Picking an AI support agent is a four-axis decision: how much autonomy it buys you (a deflection chatbot vs. an agent that resolves tickets end-to-end), how the bill scales (per conversation, per resolution, per credit or per seat), how many channels it reaches, and whether it is no-code, developer-oriented or enterprise-quoted. The five on this list span that full range. Ada and Drift are the enterprise, sales-led picks with no public list price: Ada is custom-quoted with reported deals starting around $30K-$150K+/yr and per-usage billing on resolved conversations, while Drift runs ~$2,500/mo at its Premium tier (billed annually; ~$30K/yr, with Advanced and Enterprise custom-quoted up to ~$80K-$150K/yr). The three self-serve options break down like this: Chatbase is the cheap multi-channel no-code bot on your own data (free tier 50 messages/mo; annual-billed tiers $15/$99/~$400/mo, credit-metered, so premium-model answers burn credits faster); ResolveAI is the cheapest self-serve entry point of all ($9/mo Basic with 2,000 AI messages, scaling to $79/mo Expert unlimited; 10-day free trial, no card); Botpress is the developer-built AI helpdesk (free 100 conversations/mo; paid from $150/mo conversation-priced with LLM costs passed through). If you want autonomous resolution at enterprise scale, Ada is the benchmark; for sales-conversion chat on your site, Drift; for a cheap multi-channel no-code bot on your own data, Chatbase; for a developer-built AI helpdesk, Botpress; for the cheapest self-serve entry, ResolveAI. Prices are re-checked on the date shown.
4.3/5: Ada's reasoning engine resolves tier-1 tickets end-to-end across 50+ languages with reported 40-60% resolution lift. Quote-based, no self-serve; reported deals from ~$30K-$150K+/yr. The enterprise benchmark.
Free tier: No — trial only
Paid from: Quote-based (reported deals from ~$30K-150K+/yr) (No public list price and no self-serve plan: enterprise-only, custom-quoted and scaling with resolved-conversation volume; reported deals start around $30K-$150K+/year. Sits on top of an existing helpdesk (Zendesk/Salesforce). Deployed by Meta, Verizon, Air Asia and Shopify. No free tier.)
Ada is the autonomous AI customer-service agent for enterprise CX — a reasoning engine that resolves tier-1 tickets across chat/email/voice/SMS/WhatsApp; quote-based, no self-serve free tier.
4.2/5: open-source, self-hostable platform with a visual flow builder and AI-native helpdesk (hot handoff, L1-L3). Conversation-priced, free 100/mo, Plus $150/mo (May 2026). Best where you have engineers.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $150/mo (Plus) (Conversation-priced, not seat-priced (LLM costs pass through at vendor rates). May 2026 update: unlimited bots on paid plans, raised storage, 'Always Alive' on all paid tiers. Free = 100 conversations/mo. Note: third-party sources still list the older Creator $89/Pro $495 tiers — the official May 2026 blog is authoritative.)
Botpress is the open-source, developer-oriented AI-agent and AI-native helpdesk platform — visual flow builder plus GPT-native nodes; free 100 conversations/mo, Plus from $150/mo (May 2026 pricing).
4.1/5: no-code agent trained on your own data with model-agnostic RAG across web/WhatsApp/email/voice. Free 50 msg/mo, Hobby $40/mo. Cheapest way in with real model choice.
Free tier: Yes
Paid from: $15/mo (Hobby, annual) (Credit-based: different models consume credits at different rates (premium models burn faster), so actual responses-per-credit varies. Free = 50 msg/mo, 1 member; paid tiers add message volume, API access, integrations and team seats. 20% off yearly. Branding removal and custom domain are paid add-ons.)
Chatbase is the no-code AI chatbot trained on your own data — deploy a knowledge-base agent to your site, WhatsApp or voice; credit-based plans from a free 50-message tier up to $40/mo Hobby.
4.0/5: train a 24/7 multi-channel bot on your own website/docs with human takeover. Cheapest self-serve entry at $9/mo Basic, 10-day trial.
Free tier: No — trial only · 10-day free trial (no card)
Paid from: $9/mo (Basic) (Message-metered per plan: Basic 2,000 AI messages/mo, Enhanced 4,000, Expert unlimited (own OpenAI API key). Additional bots cost extra; branding removal is a $39/mo add-on. Cheapest paid entry of the cluster; 10-day trial, cancel anytime.)
ResolveAI trains a 24/7 custom AI chatbot on your own website, docs and live data, deployable across WhatsApp, Messenger and Slack; cheap entry at $9/mo (Basic) with a 10-day trial.
3.8/5: conversational marketing — AI chatbots that qualify leads and book meetings. Enterprise-priced from ~$2,500/mo annual, no free tier; now part of Salesloft. A sales tool, not a support helpdesk.
Free tier: No — trial only · 30-day free trial (sales-led)
Paid from: ~$2,500/mo (Premium, billed annually) (No public self-serve pricing: enterprise sales-led, billed annually only. Acquired by Salesloft in 2024 and now sold inside the Salesloft revenue platform. Implementation/onboarding commonly adds $5K-$15K. No free tier as of 2026.)
Drift (now part of Salesloft) is the conversational-marketing platform for lead qualification and meeting booking — AI chatbots plus live chat; enterprise-priced from ~$2,500/mo, no free tier.
Bottom line: Bottom line: the cluster splits in two. Ada (4.3/5) and Botpress (4.2/5) are the autonomy leaders — Ada for enterprise end-to-end resolution, Botpress for developer-built AI helpdesk. Chatbase (4.1/5) and ResolveAI (4.0/5) are the accessible no-code, budget picks trained on your own data. Drift (3.8/5) is the sales-conversion outlier. Choose on what drives your bill and how much autonomy you need; the accessible self-serve entry is the cheapest of Chatbase / ResolveAI / Botpress free tiers.
Botpress (free 100 conversations/mo) and Chatbase (free 50 messages/mo) ship usable free plans. ResolveAI has a 10-day free trial; Ada and Drift have no self-serve free tier and are sales-led.
No — both are enterprise-quoted with no public list price (Ada deals reportedly from ~$30K-$150K+/yr; Drift from ~$2,500/mo annual). Small teams should use the self-serve options: Chatbase, ResolveAI or Botpress free/low tiers.
Botpress prices on conversations (LLM pass-through). Ada is per-usage/quote. Chatbase and ResolveAI are credit/message-metered. There is no clean per-seat model in this cluster — that is how it differs from the manual helpdesk tools.