Gladly

Gladly is a customer service platform built around a people-centric model — every customer has a single, continuous conversation timeline across all channels instead of individual tickets. The platform holds a 4.7 out of 5 rating from over 1,090 reviews on G2 (G2, 2026) and serves large consumer brands including Nordstrom, Crate & Barrel, Warby Parker, JetBlue, and JOANN. Gladly's architecture eliminates ticket numbers entirely: an email on Monday, a phone call on Wednesday, and a chat message on Friday all appear as one thread tied to the customer, not three separate cases. Agents are called "heroes," and the Hero plan starts at $180/hero/month with a 10-hero minimum, creating an $1,800/month floor before voice and SMS usage charges (Hiver, Ringly, 2026). The platform supports voice, email, chat, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Apple Business Chat. Gladly Sidekick handles AI-driven self-service, and Hero AI provides agent-facing suggestions, conversation summaries, and autonomous resolution on supported channels.

Converge is a messaging-first customer support inbox priced at $49/month flat for up to 15 team members. It covers WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Instagram, Zalo, Messenger, Gmail, email, and an embeddable chat widget with visitor tracking, UTM attribution, and lead capture. The two platforms target different markets: Gladly serves enterprise consumer brands with 50+ agents, built-in telephony, and deep e-commerce integrations (Shopify Plus, BigCommerce); Converge targets small-to-mid support teams that need broad messaging channel coverage without per-seat pricing.

Gladly's defining feature is its people-centric data model. Traditional help desks create a new ticket per interaction; Gladly creates one lifelong conversation per customer. When a customer emails on Monday, calls on Wednesday, and messages via Instagram on Friday, all three interactions appear as entries in a single continuous thread. Agents see the full history — previous issues, resolutions, promises made — without searching across ticket numbers. This model works well for consumer brands where customers contact support repeatedly about orders, returns, and account issues. Gladly also eliminates ticket routing complexity: conversations are assigned at the customer level, not per-message, reducing handoffs. The platform's "Topics" system categorizes interactions for reporting without imposing ticket-based workflows on agents.

The platform natively supports voice (phone calls with IVR, warm/cold transfers, call routing), email, web chat, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, WhatsApp, and Apple Business Chat. Gladly Sidekick is the self-service AI layer — it handles customer queries autonomously across digital channels using knowledge base content and conversation context. Hero AI is the agent-facing component, providing reply suggestions, conversation summaries, and tone adjustment. In March 2025, Gladly launched Sidekick on Voice, extending AI capabilities to phone calls using the customer's full cross-channel history (PRNewswire, 2025). Workforce management, coaching dashboards, and advanced reporting round out the enterprise feature set. The Shopify Plus integration surfaces order history, customer lifetime value, and enables in-conversation refund processing. Native integrations also exist for BigCommerce, Loop (returns), Recurly, and Recharge.

Converge supports WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Instagram, Zalo, Messenger, Gmail, email, and an embeddable chat widget — ten channels at $49/month flat. Telegram, Discord, and Zalo are channels Gladly does not offer at any pricing tier. The chat widget includes beacon tracking (visitor device, location, referrer), UTM parameter capture, lead lifecycle tracking (visitor → engaged → lead → customer), FAQ self-service, and suggested conversation starters. AI reply suggestions with configurable tone (professional, friendly, casual) and quick reply matching are included without usage caps or metered billing. Converge does not offer voice, the people-centric timeline architecture, workforce management, e-commerce integrations, or Gladly's scale of AI autonomy. The products serve different operational requirements — Gladly for enterprise consumer brands needing telephony and deep commerce data, Converge for messaging-focused teams needing channel breadth at predictable cost.

Gladly pricing (annual billing required, per hero/agent, based on reported quotes from Hiver, Ringly, and Topadvisor, 2026):

• Hero: $180/hero/month — full platform access, all native channels, people-centric inbox, unified customer timeline, basic reporting. Minimum 10 heroes required, creating an $1,800/month floor ($21,600/year) regardless of actual team size.
• Superhero: $210/hero/month — everything in Hero plus advanced reporting, premium support, API access, and AI capabilities. Minimum 45 heroes required, establishing a $9,450/month floor ($113,400/year).
• Voice and SMS: Billed separately. Inbound/outbound call minutes, IVR usage, international calling, carrier fees, and per-message SMS charges are added on top of per-hero pricing. For voice-heavy teams, these usage-based costs increase the monthly bill substantially (Hiver, 2026).
• Add-ons: Onboarding and implementation support, data migration services, premium CRM integrations, and custom workflow configurations are negotiated as one-time or annual fees separate from the base subscription.

The minimum seat requirement is the primary cost driver for smaller teams. A 5-person support team still pays for 10 heroes on the Hero plan: $1,800/month ($21,600/year) for 5 unused seats. A 10-person team: $1,800/month. A 15-person team: $2,700/month ($32,400/year). No free trial is publicly available — access requires a sales-led process and annual commitment. Monthly billing is uncommon, and adding or removing seats mid-contract typically requires renegotiation (Hiver, 2026).

Converge: $49/month flat for up to 15 team members, all channels included, AI reply suggestions with no usage caps, 14-day free trial with no credit card required. No annual contract — month-to-month billing. A single Gladly Hero seat ($180/month) costs 3.7× Converge's entire team subscription. A 10-hero Gladly deployment ($1,800/month) costs 36.7× Converge. For a 15-person team, Gladly Hero costs $2,700/month versus Converge's $49/month — annual savings of $31,812. The platforms serve different market segments, but for teams under 15 agents, the pricing gap is significant.

Choose Gladly if:

• You are a consumer brand (retail, travel, hospitality, DTC) with 50+ agents that needs a people-centric conversation model instead of ticket-based workflows
• Voice (phone calls, IVR, warm transfers) is a primary support channel alongside digital messaging
• Your budget supports $180/hero/month with a 10-hero minimum ($1,800/month floor) and annual contracts
• You need native Shopify Plus integration with in-conversation order history, lifetime value data, and refund processing
• Your customers contact support repeatedly across channels and expect agents to know their full interaction history without re-explaining
• You need workforce management, coaching dashboards, and advanced reporting for large team operations
• Sidekick AI autonomous resolution across voice and digital channels is a priority for deflecting support volume

Choose Converge if:

• Your team is under 15 people and $1,800/month minimum exceeds your support tooling budget
• You need WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Zalo, Instagram, and Messenger in one inbox — Telegram, Discord, and Zalo are channels Gladly does not support
• You want flat $49/month pricing for up to 15 agents with no per-seat charges, no annual contract, and no minimum seat requirements
• You need a chat widget with visitor tracking, UTM attribution, beacon data, FAQ self-service, and lead capture included at no extra cost
• AI reply suggestions with configurable tone and BYOK API key support matter more than autonomous AI resolution
• You prefer a 14-day free trial (no credit card) over Gladly's sales-led evaluation process with no public trial
• Your support is messaging-focused and you do not require built-in telephony, IVR, or deep e-commerce integrations