Other people's problems do not reach you
On a shared platform, one bug or one overloaded neighbour can stop all customers at once. With us every installation lives on its own: a failure in someone else's does not affect yours.
What you need
A complete help desk with an AI bot, like the market leaders have. The bot answers from your knowledge base in website chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, email and your mobile app, and hands whatever is not in the knowledge base to an agent. You pay a fixed subscription, and cloud AI is already included in the plan.
Not a toy chatbot, but the same system as in the support plans: the bot answers only from your knowledge base and does not make things up. You pay a subscription, and cloud AI is already included in the plan.
Your platform is ready a minute after registration, with a 7 day trial and no card needed.
Can I return an item without a receipt?
Yes, within 14 days. The order number from your confirmation email works instead of a receipt. You can start the return in your account.
Source: article “Returns and exchanges”What if I paid with a gift card?
Our knowledge base has no answer to this question. Please ask it differently or ask about something else.
No shared platform
EPAV Desk is not one platform for everyone. Each company works in its own separate installation with its own database, on Railway and Cloudflare infrastructure.
On a shared platform, one bug or one overloaded neighbour can stop all customers at once. With us every installation lives on its own: a failure in someone else's does not affect yours.
We offer an update and install it by hand, only with your consent. Before the update we copy your database, and if the new version does not start, your system returns to the previous one by itself.
In the running system, the only thing shared by all customers is the cloud AI gateway. If it is unavailable, the panel, chats and email work as usual, and the bot answers on a free backup model. In the worst case, conversations go to your agents.
We do not have an availability agreement yet. Current hosting status: status.railway.com
The problem
Big help desks and chatbot builders charge for every step: per agent seat, per resolved question, per message. The better your support works, the bigger the bill.
Intercom charges $0.99 per resolved conversation, Help Scout $0.75, HubSpot $0.50, Gorgias $1 on top of its per-ticket fee. The better the bot works, the bigger the bill.
A seat per month on monthly billing: from $39 at Intercom, from $69 at Zendesk Suite, from $100 at HubSpot with the AI agent. Every new team member raises the bill.
Chatbot builders count credits, and an answer from a good model costs 2 to 50 credits. You cannot work out in advance what you will pay for the month.
Intercom, Zendesk, Freshdesk and HubSpot do not let you connect your own model or an AI provider with your own key. The vendor decides which model answers and who reads the conversations.
Plans
Conversations and resolutions are not part of the price and do not increase the bill. The plans differ only in limits: every feature is in every plan.
Cloud AI in the plan
The levels differ only in how many conversations a day the cloud AI of the plan covers. Everything else is the same. A conversation is one visitor's chat with the bot, about three bot replies on average: a long back-and-forth uses more, a quick question and answer uses less.
The owner answers personally, the bot handles the rest
€49.99 per month, excl. VAT
For a small team
A support team with the bot on the first line
€99.99 per month, excl. VAT
A large support operation and a large knowledge base
€199.99 per month, excl. VAT
A separate product
€49.99 per month, excl. VAT
The website chat works without agents from the start: the bot answers visitors from your knowledge base, and if there is no answer, it says so. Inside is the same system as in the support plans. When you need people, turn on handoff to agents with a single switch.
And how much does AI cost?
No surprise bills for AI: it is already in the price. Every level comes with a monthly cloud AI budget, and each plan shows how many conversations a day it covers. The budget refills with every payment, and the cabinet shows how much is left. If it runs out early, the bot keeps answering on our free model or, if you choose so, hands the conversation to an agent. You can connect your own provider with your key or your own model in the office at any time.
Bring your own modelCost
Enter your team and conversation volume. Competitor prices are taken from their pages as of 30 September 2026, billed monthly, in US dollars.
Only needed for the bill of services that charge per closed question; our bill does not depend on it. Intercom reports an average of 76% across its customers, Help Scout 73%.
Monthly bill
Monthly bill depending on the number of agents. Conversations per month: 2,000.
Monthly bill depending on the number of conversations. Agents: 5.
| Solution | How it is charged | Per month | Per year |
|---|
An honest comparison
Only verifiable facts: prices and features from the vendors' public pages.
Scroll the table sideways: the other vendors are to the right.
| What we compare | EPAV Desk | Intercom | Zendesk | Freshdesk | HubSpot | Help Scout | Crisp | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay for AI | Included in the plan, your own provider if you want | $0.99 per resolution | Per resolution, price not published | $0.49 per AI session | $0.50 per resolution | $0.75 per resolution | Credits, about $0.05-0.10 per conversation | $0.02 per AI reply beyond those included |
| Agent seat | In the plan: 1, 5 or 25 | $39 per month | $69 per month, Suite Team | $35 per month, Omni Growth | $100 per month | $30 per month | 4-20 seats in the plan, then $10 each | $19 per month |
| 5 agents and 2,000 conversations per month | $127 | $1 383 | $345 plus resolutions | $1 155 | $1 070 | $1 050 | $200 | $249 |
| Your own AI provider with your key | Any OpenAI-compatible one | No | No | No | Only in Enterprise workflows | No | Choice from a list, no own key | Self-hosted version only |
| Your own model in the office | Yes, as an add-on | No | No | No | No | No | No | Self-hosted version only |
| MCP: your AI manages the knowledge base | Free on any plan: plan first, conflicts, rollback | Creating and editing articles | Server announced, not released | Articles, $15 per 1,000 actions beyond those included | Knowledge base not covered | Read only | Read and write, from the Essentials plan | No |
| Telegram out of the box | Yes | In the help center, “coming soon” on the pricing page | Marketplace only | Marketplace only | Marketplace only | No | Yes, from the Mini plan | Yes |
| Flutter package for your app | Yes | Not officially supported | No | Yes, in Freshchat | DIY wrappers only | Third-party only | Yes | Yes |
| Remove “Powered by” | Free, on any plan | From the Advanced plan, $85 per seat and up | In chat, Enterprise only | On paid plans | From the Starter plan | From the Plus plan | Plus only, $295 per month | Enterprise only |
| EU data storage* | On any plan, Amsterdam* | From the Advanced plan | From the Professional plan | Yes, region chosen at sign-up | Yes, Germany | No, US | Yes | Cloud in the US |
| What we compare | EPAV Desk AI chat | Chatbase | SiteGPT | DocsBot | Chatling | Tidio Lyro | Intercom Fin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price per month | from €49.99, AI included | $40 | $59 | $49 | $25 | $39 for 50 conversations | from $49.50 for 50 resolutions |
| How you pay for AI | Included in the plan, your own provider if you want | Credits, 2-6 credits per answer from a good model | Messages, 10 times pricier on the top model | Credits, model multiplier up to 50 | Credits, up to 25 per answer | Per conversation, $0.70-0.78 | $0.99 per resolution |
| 2,000 conversations per month | $70 | $310 | $118 | $98 | $95 | on request | $1 188 |
| Live agent | Panel included, turned on with a switch | From the Standard plan, $150 | Escalation by email | Handoff to third-party help desks | Yes | Yes | Handoff to your help desk |
| Your own AI provider with your key | Any OpenAI-compatible one | No | No | OpenAI only | No | No | No |
| MCP: your AI manages the knowledge base | Free: plan first, conflicts, rollback | Edits and deletions right away, no rollback | Yes, in the plan | Read only | No | No | No |
| Remove “Powered by” | Free | +$99 per month | +$59 per month | The $499 plan | +$35 per month | As an add-on | Not found |
| Telegram out of the box | Yes | Via Zapier | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Refusal instead of making things up | Code blocks answers without a source | Not found | They advise adding it to the instructions | Refuses by default | Docs admit it makes things up | Claimed | Under 1% errors claimed |
available partly or with conditions not found on official pages
Checked against the vendors' official pricing pages and help centers as of 30 September 2026. Intercom, Help Scout, HubSpot, Gorgias and Fin charge for every question their bot closes without a human, so their bill depends on the share of such questions. We took 60%: less than Intercom (76%) and Help Scout (73%) report themselves, so their bill is not inflated. Our bill does not depend on this share. Vendors change their terms, so check their pages before deciding.
AI model
After payment the bot answers on the cloud AI of your plan. Want your own provider or a model in the office? Connect it with your own key and switch or combine providers yourself, without us.
Intercom and similar services charge for every question the bot closes on its own. With us, AI is already in the price of the plan.
Providers work in order. If the first does not answer, the request goes to the next one and the bot keeps answering.
A failed provider rests and comes back on its own
Add-on
No server GPUs needed. The model behind our own bot runs on an ordinary computer with a single AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700. For a separate fee we set up a gateway, and your bot answers from your own GPU.
Component prices in German shops as of September 2026, excluding VAT; with VAT about €3,050 and €5,900-6,000. Memory prices rise fastest, so we confirm the price before purchase. You buy the computer, we choose the parts and set it up.
The model runs on your side, so neither an AI supplier nor its contractors see the text of your conversations. The system itself and the database still run on our server in the EU.*
Electricity in normal support use is about €10-35 per month, and up to €150 with both cards fully loaded around the clock, at the average EU business rate.
Everything runs on a single card. A second one is only a spare: if one breaks, the bot keeps answering.
Server GPUs are in short supply, while this card is sold in ordinary shops and fits a desktop computer.
The bot answers several customers at once, without a queue. That is how our own bot runs on the same card.
AI chat
Under the hood of the AI chat is everything the big help desks have: a knowledge base, source checks in code, reports, and agents you can turn on with a single switch.
This is an advanced approach: the bot does not reread the whole knowledge base, it finds the few articles that answer the question and writes only from them. A hundred articles or several thousand: the answer is just as accurate and costs the same.
Searches by meaning: it finds the answer even if the customer asked in their own words or in another language.
Keeps the articles that answer the question, not the ones that merely look similar.
Writes only from the articles it found. No source, no answer.
No answer in the knowledge base: the bot says so honestly and asks the customer to rephrase instead of making something up. When asked for a human, it replies that only AI answers here.
All conversations are visible in the panel, and you can reply in any of them. When you need handoff to people, turn off AI chat mode, and the bot starts passing questions to an agent.
We do not count messages: cloud AI is included in the plan price, and no credits are deducted for answers.
Accuracy
The key rules apply to every answer, and they cannot be switched off or bypassed.
95%
correct answers when the answer is in your knowledge base
We check this on hundreds of conversations in six languages. If something is not in the base, the bot does not make it up: it offers a human agent. That is why we do not promise to “resolve 80% of tickets”: that share depends on how complete your base is. We promise accuracy where the answer exists, and give you the tool to make your base complete.
Yes
An answer based on the article. The customer gets a solution right away.
No
A long answer without a source is never sent. In support the conversation goes to an agent with the reason “not in the knowledge base”, in AI chat the bot says there is no answer.
The code records why a conversation went to a human: no answer in the knowledge base, the customer asked for an agent, attempts ran out.
From resolved conversations where a human answered, the system suggests new articles. They enter the knowledge base only after approval.
A customer cannot talk the bot into breaking your rules: a request in the conversation does not cancel them.
Knowledge
No markup and no preparation. Upload what you already have, connect Confluence or let your AI assistant do the migration.
Every plan includes an MCP knowledge server. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code or Cursor with the address and an admin sign-in, no keys, and ask it to move your articles. Your assistant converts Word documents to HTML itself. It also keeps the base in order: it finds duplicates and conflicting contacts or amounts across articles, asks the base your customers' questions and shows what the bot cannot answer. It deletes only after you confirm.
You Move all articles from our Zendesk into the knowledge base. Show me the plan first.
AI The dry run plan is ready, nothing in the knowledge base has changed yet:
AI Two articles were edited in the admin panel. Keep your edits or take the text from Zendesk?
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants work with external systems.
Mobile app
A ready Flutter package opens the support chat full screen in your app. The bot, knowledge base and agents are the same as on your website.
Intercom, Zendesk, HubSpot and Help Scout have no official Flutter package. We hand over the package when you connect.
Agents learn about new conversations by email. If you have no mail of your own for sending notifications, turn on our mailbox: there is nothing to set up.
Your own mail
Emails to your support address land in the same list as chat and messengers. The bot and agents reply from that same address, and the customer's reply goes into the same conversation. Any mailbox with IMAP and SMTP works, even a regular Gmail.
EPAV mailbox
If you have no domain or mail server of your own, turn on the EPAV mailbox in the cabinet, and your team immediately gets emails about new conversations, mentions and deadlines from helpdesk@epavdesk.com.
The mailbox sends emails to your team; email conversations with customers go through your own mailbox.
What is included
Website chat is a small code snippet, WhatsApp and Telegram connect in the admin panel, email arrives in the same conversation list, and a Flutter package puts the chat inside your mobile app. Agents reply from one place. Meta bills WhatsApp messages itself, at its own rates.
Auto-assignment, SLAs, customer ratings, macros and rules.
Order status, a new request, finding a customer by number.
Name, logo, colors and your own domain. “Powered by” can be turned off.
Conversations, ratings, deadlines, bot performance and the queue in the supervisor panel.
Custom roles and permissions, sign-in with Google and Microsoft.
The whole knowledge base can be exported, conversations and contacts on request.
Public articles for customers at your support address, with search and a “Was this article helpful?” vote.
The interface comes in 14 languages: English, Russian, Ukrainian and Estonian are fully translated, German, French, Spanish and seven more partly. Help center articles in any of 67 languages. The bot replies in the customer's language: we test this in English, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Estonian, German, Spanish and French.
Calls and a voice bot. Voice messages in the chat and messengers are understood and answered in text.
Data and reliability
Your own database, domain and brand. Not a shared account in someone else's panel: data of different clients is physically separated.
The system and database run on a server in Amsterdam, on any plan. Intercom offers EU data storage only from the Advanced plan, Zendesk from Professional.
The first message tells the customer they are talking to AI. The code adds this line and it cannot be turned off: Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires this.
Before showing an order status or other personal data, the bot verifies the customer with a one-time code sent by email.
Railway hosting, EU West region (Amsterdam). Railway is a US company and, under its data processing agreement, also processes the data in the US under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. GDPR applies to any processing of personal data, and the controller's obligations remain yours. Current hosting status: status.railway.com
Launch
Everything is done in the cabinet and the admin panel, with no calls and no implementation project.
Email, password and company name. Your support platform is built in about a minute and opens as soon as you confirm your email.
Upload files and links, connect Confluence or let your own AI do the migration over MCP.
Chat code for your website, WhatsApp, Telegram and email, a package for your mobile app.
During the trial the bot answers on our free model right away, after payment on the cloud AI of your plan. You can connect your own provider with a key at any time.
Live example
It answers from the articles on our website. Ask it about the plans, then about something unrelated, and see what it does.
The chat button is in the lower right corner of the page.
Questions and answers
Lite from €49.99, Basic from €99.99, Ultra from €199.99 and AI chat from €49.99 per month, excluding VAT. The plans differ in the number of agents and the size of the knowledge base and storage, and their features are the same. Each has three levels, Standard, AI and AI+, which differ in how many conversations a day the cloud AI covers. Conversations and resolutions are not billed.
Only by a setting. In AI chat the website chat works without agents from the start: the bot answers on its own and does not promise a human. The limits are the same. When you need agents, turn off this mode in the panel, and the bot starts handing questions to people.
AI is included in the plan: every level has a monthly cloud AI budget that refills with each payment, and the cabinet shows how much is left. If it runs out early, the bot answers on our free model or hands the conversation to an agent, as you choose, with no extra charge. You can also connect your own provider with your own key: its answers are paid under your own agreement with it.
Yes, for a separate fee: we set up a gateway to a GPU in your office or on your server. The model runs on your side, and no AI supplier sees the conversations. The system and database still run on our server in the EU.*
The request goes to the next provider in the list, and the failed one returns to the queue on its own once it works again. If there is no backup provider, the admin panel warns you in advance, and in the meantime questions go to your agents.
Every company gets a separate installation with its own database on a server in the EU, in Amsterdam, hosted by Railway. Railway is a US company and, under its data processing agreement, also processes the data in the US under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. The cloud AI of the plan works through OpenRouter (USA): conversation text is processed by a model host on the condition that it keeps no data, and images are described by an Alibaba model with data collection denied. Your own provider processes requests where it operates, and your own model runs on your side.
The system runs on Railway and Cloudflare infrastructure, and the hosting status is shown at status.railway.com. We do not have a separate availability agreement yet. If the cloud AI of the plan is unavailable, the bot answers on our free model, which runs without guarantees, and in the worst case conversations go to your agents. For full cover, connect your own provider as a backup.
No. The bot understands voice messages in the website chat, WhatsApp and Telegram: it turns them into text and answers as if the question were typed. If a customer asks for a call, the bot passes their number to your agents. There is no voice bot and no telephony.
For email conversations with customers you need your own mailbox, and a regular Gmail will do. For emails to agents your own mail is not required: turn on the EPAV mailbox in the cabinet, it is included in every plan.
With your own AI assistant over MCP, and it's free: the knowledge server is included in every plan, with no fee per action. The assistant shows a plan, asks about conflicts and writes only after you confirm. Elsewhere MCP often costs extra, only reads or isn't there yet: Freshdesk charges $15 per 1,000 actions beyond the plan, Help Scout's server is read-only, and Zendesk has only announced its server so far. You can also do it without AI: export the articles to Markdown or HTML and upload them as files.
No. The bot answers from the knowledge base you maintain, and the model is not fine-tuned on it. The system can suggest new articles from resolved conversations, but they enter the knowledge base only after approval.
At 80% of the knowledge base or storage limit we warn you by email and in the cabinet. If you outgrow your plan, move to the next one. There is no plan above Ultra, so on Ultra you buy extra limits: €10 a month per 10 agents, €5 per thousand knowledge base chunks (about 300 articles) and €1 per gigabyte of storage, excluding VAT. The overage invoice arrives at the start of the next month. We do not switch anything off and do not throttle.
Register in the cabinet at my.epavdesk.com and confirm your email: your platform is built in about a minute, no card needed. The trial lasts 7 days, and during it the bot answers on our free model. After payment it moves to the cloud AI of your plan.
It still does. GDPR applies to any processing of personal data: contracts with processors, informing customers and their rights remain your responsibility. Your own model settles a different question: no AI supplier receives the conversations.
No. We have no shared platform: each company works in its own installation with its own database. The only thing shared by all is the cloud AI gateway, and the system keeps working without it: the bot answers on a backup model, and if that one does not answer either, conversations go to your agents.
Nothing updates automatically. We offer an update and install it by hand, only with your consent. Before that we copy your database, and if the new version does not start, your system returns to the previous one by itself.
When the answer is in your knowledge base, the bot answers correctly in at least 95% of cases: we check this on hundreds of conversations in six languages. When it is not, the bot does not make things up and offers a human agent. We do not promise in advance what share of tickets the bot will close without a human: that depends on how complete your base is, not only on the bot. To make it complete, connect your own AI to the knowledge server: it checks the base for duplicates and contradictions and runs your customers' questions through the bot's search.
Tell us about your support: how many conversations per month, which channels, where your knowledge lives today, whether you need your own model. We will reply within one business day.