Forethought vs Siena AI (2026): which should you pick?

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 Siena AI if

• Fits if you run a consumer brand with a help desk already and many repeat tickets
• Works for a team that wants to pay per automated ticket

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't already have a help desk, as it works inside one
• Pricey if your volume is small, since $750 a month is due before the first ticket
• Tight if you want to try first: there is no free plan or trial, only a sandbox that comes with the fee
• Watch out: the vendor sends tailored pricing after a form, and some agents are marked coming soon

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.

Siena AI

• Siena is an AI agent, not a help desk: it needs a separate help desk such as Zendesk or Gorgias to work in.
• Cost has two parts: $750 a month plus $0.90 per automated ticket, per the pricing page; the page says the vendor sends tailored pricing after a form.
• No free plan or trial is listed, though the platform fee includes an unlimited sandbox.
• Some agents on the site, such as the Shopping Agent, are marked as coming soon.

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.

Siena AI

Customer Service Agent

Replies to shopper conversations in a brand's own voice and handles order questions, and hands over to people when needed.

Works inside your help desk

Integrations list Zendesk, Gorgias, Intercom, Kustomer, Gladly and Dixa, so Siena sends and receives conversations there.

Ecommerce actions

Connects to Shopify, subscription tools such as Recharge and Skio, returns through Loop, and shipment tracking through AfterShip and others.

Analytics and QA

Ask Siena and a Topics Explorer turn conversations into customer insights, and a quality assurance tool scores conversations automatically.

More agents

The site lists shopping, reviews and social agents alongside support; some are marked as coming soon.

Forethought

Pricing could not be confirmed. See forethought.ai.

Siena AI

• Platform fee$750

  per month

  Access to the core AI engine and an unlimited sandbox. Automated tickets are billed separately at $0.90 each, with onboarding and a dedicated Slack channel for support.