Kayako review (2026): is it worth it?
Help desk with an AI agent billed per resolved ticket
Black Friday: is there a Kayako sale?
Kayako report card
Weak · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for an AI agent paid per resolved ticket
Kayako leads with Kay, an AI agent that takes actions such as refunds and exchanges and costs $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat or setup fees. The price of the Kayako One help desk behind it isn't published, there is no trial, and the vendor's team does the setup.
Who Kayako is for
- Fits if refunds and exchanges are most of your tickets and you want to pay per resolution
- Works for a team that wants the vendor to do the setup
Who Kayako is not for
- Skip it if you want to see a price for the help desk, as Kayako One's is not published
- Not for you if you want to sign up and start alone, since the vendor sets it up
- Watch out: only fully resolved tickets cost $1, and a resolution means Kay solved it with no human agent
- Watch out: no free plan or trial is on record
Why Kayako gets a 1.8
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyKay is $1 per resolved ticket with no seat fees, but no price is published for Kayako One, so it can't be set against the category's $29 middle.
- FFree plan and trialNo free plan and no trial are on record, and the pages we read show nothing to try before paying.
- CFeaturesA help desk with ticketing, shared inbox and knowledge base, plus Kay, which acts through connected systems. The listing says little about the help desk's own limits, and a resolution counts only if no human was needed.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record, and the page says Kayako's team sets up the platform for you.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, with 7 listed integrations. No phone or desktop app on record.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Kayako's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/kayako#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/kayako.svg" alt="Kayako: 1.8 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Kayako stands among help desk and live chat tools
Kayako's GPA of 1.8 is higher than 3 of the 66 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 11.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 6 of 66) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 67 help desk and live chat tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Kayako’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 18 of 66, level with 25
- FFree plan and trialAbove 0 of 66, level with 10
- CFeaturesAbove 3 of 66, level with 42
- CEase of useAbove 5 of 66, level with 56
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 6 of 66, level with 54
Keep Kayako, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Kayako you would be making an AI model answering your customers from your own help articles. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 52 of the 66 other help desk and live chat tools grade higher.
What you could make
- Help desk and help center: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
- One mailbox that several people work at once.
- A chat box on your site that reaches you the moment a customer types.
- It plugs into other products, Slack, Stripe and Shopify among them.
- Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
What this rests on. Kayako’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Kayako?
Kayako is a help desk platform that now leads with Kay, an AI agent that takes actions such as refunds, exchanges and account changes through connected systems. Kay is billed per resolved ticket, and a fuller platform called Kayako One adds a unified inbox, ticketing, a knowledge base and a live chat widget.
Worth knowing
- Kay costs $1 per resolved ticket; escalations to humans and partial resolutions are not charged, and the page says there are no seat or setup fees.
- No price for Kayako One is published, so this listing records its pricing as unverified.
- A resolution means Kay solved the issue without a human agent, by acting or giving an answer the customer confirms.
- Kayako says its team sets up the platform for you, so it is less of a self-serve sign-up.
Key features
- Kay AI agent
- Resolves tickets end to end by acting through connected tools, for example processing a refund, sending a return label or resetting a password.
- Phased AI rollout
- Kayako's team introduces AI in three phases: ticket triage, drafted answers, then continuous learning with escalation to agents.
- Kayako One platform
- A full help desk with a unified inbox, ticketing system, knowledge base, live chat widget, automation rules and reporting.
- Works with your stack
- Kay connects to systems such as Slack, Stripe, Shopify, Zendesk, Salesforce, Twilio and HubSpot, or to any system with an API.
- Add Kay to an existing help desk
- Kayako says Kay can also run on top of a help desk you already use, instead of replacing it.
Kayako pricing
We could not confirm Kayako’s current pricing from its own site, so we are not listing plans here. See kayako.com for current prices.
Works with
Kayako alternatives
- Kayako vs Zendesk
Free trial · from $19/mo
- Kayako vs Freshdesk
Free trial · from $19/mo
- Kayako vs Intercom
Free trial · from $29/mo
- Kayako vs HappyFox
Free trial · from $24/mo
- Kayako vs HelpDesk
Free trial · from $19/mo
Common questions
Does Kayako have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Kayako is listed for Web.
Does Kayako have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Kayako is listed for Web.
Is Kayako open source?
Kayako is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.