Per-resolution AI pricing is becoming the industry standard — but the definition of a 'resolution' decides whether it's fair. Here's how to evaluate it, whatever tool you choose.
Also available in Dutch: Wat is een AI-resolutie? Het prijsmodel, eerlijk uitgelegd
AI support tools are converging on the same pricing idea: pay per conversation the AI resolves. It sounds fair — you pay for outcomes, not seats idling overnight. Whether it actually is fair depends entirely on one question: what counts as "resolved"?
The differences are not academic. On the same ticket stream, a generous definition can report a far higher resolution share than a strict one — which means a larger bill for the same actual outcome.
We publish our own answers on how we measure AI resolutions — zero human replies, unengaged conversations closed without counting, and a three-day settling window that automatically reverses a resolution if the conversation reopens. Hold any tool you evaluate, including ours, to that standard, and check it against what each plan includes. For what the other vendors publish, see how five vendors define an AI resolution. And because a resolution is not the same event as a deflected contact, read deflection rate versus resolution rate before you accept either number in a vendor report.
An AI resolution is a support conversation that an AI agent handled from start to finish without a human agent replying. Vendors bill per resolution instead of per seat, so the exact definition — especially how abandoned conversations and reopened conversations are treated — determines what you actually pay.
Under a strict definition it does not. In CustomerEagle, conversations the customer never engaged with are closed by timeout without being counted, because silence is not evidence that the answer was correct.
It should be, and in CustomerEagle it is. Every resolution has a three-day settling window: if the customer reopens the conversation, a human takes over, or a negative rating arrives, the resolution is removed from usage and credited back if it was already invoiced.
Not automatically. Per-resolution pricing shifts cost from headcount to volume, so it favours teams whose ticket mix is highly repetitive and penalises teams whose volume spikes without a matching knowledge base. Model both against your own ticket volume before switching.
2026-08-23 · 8 min read
Fin bills $0.99 per outcome on top of Intercom's seats. What Intercom counts as an outcome, what the seat ladder adds, and a worked 1,000-conversation month at 45% and 70% resolution.
2026-08-09 · 10 min read
Two billing shapes, three worked scenarios and the exact ratio where each one starts to win. Real arithmetic on published rates, including what a peak month does to a variable bill.
2026-08-04 · 9 min read
Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk and Tidio all bill for AI outcomes, and all five define them differently. A sourced, side-by-side look at the exact event each vendor charges you for, with the date each page was read.
See how honestly-measured AI resolutions cut your support load — start on the Free plan, no credit card, no sales call to get started.