💬 AI agents

Best AI tool for building a customer-support agent

An AI agent that answers customers on chat, email or WhatsApp and hands off to a human.

Last updated: 14 Nov 2026·4 tools compared·Not yet tested

For a small business, the dream is an agent that answers the same 30 questions on your website, email and WhatsApp, and passes the tricky ones to you. Pricing models differ a lot here: per seat, per conversation, or per resolved outcome. Note that WhatsApp usually also carries Meta's own per-message fees on top.

Our pick: Intercom Fin. Intercom Fin is our early pick: you only pay per outcome on top of a seat, it covers chat, email and WhatsApp in one inbox, and there is a 14-day free trial with no card. Tidio is the budget pick for small web shops.

At a glance

#	Tool	Free tier	Status
1	Intercom Fin Our pick	14-day free trial, no credit card, includes Fin and add-ons.	Not yet tested
2	Tidio (Lyro)	Free plan; Starter includes 50 one-off Lyro AI conversations. 7-day free trial, no card.	Not yet tested
3	Botpress	Free: 100 conversations per month, 3 seats, 3 agents, no WhatsApp.	Not yet tested
4	Chatbase	No free plan listed on the pricing page.	Not yet tested

The tools

#1Intercom Fin

Our pickNot yet tested

Best for: Small teams that want one inbox for chat, email and WhatsApp with an AI agent that resolves most questions.
Skip it if: You get very high volume of simple questions; per-outcome pricing adds up.
Free tier: 14-day free trial, no credit card, includes Fin and add-ons.
Price: Fin: $0.99 per outcome. Essential seat $29/month monthly ($19 billed annually for new customers). WhatsApp messages billed per message.

Official site ↗

Pricing checked 14 Nov 2026 from: www.intercom.com/pricing. Prices in USD and can change; check the official page before you buy.

#2Tidio (Lyro)

Not yet tested

Best for: Small web shops that want live chat plus a simple AI agent at a low starting price.
Skip it if: You need lots of AI conversations on the free plan; the 50 Lyro conversations are one-off.
Free tier: Free plan; Starter includes 50 one-off Lyro AI conversations. 7-day free trial, no card.
Price: Starter from $24.17/month billed annually; Growth from $49.17/month billed annually.

Official site ↗

Pricing checked 14 Nov 2026 from: www.tidio.com/pricing/. Prices in USD and can change; check the official page before you buy.

#3Botpress

Not yet tested

Best for: Builders who want to design custom agent logic and connect it to many channels.
Skip it if: You need WhatsApp on a budget; WhatsApp is not on the free plan.
Free tier: Free: 100 conversations per month, 3 seats, 3 agents, no WhatsApp.
Price: Plus $150/month billed annually (250 conversations, WhatsApp, $25 AI usage included).

Official site ↗

Pricing checked 14 Nov 2026 from: botpress.com/pricing. Prices in USD and can change; check the official page before you buy.

#4Chatbase

Not yet tested

Best for: Teams that want a quick agent trained on their docs, with integrations and an API.
Skip it if: You want to start free or cheap; there is no free plan listed and the entry plan is $120/month billed yearly.
Free tier: No free plan listed on the pricing page.
Price: Basic $150/month ($120/month billed yearly); extra credits $40 per 1,000.

Official site ↗

Pricing checked 14 Nov 2026 from: www.chatbase.co/pricing. Prices in USD and can change; check the official page before you buy.

How we'll test this

Load each agent with the same 20-page help doc for a fictional shop, then send the same 40 customer questions (easy, tricky and out-of-scope) over web chat and email. Score correct answers, safe hand-offs, setup time and the cost of that month's volume.

Every tool gets the same task, scored on result quality, speed, ease of use and price/free tier. Results and the test date will appear here, and the ranking can change once we have them. Full methodology

No tool paid to be on this page. Some links may become affiliate links in future; they never change the order. Disclosure