Gladly vs Zowie (2026): which should you pick?

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

Pick Zowie if

• Fits if you run customer service at enterprise scale
• Works for a regulated company that wants rules-based decisions, such as an insurer

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a price, as none is published and the pricing address returns not found
• Skip it if you're a small team, since the vendor aims at enterprise operations
• Watch out: no free plan or trial, only a demo
• Watch out: only one go-live time is stated, 6 weeks for an insurer

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.

Zowie

• No prices or plans are published, and the pricing address on the site returns not found; the site points to booking a demo.
• Aimed at enterprise customer service operations, not a small-team chat widget.
• The vendor describes a regulated insurer going live in 6 weeks; other timelines are not stated.
• It lists GDPR among its compliance material; the details sit in separate pages not read here.

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.

Zowie

Agent Studio

Configure an agent's persona, intents, knowledge, flows and playbooks; the site says customer-experience staff can self-serve while engineering governs.

Decision Engine

A deterministic engine runs the business rules, while the language model only interprets the request and words the reply.

Voice, chat and email channels

One agent is deployed across voice, chat, app and contact-center channels, plus an email agent.

Supervisor, Tester and Traces

Supervisor scores each conversation against set standards, and Traces logs the reasoning behind each decision.

Open platform

The vendor says customers can choose their own language model and voice, and connect agents built elsewhere.

Inbox for handoffs

An Inbox product sits alongside the agents for human handling of conversations.

Gladly

Pricing could not be confirmed. See gladly.ai.

Zowie

Pricing could not be confirmed. See getzowie.com.