Cresta review 2025: Pricing, features, and a simpler alternative

Trying to improve your contact center’s performance can feel like walking a tightrope. You want tools that genuinely help your agents, not just another piece of software they have to learn and manage. Cresta is a well-known name in this space, promising to level up every customer conversation with its real-time AI coaching and automation.

But is it all it's cracked up to be? In this Cresta review, we'll dig into its main features, unpack its confusing pricing, and see what actual users are saying. We’ll help you decide if it’s the right tool for your team or if a simpler, more straightforward alternative might be a better fit.

What is Cresta AI?

At its core, Cresta is an AI platform for contact centers that aims to boost agent performance, handle conversations automatically, and give you a clearer picture of customer interactions. It’s mostly built for huge, enterprise-level companies dealing with a massive number of calls and chats every day.

The whole platform really boils down to three key functions:

• Agent Assist: Gives agents real-time tips and prompts during live conversations.

• AI Agent: Automates answers and tasks for common customer questions.

• Conversation Intelligence: Dives into 100% of your customer interactions to spot trends and track performance.

Think of Cresta as an AI layer that sits over your current contact center software, with the goal of turning every agent into one of your best performers.

A deep dive into its features

To really get what Cresta is all about, let’s look at its three main components and how they actually play out in a real-world setting.

Agent assist and real-time coaching

One of Cresta’s most talked-about features is its ability to pop up with hints and coaching tips for agents while they're live on a call or chat. The AI follows the conversation and suggests what to say, nudges agents to follow best practices, and helps guide them through tricky situations.

People on sites like G2 seem to really like this. One user shared that the real-time coaching helped their "B players rising up the ranks" without a manager having to listen in on every single call. This lets supervisors focus on bigger-picture stuff instead of getting bogged down in micromanagement.

But it’s not all sunshine and roses.

A comment on a Reddit thread about Cresta hit on a common problem with this type of AI: it can get obsessed with keywords. The system might give an agent a great score for rattling off all the 'magic words,' even if the conversation sounds totally robotic and lacks any real empathy. Meanwhile, a more genuine agent who actually solves the customer's problem but doesn't use those exact phrases could get a lower score.

Reddit

AI agent for automation

Cresta's AI Agent is all about automating customer chats and calls. The goal is to handle more issues without a human stepping in, which should lead to happier customers. It takes care of the simple, repetitive questions so your human agents can tackle the tougher problems.

Sounds good, but making it work isn't exactly a walk in the park. A G2 reviewer pointed out that Cresta’s AI "takes time to understand your business model and call methodology." They warned that you need to be patient and have "a dedicated person who is almost an AI linguist" to get it running smoothly. That hints at a pretty steep learning curve and a big time commitment, which might be a dealbreaker for teams that need a solution they can set up quickly.

Conversation intelligence and analytics

Cresta’s analytics tools look at every single customer interaction to give managers a full overview of what's happening on the front lines. The platform can score calls automatically, pick up on trends in customer mood, and flag opportunities for managers to coach specific agents.

For many users, this is where Cresta really delivers. Reviewers often rave about the dashboards that let them "pinpoint and coach agents more effciently." By capturing and analyzing all conversations, managers get insights that would be impossible to find otherwise. This data can help shape everything from one-on-one coaching to the company's overall strategy.

Cresta pricing: What to expect

If you head over to Cresta’s website looking for a price list, you're going to be disappointed. Their site just says "Pricing available upon request," which is code for "You have to book a demo and talk to sales."

When a SaaS company does this, it usually means a few things:

• It’s for big companies. The tool is aimed at enterprises with large budgets, so the price is probably high and customized.

• The contracts are complicated. Pricing is likely tailored to your exact needs, which means you’re in for a long sales process, some back-and-forth negotiation, and an annual contract.

• You can’t just try it out. There's no self-serve option. The whole process is designed to be led by their sales team from day one.

This lack of transparency can be a real issue for teams that want to move fast or just prefer to know what they're getting into financially.

On the other hand, many modern AI tools are being much more open about their pricing. Take eesel AI, for example. It offers clear, feature-based plans you can see right on its website. There are no surprise per-resolution fees, so you don’t get an unexpectedly huge bill at the end of a busy month. You know exactly what you’re paying for and can grow without any financial guesswork.

Here’s a quick peek at what that kind of transparent pricing looks like:

What do users say?

To get the real story, you have to look beyond the marketing and see what actual users (and even employees) have to say.

The good stuff: Powerful insights and potential

On review sites like G2 and Software Advice, users consistently give Cresta props for its deep insights and real-time coaching. Managers appreciate the visibility it gives them, and many say they’ve seen a clear return on their investment. One former employee on Glassdoor even called it a "top tier product," noting its potential when it's set up correctly. For big teams with the resources to manage it, Cresta can clearly make a difference.

The not-so-good stuff: Burnout, bugs, and a rigid feel

But the feedback isn't all glowing. A few common complaints pop up that suggest a more difficult experience.

• Culture and Complexity: Multiple Glassdoor reviews bring up a tough work environment, with one person describing a culture where "burnout as a badge of honor" is a thing. That kind of pressure often goes with software that’s complicated and high-stakes to implement.

• Performance Problems: Some G2 reviewers have mentioned technical glitches, like "hiccups syncing with back end system" and other random bugs. When you’re depending on a tool for live customer conversations, any kind of instability is a big deal.

• Rigid AI: That point from the Reddit thread is a really important one. An AI that scores conversations based on keywords instead of actual empathy and problem-solving can feel robotic and unfair. You risk training your agents to follow a script instead of having genuine, helpful conversations.

A more flexible and transparent alternative to Cresta

The issues that come up in this Cresta review, like the hidden pricing, complicated setup, and a rigid feel, are exactly why more modern and flexible AI tools are gaining ground. For teams who want the benefits of AI without the enterprise-sized headaches, eesel AI offers a much simpler path.

It’s a platform built to be straightforward, transparent, and effective, letting you get started in minutes instead of months. Here’s what makes it different:

1. Sign up and get going instantly. Forget about mandatory demos and lengthy sales calls. With eesel AI, you can sign up for free, connect your helpdesk like Zendesk or Freshdesk in a single click, and start exploring on your own.

2. It learns from your actual knowledge. Instead of making you write rigid rules, eesel AI learns from your team's real problem-solvers: your past support tickets. It also connects to the places you already keep your information, like Confluence and Google Docs, to pull answers that are accurate and sound like a real person wrote them.

3. Test it safely before you go live. Nervous about letting an AI talk to your customers? eesel AI’s simulation mode lets you test it on thousands of your old tickets in a safe space. You can see exactly how it would have replied and get a good idea of its resolution rate before it ever interacts with a single customer.

4. Know your costs upfront. With eesel AI, what you see is what you get. The plans are based on features and usage, and there are no hidden fees for resolutions. That means you can grow your support volume without worrying about your bill skyrocketing.

This video discusses whether Cresta's AI Agent can finally solve the common frustrations customers experience with virtual agents.

Is Cresta the right AI for your team?

Cresta is a seriously powerful platform with a lot of features. If you’re a massive company with the budget, time, and a dedicated team to handle a tricky implementation, it can offer some deep insights and useful agent coaching.

But for most teams, the hurdles are pretty high. The hidden pricing, demanding setup, and a potentially robotic, keyword-focused AI make it a heavy lift.

If you’re looking for a modern AI tool that gets you great results without all the complexity, eesel AI was built for you. It’s a more flexible, transparent, and user-friendly option that lets you automate support and empower your agents with a tool you can set up yourself in just a few minutes.

Ready for an AI solution that just works? Try eesel AI for free.