Chatbots and conversational AI for support for small business buyers
Asked as “customer support chatbot platform”, and as “conversational AI tool for customer service”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 49 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
01The standing
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
Show the five 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.
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
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
01Tidio41%
Tidio41%02Intercom20%
Intercom20%03Freshdesk8%
Freshdesk8%04Crisp6%
Crisp6%05Gorgias2%
Gorgias2%06Drift2%
Drift2%07Freshchat0%
Freshchat0%08Chatbase0%
Chatbase0%09ManyChat0%
ManyChat0%10HubSpot Service Hub0%
HubSpot Service Hub0%11Zendesk0%
Zendesk0%02What they warned about
One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. 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.
Intercom29%
15 of 51 labels negative · 8 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“**Verdict:** Avoid unless you have real scale and a dedicated support admin. It's overkill and overpriced for most small businesses.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt
Zendesk54%
15 of 28 labels negative · 7 of 12 models · 3 hard negative
“Enterprise-heavy with complex setup; small business reviews note it's bloated for low-volume support” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
Drift67%
10 of 15 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 7 hard negative
“Platforms to **Avoid or Be Highly Cautious About**: **Drift**: Minimum pricing starts at ~$2,500/month... reviewers call it overkill for customer service.” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
Zendesk AI44%
4 of 9 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“**Why to avoid:** Designed for large enterprises with complex multi-team structures” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
03What they cite
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: four of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.
Sites the answers cite
22 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 4 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 6 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 186 links across 89 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. The other 8 models searched through a gateway that returned no source list on this edition.
vendor site · Zendesk8 answers · 11 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Freshworks8 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
vendor site · Capterra7 answers · 10 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Lindy7 answers · 10 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Featurebase5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Salesforce5 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Fin.ai5 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
4 answers · 6 citations · 2 models
vendor site · Botpress4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
4 answers · 5 citations · 2 models
4 answers · 4 citations · 2 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.
6 answers · 2 models
6 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
5 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 2 models
4 answers · 1 model
3 answers · 1 model
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 small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which conversational AI tool for customer service would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top customer support chatbot platforms for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best customer support chatbot platform for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a customer support chatbot platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which customer support chatbot platforms should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5TidioIntercomChangedTidioTidiono first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Zendesk
Two alternatives
Intercom, My AskAITwo alternatives
Ada, TidioFive alternatives
Chatbase, Help Scout, My AskAI, Zoho Desk, eesel AIThree alternatives
ManyChat, ProProfs Chat, REVE ChatGPT-5.4 miniIntercomIntercomHeldIntercomTidiono first choiceagainst: Wati
Three alternatives
Freshdesk, Freshworks Freddy AI Agent, ZendeskFour alternatives
Freshdesk, Freshworks Freddy AI Agent, HubSpot Service Hub, ZendeskFive alternatives
Freshdesk, Freshworks Freddy AI Agent, Gorgias, Tidio, ZendeskTwo alternatives
Intercom, ZendeskGemini 3.5 FlashHubSpot Chatbot Builder, Intercom, TidioHelplyChangedChatbase, TidioTidioagainst: Intercom, Salesforce Agentforce, ZendeskGorgias, Intercomagainst: Ada, Botpress, Google Dialogflow, IBM Watson Assistant, Intercom, Rasa, Salesforce Einstein, Zendesk AI
Two alternatives
Chatbase, TeamSupportTwo alternatives
Enjo, IntercomFour alternatives
Botpress, Gorgias, Intercom, ManyChatThree alternatives
Botpress, Chatbase, CrispFour alternatives
Chatbase, Crisp, Mendable, TidioPerplexity SonarTidioPylonChangedTidioTidioagainst: Help Scoutno first choiceagainst: IBM watsonx Assistant, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Salesforce Service Cloud
Two alternatives
Intercom, Zendesk AIThree alternatives
Crisp, Intercom, TidioNine alternatives
Crisp, Freshchat, Freshdesk, Gorgias, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Zendesk, Zoho SalesIQ, tawk.toTwo alternatives
Freshdesk, Zoho DeskGrok 4.1 FastTidioagainst: Drift, Salesloft, ZendeskFreshdeskChangedagainst: HelplyTidioTidioagainst: BotpressFreshdesk, Tidioagainst: Chatbase, Drift, Intercom, Sobot, Zendesk
Four alternatives
Crisp, Helply, HubSpot Service Hub, IntercomTwo alternatives
Intercom, TidioFive alternatives
Freshchat, HubSpot Service Hub, Landbot, ManyChat, ProProfs ChatThree alternatives
HubSpot Chatbot, Zoho SalesIQ, tawk.toThree alternatives
Intercom, LiveAgent, ZendeskMistral SmallFreshdeskFreshdesk FreddyChangedTidioagainst: Zendesk AITidiono first choiceagainst: ChatGPT, Drift, Intercom, ManyChat
Four alternatives
Chatbase, Help Scout, Intercom, TidioFour alternatives
Help Scout, Intercom, Tidio, Zendesk AIFour alternatives
Freshdesk, Gorgias, Intercom, Zoho DeskFive alternatives
Chatfuel, Freshchat, ManyChat, ProProfs Chat, tawk.toDeepSeek V4 FlashFreshdeskagainst: ZendeskIntercomChangedTidioagainst: ZendeskTidiono first choiceagainst: Intercom, Zendeskagainst: Chatfuel, Intercom, ManyChat, Tidio, Zendesk
Five alternatives
Chatbase, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Plain, TidioTwo alternatives
Freshdesk, HubSpot Breeze Customer AgentFour alternatives
Crisp, Freshdesk, Gorgias, IntercomSix alternatives
Botpress, Chatbase, Chatling, Freshdesk, Zoho Desk, eesel.aiFour alternatives
Crisp, Freshchat, Gorgias, TidioLlama 4 MaverickIntercom, Tidiono first choiceChangedTidioCrisp, Tidiono first choicenothing named
Three alternatives
Ada, Drift, ManyChatTwo alternatives
Freshchat, TidioThree alternatives
Freshdesk, Intercom, Jotform AI AgentsOne alternative
IntercomQwen 3.7 FlashHelplyIntercomChangedTidioagainst: Intercom, Salesforce Agentforce, ZendeskTidioCrisp, Intercom, Tidio, Zendesk Answer Botagainst: IBM Watson, Oracleagainst: Drift, HubSpot Operations, Intercom, Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk
Two alternatives
Intercom, TidioOne alternative
FreshdeskTwo alternatives
Freshdesk Freddy AI, GorgiasFour alternatives
Chatfuel, HubSpot Free Tier, Intercom, ManyChatKimi K2HubSpot Chatbot Builderagainst: Drift, Intercom, ZendeskIntercomChangedagainst: DriftFreshchat, Freshdesk, Tidioagainst: Intercom, ZendeskCrisp, Tidiono first choiceagainst: Intercom, Zendeskagainst: Chatbase, Drift, Intercom, Zendesk AI
Two alternatives
Freshdesk, TidioTwo alternatives
Freshchat, TidioFour alternatives
Gorgias, HubSpot Service Hub, Zoho Desk, eesel AITwo alternatives
HubSpot Chatbot, tawk.toFive alternatives
Freshchat, Freshdesk, Gorgias, HubSpot Service Hub, TidioGLM 4.7 FlashXTidioHyperleap AIChangedFreshchat, Tidioagainst: IntercomWidget-Chatno first choiceagainst: Ada, Botsify, Chatfuel, Drift, HubSpot Service Hub, Intercom, Salesforce Agentforce, Zendesk AI
Three alternatives
Drift, Intercom, ZendeskOne alternative
TidioTwo alternatives
Crisp, LiveAgentSix alternatives
Chatsy, Crisp, HubSpot Chatbot Builder, ManyChat, Tidio, Zoho SalesIQMiniMax M2.5Tidioagainst: Drift, ZendeskDrift, KommunicateChangedTidioTidiono first choiceagainst: Drift, Intercom, Zendesk
Two alternatives
Freshchat, IntercomTwo alternatives
HubSpot Customer Agent, SiteGPTThree alternatives
Crisp, Freshchat, IntercomFour alternatives
Crisp, Freshchat, ManyChat, ProProfs Live ChatBold 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
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
| Prompt | Model | Version string | Time (UTC) | Searched | Sources | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct recommendation | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 04:53 | yes | 7 | 7 s |
| Direct recommendation | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 04:17 | yes | 4 | 5 s |
| Direct recommendation | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-14 23:47 | yes | 9 | 20 s |
| Direct recommendation | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 04:15 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Direct recommendation | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 01:45 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Direct recommendation | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 01:15 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Direct recommendation | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-15 02:47 | yes | 0 | 31 s |
| Direct recommendation | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 00:55 | yes | 0 | 2 s |
| Direct recommendation | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 03:05 | yes | 0 | 46 s |
| Direct recommendation | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 04:09 | yes | 0 | 31 s |
| Direct recommendation | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 00:49 | yes | 0 | 24 s |
| Direct recommendation | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 00:21 | yes | 0 | 23 s |
| Paraphrase | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 04:47 | yes | 7 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 03:30 | yes | 5 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 03:06 | yes | 20 | 20 s |
| Paraphrase | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 00:09 | yes | 20 | 4 s |
| Paraphrase | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 00:51 | yes | 0 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 01:28 | yes | 0 | 7 s |
| Paraphrase | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-14 23:43 | yes | 0 | 37 s |
| Paraphrase | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 01:24 | yes | 0 | 2 s |
| Paraphrase | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-14 22:58 | yes | 0 | 58 s |
| Paraphrase | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 01:07 | yes | 0 | 62 s |
| Paraphrase | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 01:05 | yes | 0 | 155 s |
| Paraphrase | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 02:58 | yes | 0 | 22 s |
| Comparative | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-14 23:41 | yes | 8 | 8 s |
| Comparative | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 02:51 | yes | 3 | 7 s |
| Comparative | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 00:03 | yes | 9 | 26 s |
| Comparative | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 02:57 | yes | 20 | 11 s |
| Comparative | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-14 23:33 | yes | 0 | 9 s |
| Comparative | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 03:09 | yes | 0 | 9 s |
| Comparative | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-14 22:52 | yes | 0 | 45 s |
| Comparative | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 03:43 | yes | 0 | 3 s |
| Comparative | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 05:08 | yes | 0 | 55 s |
| Comparative | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 01:19 | yes | 0 | 72 s |
| Comparative | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 04:45 | yes | 0 | 44 s |
| Comparative | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 03:45 | yes | 0 | 17 s |
| Budget constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-14 23:50 | yes | 9 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 00:50 | yes | 3 | 4 s |
| Budget constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 02:47 | yes | 18 | 26 s |
| Budget constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 03:12 | yes | 20 | 5 s |
| Budget constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 02:28 | yes | 0 | 9 s |
| Budget constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 00:15 | yes | 0 | 7 s |
| Budget constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-15 03:37 | yes | 0 | 17 s |
| Budget constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-15 04:09 | yes | 0 | 2 s |
| Budget constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 04:41 | yes | 0 | 16 s |
| Budget constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 00:28 | yes | 0 | 23 s |
| Budget constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-14 23:14 | yes | 0 | 61 s |
| Budget constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 02:31 | yes | 0 | 13 s |
| Scale constrained | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 02:37 | no | 0 | 6 s |
| Scale constrained | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 00:19 | no | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 02:38 | yes | 12 | 25 s |
| Scale constrained | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 00:06 | yes | 20 | 10 s |
| Scale constrained | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 02:25 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 00:40 | yes | 0 | 8 s |
| Scale constrained | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra | 2026-09-15 03:44 | yes | 0 | 32 s |
| Scale constrained | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-14 23:00 | yes | 0 | 3 s |
| Scale constrained | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-15 00:06 | yes | 0 | 37 s |
| Scale constrained | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 04:06 | yes | 0 | 32 s |
| Scale constrained | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 02:20 | yes | 0 | 19 s |
| Scale constrained | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 04:36 | no | 0 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | Claude Haiku 4.5 | claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 | 2026-09-15 00:33 | yes | 16 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | GPT-5.4 mini | gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17 | 2026-09-15 04:25 | yes | 4 | 6 s |
| Negative framing | Gemini 3.5 Flash | gemini-3.5-flash | 2026-09-15 00:46 | yes | 21 | 22 s |
| Negative framing | Perplexity Sonar | sonar | 2026-09-15 01:19 | yes | 20 | 9 s |
| Negative framing | Grok 4.1 Fast | spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex | 2026-09-15 01:03 | yes | 0 | 13 s |
| Negative framing | Mistral Small | mistral/mistral-small via mistral | 2026-09-15 00:31 | yes | 0 | 12 s |
| Negative framing | DeepSeek V4 Flash | deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks | 2026-09-15 03:55 | yes | 0 | 27 s |
| Negative framing | Llama 4 Maverick | meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock | 2026-09-14 23:59 | yes | 0 | 1 s |
| Negative framing | Qwen 3.7 Flash | alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba | 2026-09-14 23:39 | no | 0 | 31 s |
| Negative framing | Kimi K2 | moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita | 2026-09-15 03:12 | yes | 0 | 48 s |
| Negative framing | GLM 4.7 FlashX | zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai | 2026-09-15 04:27 | yes | 0 | 36 s |
| Negative framing | MiniMax M2.5 | minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax | 2026-09-15 04:48 | yes | 0 | 27 s |
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
HubSpot read as HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot (free tier only) read as HubSpot Service Hub
Salesforce read as Salesforce Agentforce
Unresolved, counted raw
Botsify
Docuyond
Getgabs
HubSpot Breeze Customer Agent
HubSpot Operations
HubSpot's chatbot
Hyperleap AI
IBM Watson
Jotform AI Agents
Landbot
Mendable
MessageMind
Oracle
ProProfs Live Chat
REVE Chat
Spur
Twixor
Typebot
Voiceflow
Wati
Widget-Chat
Zendesk Chat
Zoho
botsquad.ai
eesel.ai
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.