Kayako vs Respond.io
Converge Team
Side-by-side comparison for 2026
| Feature | Kayako | Respond.io |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | From $79/seat/mo | From $199/mo |
| Best For | Traditional businesses focused on email and phone support | Medium to large enterprises needing advanced automation and AI-powered customer engagement across multiple channels |
| Standout Feature | Comprehensive knowledge base with customer portal | Sophisticated AI agents that can handle complex customer conversations and automatically qualify leads through intelligent workflows |
| Free Plan | ✗ | ✗ |
| G2 Rating | 4.2 | 4.8/5 |
Kayako and Respond.io represent different approaches to customer service technology. Kayako offers a traditional helpdesk platform with unified customer conversations, while Respond.io focuses specifically on messaging channels and modern communication preferences.
The decision often comes down to whether you need comprehensive helpdesk features or specialized messaging capabilities.
Feature Comparison
Kayako provides a unified customer service platform with features like customer journey tracking, live chat, and comprehensive reporting. It excels at giving agents complete context about customer interactions across multiple touchpoints.
Respond.io specializes in messaging-first customer support with robust WhatsApp Business API integration, automated workflows, and team collaboration features. It's built specifically for businesses that prioritize conversational messaging over traditional ticketing systems.
While Kayako offers broader helpdesk functionality, Respond.io provides deeper capabilities for messaging-based customer interactions.
Pricing Comparison
Kayako charges $15-$35 per agent per month, positioning itself in the mid-range of helpdesk solutions. This per-agent model works well for smaller teams but costs can add up quickly as you scale.
Respond.io uses flat-rate pricing at $79-$299 per month regardless of agent count, which becomes more economical for larger teams. Their pricing is based on features and message volume rather than team size.
For a 10-person support team, Kayako would cost $150-$350 monthly, while Respond.io's flat rate could provide significant savings.
Kayako
Pros
- ✓ Comprehensive multi-channel support
- ✓ Strong knowledge base functionality
- ✓ Good reporting capabilities
Cons
- ✗ Per-agent pricing gets expensive
- ✗ Limited social media integrations
- ✗ Complex setup for advanced features
Respond.io
Pros
- ✓ Comprehensive omnichannel support with deep integrations
- ✓ Advanced AI capabilities for automated customer interactions
- ✓ Powerful workflow automation with visual builder
Cons
- ✗ Complex setup and learning curve for advanced features
- ✗ Higher cost structure with per-agent pricing model
- ✗ WhatsApp API charges add significant ongoing costs
Verdict
Choose Kayako if you want a complete helpdesk solution with customer journey tracking and traditional support workflows. Choose Respond.io if messaging channels like WhatsApp are central to your customer communication strategy.
Choose Kayako if: You need comprehensive helpdesk features with customer journey tracking and prefer traditional per-agent pricing.
Choose Respond.io if: Messaging channels are crucial to your support strategy and you want flat-rate pricing that scales with your team.
Consider Converge at $49/month flat rate if you need basic customer communication without the complexity of enterprise helpdesk features or specialized messaging tools.
Looking for more options? Browse all 750+ platform comparisons, or see all Kayako comparisons and all Respond.io comparisons.