The best AI help desk software in 2026 is Intercom for AI-first chat with its Fin agent, Zendesk for large service teams, Gleap for software teams that want support, bug reports and feedback in one place, Freshdesk for a low seat price with AI sessions included, Help Scout for email-first teams, Front for shared inboxes, HubSpot Service Hub for teams on HubSpot, Zoho Desk for the lowest per-agent price, Featurebase for a low per-resolution AI price and Crisp for a flat workspace price. Every price below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked on October 3, 2026.
Gleap publishes this guide and is on the list. It gets the same treatment as every other tool: who it fits, what it costs and where it falls short.
What Makes a Help Desk an AI Help Desk
Every help desk now has AI features. The ones on this list have three things:
- An AI agent that answers customers from your help content, takes simple actions and hands off to a person in the same conversation.
- AI for your team: drafted replies, summaries, translation and routing inside the inbox.
- A published or clearly described AI price, so you can forecast the bill.
The third point separates them most. Some vendors charge per resolution, some per outcome, some per session or conversation, and some include the AI in a credit allowance.
How AI Help Desks Bill Their AI Agents
Published price per AI unit
| Unit | Who uses it | What you pay for |
|---|---|---|
| Per resolution | Zendesk, Help Scout, Featurebase, HubSpot, Front, Gleap | Conversations the AI resolves without a person; definitions differ |
| Per outcome | Intercom | A resolution or a completed handoff Procedure, at most one per conversation |
| Per session | Freshdesk | Each AI conversation window, resolved or not |
| Credits | Crisp, Plain, HubSpot | A monthly credit allowance that the AI draws on |
Per-resolution pricing charges more per unit but nothing for conversations the AI hands off. Per-session pricing charges less per unit but also for conversations that end with a person. Run a sample of your real conversations through each trial and compare the monthly total.
AI Help Desks Compared
USD list prices from each vendor’s pricing page, checked October 3, 2026. “Billed annually” is the monthly equivalent of a yearly payment.
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | AI agent price | Free plan or trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom | AI-first chat with Fin | $29/seat/mo billed annually (Essential) | Fin, $0.99 per outcome | 14-day trial, no card |
| Zendesk | Large service teams | $19/agent/mo (Support Team), $55 (Suite Team), billed annually | 5 to 10 resolutions per agent a month included, then $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go | 14-day trial |
| Gleap | Software teams | $149/mo per workspace billed annually (Team, unlimited seats) | Kai Support, $0.29 per resolution | Free plan (1 seat); 7-day trial, no credit card |
| Freshdesk | Low seat price with AI sessions | $19/agent/mo billed annually (Growth) | Freddy, first 500 sessions included, then $49 per 100 | 14-day trial |
| Help Scout | Email-first teams | $25/user/mo billed annually (Standard) | AI Answers, $0.75 per resolution | Free for 5 users; 15-day trial |
| Front | Shared inboxes across teams | $25/seat/mo billed annually (Starter, up to 10 seats) | Autopilot, $0.05 to $0.89 per conversation | 14-day trial, no card |
| HubSpot Service Hub | Teams on HubSpot CRM | $90/seat/mo (Professional), plus $1,500 onboarding | Customer Agent, 50 credits ($0.50) per resolution | Free tools for 2 users |
| Zoho Desk | Lowest per-agent price | $7/agent/mo billed annually (Express) | Zia in Professional and Enterprise | Free for 3 users; 15-day trial |
| Featurebase | Low AI price plus feedback boards | $29/seat/mo billed annually (Growth) | Fibi, $0.49 per resolution | Free for 1 seat; 10-day trial |
| Crisp | Flat price for small teams | $45/mo per workspace with 4 seats (Mini) | Hugo, on included AI credits ($5 to $75 a month) | Free for 2 seats; 14-day trial |
1. Intercom: Best for AI-First Chat With Fin
Intercom is built around its Messenger and Fin, an AI agent that answers in chat, email and other channels. Essential costs $29, Advanced $85 and Expert $132 per seat a month billed annually, or $39, $99 and $139 monthly, and Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, charged at most once per conversation (Intercom pricing). Some visitors see Essential at $19 in a price test, so confirm the price you are offered. Copilot, the assistant for agents, costs $29 per agent a month billed annually.
- Best for: teams whose support happens in chat on a website or app, with the AI answering first.
- Limitation: two meters on the bill, seats and outcomes, and a Procedure handoff counts as an outcome. The company behind Intercom now calls itself Fin and was acquired by Salesforce on September 10, 2026 (Salesforce), so check renewal terms.
Fin also runs on other help desks for $0.99 per outcome with a 50-outcome monthly minimum (Fin pricing). See our Intercom pricing guide and the Fin alternative.
2. Zendesk: Best for Large Service Teams
Zendesk covers ticketing, messaging, voice, a help center and AI agents, with enterprise routing and workforce tools. Support Team costs $19, Suite Team $55 and Suite Professional $115 per agent a month billed annually, and Suite Enterprise is quoted (Zendesk pricing). Each plan includes automated resolutions for its AI agents: 5 per agent a month on Support Team and Suite Team and 10 on Suite Professional, up to 10,000 a year. Extra resolutions cost $1.50 each with a commitment or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Copilot costs $50 per agent a month.
- Best for: support organizations with voice, several brands, formal SLAs and dedicated administrators.
- Limitation: the highest published price per AI resolution on this list, and per-agent seats on top. Zendesk also completed its acquisition of the AI agent company Forethought on March 26, 2026, so its AI lineup is changing.
See our Zendesk review and Zendesk pricing guide.
3. Gleap: Best for Software Teams
Gleap is AI-native customer support for software teams. It combines a multichannel inbox, live chat, a knowledge base, in-app bug reporting, feature voting and a roadmap with five AI agents. Kai Support answers customers in chat, email and the help center. Kai Specialist investigates hard tickets with screen recordings, console and network logs, account data and your code, then answers or escalates with a diagnosis. Kai Code opens pull requests that your team reviews, Kai PM groups feature requests and recommends priorities, and Kai Copilot drafts replies.
Gleap SupportWe typically reply in a few minutes. - Price: Free costs $0 with one seat, 50 tickets a month and Kai Support. Team costs $149 a month billed annually ($179 monthly) and Pro $299 ($359 monthly), both with unlimited seats and all agents, and Enterprise starts at $999. Kai Support costs $0.29 per resolution, charged once per conversation it resolves; Kai Specialist, Kai Code and Kai PM bill for the work they do, and Kai Copilot is included.
- Best for: SaaS and mobile teams where support conversations turn into bug reports and feature requests.
- Limitation: no phone or SMS channel, a one-seat Free plan, and fewer enterprise service tools such as workforce management than Zendesk.
New workspaces get a 7-day free trial, no credit card required. See Gleap pricing and the AI help desk page.
4. Freshdesk: Best for a Low Seat Price With AI Sessions
Freshdesk covers email ticketing, a customer portal and knowledge base, and reporting. Growth costs $19, Pro $55 and Enterprise $89 per agent a month billed annually, and every plan includes the first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions, then $49 per 100 sessions (Freshdesk pricing). Freddy AI Copilot costs $29 per agent a month billed annually.
- Best for: teams that want a traditional help desk with an AI agent at a low entry price.
- Limitation: sessions are billed whether or not the AI resolves the question, and seats still grow with the team.
See our Freshdesk pricing guide.
5. Help Scout: Best for Email-First Teams
Help Scout is a shared inbox that feels close to email, with Docs for the help center and Beacon for chat. Standard costs $25, Plus $45 and Pro $75 per user a month billed annually, a free plan covers 5 users and 100 contacts a month, and AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution with a three-month free trial for new accounts (Help Scout pricing).
- Best for: small teams that answer mostly by email and want a published AI price with a spending cap.
- Limitation: per-user pricing, and Pro requires at least 10 users.
See our Help Scout pricing guide.
6. Front: Best for Shared Inboxes Across Teams
Front treats customer communication as shared inbox work across support, account management and operations. Starter costs $25, Professional $65 and Enterprise $105 per seat a month billed annually. Autopilot, its AI agent, charges the highest level a conversation reaches: $0.05 for triage, $0.39 for a handoff and $0.89 for a resolution (Front pricing). Copilot costs $20 per seat a month and is included in Enterprise.
- Best for: teams that handle long email and messaging threads across several departments.
- Limitation: seat caps of 10 on Starter and 50 on Professional, and Starter is limited to one channel type.
See our Front pricing guide.
7. HubSpot Service Hub: Best for Teams on HubSpot CRM
HubSpot Service Hub puts tickets, a help desk workspace and customer records in the same CRM as sales and marketing. Professional costs $90 per seat a month billed annually, plus a required $1,500 onboarding fee, and Enterprise $150 per seat plus $3,500. Free tools cover 2 users (HubSpot pricing). The Customer Agent, on Professional and Enterprise, uses 50 HubSpot credits, $0.50, per conversation it resolves without a person; Professional includes 3,000 credits a month.
- Best for: B2B teams whose sales and marketing already run on HubSpot.
- Limitation: onboarding fees and per-seat pricing, and the AI agent needs Professional or higher.
See Zendesk vs HubSpot.
8. Zoho Desk: Best for the Lowest Per-Agent Price
Zoho Desk is a multichannel help desk inside the Zoho suite. Express costs $7, Standard $14, Professional $23 and Enterprise $40 per agent a month billed annually, and a free plan covers 3 users (Zoho Desk pricing). Zia, Zoho’s AI, is part of Professional and Enterprise.
- Best for: companies on Zoho CRM and teams where the seat price decides.
- Limitation: the AI features start on Professional, and Zoho’s pages do not publish a separate AI agent price per resolution.
9. Featurebase: Best for a Low AI Price Plus Feedback Boards
Featurebase combines a helpdesk with feedback boards and a roadmap in one per-seat subscription. Growth costs $29, Professional $59 and Enterprise $99 per seat a month billed annually, a free plan covers one seat, and Fibi, its AI agent, costs $0.49 per resolution (Featurebase pricing).
- Best for: small software teams that want support and feedback from one vendor at a low AI price.
- Limitation: per-seat pricing, and no Lite seats on Growth.
See our Featurebase pricing guide.
10. Crisp: Best for a Flat Price for Small Teams
Crisp bundles live chat, a shared inbox, a help center and the Hugo AI agent per workspace. Mini costs $45 a month with 4 seats and $5 of AI credits, Essentials $95 with 10 seats and $25 of credits, and Plus $295 with 20 or more seats and $75 of credits; extra seats cost $10 a month (Crisp pricing). A free plan covers 2 seats without AI.
- Best for: early-stage teams that want one inexpensive tool for chat and email.
- Limitation: Crisp publishes no price for AI credits beyond the included amount, and no yearly price on its pricing page.
See Crisp vs Intercom.
Enterprise AI Agents Without Published Prices
Decagon and Sierra sell AI agents, not help desks, to large companies, and both sell through demos without public prices. Decagon describes per-conversation and per-resolution pricing on its blog; Sierra describes outcome-based pricing. Our Decagon vs Sierra comparison covers how each one sells. Pylon, a support platform with several AI agents, also publishes no prices; see Pylon pricing.
How We Compared
We read each vendor’s pricing and plan pages on October 3, 2026 and recorded the lowest paid plan, how the AI agent is billed, the free plan or trial and the main limitation we found on those pages. We did not run a hands-on test of every AI agent, and resolution rates depend on your content and your customers, so test each one on a sample of your own conversations. Gleap’s facts come from its pricing page.
Bottom Line
Pick the help desk for the way your customers reach you, then price the AI on your own volume. Chat-first teams should start with Intercom, large service operations with Zendesk, email-first teams with Help Scout and budget-led teams with Freshdesk or Zoho Desk. If you build software and many conversations end in a bug report or a feature request, try Gleap, where the same agents that answer customers also investigate the ticket and prepare the fix for your team to review.
