Chatbots and conversational AI for support
Asked as “customer support chatbot platform”, and as “conversational AI tool for customer service”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 56 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
41%
Clear leader
41Intercom Fin AI Agent14Tidio07tawk.to38others
41% of first choices, clear leader.
Since September 2026▲+4Since September 2026: 35% → 39%, +4 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.Intercom Fin AI Agent held the lead, +4 points on 35%, inside the 12-point floor.
The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01
Intercom Fin AI Agent41%14%58endorsed leader▲+4Since September 2026: 35% → 39%, +4 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.35% → 39%
Intercom Fin AI Agent41%14%58endorsed leader▲+4Since September 2026: 35% → 39%, +4 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.35% → 39%02
Tidio14%5%37accepted challenger▼−7Since September 2026: 21% → 14%, −7 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.21% → 14%
Tidio14%5%37accepted challenger▼−7Since September 2026: 21% → 14%, −7 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.21% → 14%03
Zendesk AI4%12%40accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 4%
Zendesk AI4%12%40accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 4%04
Freshdesk4%0%18accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 4%
Freshdesk4%0%18accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 2% → 4%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 4%05
Ada2%14%28accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
Ada2%14%28accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%06Freshchat2%0%13accepted challenger▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 2%
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
08
Drift0%17%18accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Drift0%17%18accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%09
HubSpot Service Hub0%10%10accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%
HubSpot Service Hub0%10%10accepted challenger▼−2Since September 2026: 2% → 0%, −2 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.2% → 0%07
Botpress0%0%10accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%
Botpress0%0%10accepted challenger=heldSince September 2026: 0% → 0%, ±0 points. Inside the 12-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.0% → 0%The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. How the floor is measured
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.
Head to head
Recommended versus criticized
Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.
Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
0102030405F06
070809Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Intercom Fin AI Agent41%
Intercom Fin AI Agent41%02Tidio14%
Tidio14%03Zendesk AI4%
Zendesk AI4%04Freshdesk4%
Freshdesk4%05Ada2%
Ada2%06Freshchat2%
07Botpress0%
Botpress0%08Drift0%
Drift0%09HubSpot Service Hub0%
HubSpot Service Hub0%What they warned about
A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Intercom Fin AI Agent14%
8 of 58 labels negative · 8 of 6 models
“strongest when you already live in those ecosystems; they may be less ideal if you need broad customization outside them” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
ChatBot.com86%
6 of 7 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 5 hard negative
“Platform to Approach with Caution: Chatbot.app ... significant recurring complaints ... Misleading marketing ... Refund difficulties” MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt
Zendesk AI12%
5 of 40 labels negative · 5 of 6 models
“strongest when you already live in those ecosystems; they may be less ideal if you need broad customization outside them” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
Ada14%
4 of 28 labels negative · 4 of 6 models
“it may require hands-on tuning and works best when your knowledge lives in structured help-center content” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the six in this edition.
Sites the answers cite
75 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1007 links across 283 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.
vendor site · Capterra38 answers · 56 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Sobot25 answers · 31 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Zendesk23 answers · 30 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Botpress23 answers · 25 citations · 11 models
vendor site · ChatBot.com21 answers · 25 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Intercom19 answers · 34 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Yellow.ai19 answers · 22 citations · 8 models
18 answers · 33 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Chatbase18 answers · 20 citations · 11 models
vendor site · Featurebase17 answers · 23 citations · 9 models
vendor site · Tidio17 answers · 20 citations · 10 models
vendor site · Wonderchat16 answers · 17 citations · 8 models
Pages the answers cite
The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.
26 answers · 10 models
14 answers · 8 models
12 answers · 8 models
12 answers · 8 models
12 answers · 8 models
11 answers · 8 models
11 answers · 7 models
9 answers · 7 models
9 answers · 6 models
8 answers · 7 models
Search against answers
Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best customer support chatbot platform”, “customer support chatbot platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
| Company and products | Share | Own site cited | Name searches, Google | AI search demand, est. | Organic visits | Paid search a month, est. | Google ads, last 30 days | Best Google position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Fin AI Agent intercom.com | 41% | 145 | 210 | 3 | 64,348 | $3,304 | 120 | |
| Tidio tidio.com | 14% | 228 | 6,600 | 102 | 79,128 | 64 | ||
| tawk.to tawk.to | 7% | 35 | 2,900 | 63 | 13,444 | 7 | ||
| Decagon decagon.ai | 5% | 22 | 60,500 | 1,155 | 62,756 | $47,716 | 34 | |
| Zendesk AI zendesk.com | 4% | 106 | 880 | 48 | 5,365,445 | $16,181 | 63 | 1 |
| Freshworks freshworks.com Freshdesk 4%, Freshworks Freddy AI Agent 0% | 4% | 283 | 12,100 | 391 | 111,586 company | $14,486 | 113 | |
| Boei boei.help | 4% | 9 | ||||||
| TeamSupport teamsupport.com | 4% | 51 | 1,000 | 1 | 19,052 | 6 | ||
| Ada ada.cx | 2% | 61 | 201,000 | 50,587 | 23,398 | 45 | 8 | |
| Freshchat | 2% | 1,300 | 38 |
Google's top ten for the two searches hold 17 sites; 4 of them are among the sites the models cited here (chatbase.co, chatbot.com, g2.com, zendesk.com). The first result for “best customer support chatbot platform” is twig.so.
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.ShowHide
How they answered
Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHideModelDirect“What is the best customer support chatbot platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which conversational AI tool for customer service would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top customer support chatbot platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best customer support chatbot platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a customer support chatbot platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which customer support chatbot platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Claude Opus 4.8no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-6 Astrano first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
GPT-5.6 Solno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.1 Prono first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Perplexity Sonar Prono first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choiceno first choicenothing named
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against
The record
One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Zero rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|
Noise floor in this category
Flips between the edition run and its calibration repeat. Six prompts per model is a small sample; the index-wide floor is the number to trust.
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Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
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Category-scoped readings
Fin read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Fin by Intercom read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Freshworks (Freddy AI) read as Freshworks Freddy AI Agent
Freshworks (Freshdesk) read as Freshworks Freddy AI Agent
Freshworks Freddy AI read as Freshworks Freddy AI Agent
Gorgias read as Gorgias AI Agent
Gorgias (Gorgias AI) read as Gorgias AI Agent
HubSpot read as HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot (Breeze AI) read as HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot (Chatflows & Breeze AI) read as HubSpot Service Hub
Intercom read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom (Fin + Helpdesk) read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom (Fin AI Agent) read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom (Fin AI) read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom (Fin) read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom (with Fin AI Agent) read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom (with Fin AI) read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom Fin read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom with Fin read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom with Fin AI read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Intercom/Fin read as Intercom Fin AI Agent
Zendesk read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk (AI Agents) read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk (Answer / Super Agent) read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk (Freshchat) read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk (Native Automation) read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk (Zendesk AI Agents) read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk (with AI bots/copilot) read as Zendesk AI
Zendesk Suite read as Zendesk AI
Unresolved, counted raw
Ada Support
Assembled Assist
Botsify
ChatbotBuilder.ai
Crux / Crisp
Drift AI
Engati
HubSpot AI Customer Agent
Invent
KoalaChat
ManyChat Essential
Merlin
REVE Chat
Raft Labs
Sider.ai
Stack AI / Voiceflow
Twig
UChat
Zendesk AI Copilot
Zendesk Copilot
Zendesk Sunshine Answers
Zendesk with Fin
Zobot (Zoho SalesIQ)
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.