Top 30+ Conversational AI Platforms of 2024: Detailed Guide

Chatbots are useful tools for both customers and businesses, as seen in the Figure 1. As a result, several businesses have already invested in chatbots and virtual assistants and many more will do so in the near future.¹

Smart chatbots can recognize user intent thanks to conversational artificial intelligence technology (conversational AI). Businesses need to discover a reliable conversational AI platform in order to prevent chatbot failures. The problem is that there are over 200 platforms, which makes it difficult for IT, marketing and sales managers to conduct timely evaluations.

In this article we identified 12 out of ~50 conversational AI platforms that met our criteria regarding:

1. Company/platform performance (e.g number of employees, review numbers etc.)
2. Key features (e.g omnichannel capabilities, multi-language support etc.)
3. Development of chatbots and virtual assistants for at least 3 industries.

We also provide honorable mentions at the article’s ending that have the potential to be significant players in a rapidly evolving technology market.

Top conversational AI platforms

How we selected our shortlist of top 12 platforms

Apart from our sponsor Salesforce, the table is organized by the number of reviews. We adopted a 3 stage screening process to determine the top conversational AI platforms.  

1. We evaluated the performance of the company and the platform by looking at criteria like the number of employees, reviews and average scores. Review numbers were calculated based on major platforms Capterra, G2 and Trustradius. Vendors with 200+ employees and 20+ reviews entered the list.
2. Then, we evaluated whether platforms can offer fundamental chatbot platform features like omnichannel deployment.
3. Finally we assess whether or not vendors design chatbots for a variety of industries.

First Screening: Company/Platform performance

To be certain about the performance of the business and platform, we analyzed the following metrics:

• Number of workers: The number of employees is correlated with a company’s revenue and financial strength.

Second screening: Key Features

The following should be provided by a conversational AI platform, when we take into account information on customer expectations and businesses’ capacity to hire and retain high-skill workers:

• Providing omnichannel customer engagement: According to McKinsey, more than one third of Americans conduct omnichannel purchases, and this number is rising.

Third Screening: Development of chatbots for various industries 

Therapist chatbots and restaurant chatbots automate distinct customer conversations and fulfill distinct tasks. Therefore, they need different training data for their natural language processing (NLP) and natural language understanding (NLU) models. Also, different machine learning methods might be needed for training chatbots for different industries. 

Therefore, a top conversational AI platform should have experience in at least producing 3 of the following sector specific chatbots:

• E-commerce chatbot
• Sales chatbot
• Insurance chatbot
• Hospitality chatbot
• Banking chatbot
• Wealth management chatbot
• Healthcare chatbot
• Government chatbot.

Conversational AI Landscape

Conversational AI market is complex because of:

• High number of platforms and tools
• Variety of tools based on different capabilities
• Targeted end-users (e.g Developers).

Therefore, we identified the major categories and mapped out the top players to navigate better (See cover image). These five main categories include:

Conversational AI Platforms

Conversational AI platforms offer comprehensive solutions for building, deploying, and managing conversational AI applications. These platforms often include a combination of NLU, TTS, ASR, and voicebot capabilities, along with additional features for chatbot development and integration with various channels. This category may encompass:

• Big tech platforms: Major technology companies like Amazon and IBM offer comprehensive conversational AI platforms that combine NLU, TTS, ASR, and voicebot capabilities. These platforms are known for their scalability, reliability, and integration with other services, making them suitable for large-scale applications.
• Other tools: Smaller vendors provide conversational AI platforms that may be more specialized or niche-focused. These platforms may cater to specific industries, use cases, or regional requirements. They often offer competitive features and pricing, making them attractive to businesses with unique needs.
• Open-source libraries: Open-source libraries provide developers with the freedom to build customized conversational AI solutions from the ground up. Libraries like Rasa provide the building blocks and tools needed to create chatbots and virtual assistants. This option is ideal for those who require complete control and customization and are comfortable with coding and development.

Domain Specific Platforms

Domain specific platforms refer to conversational software that can be tailored to understand and interact within a specific area of knowledge or industry. Contrary to general conversational AI platforms that are designed to handle a broad range of topics and queries, domain-specific platforms are fine-tuned to offer more relevant services and responses to businesses in a particular fields such as:

• E-commerce
• Education
• Finance
• Manufacturing
• Real-estate
• Restaurants
• Travel

Voicebot Tools

Voicebot tools facilitate the development of voice-activated chatbots and virtual assistants. These tools enable businesses and developers to build conversational AI systems that can understand and respond to spoken language. Voicebot tools come in two options:

• No-Code vcoicebot tools: No-code voicebot tools are designed for non-developers and allow them to create voice-activated chatbots and virtual assistants without writing code. These tools typically offer a user-friendly interface for designing conversational flows, configuring voice interactions, and integrating with various platforms and services.
• Developer voicebot tools: Developer voicebot tools are targeted at software engineers and developers. They provide more extensive customization options, allowing developers to create highly specialized voicebot solutions. These tools offer APIs, libraries, and SDKs that can be integrated into existing applications and systems.

Speech Recognition Tools (ASR)

Speech Recognition tools are responsible for transcribing spoken language into written text. ASR technology is vital for enabling voice interactions and voice commands in various applications. ASR can be categorized as:

• No-code ASR tools: No-code ASR tools are user-friendly platforms that enable non-technical users to incorporate automatic speech recognition into their applications or services with minimal coding. These tools often provide pre-built ASR models and easy-to-use interfaces for training and customization.
• Developer ASR tools: Developer ASR tools are designed for developers and engineers who need fine-grained control over the ASR process. They allow customizing ASR models for specialized applications, domains, and languages.

Natural Language Understanding (NLU) Tools

NLU tools are designed to help machines understand and interpret human language. They are crucial for chatbots, virtual assistants, and other conversational AI systems to comprehend user input accurately. NLU tools process text or speech inputs, extract meaning, and identify entities, intents, and context.

Text-to-Speech Tools (TTS)

Text-to-speech tools convert written text into natural-sounding speech. These tools are used to give conversational AI systems a voice and enable them to communicate with users through spoken language. TTS technology has improved significantly in creating more human-like voices.

Breaking down top 6 big tech conversational AI platforms

In this section, we provide more information regarding platforms’ pros and cons by analyzing verified user comments. For clarity once we want to highlight that all conversational AI platforms in this section provide:

• Conversational AI solutions such as:
  • Virtual assistants
  • Chatbots 
  • Voice assistants
  • Speech recognition services etc.
• Multiple channels integration
• Live agent handover
• Easy integration (low or no code chatbot deployment)
• Bilingual conversational AI tools.

We listed all the vendors in alphabetical order except the sponsor.

1.Amazon Lex

Amazon Lex is the conversational AI platform of Amazon Web Services. We are aware that a company like Amazon³ can change Amazon Lex’s market appearance if they want so. Thus, we want to mention the product as an honorable mention.

Pricing

We could not find any information regarding Amazon Lex’s pricing policy.

Pros and cons

2.Google Dialogflow

Dialogflow is Google’s chatbot platform that is designed to improve customer satisfaction. Platform acquired by Google from api.ai to create conversational ai solution that perfectly integrates with Google cloud tools.

Pricing

The cost of Dialogflow varies considerably depending on the functionality that users want. However, Google provides a free version of their product.⁵

Pros and cons of Dialogflow

Compared to other conversational platforms Dialogflow’s relatively small language selection—30 as of right now—might be one of the disadvantages (see Figure 3).

3.IBM watsonx Assistant

IBM Watson Assistant is a leading conversational AI platform that managers may utilize to:

• Automate customer interactions
• Boost customer experience
• Improve core business processes (e.g recruiting).

Pricing

The basic model price of IBM Watson Assistant, according to Capterra, costs $140 per month.⁷ The more functionality a user asks for, the more expensive the conversational AI tool becomes. Additionally, IBM provides a free IBM Watson Assistant trial.

Potential benefits of working with IBM

• Ease of use: Users remark on how easy it is to deploy and use IBM chatbots (see Figure 4).

• To the point documentation: Verified user comments imply that IBM’s documentation offers best practices to optimize benefits of investment in addition to all the information required for utilizing and deploying conversational AI products.

Drawbacks of IBM Watson Assistant

4. Microsoft Azure Bot Service

Azure Bot service is another conversational AI platform. Like Amazon, Microsoft is a company that can change its market appearance any time.  

Perhaps, Microsoft collaboration with OpenAI ChatGPT can be speculated as Microsoft’s investment to improve its conversational AI capabilities.

Pricing

The Microsoft team offers distinct prices for different features. However, their basic chatbots pricing appears as 0.50$ per 1000 messages.¹¹

Pros and cons

5.Oracle Digital Assistant

Oracle digital Assistant is another top conversational AI platform that helps companies to enhance customer experience.

Pricing

According to Trustradius, excluding deployment costs, basic chatbots cost 0.02$ per interaction.¹³

Pros and cons

6.S.A.P conversational AI

System Applications and Products (S.A.P) is a company that offers technology to businesses. S.A.P is generally known for their ERP systems. In order to expand their NLP capabilities and provide conversational AI tools that assist their clients conduct interactions in an efficient manner, S.A.P purchased the French business Recast.AI in 2018. As of today, S.A.P conversational AI platform has become one of the best in the world.

Pricing

There is no clear information on S.A.P conversational AI’s price policy from either internal or external sources. Therefore, we suggest prospective users to get in touch with the business.

Pros and cons

Other top conversational AI platforms

We found five suppliers that nearly fulfilled our requirements, while investigating conversational AI platforms. Therefore, AIMultiple considers, these platforms have a possibility to rank among the top conversational AI platforms in the near future. Because of this, we believed they merited a place on this list of honorable mentions.

7.Zoho SalesIQ

Zoho SalesIQ is considered amongst domain-specific platform with its specifically tailored services in sales and customer engagement. The all-in-one live chat and analytics platform enables businesses to actively engage with customers. Zoho SalesIQ’s features include:

• Visitor tracking
• Smart chatbots
• Various communication modes (e.g. voice note, audio call, screen share, remote access)
• Resource library (articles, FAQs)
• Contact management (B2C, B2B) and more.

Pricing:

Apart from the free version, Sales IQ also offers a 15-day trial for the paid versions. Customers can also customize plans with optional add-ons.¹⁶ See the table below for detailed information about the packages:

*Each plan includes all the features of the plan that precedes it, plus the features in the table and more. Thus, Basic includes all the features of Free, Professional includes all the features of Basic and Enterprise includes all the features of Professional.

Pros:

Real-time visitor tracking: Customers can get detailed visitor tracking data, including page views, location, and referral sources, to help your business better understand your visitors and personalize the buyer journey.¹⁷

Plug-and-play integration with 30+ apps: SalesIQ can be seamlessly integrated with other Zoho products, such as Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk, and third-party tools allowing businesses to easily access and analyze customer data from a single platform. 50+ reviews on different platforms show that this is one of the most liked features by customers.¹⁸¹⁹

Multiple language support: SalesIQ is available in 28+ languages, including Japanese, Thai, Korean, Polish, Danish, Hindi, and Chinese. This makes it easier for businesses to communicate with a global audience.

Cons:

Notification system: While using SalesIQ, 10+ users from different review platforms are experiencing problems such as notifications automatically turning off, not arriving on time or arriving when they shouldn’t, and thus create distraction (See Figure 10).

Figure 10: A critical review on Zoho SalesIQ. Source: G2. ²⁰

Set-up: Users widely experience setup issues, especially regarding bots. ²¹

8. Salesforce Service Cloud

Sponsored:

While not focusing specifically on conversational AI solutions, Salesforce is the CRM market leader and Salesforce Contact Genie enables multi-channel live chat supported by AI-driven assistants. Salesforce Contact Center enables workflow automation for many branches of the CRM and especially for the customer service operations by leveraging conversational AI technologies.

9.Kore.ai Experience Optimization (EO) Platform

Kore.ai Experience Optimization (EO) platform is the conversational AI platform of Kore.ai that aims to automate customer support and interactions.

Pricing

Kore.ai offers two packages:²²

Standard package prices:

• 20¢ per conversation +10¢ per conversation for pre-built apps
• +4¢ per minute for Voice Automation

Enterprise package prices are custom according to the vendors need and demands.

Kore.ai also provides a free demo of their conversational platform.

Pros and cons

10.LivePerson Conversational Cloud

LivePerson Conversational Cloud is LivePerson’s conversational AI platform that is designed to automate conversations. Thus, the platform improves corporations’ operational efficiency.

Pricing

Neither external nor internal sources provide clear information regarding pricing policy of Live person. Therefore, we advise potential users to contact the company.

Pros and cons

11.Yellow.ai Enterprise Conversational AI & Chatbot Platform

Yellow.ai  have expertise in India and South East Asia, where businesses substantially invest in conversational AI solutions, as we highlight in our article on Yellow.ai’s competitors.

Pricing

Neither Yellow.ai nor outside sources share the price policy of the company. However, Yellow.ai offers a free demo.

Pros and cons

LLMs disrupt conversational AI market

The adoption of large language model (LLM) applications is on the rise as business users recognize the powerful language generation capabilities exhibited by GPT models such as ChatGPT. LLMs affect Conversational AI market in various by: 

•  Improving NLU: LLMs bring a breakthrough in natural language understanding, enabling more nuanced and context-aware conversations. Enhanced comprehension of user inputs leads to more accurate and relevant responses, mimicking human-like interaction.
• Reducing specialization efforts: LLMs excel in adapting to various domains, from tech support to healthcare, reducing the need for specialized models for each industry. This versatility broadens the applicability of Conversational AI platforms, making them a go-to solution for diverse business needs.
• Increasing efficiency in training: LLMs streamline the training process by pre-training on massive datasets, significantly reducing the time and resources required for custom model development.
• Enhancing user experience: Improved language generation capabilities contribute to a more engaging and dynamic user experience. Users benefit from a more interactive and personalized interaction, enhancing satisfaction and retention.
• Ensuring fair and inclusive interaction: The rise of LLMs necessitates a closer examination of ethical considerations, particularly in addressing biases present in training data.

Therefore, more conversational AI vendors look ways to pair generative AI tools and capabilities like LLMs in their platforms to improve their services, such as:

• LLMOps tools
• MLOps tools
• AI governance tools 

We recommend you to explore these tools and learn top differences between Generative AI and Conversational AI before employing any chatbot in your business.

Disclaimers

AIMultiple acknowledges that this categorization may not be perfect and may forget to add some companies/platforms that satisfy the mentioned screening or within time they can satisfy to be part of top 11 conversational AI platform list. If this is the case you can leave a comment and AIMultiple will be improving in time. 

Further readings

1. Conversational Commerce Platforms Benchmarking
2. Top 5 WhatsApp Business Partners
3. Top 5 Chatbot Companies in India: Evaluation & Examples
4. 50+ Chatbot Companies To Deploy Conversational AI
5. Top 25 Chatbot Case Studies & Success Stories

If you have further questions regarding conversational AI platforms and best chatbots you can reach us:

Note:

The below table illustrates all conversational AI platforms we evaluate in an alphabetic order:

This article was drafted by former AIMultiple industry analyst Görkem Gençer.

External Links:

External Links

• 1. “Conversational AI: Trends, Forecasts, Application Options“. Forbes. June 2022.
• 2. Baer, J. “The 6 Critical Chatbot Statistics for 2018.” Convenience & Convert. Retrieved November 10, 2023
• 3. “Amazon will be the most important company of the 2020s“. CNBC.
• 4. Gartner (1).
• 5. Capterra (2).
• 6. Capterra (2-2).
• 7. Capterra (3).
• 8. Gartner (3).
• 9. G2 (3).
• 10. TrustRadius (3).
• 11. Microsoft Pricing.
• 12. Gartner (4).
• 13. Trustradius (5).
• 14. Trustradius (5-2).
• 15. Trustradius (6).
• 16. “User-based plans that scale with your team“. Zoho SalesIQ. Retrieved on November 23, 2023.
• 17. “Zoho SalesIQ Reviews“. G2. Retrieved on November 23, 2023
• 18. “Zoho SalesIQ Reviews“. G2. Retrieved on November 23, 2023.
• 19. “Zoho SalesIQ Reviews“. Capterra. Retrieved on November 23, 2023.
• 20. “Zoho SalesIQ Reviews“. G2. Retrieved on November 23, 2023.
• 21. “Zoho SalesIQ Reviews“. G2. Retrieved on November 23, 2023.
• 22. Kore.ai (8).
• 23. Trustradius (8).
• 24. Capterra (9).
• 25. Capterra (10).