Voice communications continue to dominate customer interactions, according to businesses. According to Vantage Market Research, the global voice assistant market, valued at $2.9 billion in 2022, will reach $22.4 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.5%. These figures demonstrate the popularity of AI voice assistants and their transformation into a standard that businesses must adapt to to maintain competitiveness. Why are voice bots gaining popularity? Primarily because they minimize risks associated with human errors, provide inaccurate information, impact the operator’s emotional state, and cause the need for work breaks. In contrast, an AI assistant is available 24/7, giving customers quick and accurate responses to queries, which increases their loyalty and service satisfaction. The automation of routine tasks provided by voice assistants, guided by well-developed algorithms, allows human employees to focus more fully on solving complex and non-trivial customer tasks, thus developing the range of services and business.
Techiexpert has prepared a ranking of AI-based voice assistants, including eight products from different cloud platforms for contact centers in stable demand among the business community. The publication’s experts evaluated Twilio, PolyAI, Neuron Expert, Synthflow AI, Talkdesk, Five9, VAPI, and Genesys Cloud AI assistants. These platforms allow for varying degrees of rapid creation, testing, and deployment of interactive voice agents. Talkdesk, Five9, and Genesys Cloud are full-cycle enterprise platforms. They provide voice assistants and complete customer service infrastructure, including omnichannel interaction, analytics, and CRM system integration. Specialized conversational AI platforms PolyAI and VAPI focus on creating natural conversational interfaces. Their main advantage is advanced natural language processing capabilities and conducting dialogues that closely resemble human communication. Technological APIs and development tools unite Twilio, Neuron Expert, and Synthflow AI. They allow for integrating voice capabilities into existing applications and creating custom solutions based on their technologies.
Why was this ranking created?
As the market grows, choosing a suitable voice assistant becomes increasingly complex. At first glance, many platforms seem similar: each promises automation, flexibility, and convenience. However, their capabilities and limitations differ significantly. For example, platforms like Twilio stand out with support for over 180 languages, while PolyAI focuses on optimizing contact center operations, and Neuron Expert focuses on interaction personalization. The ranking was created to simplify this choice.
How were the evaluation criteria selected?
To make the helpful ranking for business and objectively reflect each platform’s capabilities, the ranking authors focused only on criteria that allow for maximally transparent evaluation that can be calculated, felt, seen (or heard). For the detailed assessment of voice solutions, a unique criteria system was developed, which included about 100 parameters and was divided into the following groups: integration, autonomy, languages, artificial intelligence, and machine learning (AI and ML), as well as security and scalability. The final table included only the six most important criteria when choosing a voice AI assistant for business. Each criterion was selected to be easily verified, eliminating ambiguity or subjectivity.
The analysis was based on data from open sources: official company websites, independent research, and testing results. Moreover, experts decided to entrust artificial intelligence with analyzing specific objective, measurable parameters for each assistant and then verifying the obtained data.
How does the scoring system work?
Each of the six categories was evaluated on a 10-point scale; thus, the maximum score for each criterion is 60 points, and the minimum is zero. Looking ahead, none of the ranking participants scored less than 30 points, which is a positive result confirming that only the best participated in the maturation. The wide range of evaluation – from 0 to 10 – helped avoid bias and ensured that all criteria had equal weight.
Each point within a category could be earned for the quality of various parameters. For example, the integration criterion – the ability to connect the assistant to external APIs and databases – provided for evaluation of the following components: built-in CRM — up to 4 points; ready integrations with popular business applications — up to 3 points; omnichannel capability (support for voice, text communication, messengers) — up to 2 points; unified interface for managing all channels — up to 1 point.
Technological autonomy was evaluated based on the degree of independence from external providers—up to 3 points—and the possibility of internal optimization—up to 3 points. An applicant’s developments, such as proprietary ASR/TTS, could earn the highest score—up to 4 –. Technological autonomy allows the system to operate without constant human intervention.
The evaluation of voice assistants’ language capabilities considered accents, dialects, localization, and the number of supported languages. Support for 150+ languages was rated 10 points; 100 to 149 languages – 8 points; 50-99 languages – 6 points. Support for fewer than 50 languages earned the ranking participant 4 points. Expanding language support is a multi-faceted process that requires labor-intensive research and development in speech recognition and synthesis. For example, developers say training a voice assistant in a new language takes 30 to 90 days. The wider the language geography, the broader the business presence markets, the more interesting the user experience, and the more popular the product.
AI and ML—artificial intelligence and machine learning—are resources for developing, self-learning, and improving voice assistants. Within this criterion, the number of AI models was evaluated—up to 4 points; automatic model selection for tasks—up to 3 points; and self-learning ability—up to 3 points.
All services participating in the ranking met basic security requirements, which is crucial when choosing a cloud solution for creating voice robots. This criterion’s parameters included data protection type (e.g., using AES-256, TLS 1.3), rated at a maximum of 4 points, and presence of certifications (GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001) – up to 3 points. Additional protection mechanisms – such as blockchain smart contracts – added up to 3 points to the participant’s overall score.
Finally, the scalability criterion reflects how easily and quickly voice assistants adapt to business growth: processing increasing requests and adapting to new tasks and scenarios. Scalability model flexibility was evaluated at a maximum of 4 points, ease of implementation “cost” from 0 to 3 points, and pricing flexibility (pay-as-you-go, enterprise)—up to 3 points.
Top Three Leaders
Neuron Expert’s voice assistant led in five out of six criteria, scoring 52 points out of 60 possible. The platform specializes in creating voice assistants of the broadest spectrum and demonstrates maximum performance across most criteria groups. The platform offers high integration, including built-in CRM and omnichannel capabilities and outstanding artificial intelligence capabilities. Security indicators are no less impressive — using blockchain and smart contracts makes it particularly attractive for industries requiring strict data control. However, the relatively long implementation time (up to six weeks) may be a barrier for companies needing a quick solution.
Following with some gap is the service from American cloud communications company Twilio, scoring 51 out of 60 possible points. The platform stands out for its global reach and support for over 180 languages. This makes it invaluable for companies operating in international markets. Pricing flexibility and scalability also strengthen its position in the ranking. However, the lack of built-in CRM somewhat reduces its attractiveness for enterprises seeking comprehensive solutions.
The PolyAI platform ranks third, scoring 47 out of 60 possible points. Its strength lies in its high-precision NLP models and ability to adapt to complex communication scenarios. Despite this, limited language support (45 languages) and relatively high implementation costs make the platform less universal than its competitors.
Good results were also shown by Talkdesk, ranking 4th, Five9 in 5th place, VAPI, and Genesys Cloud in sixth and seventh places, respectively. Synthflow AI closes the ranking with 35 points, which is a satisfactory score.
The overall ranking leader, Neuron Expert, received the highest score for autonomy. This demonstrates the voice assistant’s unique ability to operate without human intervention in many situations, relying on deep machine learning. Neuron Expert can create an entire staff of digital employees—a customizable workforce for various tasks, from answering customer calls to in-depth analytics. The artificial intelligence “hired” in Neuron Expert helps companies attract customers by creating personalized offers, increasing sales, and becoming more visible across all social networks.
Another distinctive feature of Neuron Expert is its scalability and high embeddability in all existing communication channels. Digital assistants easily integrate with various platforms and communicate through any available interface.
All voice assistants are initially designed to perform different tasks. Some are oriented towards work in contact centers, others offer solutions for automating customer communications in e-commerce, while others emphasize integration flexibility or multilingual support. The optimal AI assistant model choice is dictated by the tasks that the business intends to solve with its help. Among the many solutions presented in the voice assistant market today, choosing those that demonstrate technological maturity is possible.
