Forethought vs Gladly (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Gladly grades higher than Forethought: 2.0 against 1.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Gladly grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Forethought
Enterprise AI agents for support, sold by quote and joining Zendesk
Paid
Which one is for you
Pick Forethought if
- Fits if you are a large support team adding AI to a help desk
- Works for buyers comfortable with a sales-led quote
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a price, as all three plans are quotes
- Watch out: the CEO's post says Zendesk plans to acquire it, so plans may change
- Watch out: email, voice and Slack agents need Professional or higher; Team covers chat and mobile
- Watch out: Multibrand, Analytics API and Discover are quoted separately
Pick Gladly if
- Fits if you run a retail or ecommerce brand with heavy chat, SMS and phone volume
- Works for teams that want service and sales handled by the same AI
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a price, as none is published
- Not for you if you want a free plan or trial, because neither is listed
- Watch out: the pages are written for retail, so other industries get less detail
- Watch out: its resolution-rate figures come from customer examples, with no published method
How we grade them
| 1.4GPAForethoughtWeak | 2.0GPAGladlyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published; Team, Professional and Enterprise are quote-only and priced by outcome. | CNo price is published, and the pricing address redirects to the home page. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is listed on the pricing page. | FNo free plan and no trial is listed; it routes you to a demo. |
| Features | DIt adds AI on top of an existing help desk, so it needs another product to be useful. | BOne customer record, AI for service and commerce, phone, routing and operations. Nothing in the listing is missing. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Connected to your help desk and knowledge, with a sales-led rollout. | CNo store rating on record. Rolled out with a demo and your commerce stack. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with Slack the one integration listed. | BWeb, with Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. iOS and Android are only SDKs. |
| Best for | AI agents on top of your help desk | one customer record across chat, SMS and phone |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Forethought and Gladly. How we grade
Where they differ
- Forethought also covers reports and chatbots.
- Gladly also covers shared inbox, workflow automation, live chat, sMS marketing and whatsApp messaging.
In commonWebHelp deskAI support agent
At a glance
| Forethought | Gladly | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Forethought | Gladly Software, Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Forethought
- No price is published: Team, Professional and Enterprise are all quote-only, and the pricing page calls it outcome-based.
- Multibrand, Analytics API and Discover are add-ons that are also quoted separately.
- Its CEO says Forethought has agreed to be acquired by Zendesk, so plans and packaging may change.
- Email, voice and Slack agents need Professional or higher; Team covers chat and mobile.
Gladly
- No prices are published; the site routes every visit to a demo request, and a /pricing address redirects to the home page.
- The pages are written for retail and ecommerce brands and mention Shopify integration, so other industries get less detail.
- The pages list no standalone desktop or phone apps for agents; iOS and Android are SDKs for adding chat to your own app.
- The vendor states its figures, such as resolution rates, from customer examples and does not publish a method.
Key features
Forethought
- Solve agent
- An AI agent that answers customers across chat, and on higher plans email, voice and Slack, using the company's past tickets and help center content.
- Triage agent
- Classifies tickets with ready-made or custom models for sentiment, intent and spam, then tags and routes them to the right agent.
- Agentic copilot
- Gives human agents suggested next steps and replies inside the help desk they already use.
- AI QA
- Scores support tickets against rubrics: 1 rubric on Team, 5 on Professional and 20 on Enterprise.
- Insights and gap detection
- Reports on conversations; Professional adds AI-surfaced insights and Enterprise adds knowledge gap detection with AI-written articles.
Gladly
- One record per customer
- Every chat, email, text, call and social message lands on one lifelong customer profile with order history and preferences, so agents and AI start with the context.
- AI for service
- Gladly AI answers on chat, email, SMS and voice and works multi-step requests through, handing off to a person with the full conversation when needed.
- AI for commerce
- The commerce agent recommends products from a shopper's past orders and can take payment in the conversation through a secure card form.
- Phone and omnichannel
- A built-in phone system with IVR sits beside chat, SMS, email, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, with iOS and Android SDKs for in-app chat.
- Routing and operations
- People Match routing, tasks, quality assurance, workforce management, CSAT surveys and FAQ management are part of the workspace.
- Works beside other help desks
- The vendor says Gladly AI can run alongside an existing Zendesk or Salesforce help desk.
Plans
Forethought
Pricing could not be confirmed. See forethought.ai.
Gladly
Pricing could not be confirmed. See gladly.ai.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Forethought or Gladly?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Forethought has no price we could confirm, and Gladly has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Forethought or Gladly?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Forethought nor Gladly has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.