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Customer Support · head to head

Cresta vs Five9

Cresta logo

Cresta

Customer Support

Real-time AI coaching and autonomous agents that sit on top of an existing contact centre platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Five9 logo

Five9

Telecommunications

Intelligent cloud contact center

From
$149/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cresta cresta depends on the CCaaS platforms it integrates with, and NICE, Genesys and Five9 are all shipping native real-time assist and auto-QA of their own, so at renewal you may be paying twice for capability your platform vendor will bundle at a discount.; Five9 a 50 seat minimum applies to the published rates, so the entry cost on the $119 Digital plan is $5,950 a month
  • They diverge on capability: Cresta covers Real-time agent assist, Five9 covers Intelligent routing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cresta and Five9 actually diverge.

Attributes where Cresta and Five9 differ
AttributeCrestaFive9
Starting priceOn request$149/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Desktop
CategoryCustomer SupportTelecommunications
FoundedUnknown2001

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Cresta

  • Real-time agent assist
  • Autonomous AI Agent
  • Conversation intelligence
  • Automated quality management
  • Behavioural coaching
  • Knowledge surfacing
  • Multilingual deployment
  • Supervisor dashboards

Only in Five9

  • Intelligent routing
  • IVR
  • ACD
  • Dialer
  • WFM
  • Quality management
  • Analytics
  • Salesforce

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cresta

  • A 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent Genesys deploymentnot Five9
  • An insurance contact centre replacing manual QA sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidencenot Five9
  • A retail support operation deploying autonomous voice agents on high-volume order status calls while keeping humans on complex claimsnot Five9
  • A contact centre director who needs to prove which specific agent behaviours drive outcome differences, rather than relying on post-call survey scoresnot Five9

Five9

  • Cloud contact centre across voice, chat, email and social messagingnot Cresta
  • Routing and managing high volume customer interactionsnot Cresta

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cresta

  • Cresta depends on the CCaaS platforms it integrates with, and NICE, Genesys and Five9 are all shipping native real-time assist and auto-QA of their own, so at renewal you may be paying twice for capability your platform vendor will bundle at a discount.
  • Pricing is not published and contracts are seat-based and annual at enterprise scale, which in practice means six-figure commitments and a procurement cycle measured in months rather than weeks.
  • Real-time guidance only pays back where conversation outcomes are measurable and repeatable, so support teams handling long, varied, low-volume cases rarely recover the licence cost.
  • Deploying real-time assist requires agents to accept on-screen prompting mid-call, and contact centres with strong union representation or experienced tenured agents frequently see adoption resistance that no amount of model quality fixes.
  • Automated quality scoring changes what agents are measured on, and organisations that switch from human QA without rewriting their evaluation rubric and appeals process create industrial-relations problems that surface months after go-live.

Five9

  • A 50 seat minimum applies to the published rates, so the entry cost on the $119 Digital plan is $5,950 a month
  • Prices are per concurrent user rather than per named agent, which changes what a seat means when shifts overlap
  • Voice is excluded from the Digital plan and requires a quote
  • Usage based charges apply on top of the per seat rate
  • Three of the five tiers publish no price at all

Pricing, plan by plan

Cresta

On request
  • Cresta$undefined/year
    • AI Agent
    • Agent Assist
    • Conversation Intelligence

Five9

$149/month
  • Core$149/month
    • Inbound/outbound
    • IVR
    • Basic CTI
  • Premium$169/month
    • Core + Chat/email
    • Quality management
  • Optimum$199/month
    • Premium + WFM
    • Proactive chat
  • Ultimate$229/month
    • Full suite
    • Advanced analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Cresta if

  • You need real-time agent assist.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want autonomous ai agent.
Cresta review

Choose Five9 if

  • You need intelligent routing.
  • You work on Web, Desktop.
  • You also want ivr.
Five9 review

Questions people ask

Is Cresta or Five9 better?
Neither clearly leads. Cresta starts at On request and Five9 at $149/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cresta or Five9?
Cresta starts at On request and Five9 at $149/month.
Does Cresta or Five9 run on more platforms?
Cresta runs on Web, API. Five9 runs on Web, Desktop.
What is Cresta best used for?
Cresta is most often used for a 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent genesys deployment, an insurance contact centre replacing manual qa sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidence, a retail support operation deploying autonomous voice agents on high-volume order status calls while keeping humans on complex claims, a contact centre director who needs to prove which specific agent behaviours drive outcome differences, rather than relying on post-call survey scores. Of those, a 1,500-seat telecommunications sales centre that wants conversion lift from live agent prompting without migrating off an incumbent genesys deployment and an insurance contact centre replacing manual qa sampling of two per cent of calls with automated scoring of every call for regulatory evidence are not what Five9 is typically brought in for.
What can Cresta do that Five9 cannot?
Cresta covers Real-time agent assist, Autonomous AI Agent, Conversation intelligence, Automated quality management. Five9 covers Intelligent routing, IVR, ACD, Dialer.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cresta: Does Cresta replace my contact centre platform?

No. It is designed to sit on top of NICE, Genesys, Five9, Amazon Connect and similar platforms, which is why it is chosen where a full CCaaS migration is not feasible.

Five9: What is the minimum team size required to use Five9?

Five9 requires a minimum commitment of 50 seats for any subscription plan.

Source
Cresta: What does it cost?

Cresta does not publish pricing. Contracts are seat-based and annual, and at the enterprise scale it sells into they are typically six figures per year.

Five9: How is Five9 pricing calculated, per user, flat rate, or usage-based?

Five9 offers flexible pricing models: per concurrent user, per named agent, or pay-per-use. The pricing structure varies depending on the chosen bundle.

Source
Cresta: Is it viable for a contact centre under 100 seats?

Rarely. The commercial model, implementation effort and required outcome measurement all assume several hundred seats or more.

Five9: What does the entry-level Digital bundle include, and what does it cost?

The Digital bundle costs $119 per month per seat and supports digital channels only. Higher tiers (Core at $159, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise) are available, with Plus/Pro/Enterprise requiring contact with sales for pricing.

Source
Cresta: Who owns Cresta?

It is an independent venture-backed company, having raised roughly 282 million USD in total including a 125 million USD Series D in November 2024 co-led by World Innovation Lab and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Five9: Are there additional charges beyond the base subscription?

Yes. All bundles include 3000 AI minutes per seat, but additional AI usage incurs charges. SMS messaging also has usage-based charges applied separately.

Source
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