I tried the 6 best Apps in ChatGPT alternatives for business in 2025

ChatGPT’s new "Apps" feature, which lets it connect to services like Canva and Zillow, shows us exactly where AI is going. We don’t just want chatbots that can talk anymore; we want AI that can actually do things.

But while this is a neat update for everyday use, does it really work for specialized business needs like customer support or internal IT help desks? For teams that depend on specific, structured workflows, a generic app store can feel a bit clunky and uncontrollable.

That’s why I decided to get my hands dirty and test the top Apps in ChatGPT alternatives that are built from the ground up for business automation. This is my review of the platforms designed to plug right into your existing tools and deliver results you can actually measure from day one.

What are "Apps in ChatGPT" and why look for Apps in ChatGPT alternatives?

"Apps in ChatGPT" are basically plugins that let the chatbot perform tasks in other services without leaving the conversation. You could ask it to "whip up a presentation in Canva about our Q3 earnings" or "find a three-bedroom house on Zillow," and it will pop up an interactive Canva or Zillow window right in your chat.

It’s cool, and it proves that people want AI that takes action. But for a business, this approach has a few big drawbacks that make specialized alternatives a much smarter move.

• It’s a jack-of-all-trades. ChatGPT and its apps are designed for broad, general tasks. They aren’t fine-tuned for high-stakes workflows, like figuring out the sentiment of a support ticket to route it correctly or looking up an order in Shopify to solve a customer’s problem.

• You don’t have much control. Businesses need to be able to dictate the AI’s tone, what knowledge it uses, and when it should hand a conversation over to a human. A general app ecosystem gives you a one-size-fits-all experience, which isn’t great when your brand’s reputation is on the line.

• It can mess with your workflow. Forcing your team to run everything through a single chat window can be a real pain. The best tools plug directly and quietly into the software you already use every day, like your help desk or internal chat.

• It’s hard to prove the ROI. With a generalist tool, it’s tough to track how much time or money you’re actually saving. Business-focused alternatives come with reporting and simulation tools that can show you the value before you even go live.

How I picked the best Apps in ChatGPT alternatives

To find the best alternatives, I put myself in the shoes of someone who would actually use these tools, like a Head of Support or an IT manager. My criteria weren’t just about how "smart" the AI was, but about practical, real-world value.

• Easy setup: How fast can you get it up and running and actually see it work? I looked for tools that you can set up yourself without needing to sit through a bunch of sales calls or mandatory demos.

• Real automation power: Can the tool do more than just answer a question? I wanted platforms that could take action, sort tickets, and connect to other systems.

• Deep integrations: Does it play nice with your existing tools (Zendesk, Slack, Confluence), or does it make you work inside its own little world?

• Customization and control: How much can you tweak the AI’s personality, what it knows, and how it operates.

• Sensible pricing: Is the pricing clear and predictable? I avoided tools with confusing metrics that end up penalizing you for being busy.

The top Apps in ChatGPT alternatives at a glance

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, here’s a quick look at the platforms I tested. Each one has its own thing it’s really good at, from handling support tickets to connecting thousands of different apps.

Table: Apps in ChatGPT Alternatives Comparison

Tool	Best For	Key Feature	Pricing Model	Self-Serve Setup
eesel AI	Customer support & internal help desks	Simulates on past tickets & plugs into existing tools	Per interaction (predictable)	Yes, in minutes
Zapier Agents	Connecting thousands of web apps	Huge library of app integrations	Per task/action (can get complex)	Yes
Lindy.ai	Building custom, multi-step AI agents	Visual workflow builder for complex jobs	Per agent/credit (tiered)	Yes, with a learning curve
Claude	Advanced conversational tasks & writing	Large context window & natural language	Per user/month	Yes
Google Gemini	Teams who live in Google Workspace	Native integration with Docs, Gmail, Drive	Per user/month	Yes
Microsoft Copilot	Teams who live in Microsoft 365	Native integration with Office, Teams	Per user/month	Yes

A deep dive into the 6 best Apps in ChatGPT alternatives

Here’s a closer look at each platform, what it does best, and where it might not be the right fit for your business.

1. eesel AI

Description: eesel AI is more than just another chatbot. It’s an AI platform built specifically for teams that handle customer support, IT service management, and internal questions. The big difference is that instead of making you work in a new chat window, it plugs directly into the tools you already have, like Zendesk, Freshdesk, Slack, and Confluence.

Why it’s a top alternative: What I like about eesel AI is that it’s designed to solve the exact problems that general-purpose tools create for support teams.

• Go live in minutes, not months: The setup is completely self-serve. You can connect your help desk and knowledge bases with a click and be running in a few minutes, no sales call needed. The feature that really stood out to me was the simulation mode. It lets you test the AI on thousands of your past support tickets before it ever talks to a real customer. This gives you total confidence and a clear idea of your return on investment.

A look at eesel AI's simulation mode, a key feature for businesses looking for Apps in ChatGPT alternatives that can prove ROI before implementation.

• You’re in complete control: You get to decide exactly which tickets the AI handles. You can set up rules based on the ticket type, customer, or specific keywords, and have it automatically escalate everything else. The prompt editor lets you define the AI’s personality, and you can build custom actions that let it do things like look up order information from Shopify or create a new issue in Jira Service Management.

This screenshot shows the customization and control features in eesel AI, which are important for businesses seeking robust Apps in ChatGPT alternatives.

• It unifies all your knowledge: eesel AI learns from your team’s best work by training on your old support tickets. This means its answers are relevant and match your brand’s voice. It also connects to your help center articles or internal guides in Google Docs, creating a single source of truth for both your customer-facing chatbots and internal assistants in Slack.

An infographic demonstrating how eesel AI unifies knowledge from multiple sources, a powerful feature for Apps in ChatGPT alternatives.

Pros:

• Plugs right into your current help desk without any disruption.

• The simulation feature on past data proves its value before you launch.

• Learns from old tickets to give on-brand, context-aware answers.

Cons:

• It’s laser-focused on customer support, IT, and internal knowledge, so it’s not a general-purpose "do anything" tool.

Pricing:

eesel AI’s pricing is straightforward. It’s based on a predictable number of AI interactions, so you don’t get hit with surprise fees. All plans come with a 7-day free trial.

• Team: $299/month ($239/month billed annually) for up to 1,000 AI interactions/month, 3 bots, and integrations with tools like Slack.

• Business: $799/month ($639/month billed annually) for up to 3,000 AI interactions/month, unlimited bots, and access to the AI Agent, training on past tickets, and simulation mode.

• Custom: Custom pricing for more advanced needs, like handling multiple agents and unlimited AI interactions.

2. Zapier Agents

Description: Zapier Agents lets you build AI agents that can connect to Zapier’s library of over 8,000 apps. It’s a beast when it comes to creating custom workflows that link different web services together.

Why it’s on the list: Its main strength is that it connects to just about everything. You could build an agent that watches an RSS feed, uses AI to summarize new articles, and then posts those summaries to a Slack channel, all without writing a line of code.

Limitations to consider: While it’s incredibly flexible, it’s still a general automation tool. Setting up a specialized support workflow can get complicated and requires a lot of manual configuration. It doesn’t have the ready-to-go, support-focused features you’d find in eesel AI, like learning from past tickets or deep, one-click help desk integrations.

Pricing:

Zapier Agents’ pricing is based on "activities" (like actions or web browsing), which can be hard to predict if you have a high volume of work.

• Free: 400 activities per month.

• Pro: Starts at $33.33/month (billed annually) for 1,500 activities per month.

• Advanced: Custom pricing for a higher number of activities.

3. Lindy.ai

Description: Lindy is another platform for creating AI agents (which they call "Lindies") to automate business tasks. It uses a visual, flowchart-style builder, which is pretty handy for mapping out complicated logic and workflows with lots of "if this, then that" steps.

Why it’s on the list: It’s really good at getting different AI bots to work together at the same time. For example, you could have one Lindy that handles incoming emails while another updates your CRM, all triggered by the same event.

Limitations to consider: That visual builder is powerful, but it definitely has a learning curve. And like Zapier, it’s a generalist tool, so if you want to create a sophisticated customer support bot, you’ll have to build it all from scratch. It doesn’t offer the easy, one-click integrations with help desks or the ticket simulation features you find in more specialized platforms.

Pricing:

Lindy’s pricing is based on credits, and different actions use up different amounts of credits.

• Free: 400 credits per month.

• Pro: $49.99/month for 5,000 credits.

• Business: $199.99/month for 20,000 credits and unlimited phone calls.

• Enterprise: Custom pricing for higher volumes and dedicated support.

4. Claude

Description: Claude, made by Anthropic, is a well-known conversational AI that’s great at writing in a natural style and handling very long documents. This makes it perfect for summarizing long reports, analyzing complex information, or drafting carefully worded emails.

Why it’s on the list: Its "Artifacts" feature feels a bit like an app, letting it generate code snippets, documents, or simple web designs that you can edit and use right in the interface. Its focus on safety and more "thoughtful" responses makes it a solid choice for professional work.

A screenshot of Claude analyzing a chart, showcasing its advanced analysis capabilities as one of the leading Apps in ChatGPT alternatives.

Limitations to consider: At the end of the day, it’s still a chat interface. While you can connect it to other tools through its API, it doesn’t have the built-in, action-taking framework of a true agent platform. Trying to automate a support queue with it would require a lot of custom development.

Pricing:

Anthropic doesn’t have a public price list for its chatbot, but based on what’s out there, here’s the general idea:

• Free Version: Available with usage limits that reset every so often.

• Claude Pro: Around $20/month for much higher usage limits and priority access.

5. Google Gemini

Description: Gemini is Google’s main AI model, and its biggest advantage is how deeply it’s woven into the Google ecosystem (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Sheets, and so on).

Why it’s on the list: If your team lives and breathes Google Workspace, Gemini feels like a built-in app that’s always there to help. It can summarize long email chains, write a document from a few bullet points, and analyze data in a spreadsheet. It’s a really smooth way to integrate AI into your daily work.

Limitations to consider: Its real power is mostly locked within the Google world. Trying to connect it to outside tools like a non-Google help desk or a custom database is a bigger challenge. It’s designed more for making individuals more productive than for running autonomous team workflows like sorting support tickets.

Pricing:

Google doesn’t list a separate price for Gemini itself. It’s usually bundled with Google One AI Premium plans.

• Free Version: Includes access to Gemini models with some limits.

• Gemini Advanced: Comes with the Google One AI Premium plan, which is about $19.99/month and gives you access to more powerful models and higher usage limits.

6. Microsoft Copilot

Description: Much like Gemini, Microsoft Copilot’s main selling point is its seamless integration into the Microsoft 365 suite, including Teams, Outlook, Word, and Excel.

Why it’s on the list: It can create a meeting summary with action items from a Teams call recording, draft a professional email in Outlook based on your calendar, and even generate a PowerPoint presentation from a Word doc. It’s an intelligent assistant that works across everything in the Microsoft stack.

Limitations to consider: Also like Gemini, it’s most effective inside its own ecosystem. It’s a great tool for assisting an agent but isn’t built to be an autonomous agent that manages external workflows, like a customer support queue in Zendesk or Intercom.

Pricing:

Microsoft has a few different pricing tiers for Copilot.

• Free Version: Available on the web and built into Windows.

• Copilot Pro: $20 per user/month for individuals, giving you priority access and integration into personal/family Microsoft 365 apps.

• Copilot for Microsoft 365: $30 per user/month for businesses, which includes enterprise-grade data protection and deeper integration with business apps.

How to choose the right Apps in ChatGPT alternatives for your business

Picking an AI platform isn’t about finding the "smartest" one. It’s about finding the one that fits your team’s workflow and actually delivers results.

• First, what problem are you actually trying to solve? Are you trying to deflect 30% of your customer support tickets (which points to a specialized tool like eesel AI), or are you trying to connect a bunch of different web apps for a marketing campaign (a better job for a generalist tool like Zapier)?

• Look at the tools you already use. Pick a platform that integrates easily with your current software. Tearing everything out and starting over is expensive and disruptive. An AI layer that makes your current help desk better is almost always the right first step.

• Ask for a clear path to ROI. Look for tools that offer clear reporting and, even better, a simulation mode. You shouldn’t have to invest in a platform without being able to prove its value to your boss first.

• Balance ease of use with power. Some tools offer endless flexibility but require an engineer to set them up. Others are designed so that the teams using them can get value in minutes. Choose the one that empowers the people who will actually be using it every day.

The future of Apps in ChatGPT alternatives is automated, but control is key

The rise of "Apps in ChatGPT" makes one thing clear: the future of AI is about taking action. But for businesses, the best solution isn’t a generic chatbot with a few plugins. It’s a purpose-built platform that gives you complete control, works with your current setup, and delivers value you can see and measure.

Tools like eesel AI are built for this new reality. They offer a self-serve, powerful, and transparent way to automate important business functions without all the guesswork. By focusing on specific problems like customer support, they provide a faster and more reliable path to real automation.

Ready to see how a specialized AI agent could transform your support workflows? Try eesel AI for free and you can simulate its impact on your own support tickets in just a few minutes.