The best alternatives to Decagon are Sierra for the most certifications, Ada for a lower entry price with real procurement data, and Intercom Fin if you would rather start small at a public price.
Teams usually look beyond Decagon because of the size of the commitment: contracts observed from US$105,000 a year, with no trial.
Why teams look beyond Decagon
- The contract size is too large for your volume.
- You need documented EU data residency or a published language list.
- You want per-resolution pricing as the default, not per conversation.
The alternatives, ranked
Intercom Fin
Teams that want a price they can calculate today9.1- Price from
- US$0.99 per resolution
- Pricing model
- Per resolution
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
Fin is the AI agent from the company formerly called Intercom, which renamed itself Fin in May 2026. It runs inside the Intercom helpdesk or on top of another one, charges US$0.99 per outcome, and documents more about its pricing, languages and certifications than any other product we reviewed.
The catch: Customer silence for 24 hours is billed as a resolution, and so is a handoff to a human that you configured. Salesforce has agreed to buy the company.
Ada
Mid-market and enterprise teams that want an agent on top of their current helpdesk7.4- Price from
- est. US$36,079 per year
- Pricing model
- Quote only
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- No
Ada is a Toronto company whose agent works across messaging, email and voice on top of the helpdesk you already have. It sells by quote, but it is the one enterprise vendor with substantial procurement data: a median contract of US$72,000 a year across 114 purchases.
The catch: Ada's own AI decides which conversations count as billable resolutions, and the contract allows the count to be calculated from a sampled rate.
Sierra
Very large consumer brands that want a managed build6.2- Price from
- Quote only
- Pricing model
- Quote only
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- No
Sierra, founded by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor, sells AI agents for support, sales and retention to very large companies. Pricing is outcome-based and entirely by quote. It has the longest list of security certifications we found and publishes no prices, hosting regions or connector list.
The catch: Unresolved conversations are free "in most cases", and some traffic is billed per conversation regardless of outcome. The billable outcome is defined contract by contract.
Forethought
Teams that want an agent layer across several support systems5.6- Price from
- Quote only
- Pricing model
- Quote only
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- No
Forethought sells AI agents for chat, email and voice that sit on top of existing helpdesks. Zendesk completed its acquisition in March 2026 and now sells the product as Forethought AI Agents by Zendesk, including to customers on other helpdesks.
The catch: It is owned by a helpdesk vendor, hosting is in the United States only, and the billable outcome is not defined anywhere public.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Price from | Works on your existing helpdesk | Self-serve sign-up | EU data residency | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decagon | 5.8 | Quote only | est. US$105,000 per year | Yes | No | Not documented | Large enterprises with high volume and a six-figure budget |
| Intercom Fin | 9.1 | Per resolution | US$0.99 per resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Teams that want a price they can calculate today |
| Ada | 7.4 | Quote only | est. US$36,079 per year | Yes | No | Yes | Mid-market and enterprise teams that want an agent on top of their current helpdesk |
| Sierra | 6.2 | Quote only | Quote only | Yes | No | Not documented | Very large consumer brands that want a managed build |
| Forethought | 5.6 | Quote only | Quote only | Yes | No | No | Teams that want an agent layer across several support systems |
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest Decagon alternative for an enterprise?
On public data, Ada: Vendr shows a median of US$72,000 a year against Decagon's US$432,750. Fin is cheaper still at low volume because it has no platform fee.
Which alternative is closest to Decagon?
Sierra. Both are vendor-led enterprise platforms sold by quote across chat, email and voice.
Related pages
- Decagon reviewreview
- Decagon pricing explainedpricing
- The best AI customer service agents in 2026best list
Sources
- Decagon homepage — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Decagon integrations — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Decagon Voice — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Decagon security — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- AI customer support setup — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- What is resolution-based pricing? — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Chime case study — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Rituals case study — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Series D announcement — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Introducing Duet Autopilot — Decagon · 18 September 2026
- Decagon AI raises $250M at $4.5B valuation — SiliconANGLE · 18 September 2026
- Decagon company profile — Sacra · 18 September 2026
- Decagon AI pricing (buyer data) — Vendr · 18 September 2026
- Decagon (company) — Wikipedia · 18 September 2026
- Fin homepage — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Fin pricing — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Intercom pricing — Intercom (Fin) · 18 September 2026
- Fin pricing: outcomes — Fin Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Anthropic customer story — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Lightspeed customer story — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Fin channels — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Fin integrations — Fin · 18 September 2026
- Use Fin AI Agent in multiple languages — Fin Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Regional data hosting — Fin Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Intercom security — Intercom (Fin) · 18 September 2026
- Fin AI Agent explained — Fin Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Today, Intercom becomes Fin — Intercom (Fin) · 18 September 2026
- Salesforce signs definitive agreement to acquire Fin — Salesforce · 18 September 2026
- Ada homepage — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Ada platform — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Ada messaging — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Ada integrations — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Service-specific terms — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Understand and improve your AI agent's automated resolution rate — Ada Docs · 18 September 2026
- About multilingual support — Ada Docs · 18 September 2026
- Ada subprocessors — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Ada trust — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Epos Now case study — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Life360 case study — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Ada doubles YoY growth as demand for agentic customer service surges (3 March 2026) — Ada · 18 September 2026
- Ada pricing (buyer data, 114 purchases) — Vendr · 18 September 2026
- Ada company profile — Sacra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra homepage — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra product — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra Voice — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Agent SDK — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Trust and reliability — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Outcome-based pricing for AI agents — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra customers — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- WeightWatchers customer story — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Better customer experiences, built on Sierra (funding announcement) — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- AI for call centers — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra achieves AIUC-1 certification — Sierra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra company profile — Sacra · 18 September 2026
- Sierra raises $950M as the race to own enterprise AI gets serious — TechCrunch · 18 September 2026
- Forethought Solve — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Forethought pricing — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Forethought integrations — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- AI voice agent — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Multilingual support for Solve — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Forethought security policy — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Forethought platform security — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Forethought FAQ — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Grammarly achieves 87% deflection and 4.2 CSAT early with Forethought — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- The secret to scaling CX is hidden in the 3 metrics you already track (YAZIO) — Forethought · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk completes acquisition of Forethought — Zendesk · 18 September 2026
- Announcing Forethought AI agents by Zendesk for customers — Zendesk Help · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk to acquire Forethought in major agentic AI play — Computer Weekly · 18 September 2026
- Zendesk acquires agentic customer service startup Forethought — TechCrunch · 18 September 2026
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: How we review