Compare
Per conversation, per seat, or per resolution. The unit decides the bill.
Most chat tools charge for each person who logs in, or for each question the AI resolves. Genie AI charges for a conversation. This page compares the units, not the vendors.
Where the unit differs
Three ways to be charged for the same conversation.
Each unit is a reasonable answer to a different question. The one you want depends on what your busy months look like.
Per seat
You pay for each person who can log in — one conversation or a thousand, the same. It rewards a small team with many conversations, and every extra colleague is another line on the invoice.
Per AI resolution
You pay when the AI is judged to have resolved a question. A busy month is an expensive month, and the vendor decides what counts as resolved.
Per conversation
You pay once when a visitor writes to you, and the whole exchange after that is covered — however long it runs, whoever answers it, human or assistant. A widget opened and abandoned costs nothing. Seats are included.
Side by side
The same six moments, under each unit.
| Moment | Per seat | Per AI resolution | Per conversation (Genie AI) |
|---|---|---|---|
| What makes the bill go up | Adding a person who can log in | Each question the AI is judged to have resolved | A visitor sending their first message |
| A long, thirty-message conversation | No change | Depends on how the vendor counts a resolution | One conversation |
| A visitor who opens the chat and leaves | No change | Usually nothing | Nothing — it is not counted until they write |
| A person takes over from the AI | The person’s seat is already paid for | Often not billed, because the AI did not resolve it | Still one conversation |
| Inviting a second colleague to help | Another seat on the invoice | No change to the unit; seats may be separate | No change — seats are a plan allowance, never billed |
| What you can predict at the start of the month | The bill, exactly; not the capacity | Neither — it follows how many questions arrive and how many the AI closes | The bill, exactly; and the conversations it covers |
The per-seat and per-resolution columns describe how those units work in general, not any named product’s price list — those products are mostly quote-based, and we cite only prices we can source. Our own figures are on the pricing page.
Being fair about it
Where a per-seat tool fits better.
A large team, and not that many conversations
If twenty people share a support rota and the volume is modest, a per-seat price can come out lower than a conversation allowance you never fill. Per-conversation pricing is at its best when the conversations are many and the people answering them are few.
A helpdesk workflow
Genie AI has one shared inbox and three roles. Assignment, routing, internal notes, canned replies, service-level timers, satisfaction scores and a public API are not part of it. If your support runs on those, a helpdesk suite is the right tool.
The unit, defined
What one conversation means here.
It is worth being exact, because it is the only thing you are billed for.
It starts when they type
A conversation is counted the moment a visitor sends their first message. Opening the widget and closing it again is free.
It covers the whole exchange
Two messages or forty, the assistant answering or a person, the same conversation. There is no per-message and no per-resolution charge.
Seats ride along
Every plan includes its seats in the price. Nothing anywhere in the billing code charges for a person.
How many conversations each plan includes, how the allowance resets, and what else is in the price: the pricing page.
Count your conversations, not your colleagues.
Start on the free plan — no card, no expiry — and watch the count against real visitors before you decide.