For a small business, the best AI customer service agent is one you can start without a sales call, on a bill you can predict. Tidio Lyro and Intercom Fin fit that best; if you already pay for HubSpot, Freshdesk, Help Scout or Zendesk, the agent built into that tool is usually the cheaper first step.
Every product on this list publishes at least part of its pricing and offers a trial. We left out the platforms that sell only by quote, where observed contracts start in five or six figures a year.
Quick picks
- Online store: Tidio Lyro — from $32.50 a month, self-serve, EEA-hosted.
- Pay only for outcomes: Intercom Fin — $0.99 per outcome with a minimum of about $49.50 a month on another helpdesk.
- Already on Help Scout: Help Scout AI Answers — $0.75 per resolution with a spending cap.
- Already on HubSpot: HubSpot Customer Agent — $0.50 per resolved conversation.
The ranking
Intercom Fin
Teams that want a price they can calculate today9.1- Price from
- $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 $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.
Tidio Lyro
Small online stores that want to start this week7.9- Price from
- $24.17 per month
- Pricing model
- Per conversation
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Yes
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
Lyro is Tidio's AI agent for small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses. It works as an add-on to Tidio, on its own, or on Zendesk, Intercom and Salesforce through Lyro Connect. Entry prices are public, data is hosted in the EEA, and it supports 48 languages.
The catch: A conversation thread closes after 15 idle minutes, so a visitor who comes back is billed again, and the free quota never resets.
Freshworks Freddy AI Agent
Small and mid-sized teams already on Freshdesk7.7- Price from
- $0.49 per session
- Pricing model
- Seats plus usage
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Requires Freshdesk
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
Freddy AI Agent is the no-code agent inside Freshdesk and Freshdesk Omni. Prices are public and setup is self-serve, but the billing unit is a session, not a resolution, and the session price rose about fivefold in November 2025.
The catch: A session is consumed whether or not the customer's problem is solved, and the 500 free sessions are a one-time allotment, not monthly.
HubSpot Customer Agent
Companies already on HubSpot Professional or Enterprise7.7- Price from
- $0.50 per resolution
- Pricing model
- Credits
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Requires HubSpot Service Hub
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
HubSpot's Customer Agent answers customers using your CRM data and knowledge base. It is available only to Service Hub Professional and Enterprise subscribers, and since April 2026 it costs $0.50 per resolved conversation, paid in HubSpot Credits.
The catch: A conversation counts as resolved if the visitor does not ask for a human within 72 hours, and lead qualifications are billed too.
Zendesk AI Agents
Teams already running support on Zendesk7.5- Price from
- $55 per seat per month
- Pricing model
- Seats plus usage
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Requires Zendesk Suite
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
Zendesk's AI agents are built into Zendesk Suite and Support plans. Since May 2026 the agentic features are included in every plan and only resolutions verified by a model are billed. What Zendesk still does not publish is what a resolution costs.
The catch: The price per automated resolution is not published anywhere. The only figure in the open is a 2025 forum comment from a Zendesk product manager.
Help Scout AI Answers
Small Help Scout teams with a good knowledge base6.8- Price from
- $0.75 per resolution
- Pricing model
- Seats plus usage
- Works on your existing helpdesk
- Requires Help Scout
- Self-serve sign-up
- Yes
AI Answers is the customer-facing AI inside Help Scout's Beacon chat widget. It costs $0.75 per resolution, among the lowest published prices in the category, and does one thing: answer questions from your help content.
The catch: A resolution is inferred when the customer does nothing further, so abandoned sessions can be billed. Hosting is in the United States only.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Price from | Works on your existing helpdesk | Self-serve sign-up | EU data residency | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Fin | 9.1 | Per resolution | $0.99 per resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes | Teams that want a price they can calculate today |
| Tidio Lyro | 7.9 | Per conversation | $24.17 per month | Yes | Yes | Yes | Small online stores that want to start this week |
| Freshworks Freddy AI Agent | 7.7 | Seats plus usage | $0.49 per session | No | Yes | Yes | Small and mid-sized teams already on Freshdesk |
| HubSpot Customer Agent | 7.7 | Credits | $0.50 per resolution | No | Yes | Yes | Companies already on HubSpot Professional or Enterprise |
| Zendesk AI Agents | 7.5 | Seats plus usage | $55 per seat per month | No | Yes | Yes | Teams already running support on Zendesk |
| Help Scout AI Answers | 6.8 | Seats plus usage | $0.75 per resolution | No | Yes | No | Small Help Scout teams with a good knowledge base |
How to choose
Count your conversations first. Below a few hundred a month, almost any per-resolution product costs less than an hour of a person's time per week. The risk is not the price but paying for a bundle you do not use.
Prefer spending caps and monthly terms. Help Scout and Gladly let you set a cap; Tidio and Freshworks sell prepaid bundles that expire. Avoid annual commitments until you have measured a real resolution rate.
Fix your help content before you switch anything on. Every agent here answers from what you have written down. Twenty good articles will do more for your resolution rate than any choice of vendor.
Verdict
Start with the agent inside the tool you already pay for, measure it for a month, and only then consider adding a standalone agent. If you have no helpdesk yet, Tidio Lyro for stores and Intercom Fin for software and services are the two easiest to price and try.
For buyers in the United States
There is no federal AI law for customer service bots, but existing rules apply. The FTC treats misleading AI claims as deception, California requires bots to identify themselves when they are used to sell, and AI voices on outbound calls need consent under the TCPA.
Vendors in this category price in US dollars, so the prices on this site are the prices you will be quoted. If you serve customers in Europe, also check whether the product documents EU data residency and a data processing agreement; each review lists both.
Frequently asked questions
What does an AI support agent cost a small business?
At 500 conversations a month with half resolved, published prices put the AI usage between roughly $125 and $250 a month, before any helpdesk seats. Use the calculator with your own numbers.
Is a free plan enough to start?
Enough to test, not to run. Free quotas such as Tidio's 50 Lyro conversations or Freshworks' 500 sessions are granted once and do not reset.
Keep reading
- The best AI customer service agents in 2026best list
- The best AI customer service agents for e-commercebest list
- The best AI customer service agents for enterprisebest list
- The best AI customer service agents for Zendeskbest list
- The best AI customer service agents for Salesforcebest list
- What counts as a resolution?guide
- How to run an AI agent pilotguide
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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