Best AI for customer service

As of 2026-07-18, OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro is the strongest model for this task in our daily benchmark, where over 350 AI models are evaluated and the best are presented.

In customer service, speed is part of quality. A customer waiting ten seconds for a chat reply experiences the service as slow, however good the answer turns out to be.

For customer service we rank by response speed, measured as tokens per second in the daily benchmark. Ranked by speed, from today’s benchmark.

Top choice

OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro

openai

Score: 6.8/10

Language: 7.3/10

Speed: 936 t/s

$5.00

Runner-up

Google: Gemini 3.5 Flash

google

Score: 7.2/10

Language: 8.0/10

Speed: 419 t/s

$1.50

Third choice

Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct

meta-llama

Score: 5.2/10

Language: 9.0/10

Speed: 392 t/s

$0.05

Today’s ranking

Model	Provider	Score	Language	Speed	Input price/1M
OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol Pro	openai	6.8/10	7.3/10	936 t/s	$5.00
Google: Gemini 3.5 Flash	google	7.2/10	8.0/10	419 t/s	$1.50
Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct	meta-llama	5.2/10	9.0/10	392 t/s	$0.05
Google: Gemma 3 4B	google	8.0/10	9.3/10	237 t/s	$0.05
Mistral: Mistral Small 3	mistralai	7.8/10	8.7/10	234 t/s	$0.05
IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro	ibm-granite	5.4/10	8.3/10	179 t/s	$0.02
Meta: Llama 4 Maverick	meta-llama	7.2/10	8.0/10	176 t/s	$0.20
Cohere: Command R+ (08-2024)	cohere	7.5/10	9.3/10	160 t/s	$2.50

Fast enough, but also good enough on the language

The fastest models are often the smallest, and small models are consistently weaker on Scandinavian languages. So read both columns in the table below: speed tells you whether the customer gets an answer immediately, the language score tells you whether the answer is sendable. A model that is lightning fast and writes stiff, English-flavoured Norwegian is useless in Norwegian customer service.

A human has to step in — and it must be clear when

Set the boundaries before putting AI into production: complaints, disputes, payment issues and anything involving personal data should route to a human. Customers should always be told they are talking to an AI, and always have an easy path to a person.

hvilkenAI is independent. We have no affiliate agreements, sponsored placements or commercial ties to the AI providers we test. Every recommendation rests on test results alone.

Frequently asked questions

Can AI take over customer service entirely?

No. AI handles repetitive questions well, but complaints, exceptions and cases involving personal data need a human — both for the customer and for compliance.

Which model is fastest?

The ranking above is sorted by measured speed in today’s benchmark, where over 350 models are evaluated.

Must we disclose that an AI is answering?

Yes. Transparency that the customer is talking to an AI is required under the EU AI Act, and it also causes the least friction when customers work it out themselves.

Can we feed customer data into the AI?

Only with a valid legal basis and a data processing agreement with the provider. Convenience is not sufficient grounds.

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