There is no doubt that customer service teams are under immense pressure to deliver high-quality support. From handling routine tasks to managing a huge influx of support tickets, agents are often caught in the crossfire of repetitive tasks and complicated customer issues that demand a nuanced approach. 

In this context, AI-driven customer service can be the gateway for faster resolution and more impactful customer experience—something agile and super-responsive teams could always use.     

HubSpot’s latest data also seems to corroborate this; it notes that AI and automation have helped 78% of customer service professionals spend more time on the more pressing action items instead of drudging behind routine tasks. 

AI customer service software frees up human agents for more nuanced and high-impact problems, such as handling high-value customers and responding to service outages and crises that call immediate attention. 

To help you get started with these software tools, in this article, we have handpicked the top performers in this segment that your agents can adopt. 

10 best AI customer service software for CX teams

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1. Plivo CX

Best for 24/7 AI-powered customer support

Designed to address key pain points for small businesses and SMBs, Plivo CX is an all-in-one AI customer service platform for high-performing CX teams. It comes with an OpenAI-powered chatbot with an integrated knowledge base, which is ideal for delivering 24/7 support. You can also train it on a custom dataset to increase the accuracy and relevance of responses. Additionally, its AI engine can automatically sort and prioritize incoming customer support requests, making sure that urgent issues are handled quickly. You also have the ability to personalize the AI agents to align with your brand's image, policies, and procedures, ensuring they stay focused and in line with your company's guidelines.

The tool comes with a Unified Agent Desktop that offers agents a true omnichannel experience as they can seamlessly view the entire context of customer issues from a single window pane and respond quickly. 

Key features 

• Reduces dependence on live agents by over 50% using OpenAI-powered self-service chatbots that are governed by your brand policies and guidelines
• Unifies customer conversations across email, voice, SMS, WhatsApp, and live chat simultaneously
• Enables simple and convenient hand-offs in case customers want to connect with a human agent 
• Promotes superior CX for your brand with highly-customizable IVR
• Users can build Workflow to automate customer journeys across all communication channels without needing to code
• Intelligent routing matches callers to skilled agents for efficient problem-solving
• Anticipates and delivers proactive answers to customer queries and questions 
• Provides insights into customer service performance with live metrics and historical reporting 
• Connects directly with widely-used CRMs, helpdesk systems, and order and payment platforms. 
• Can quickly integrate with custom APIs, so that you can offer more personalized responses

Limitations 

• Lacks features for monitoring agent performance, ensuring quality standards, and optimizing workforce allocation
• Does not offer a mobile application for agents to access and manage tickets on the go
• May not be well-suited for handling large volumes of routine, transactional customer support inquiries

Pricing

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Omnichannel (annual plans):

• Growth: $29 per user per month
• Business: $69 per user per month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Voice-Only annual plans

• Growth: $25 per user per month
• Business: $40 per user per month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Chat-Only annual plans

• Growth: $15 per user per month
• Business: $30 per user per month
• Enterprise: Available on request

Plivo CX ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.5/5 (700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (80+ reviews)
  

2. Balto

Best for capturing customer behavior

Balto is an AI-powered contact center that customer service managers can use to coach and train support agents. Access to real-time reporting and QA helps you capture data and correct course exactly when needed. Key features

• Allows instant manager intervention for every call that is trending negative 
• Delivers dynamic prompts to agents so that they can handle inbound queries effectively 
• It provides a gamified experience where agents can be incentivized to improve their performance

Limitations (G2)

• Balto updates take too long to install for the new versions and need higher specs to be compatible with devices.

Pricing

Available on request Balto Service Rating and Reviews

• G2: 4.8/ 5 (400+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/ 5 (10 reviews)
  

3. Zendesk Support Suite

Best for building smooth customer service workflows 

Zendesk Support Suite is an AI customer service platform that helps you make conversations more personalized. This platform is designed to handle even complex customer service interactions, providing relief to human agents. It also comes with various tools like ticketing, live chat, and self-service portals.

Key features: 

• Facilitates quick and seamless customer service resolution with AI agents 
• Empowers customer service agents with full context behind every customer service interaction
• Uses generative AI to drop personalized responses to customers 

Limitations (Capterra)

• It comes with a significant learning curve
• Does not offer features for real-time, conversational support, such as chat or voice
• Requires all customer interactions to be channeled through tickets, creating a transactional experience

Pricing 

• Suite Team: $55 per agent per month, billed annually
• Suite Growth: $89 per agent per month, billed annually
• Suite Professional: $115 per agent per month, billed annually

Zendesk ratings & reviews

• G2: 4.3/ 5 (5800+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/ 5 (3900+ reviews)
  

4. Chatfuel AI

Best for handling customer interactions on WhatsApp

Chatfuel is one of the top AI platforms that enables customer service teams to manage customer interactions and resolve complaints with ease. It comes with an AI agent called Fuely AI, which has a range of skills that can be used in various combinations. Additionally, it integrates with multiple platforms such as Stripe, Shopify, Zapier, Calendly, Google Sheets, and more. 

Key features: 

• Personalizes customer interactions and enables timely and relevant responses to each customer
• Seamlessly integrates with WhatsApp, enabling easy accessibility for customers 
• Offers a round-the-clock customer support team that can cater to user queries at any point of the day

 Limitations (G2)

• Does not offer as many functions and can be expensive for businesses with large audiences
• Sometimes, Chatfuel can be challenging to use if you don't have a developer 

Pricing (Source)

• Business Plan: Starts at $14.39 per month for 500 conversations. A plan for 1,000 conversations per month is available at $34.49
• Enterprise Plan: Priced at $300 per month, which includes all features from the Business plan plus additional services 
• Chatfuel offers a free 7-day trial of the business plan

Chatfuel AI ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.5/ 5 (40+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/ 5 (20+ reviews)
  

5. Freshdesk

Best for intuitive and contextual customer service 

Freshdesk is a leading AI customer service solution with advanced ticketing functionality that enables you to deliver personalized support quickly. It reduces agent workload by offering automated customer service features. The platform’s native AI bot, Freddy, promptly attends to customer queries across chat and emails, learning and adapting from previous customer interactions, offering a more accurate and contextual response each time. 

Key features: 

• Helps customer service teams resolve queries swiftly and accurately at every step
• Provides a single platform to prioritize and handle tickets at scale 
• Enables smart self-service for customers with automation, allowing them to get to answers more quickly 

Limitations (G2)

• Lack of synchronization. It has a syncing problem in reports and data.
• It can quickly get expensive for smaller teams, and you end up paying for a lot of things you don't use.

Pricing (Source)

• Free Plan: available
• Growth: Starts at $15 per agent per month, billed annually.
• Pro: Priced at $49 per agent per month, billed annually.
• Enterprise: Costs $79 per agent per month, billed annually

Freshdesk ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.4/ 5 (3100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/ 5 (3200+ reviews)

6. Tidio 

Best for real-time customer communications

Being an AI customer service solution, Tidio diverts inquiries to their AI support agent, Lyro. It answers 70% of repetitive questions without any involvement from human agents. The platform also offers a live chat that engages with your website visitors and customers in real time. 

Key features:

• Offers assistance to multiple customers simultaneously, significantly increasing your first-contact resolution rate 
• Answers customer questions across multiple channels and in multiple languages 
• Performs recurring tasks on behalf of human agents, such as creating tickets, checking order statuses, etc. 

Limitations (G2)

• Lack of integration with external platforms
• It has limitations in areas like queue visibility, pricing for larger teams, reporting, and chatbot customization 

Pricing (Source)

• Starter: $29 per month for up to 100 conversations
• Growth: $59 per month for up to 1,000 conversations
• Tidio+: $749 per month
• Enterprise: $2999 per month

Tidio ratings & reviews 

• G2: 4.7/ 5 (1500+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/ 5 (450 reviews)

7. Nextiva

Best for conversational AI features for voice-based interactions 

Nextiva comes with an advanced IVR and conversational AI functionality that caters primarily to voice-based customer interactions. It uses Natural Language Processing powered by Google Dialogflow and IBM Watson, ensuring your callers get the help they need quickly.  

Key features: 

• Offers queue callbacks if all live agents are busy when a customer calls
• Helps automate call routing intelligently so that the customers don’t have to sit through a long menu of options 
• Equipped to comprehend human language, it makes every voice-based interaction less robotic and more intuitive

Limitations

• There is no option for an AI voice to generate the phone tree. (G2)
• The initial setup process can take some time. (Capterra)

Pricing

• Essential: $18.95 per month when billed annually 
• Professional: $22.95 per month when billed annually
• Enterprise: $32.95 per month when billed annually

Nextiva ratings & reviews

• G2: 4.5/ 5 (3100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/ 5 (890+ reviews)

8. Kustomer 

Best for unified cross-channel customer insights 

Kustomer is a customer service platform built with an AI-powered extension, Kustomer IQ. It encompasses an AI-powered customer service bot and an agent assist, which work together to boost agent efficiency. With a unified, multichannel view, customer support agents can drive customer engagement and deliver hyper-personalized service. 

Key features

• Empowers support teams with in-depth customer insights to deliver proactive customer support
• Provides agents with communication prompts for smoother and more engaging customer interactions
• Automates customer resolution with conversational answers derived solely from your support content 

Limitations (Capterra)

• The tool is on the expensive side, as it only takes on companies that can purchase 8+ seats, so it may not be suitable for small businesses. 
• It is reported to have a steep learning curve

Kustomer ratings & reviews

• Capterra: 4.6/ 5 (50+ reviews)
• G2: 4.4/ 5 (420+ reviews)

Pricing

• Enterprise: $89 per month
• Ultimate: $139 per month
  

9. Zoho Desk 

Best for automated ticket management and assignment

Zoho Desk is another popular customer service platform that helps you track and manage customer requests efficiently. Its built-in AI assistant, Zia, helps streamline support ticket resolution with the help of knowledge base bots, ticket tags, sentiment analysis, and field predictions. 

Key features

• Offers a self-service portal for every brand’s customer 
• Delivers customer sentiment insights for every customer conversation 
• Helps support teams frame the best responses by using context, FAQs, and templates

Limitations (G2)

• Some advanced features and customization options can be complex and require a steep learning curve
• Some features that companies would regard as essential may only be accessible on the top-tier plans

Zoho Desk ratings & reviews 

• Capterra: 4.5/ 5 (2100+ reviews)
• G2: 4.4/ 5 (5600+ reviews)

Pricing (Source)

• Free Plan: Available 
• Express: $7 per user per month when billed annually
• Standard: $14 per user per month when billed annually
• Professional: $23 per user per month when billed annually
  Enterprise: $40 per user per month when billed annually

10. Intercom

Best for multilingual and omnichannel support 

  When it comes to AI customer service software, Intercom is another name that deserves to be mentioned on this list. Intercom’s AI chatbot, Fin, uses internal support content to deliver conversational answers to customers. The platform is built to manage customer communications across channels and in different languages. 

Key features: 

• Customizable answers that allow you to take a call between LLM-generated answers and predefined statements 
• Sends responses from multiple resources like Intercom articles, PDFs, and public URLs for an optimum resolution
• Delivers timely responses and supports a smooth onboarding experience 

Limitations (Capterra)

• Offers a basic voice calling feature but may lack advanced options for call routing, recording, or analytics
• Provides limited tools for monitoring agent performance, call quality, and customer satisfaction
• May have difficulties integrating with custom-built systems or legacy applications 
• The pricing structure can be a bit steep

Intercom ratings & reviews

• Capterra: 4.5/ 5 (1000+ reviews)
• G2: 4.5/ 5 (3000+ reviews)

Pricing (Source)

• Essential: $39 per seat per month 
• Advanced: $99 per seat per month
• Expert: $139 per seat per month

What is AI customer service software?

AI customer service software are solutions that automate, facilitate or enhance different elements of your customer service. Encompassing a wide range of solutions, customer service AI tools use Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning and generative AI to tackle support-related issues. It is designed to understand and respond to customer inquiries, handle routine tasks, and deliver valuable insights, freeing human agents to focus on more complex tasks. 

How to use AI customer service software? 

When it comes to modern AI customer service tools, there is a whole universe of solutions that help reduce agent workload and boost overall efficiency and quality of support. These include: 

AI chatbots for handling routine inquiries 

AI chatbots are automated chat systems that interact with customers in real time, typically on your website, mobile app, or voice. Instead of deploying a human agent to handle every query, an AI chatbot can field simpler customer requests and questions.

An AI chatbot does a phenomenal job of handling basic queries like billing information, subscription upgrades, and FAQs, significantly reducing pressure on your customer support team without compromising on the quality of the experience.

Voice bots and virtual assistants to greet and guide customers

AI voice bots and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems manage voice-based interactions. Not only can it be used to greet and guide customers but also to help them schedule appointments, conduct product walkthroughs, and generate basic information. 

Automated call distribution systems for efficient query resolution 

The agent-to-customer ratio can be skewed, with more customers trying to connect with a limited number of agents. This means agents need to prioritize which customers they should attend to first.

To top this off, additional time is lost in the process of navigating and handing off calls to the concerned agent or department. An automated call distribution system, also known as an automated ticketing system, helps you efficiently route calls and get customers to resolution at a much faster rate. 

Predictive analytics for anticipating and adapting to customer needs

Predictive analytics is a transformative AI solution that captures and analyzes customer data. This data helps you anticipate customer problems or needs so that you can offer more proactive customer support instead of waiting to put out the fire when it’s too late. 

AI-powered knowledge base for customer self-service

An AI-powered knowledge base is also a vital AI-powered customer service software that allows for faster first-touch resolution. It taps into advanced technologies like NLP and ML to provide instant, accurate answers to customer queries.

An AI-powered knowledge base is typically integrated into an AI chatbot that allows customers to self-navigate through their queries easily, moving all your elementary customer queries out of the way. 

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Plivo CX: The finest AI customer service software for your business

AI has set a new benchmark for how customer service teams manage interactions, streamline processes, and handle customer requirements. The right AI-enabled customer service software can set your customer support agents up for success and foster customer loyalty. Plivo CX is an ideal AI customer service solution because it offers a range of features that create the perfect blend of human support and OpenAI-driven responses. As a case in point, its intuitive chatbot offers a round-the-clock, personalized customer experience with minimal need for agent involvement. The platform achieves this without compromising on support quality and guarantees prompt assistance to customers while helping agents maximize their productivity. Ready to upgrade your customer support? Book a demo to learn more.