Per-resolution pricing sounds simple until you read the fine print. What counts as a resolution, who decides, and whether a half-finished escalation still bills you are the three questions that move the real number on your invoice.
Per-resolution-priced AI customer support is a billing model where you pay a fixed fee each time an AI agent resolves a customer issue, instead of paying per seat, per conversation, or per message. In 2026 the leading platforms price between roughly $0.80 and $2.00 per resolved chat, email, or SMS ticket, and the spread between vendors is less about the sticker rate than about how each one defines the word resolution.
Three pricing models now dominate the category: per-resolution (you pay on outcomes), per-deflection or per-conversation (you pay on volume the AI touched), and per-seat (legacy helpdesk licensing).
Published per-resolution rates range from about $0.80 (Lorikeet chat) and $0.99 (Fin by Intercom) to $1.50-$2.00 (Zendesk AI), with several enterprise vendors negotiating custom rates instead of publishing.
The definition of resolution is the hidden lever. Some vendors count any conversation the AI touched. Others count only a full end-to-end fix. Whether you or the vendor holds the veto changes the bill more than the headline rate.
Escalation billing is the second lever: if a ticket the AI could not finish still counts as a chargeable interaction, low per-unit rates stop being low.
The human baseline for ROI math is roughly $1.25 to $4.00 per human-handled ticket, per industry benchmarks, which is the number any per-resolution rate has to beat to be worth deploying.
Last updated: June 2026
Per-resolution pricing was supposed to fix the misalignment in old support software, where you paid for seats whether the AI worked or not. It mostly does. But the model has its own traps, and they hide in definitions rather than rates. A vendor charging $0.99 that counts every conversation the AI touched as a resolution can cost more than a vendor charging $0.80 that only bills on a customer-confirmed fix and never charges for escalations. This guide ranks seven platforms through the pricing-model lens specifically: what the unit is, who defines it, whether escalations bill, and how that math compares to a human agent. It is a buyer-neutral ranking based on published pricing, billing structure, and the protections each model gives the buyer.
What Is Per-Resolution Pricing for AI Customer Support?
Per-resolution pricing is an outcome-based billing model in which the vendor charges a fixed fee for each customer issue the AI agent resolves, rather than charging per agent seat, per message sent, or per conversation handled. The intent is to align the vendor's revenue with the outcome you actually want: a fixed ticket, not a touched one.
The model splits along three questions that determine your real cost. First, what is the billable unit: a fully resolved issue, or any conversation the AI participated in? Second, who defines resolution: you, the vendor, or an automated heuristic the vendor controls? Third, what happens to escalations: if the AI hands a ticket to a human, do you still pay? A platform can publish a low rate and still cost more than a higher-rate competitor once these three answers are filled in.
Resolution: A customer issue closed end-to-end by the AI without a human completing the work. The strongest definitions require the customer to confirm the issue is fixed, and give the buyer veto over what counts.
Deflection: A conversation the AI handled so it never reached a human. Deflection counts containment, not correctness, which is why per-deflection pricing can reward volume over outcomes.
Lorikeet is an AI customer support platform built for complex and regulated companies like fintechs, healthtechs, and insurers. It resolves multi-step tickets end-to-end across chat, email, voice, SMS, and WhatsApp, and prices per resolution at roughly $0.80–$0.95 for chat, email, and SMS and $1.20–$1.50 for voice, with the customer holding the veto on what counts as a resolution and escalations never charged.
At-a-Glance Comparison
At a glance
Platform: Lorikeet · Pricing model: Per-resolution, customer-defined · Published rate: ~$0.80–$0.95 chat/email/SMS, ~$1.20–$1.50 voice · Escalations charged: No · Best for: Regulated teams that want buyer-controlled resolution and no escalation billing
Platform: Fin by Intercom · Pricing model: Per-resolution (outcome) · Published rate: $0.99 per resolution · Escalations charged: No (resolution-only) · Best for: Intercom customers wanting the lowest published flat rate
Platform: Decagon · Pricing model: Per-conversation or per-resolution, customer-selectable · Published rate: Not published (~$400K median annual reported) · Escalations charged: Depends on chosen model · Best for: Enterprises choosing between conversation and resolution billing
Platform: Sierra · Pricing model: Outcome-only · Published rate: Not published (negotiated; $50K-$200K/yr reported) · Escalations charged: No (pays only on full resolution) · Best for: Enterprises wanting pure outcome alignment
Platform: Ada · Pricing model: Resolution-based annual contract · Published rate: Not published (~$70K median annual reported) · Escalations charged: Vendor-defined resolution · Best for: Mid-market teams with high chat volume
Platform: Gorgias · Pricing model: Per-resolution tiers (e-commerce) · Published rate: Automated resolution tiers from low single digits · Escalations charged: Resolution-only · Best for: Shopify and e-commerce support teams
Platform: Zendesk AI · Pricing model: Per-resolution add-on on top of per-seat · Published rate: $1.50 (committed) to $2.00 (PAYG) per resolution + seats · Escalations charged: Vendor-defined automated resolution · Best for: Teams already on Zendesk Suite
The 7 Best Per-Resolution-Priced AI Customer Support Platforms in 2026
1. Lorikeet
Lorikeet is the AI customer support platform built for complex and regulated companies, and its pricing model is the most buyer-protective in this list. It charges roughly $0.80–$0.95 per resolved chat, email, or SMS ticket and roughly $1.20–$1.50 per resolved voice call, the customer holds the veto on what counts as a resolution, and escalations to a human are never charged. That combination matters more than the headline rate: a low number you do not control is not a low number.
Pricing Model
Per-resolution, customer-defined. You agree up front on what a resolution is, and you keep the veto, so the vendor cannot quietly count touched conversations as outcomes. Escalations are not billed, which removes the incentive for the AI to claim a fix it did not deliver.
Key Features
Customer-defined resolution with buyer veto, so the billable unit is one you control rather than one the vendor's heuristic decides.
Escalations are not charged, so handing a ticket to a human costs nothing and the AI is not rewarded for false closes.
End-to-end resolution across chat, email, voice with sub-one-second latency, SMS, and WhatsApp, plus outbound re-engagement, on one workflow engine.
Defence in depth: pre-launch adversarial simulations, inbound message checks, outbound guardrails, and 100% post-facto QA via Coach.
Deterministic structured workflows and natural-language workflows combinable in one interaction, with full audit trails for regulated buyers.
Ideal For
Regulated and complex businesses such as fintechs, healthtechs, insurers, and gaming operators that want outcome pricing they actually control, not a vendor-defined deflection metric. As an illustration of the math, a regulated fintech reaching around 85% automation with equal-or-better CSAT pays for the roughly 85% the AI fixes and pays nothing for the escalated remainder, which is the inverse of a per-seat or per-conversation model.
A Real Limitation
Lorikeet is purpose-built for complex and regulated workflows, which means it is heavier to configure than a drop-in widget aimed at simple FAQ deflection. A very small team handling only basic order-status questions may not need its depth, and the forward-deployed setup model, while fast at roughly one month to operational, is more involved than flipping on an add-on.
Pricing
~$0.80–$0.95 per chat, email, or SMS resolution, ~$1.20–$1.50 per voice resolution, Coach ~$0.25–$0.30 per ticket, escalations not charged, customer defines resolution.
2. Fin by Intercom
Fin by Intercom is the AI agent layered on Intercom's messenger and helpdesk, and it set the benchmark for the lowest published per-resolution rate in the category at $0.99. Fin bills only on resolutions, not on conversations, which is genuinely buyer-friendly. The thing to check is how Fin's automated heuristic decides a conversation was resolved, because that definition is the vendor's, not yours.
Pricing Model
Per-resolution at a flat $0.99, billed only when Fin resolves a conversation. Escalations to a human are not counted as resolutions, so you are not charged for them. Resolution is determined by Intercom's logic, which can include hard resolutions (the customer confirms) and softer signals depending on configuration.
Key Features
$0.99 per resolution, among the lowest published flat rates in the market.
Resolution-only billing, so touched-but-escalated conversations are not charged.
Works on top of Intercom and connects to Salesforce and HubSpot helpdesks.
Free trial of Fin outcomes to test the resolution rate before committing.
Optional copilot for human agents priced per seat on top of the outcome fee.
Ideal For
High-volume teams already on Intercom that want the lowest published flat per-resolution rate and a fast path from trial to production, and whose ticket mix is mostly straightforward enough that a vendor-defined resolution heuristic is acceptable.
Pricing
$0.99 per resolution. Intercom helpdesk seats from around $29 per seat per month if you are not already a customer. Copilot is an additional per-user fee.
3. Decagon
Decagon is a high-end enterprise AI agent platform that lets customers choose between per-conversation and per-resolution billing. That flexibility is real and useful, but it also shifts the burden onto the buyer to pick the model that does not quietly overcharge. Per-conversation pricing bills on volume the AI touched, which is closer to deflection than to outcomes.
Pricing Model
Customer-selectable: per-conversation or per-resolution, with a platform fee. Under per-conversation, you pay for interactions the AI handled regardless of whether they were fully resolved, so the unit economics depend heavily on your resolution rate. Rates are negotiated, not published.
Key Features
Choice of per-conversation or per-resolution pricing models.
Voice, chat, and email channels in one platform.
White-glove deployment with embedded engineering during launch.
Production deployments processing large interaction volumes for enterprise customers.
Configurable workflows for complex support operations.
Ideal For
Large enterprises with the analytical resources to model both billing options and pick the one that fits their resolution rate, and who want a top-of-market vendor with embedded launch support.
Pricing
Not published. Industry data suggests a platform fee plus per-conversation or per-resolution fees, with median total contract value reported near $400,000 per year.
4. Sierra
Sierra is the enterprise AI agent company whose hallmark is pure outcome-based pricing: customers pay only when the AI fully resolves a case, and escalations cost nothing. The alignment is clean. The honest caveat is that a vendor paid only on full resolution has an incentive to favor the tickets it can close, which in complex businesses are not always the tickets that matter most.
Pricing Model
Outcome-only. You are billed when Sierra fully resolves a case, and not when it escalates. Rates are negotiated per customer rather than published, so the effective per-resolution number depends on your contract and volume.
Key Features
Outcome-only billing with no charge on escalations.
Voice, chat, and email channels.
Branded AI persona approach to deployment.
High-touch implementation with embedded Sierra staff.
Strong enterprise procurement and reporting story.
Ideal For
Large enterprises that want billing aligned strictly to full resolutions and have the procurement appetite for negotiated enterprise contracts.
Pricing
Not published. Enterprise contracts reportedly $50,000 to $200,000 per year, with the rate per resolution negotiated case by case.
5. Ada
Ada is an established AI support vendor that moved to a resolution-based model after years of chat-first deployments. It pitches on autonomous resolution rate and sells annual contracts rather than a published per-unit price. Because Ada defines what counts as an automated resolution, the comparison to flat-rate vendors depends on reading that definition carefully.
Pricing Model
Resolution-based, packaged into annual contracts. The effective per-resolution cost depends on your committed volume and Ada's definition of an automated resolution, which is vendor-set. Rates are not published.
Key Features
Resolution-based pricing inside annual commitments.
Multi-channel coverage across chat, voice, and email.
Mature integrations with Salesforce, Zendesk, and major helpdesks.
Knowledge-base ingestion and content tooling.
Established enterprise deployment playbooks.
Ideal For
Mid-market and enterprise teams with high chat volume that prefer an established vendor and an annual contract over a strict pay-as-you-go per-resolution meter.
Pricing
Not published. Marketplace data shows median annual contracts around $70,000, with a range roughly $33,700 to $273,500 based on company size.
6. Gorgias
Gorgias is the support platform built for e-commerce and Shopify merchants, and it offers automated-resolution pricing aimed at that market. For a store handling order-status, returns, and where-is-my-order tickets, the per-resolution tiers can be very economical. The trade-off is depth: this is a model tuned for retail support, not for regulated multi-step workflows.
Pricing Model
Per-resolution tiers layered onto Gorgias's helpdesk plans. Automated resolutions are billed in tiers, and the model is designed around e-commerce ticket types where resolution is relatively clear-cut. Escalated tickets fall back to the human helpdesk side of the product.
Key Features
Per-resolution tiers tuned for e-commerce support economics.
Deep native integration with Shopify and major e-commerce stacks.
Combined helpdesk plus AI automation in one product.
Order-aware actions like tracking lookups and returns.
Macros and automation rules familiar to retail support teams.
Ideal For
Shopify and e-commerce support teams whose ticket mix is dominated by order status, returns, and product questions, and who want AI resolution priced for retail volumes.
Pricing
Helpdesk plans with automated-resolution tiers. Published per-resolution costs sit in the low single digits depending on tier and volume. Check current tiers, as packaging changes.
7. Zendesk AI
Zendesk AI layers automated-resolution pricing on top of the Zendesk Suite, which means the per-resolution fee comes in addition to per-seat licensing rather than replacing it. For teams already on Zendesk it is the lowest-friction option, but the total cost is layered: seats, plus the AI add-on, plus per-resolution fees, on an architecture that started as a ticketing system.
Pricing Model
Per-resolution add-on on top of per-seat. You pay $1.50 per automated resolution on a committed plan or $2.00 pay-as-you-go, in addition to Suite seats and the Advanced AI add-on. Resolution is defined by Zendesk's automated-resolution logic, not by the buyer.
Key Features
Native to Zendesk Suite, no middleware for existing customers.
AI agent for autonomous resolution plus agent assist for human reps.
Automated-resolution pricing at $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go.
Hundreds of standard Zendesk integrations.
Reporting and QA tooling across the Suite.
Ideal For
Teams already running Zendesk Suite that want incremental AI without changing helpdesks and can absorb the layered cost of seats plus add-on plus per-resolution fees.
Pricing
Zendesk Suite seats plus the Advanced AI add-on, plus automated resolutions at $1.50 (committed) or $2.00 (pay-as-you-go).
The cheapest sticker rate is rarely the cheapest invoice. What counts as a resolution, who controls that definition, and whether escalations bill decide your real cost. See how Lorikeet prices per resolution with the customer holding the veto.
How to Compare Per-Resolution Pricing the Right Way
The headline rate is the least useful number in a per-resolution comparison. Two platforms at $0.99 and $0.80 can produce wildly different invoices once you account for what each one counts and who decides. The four lenses below are the ones that move the math.
What Counts as a Resolution
The single most important question. A platform that counts any conversation the AI touched as a resolution will bill far more than one that counts only a confirmed end-to-end fix, at the same sticker rate. Ask the vendor to define resolution in writing, and ask whether a customer who returns the next day with the same issue is billed twice. The strongest model gives the buyer a veto over what counts, which is how Lorikeet structures it.
Who Defines It
A vendor-defined resolution heuristic is a conflict of interest, however well-intentioned: the party that decides what you pay for is the party you pay. Buyer-defined resolution removes that conflict. Most platforms in this list use a vendor-set definition; ask whether you can audit and adjust it, and whether disputed resolutions are credited back.
Whether Escalations Are Charged
If the AI cannot finish a ticket and hands it to a human, you should not pay the AI for it. Vendors that do not charge for escalations (Lorikeet, Fin, Sierra) remove the incentive for the AI to claim false closes. Vendors that bill per conversation or per touched interaction effectively charge for work the AI did not complete. Confirm the escalation policy before you model cost.
Per-Resolution vs Per-Seat vs Per-Deflection
Per-seat pricing bills for capacity whether the AI works or not, which is the legacy helpdesk model. Per-deflection or per-conversation bills for volume the AI touched, rewarding containment over correctness. Per-resolution bills for outcomes, and is the most aligned of the three, but only when the resolution definition is honest and escalations are free. Always convert every quote to an effective cost per genuinely resolved ticket, then compare against the roughly $1.25 to $4.00 it costs to handle that ticket with a human.
Questions to Ask Your Vendor
Define resolution in writing. Does a touched-but-escalated conversation count?
Who controls the resolution definition, and can my team veto or audit it?
Am I charged when the AI escalates to a human?
If the same customer returns with the same issue, am I billed twice?
What is the effective cost per genuinely resolved ticket at my expected resolution rate, all fees included?
Are there per-seat or platform fees layered on top of the per-resolution rate?
Lorikeet's Take on Per-Resolution Pricing
Per-resolution pricing is the right model, but the industry quietly reintroduced the old misalignment through definitions. A vendor that counts touched conversations, or holds the sole right to decide what a resolution is, has rebuilt deflection pricing with a friendlier label. The fix is structural: the buyer defines resolution and holds the veto, and escalations are never charged. That is how Lorikeet prices, because a number you do not control is not a price, it is a forecast. If you are comparing per-resolution vendors, convert every quote to effective cost per genuinely resolved ticket and read the resolution definition before you read the rate.
Key Takeaways
Per-resolution pricing now ranges from roughly $0.80 (Lorikeet chat) and $0.99 (Fin) to $1.50-$2.00 (Zendesk AI), but the sticker rate is the least important variable.
The three levers that move your real cost are what counts as a resolution, who controls that definition, and whether escalations are charged.
Buyer-defined resolution with no escalation billing, as Lorikeet structures it, removes the vendor's conflict of interest that vendor-defined heuristics carry.
Per-conversation and per-deflection models reward volume the AI touched rather than outcomes, which can cost more than a higher flat per-resolution rate.
Convert every quote to effective cost per genuinely resolved ticket and compare against the roughly $1.25 to $4.00 cost of a human-handled ticket.
Conclusion
The shift to per-resolution pricing was a genuine improvement over per-seat licensing, but it is not self-protecting. Two platforms at similar headline rates can produce very different invoices depending on how they define a resolution, who controls that definition, and whether they bill for escalations the AI could not finish. The seven platforms above each price differently, and the right choice depends on your ticket mix, your existing helpdesk, and how much control you want over the billable unit.
Lorikeet ranks first here because its model is the most buyer-protective: roughly $0.80–$0.95 per chat, email, or SMS resolution and $1.20–$1.50 per voice resolution, with the customer defining resolution and escalations never charged, on a platform built for complex and regulated workflows. The other six are credible depending on budget, channel mix, and whether a vendor-defined resolution heuristic is acceptable for your ticket types.
If you are evaluating per-resolution AI support, book a Lorikeet demo and ask us to define resolution in writing before you compare rates.
