8 LivePerson Alternatives for AI Customer Support (2026)

The strongest LivePerson alternatives for AI customer support in 2026 are Sierra, Lorikeet, Decagon, PolyAI, NiCE Cognigy, Kore.ai, Fin (now part of Salesforce) and Zendesk AI agents. If you want an AI agent that resolves issues end to end across chat, email and voice, start with Sierra, Lorikeet or Decagon; if your priority is replacing a phone IVR, PolyAI and NiCE Cognigy are voice-first; if you already run Intercom or Zendesk, Fin or Zendesk AI agents keep you on your current helpdesk.

LivePerson remains a large enterprise platform, and nothing below argues you should leave it. This guide is for teams re-evaluating after LivePerson's acquisition by SoundHound AI closed in September 2026, or who want to compare per-resolution pricing, self-serve trials and voice options before a renewal. It also covers a closely related question: how to replace a legacy conversational IVR such as Omilia with a newer AI agent.

Key takeaways

• Decide between routing and resolution first. A platform that routes and assists human agents is a different purchase from one that completes refunds, account changes and identity checks on its own. Ask each vendor which actions its agent takes in your systems.

• LivePerson's ownership changed. LivePerson's site states it has been acquired by SoundHound AI, and SoundHound says LivePerson's platform will be integrated into its OASYS system, with combined offerings rolling out "in the coming quarters". Ask for the roadmap in writing.

• Pricing models differ. Sierra, Lorikeet, Fin and Zendesk publish outcome or resolution-based billing; PolyAI prices voice per minute; LivePerson, Kore.ai and NiCE Cognigy sell through quotes.

• Three of the eight publish a self-serve free trial: Lorikeet (30 days), Fin (14 days) and Zendesk (14 days). PolyAI also links to a "Try free" build environment.

• For IVR replacement, check telephony first. The agent has to connect to your carrier or contact centre platform through call forwarding, SIP or a native connector before anything else matters.

How we chose and checked these tools

We included platforms that sell an AI agent for customer service (not only agent assist), cover at least chat or voice, and are bought by teams that also evaluate LivePerson. We compared them on four buyer criteria: whether the AI resolves or mainly routes, the published pricing model, implementation effort and trial access, and voice or IVR replacement capability. The order is not a ranking; each entry says who it fits.

Every vendor fact was checked on the vendor's own public pages on 16 Oct 2026, and each claim links to its source, for example liveperson.com, sierra.ai, poly.ai pricing and fin.ai pricing. Where a vendor does not publish something, the table says "Not published". Lorikeet publishes this guide and is one of the tools listed. We have tried to describe every product, including our own, using only what each vendor publishes, and we link to the source for each claim.

What LivePerson offers today

LivePerson's Conversational Cloud is a platform for AI and human agents across voice and messaging. LivePerson says it powers nearly 1 billion conversational interactions each month and combines conversational AI and automation, conversational intelligence, an agent and supervisor workspace, and an open platform that connects CRM and data systems. Its pricing page lists Bronze, Silver and Gold packages with web, app, SMS, email, WhatsApp, Apple Messaging for Business and other messaging channels, Conversation Builder for bots, KnowledgeAI, Conversation Assist and connectors for third-party bot platforms. Prices are by quote. Its Voice AI product offers LLM-powered voice bots that integrate with existing telephony, and its Connect to Messaging feature moves voice calls into messaging.

The homepage now carries a banner that LivePerson has been acquired by SoundHound AI. SoundHound's announcement of the completed acquisition (4 September 2026) says LivePerson's platform will be integrated into SoundHound's OASYS agent system and that LivePerson stock ceased trading on Nasdaq. For a buyer, that is a reason to ask about roadmap and contract terms, not a verdict on the product.

Teams usually look at alternatives for four reasons: they want an agent that resolves more issues itself rather than routing them, they want pricing tied to resolved outcomes, they want a shorter implementation or a self-serve trial, or they want to add voice and retire an older IVR.

LivePerson alternatives compared

1. Sierra: large enterprises that want a partner-built agent priced by outcomes

Sierra builds AI agents for large consumer brands. Its product overview says one agent can be deployed across voice, chat, email and WhatsApp in 59 languages, connect to systems of record to complete tasks such as processing an insurance claim or returning an order, and that 40% of the Fortune 50 partner with Sierra. Its homepage adds SMS and ChatGPT as channels and describes Ghostwriter, an agent that builds agents from SOPs, transcripts and plain-English goals.

For IVR replacement, Sierra's voice page says it replaces "rigid IVR menus", handles interruptions and background noise, speaks over 55 languages, and collects card and ACH payments over the phone using DTMF tones through PCI Level 1 infrastructure.

Best for: enterprises that want an expert agent development team working alongside them.

Limits and trade-offs: Sierra describes a partnership model with deployment "in weeks", so expect a sales-led process. There is no self-serve trial on the pages we checked.

Pricing: outcome-based, where you pay when the software achieves agreed outcomes. Rates are not published.

2. Lorikeet: regulated businesses that need resolution across chat, email and voice

Lorikeet is an AI customer support platform for complex and regulated businesses, such as fintech and healthtech. According to how Lorikeet works, one agent covers chat, email, voice, SMS and WhatsApp, takes action in backend systems through APIs, webhooks and MCP servers inside workflows, and runs sensitive steps such as payments and identity checks as deterministic code the agent can invoke but never alter. Simulations replay historical tickets against the agent before launch. It integrates with Zendesk, Intercom, Salesforce, HubSpot, Front, Help Scout, Slack and Genesys Cloud, so a LivePerson team moving off the platform does not have to change its ticketing system at the same time.

For voice, the pricing page lists telephony integrations with Amazon Connect, Twilio, Vonage, Five9, AirCall and Dialpad. Taptap Send's deployment runs with real-time customer data across email, voice and chat on European-hosted infrastructure, according to its customer story. Carmoola's agent resolved 40% of inbound conversations end to end from day one and now resolves 60% across WhatsApp, chat and email, per Carmoola's story.

Best for: fintech, healthtech and other regulated teams that want the AI to resolve issues, with outcome pricing.

Limits and trade-offs: voice is available in the US, UK and Australia only, and Start and Scale data residency is the USA (custom residency needs Signature). Start and Scale are billed annually, so there is no month-to-month option.

Pricing and trial: Start $2,100/mo and Scale $5,100/mo, paid annually; Signature is custom with a $75K platform fee. Resolutions cost $0.99 (Start) or $0.90 (Scale) for chat, email and SMS, and $1.50 or $1.20 for voice (3 minute average). You pay only for successfully resolved tickets, and escalations to a person are not charged. There is a 30-day free trial with a work email.

3. Decagon: digital-first brands that want natural-language agent workflows

Decagon calls its product "the AI concierge for every customer". Its homepage describes Agent Operating Procedures (AOPs), which define agent workflows in natural language, plus simulations at scale, live A/B testing, always-on QA (Watchtower) and channels for voice, chat and email. It publishes customer results, including a quote from Chime reporting 70% chat and voice resolution.

Its voice product runs on Decagon's own speech model, Chord, supports 70+ languages with automatic language switching, handles interruptions, makes outbound calls and transfers to human agents with a summary.

Best for: consumer and financial services brands that want ops teams to edit agent behaviour in plain language.

Limits and trade-offs: SMS is not named as a channel on the pages we checked, and access starts with a demo.

Pricing: not published.

4. PolyAI: voice-first teams replacing a phone IVR

PolyAI is a voice specialist. Its homepage says it "builds dialog agents that handle your most critical enterprise conversations", runs them on its own models (Dialog-RSN-1 and Dialog-Raven-3.5) and carries the same agent across chat, SMS and messaging. Published use cases include authentication, call routing, billing and payments, and booking. Its integrations page lists 130+ integrations, including a telephony and voice routing category, and an Agent Developer Kit for custom builds.

Best for: contact centres whose main goal is retiring a touch-tone or speech IVR with a natural voice agent.

Limits and trade-offs: voice is the centre of the product, so teams with heavy email or ticketing volume should check how those channels fit. Rates require a conversation with sales.

Pricing and trial: the pricing page says ongoing use is priced per minute, including improvements, maintenance and 24/7 support, with a 99.9% uptime SLA on phone lines. Rates are not published. A "Try free" link opens a build environment.

5. NiCE Cognigy: enterprises on large contact centre stacks

Cognigy's about page says Cognigy "is now part of NiCE", a cloud CX vendor, and that its AI agents include intelligent IVR, self-service and agent assist. Its voice AI agents page says they speak over 100 languages, work with contact centre and enterprise systems on-premises or in the cloud, and lists integrations including Avaya, AWS, Genesys, NiCE, Microsoft and 8x8. The Voice Gateway connects to "any contact center and telephony system", supports conversational IVR for authentication and prequalification, and routes calls using SIP headers.

Best for: large enterprises, especially NiCE CXone customers, that want voice and chat agents inside an existing contact centre.

Limits and trade-offs: a low-code flow editor gives control but needs a team to design and maintain flows. Access is through a demo.

Pricing: not published.

6. Kore.ai: enterprises that want one agent platform for service and employee use cases

Kore.ai sells its Artemis agent platform across customer experience and employee productivity. Its customer experience page covers voice and digital AI agents, agent assist, quality management and an AI-native contact center, across voice, chat, email, messaging and digital channels, and says it "works with the contact center you already have". It cites a banking deployment that replaced a legacy IVR while supporting 1.5 million annual voice interactions across 23 languages.

Best for: enterprises in banking, healthcare, retail and telco that also want HR and IT agents on the same platform.

Limits and trade-offs: the breadth of the platform means a larger implementation; there is no self-serve trial on the pages we checked.

Pricing: not published.

7. Fin (now part of Salesforce): Intercom and helpdesk teams that want a fast trial

Salesforce completed its acquisition of Fin, formerly Intercom, on 10 September 2026. Salesforce says Fin works across live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, voice and Slack. The Fin homepage says Fin is natively integrated with Intercom and supported on Salesforce, HubSpot and Freshdesk.

For voice, Fin Voice works with existing telephony through call forwarding or SIP, names Twilio, Genesys, RingCentral, Five9, 8x8, Aircall and Mitel, and says it removes IVR menus.

Best for: teams already on Intercom, or on a supported helpdesk, that want to test quickly.

Limits and trade-offs: Fin Voice is "currently available to select customers working directly with our sales team". Its roadmap inside Salesforce is still forming.

Pricing and trial: $0.99 per outcome, where a resolution means no further help is requested after Fin's last answer; you are not charged when a conversation is passed to your team without an outcome. A 14-day free trial needs no credit card. Fin Voice is custom priced.

8. Zendesk AI agents: teams that want AI inside the Zendesk suite

Zendesk's AI agents page says its agents resolve requests across social, web, mobile, voice and email, handle multi-step workflows and take action in connected systems. Zendesk also offers Forethought AI agents within its AI line-up. The pricing page includes voice AI agents and a conversational IVR as part of its contact centre features.

Best for: teams already running Zendesk that want one vendor for ticketing, voice and AI.

Limits and trade-offs: the value is highest when Zendesk is your helpdesk; plans include a set number of automated resolutions that vary by plan and agent count, so model usage above the allowance.

Pricing and trial: billed per automated resolution, meaning a request resolved without escalation to a human. A 14-day free trial needs no credit card.

How to replace a legacy IVR like Omilia with conversational AI

Omilia is itself a conversational AI vendor, not a touch-tone IVR. Its homepage describes a self-learning agentic CX platform with voice and chat agents, authentication agents and anti-fraud tools, and its platform page lists integrations with NICE CXone, RingCentral, Amazon Connect and Talkdesk, SIP/MRCP support, and multi-tenant, exclusive-tenant SaaS or private cloud deployment. Teams that want to replace an Omilia IVR are usually after something different: one AI agent that resolves the issue on the phone and continues the same conversation in chat, email or SMS.

Replacing a conversational IVR involves five pieces of work:

1. Telephony integration. Decide whether calls reach the new agent by call forwarding, SIP or a native connector to your contact centre platform. Lorikeet lists Amazon Connect, Twilio, Vonage, Five9, AirCall and Dialpad; Fin names Twilio, Genesys, Five9 and others; NiCE Cognigy's Voice Gateway supports SIP routing.

2. Authentication. Map how callers are verified today (voice biometrics, PIN, one-time code) and how the new agent will do it.

3. Intent and action coverage. List the top call reasons and the system actions behind each one. Replacing menus with natural language helps only if the agent can complete the task.

4. Escalation and context. Confirm the agent transfers to a person with a summary, and which queue receives it.

5. Testing before cutover. Use simulations or a single phone line first. Fin says you can start with one line; Sierra and Lorikeet both describe simulation before launch.

Of the eight platforms here, all support voice in some form. PolyAI and NiCE Cognigy are voice-first; Sierra, Lorikeet, Decagon and Kore.ai run one agent across voice and digital channels; Fin Voice is limited to select customers; Zendesk adds voice inside its suite. For a deeper look, see the best AI IVR replacement platforms and how AI replaces IVR with natural language triage.

Questions to ask before you pick

• Resolution or routing: which of our top 20 contact reasons will the agent complete end to end, and which actions does it take in our systems?

• Pricing: what counts as a billable resolution or outcome, are escalations charged, and is there a platform fee or minimum?

• Implementation: who builds and maintains the agent, how long until the first live ticket, and can we test on our own historical conversations first?

• Voice: which telephony platforms are supported natively, which countries is voice available in, and can we start with one line?

• Exit and roadmap: after an acquisition (LivePerson, Fin) or a platform change, what is committed in the contract versus planned?

If you are also comparing helpdesk-native tools, see Intercom alternatives and Ada alternatives, and for a large-enterprise migration view, migrating from Sierra. To test resolution on your own tickets, you can start a 30-day free trial.