18 Free AI Customer Service Tools, and the WhatsApp Catch

Which free AI customer service tools are on IMDA's list?

These are the 18 chat, agent and customer service tools IMDA lists, with each vendor's own free terms as of October 2026.

How we chose and what "free" means here

The tools are IMDA's selection, not ours. IMDA says it "curated from multiple sources, considering signals of market adoption with generally positive user sentiment and relevance to local SMEs needs." They are not grant-supported pre-approved solutions, so the EDGE Grant does not apply to them.

In October 2026 we checked each vendor's own pricing page and help centre. A free plan has no end date but has limits; a free trial unlocks most features for a set number of days. Where a page was blocked or contradicted itself, we say so. We leave out paid prices, which change often.

Which tools are built for WhatsApp AI for SMEs?

If most of your customers message you on WhatsApp, start with these three.

• WhatsApp Business: The free app gives you a business profile, a product catalogue, quick replies, labels and away messages on one phone number. It suits a café or home bakery with a few dozen chats a day. The limit is scale: automation and multiple agents need the WhatsApp Business Platform, where Meta bills marketing, utility and authentication template messages (non-template service replies inside the 24-hour customer service window are free), usually through a provider such as Wati.
• Wati: A shared WhatsApp inbox for a team, with broadcasts, chatbot flows and Astra, an add-on that deploys AI agents to WhatsApp, web and voice. During the 7-day free trial you can only message your own number and cannot submit message templates, so you are testing the interface rather than real customer conversations. Meta's message charges come on top of the plan.
• Manychat: Best known for automating Instagram and Facebook DMs, it also supports WhatsApp. Manychat's pricing page blocked our checks, so IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms before you plan around it.

All three are platforms you configure yourself. If you are weighing a platform against something built around your own order flow, we compare the two in WhatsApp platform vs custom AI agent.

Which AI chat agents can answer customers for you?

These put an AI agent or chatbot on your website, social channels or help desk.

• Tidio: The easiest free start for a small online shop. The free plan includes 50 billable conversations a month, and Lyro, Tidio's AI agent, answers from your own help content with 50 free conversations for the lifetime of the account, not per month. A 7-day trial of paid plans needs no card. Tidio lists WhatsApp on its free plan.
• Fin: Intercom's AI agent, which can sit on top of Intercom or another help desk and works across chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS and Instagram. The 14-day trial needs no card and has no usage limits. You can simulate conversations before customers see an answer. After the trial, pricing is usage-based.
• Landbot: Good for guided, button-based flows, such as a clinic collecting appointment details. The free plan gives 100 chats a month on one seat, on the web only, with no AI. A 14-day trial needs no card. On the free plan you get a WhatsApp test number, not your own.
• WotNot: A no-code chatbot builder with an AI Studio. It offers a 14-day free trial; the page does not say whether a card is needed or whether WhatsApp is included.
• Voiceflow: For teams designing their own chat and voice agents on the AI model of their choice. Its pricing page now asks businesses to request pricing: IMDA lists a free tier; check the vendor's current terms.
• Agentforce Sales: Salesforce's AI sales agent is sold through its sales team. What is free is Salesforce's Free Suite: a basic CRM for up to two users with no expiry, including AI email drafts and record summaries. It is not a free AI agent.

Most of these answer questions well. Whether they can also take an order, check a payment or book a delivery is a different question, which we cover in AI agent vs chatbot.

Which help desks are on the list, and which have free plans?

Help desks turn emails, chats and calls into trackable tickets.

• Zoho Desk: A free plan for three users with limited features, and a 15-day trial with no card that drops back to the free plan. Zia, Zoho's AI, is on Professional and Enterprise. WhatsApp is available from the Standard plan. A sensible pick for an accounting firm answering client emails.
• Zendesk for Customer Service: No free plan; a 14-day trial of its Suite Professional plan. Zendesk says AI agents are included in every Suite and Support plan, billed per automated resolution beyond the allowance. Messaging and live chat start on Suite plans, not the basic Support plans.
• Freshdesk: A 14-day free trial of its top plan. Freshworks also advertises a free plan for one to two agents, but its own pages disagree on how long it lasts, so check current terms. The Freddy AI Agent is on paid plans.
• HubSpot Service Hub: Free ticketing and team email, no card, plus a 14-day trial of paid features. Its customer agent is on Professional. Best if you use HubSpot's free CRM; see our free AI sales and CRM tools guide.
• Gorgias: Built for Shopify stores. A free trial with all features and no credit card. Its AI Agent is billed when it resolves a conversation. WhatsApp is not among its listed channels.
• LiveAgent: A 30-day trial with no card, and a limited free plan (seven days of ticket history, one email address, one chat button). WhatsApp is a paid add-on.
• LiveChat: Website chat with an AI Agent and Copilot. A 14-day trial, no card. WhatsApp comes via a Marketplace app, not built in.

Why are Slack and Otter.ai in this category?

• Slack: Where many teams coordinate escalations. The free plan keeps 90 days of message history. Through IMDA's Slack AI Launchpad with Salesforce, up to 1,000 SMEs can get a free 60-day Slack Business+ trial for up to 10 users and two workshops to build at least one AI-enabled workflow.
• Otter.ai: AI meeting notes. The free Basic plan gives 300 minutes a month, up to 30 minutes per conversation, and AI Chat on your notes. It supports English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.

How do you choose the right one for your business?

Run any trial on real conversations, and decide in advance what result would make you keep it.

What do free AI tools not do for you?

Customer service in a Singapore SME rarely ends at the answer. A customer asks if the cake is available Saturday, orders two, pays by PayNow and wants it delivered to Tampines. A chatbot can answer the first question. Someone still has to record the order, check the payment arrived, book the delivery and follow up if the customer goes quiet.

Free tools also leave setup and running to you: writing the help content, connecting your order sheet or accounting system, deciding which replies need approval and checking daily that nothing slipped. That work needs an owner.

Tool on its own vs tool + Biks

Both are valid. The choice depends on how much happens after the chat.

How Biks can help with customer service

Biks runs the work that follows a WhatsApp conversation, on top of the tools you already use, such as the WhatsApp Business Platform, Google Sheets and Xero. Orders are recorded, payments are checked against the order, delivery is arranged and customers get follow-ups, while your team approves exceptions. If WhatsApp sales also need to reach your books, see how WhatsApp sales get into Xero.

Rosalie, a food business selling through WhatsApp, cut daily order admin from more than four hours to about 20 minutes, with a 99% response rate and a sales closing rate more than 50% higher, live in three weeks. Read the Rosalie case study, see how customer operations works, and book a call to map your own flow. For everyday writing and research, our guide to free AI assistants is the next step, and the full IMDA list covers every category.