Forethought vs Lorikeet (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Lorikeet grades higher than Forethought: 1.8 against 1.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Forethought grades higher on value for money and ease of use. Lorikeet grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms.
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
Lorikeet
AI agent that resolves complex support tickets end to end
Free trial · from $2,100/mo
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 Lorikeet if
- Fits if you handle thousands of tickets a month and want an agent to take the repeat ones
- Works for teams that keep written procedures an AI can follow
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you handle a few hundred tickets a month, since the entry plan is $2,100
- Pricey if you use voice, as voice resolutions cost $1.50 each on Start and $1.20 on Scale
- Watch out: each resolution is billed on top of the plan, though escalations and unresolved tickets are not
- Watch out: full pricing is set after a consultation
How we grade them
| 1.4GPAForethoughtWeak | 1.8GPALorikeetWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published; Team, Professional and Enterprise are quote-only and priced by outcome. | D$2,100 a month on annual billing for under 5,000 tickets, far above the $89 where the dearest tenth of support tools starts, plus $0.99 to $1.50 per resolution. It is a different kind of product, an AI resolver, but the entry cost is steep. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is listed on the pricing page. | C30-day free trial on every plan. No free plan, and the listing does not say a card is needed. |
| Features | DIt adds AI on top of an existing help desk, so it needs another product to be useful. | CIt resolves tickets through your systems, follows written procedures, covers channels, triage and automated QA. It works on top of a help desk you already have. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Connected to your help desk and knowledge, with a sales-led rollout. | DNo store rating on record. Time to first live ticket averages under 29 days. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with Slack the one integration listed. | BWeb only, with 4 integrations on record. |
| Best for | AI agents on top of your help desk | a high-volume support team wanting an AI resolver |
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 Lorikeet. How we grade
Where they differ
- Forethought also covers reports, help desk and chatbots.
- Lorikeet also covers workflow automation and AI agents.
In commonWebAI support agent
At a glance
| Forethought | Lorikeet | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $2,100 per month, paid annually, plus per-resolution rates |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day free trial on every plan |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Forethought | Lorikeet |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | lorikeetcx.ai |
| 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.
Lorikeet
- The entry plan is $2,100 a month paid annually, so it suits teams with real ticket volume.
- Voice resolutions cost $1.50 each on Start and $1.20 on Scale, with full pricing set after a consultation.
- Escalations to a person and unresolved tickets are not charged, but each resolution is billed on top of the plan.
- Time to first live ticket averages under 29 days, according to the pricing page.
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.
Lorikeet
- Resolves tickets through your systems
- The agent works inside tools like Zendesk, Intercom, Salesforce and HubSpot and completes requests through the company's own APIs.
- Follows written procedures
- Company procedures, from a short form to a long refund flow, are executed step by step rather than answered from help articles.
- Channels
- Pricing covers chat, email and SMS resolutions, inbound or outbound, and voice calls at a higher per-call rate.
- Triage and automated QA
- Separate per-ticket rates cover routing or analytics tagging of tickets and automated quality checks of conversations.
- Goal-driven outreach
- Dreamweaver takes a goal such as retention or lifetime value and decides what each customer needs next, including outbound messages.
Plans
Forethought
Pricing could not be confirmed. See forethought.ai.
Lorikeet
Start$2,100
per month, paid annually, for under 5,000 tickets a month
Platform included; chat, email and SMS resolutions $0.99 each, triage $0.30, automated QA $0.30.
Scale$5,100
per month, paid annually, for 5,000 to 20,000 tickets a month
Platform included; chat, email and SMS resolutions $0.90 each, triage $0.27, automated QA $0.27.
SignatureCustom
For 20,000 or more tickets a month; custom rates, and a $75K platform fee on the custom enterprise tier.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Forethought or Lorikeet?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Forethought has no price we could confirm, and Lorikeet starts at $2,100 per month, paid annually, plus per-resolution rates.
Which has a free plan, Forethought or Lorikeet?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Forethought nor Lorikeet has a free plan. Lorikeet has a free trial.
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.