

Best customer service software

Ranked by channel and language coverage

Best customer service software for small business

Ranked by seat cost at 5 agents

Comparisons

Guides