AI support agent pricing in 2026: what a resolution really costs
A resolution costs $0.99 with Fin, $1.50 to $2.00 with Zendesk, and about $0.10 per action with Salesforce Agentforce, but those prices only compare if each vendor defines “resolved” the same way. Most do not.
Most AI support agents are sold on a simple idea: you pay when the AI solves a customer’s problem, not when it chats. That sounds fair until you ask what “solves” means. One vendor counts a customer who goes quiet. Another counts only conversations with no human involved. A third bills per action, and never says what a resolution is.
This guide collects the prices vendors publish on their own pages, shows how each defines the thing you pay for, lists the vendors who publish nothing, and gives you a worksheet to compare models with your own numbers. All prices and quotes are.
The three ways support AI is billed
- Per outcome or resolution. You pay a fixed amount each time the AI is counted as having resolved a conversation.
- Per conversation. You pay a fixed amount for every conversation the AI handles, resolved or not.
- Per action or credit. You buy credits, and each step the AI takes uses some.
Each model puts the risk in a different place. With per-resolution pricing, the vendor takes the risk that the AI fails, but you take the risk that the definition is generous. With per-conversation pricing, you take the risk of failure. With credits, you take the risk that a conversation needs many actions.
What is published
| Vendor | Unit | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Fin (formerly Intercom) | Outcome | $0.99 per outcome; $9.99 per sales qualification |
| Zendesk | Automated resolution | $1.50 committed; $2.00 pay-as-you-go |
| Salesforce Agentforce | Action credits | $500 per 100,000 Flex Credits; 20 credits per action |
| Salesforce Agentforce | Conversation | $2 per conversation |
Fin (formerly Intercom)
Fin’s pricing page says “$0.99 per outcome,” with qualifications at $9.99 each. You are charged for one outcome per conversation. If Fin is used on another helpdesk there is a minimum of 50 outcomes per month, and you are not charged for a conversation simply passed to your team (Fin pricing). Intercom’s help article on outcomes adds two rules. If a conversation counted as resolved is later returned to by the customer, the resolution is deducted. A customer who explicitly asks for a human agent does not count as an outcome (Intercom help center). A 14-day trial with no card has unlimited access to Fin outcomes (Fin pricing).
Voice: the Fin pricing page says Fin Voice is on a custom pricing plan for select customers working with sales (Fin pricing), and the Intercom help article says to contact sales for Voice. The source text of the Intercom pricing page includes the line “Available on all plans via Sales for $1.99 per Outcome” (Intercom pricing), but we could not see it displayed on the page, so we do not rely on it. Treat voice as sales-quoted.
Zendesk
Zendesk says you pay only for requests the AI agent resolved, and the pricing page defines that as resolved “without any escalation to a human agent.” Committed automated resolutions cost $1.50 each, and pay-as-you-go costs $2.00. The comparison table shows 5 included automated resolutions per agent per month on Support Team and Suite Team and 10 on Suite Professional, labelled “up to 10k per year” (Zendesk pricing). A 14-day trial with no card is offered (Zendesk AI agents).
Wording gap: the AI agents page says resolutions are categorized “into tiers based on the value delivered,” while the pricing page shows two flat rates. Ask which applies to you.
Salesforce Agentforce
Agentforce lists three models. Flex Credits cost $500 per 100,000 credits, a standard action is 20 credits and a voice action is 30 (Salesforce pricing). From those numbers, one credit is half a cent, a standard action is about $0.10 and a voice action about $0.15. That is our arithmetic. The same page offers $2 per conversation, and says it is for information only and subject to change. It does not define a resolution or a conversation in the text we read.
How each vendor defines the thing you pay for
| Vendor | Definition as published | What the page leaves open |
|---|---|---|
| Fin | “No further help is requested after Fin’s last answer” (Fin pricing). A customer who leaves without asking for more help is an “assumed resolution” (Intercom help center) | How long Fin waits before it counts silence; whether a new conversation about the same issue is a second outcome. A handoff via a configured Procedure is also a billable outcome |
| Zendesk | Resolved without escalation to a human | Whether a customer who returns is a second resolution; the tiers wording |
| Agentforce | A Flex Credit action, or a conversation | What counts as a conversation; how many actions a typical one takes |
Fin’s own resolution rate is “calculated across conversations where Fin was involved” (Fin facts page). That denominator matters when you compare headline percentages. Fin also says a Procedure handoff is billable (Fin pricing), while a customer asking for a human is not billed (Intercom help article above). Those two cases are different, but a reader could take them as a conflict. Ask.
Who publishes nothing
- Ada: no public price. Ada’s pricing address redirects to a demo form, which promises a call within one business day (Ada demo). The two Ada pages we read state no pricing model and no definition of “automated resolution.” Ada’s page index also lists guides on paying for automated resolutions, which we did not open (Ada llms.txt). Ada’s site blocked our scripts, so these were read in a browser.
- Sierra: its homepage says you pay only for the value Sierra delivers, with “outcome-based pricing,” and shows no numbers (Sierra). A June 2026 blog post says Sierra also does “consumption-style work” where it fits, so not every deal is outcome-based (Sierra blog). It does not define a billable outcome.
- Decagon: no pricing page. A post dated December 10, 2024 explains per-conversation and per-resolution models without numbers, and says most customers choose per-conversation (Decagon post). That post is almost two years old, so treat it as background only. The live site offers a demo (Decagon).
- Forethought: now part of Zendesk since the deal closed on March 26, 2026 (Zendesk newsroom). Its own pricing page says a platform fee plus an outcome fee, “Get a Quote,” and a proof of value instead of a free trial. It does not define “outcome” (Forethought pricing).
“Pay for outcomes” with no published definition is a promise you cannot compare. Ask for the definition in writing before you ask for a price.
Headline resolution rates are not your rate
Vendors publish rates. They are vendor claims, with different denominators. Fin says it averages 76% across 12,000+ customers (Fin). Ada’s page index claims up to 84% of conversations resolved autonomously, and its demo page shows a 77% automated resolution rate “up from 32%” under a heading about 350+ businesses (Ada llms.txt, Ada demo). Forethought claims up to 98% (Forethought). None of these is a test of your tickets. Use the worksheet below with a range, then replace it with pilot data.
Worksheet: compare the models with your numbers
Fill in:
| Input | Symbol | Your number |
|---|---|---|
| Conversations per month the AI would see | T | ________ |
| Share the AI resolves, by the vendor’s definition | R | ________ |
| What one human-handled conversation costs you today | H | ________ |
| Seat, platform or minimum fees | F | ________ |
| For credits: actions per conversation | A | ________ |
| For credits: credits per action (Agentforce page: 20) | C | ________ |
Formulas:
- Resolved conversations = T × R
- Per-resolution bill = T × R × price per resolution
- Per-conversation bill = T × price per conversation
- Credit bill = T × A × C × price per credit ($500 ÷ 100,000 = $0.005 on the Agentforce page)
- Cost per resolved conversation = AI bill ÷ (T × R)
- Total monthly support cost = AI bill + F + (T × (1 minus R)) × H
- A per-conversation price equals a per-resolution price of price ÷ R
That last line is worth a minute. A $2 conversation fee at a 50% resolution rate works out to $4 per resolution. Under the same definition, a per-conversation price can only beat a per-resolution price if the resolution rate is high enough, and at a $2 fee it cannot beat $2 or less, even at 100%.
Example only, not vendor data. The numbers below use published unit prices with invented round volumes: 10,000 conversations a month, resolution rates of 40% and 70%, and 10 actions per conversation for the credit model. They ignore seats, minimums, voice and qualification charges, and refunds.
| Model | Bill at R = 40% | Bill at R = 70% | Per resolved at 40% | Per resolved at 70% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.99 per resolution | $3,960 | $6,930 | $0.99 | $0.99 |
| $1.50 per resolution | $6,000 | $10,500 | $1.50 | $1.50 |
| $2.00 per resolution | $8,000 | $14,000 | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| $2 per conversation | $20,000 | $20,000 | $5.00 | $2.86 |
| Credits (10 actions, 20 credits each) | $10,000 | $10,000 | $2.50 | $1.43 |
What the example shows: with per-resolution pricing, a better AI raises your bill and holds the unit price steady. With per-conversation or credit pricing, the bill stays flat and the cost per resolved conversation falls as the AI gets better. Which you prefer depends on whether you trust the resolution count and how sure you are of R.
Then add the human side. Total cost with the AI is the AI bill plus H for every conversation it did not resolve. Compare that with T × H, your cost with no AI. Use your own H; we give none.
What to ask vendors about definitions
What counts as resolved
- What exactly makes a conversation “resolved” or an “outcome”? Is it silence for a set time, the customer’s confirmation, or no human touch?
- How long does the AI wait before counting silence as a resolution?
- Are spam, test and abandoned chats counted?
Repeat contacts 4. If the same customer comes back about the same issue, is that a second charge? Over what window? 5. Are reopened conversations refunded? Intercom’s help article says Fin deducts the resolution; ask every other vendor.
Handoffs 6. If the AI does part of the work, then hands off, is that billed? Fin bills a configured Procedure handoff. Others do not say. 7. If the customer asks for a human, do you pay? 8. Is a handoff after an unsafe or unanswerable question billed?
Billing and audit 9. Can I export a list of every billed conversation with its transcript, and dispute a charge? 10. What are the minimums, commits and overage rates? Fin lists 50 outcomes a month on another helpdesk; Zendesk separates committed from pay-as-you-go. 11. Do voice, chat and email cost the same? Fin lists custom Voice pricing; confirm your sales quote and channel terms in writing (Fin pricing). 12. What happens to the price at renewal?
Related reading
- Best AI customer support agents of 2026: prices and picks
- What does an AI employee cost in 2026? Price patterns and a worksheet
- Is your AI employee paying for itself? How to measure AI employee ROI
- 13 mistakes companies make when hiring AI employees (and 10 demo questions)
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI support agent cost per resolution?
Fin’s pricing page says $0.99 per outcome. Zendesk charges $1.50 per committed automated resolution and $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Salesforce Agentforce lists $2 per conversation or Flex Credits at $500 per 100,000, with a standard action at 20 credits.
What counts as a resolution?
It differs. Fin counts a conversation as resolved when no further help is requested after its last answer. Zendesk counts requests resolved without escalation to a human agent. Agentforce does not define a conversation or resolution in the text we read.
Which vendors publish no price?
Ada, Sierra, Decagon and Forethought publish no price. Ada sends you to a demo form, Sierra says outcome-based pricing without numbers, Decagon has no pricing page, and Forethought quotes a platform fee plus an outcome fee.
Per-resolution or per-conversation: which is cheaper?
It depends on your resolution rate. A per-conversation price equals a per-resolution price of price divided by the resolution rate, so a $2 conversation fee at a 50% rate works out to $4 per resolution.