Best AI live chat software for customer service: 6 tools and what AI answers cost

Best AI live chat software: the short list

The best AI live chat software for customer service is LiveChat for a team that wants AI answers inside the seat price up to an allowance, Help Scout for low volume and Intercom for its Fin AI agent. LiveChat Growth is $99 per user a month, billed monthly, or $79 billed annually, with 200 AI resolutions a month, as read on 7 October 2026.

Per LiveChat's pricing page, new trials start on Text plans, "the next product from the team behind LiveChat". Its AI Agent is software that answers chats on its own from the knowledge you give it, and an AI resolution is a conversation in which it directly solves at least one customer question. Essential is $25 per user a month, billed monthly, with 10 AI resolutions a month.

How each tool counts an AI answer

LiveChat counts one AI resolution per conversation, however many questions the AI Agent solves in it. Intercom counts Fin outcomes at $0.99 each, Zendesk counts automated resolutions, 5 per agent a month on Suite Team and 10 on Professional, and Help Scout counts resolutions. tawk.to sells a monthly AI Assist add-on instead, and Tidio's AI agent, Lyro, counts conversations.

LiveChat's own resolution figures vary, so none is quoted as a result.

Hand-over from the AI to a person

In LiveChat, a person can take over any AI Agent conversation at any time on every plan. A chat handed to a person without an AI answer does not count as an AI resolution.

The Transfer to human skill, a rule that tells the AI Agent what to do in a given situation, sends the chat to the first available teammate in the same team. If nobody is free within 30 seconds, the AI Agent can open a ticket, which does not count as a resolution.

LiveChat's help center says the AI Agent can make mistakes and tells you to review its responses in the Archives section regularly. Live chat vs chatbot covers when a person, a bot or email should answer.

What an AI chatbot for a website costs

Help Scout's add-on is $0.75 per resolution, Intercom's Fin is $0.99 per outcome, and Zendesk's extra resolutions beyond the included ones are $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. LiveChat sells extra resolutions in packs of 50 for $49.50, and its help center says it emails the account when 90% of the included AI resolutions are used.

Take a small online store with one person on chat. Tidio's Lyro covers the first 50 conversations free for life. LiveChat Essential gives 10 AI resolutions a month at $25 per user, billed monthly, and each extra pack of 50 is $49.50. LiveChat's own pages disagree on whether a pack of 50 is added automatically when the monthly allowance runs out, so the AI Agent's behavior at the limit is unconfirmed here. LiveChat AI covers the allowance.

Who should pick which

• LiveChat for AI answers inside the seat price: Growth includes 200 resolutions a month. Its 14-day trial includes the AI Agent of the plan you pick, so its answers can be checked before paying.
• Help Scout for low volume, at $0.75 per AI resolution.
• Intercom for a team that wants Fin at $0.99 per outcome; its 14-day trial includes Fin. LiveChat vs Intercom compares the two.
• tawk.to for free chat with a small free AI tier.
• Tidio for a store that wants its first 50 AI conversations free.