Perplexity Pricing
Free tier - Use the Sonar model for unlimited quick searches and 5 pro searches per day.
Student Pro tier ($4.99/month) - Unlock Perplexity Labs, research, premium AI models, and API credits.
Max tier ($200/month) - Early access to Comet browser and unlimited Perplexity Labs + Research.
Enterprise Pro ($33.33/user/month, billed annually) - Unlimited pro searches, collaborators, and dedicated enterprise support.
9. HubSpot Chatbot Builder
hubspot ai chatbot builder
Free Chatbot Builder Software
If you want a chatbot builder trained on your CRM data, look no further than HubSpot’s chatbot builder. With HubSpot Chatbot builder, you can design custom sequences for specific customers, send personalized messages, and lighten the load for your support team.
Having seen support teams burn out from repetitive questions, I was curious to see how much HubSpot’s Chatbot builder takes off their plate.
Note: While HubSpot’s chat builder software is a rule-based chatbot, you can customize it through code snippets and use powerful third-party AI bots like Dialogflow.
How I Tested HubSpot Chatbot Builder
I found HubSpot’s Chatbot Builder quite intuitive. The drag-and-drop interface made it simple to build out specialized chatbots. Here’s an example of a lead-qualifying bot.
lead qualifying bot by hubspot, hubspot chatbot
You can use this bot to handle the bulk of your customer questions and pre-qualify by asking targeted questions. This helps your sales team save time on initial screening and put their energy where it matters.
The best part? Each lead will be documented in your CRM seamlessly. If a lead already exists within your CRM, the bot will send personalized messages based on their last interaction.
For instance, if I last followed up with a lead a week back, it’ll reference that interaction and naturally continue the conversation. More opportunities, fewer leads slipping through the cracks.
So, while this tool isn’t strictly AI-powered, you can use it to build out custom chatbots for simple use cases quickly.
HubSpot Chatbot Builder Features I Liked
Seamless drag and drop interface to create chatbots quickly without coding.
Integrated with HubSpot’s CRM to store customer data and trigger email campaigns.
No learning curve, easy templates, and intuitive experience.
What I Didn’t Like
Rule-based chatbots aren’t very customizable.
Can’t handle complex use cases.
HubSpot Chatbot Builder Pricing
Free software.
10. Intercom Fin AI agent
Intercom is a senegal telemarketing database leader in the customer support space, and its AI chatbot, Fin is no exception. Fin AI agent uses a mix of top AI models, such as GPT-4 and Claude, to deliver a truly conversational AI chatbot.
I first came across this tool through Anthropic’s case study, where Fin AI agent delivers average resolution rates of 51% across their customer base. These numbers are quite impressive, so I decided to dig deeper.
Fin AI agent allows you to sync content from a variety of sources, such as your website, Zendesk, conversations, documents, and more. You can then train the AI bot rigorously by batch-testing live conversations, rating its answers, testing different audiences, and more.
While this setup might need more time and resources, it will help your customer service team become more efficient in the long run. You can also set up tasks, custom instructions, and more.
How I Tested Intercom Fin AI Agent
While I wasn’t able to fully test Fin AI agent because of its enterprise set-up, I spoke to Amrita Bhasin from Sotira, an AI retail company. She uses Intercom for website signups and customer qualification.
She told me that, “the most unique use case [for our chatbots] is purchasing and extracting information about what SKUs/inventory are available so customers can essentially purchase via the chatbot, so every step of the way is guided; this almost feels like in store personalized purchasing for customers. "
I also signed up for the Fin AI agent trial to show you what the backend ticketing system looks like.
fin ai agent tickering system, intercom fin ai agent
Intercom Fin AI Agent Features I Liked
Easy-to-use interface and a clean ticket management system.
Integrated batch testing capabilities and answer ratings.
One-click deployment across email, voice, live chat, social, and more.
What I Didn’t Like
Vendor lock-in - You need to migrate your entire stack to Intercom and recreate any alternate workflows from scratch.
Intercom’s features can feel slightly overwhelming for smaller teams.
Intercom Fin AI Agent Pricing
Essential ($29/seat/month, billed annually) - Fin AI agent, Messenger, basic inbox and ticketing system.
Advanced ($85/seat/month, billed annually) - Advanced automation like workflows, workforce allocation and 20 Lite seats.
Expert ($132/seat/month) - SLAs, HIPAA compliance, and more.
Fin AI agent has an outcome-based pricing ($0.99 per resolution) with a minimum of 50 resolutions per month.
11. Tidio Lyro
Tidio Lyro is a conversational AI chatbot built for small and medium businesses. Lyro’s value prop is simple: Answer customer queries instantly based on your support content. If it can’t answer a question, it hands off the conversation to a human agent.
I spoke to businesses that have integrated Tidio Lyro, and they were generally happy about Tidio’s performance. However, I noticed that companies that didn’t have extensive documentation or support saw higher escalation rates to human agents.
How I Tested Tidio Lyro
Signing up for Tidio Lyro’s AI agent was a straightforward process. After signing up, I filled out some onboarding questions and was then redirected to a quick integration tutorial.
tidio chat widget, tidio flows
Here, I can train Tidio on my common sales, leads, and support flows to automate repetitive conversations. Lyro can even recommend products to bottom-of-the-funnel buyers when appropriate.
Oleh Stupak from Mgroup, who uses Tidio for lead qualification, told me: “Although handling FAQs was the original goal, we discovered [Tidio’s] true power lies in automatically qualifying leads and sending them to the appropriate Shopify specialist.”