Gladly vs Kayako
Gladly and Kayako, side by side across AI, pricing, channels, security, and seven more categories. We pull every figure from public sources and don’t pick a winner.
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Gladly
The only AI built for LTV. People-centered AI support; no ticket model.
Best for Mid-market to enterprise retail, ecommerce, and hospitality (Ulta, Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, TUMI).
2014 · San Francisco, CA.
Kayako
AI-first support platform. Kay AI agent positioned as an autonomous resolver, tagline "Scale Support Not Headcount."
Best for Mid-market to enterprise (retail/ecommerce, SaaS, financial services, healthcare) wanting managed, expert-led AI.
2001 (Jalandhar, India, by Varun Shoor). · London, UK (plus Gurgaon and Singapore).
Claimed: from the vendor, not independently verified.
3rd-party: sourced elsewhere, not on the vendor's site.
Everything else: from the vendor's own pages and verifiable.
Pricing
List prices, seat rules, trials, and pricing transparency.
- Pricing model
- GladlyPer agent/mo, annual; usage fees for voice, SMS, and AI; not published on site.
- KayakoHybrid: flat platform fee (Kayako One) plus $1 per AI-resolved ticket.
- Free trial / guarantee
- GladlyNo (enterprise); 30-day trial with 100 AI interactions via Shopify only.
- Kayako90-day AI Agent Pilot with refund guarantee; 14-day trial also cited.(3rd-party)source
- Price
- Gladly~$180/agent/mo (Hero, annual). · ~$210/agent/mo (Superhero, annual). · Not disclosed. Enterprise quote above Superhero.(3rd-party)source
- Kayako$79/mo flat (Kayako One). · Single platform tier. · Enterprise/custom via sales.(3rd-party)source
- Seat minimum
- Gladly~10 agents (Hero); ~45 (Superhero).(3rd-party)source
- KayakoNone stated (legacy Cloud 5, On-Prem 10).(3rd-party)source
- Unlimited agents
- GladlyNo. Priced per agent.(3rd-party)source
- KayakoKayako One flat fee implies unlimited agents, though not stated explicitly.(claimed)source
- Implementation fee
- GladlyNot disclosed. Custom quote; Professional Services.(3rd-party)source
- KayakoWhite-glove onboarding included.
- Transparency
- GladlyOpaque. No pricing on site; requires a demo.
- KayakoLow. No plan prices listed publicly; directs to Talk to an Expert. The $1/resolution rate is the only public figure.
Channels
Where each tool can talk to customers.
- GladlyNative
- KayakoNative
- Live chat
- GladlyNative
- KayakoNative
- Voice
- GladlyNative. Built-in, enterprise-ready.
- KayakoListed as a channel (native voice is contested).
- SMS
- GladlyNative
- KayakoListed as a channel (native SMS is contested).
- Social
- GladlyNative. Facebook Messenger, Instagram.
- KayakoNative. X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn.(claimed)source
Voice & Telephony
Native voice vs telephony integrations.
- Native vs via integration
- GladlyNative. Voice and IVR built-in, no third-party telephony needed.
- KayakoVoice channel listed; native voice/IVR is contested (Twilio suggested as an alternative).
- Voice AI / transcription
- GladlyYes. AI voice summaries and transcription (Deepgram).
- KayakoNot disclosed
- Telephony billed separately
- GladlyYes. Per-minute on top of the seat fee (inbound local ~$0.0186/min).(3rd-party)source
- KayakoNot disclosed
AI & Automation
Autonomous resolution, agentic actions, models, and how AI is priced.
- Autonomous AI agent
- GladlyYes. Gladly Sidekick resolves end-to-end on chat, SMS, and voice (email soon); human handoff.(claimed)source
- KayakoYes. Kay triages, drafts, processes refunds, updates shipping, creates users, and closes cases.(claimed)source
- Copilot / Assist mode
- GladlyYes. Team Assist: AI-drafted responses, real-time translation, and summaries.(claimed)source
- KayakoYes. Response suggestions, sentiment coaching, auto-translation, duplicate detection, field autofill.(claimed)source
- Claimed automation rate
- Gladly76% of conversations fully resolved by AI (homepage); KUHL 59%.(claimed)source
- Kayako80%+ of repetitive tickets resolved within 90 days; 68% AI resolution rate.(claimed)source
- AI channel coverage
- GladlyChat, SMS, and voice (Sidekick Voice); email launching soon; social not confirmed.(claimed)source
- KayakoEmail, chat, voice, social (X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, WhatsApp), SMS.(claimed)source
- Agentic actions (API) vs answer-only
- GladlyBoth. Refunds, cancellations, and booking updates via connected commerce and logistics APIs.(claimed)source
- KayakoActions via API. Refunds, shipping updates, and user creation through external APIs.(claimed)source
- Knowledge sources
- GladlyBrand KB (Guides), conversation history, and integrated commerce, logistics, and order data.(claimed)source
- KayakoKnowledge base, ticket history and resolution data, company docs, customer profile data.(claimed)source
- Underlying model
- GladlyNot publicly disclosed; uses Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Deepgram (voice).
- KayakoNot disclosed
- Trains on past tickets
- GladlyYes. Learns from every conversation, including human resolutions; not used to train its own models.(claimed)source
- KayakoYes. Continuous Learning trains on resolved tickets.(claimed)source
- Pre-deploy simulation / sandbox
- GladlyNot disclosed
- KayakoNo named simulation mode. No-code builder tests rules against historical data.
- Multilingual
- GladlyPartial. Platform translation in 70+ languages; Sidekick AI authoring English-only; IVR 30 languages.
- KayakoYes. Multi-language with auto-translation.(claimed)source
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- GladlyNative only. Sidekick needs Gladly as the primary helpdesk.
- KayakoBoth. Kay can layer onto Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, or Kayako's own helpdesk.(claimed)source
- AI pricing model
- GladlyUsage-based (per conversation or resolution) on top of a per-agent fee.(3rd-party)source
- KayakoPer resolved ticket (counts only when Kay solves without a human).
- AI unit price
- Gladly~$0.60/conversation (enterprise); $1.50/AI Resolution + $0.25/AI Assist (Shopify tier).(3rd-party)source
- Kayako$1 per AI-resolved ticket.
- Copilot / Assist price
- GladlyNot disclosed (Team Assist not broken out).
- KayakoBundled into the platform.
How Open.cx compares
Open.cx runs on top of Gladly or Kayakoas an AI layer, or works as its own helpdesk. Here's where it lands on the same questions.
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- Both. Add it on top of the helpdesk you already run, or use it as your own inbox. Works with Zendesk, Intercom, Front, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365, Twilio Flex, and Creatio.
- Autonomous AI agent
- Yes. Autopilot resolves tickets end to end on its own, across every channel.
- AI pricing model
- Per resolution, so you pay for outcomes. Escalations to a human are free.
- Claimed automation rate
- 77% average automation; up to 80% (Trunkrs)(claimed)source
Security & Compliance
Certifications, data residency, and access controls.
- SOC 2 Type II
- GladlySOC 2 Type II (and AI sub-processors).
- KayakoAWS infrastructure holds SOC 1/2/3; Kayako does not claim its own SOC 2 certification.
- GDPR
- GladlyYes. DPAs with AI vendors; VeraSafe EU/UK representative.
- KayakoGDPR referenced; certified under EU-US DPF, UK Extension, and Swiss-US DPF.
- HIPAA / PCI
- GladlyNot disclosed. PCI-DSS and GDPR confirmed; HIPAA not referenced.
- KayakoListed as an evaluation criterion, not a confirmed certification.
- SSO / SAML
- GladlyYes. SSO; SAML certificates.
- KayakoSSO supported; SAML SSO via connectors; 2FA.
- Data residency
- GladlyPartial. 9 global regions for voice; no explicit customer-selectable residency.
- KayakoNot disclosed (data may be stored in the EEA, US, or other countries).
Integrations
Marketplace breadth, APIs, and developer tooling.
- Marketplace / integrations (approx.)
- Gladly60+ integrations.
- KayakoNo native marketplace; hundreds via Zapier (Integrately lists 554). Native connectors: Salesforce, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, Shopify, Stripe, Jira, GitHub.
- Shopify depth
- GladlyDeep native. Customer and purchase history, order management, returns (via Loop), and shipping; Shopify App Store trial.
- KayakoPre-built connector syncing order and customer data into the SingleView timeline; bi-directional.(claimed)source
- Open / public API
- GladlyYes. Open APIs; developer.gladly.com.
- KayakoYes. RESTful API plus webhooks (developer.kayako.com).
- Developer SDK / MCP
- GladlyYes. SDKs, sample apps, and testing; webhooks via Messaging Automation APIs.
- KayakoDev docs exist; no dedicated SDK package named.
Automation & Workflows
Builders, triggers, routing, and SLAs.
- Workflow builder
- GladlyRouting and entry-point config; no named workflow builder.
- KayakoYes. No-code builder: describe rules in natural language, AI drafts them, test on historical data, approval gates.(claimed)source
- Triggers / automations
- GladlyYes. Automated routing, proactive outreach (voice, SMS, email), and entry-point rules.
- KayakoYes. Triggers/monitors with conditions, time-based, and AI-triggered (e.g. sentiment drop escalates).(claimed)source
- Routing
- GladlyYes. People Match intelligent routing (history, skills, attributes).
- KayakoYes. AI triage auto-classifies and routes; custom SLAs per channel.(claimed)source
- Macros / canned responses
- GladlyYes. Quick Reply (button responses) and macros.
- KayakoYes. Prewritten responses and macros.(claimed)source
- SLA management
- GladlyYes. SLA Business Hours and Entry Point SLA settings.
- KayakoYes. Custom SLAs per channel; performance across intents, channels, and regions.(claimed)source
Collaboration
How support teams work a queue together.
- Collision detection
- GladlyReferenced in comparisons; not confirmed on a Gladly page.(3rd-party)source
- KayakoYes. Helps prevent duplicate effort.(claimed)source
- Side conversations
- GladlyNot disclosed
- KayakoNo named feature; collaboration with experts/vendors referenced.
- Shared inbox
- GladlyYes. Unified inbox; task management tied to customer threads.
- KayakoYes. Multi-team shared inboxes.(claimed)source
Self-Service & Knowledge
Knowledge base, help center, and deflection.
- Knowledge base
- GladlyYes. Answers KB for agents and AI; configured via non-developer Guides.
- KayakoYes. Semantic search, freshness scoring, content gaps, multilingual.(claimed)source
- Help center
- GladlyYes. Customer-facing, 45+ languages.
- KayakoYes. Public help center in Kayako One.(claimed)source
- Community forum
- GladlyNot offered
- KayakoNot offered
Reporting & Analytics
Dashboards, custom reports, and CSAT.
- Dashboards
- GladlyYes. Liveboards (real-time) and Insight Builder.
- KayakoYes. Prebuilt dashboards (volume, handle time, FCR, CSAT/NPS, deflection, SLA).(claimed)source
- Custom reports
- GladlyYes. Insight Builder custom reports.
- KayakoCustom-report builder not confirmed (legacy product had 100+ reports).
- Included in lowest tier
- GladlyReporting tier restrictions not published; appears standard.
- KayakoPrebuilt reports in the Kayako One base.(claimed)source
- CSAT surveys
- GladlyYes. Native CSAT; integrates Delighted, SimpleSat, Stella.
- KayakoYes. CSAT tracked (76%-90% in a case study).(claimed)source
Onboarding & Support
Implementation, CSM tiers, and partners.
- Onboarding
- GladlyDedicated implementation team; Professional Services; guided docs.
- KayakoWhite-glove, expert-led onboarding included; phased 2-4 week implementation; 90-day AI Pilot with refund guarantee.(claimed)source
- Support channels
- GladlyGladly Support team (bugs, how-tos, config); dedicated CSM post-implementation.
- KayakoHelp center (support.kayako.com), Talk to an Expert, email; reviews note responsiveness gaps.(claimed)source
- Dedicated CSM
- GladlyYes. All customers get a dedicated CSM post-implementation.
- KayakoYes. CSM as a single point of contact (appears standard).(claimed)source
- Implementation partners
- GladlyNot disclosed. No partner or SI page found.
- KayakoNo partner directory; ESW/Trilogy implies internal services only.
Frequently asked questions
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