Conversational AI bots that provide customer support have exploded in scope recently. The market is set to grow at 22.6% CAGR till 2030 and reach $44.38 billion.
84% of companies believe that AI chatbots will be central to customer communication in the near future. The potential for ROI and the improvement in AI technology have created an enormous demand for chatbots and influenced multiple companies to enter the foray. A recent article states that well over 200 companies are currently selling chatbots.
One of the critical startups in this area is Ada, which offers extensive integrations and great chatbots to many businesses.
Ada: A Review
Ada’s customer service chatbots integrate with multiple LLMs and provide answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). It is used by enterprises and startups alike, with companies like Air Asia and Meta using the company to improve their CX. Let’s explore the product by reviewing its pros and cons.
Pros
Several customers have achieved high CSAT scores and high containment rates with Ada’s chatbots.The weekly chatbot reports are thorough and provide people with insights into the conversations that have happened.The tool for building the chatbot is easy to use.
Cons
According to customer reviews in G2:
Implementing the software is hardTraining for the end-customer is lackingIntegrations with Zendesk are complex and challenging to implementSome of the UX is not very intuitive
To ensure people can cut through these issues, Here are 10 Ada alternatives that businesses can use instead. We’ve chosen these products because they:
Are integration-friendlyOffer a robust customer service experienceHave extensive integrationsHave easy workflows for implementation and deployment
So, let’s get started!
Also Read: Ada.CX Vs. Kommunicate- A Detailed Comparison
1. Kommunicate
We admit we’re relatively biased regarding our product, but Kommunicate has received rave reviews from thousands of customers in the past two years. The reason is simple: our product is built to be plug-and-play, we have easy workflows and algorithms, and we provide a human-handoff system that’s the best in the industry.
We are a leading Ada alternative that integrates with every leading LLM provider in the industry so you can serve the best CX to your customers every day.
To help you make this decision, we’ve compiled a list of Pros and Cons for our product.
Pros
Integrations — We offer omnichannel integrations to everything from WhatsApp to Zendesk, so you can go live within a few minutes.24/7 Customer Support — We offer proactive customer support to each client. We also build new integrations and features for you on a need basis.Pricing — We offer a competitive pricing advantage to our larger clients so that they can enjoy cost savings at scale. We offer straightforward, competitive pricing for smaller businesses as well.Security Compliant– The platform offers HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC2 compliance at no extra cost.Best-in-Class Bot-to-Human Handover System — Our systems are built to maximize the “human + AI” strategy for customer support. Our bot-to-human handoff system is one of the leading ones in the industry.
Cons
Flow Design — Designing a conversation on the platform is time-consuming. However, advanced plans are completely easy, and our team handles much of the conversation design.Some Tech-Heavy Integrations — While most of the integrations on the platform are built for non-developers, some integrations (including those for Android apps) require hands-on development.Fewer Customizations — The chatbot has some limitations when it comes to UI customizations, so it might be difficult to match it to your brand’s design language.
2. Intercom
Intercom is an enterprise business-ready customer service platform. They’ve also released Fin, a new AI chatbot that uses the latest LLM technology to answer your questions. Since Intercom is one of the older companies, it also has a fully-powered customer service suite that will be sufficient for your entire business. The pros and cons of the Fin chatbot are:
Pros
Omnichannel integrations — Fin integrates with many channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Line.Deep app ecosystem — Implementation is simple because Intercom has a buzzing app ecosystem with 400+ integrations across different platforms.Customizable — Fin is very customizable and can be trained to give custom responses using a flow designer.
Cons
Seat-based pricing — With Fin, you’re paying around $99 for each agent on your platform, making it very expensive for any mid-sized business.HIPAA Compliance Comes at Extra Cost — While the base plan for Fin is pervasive, you will need to increase your costs to be HIPAA compliant.Customer Service is Slow — Since it is a larger company, support and training can be slow to start. However, customers report that all their problems get resolved eventually.
3. Drift
Drift is a rather unique product in this category. While most of the chatbot providers here work to help the customer support teams, Drift is also well-suited to lead qualification and other sales needs. Their chatbot has improved dramatically in the past few years, and it’s used across multiple enterprises.
Pros
Lead Qualification — Since Drift is also used for sales, their chatbot can identify high-intent customers while chatting.Personalization — Drift’s chatbot offers personalized responses, and you can also use APIs to feed important customer information. This will allow you to communicate better with your customers.Calendar Integration — Drift integrates directly with your mail and calendar clients to book a meeting on the customer’s behalf.
Cons
High Prices — Drift’s introductory pricing starts at $2500/month, making it one of the most expensive products on the market.Qualification doesn’t Always Work — Several customers have complained that even unqualified people can book a meeting with Drift customer support representatives, which costs them time.Learning Curve — Drift has a good UI overall, but the initial number of options makes the learning curve quite steep. While training material is available, it can be cumbersome.
Also Read: Intercom vs Drift vs Kommunicate — Which is best?
4. Amazon Lex
Amazon has built a robust chatbot-builder on its cloud platform, AWS. Amazon Lex challenges Ada by carrying all the basic conversational AI and Automatic Speech Recognition capabilities. Since Amazon also created Alexa, Lex’s natural language understanding and speech recognition capabilities have advanced.
Pros
Natural language IVR — Lex’s Alexa-like natural language recognition and understanding capabilities make voice chatbots built on the platform very robust.Scalability — Since the model is based on AWS, it also is scaled easily. Extra messages can easily be handled through the AWS cloud infrastructure.Both text and voice — Amazon Lex is one of the few services that provides both text and voice capabilities in their chatbots.
Cons
Integration with Other Services is Poor — While you can integrate Amazon Lex with AWS without hindrance, other integrations are tricky. Customers complain that any migration is complex.Poor Documentation — Several users have complained that Lex has inadequate documentation, which often includes conflicting information.Limited Language Support — While Amazon Lex is multilingual, popular languages like Hindi are still missing from the system.
5. IBM WatsonX
IBM was the first company ever to build a conversational AI. So, it’s no surprise that their recent IBM WatsonX bot has become quite popular with enterprises. It has highly augmented learning capabilities, can understand customer needs, and improves complaint resolution rates.
Pros
Integrations — IBM offers excellent plug-and-play capabilities, and its integrations are easy to use.Scalability — WatsonX can be scaled using cloud services, and the chatbot is built to handle large volumes of conversations simultaneously.Easier workflow — Compared to similar enterprise-class products like DIalogueFlow and Amazon Lex, WatsonX is more accessible to implement and has a better GUI.
Cons
Initial Learning Curve — The product requires some knowledge of fine-tuning and data wrangling, which the average user might not be comfortable with.Pricing — As it is an enterprise model, the prices of WatsonX can often go higher than $1050/month. Customers complain that the token-based pricing makes budgeting difficult.
6. Yellow.AI
A newer alternative to Ada, Yellow.AI has been making waves with its multi-LLM-capable platform. They primarily serve enterprises in the APAC market and offer customized chatbots for customer support.
Pros
Ease-of-Use — Yellow.ai’s product has a good UI and is easy to use, even for beginners.Multi-LLM Architecture — Yellow.AI’s infrastructure allows you to use various proprietary and open-source LLMs to customize customer responses.Integrations — Because of their robust ecosystem, you can deploy Yellow.AI’s chatbots on various channels.
Cons
Steep Learning Curve — Adjusting to the host of options and the conversation designer is difficult.Some Analytics Problems — A few customers have complained that the platform could have more robust analytics.Some Integrations are Hard to Implement — While documentation exists for most integrations, some integrations to CRMs and ticketing platforms can be difficult to implement.
7. DialogFlow CX
DialogFlow CX is Google’s answer to Amazon Lex, and it is an excellent platform to implement a customer support chatbot. Google’s chatbot builder is one of the cheapest ways to implement a chatbot for your business, making it a viable Ada alternative.
All DialogFlow integrations are easier with Kommunicate.
Pros
State-of-the-art NLP — As expected from Google, their chatbot builder comes pre-built with advanced NLP features, making chatbot building easier overall.Omnichannel Presence — DialogFlow CX can be connected to almost every marketing channel.Pricing — DialogFlow ES is free for 180 messages/minute, making it a great choice for beginners and small businesses.
Cons
Difficulty in Collecting Information on Prospects — DialogFlow ES makes it hard to collect information from prospects because of its tech-heavy integration processes.Limited Customization — While basic customization options exist, much customization is unavailable on the platform.Integrations are Tech-Heavy — Despite an omnichannel presence, the platform’s integrations require comprehensive technological knowledge.
8. Kore.AI
Kore AI has been an excellent software for teams wanting to implement conversational AI into their CX workflows. The platform features an intuitive drag-and-drop UX. Enterprises across South Asia, South East Asia, and Europe use Kore for CX.
Pros
Easy-to-Use — The product is easy to use and has a drag-and-drop interface. You can easily design conversations on the platform.Detailed Training Guides — The platform features robust documentation that covers all use cases. It also has video tutorials for a lot of integrations.Customizable Dashboards — The product also comes with a robust analytics platform where you can customize your dashboards to focus on what you need for your day-to-day.
Cons
Building Delays — A few customers have complained about increased wait times while training their chatbots.Slower updates — The platform rolls out new features often, but the process is frequently time-intensive.
9. AISera
A leading provider of conversational AI chatbots for domain-specific customer experience purposes. The platform offers a stable and user-friendly interface. It’s also customizable and can be scaled and pushed onto different channels.
Pros
Easy to Learn — The product has a user-friendly interface, which is easy to pick up even for people without tech expertise.Quick Resolutions — AISera’s support team is proactive and quickly resolves support queries.Integrations — AISera comes armed with many integrations that make it easy to deploy it on multiple channels.
Cons
Removing Articles from Training Data is Hard — Though the chatbot needs to be retrained for optimal functionality, the UI for removing out-of-date articles is not straightforward.Impersonal responses — The AI chatbot can sometimes be impersonal, affecting the overall CX.Staging is Hard — A few customers have complained about the difficulty of testing the app because the staging environment is hard to use.
10. Freshchat by Freshworks
Freshworks has been a constant presence in the customer service apps department, so their chatbot has been quickly adopted as an Ada alternative. The CRM and customer support ticketing platform has integrated an AI that can act as a FAQ chatbot and tackle complex queries as well.
Pros
Robust Notifications — Request handling is streamlined because Freshchat has a great notification system that alerts agents and managers immediately.Integration Ecosystem — Since Freshworks is an old company, it already has a lot of integrations. This makes it possible to implement your chatbot everywhere.Workflows are Easy to Implement — The workflows in Freshchat are user-friendly and easy to implement.
Cons
Slow Customer Service — Several customers have reported low custom support at Freshchat.Pricing Structure — While Freshchat was initially built for small businesses, it now has a complicated pricing structure that is difficult for them.Too Many Tools — Freshworks employs many tools in the ecosystem, making choosing the right tools to implement in a workflow challenging.
Also Read: 11 AI Tools For Your Customer Support Team In 2024
Also Read: 10 Best AI Customer Service Chatbots for Businesses in 2024
Review Summary
Conversational chatbots have seen incredible growth in the past few years. The launch of LLMs in late 2022 and the veritable AI arms race have created several customer service chatbot companies.
One of the winners is Ada, which has created a robust ecosystem with its chatbots, which are being adopted across many enterprises.
However, the Ada chatbot has some problems, such as a lack of customer training, a complex UX, and tech-heavy integrations. So, we have given you a list of possible Ada alternatives that you can use. Feel free to use the alternative platforms and decide based on their pros and cons.
And if you want to try the #1 Ada alternative Kommunicate, we’re just a call away.
Top 10 Ada Alternatives in 2024 was originally published in Chatbots Life on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
