AI Help Desk Software for Startups and Small Teams
JIVIQ is AI help desk software that answers customers in your website chat, using only your own docs. A reply typically takes 2 to 4 seconds. When the docs don't cover a question, the AI says so and hands the chat to your team.
✓ No per-resolution fees ✓ No card for the trial ✓ Plans from $9/mo
Founder and CEO, JIVIQ (Stratus Labs)
"I had seven tabs open at 2 AM: help desk, scheduler, video calls, a transcriber, a bug tracker, a CRM and email. I realised I had become the manual integration layer." From the founder letter on why JIVIQ exists.
Why a Ticket Queue Is a Poor Fit for a Small Software Team
Help desks like Zendesk and Freshdesk are built for support departments that triage high volumes of email. That model works for them. For a team of two or three, it adds steps between the customer and the person who can actually answer.
A prospect asks a simple question and gets "Your request #49281 has been received." They wanted an answer, not a receipt.
API keys, billing dates, how to reset a password. If it's in your docs, a person shouldn't have to retype it every day.
When support lives in one tool and customer history in another, you go into a renewal call without knowing what the customer has been struggling with.
Answering a Question vs Deflecting It
A chatbot that sends three help links has not answered anything. Here is the difference in practice.
Links instead of answers
- ✕ Spots a word like "refund" and replies with a list of articles.
- ✕ Leaves the visitor to read the articles and find the one line that matters.
- ✕ Makes the customer explain the problem again when a person takes over.
- ✕ On some per-outcome pricing, a customer who simply stops replying can still count as resolved. Intercom's Fin, for example, is billed at $0.99 per outcome, and its definition includes the customer not asking for more help.
An answer from your docs, or an honest "I don't know"
- ✓ Writes the answer in the chat, in the visitor's language, from your knowledge base.
- ✓ A reply typically takes 2 to 4 seconds.
- ✓ When a person takes over, the whole conversation is already in the thread.
- ✓ AI conversations are included in the plan (100 a month on Co-Pilot, 500 on Auto-Pilot), not billed per answer.
Intercom pricing from intercom.com/pricing, checked October 31, 2026.
How JIVIQ Keeps Answers Accurate
The main risk with an AI help desk is that it invents a feature, an API or a price. JIVIQ is set up to avoid that, and to tell you when it couldn't help.
Every reply goes through the same checks. The full process is in How JIVIQ AI answers questions.
Your docs only
The AI searches your knowledge base and nothing else. It has no web browsing and doesn't use other businesses' data.
Claim check
In Autopilot, each claim in a draft is checked against your docs before it is sent. The visitor sees "Checking every claim against the docs…" while this runs.
Decline and escalate
If the answer isn't there, the AI declines and offers a person. The question is logged under Assistant Gaps so you can add the answer.
AI Help Desk Pricing Compared
How each tool charges for people and for AI, from each vendor's pricing page on October 31, 2026.
| Software | Pricing basis | How AI is charged | Teammates | Main channel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JIVIQ | $9, $19 or $49/mo per workspace | Included (100 or 500 AI conversations/mo) | Unlimited, no seat fees | Website chat |
| Zendesk Suite Team | $55 per agent/mo, billed annually ($165/mo for 3) | 5 automated resolutions per agent/mo included, then $2.00 each pay-as-you-go | Paid per agent | Email, chat and more |
| Intercom + Fin | Per seat | $0.99 per Fin outcome | Paid per seat | Chat, email and more |
Sources: Zendesk pricing, Intercom pricing, JIVIQ billing and plans. Checked October 31, 2026; vendors change prices, so confirm before you buy.
Setting Up JIVIQ in Four Steps
No routing rules or decision trees. The installation guide walks through each step.
Add your docs
Import public pages from your sitemap (up to 1,000 per job) or llms.txt, or upload PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV or MD files up to 25 MB.
Preview and publish
Set the assistant's name, tone and greeting in Chat Studio, preview it, then publish. Changes go live in about a minute.
Paste the script tag
Add one async script tag before the closing body tag. There are guides for WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, Squarespace and Google Tag Manager.
Turn on alerts
Install JIVIQ on your phone as a home-screen app and turn on push alerts. Email is the fallback when nobody is in the app. See mobile notifications.
Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers on how the AI help desk works, what it costs, and what it doesn't do.
What is AI help desk software? ▼
How is JIVIQ different from a ticketing system like Zendesk? ▼
How does JIVIQ avoid making up answers? ▼
Does JIVIQ charge per AI resolution? ▼
Can I take over a live conversation from my phone? ▼
What do I need to set up JIVIQ as a help desk? ▼
What doesn't JIVIQ do? ▼
Try the AI Help Desk on Your Own Docs
The 14-day trial includes Auto-Pilot features and needs no credit card. After that, plans are $9, $19 or $49 a month per workspace.