Shortlist
Which AI customer service agent to shortlist
Start with Sierra or Decagon if you want an agent that works beside any helpdesk. Sierra passed $400 million in annual revenue in October 2026, and Decagon was valued at $4.5 billion in January. If your helpdesk stays, look at Fin ($0.99 per outcome, now owned by Salesforce), Zendesk’s built-in agents (billed per resolved conversation) or Agentforce for Service ($2 per conversation). Genesys and Parloa suit large phone-heavy contact centers.
Quick pick
Ordered shortlist
A standalone agent that resolves customer chats, email and calls.
$400M+ ARRVerifiedAs of Oct 30, 2026Sierra blog
$15.8B valuationVerified As of May 4, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Works beside any helpdesk. Passed $400 million ARR (Sierra’s blog, Oct 30, 2026). Outcome-based pricing, no public rates.
- Sierra says it added more than $150 million in the third quarter and works with almost half the Fortune 50.
- $15.8 billion valuation. Sierra raised $950 million in May 2026. TechCrunch reports the same figures. Sierra’s own blog does not state the valuation.
A standalone agent for chat, email and phone support.
$4.5B valuationReportedAs of January 2026Business Wire
About $100M annualizedEstimated As of Nov 9, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Reported.
- Works beside any helpdesk. $4.5 billion valuation (Jan 2026). Per conversation or per resolution.
- The survey note says this headline was a search result, not a fetched page. The row’s overall signal is verified-secondary.
- About $100 million annualized. Third-party estimate. Newcomer reports it, and Sacra estimates $100 million in July 2026. Decagon has not published this figure.
A standalone agent for customer service.
$5B valuationVerifiedAs of Sep 2, 2026TechCrunch
About $70M annual run-rateEstimated As of Sep 2, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, secondary.
- Works with your engineers to set up. $5 billion valuation (Sep 2026). Moving beyond support into a broader agent platform.
- A $550 million Series C. Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal report the same figures. Salesforce joined as an investor.
- Run-rate about $70 million. Calcalist’s estimate. It expects more than $100 million by the end of 2026.
Attaches to the helpdesk you already run.
Salesforce completed its acquisition of FinVerifiedAs of Sep 10, 2026Salesforce press release
30,000+ customersVerified As of Sep 10, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Sits on your existing helpdesk. $0.99 per outcome. Salesforce completed its purchase on Sep 10, 2026.
- Agreement signed 2026-06-15 at about $3.6 billion (Salesforce release). Salesforce cites more than 30,000 customers.
- More than 30,000 customers. Customer count cited by Salesforce for Fin.
- Company-wide ARR of $400 million. Intercom company-wide, including sales beyond Fin. Not a Fin-only figure.
- Company-wide ARR of $400 million. Verified, primary. As of March 2026.
Zendesk's own agents, inside Zendesk.
From $19 per agent per month; AI billed per resolutionVerifiedAs of Nov 11, 2026Zendesk pricing page
G2 Fall 2026 AI customer-support leaderReported As of Fall 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Built into Zendesk. Plans from $19 per agent per month, with AI billed per resolved conversation.
- AI agents come with every plan. Resolution billing changed on 2026-05-18.
- G2 Fall 2026 AI customer-support leader. A list appearance, not a revenue figure.
Salesforce's support agent, built into Salesforce Service.
Agentforce: $1.5B+ ARRVerifiedAs of Aug 26, 2026Salesforce press release
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Built on Salesforce data. $2 per conversation. The $1.5 billion ARR is all of Agentforce, not Service alone.
- Platform-wide Agentforce, not Service alone. G2 Fall 2026 names it an AI customer-support leader.
HubSpot’s agent for teams on HubSpot. $0.50 per resolution.
306,000 HubSpot customersReportedAs of Nov 11, 2026HubSpot
70% average resolution rate, top teams 90%Reported As of Nov 11, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Reported.
- Built into HubSpot. $0.50 per resolution, and it needs the Professional or Enterprise edition.
- HubSpot’s own count for the whole platform, not Customer Agent alone.
- 70% average resolution rate, top teams 90%. HubSpot’s own claim for Customer Agent users.
Freshdesk’s built-in agent, priced per session.
Over $1 billion annual recurring revenueVerifiedAs of Nov 3, 2026Freshworks results
Freddy AI about $25 million ARRVerified As of Mar 26, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Built into Freshdesk. Freshworks passed $1 billion ARR on Nov 3, 2026. About $0.50 per session, per a secondary source.
- Company-wide, not Freddy AI alone. Q3 revenue was $245.4 million, up 14%.
- Freddy AI about $25 million ARR. Figure for the end of FY2025. Not restated in the Q3 2026 release.
Voice-first agents for large contact centres.
$3B valuationVerifiedAs of Jan 15, 2026Parloa press release
ARR above $50 millionReported As of Jan 15, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Voice-first agents for large companies. $3 billion valuation (Jan 2026).
- A $350 million Series D led by General Catalyst. Total raised is more than $560 million.
- ARR above $50 million. Not on Parloa’s own release.
Voice agents and live coaching. Salesforce is buying it.
Salesforce agreed to acquire itVerifiedAs of Nov 2, 2026Salesforce
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Voice agents and live coaching for contact centers. Salesforce agreed to buy it on Nov 2, 2026.
- Expected to close in the first quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal 2028. Price not disclosed in the release.
A contact-centre platform with AI agents for voice and digital.
Cloud ARR nearly $2.9BVerifiedAs of Sep 2, 2026Genesys press release
Cloud AI ARR $400M+Verified As of Sep 2, 2026
Evidence notes
- Evidence level: Verified, primary.
- Contact-center platform for phone and digital. Cloud ARR nearly $2.9 billion, covering the whole Cloud business.
- Up more than 30% year over year. Whole Cloud business.
- Cloud AI ARR above $400 million. Growing more than twice as fast as Cloud overall, per Genesys.
Compare on
| Brand | Type | Channels | How you pay | Named customers | Latest news |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra | Standalone | Chat, SMS, WhatsApp, email, voice and ChatGPT | Outcome-based; no public rates | Rocket Mortgage, SoFi, Chime, SiriusXM, Cigna | Oct 30, 2026: passed $400 million ARR |
| Decagon | Standalone | Voice, chat and email | Per conversation or per resolution | Notion, Rippling, Hertz, Chime, Duolingo | Jan 2026: $250 million Series D at $4.5 billion |
| Wonderful | Standalone, set up with its engineers | Not listed | Not listed | Maccabi, Israel Electric, Bezeq, Bank Leumi | Sep 2, 2026: $550 million at $5 billion |
| Fin | Sits on your helpdesk | Chat, email, voice, WhatsApp, SMS, social | $0.99 per outcome | Anthropic, Kalshi, Glean, Lightspeed | Sep 10, 2026: Salesforce completed its purchase |
| Zendesk AI Agents | Helpdesk with AI built in | Messaging, email and voice | Per resolved conversation, plus $19 to $115 per agent per month | Not listed | May 18, 2026: new resolution billing |
| Agentforce for Service | Built on Salesforce data | Not listed | $2 per conversation | Not listed | Aug 26, 2026: Agentforce ARR above $1.5 billion |
| HubSpot Customer Agent | Built into HubSpot | Messaging, email, chat, forms and voice | $0.50 per resolution; $0.50 per minute for voice | Not listed | HubSpot says 306,000 customers use its platform |
| Freshworks Freddy AI Agent | Built into Freshdesk | Email, chat, WhatsApp and social | About $0.50 per session (secondary source) | Not listed | Nov 3, 2026: Freshworks passed $1 billion ARR |
| Parloa | Enterprise voice | Not listed | Not listed | Allianz, Booking.com, SAP, Swiss Life | Jan 15, 2026: $350 million at $3 billion |
| Cresta | Voice agents and agent coaching | Voice | Not listed | Marriott, Comcast, Alaska Airlines | Nov 2, 2026: Salesforce agreed to buy it |
| Genesys Cloud AI | Contact center | Voice, messaging, WhatsApp, email, social | Usage units; an agentic virtual-agent interaction uses 1.2 | Not listed | Sep 2, 2026: Cloud ARR nearly $2.9 billion |
Every cell is from the vendor’s own pages or news coverage, checked Nov 11, 2026. “Not listed” means we found nothing public.
How we picked
- Standalone agents come first, then agents built into a helpdesk, then voice and contact-center platforms.
- Within each group, order follows the strength of the dated evidence: what the vendor says itself first, news coverage second.
- Wonderful is on the list on the strength of its September 2026 raise. It now sells a broader agent platform, so it suits large enterprises more than a small support team.
- Ada is not listed. It is merging with Dialpad, with the deal expected to close on Nov 12, 2026.
Questions and answers
- What is an AI customer service agent?
- Software that answers customers on chat, email or phone and does the work behind the answer, such as a refund or an account change. It passes the conversation to a person when it should.
- Can AI replace customer service?
- Our judgmentPlan on it handling the routine share and handing the rest to people. Sierra, Decagon, Fin and Zendesk all document a handoff to a person. Ask each vendor how it measures what it resolves.
- Do I add an AI agent on top of my helpdesk, or use the helpdesk’s own?
- Our judgmentIf you can add an agent beside the helpdesk, start with Sierra or Decagon. If changing helpdesk is off the table, Fin works with Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk and others. If you already pay for Zendesk or Salesforce, try their built-in agent first, because it is the cheapest to switch on.
- Is pricing per resolution, per conversation or per seat?
- It varies. Fin charges $0.99 per outcome. Agentforce for Service charges $2 per conversation. Zendesk bills per verified resolution against an allowance included in its plans, which start at $19 per agent per month. Decagon offers per conversation or per resolution. Sierra prices on outcomes without public rates. HubSpot charges $0.50 per resolution. Genesys uses usage units. Parloa and Wonderful do not publish prices.
- How fast can I launch?
- Fin says it sets up in under an hour on an existing helpdesk. Sierra cites one large US retailer that went from first meeting to a live agent in 27 days. Both are the vendors’ own examples.
- How do Sierra, Decagon and Fin compare for an enterprise help desk?
- Our judgmentSierra and Decagon are the standalone pair, and both work with large enterprises. Fin attaches to the helpdesk you have, and Salesforce completed its purchase of it on Sep 10, 2026.
Runners-up
Ada
Merging with Dialpad, reported at about C$600 million, with the deal expected to close on Nov 12, 2026.
Cognigy (NiCE)
NiCE bought it for about $955 million, reported by GTMLens.
Uniphore, Kore.ai, Moveworks, Crescendo, ServiceNow AI Agents, ASAPP, NICE CXone
Also sell customer-service agents. No figures attached here.
Chatwoot, Rasa, Botpress
The open-source options. They need more setup than the hosted agents above.
Retell AI
Belongs with voice agents.
Neighbours
Voice-agent platforms
Phone-first platforms such as Retell sit outside this page. Parloa stays because it sells to customer-service teams.
Internal IT help
Employee support and IT service desks are a different buyer.
- Coding agents
Agents that write code are a different buyer from a support team.
- Legal
Legal research and contracts are a different buyer from a support team.
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