Gorgias alternatives for Shopify in 2026: 8 helpdesks priced for the same store

Last updated October 12, 2026. Every price and rating below was checked that day on the vendor's own pricing page and Shopify App Store listing.

Gorgias is one of the best-known helpdesks on Shopify, and most of its reviews are five stars. You are probably not here to escape a bad app.

Merchants who leave usually hit the same wall. Gorgias bills per ticket, then adds a fee for each AI automated interaction. A busy season raises both numbers at once.

So the useful comparison is what each alternative charges for, and how that charge grows with your store. Below are eight Shopify-ready helpdesks, sorted by that question.

Gorgias alternatives and competitors at a glance

Each row shows what the tool bills for and its one catch. Ratings come from each app's Shopify App Store listing on October 12, 2026:

Why merchants look for a Gorgias alternative

Gorgias is not a weak app. Its Shopify listing shows 4.3 stars from 704 reviews, and 82% of them are five stars.

Still, the trend is down. Reviews posted in 2020 average 4.88, while those posted in 2026 average 4.03.

We read all 704 Gorgias reviews on October 12, 2026. Since January 2025, merchants have left 39 one- or two-star reviews. Thirteen are about price or billing, and twelve are about support.

Three complaints repeat, and the first traces back to how Gorgias bills:

• Cost per conversation. A December 2025 reviewer wrote: "Gorgias cost me $1,000 last month for less than 50 inquiries". In February 2026, another called its "fees for AI responses" ridiculous.
• Tickets you did not expect. A February 2025 reviewer said a bug closed conversations on each reply, "causing a new 'Billable Ticket' to be created."
• Slow help when something breaks. Several 2026 reviewers describe waiting days for a reply. One wrote that "the AI bot just says we opened a ticket and someone will get back to you."

Some merchants who left say where they went. A November 2025 reviewer moved to Re:amaze, "which offered better pricing for the exact same features." An April 2026 reviewer switched to Gladly.

What a Gorgias alternative costs for the same store

List prices hide the real question. So we priced one store under every tool, using each vendor's monthly list prices on October 12, 2026.

The store gets 300 conversations a month across chat and email. AI resolves 200 on its own, and two teammates handle the other 100. The catalog has fewer than 500 products.

Two notes keep this fair. Help Scout, Re:amaze, Richpanel, Zendesk and Gorgias charge for AI only when it resolves or automates a conversation. Chatty counts every conversation its AI replies to.

Seat-based tools also change with team size. Add a third teammate and Help Scout, Re:amaze, Richpanel and Zendesk each cost more, while Gorgias, Crisp and Chatty Basic stay the same.

We left two tools out of the table. Gladly's Shopify listing pairs $1.50 per AI resolution and $120 per team member with a monthly spending cap. Kustomer prices by quote on its own site.

Gorgias alternatives that bill per store or per workspace

These two never charge per agent or per ticket. That suits small teams whose volume swings from month to month:

Chatty: AI that sells, with a Helpdesk on every plan

Chatty is the app we build, so weigh this section with that in mind. Its AI is trained on your store data: products, custom answers, URLs and files. It recommends products as cards with an Add to cart button, which puts the item in the shopper's real Shopify cart.

The Chatty Helpdesk is included on every plan, including Free. It turns support email into tickets with a priority, an assignee and a status. Agents work each ticket through Open, Pending, Snoozed and Resolved, and any Inbox chat can become a ticket on desktop.

Chatty bills per store, not per agent, and it does not meter tickets. Human conversations are unlimited on every plan. Here is how it lines up:

• Best for: Shopify stores where shoppers ask about products before they buy, and you want those chats to end in the cart.
• Not a fit if: your team runs on SLA policies, macros and automation rules. Chatty's Helpdesk has none of those, so a seat-based helpdesk below will serve you better.
• Pricing: Free includes 50 AI conversations a month and 1 team member. Basic is $19.99 for 100 with 5 team members, Pro $68.99 for 500 with 10, and Plus $199 for 1,000 with unlimited. Extras cost $0.40 each, and you can set a spending limit in the app.
• Rating: 4.9 from 1,877 reviews, with 96% at five stars. Many reviews name the support staff who helped them.

If you are weighing the two apps head to head, read our Chatty vs Gorgias comparison. The full plan table lists every limit per plan.

Crisp: one flat price per workspace

Crisp charges a flat monthly price per workspace, not per conversation. Seats come in bundles: 2 on Free, 4 on Mini, 10 on Essentials and 20 on Plus. Its Shopify app syncs store data into each conversation.

The trade-off is in how AI is metered:

• Best for: small teams that want a predictable bill and many channels in one inbox.
• Not a fit if: you want AI trained on your own content on a low plan. That starts at Essentials.
• Pricing: Free, Mini $45, Essentials $95 and Plus $295 a month on Crisp's pricing page. Paid plans include AI credits that Crisp puts at around 90 automated conversations on Mini and 450 on Essentials.
• Rating: 4.0 from 34 reviews, a small sample.
• The catch: Crisp describes its AI credits only as "around" a number of conversations.

Gorgias alternatives that bill per agent

These four charge for each person who logs in, then add a fee when the AI resolves a chat. A ticket spike costs less here, but every new hire costs more:

Re:amaze: the closest swap for ecommerce teams

Re:amaze covers what most Gorgias users rely on: unlimited email inboxes, social channels, live chat, macros and workflows. Pro adds multiple brands in one account, plus SMS and voice.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: small ecommerce teams that want a Gorgias-style helpdesk billed per person.
• Not a fit if: your team is large, since every staff user is a paid seat.
• Pricing: Basic $29, Pro $49 and Plus $69 per user a month on Re:amaze's pricing page. Its AI Agent includes 5, 10 or 20 resolutions per user a month, then $0.85 each. The Shopify listing also shows a Starter plan at $59 for 500 responded conversations.
• Rating: 4.4 from 181 reviews, with 6% at one star.
• The catch: Basic includes only 5 AI resolutions per user a month, so most stores pay per resolution.

Our guide to Re:amaze's rivals covers it in more depth.

Help Scout: a simple shared inbox

Help Scout is a general support tool built around a shared inbox and a knowledge base. Standard adds live chat, Instagram and Messenger, plus one basic SLA policy.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: small teams that want a clean inbox, SLAs and AI they pay for only per resolution.
• Not a fit if: you want Shopify order actions inside every ticket.
• Pricing: Free covers 1 inbox with no AI tools. Standard is $30 per user a month, Plus $54 and Pro $90 on its Shopify listing. Help Scout's site adds AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution, with a 3-month free trial.
• Rating: 3.7 from 19 reviews, a small sample.
• The catch: its listing warns that Help Scout may bill separately from your Shopify invoice.

Richpanel: AI agents for order requests

Richpanel is a helpdesk for Shopify brands whose AI agents work on orders, returns, refunds and subscriptions. You set the guardrails, such as refund limits and when to escalate.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: ecommerce teams with many order requests who want AI to resolve them end to end.
• Not a fit if: you want month-to-month billing from the vendor directly.
• Pricing: PRO is $89 per user a month and PRO MAX $119 on its Shopify listing, with AI conversations from $0.20 each. Richpanel's site shows $69 per agent on yearly contracts.
• Rating: 4.9 from 137 reviews, with 95% at five stars.
• The catch: AI conversations are priced "from" $0.20, so confirm your rate before you budget.

Zendesk: enterprise ticketing with AI agents

Zendesk is the enterprise standard for ticketing, SLAs and routing across many channels. Each Suite plan includes a few automated resolutions for its AI agents.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: large teams with strict SLAs and many channels.
• Not a fit if: you are a small Shopify team, since you pay per agent and per extra resolution.
• Pricing: Suite Team is $69 per agent a month, or $55 billed yearly, on Zendesk's pricing page. It includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month, then $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go.
• Rating: 3.2 from 94 reviews, with 30% at one star.
• The catch: its Shopify listing warns that Zendesk may bill charges separately from your Shopify invoice.

See our list of Zendesk rivals if you are leaving it too.

Gorgias alternatives that bill per AI resolution or by quote

These two suit larger brands that want AI and a full customer history in one place:

Gladly: one AI for selling and service

Gladly ties every message to one customer profile and runs one AI across shopping questions and service requests. Its Shopify app recommends products in chat and email.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: brands that care about a long customer history and want to test AI for free first.
• Not a fit if: AI will handle most of your volume, because each resolution costs $1.50.
• Pricing: Free includes 100 AI interactions and 1 team member, on its Shopify listing. The paid Starter plan charges $1.50 per AI resolution, $0.25 per AI assist and $120 a month per team member. You set a monthly spending cap.
• Rating: 4.7 from 29 reviews.
• The catch: its listing warns that Gladly may bill separately from your Shopify invoice.

Kustomer: a CRM-style customer timeline

Kustomer shows each customer as one timeline of orders, conversations and notes. It handles chat, email, text and voice, with custom objects for complex setups.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: large brands with complex service workflows and an operations team to configure them.
• Not a fit if: you want to start this week without a sales call.
• Pricing: from $89 per user a month on Enterprise and $139 on Ultimate, on its Shopify listing. Its own pricing page asks for an assessment instead of listing prices.
• Rating: 5.0 from 24 reviews, a small sample.
• The catch: the price you pay depends on a quote, so you cannot compare it in advance.

Which Gorgias alternative fits your store

Start from what fills your inbox, then pick the billing unit that grows the slowest for it:

• Mostly product questions before purchase: Chatty.
• Steady volume and a fixed budget: Crisp.
• Order issues, a small team and a busy inbox: Re:amaze, Help Scout or Richpanel.
• A large team with strict SLAs: Zendesk.
• A premium brand that wants one AI and a long customer history: Gladly or Kustomer.

Before you commit, run three checks:

• Price your own ticket count and team size on each vendor's page, not the entry price.
• Find out what counts as a billable ticket or resolution, and what happens at the limit.
• Ask the AI ten real questions from your inbox during the free trial.

For a wider view of the category, read our guide to helpdesk apps for Shopify.

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