AI customer service software is a support platform in which AI resolves customer requests, helps human agents with the rest and reviews the quality of both. For a consumer brand with heavy order, delivery, return and refund volume on WhatsApp, Instagram, email and phone, the best one is the platform whose AI agent acts on orders within your rules on those channels. It should also hand exceptions to agents with the order already on the ticket, and review every AI and human conversation afterwards.
Facts checked 30 September 2026. Every vendor fact below comes from that vendor's own documentation or pricing page, checked between 27 and 30 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.
Short answer
- Order, return and refund requests and product questions on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone, with the AI agent, helpdesk and QA in one platform, set up with the vendor's team: Flowcall.
- A broad platform your own admins configure, with QA and agent assist as add-ons: Zendesk.
- An AI agent with its own helpdesk, strongest on chat and email: Fin (formerly Intercom).
- Already on Freshworks, with a team that will build the AI: Freshdesk Omni.
- Shopify-first brand that wants a self-serve tool priced by ticket volume: Gorgias.
- Enterprise brand that wants a CRM-style timeline for every customer: Kustomer.
- Phone is a big channel and you want one conversation per customer: Gladly.
- Your service already runs on Salesforce: Service Cloud with Agentforce.
- You only want an AI agent on top of the helpdesk you have: see "Three ways to buy it" below.
Who this list is for
This list is for the head of customer service at a consumer brand where most contacts are about orders: where is it, can I change the address, it arrived damaged, I want to return it, where's my refund. Customers write on WhatsApp and Instagram as well as email and chat, and some of them call. Volume is high enough that adding agents for every peak no longer makes sense, and you're choosing the software that decides what AI handles, what agents handle and how you check both.
It isn't for internal IT help desks, B2B software support or a small store answering a few dozen emails a week. For the wider picture of where AI fits in a support operation, start with our guide to AI customer service.
What AI customer service software has to do
Helpdesks, chatbots, AI agents and voice bots are all sold as AI customer service software, so the label tells you little. What separates them is how many of these four jobs the platform does itself, and how well the jobs connect.
| Job | What it means for a consumer brand | What to ask in a demo |
|---|---|---|
| The AI agent resolves requests | Answers on WhatsApp, Instagram, chat, email and phone; checks the order; applies your return or refund policy; makes the change; hands over when it should | "Show a refund outside our return window, then inside it." |
| Agent assist on the ticket | When a human agent takes over, the ticket carries the conversation summary, the order, delivery and payment details, a drafted reply and the actions the agent can take | "What does the agent see first, and what do they still have to look up?" |
| Quality assurance and insights | Reviews AI and human conversations against your standards, flags risky ones and shows which requests the AI couldn't resolve | "Show last week's AI conversations reviewed, not only the agents'." |
| Rules and data underneath | Your eligibility rules, the store, courier and payment systems the AI and agents read and write, and testing before a change goes live | "How is a policy change tested, and who makes it?" |
The first job gets the attention, but the other three decide what happens to the requests the AI doesn't finish, and whether you find out when it gets one wrong. A platform that reviews only human conversations leaves the AI's answers unchecked; our guide to customer service quality assurance covers how to review both.
Three ways to buy it
- A helpdesk with AI added. The ticketing, inbox and reports come first; drafted replies, summaries and an AI agent are features or add-ons, often priced separately. Our list of AI helpdesk software compares what that AI does on the agent's ticket.
- An AI agent on top of the helpdesk you keep. You leave your helpdesk in place and add an AI agent that hands over into it. That purchase has its own list: AI agents for customer service.
- One platform for the AI agent, the helpdesk and QA. The AI and your agents share the same tickets, rules, customer data and quality reviews.
This list covers platforms that sell all four jobs themselves (routes 1 and 3), and says where a job is an add-on or comes from a partner app.
One damaged order, two ways
A customer's blender arrives with a cracked jug. She sends a photo on WhatsApp: "The jug is broken, I want a refund."
A stitched stack. A bot from one vendor answers on WhatsApp with the returns policy and asks for her order number. It can't see the order, so it creates a ticket in the helpdesk with the transcript. The next morning an agent opens the store admin to find the order and the courier portal to check the delivery date, looks at the photo, issues the refund in the store admin and types a closing note. She has explained the problem twice and waited a day. The QA lead samples a few agent tickets a week in a spreadsheet; nobody reviews what the bot said.
One platform. The AI agent finds her order, or asks for the order number when it can't match her safely, and reads the photo. It checks the rules you set: delivered within the return window, damage visible, order value under the limit for automatic refunds. The rules pass, so it offers a replacement or a refund, completes the one she picks in your order system and confirms it in the chat. Had the order been over the limit, it would have handed her to an agent with the photo, the order and the reason on the ticket, and the agent would approve it from there. Either way, the conversation is reviewed afterwards with the rest, AI and human.
This is how Flowcall's AI Agent handles it: it assesses the damage photo, checks your eligibility rules and completes the replacement or refund once the required checks pass. When a human agent is needed, the ticket arrives with the conversation, a summary, the customer and order details and what's left to do. The agent processes the refund from the ticket, with the form already filled in.
How we chose
We started from the tools on the pages that rank for "AI customer service software" and kept the platforms that sell their own helpdesk and their own AI agent. Between 27 and 30 September 2026, we checked each against six questions, using only the vendor's documentation and pricing pages:
- Where the AI agent works. A helpdesk can accept WhatsApp messages while its AI agent answers only email and chat.
- What the AI may do to an order, and under which rules. Refunds, cancellations, address changes and replacements are the volume.
- What the human agent gets. Summaries, drafted replies, the order on the ticket, and actions from it.
- Quality assurance. Whether AI agent conversations are reviewed as well as human ones, on which channels, and whether that's included, an add-on or a partner app.
- Who builds and maintains the AI. Your team in a builder, a partner, or the vendor's team.
- How it's priced. The model (per seat, per ticket, per resolution, per session), not the numbers.
We didn't test the products hands-on, and we don't compare prices; each entry links the vendor's pricing page.
What we left out. Standalone AI agents that sit on another helpdesk, such as Ada, Decagon and Sierra, are in the AI agents list above. Chatbot builders such as Tidio, Chatbase and Botpress are in our guide to AI chatbots for customer service. Voice-only products like Retell and Synthflow serve phone-led businesses. Help Scout, which the ranking lists recommend for small and mid-sized teams, is in our help desk software list, and our guide to customer service software covers the wider category.
The eight at a glance
Flowcall, which publishes this list, comes first. The rest are grouped as broad platforms (Zendesk, Fin, Freshdesk Omni), ecommerce and consumer-brand platforms (Gorgias, Kustomer, Gladly), then Salesforce. The numbers are for navigation, not a ranking.
| Where the AI agent works | What the AI can do to an order | Agent assist | Review of AI and human conversations | Who builds the AI | Pricing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flowcall | WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger, live chat, email; Instagram and Facebook comments and @mentions; Voice AI agent on calls | Refunds, cancellations, exchanges, address changes and replacements once your checks pass | Orders, delivery and payments on the ticket; drafted replies; ticket actions filled by the AI | AI and human, on chat, email and phone | Flowcall's team, with your approval | Shared on a call |
| Zendesk | Messaging (including WhatsApp and Instagram), email; supported Zendesk Voice lines | Procedures check conditions and run integrations your team builds | Copilot add-on | Zendesk QA add-on; covers Zendesk AI agents | Your team | Published |
| Fin | Chat, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Slack; Fin Voice through sales | Procedures and data connectors your team sets up | Copilot; unlimited use is an add-on | Monitors (Pro add-on), for Fin and human agents | Your team | Published |
| Freshdesk Omni | WhatsApp, web chat, Instagram, Facebook; email | API actions your team builds, with customer confirmation | Freddy AI Copilot add-on | Quality Coach add-on for human agents; test runs for the AI agent | Your team | Published |
| Gorgias | Email, chat, SMS, Instagram DMs, Messenger, WhatsApp | Cancel, return and address changes you switch on, with conditions | Gaia AI teammate (beta) | Auto QA for AI Agent and human text tickets; not social or calls | Your team | Published |
| Kustomer | Chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp, voice | Tools you configure in AI Agent Studio, including Shopify order search | Envoy (Copilot and summaries) | Through partner apps such as MaestroQA | Your team | On request |
| Gladly | Voice and IVR, email, chat, SMS, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp | Action Guides in apps such as Shopify and Loop Returns | Team Assist | Quality checks on every AI reply; QA programme through your QA tool | Your team | On request |
| Service Cloud with Agentforce | Messaging (WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS, web), voice | Custom actions built with flows, prompts and code | Einstein Service Replies and Work Summaries | Contact Center add-on reviews human and AI interactions | Your admins, developers or a partner | Published |
"Your team" means the vendor provides a builder and your admins configure, test and maintain the AI in it.
The 8 best AI customer service software platforms
1. Flowcall
Best for: Consumer brands with high volumes of order, delivery, return and refund requests, as well as product questions, on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone that want one platform where the AI Agent resolves requests under their rules, agents handle the exceptions from one ticket, and every AI and human conversation is reviewed.
What it does well. Flowcall combines an AI Agent with an AI Helpdesk and AI Auto QA. Flowcall's AI Agent runs on the SOP Engine: it follows your SOP for returns, refunds, cancellations, exchanges, warranty claims and cash-on-delivery orders step by step while talking naturally. Your rules make each decision, and order, delivery and payment details come from your systems. Once a workflow is set up correctly, it runs the same way every time, and a fix stays fixed. The same workflows run on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, live chat and email, in the customer's language (more than 100 languages for messaging), and the Voice AI agent answers and makes calls with the same workflows, giving every call a recording, transcript and ticket. On Instagram and Facebook, the AI Agent also sorts the comments and @mentions on your posts and reels, replies publicly from your saved replies and moves support and pre-sales questions into a private DM. It reads the damage photos and invoices customers send and follows up when a customer goes quiet. Before the purchase, the AI Shopping Assistant finds and compares products from your catalogue, with images, prices and buy links, on the same WhatsApp number as support.
When a human agent is needed, the AI creates a ticket with the conversation, a summary, the customer and order context and what's left to do. It routes the ticket by skill, language, workload or escalation risk, and frustrated customers skip the queue. WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone conversations share one inbox, with calls from Exotel, Ameyo, Ozonetel or Contaque through Flowcall's phone integration. When the same customer writes on another channel while their issue is open, Flowcall keeps it on the same ticket. Everything agents need is on the ticket, so they don't open another tab for the systems connected to Flowcall. Customer 360 shows the customer's orders, delivery and payments, Agent Assist drafts the reply and fills the disposition, and ticket actions process the refund, create the replacement or update the order from the ticket.
AI Auto QA audits AI and human conversations on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, live chat, email and phone (from call recordings): every conversation, or the ones that matter, such as low CSAT or requests for an agent. It checks the AI Agent for wrong, incomplete or made-up answers, loops, missed handoffs and promises it wasn't allowed to make, and checks human agents for inconsistent information and for asking customers again for details they already gave. Every incoming message is also checked for frustration and threats to escalate. Requests the AI couldn't resolve are grouped into the workflows, knowledge or integrations worth adding next, and a finding can go to Admin Copilot, which drafts the fix for your approval.
Flowcall's team configures the workflows and builds the integrations they need: Shopify natively, and order and courier systems such as Unicommerce, ClickPost and Shiprocket through connectors. Each workflow is tested against simulated conversations before launch and after every change, and the team keeps improving the setup from QA findings, with your approval. For head-to-head comparisons, see Flowcall vs Zendesk and Flowcall vs Freshdesk.
Not the fit if SMS is your main channel.
Pricing: Flowcall shares pricing on a call.
2. Zendesk
Best for: Large, multi-brand support organisations with admins to configure a broad platform, who want QA and workforce tools from the same vendor.
What it does well. Zendesk's AI agents work on messaging, email and voice. With Zendesk messaging and the channel connected, an AI agent can answer on WhatsApp and other social messaging channels (Zendesk: AI agent on WhatsApp), and on supported voice lines it can answer inbound calls (Zendesk: AI agents in Talk). Generative procedures are written as a description of your policy: the AI agent collects details, checks a condition, runs an integration such as looking up an order or updating an address, and escalates when it should, on all Suite and Support plans (Zendesk: generative procedures). For human agents, the Copilot add-on's auto assist suggests steps and replies, and its actions can be agent-approved or pre-approved (Zendesk: auto assist). Zendesk QA uses AI to review every ticket against scorecards, with calibration and coaching (Zendesk QA admin guide), and it detects Zendesk AI agents on messaging and voice so their conversations are evaluated too (Zendesk: evaluating AI agents).
Limits. Your team builds the procedures and the integrations behind them; for the AI agent to read Shopify orders, that's an API step (Zendesk: link your AI agent with customer orders). In Zendesk's new AI agents experience, each AI agent works on one type of channel, so messaging and email need two (Zendesk: migrating to the new experience). QA and Copilot are add-ons, and call reviews need Voice QA.
Pricing: published on Zendesk's pricing page: per seat, with AI agents billed per automated resolution and add-ons on top. Our guides to Zendesk pricing and what Zendesk is cover the plans and the rest of the suite.
3. Fin
Best for: Teams whose volume is mostly chat and email that want an AI agent with its own helpdesk, and the option to run the same AI agent on another helpdesk later.
What it does well. Fin can be deployed on the web and mobile messenger, email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, SMS and Slack, with phone through Fin Voice (Fin: choose channels). Procedures handle multi-step tasks, data connectors let it look things up and act in your systems, and simulations test it before customers see it (Fin AI Agent explained). Fin's own helpdesk, Intercom, adds the inbox, tickets and Copilot, which answers agents' questions from past conversations, articles and macros (Copilot explained). Monitors review both Fin and human agent conversations against scorecards you define, with AI scoring and alerts when a conversation fails (Monitors explained). Salesforce completed its acquisition of Fin on 10 September 2026 and says Fin keeps working with the help desks companies already use (Salesforce, 10 September 2026).
Limits. Your team writes the procedures and connects the data. Monitors and scorecards need the Pro add-on (Fin: human agent QA in Monitors), and each agent's included Copilot use is 10 conversations a month, with unlimited use as a seat add-on. Fin counts a resolution when the customer confirms the answer helped or leaves without asking for more help (Fin outcomes); agree your own measure of a resolved order.
Pricing: published on Fin's pricing page: per outcome, plus a seat price for the helpdesk, with Pro and Copilot as add-ons. We also cover Intercom pricing; if you're weighing a move away, see Intercom alternatives.
4. Freshdesk Omni
Best for: Teams already using Freshworks that want published per-agent prices and have the in-house skills to build their own AI workflows.
What it does well. Freshdesk Omni brings email, web chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram into one inbox (Freshdesk: getting started with Omni). Its chat AI agent can take new WhatsApp, web chat, Instagram and Facebook conversations and hand them to agents, and an email AI agent answers email (Freshdesk: AI Agent automations). In AI Agent Studio, API actions chain calls, for example fetching an order and then starting a refund, and can ask the customer to confirm a sensitive action (Freshdesk: API actions). Admins can bulk-test the AI agent on up to 100 queries before launch (Freshdesk: evaluate the AI agent). Freddy AI Copilot drafts and suggests replies, summarises tickets and shows customer sentiment, and a Copilot licence also turns on Freddy AI Insights, which flags trends early (Freshdesk: Freddy AI overview).
Limits. Your team builds, tests and maintains the actions, and Freshdesk recommends testing refunds and other write actions in a sandbox first. The chat AI agent is available only in Omni. Copilot is a per-agent add-on and the AI agent is bought in session packs (Freshdesk: Freddy AI add-ons). Quality Coach, which rates agents' resolved conversations, is a Copilot add-on documented for human agents rather than the AI agent (Freshworks: Quality Coach). Phone runs on Freshworks' separate phone product.
Pricing: published on the Freshdesk Omni pricing page. Our guide to Freshdesk pricing explains the plans, add-ons and how AI sessions are billed.
5. Gorgias
Best for: Shopify-first brands that want a self-serve helpdesk and AI agent built around their store, priced by ticket volume.
What it does well. 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. You choose which actions it may take, such as cancelling an order, processing a return or updating a shipping address, and the conditions for each; it hands over when it isn't confident, the topic is sensitive or the shopper is frustrated (Gorgias: AI Agent explained). Agents can refund, cancel and edit Shopify orders from the ticket (Gorgias: Shopify actions). Auto QA comes with an AI Agent subscription and scores text conversations handled by human agents or the AI Agent for resolution completeness, communication and language; leads score accuracy, efficiency, compliance and brand voice by hand (Gorgias: Auto QA). Gaia, an AI teammate in open beta, works tickets, answers questions about your data and suggests improvements to the AI Agent, and waits for approval before changing anything (Gorgias: Gaia explained).
Limits. The AI Agent needs a connected Shopify store (Gorgias: set up AI Agent). Auto QA doesn't score social media tickets or phone calls, including Instagram and Gorgias Voice. Voice and SMS are paid add-ons, and AI answering of calls comes through a third-party app (Gorgias: Voice). Your team sets up and tunes the AI Agent.
Pricing: published on Gorgias's pricing page: helpdesk plans by monthly ticket volume, with the AI Agent charged when it resolves a conversation. We also cover Gorgias pricing and Gorgias alternatives.
6. Kustomer
Best for: Enterprise consumer brands that want every order and conversation on one customer timeline, with AI agents on voice and WhatsApp.
What it does well. Kustomer includes email, chat, SMS, voice, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram (Kustomer pricing), and its AI agents work across chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp and voice from the customer's timeline of orders and past conversations (Kustomer: AI agents). Your team builds them in AI Agent Studio, where a Shopify Search Orders tool lets the AI look up orders (Kustomer: Shopify Search Orders tool). For human agents, Envoy writes conversation and handoff summaries, and its Copilot drafts replies and suggests actions such as creating orders or updating records, which run only when the agent asks (Kustomer: Envoy, Copilot). Agents can cancel or refund Shopify order items from Kustomer.
Limits. Quality assurance comes through partner apps such as MaestroQA, which reviews Kustomer interactions with AI rules you define (Kustomer: MaestroQA integration). Pricing isn't published, voice and WhatsApp are billed pay-as-you-go, and Kustomer notes that some configuration may need a statement of work and an implementation fee.
Pricing: on request (Kustomer pricing).
7. Gladly
Best for: Large consumer brands where phone is a big channel and each customer's calls, chats and emails should sit in one continuous conversation rather than separate tickets.
What it does well. Voice is built in, with a customisable IVR, alongside email, SMS, chat, Messenger and Instagram (Gladly: features overview), and WhatsApp connects through the WhatsApp Business API (Gladly: connect channels). Gladly AI works on voice and IVR, email, chat, SMS, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, and its Action Guides act in apps such as Shopify, with templates for tracking and cancelling orders and for Loop Returns (Gladly: start here). Every AI reply goes through automated quality checks before it's sent, and a review screen shows which Guide ran, which actions and rules it used, each check's pass or fail, and why it handed over (Gladly: review AI responses). Team Assist drafts, translates and summarises for agents and passes context at handoff (Gladly: Team Assist).
Limits. Pricing isn't published. Gladly's QA page describes reviewing email, voice and messaging interactions and syncing with your QA tool, so plan how agents' conversations will be scored (Gladly: QA). Gladly works in conversations rather than tickets (Gladly: conversation vs ticket), so check how your ticket-based reports and SLAs map (our reading, not a documented limit). Your team builds and tunes the Guides.
Pricing: not published; Gladly describes an outcome-based model that charges for resolutions and assists (Gladly, August 2026).
8. Salesforce Service Cloud with Agentforce
Best for: Brands whose service already runs on Salesforce, with admins, developers or a partner to build on it.
What it does well. Agentforce Service agents resolve common inquiries and escalate to agents through Omni-Channel, with custom actions built from flows, prompts and code (Salesforce: Agentforce Service Agent). They connect to enhanced messaging channels, which cover WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS and web and in-app messaging, and Agentforce Voice extends them to the phone (Salesforce: Agentforce Voice). The Help Agent, launched in June 2026, adds guided setup and packaged actions for cases, appointments and order updates (Salesforce: Help Agent). For agents, Einstein Service Replies drafts replies in chat, messaging and email (Salesforce: Service Replies), and Work Summaries fills in the summary, issue and resolution at the end of a conversation. Contact Center, added to the Core, Advanced or Max edition, includes quality management that reviews human and AI agent interactions, plus workforce management (Salesforce: Contact Center).
Limits. Instagram DMs weren't among the messaging channels in the Salesforce documentation we checked. Enhanced Messaging is an extra per-user charge on the Core and Advanced editions, and quality management needs the Contact Center add-on. Building and changing agents is work for Salesforce admins, developers or a partner.
Pricing: published on Salesforce's pricing page: per user by edition, with Agentforce charged by consumption or per user (Agentforce pricing). For a wider shortlist, see Salesforce Service Cloud alternatives.
Also worth a look
- Zoho Desk, if your company runs on Zoho: Zia Agent Studio builds AI agents you deploy in Zoho Desk or on your website, and the ready-made Support Specialist agent is available in Zoho's India and US data centres (Zoho Desk: Zia Agents).
- HubSpot Service Hub, if your CRM is HubSpot: its customer agent answers from your content, performs actions you set up and can be tested before it goes live (HubSpot: set up the customer agent). See HubSpot Service Hub alternatives for the wider comparison.
How to choose
Replace your helpdesk, or add AI on top?
Start from what's broken, not from the product list.
| Your situation | What to shortlist |
|---|---|
| Your helpdesk works, but WhatsApp and Instagram requests wait for agents | An AI agent that runs on your helpdesk, or a platform that can run on top of it first |
| Your helpdesk works, but nobody knows how good the answers are | QA that reviews AI and human conversations in the tool you already use |
| Channels live in separate tools and agents copy details between them | One platform for the AI agent, the helpdesk and QA |
| Service runs on your company's Salesforce | Service Cloud with Agentforce, or a platform that keeps Salesforce as the record |
| A Shopify-only store and a team that wants to configure everything itself | Gorgias |
If your agents copy the same order details between the store admin, the courier portal and the ticket, every switch between systems adds to average handle time. A helpdesk that puts the order, delivery and payments on the ticket removes those switches for the systems connected to it. Flowcall covers the first three rows. It can start as the AI Agent or AI Auto QA on top of Freshdesk, Salesforce or Sprinklr and later become your helpdesk, and Flowcall's team can migrate agreed, mapped tickets and conversations when your current system's access or exports allow it.
Test each job in the demo
A demo follows the vendor's script, so bring your own cases. Take five real conversations from last month, including one awkward one, and ask each vendor to show:
| Test | Ask them to show | It passes if |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The AI on your channel | A WhatsApp refund request outside your return window, then one inside it | It declines or hands over the first, and completes the second in your order system |
| 2. The handoff | The customer asks for an agent halfway through a return | The agent gets the conversation, a summary, the order and what's left to do, and doesn't ask her again |
| 3. The agent's screen | The agent creates a replacement | It happens from the ticket, without opening the store admin |
| 4. Quality review | Last week's reviews | AI and human conversations are both reviewed, including calls if you take them, and each finding points to the conversation |
| 5. A policy change | Your return window changes from seven days to ten | They show how the change is tested before it goes live and who makes it |
Test 2 is where escalation management succeeds or fails, and test 1 is the difference between customer service automation that completes requests and one that only replies. If most of your volume is ecommerce orders, our guide to AI customer service for ecommerce goes deeper on what to hand over first.
Compare how they charge
The models differ as much as the prices. Zendesk, Freshdesk and Salesforce charge per seat or user; Gorgias charges by ticket volume. On top, the AI is charged per automated resolution (Zendesk), per outcome (Fin), per resolved conversation (Gorgias), in session packs (Freshdesk) or by consumption (Agentforce), and Kustomer and Gladly quote on request. Ask every vendor for a written quote at your normal volume and at your busiest month's volume, and ask what counts as a resolution: a customer leaving the chat isn't the same as a refund completed.
If Flowcall looks like a fit, book a demo and we'll walk through these five tests in Flowcall. 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 is AI customer service software?
It's software in which AI handles customer requests and helps the human agents who handle the rest. A complete platform does four jobs: an AI agent that answers and resolves requests on your channels, assistance for agents on the ticket, quality review of AI and human conversations, and the rules and system connections that control what the AI may do.
What is the best AI customer service software?
It depends on your channels and who will build the AI. For a consumer brand with a high volume of order, delivery, return and refund requests, as well as product questions, on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email, live chat and phone, Flowcall is built for that job. Zendesk and Freshdesk Omni suit teams whose admins configure the platform, Gorgias suits Shopify-first brands, Gladly and Kustomer suit large, phone-heavy teams, and Service Cloud suits companies on Salesforce.
What's the difference between AI customer service software and an AI chatbot?
An AI chatbot answers customers. AI customer service software also looks up the customer's order, takes the actions your rules allow, hands the rest to agents with the context, and reviews how both the AI and the agents did. Our guide to chatbot vs live chat covers how to split requests between AI and agents.
Can I add AI to my current helpdesk instead of replacing it?
Yes. Standalone AI agents such as Fin are sold to run on helpdesks like Zendesk and Salesforce. Flowcall's AI Agent can create and update tickets in Freshdesk, Salesforce or Sprinklr, and its AI Auto QA can review the conversations your agents handle there, through an integration built for your account.
Which AI customer service software works on WhatsApp?
All eight platforms above accept WhatsApp messages. Where the AI agent itself answers on WhatsApp, the vendors' docs say so for Flowcall, Zendesk (through Zendesk messaging), Fin, Freshdesk Omni, Gorgias, Kustomer, Gladly and Agentforce. Check which plan includes it, and see our guide to WhatsApp for customer service for what the channel needs.
Is there free AI customer service software?
Free plans exist, but they're sized for small teams. Freshdesk's free programme covers two agents for six months on Freshdesk, not Omni, and Fin offers a 14-day trial. At high volume, the useful free step is a trial or proof of concept on your own conversations, not a free plan.
