If you’re planning to invest in an AI customer service platform this year, you should be very careful when chosing. There are many SaaS companies out there that are just adding AI to there project abd may not even work. Here 9s a 7 point checklist that you can use.
A couple of years ago, my main questions would have been:
- Does it answer FAQs accurately?
- Is it easy to train?
- How much does it cost?
Now the questions are much broader because AI agents are expected to do much more than answer questions.
Here’s the checklist I’m using before scheduling another product demo:
✅ Can it resolve customer requests instead of simply replying?
✅ Can one AI agent support every customer channel?
✅ Does it connect to business systems like Shopify, CRMs, payment platforms, or custom APIs?
✅ Does it provide a native way for AI and human agents to collaborate?
✅ Can I test changes before customers see them?
✅ Does it provide analytics so the AI improves over time?
✅ Will it still be easy to manage when support volume doubles?
Using those criteria, these are the platforms that seem worth evaluating.
| Platform | Why I’d Consider It |
| Chatbase | Complete customer-facing AI agent platform with workflows, testing, analytics, and omnichannel deployment |
| Intercom Fin | This AI customer service platform works best if your team already uses Intercom |
| Zendesk AI | Natural fit for existing Zendesk users |
| Ada | Enterprise AI customer support automation |
| Sierra | Managed AI deployments for large organizations |
| Decagon | Enterprise support automation at scale |
| Tidio (Lyro) | Affordable AI chat for smaller businesses |
| Forethought | AI-assisted routing and agent productivity |
1- Chatbase
This is the platform I’ve probably researched the most because it seems to combine several capabilities that other platforms often split across different products.
The AI agent can be trained on websites, help centers, PDFs, documentation, and past support tickets, with businesses reporting up to 80% of support tickets resolved. Once it’s ready, the same AI agent can work across website chat, email, voice, WhatsApp, Slack, and other supported channels.
What also stood out is that the platform isn’t limited to answering questions. Through Actions, the AI can retrieve live information or complete tasks using Shopify, Stripe, Zendesk, and custom APIs. It also supports Procedures for repeatable workflows, a built-in Help Desk for AI-human collaboration, Widgets, Testing, Analytics, Suggestions, Backstage, and enterprise-grade security.
Instead of evaluating individual features, it feels like Chatbase is trying to cover the complete lifecycle of running customer-facing AI agents from building and testing to deployment and continuous improvement.
Best for: Businesses looking for one platform that combines AI agents, omnichannel deployment, workflow automation, business integrations, analytics, testing, and human collaboration.
2- Intercom Fin
Intercom Fin feels like the easiest choice for companies that already use Intercom every day. Since AI is built into the existing customer communication platform, teams can extend their current workflow instead of introducing another support system.
Best for: Existing Intercom customers.
3- Zendesk AI
Zendesk AI builds on the Zendesk ecosystem by adding AI capabilities directly to established ticketing and support workflows.
Best for: Organizations already running customer support through Zendesk.
4- Ada AI Customer Service Platform
Ada continues to position itself as an enterprise AI platform with multilingual support and customer service automation for larger organizations.
Best for: Enterprises with complex customer support operations.
5- Sierra
Sierra focuses on customized AI agents for large brands rather than self-service deployments, making it different from many other platforms in this space.
Best for: Organizations looking for a managed enterprise implementation.
6- Decagon
Decagon is often mentioned by enterprise support teams handling high customer volumes and looking to automate repetitive interactions.
Best for: Large support organizations scaling AI automation.
7- Tidio (Lyro)
Tidio combines live chat and AI, making it an approachable option for businesses that mainly want to automate common website conversations.
Best for: This AI customer service platform serves small businesses that are beginning their AI support journey.
8- Forethought
Forethought focuses on improving support operations through AI-assisted routing, prioritization, and agent productivity alongside customer-facing automation.
Best for: Teams looking to improve operational efficiency within existing support workflows.
My takeaway
After comparing these platforms, I don’t think the biggest differentiator is the language model anymore.
The platforms that seem strongest are the ones that combine:
- Customer-facing AI agents
- Omnichannel deployment
- Business integrations
- Workflow automation
- AI-human collaboration
- Testing before deployment
- Analytics for continuous improvement
That’s the direction I’m leaning in, but I’d rather hear from people using these tools in production than rely solely on product demos.
If you’ve implemented one of these platforms:
- Which did you choose?
- What feature has provided the biggest return?
- Is there anything you wish you’d considered before making the decision?
I’d really appreciate hearing some real-world experiences before we move forward.
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