An AI chatbot for customer service answers customers' messages automatically, and the better ones also look up the customer's order, take the actions your rules allow and hand everything else to a human agent with the context. For a consumer brand with heavy order, delivery, return and refund volume, choose by the channels the AI works on, what it may do to an order and who builds it, not by how natural it sounds. Flowcall, Zendesk, Fin (formerly Intercom), Ada, Freshdesk and Gorgias sell AI agents that act on orders; Tidio, Chatbase and Botpress suit small teams and builders.
Facts checked 28 September 2026. Every vendor fact below comes from that vendor's own documentation or pricing page, checked on 27 or 28 September 2026 and linked. We make Flowcall. It's listed first because this list is written for high-volume consumer brands, the buyers it's built for; its entry is held to the same standard, limits included.
Short answer
- Order, return and refund requests and product questions on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone, with the AI set up and improved by the vendor's team: Flowcall.
- Already on Zendesk, with admins who will build the AI: Zendesk AI agents.
- Keep your current helpdesk and add an AI agent to it: Fin or Ada.
- Already on Freshworks: Freshdesk Omni's AI Agent.
- Shopify-first brand that wants helpdesk and AI from one vendor: Gorgias.
- Small team, mostly website chat: Tidio.
- Build your own agent from your help content or in code: Chatbase or Botpress.
Three kinds of AI chatbot, and how to tell which one you're buying
Vendors now call almost every customer service chatbot an "AI agent", so the label tells you little. What matters is what the bot can do with a request. There are three kinds, and many products combine them (for the basics, see what is a chatbot):
| Flow bot | Answer bot | AI agent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it works | Buttons and decision trees your team draws | Reads your policies and help content and writes a reply | Also looks up live data and takes actions within your rules |
| Free-text messages | Matches keywords, often badly | Understands them | Understands them |
| "Where's my refund?" | Shows the refund policy | Explains the refund policy in a sentence | Finds this customer's return and refund and gives the status |
| What it needs from you | A flow for every path | Up-to-date policies and FAQs | Policies, access to your systems, a rule for each action, and a team to hand over to |
| Good for | Menus, collecting details, simple routing | Pre-purchase and policy questions | Order, delivery, return, refund and warranty requests |
A flow bot is fine for a menu. An answer bot handles questions whose answer is the same for every customer, which is most of what a website FAQ covers. But at a consumer brand most of the volume is order work, where the answer depends on this customer's order, and that needs an AI agent. If you want the longer version of this distinction, see chatbot vs conversational AI; if you're deciding whether to automate at all, see chatbot vs live chat.
One request, three ways: "Where's my refund?"
A customer returned a pair of shoes nine days ago. She sends a WhatsApp message: "Returned my shoes last week, where's my refund?"
- Flow bot. It shows a menu. She taps "Refunds" and gets the policy: refunds are issued within five to seven working days of the return arriving. She types "it's been 9 days", and the bot shows the menu again or passes her to a human agent with nothing attached.
- Answer bot. It understands her, quotes the same policy in a friendly sentence and asks for her order number. It still can't see the return or the refund, so the conversation ends with "our team will get back to you" and a ticket.
- AI agent. It matches her WhatsApp number to her order, or asks her to confirm the order when the match isn't certain. It sees that the warehouse received the return on day three and that the refund to her card started on day four, and tells her when her bank usually shows it. If the refund had failed, it wouldn't guess. It would create a ticket for your finance team with the order, the return and the failed refund attached, and tell her what happens next.
The difference isn't the quality of the language. It's access to your order, returns and payment systems, and a rule for each outcome.
How we chose
We started from the products recommended by the pages that rank for "AI chatbots for customer service" and kept the ones a support team at a consumer brand could use for order work. We checked each one against five questions, using only the vendor's own documentation and pricing page:
- Where the AI itself works. A helpdesk can receive WhatsApp messages while its AI only answers website chat. We list the channels the AI works on, including WhatsApp, Instagram, email and voice, which matter if you offer WhatsApp customer support or take calls.
- What it can do to an order, and under which rules. Answering is the easy part. We note whether the AI can refund, cancel or change an order, and how you limit that.
- Handover. Whether a human agent receives the conversation with its context, so the customer doesn't repeat themselves.
- Who builds and maintains it. Your team in a builder, your developers, or the vendor's team.
- Evidence we could check: public documentation and a pricing page.
We left out consumer AI assistants such as ChatGPT, sales and lead-generation bots, and tools built mainly for marketing broadcasts. If you mostly want a chatbot that sells on your store, see our guide to the best AI chatbot for ecommerce. We didn't test the products hands-on, and we don't compare prices: each entry says how the vendor charges and links its pricing page. After Flowcall, the list is grouped (AI agents for helpdesks, then builders), not ranked.
AI chatbots for customer service compared
| Best for | Where the AI works (vendor docs) | Acts on orders? | Who builds it | Pricing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flowcall | Consumer brands with high volumes of order, return and refund requests and product questions | WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger, live chat, email; Voice AI agent (beta) | Yes, after your checks and approvals pass | Flowcall's team, with your approval | Shared on a call |
| Zendesk AI agents | Teams already on Zendesk | Messaging (WhatsApp and social through Zendesk messaging), email; calls on supported Zendesk Talk lines | Yes, through procedures and API integrations | Your team | Published |
| Fin | Adding an AI agent to Intercom, Salesforce, HubSpot or Freshworks | Chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Slack; phone (Fin Voice) | Yes, through procedures and data connectors | Your team | Published; per outcome |
| Ada | Large, multilingual brands with an existing CRM or contact center | Chat, email, SMS, voice, WhatsApp, in-app | Yes: refunds, exchanges, store credit, return labels | Not stated on its pages | On request |
| Freshdesk Omni | Teams on Freshworks | WhatsApp, web chat, Instagram, Facebook | Yes, through API actions | Your team | Published |
| Gorgias | Shopify-first brands | Email, chat, SMS, Instagram DMs, Messenger, WhatsApp | Yes: Shopify actions you switch on, with conditions | Your team | Published |
| Tidio (Lyro) | Small teams, mostly website chat | Chat, email, Instagram, WhatsApp | Yes: refunds, cancellations and edits within your rules | Your team | Published |
| Chatbase | Building an agent from your own content | Website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger | Through actions (Shopify, Stripe, your APIs) | Your team | Published |
| Botpress | Agents your developers build | Webchat, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Slack, Teams; SMS and voice through Twilio | Through integrations you build | Your developers | Published |
The 9 best AI chatbots for customer service
1. Flowcall
Best for: Consumer brands with high volumes of order, delivery, return, refund and warranty requests, as well as product questions, across WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone, who want the AI to act only within their rules and want Flowcall's team to set it up and keep improving it with them. Pricing: not published; Flowcall shares pricing on a call.
What it does well. Flowcall combines an AI Agent with an AI Helpdesk. The AI Agent runs the same workflows, lookups and actions on WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger, live chat and email, and answers from your policies and FAQs in the customer's language (more than 100 languages for messaging). On calls, the Voice AI agent, in beta with select customers, follows the same workflows. Your procedures for returns, refunds, cancellations and warranty claims become workflows. Your rules decide what the AI may do: required checks, eligibility conditions and approvals must pass before a refund, cancellation or replacement. The AI checks order, delivery, payment and refund data in connected systems and completes the work, with Shopify connected natively and couriers such as ClickPost and Shiprocket through configured connectors. It reads the photos and invoices customers send, collects addresses and photos in WhatsApp forms, and follows up when it's waiting on the customer.
When a human agent is needed, the AI creates a ticket with the conversation, a summary, the order and what's left to do. When the same customer writes on another channel while their issue is open, Flowcall keeps it on the same ticket, with the whole history visible. AI quality assurance audits AI and human conversations for wrong answers and missed handoffs, and each workflow is tested against simulated conversations before it goes live. Flowcall's team sets up the workflows and integrations, and your team approves each change. Flowcall can also keep Freshdesk, Salesforce or Sprinklr as your system of record, through a connection built for your account.
Not the fit if you're a small store answering mostly website chats, or SMS is your main support channel.
2. Zendesk AI agents
Best for: Support teams already running Zendesk that want the AI inside the same helpdesk and have admins to build it. Pricing: published; seats, with AI agents billed per automated resolution (Zendesk pricing).
Zendesk's AI agents work on messaging and email channels, including web forms and the API (Zendesk: where you can use AI agents). To put one on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger, you need Zendesk messaging with that channel connected (Zendesk: AI agents on WhatsApp). Generative procedures let the AI collect details, check a condition and branch, and run an API integration with another system, with a fallback when the integration fails (Zendesk: generative procedures). On supported Zendesk Talk lines, an AI agent can answer inbound calls (Zendesk: AI agents in Talk).
Limits. Your team builds the procedures and the integrations behind them; for the AI to read Shopify orders, that means an API step (Zendesk: link your AI agent with customer orders). Check which plan your channels and AI features need. For a side-by-side, see Flowcall vs Zendesk.
3. Fin
Best for: Teams that want to keep their current helpdesk (Intercom, Salesforce, HubSpot or Freshworks) and add an AI agent to it. Pricing: published; charged per outcome, such as a resolution or a completed handoff procedure (Fin pricing).
Fin can be deployed on the Intercom Messenger on web and mobile, email, phone through Fin Voice, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, SMS and Slack (Intercom: channels for Fin). It works with the Intercom helpdesk or alongside Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshworks and other platforms, though Fin for Ecommerce needs an Intercom helpdesk plan (Intercom: Fin for platforms). Procedures handle multi-step tasks, data connectors let Fin look things up and act in your systems, and simulations test it before customers see it. Fin answers in more than 45 languages (Intercom: Fin explained).
Limits. Read how Fin counts a resolution: it counts one when the customer confirms the answer helped (a confirmed resolution) or leaves without asking for more help (an assumed resolution) (Intercom: Fin outcomes). That's a reasonable billing rule, but it isn't proof the order was sorted, so agree your own measure. If you're weighing a move away from Intercom, see Intercom alternatives.
4. Ada
Best for: Large brands, especially multilingual ones, that want an AI agent working over an existing CRM or contact-center platform. Pricing: not published; ask Ada for a quote.
Ada's AI agents work across chat, email, SMS, voice, WhatsApp and in-app messaging in 60 languages, and connect to Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Genesys and Twilio Flex (Ada for ecommerce). For ecommerce, Ada describes the AI confirming refunds, setting up exchanges, issuing store credit and sending return labels. Ada defines an automated resolution as a conversation where the AI agent fully addressed the issue, accurately and safely, without escalating to a human agent.
Limits. Ada's public pages don't say who builds and maintains the workflows or what that takes from your team, so ask in the demo. Map Ada's definition of a resolution to yours before you compare results.
5. Freshdesk Omni
Best for: Teams already using Freshworks that want to configure the AI themselves. Pricing: published (Freshdesk Omni pricing).
In Freshdesk Omni, an AI Agent can take conversations first on WhatsApp, web chat, Instagram and Facebook and hand them to human agents, with automations for what happens at handover (Freshdesk: AI Agent in Omni, modified 28 July 2026). In AI Agent Studio, API actions chain calls in one workflow: for example, fetch an order, check whether it has shipped, then refund it. They can ask the customer to confirm a sensitive action, and a failed call routes to a fallback. Freshdesk advises testing write actions such as refunds in a sandbox first (Freshdesk: API actions library, modified 29 June 2026).
Limits. Your team builds and maintains the actions and their rules. Phone runs on Freshworks' separate phone product. For a detailed comparison, see Flowcall vs Freshdesk.
6. Gorgias
Best for: Shopify-first brands that want an ecommerce helpdesk and AI agent from one vendor. Pricing: published; helpdesk plans by ticket volume, with the AI Agent charged when it resolves a conversation (Gorgias's pricing page; our Gorgias pricing guide explains the plans).
Gorgias's AI Agent works on email, chat, SMS, Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, with a dedicated AI Agent for each Shopify store you connect (Gorgias: AI Agent explained). You choose which actions it may take, such as cancelling an order, processing a return or updating a shipping address, and when. It hands over when it can't answer confidently, the topic is sensitive or the shopper is frustrated.
Limits. It's built around Shopify, so check how it handles orders that also live in a separate order-management or warehouse system. Phone support for human agents is an add-on. If you're comparing it with other ecommerce help desk tools, see our guide to Gorgias alternatives.
7. Tidio (Lyro)
Best for: Small teams whose support is mostly website chat, with some email, Instagram and WhatsApp. Pricing: published; AI usage is capped by plan (Tidio pricing).
Tidio combines live chat, an inbox for chat, email, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Lyro, its AI agent. On its Shopify App Store listing, Tidio says Lyro "acts within your rules": order status, refunds, cancellations and order edits in Shopify or through an API (Tidio listing, rated 4.8 from 1,343 reviews on 28 September 2026). Tidio's Lyro Actions page adds address changes and starting returns, built in a visual builder and tried in a test environment before launch (Tidio: Lyro Actions). For other small-store options, see our round-up of Shopify customer service apps.
Limits. No phone channel is listed. Lyro pauses when you reach your plan's AI limit, which protects the bill; check what customers see when it does. If you're outgrowing it, see Tidio alternatives.
8. Chatbase
Best for: Teams that want to build their own AI agent from their website and help content, self-serve. Pricing: published; plans by message credits, with a help desk and voice on higher plans (Chatbase pricing).
Chatbase trains an AI agent on your website, documents and help content. The agent can answer on WhatsApp (Chatbase: WhatsApp) and in Instagram DMs and Messenger, where your team can take over a conversation (Chatbase: Instagram). Its actions escalate to a ticketing system or live chat, look up Shopify orders, answer Stripe billing questions and call your own APIs. You can limit sensitive actions such as refunds and cancellations so they run only inside a procedure you define (Chatbase: Actions).
Limits. Building and testing are your team's job. The WhatsApp number is used only by the agent, so it can't also run in the WhatsApp Business app, and WhatsApp's 24-hour reply window applies.
9. Botpress
Best for: Teams with developers who want to build a custom AI agent and choose their own models. Pricing: published; a plan fee plus conversations, with AI model usage passed through at cost (Botpress pricing).
Botpress offers a visual builder, Studio, and a TypeScript development kit (Botpress docs). Agents deploy to webchat, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Slack and Microsoft Teams, and through Twilio to SMS and voice. They hand conversations to human agents in Botpress Desk or in Zendesk, Intercom or HubSpot (Botpress: integrations).
Limits. You build the order lookups, the actions and the rules yourself, and you maintain them as your policies change. It suits a team with engineering time more than a support team that wants a finished product.
Also worth a look
- Gladly: a platform for consumer brands with its own phone system. Its AI works on voice and IVR, email, chat, SMS, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Action Guides act in apps such as Shopify, with templates for tracking and cancelling orders (Gladly help, updated 24 August 2026).
- Kustomer: AI agents across chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp and voice, built in its AI Agent Studio on each customer's full history (Kustomer).
- Salesforce Agentforce: for teams on Salesforce, with service agents grounded in CRM data and voice on phone, web chat, apps and WhatsApp (Agentforce Voice).
How to choose: test it on last month's conversations
Feature lists look alike, and every demo goes well on questions the vendor picked. Choose from your own conversations instead:
- Sort last month's conversations by reason: where's my order, cancel, change address, return, refund status, damaged item, warranty, product questions. At most consumer brands the biggest groups are order work, starting with WISMO, and each needs data from a system and a rule.
- Decide which kind you need. Mostly questions with one answer for everyone: an answer bot will do. Mostly order work: an AI agent. Menus and collecting details: a flow bot.
- Run the same checks in every demo or trial, on the channel your customers use most:
| Check | What to do | A pass looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Live data | Ask "where's my refund?" about a real returned order | It gives this order's status, not the policy |
| Identity | Ask from a number or email that isn't on the order | It asks you to confirm who you are and never shows someone else's order |
| A rule | Ask to cancel an order that has already shipped | It checks the status, doesn't cancel, and offers what your policy allows |
| A limit | Ask for a refund above what you'd let the AI approve | It stops and routes the request for approval |
| Language | Switch to your customers' second language halfway, or mix two | It follows the switch without losing the order |
| Handover | Ask for an agent | A human agent gets the conversation, the order and what's been done; the customer repeats nothing |
- Agree how "resolved" will be counted before you sign. Count requests completed and verified in your own systems, and customers who came back about the same issue. Track resolution time by request type, not one blended number.
- Start on one channel and read the conversations. Launch on your busiest channel, read a sample of AI conversations each week, and add requests as the AI proves it can finish them. The same order works for customer service automation in general.
Which should you choose?
| If your priority is | Look at |
|---|---|
| Order, delivery, return and refund requests, plus product questions, on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone; rules checked before refunds; workflows built and improved with the vendor's team | Flowcall |
| AI inside the Zendesk helpdesk you already run | Zendesk AI agents |
| Keeping your helpdesk and adding an AI agent to it | Fin or Ada |
| Staying with Freshworks | Freshdesk Omni |
| A Shopify-first helpdesk with AI from one vendor | Gorgias |
| A small team answering mostly website chats | Tidio |
| Building your own agent | Chatbase (no code) or Botpress (developers) |
For the wider decision, including helpdesk, channels and staffing, see our guide to AI customer service, and for order-heavy stores our buyer's guide to AI customer service for ecommerce.
If Flowcall sounds like the fit, book a demo and we'll show how Flowcall's AI Agent handles conversations like yours on WhatsApp, the rule behind each decision, and what your team sees on handover. Qualifying brands get a free proof of concept on the service problem they most need solved, built with their team and tested before anything goes live.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best AI chatbots for customer service?
It depends on your channels, your helpdesk and who will build the AI. For a high volume of order, delivery, return and refund requests, as well as product questions, on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone, look at Flowcall. On Zendesk or Freshworks, start with their own AI agents; to add an AI agent to the helpdesk you have, look at Fin or Ada. Shopify-first brands often choose Gorgias, and small chat-led teams Tidio.
How are AI chatbots used in customer service?
They answer policy and product questions, track orders, cancel and change orders, start returns and refunds, collect photos and addresses before a human agent picks up, and route conversations to the right team. Our chatbot examples show more, and benefits of AI in customer service covers why teams adopt them.
What's the difference between an AI chatbot and an AI agent?
A chatbot answers from a script or your help content. An AI agent also looks up live data, takes actions within your rules and hands over to a human agent with the context when it can't finish. Many products sold as chatbots now do both, so judge by what the product does with an order, not by its name. For where this is heading, see agentic AI for customer service.
Can AI chatbots handle returns and refunds?
Yes, when the AI is connected to your store, order and payment systems and allowed to act. The rules matter most: eligibility should be checked against the order data before a refund runs, and larger amounts should go to an approver. See our guide to returns management, which covers refunds too.
What is a good resolution rate for an AI chatbot?
There's no industry figure you can compare fairly, because vendors count resolutions differently. Fin includes conversations where the customer leaves without asking for more help; Ada counts those the AI addressed without escalating. Averages in roundups of AI customer service statistics mix these definitions, so compare vendors on your own measure: requests completed and verified in your systems.
How much does an AI chatbot for customer service cost?
Vendors charge per agent seat, per conversation or message credit, or per resolution, and some combine them. On WhatsApp, Meta charges for template messages you send and, since 1 October 2026, for replies inside the 24-hour customer service window after 1,000 free service messages a month per business phone number (see WhatsApp Business API pricing). We cover Zendesk pricing and Intercom pricing separately. Flowcall shares pricing on a call.
Do AI chatbots reduce customer service costs?
They reduce human work on the requests they finish, not on those a human agent has to redo. To estimate it, multiply each request type's volume by the share the AI can complete under your rules and by the handling time it saves, then subtract the vendor's charges. Our customer service ROI calculator walks through it.
How long does it take to set up an AI chatbot?
An answer bot on website chat can be running in hours. An AI agent that acts on orders takes longer, because your rules, integrations and test conversations have to be set up and checked. With Flowcall, a first scoped workflow can go live in two to three weeks once Flowcall's team has the system access and your input; that isn't a timeline for a full helpdesk migration.
Which channels can an AI chatbot work on?
Website chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger, SMS and phone, depending on the product. Check which customer service channels the AI itself works on, not just the inbox. On WhatsApp, a business can reply freely only within 24 hours of the customer's last message; after that it needs an approved template, which a WhatsApp chatbot has to allow for.
Can AI chatbots reply in the customer's language?
Most generative AI chatbots detect the language and reply in it: Fin in more than 45 languages, Ada in 60, and Flowcall's messaging AI in more than 100. Quality varies by language and channel, so test your top languages and the mixed-language messages your customers actually send. Our guide to multilingual customer support covers the rest.
When should an AI chatbot hand over to a human agent?
When the customer asks for an agent, when a request falls outside its workflows, when an action is over its limit, when the customer is frustrated, and on sensitive topics such as safety or legal complaints. The human agent should receive the conversation, the order, what's been done and what's left, so nobody asks again. See escalation management for the rules to set.
