The 9 best AI customer service tools for Australian businesses

An AI customer service tool is software that answers customer questions by chat, email or phone, resolves them by taking actions such as a refund, and hands the rest to a person with full context. On a 70-point test, Intercom Fin and Zendesk AI agents tie highest at 60 of 70, ahead of Lorikeet and HubSpot Customer Agent on 58.

The best AI customer service tools for Australian businesses, ranked

How each one scores

Points by test, scored 1 October 2026

Points for 9 products on 6 tests, with the total out of 70.

Intercom Fin	Zendesk AI agents	Lorikeet	HubSpot Customer Agent	Freshdesk Freddy AI	Botpress	Tidio Lyro	AAda	Gorgias AI Agent
Resolves the query, not just answers it20 points
20 of 20	20 of 20	20 of 20	20 of 20	16 of 20	20 of 20	16 of 20	20 of 20	16 of 20
Hands off to people well10 points
10 of 10	10 of 10	7 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10
Connects to your tools10 points
10 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	8 of 10	8 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	8 of 10	8 of 10
Data control10 points
6 of 10	6 of 10	10 of 10	6 of 10	6 of 10	7 of 10	3 of 10	6 of 10	3 of 10
Price for a small team10 points
7 of 10	7 of 10	4 of 10	4 of 10	7 of 10	7 of 10	7 of 10	0 of 10	7 of 10
Australian availability10 points
7 of 10	7 of 10	7 of 10	10 of 10	10 of 10	0 of 10	0 of 10	0 of 10	0 of 10
Total scoreout of 70
60 of 701st	60 of 702nd	58 of 703rd	58 of 704th	57 of 705th	54 of 706th	46 of 707th	44 of 708th	44 of 709th

1. Intercom Fin

Rank 1

Intercom Fin

Intercom, with an office in Surry Hills, Sydney

Best for

Support teams that want one AI agent across chat, email, phone and messaging, on Intercom or on the helpdesk they already run

Resolves the query, not just answers it20/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools10/10

Data control6/10

Price for a small team7/10

Australian availability7/10

Total score60/70

Fin checks refund status and delivery details in Shopify and answers the customer directly, with no ticket needed. It works with any helpdesk, including Salesforce and HubSpot, and hands off to a person with the full customer context. Teams run simulations against edge cases before Fin talks to a real customer. Intercom backs the service with a 99.8% uptime SLA and hosts data in the US, the EU or Australia.

Fin costs US$0.99 an outcome. On Intercom's own helpdesk, plans start at US$29 a seat a month, billed annually. On another helpdesk, Fin has a minimum of 50 outcomes a month. Givebutter says Fin handles more than 5,000 conversations a month and completely resolves 50% of them.

• Beats the field on: none outright. It ties Zendesk AI agents on every test, with full marks on resolving the query, handing off and connections.
• Loses on: data control, 6. Fin can use anonymised customer data for model fine-tuning unless you opt out. On the Australian test, Intercom bills in US dollars only.

Free 30-minute call

Need an agent that knows more than your help articles?

These tools answer from what you write down, stop at the systems they can't reach, and most charge for every resolution. Tell us which tickets you want off your team's plate. On the call we check whether a tool on this list already handles them. If one does, we'll say so. If not, we'll show you what we would build inside your own helpdesk, and what it would cost.

For Australian businesses of 10 to 100 people adding an AI agent to customer service.

Book a 30-minute call

2. Zendesk AI agents

Rank 2

Zendesk AI agents

Zendesk, with an office at 550 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Best for

Teams already on Zendesk, and small teams that want AI agents included in a low-cost helpdesk plan

Resolves the query, not just answers it20/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools10/10

Data control6/10

Price for a small team7/10

Australian availability7/10

Total score60/70

Zendesk AI agents take action across systems and follow procedures written in natural language. They answer email and phone calls as well as chat, though the voice agent needs Zendesk voice. A conversation simulator tests them on realistic scenarios before launch. Customers can keep their data in Australia through the Data Center Location add-on.

Every Zendesk plan includes AI agents. Support Team costs US$19 an agent a month, paid yearly, and includes five automated resolutions per agent a month. Each pay-as-you-go resolution after that costs US$2.00. For teams on another vendor's helpdesk, Zendesk sells Forethought AI agents through its sales team, and they connect to Salesforce, Freshworks and Gorgias. Hello Sugar reports a 66% automation rate and $14k in monthly savings.

• Beats the field on: none outright. It ties Intercom Fin on every test, with full marks on resolving the query, handing off and connections.
• Loses on: data control, 6. Zendesk sanitises customer data before using it to train its own models. On the Australian test, its Australian pricing page lists US dollar prices.

3. Lorikeet

Rank 3

Lorikeet

Operator Technologies AI Pty Ltd, Sydney

Best for

Complex or regulated support where data control matters most, with a budget above US$2,000 a month

Resolves the query, not just answers it20/20

Hands off to people well7/10

Connects to your tools10/10

Data control10/10

Price for a small team4/10

Australian availability7/10

Total score58/70

Lorikeet is the trading name of Operator Technologies AI Pty Ltd, an Australian company with a team across Sydney and the US. The agent acts through your APIs and MCP servers and answers chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp and voice, with voice live in Australia. It works inside Zendesk, Intercom, Salesforce and HubSpot rather than replacing them.

Lorikeet states that customer data is never used to train AI models. It holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, and can store data in Australia or the EU. Summ, a crypto tax software company, cut first response times from about 30 minutes to under 1 minute.

• Beats the field on: data control, 10/10, the only full marks on that test.
• Loses on: price, 4. The Start plan costs US$2,100 a month, paid annually, and there is no free plan. On handing off, no public status page or uptime SLA appears on the pages read.

4. HubSpot Customer Agent

Rank 4

HubSpot Customer Agent

HubSpot, with its Asia Pacific and Japan headquarters in Sydney

Best for

Businesses that already run their customer records in HubSpot

Resolves the query, not just answers it20/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools8/10

Data control6/10

Price for a small team4/10

Australian availability10/10

Total score58/70

Customer Agent resolves questions, takes action in your CRM and hands off to your team with full context. It works across chat, email, social and voice, including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and teams can batch test scenarios before going live.

HubSpot runs an Australian data centre, has its regional headquarters at 123 Pitt Street, Sydney, and publishes its prices in Australian dollars. Synergym resolves 85% of its support requests autonomously with Customer Agent.

• Beats the field on: none outright, though it ties the top mark on three tests: the Australian test (with Freshdesk Freddy AI), resolving the query and handing off.
• Loses on: price, 4. Customer Agent requires a Professional or Enterprise edition. Service Hub Professional starts at A$140 a seat a month plus a one-time onboarding fee, and each resolution costs US$0.50 on top. On connections, it runs inside HubSpot only.

5. Freshdesk Freddy AI

Rank 5

Freshdesk Freddy AI

Freshworks, with an office at 135 King Street, Sydney

Best for

Small teams that want the cheapest way in, with Australian dollar prices and data hosted in Australia

Resolves the query, not just answers it16/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools8/10

Data control6/10

Price for a small team7/10

Australian availability10/10

Total score57/70

Freddy AI Agent processes refunds, updates orders and verifies details through your back-end systems, and an Email AI Agent answers incoming email tickets. Support leads build agents on a no-code builder and test them by simulating real customer conversations.

Read from Australia, Freshdesk Growth costs A$29 an agent a month, billed annually, with the first 500 AI Agent sessions included once per account. Australian accounts keep their data in the Australian hosting region, though some AI processing runs in the US.

• Beats the field on: none outright, though it ties the top mark on the Australian test (with HubSpot Customer Agent) and on handing off.
• Loses on: resolving the query, 16 of 20. On the pages read, Freddy AI has no voice agent of its own: Freshcaller's voice AI agents come from third-party apps such as Synthflow and Squawkvoice. Separately, Freddy AI trains models on data from consenting customers, which costs it points on data control.

6. Botpress

Rank 6

Botpress

Botpress

Best for

Teams that want to start free and build an agent on top of the helpdesk they already use

Resolves the query, not just answers it20/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools10/10

Data control7/10

Price for a small team7/10

Australian availability0/10

Total score54/70

Botpress agents take real action on refunds, account updates and multi-step workflows, and are built in natural language with no developer needed. Botpress works on top of an existing helpdesk or as a standalone one, and its Zendesk integration lets a Zendesk agent take over the conversation.

Botpress has the one free plan on this list that includes the agent, at US$0 for 25 conversations. The Enterprise page states there is no training on your data, and its trust centre lists a SOC 2 Type II report.

• Beats the field on: no single test, but it offers the one free plan here with the agent included, and full marks on resolving the query, handing off and connections.
• Loses on: the Australian test, 0. No Australian hosting, pricing or office appears on the pages read. On data control, no storage region is named. Take the Australian test away and Botpress would rank first.

7. Tidio Lyro

Rank 7

Tidio Lyro

Tidio LLC, San Francisco

Best for

Small online stores that want an AI agent on website chat from a low monthly price

Resolves the query, not just answers it16/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools10/10

Data control3/10

Price for a small team7/10

Australian availability0/10

Total score46/70

Lyro checks order status, reschedules deliveries and updates addresses through Smart Actions and MCP. It answers on Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and email as well as chat, and support teams check Lyro's knowledge in a test environment first.

Tidio Starter costs US$24.17 a month, billed annually, and includes 50 one-off Lyro conversations. More are bought as a monthly quota. Lyro can also be added to Zendesk or Salesforce on Tidio Premium. Tidio announced its SOC 2 Type 2 certification in October 2025.

• Beats the field on: none outright. It scores full marks on handing off and connections.
• Loses on: the Australian test, 0. No Australian hosting, pricing or office appears on the pages read. On data control it scores 3, with no statement on model training or storage region on the pages read. Separately, Lyro has no voice channel on the pages read.

8. Ada

8

Ada

Ada Support Inc.

Best for

Large support teams that want an enterprise agent across every channel, set up with Ada's own team

Resolves the query, not just answers it20/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools8/10

Data control6/10

Price for a small team0/10

Australian availability0/10

Total score44/70

Ada covers voice, email, chat, Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS, and Ada Computer gives the agent API, code and MCP tools to act in other systems. It transfers conversations to human agents in Zendesk and Salesforce with a summary of every message, and it can also hand off into Gorgias. Deezer reports about 30% automated resolution on day one.

• Beats the field on: none outright. Full marks on two tests only: resolving the query and handing off.
• Loses on: price, 0. Ada publishes no prices, only a demo booking. On the Australian test it also scores 0, with no Australian hosting, pricing or office on the pages read.

9. Gorgias AI Agent

Rank 9

Gorgias AI Agent

Gorgias, founded in Paris in 2015

Best for

Shopify stores that want the AI agent and the helpdesk on one bill

Resolves the query, not just answers it16/20

Hands off to people well10/10

Connects to your tools8/10

Data control3/10

Price for a small team7/10

Australian availability0/10

Total score44/70

Gorgias AI Agent takes action directly in Shopify and the rest of a store's stack. Sandbox mode runs it against real tickets, so the team sees every response before it goes live. AI Agent comes with every plan and is charged per automated interaction. On Starter at US$10 a month, billed monthly, each one costs US$1.00. Dr. Bronner's automated 50% of its support after switching to Gorgias.

• Beats the field on: none outright. Handing off is its one test with full marks.
• Loses on: the Australian test, 0. No Australian hosting, pricing or office appears on the pages read. On connections, the agent runs inside Gorgias only, and HubSpot records reach the ticket through an HTTP integration the team sets up by hand.

How they compare

Seven questions a support lead asks before an AI agent talks to customers, answered from each vendor's own pages, then what each one charges. All nine take actions in other systems and hand off with the conversation history. Six answer the phone, five can keep data in Australia, and one has a free plan that includes the agent.

9 products, side by side

Checked 1 October 2026

QuestionIntercom FinZendesk AI agentsLorikeetHubSpot Customer AgentFreshdesk Freddy AIBotpressTidio LyroAAdaGorgias AI Agent

Takes action, not just answers?Looks up orders, issues refunds or updates records in other systemsIntercom Fin: Yes.Zendesk AI agents: Yes.Lorikeet: Yes.HubSpot Customer Agent: Yes.Freshdesk Freddy AI: Yes.Botpress: Yes.Tidio Lyro: Yes.Ada: Yes.Gorgias AI Agent: Yes.

Takes action, not just answers? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	Yes. Takes actions that update external systems, such as checking a refund in Shopify.
Zendesk AI agents	Yes. AI agents take action across connected systems.
Lorikeet	Yes. Acts through your own APIs and MCP servers.
HubSpot Customer Agent	Yes. Takes action in the CRM, Shopify and other tools.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	Yes. Processes refunds, updates orders and verifies details through back-end systems.
Botpress	Yes. Acts on refunds, account updates and multi-step workflows.
Tidio Lyro	Yes. Smart Actions check order status, change addresses and start returns.
AAda	Yes. API, code and MCP tools to act in your systems.
Gorgias AI Agent	Yes. Refunds, cancellations and address changes in Shopify.

Answers the phone?An AI agent that handles voice callsIntercom Fin: Yes.Zendesk AI agents: Yes.Lorikeet: Yes.HubSpot Customer Agent: Yes.Freshdesk Freddy AI: No.Botpress: Yes.Tidio Lyro: No.Ada: Yes.Gorgias AI Agent: No.

Answers the phone? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	Yes. Fin Voice handles calls.
Zendesk AI agents	Yes. AI voice agents, with Zendesk voice required.
Lorikeet	Yes. Voice is live in the US, UK and Australia.
HubSpot Customer Agent	Yes. Handles inbound calls and transfers with full context.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	No. No AI voice agent on the pages read. The AI agent covers chat, messaging and email.
Botpress	Yes. Voice calls are billed at three minutes a conversation.
Tidio Lyro	No. No voice channel on the pages read.
AAda	Yes. Voice is one of Ada's channels.
Gorgias AI Agent	No. Gorgias Voice is a phone add-on with AI summaries. No AI agent on calls on the pages read.

Hands off with the conversation history?Passes the conversation to a person with the context attachedIntercom Fin: Yes.Zendesk AI agents: Yes.Lorikeet: Yes.HubSpot Customer Agent: Yes.Freshdesk Freddy AI: Yes.Botpress: Yes.Tidio Lyro: Yes.Ada: Yes.Gorgias AI Agent: Yes.

Hands off with the conversation history? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	Yes. Hands off with full customer context, in any helpdesk.
Zendesk AI agents	Yes. Routes to the right team with full context.
Lorikeet	Yes. Escalates with context when human judgement is needed.
HubSpot Customer Agent	Yes. Hands off to your team with full context.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	Yes. Transfers conversations with full context.
Botpress	Yes. Passes the history, account details and steps already tried.
Tidio Lyro	Yes. The handoff ticket includes the conversation transcript.
AAda	Yes. Transcript summaries go to Zendesk or Salesforce agents.
Gorgias AI Agent	Yes. Everything it does not own goes to your team with full context.

Keeps your data out of model training?Says in writing that customer data trains no model by defaultIntercom Fin: Not stated.Zendesk AI agents: Not stated.Lorikeet: Yes.HubSpot Customer Agent: Not stated.Freshdesk Freddy AI: Not stated.Botpress: Yes.Tidio Lyro: No.Ada: Not stated.Gorgias AI Agent: No.

Keeps your data out of model training? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	Not stated. Anonymised data can fine-tune Fin unless you opt out.
Zendesk AI agents	Not stated. Sanitised customer data trains Zendesk's own models. Third-party LLMs do not train on it.
Lorikeet	Yes. Customer data is never used to train AI models.
HubSpot Customer Agent	Not stated. HubSpot's AI model training is on by default and can be switched off.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	Not stated. Trains its own models on consenting customers' data, with an opt-out.
Botpress	Yes. No training on your data, per the Enterprise page.
Tidio Lyro	No. No statement on training found on the pages read.
AAda	Not stated. De-identified data may fine-tune models for that customer only.
Gorgias AI Agent	No. No statement that customer data trains no model on the pages read.

Can keep your data in Australia?Australia named as a data hosting regionIntercom Fin: Yes.Zendesk AI agents: Yes.Lorikeet: Yes.HubSpot Customer Agent: Yes.Freshdesk Freddy AI: Yes.Botpress: No.Tidio Lyro: No.Ada: No.Gorgias AI Agent: No.

Can keep your data in Australia? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	Yes. Hosting in the US, EU or Australia.
Zendesk AI agents	Yes. Australia is a Data Center Location add-on region.
Lorikeet	Yes. Runs in the US, with data storage residency available in Australia or the EU.
HubSpot Customer Agent	Yes. HubSpot runs an Australian data centre.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	Yes. Australian accounts keep data in the AU region. Some AI processing runs in the US.
Botpress	No. No region named. Custom residency is an Enterprise option.
Tidio Lyro	No. No hosting region named on the pages read.
AAda	No. Hosted in the US, Canada, Ireland and Germany, with a Europe storage option.
Gorgias AI Agent	No. Nearest server assigned. Only the EU is named.

Works inside the helpdesk you already use?Runs on top of another vendor's helpdesk, such as Zendesk or SalesforceIntercom Fin: Yes.Zendesk AI agents: Yes.Lorikeet: Yes.HubSpot Customer Agent: No.Freshdesk Freddy AI: No.Botpress: Yes.Tidio Lyro: Yes.Ada: Yes.Gorgias AI Agent: No.

Works inside the helpdesk you already use? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	Yes. Runs on Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk, Gorgias and others.
Zendesk AI agents	Yes. Through Forethought AI agents by Zendesk, bought through sales, which connect to Salesforce, Freshworks, Gorgias and others.
Lorikeet	Yes. Works inside Zendesk, Intercom, Salesforce and HubSpot.
HubSpot Customer Agent	No. Runs inside HubSpot only, on the pages read.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	No. Runs inside Freshdesk only, on the pages read.
Botpress	Yes. Runs on top of an existing helpdesk, with a Zendesk handoff.
Tidio Lyro	Yes. Lyro can be added to Zendesk, Salesforce or another helpdesk.
AAda	Yes. Hands off into Zendesk, Salesforce and Gorgias.
Gorgias AI Agent	No. Runs inside Gorgias only, on the pages read.

Has a free plan?A free plan on which the AI agent answers customers, not only a trialIntercom Fin: No.Zendesk AI agents: No.Lorikeet: No.HubSpot Customer Agent: No.Freshdesk Freddy AI: Not stated.Botpress: Yes.Tidio Lyro: Not stated.Ada: No.Gorgias AI Agent: No.

Has a free plan? Each product's answer, from its own pages.

Product	Answer
Intercom Fin	No. A 14-day free trial.
Zendesk AI agents	No. A 14-day free trial.
Lorikeet	No. A 30-day free trial.
HubSpot Customer Agent	No. 14 days free after buying a Professional seat.
Freshdesk Freddy AI	Not stated. 500 free AI sessions once per account, on a paid plan.
Botpress	Yes. Free plan, US$0, 25 conversations.
Tidio Lyro	Not stated. 50 Lyro conversations for life, then a paid Lyro plan.
AAda	No. No published plans. Sales demo only.
Gorgias AI Agent	No. A free trial, no card needed.

Yes answersOut of 7 questions5 yes for Intercom Fin5 yes for Zendesk AI agents6 yes for Lorikeet4 yes for HubSpot Customer Agent3 yes for Freshdesk Freddy AI6 yes for Botpress3 yes for Tidio Lyro4 yes for Ada2 yes for Gorgias AI Agent

What an AI customer service agent costs

List prices, USD unless marked AU$

What an AI customer service agent costs, by product: Free plan, Cheapest plan with the AI agent, AI charge.

Product	Free plan	Cheapest plan with the AI agent	AI charge
Intercom Fin	14-day trialUnlimited Fin outcomes during the trial	US$29 a seat a monthIntercom Essential, billed annually	US$0.99 an outcomeEach resolution or handoff Fin completes
Zendesk AI agents	14-day trialZendesk Suite trial	US$19 an agent a monthSupport Team, paid yearly, with 5 automated resolutions per agent a month included	US$2.00 a resolutionPay-as-you-go automated resolutions beyond the plan allowance
Lorikeet	30-day trialSelf-serve trial	US$2,100 a monthStart, paid annually, under 5,000 tickets a month	US$0.99 a resolutionChat, email and SMS. Voice is US$1.50
HubSpot Customer Agent	NoneFree HubSpot has no Customer Agent. 14 days free with a Professional seat	A$140 a seat a monthService Hub Professional, billed annually, plus a one-time onboarding fee. US$90 in US dollars	US$0.50 a resolutionPaid in HubSpot Credits
Freshdesk Freddy AI	500 sessions, onceFree AI Agent sessions on a paid plan, once per account	A$29 an agent a monthFreshdesk Growth, billed annually, email AI agent. US$19 in US dollars	US$49 per 100 sessionsAfter the first 500 sessions
Botpress	FreeUS$0, 25 conversations	US$150 a monthPlus, billed annually, 250 conversations included	US$0.65 a conversationExtra packs of 100 on Plus
Tidio Lyro	50 conversations, onceA lifetime Lyro quota on the free plan	US$24.17 a monthStarter, billed annually, with 50 one-off Lyro conversations, then a monthly Lyro quota	From US$0.50 a conversationLyro AI conversations
AAda	Not publishedSales demo only	Not publishedSales demo only	Not publishedSales demo only
Gorgias AI Agent	Free trialNo card needed	US$10 a monthStarter helpdesk, billed monthly, 50 tickets. AI Agent is charged per automated interaction	US$1.00 an interactionEach automated interaction on Starter. A US$30 block buys 30

When another tool is the better pick

• Pick an AI receptionist if most of your customers phone rather than chat or email. Voice-first receptionists were not scored here.

What to check before you add one

An AI customer service tool earns its place by closing tickets without making customers repeat themselves. Six checks separate the tools on this list, and they are the six tests the ranking uses.

Do you still check what your AI writes? AI made doing the work cheap, so checking the work is now the whole game. One of Hourglass' own agents kept filing information in the wrong place. Hourglass measured it first, at 62% right, gave it a test to pass and let it fix itself, and it now scores 100%. A support agent needs the same test before it talks to customers. That's why testing answers before launch sits inside the handoff check below.

Resolves the query, not just answers it

A tool resolves a query when it completes the task in another system, such as cancelling an order or changing an address, instead of linking to a help article. All nine take actions in other systems. Six of the nine also answer phone calls. Freshdesk Freddy AI, Tidio Lyro and Gorgias AI Agent have no AI voice agent on the pages read.

Hands off to people well

A good handoff passes the whole conversation to a person, so the customer never starts again. All nine hand off with the history attached, and all nine let a team test answers before customers see them. Lorikeet is the one without a public status page or uptime SLA on the pages read.

Connects to your tools

An AI agent is only as useful as the systems it can read and change. Six of the nine work inside a helpdesk from another vendor: Intercom Fin, Zendesk AI agents (through Forethought), Lorikeet, Botpress, Ada and Tidio Lyro. HubSpot Customer Agent, Freshdesk Freddy AI and Gorgias AI Agent run inside their own helpdesk only.

Data control

Data control is a written promise about model training, a choice of where data is stored, and an audited security certification. It is the question buyers ask: security came up in 19 separate Hourglass sales calls in a single month. Only Lorikeet and Botpress state that customer data trains no model by default. Five more train on anonymised, sanitised or consenting customers' data, and only three of those five let you switch it off. Tidio Lyro and Gorgias AI Agent publish no training statement on the pages read. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner publishes guidance on privacy and commercially available AI products for businesses weighing this up.

Price for a small team

Most of these tools charge twice: a plan price, then a charge for each resolution, session or conversation the AI handles. Five of the nine have a plan with the AI agent at US$30 or A$45 a month or less, before usage. Ada publishes no price at all, and Lorikeet starts at US$2,100 a month.

Australian availability

Australian availability means data hosted in Australia, prices in Australian dollars and an Australian office. Five of the nine can host data in Australia. Only HubSpot Customer Agent and Freshdesk Freddy AI score full marks, with Australian dollar prices shown to Australian visitors.

Where an off-the-shelf tool stops

For a lot of support teams, one of these nine will do the job. The scores above say which one. None of them is built around your business. The future of software is personalised: it will adapt to you, not the other way around. What matters now is everything around the model: getting it your context, wiring it into your tools, and putting it in a form people actually use. That's where these tools stop, in four places.

It only knows what you write down

A support tool answers from what you give it, mostly help articles and written procedures. None of them starts knowing when your team makes an exception on a refund, or which customers get a phone call instead of an email. You teach each tool separately, and again if you switch. That's why Hourglass builds on a Company AI Brain. It's one layer that holds a company's data, voice, decisions and processes, so any agent on top starts with full context.

It can only resolve what it can reach

Three of the nine run only inside their own helpdesk, and Gorgias AI Agent reaches HubSpot only through an integration set up by hand. If your order history sits in a system the tool can't reach, it can answer the question. It can't close it. Everything Hourglass builds runs on your own servers and accounts, using the permissions your team already has. The language model itself still runs with a third-party AI provider.

The bill grows with every resolution

Most of these tools charge for each resolution, session or conversation on top of the plan. The vendor sets that price, not the cost of running the model. And pricing for AI is going to get strange. The intelligence you pay for today is free in a year. One of Hourglass' own systems was heading toward $900 in API credits in a month. A near-equivalent open model would cut that bill to $45, though running your own model comes with its own costs. That's why Hourglass is converging on clients bringing their own API key, so their AI runs on their existing infrastructure, with better cost and security.

Someone has to keep it right

With AI it's easy to spin up the demo. The final 10% that gets the thing working takes real focus and time. It doesn't end at launch either. Your products, prices and policies change, and the agent has to keep up. Australia's National AI Centre makes the same point, telling businesses to improve testing, monitoring and accountability as their AI use grows. In July Hourglass was finishing a dashboard that watches its whole suite of agents and live projects for issues. When an agent breaks, the dashboard goes off and repairs it.

If none of the nine fits

Hourglass builds the agent for the tickets these tools can't close. It answers customers and drafts replies inside your own helpdesk.

Hourglass has shipped customer support AI before. Startup Daily reported that Schweigen, a multi-billion-dollar appliance retailer, runs an AI customer support system built by Hourglass, live on its own site. Schweigen wrote on Trustpilot that the chatbot was delivered in under two months and now handles sales, product and service enquiries.

It has built the same kind of agent for email. One client went from sorting 600 emails a day by hand to running Hourglass' email tool 24/7. The tool sorts the inbox, flags the urgent ones and drafts responses. A client's executive assistant managed 500-plus emails a day, and Hourglass' AI Inbox now runs it. Hourglass also set up an internal team of AI agents to run its own admin, customer support included.

So try the tool first, and if one of these nine closes your tickets at a price that works, use it. When it stops at one of these four places, that's the agent Hourglass builds.

How this list is ranked

The buyer is an Australian business whose team answers customers by chat and email, adding an AI agent that answers and resolves their questions. A product made the list if at least three of the ten best-ranked list pages for this search named it, not counting a vendor's own list, or if Aivy's Australian list named it. Voice-first AI receptionists, outsourced support teams and enterprise contact-centre suites sold only by quote were not scored.

Zendesk's score of 60 rests on one cell, working inside another vendor's helpdesk, which it earns through Forethought AI agents. Without that point Zendesk AI agents would score 58 and Intercom Fin would be first alone. Without the Australian test, Botpress would be first on 54, ahead of Intercom Fin and Zendesk AI agents on 53. With resolving the query counted once, the two would tie on 50, ahead of Freshdesk Freddy AI on 49. Without the price test, Lorikeet and HubSpot Customer Agent would lead on 54, ahead of Intercom Fin and Zendesk AI agents on 53.

Related reading

• Careful adoption of agentic AI services (Australian Signals Directorate, Cyber.gov.au)
• Guidance for AI adoption: implementation guidance (National AI Centre)
• Australia's AI Ethics Principles (Department of Industry, Science and Resources)

References

1. Fin Integrations: Connect Fin to Every Tool | Fin (cited for Intercom Fin)
2. Fin AI Agent Pricing | Free 14-day Trial (cited for Intercom Fin)
3. Security & Trust | Intercom (cited for Intercom Fin)
4. Intercom Pricing | Plans for every team size (cited for Intercom Fin)
5. Fin | The most trusted AI Agent in customer service (cited for Intercom Fin)
6. Autonomous AI agents for CX | Zendesk Australia (cited for Zendesk AI agents)
7. Zendesk Pricing Plans | Zendesk Australia (cited for Zendesk AI agents)
8. Best practices for testing AI agents (cited for Zendesk AI agents)
9. About the Data Center Location add-on (cited for Zendesk AI agents)
10. Integrations for Customer Support Platforms | Forethought (cited for Zendesk AI agents)
11. Zendesk AI Data Use Information (cited for Zendesk AI agents)
12. Privacy Policy | Lorikeet (cited for Lorikeet)
13. How Lorikeet Works | AI Concierge for Customer Support (cited for Lorikeet)
14. Lorikeet | AI customer concierge with a 30-day free trial (cited for Lorikeet)
15. Trust, Security & Compliance | Lorikeet (cited for Lorikeet)
16. Summ Cut Tax-Time Resolution Time 97% with Lorikeet AI (cited for Lorikeet)
17. Lorikeet Pricing | Pay Only for Resolved AI Support Tickets (cited for Lorikeet)
18. AI Customer Agent for Customer Support | HubSpot (cited for HubSpot Customer Agent)
19. HubSpot Data Centers: Locations in Europe, Canada, Australia, and the United States (cited for HubSpot Customer Agent)
20. Service Software Pricing | HubSpot (cited for HubSpot Customer Agent)
21. Freddy AI Agent: Smart, Secure & Autonomous Customer Support (cited for Freshdesk Freddy AI)
22. Evaluate and Improve Your Freddy AI Agent Responses in Freshdesk (cited for Freshdesk Freddy AI)
23. Freshdesk Customer Support Software Pricing & Plans | Freshworks (cited for Freshdesk Freddy AI)
24. Freddy AI data processing and residency framework (cited for Freshdesk Freddy AI)
25. Voice AI Agent Integration in Freshcaller (cited for Freshdesk Freddy AI)
26. Freddy AI data and safety FAQs (cited for Freshdesk Freddy AI)
27. Botpress | The enterprise-grade AI agent platform for customer support (cited for Botpress)
28. botpress.com/docs/integrations/integration-guides/zendesk.md (cited for Botpress)
29. Botpress Pricing (cited for Botpress)
30. Botpress Enterprise (cited for Botpress)
31. Botpress Trust Center | Powered by Drata (cited for Botpress)
32. Lyro AI Agent | Automate Customer Service with Smart Actions (cited for Tidio Lyro)
33. Lyro - the conversational AI agent (cited for Tidio Lyro)
34. Tidio Pricing: Find the Best Plan for Your Business Needs (cited for Tidio Lyro)
35. Tidio Earns SOC 2 Type 2 Certification, Strengthening Trust in Its AI-Powered Customer Service Platform (cited for Tidio Lyro)
36. AI Customer Service Platform for Enterprise CX | Ada (cited for Ada)
37. Handoff integrations (cited for Ada)
38. AI Customer Service Case Studies & Results | Ada (cited for Ada)
39. Book a Demo - Speak to an ACX Expert | Ada (cited for Ada)
40. The only AI Agent built for ecommerce | Gorgias (cited for Gorgias AI Agent)
41. Gorgias Pricing: Build the customer support suite that fits your needs (cited for Gorgias AI Agent)
42. HubSpot HTTP Integration (cited for Gorgias AI Agent)
43. The AI Casino
44. Monthly Update - August 2026
45. Guidance on privacy and the use of commercially available AI products | OAIC
46. So... Is This AGI?
47. The Great AI Gap
48. Please Don't Take my Brain
49. A Ferrari with No Fuel
50. Guidance for AI adoption: implementation guidance | National AI Centre
51. Looping a Looping Loop
52. Former Startmate boss Michael Batko is back in founder mode building with Hourglass AI
53. Hourglass Digital reviewed by Schweigen on 12/10/2025
54. Monthly Update - July 2026
55. Hourglass Digital AI Newsletter
56. Best AI chatbots for customer service in Australia (2026)
57. Careful adoption of agentic AI services | Cyber.gov.au
58. Australia's AI Ethics Principles | Department of Industry Science and Resources