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. 43 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
01The 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 rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor 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 →
01
02
03
04A05
06
07
08
09
10Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative50%
Key
01Intercom35%
Intercom35%02Tidio21%
Tidio21%03Freshdesk2%
Freshdesk2%04Zendesk2%
Zendesk2%05Ada0%
06Gorgias0%
Gorgias0%07Botpress0%
Botpress0%08HubSpot Service Hub0%
HubSpot Service Hub0%09Zendesk AI0%
Zendesk AI0%10Freshchat0%
Freshchat0%02What 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.
Intercom16%
7 of 44 labels negative · 5 of 6 models · 2 hard negative
“Avoid Intercom if you're a small business, need predictable costs, or can't tolerate usage-based billing surprises.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Zendesk22%
5 of 23 labels negative · 4 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“What to Avoid on a Tight Budget: Zendesk - Starts at $55/agent/month, AI costs extra” Kimi K2, budget prompt
Zendesk AI20%
3 of 15 labels negative · 3 of 6 models
“Zendesk is **significantly more expensive** ($55-169/agent/month + AI add-ons) and complex to configure” Kimi K2, paraphrase prompt
Ada
15%
3 of 20 labels negative · 2 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“Platforms with Serious Red Flags (Avoid or Extreme Caution)... Ada... Described as a "complete scam company" by multiple users” Kimi K2, negative prompt
03What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the six in this edition.
Sites the answers cite
19 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 165 links across 91 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 2 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.
vendor site · Zendesk7 answers · 7 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Capterra6 answers · 8 citations · 1 model
vendor site · Lindy5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Fin.ai5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Freshworks5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Featurebase4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · ProProfs Chat3 answers · 4 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Assembled3 answers · 3 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Botpress3 answers · 3 citations · 1 model
vendor site · Intercom3 answers · 3 citations · 1 model
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.
5 answers · 1 model
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 1 model
4 answers · 2 models
3 answers · 2 models
3 answers · 1 model
3 answers · 1 model
3 answers · 2 models
04How 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.
ModelDirect“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
05The 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.
Normalization in this category
Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.
Category-scoped readings
Freshworks read as Freshworks Freddy AI Agent
Freshworks (Freddy AI) read as Freshworks Freddy AI Agent
HubSpot read as HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot (Breeze AI) read as HubSpot Service Hub
Unresolved, counted raw
Aissist.io
Character.AI
Chatbot Builder AI
Chatbot.com / Chatbot.app
CustomGPT
Customerly
DeepChat / Zenith AI / Sunly AI
Freshdesk (Freshworks) — Freddy AI
Fulcrum by Simple Machines
HubSpot Conversations
HubSpot Service Hub + Breeze Customer Agent
HubSpot Service Hub / Chatbot Builder
Intercom's Fin AI
Invent
Kustomer KIQ
Microsoft Bot Framework/Azure Bot Service
Minami
Paradox.ai
Respond.io
ServiceNow Now Assist
Solvemate
Thankful
Tidio + Lyro
Vyro / Chatly / Imagine.art
WotNot Platform
Zendesk AI / chatbot add-ons
Zobot (Zoho SalesIQ)
eesel.ai
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.