AI Chatbots Comparison: Choose for Support Work

Pricing model: seats, resolutions or conversations

A headline subscription does not always tell you what a busy month will cost. Check whether the tool charges for the support platform, each teammate, AI usage, conversations or successful resolutions. Those measures describe different things, so a low starting price alone is not a reliable comparison.

Tidio’s support plans bill by conversation rather than by seat, and the Free, Starter and Growth plans each include 10 seats. Its Free plan includes 50 conversations. The evidence also says that above 1,000 conversations a month, Tidio moves to Plus, where AI conversation prices are available on request. The Lyro allowance and support-plan conversations should not be treated as interchangeable without checking the specific plan terms.

Zendesk AI agents are billed by automated resolution. The evidence gives an overage price of $1.50 per committed resolution or $2.00 pay-as-you-go after the included allowance, but does not provide a complete Zendesk plan-and-seat total. Intercom Fin charges $0.99 per outcome, once per conversation, while paid full seats are required for teammates who interact with customers and use core features. Botpress includes conversation packs and AI usage: its evidence describes included packs of 100 for $50, with $0.10 of AI usage included per conversation and auto-recharge when limits are reached. These details are not a full comparison of base plan fees.

momo charges a flat plan fee with a set monthly AI-conversation allowance, rather than a fee per resolution or credit packs. A conversation can contain up to 25 AI replies on paid plans and up to 10 on Free. Decide which billing event you can forecast and audit: a conversation, a resolution, a seat or a separate AI usage charge.

Best fit: Tidio suits teams that value included seats and its documented conversation model; Botpress suits teams comfortable planning around conversation packs and AI usage. Review the complete Zendesk and Intercom platform and seat costs before comparing totals.

Verdict: match the tool to your support workflow

Pick a customer-support product when the job is answering customer questions and getting unresolved conversations to the team. General assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude are designed for broad personal and work tasks; a shared support inbox and human takeover are separate workflow requirements. Perplexity is described as giving answers grounded in real-time web sources with citations, which is a different grounding use case from answering visitors from a store’s own approved policies.

How to compare AI chatbot fit before you choose

Start with the question you need the tool to answer. If customers ask about shipping, returns, products or store policies, check whether the system can use the business content you approve rather than relying on a general web answer. momo supports a website crawl, PDFs, Word files, plain text and Q&A pairs; confident replies cite the relevant content, while uncertain questions can be sent to the team. Perplexity’s described real-time web grounding and citations serve a different purpose, so citations alone do not make two tools interchangeable.

Next, trace the route from an automated answer to a person. A shared inbox, live takeover and the details collected at handoff affect how a support team handles exceptions. momo includes an inbox on every plan, and teammates can take over live. Tidio combines live chat, helpdesk, automation and Lyro AI in one inbox; Intercom says Fin can hand off to agents. Check each product’s actual handoff behavior against your workflow instead of treating the presence of AI as proof that an escalation is complete.

Then list the channels customers use today and the ones you need next. Tidio lists website chat, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp; Intercom lists live chat, support email and in-app chat as included, with some other channels pay-as-you-go. momo currently lists website widget, email and Slack as live, with Shopify in preview and WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger coming soon. Preview and planned channels should not be counted as available capabilities when making a purchase decision.

Finally, test the billing model against a realistic month. A conversation, an automated resolution and an outcome are distinct billing events, and seat or AI-usage charges may sit alongside them. Ask what counts, what is included, and what happens near a limit. This makes the comparison more useful than a headline starting price and helps reveal whether the tool’s operating model fits your team.

Tidio is worth comparing if you want a support product that combines live chat, a helpdesk, automation and Lyro in one inbox, and its documented channels matter to your store. Its seat-inclusive plans and conversation billing may be a useful fit, but check what AI usage costs at your expected volume. Botpress is worth considering if you need a configurable agent platform and your team can assess its conversation packs, AI spend and implementation needs. The documented routing and team controls may matter when several people manage bots and support work.

For Zendesk and Intercom, work out the combined platform, seat and AI charges before deciding. Zendesk’s AI resolution overages and Intercom Fin’s per-outcome fee are not the same billing unit as a conversation allowance. Intercom also requires paid full seats for teammates who interact with customers and use core features. A bot’s resolution count or outcome fee says how billing is measured; it does not by itself establish how useful the handoff is for your team.

momo may fit a store owner or support lead who wants answers grounded in business content, citations on confident replies, and an inbox for cases that need a person. Plans have flat EUR fees with included conversation allowances. Website widget, email and Slack are live channels; Shopify is in preview, so do not choose it on the assumption that Shopify actions or order lookups are available.

Before committing, map a normal customer question from source to answer to human takeover. Check the knowledge you need to load, channels your customers use, who must work in the inbox, and which event creates a bill. That workflow test will make a plan comparison more useful than the chatbot label alone.