Tidio alternatives for Shopify in 2026: 7 tools compared by what they charge

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.

Tidio is one of the best-known chat apps on Shopify, and its reviews are strong. You are probably not here to escape a bad app.

Merchants who leave usually hit the same wall. Tidio prices human chats, Lyro AI chats and Flows visitors as three separate meters. A busy month can push you onto a bigger plan in more than one place.

So the useful comparison is not a feature list. It is what each alternative charges for, and how that charge grows with your store. Below are seven Shopify-ready options, sorted by that question.

Tidio 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 Tidio alternative

Tidio is not a weak app. Its Shopify listing shows 4.8 stars from 1,354 reviews, and 86% of them are five stars. Reviews posted in 2026 average 4.78, up from 4.42 in 2023.

We read all 1,354 Tidio reviews on October 12, 2026. Since January 2025, merchants have left 27 one- or two-star reviews. Nine of them are about price, plan limits or forced upgrades.

Three complaints repeat, and each one traces back to how Tidio's plans are built:

• Three meters, not one. A July 2025 reviewer called it "an expensive and complex price structure, involving paying for flows, then chats, then customer service". Tidio's pricing page confirms that these three are priced separately.
• Limits that stop the chat. Tidio's help center says that at your monthly limit, "you will no longer be able to respond to incoming messages". On newer projects with a monthly plan, Tidio can upgrade you automatically instead. An April 2026 reviewer, pointing to seasonal swings in ecommerce, called it "a cash grab."
• No bulk export. Two reviewers in 2025 and 2026 say they could not export their chat history. In July 2026 one wrote that Tidio "doesn't allow you to export any of your store's customers' questions and your answers."

Happy customers notice the same pattern. A four-star reviewer wrote in July 2025: "pricing becomes a challenge once you scale AI conversations and flows but it's a great tool."

What a Tidio 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 chat conversations a month. AI answers 200 on its own, and one teammate answers the other 100. The catalog has fewer than 500 products.

Two notes keep this fair. Intercom, LiveChat and Zendesk charge only when the AI resolves a chat, so a month with fewer resolutions costs less. Chatty and Tidio count every conversation the AI replies to.

Tidio's page shows yearly prices by default, labeled "2 months free". Its monthly price is 1.2 times that figure, which matches its Shopify listing at $29 and $39. The Lyro line is Tidio's calculator result of $116.67 for 200 conversations, converted the same way.

Gorgias lists $0.90 per automated interaction on Basic, while its monthly AI add-on works out to $1.00, so we show a range. For Intercom we used its Shopify listing, because intercom.com shows lower seat prices billed yearly.

Tidio alternatives that bill per AI conversation, or not at all

These two put AI on your storefront first and never charge for a chat your team answers:

Chatty: AI that sells from your Shopify catalog

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.

Human conversations are unlimited on every plan, so a chat your team answers never counts against you. Basic adds AI order tracking. Pro adds the AI shopping assistant, proactive chats and abandoned cart reminders.

Chatty also includes a Helpdesk on every plan, including Free. It turns support emails into tickets with a priority, an assignee and a status. 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 dedicated helpdesk will serve you better.
• Pricing: Free includes 50 AI conversations a month, reset every cycle. Basic is $19.99 for 100, Pro $68.99 for 500 and Plus $199 for 1,000. 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 Tidio comparison. The full plan table lists every limit per plan.

Shopify Inbox: the free baseline

Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own chat app, and it now puts an AI sales associate on your storefront. It learns from your catalog, policies and store content. You set its tone and rules, and you can run Inbox with or without the agent.

It is the baseline every paid option on this list has to beat:

• Best for: new stores that want free chat with AI and no extra bill.
• Not a fit if: you need email tickets. Its App Store category is Chat, not Helpdesk, so plan on a separate tool for email.
• Pricing: free on its Shopify App Store listing.
• Rating: 4.6 from 5,810 reviews.
• The catch: the agent personalizes replies with Shop preferences and purchase history only when the buyer signs in with Shop.

For more no-cost options, see our roundup of free chatbot options for Shopify.

Tidio alternatives that bill per ticket or per workspace

These two price the inbox, not each chat. That suits teams whose volume is steady from month to month:

Gorgias: a Shopify helpdesk built around tickets

Gorgias is a helpdesk first. It pulls Shopify order data into each ticket, and agents work email, chat and social from one place. On Basic and up, its AI Agent can run actions such as cancelling an order or applying a discount.

If your team already lives in tickets, its approach to help desk management will feel familiar. Here is the fit:

• Best for: support teams that handle order questions across email, chat and social, with several agents.
• Not a fit if: most of your chats are pre-sale product questions and you want AI priced per chat.
• Pricing: Starter $10 a month for 50 tickets, Basic $60 for 300, Pro $360 for 2,000. The AI Agent adds $0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction, by plan, on Gorgias's pricing page.
• Rating: 4.3 from 704 reviews, with 10% at one star.
• The catch: two meters. A busy month raises both your ticket count and your AI interactions.

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: AI runs on included credits, and Crisp describes their reach only as "around" a number of conversations.

Tidio alternatives that bill per seat plus AI resolutions

These three charge for each person who logs in, then add a fee when the AI resolves a chat. Costs grow with team size more than with traffic:

LiveChat: a polished chat app for small teams

LiveChat, now sold under the Text brand, is a clean chat app with Shopify order details and a live cart preview. Its AI Agent bills by resolution, and the Growth plan includes 200 a month.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: teams of one to three agents who want a polished chat app with sales tracking.
• Not a fit if: your team is large, because every person who logs in is a paid user.
• Pricing: Essential $25 per user a month with 10 AI resolutions, and Growth $99 per user with 200, on livechat.com. Extra resolutions come in packs of 50 for $49.50.
• Rating: 4.4 from 49 reviews.
• The catch: the Shopify listing shows different plans (Starter $25, Team $59, Business $89) than livechat.com. Confirm which price you will be billed before you install.

Intercom with Fin: AI priced per outcome

Intercom pairs a full helpdesk with Fin, its AI agent. Fin bills per outcome, and it can also run on top of a helpdesk you already use.

Here is where it fits:

• Best for: larger support teams that want deep reporting and AI they pay for only when it closes a chat.
• Not a fit if: you are a small store watching every dollar, since seats and outcomes both grow.
• Pricing: Essential $39, Advanced $99 and Expert $139 per seat a month on its Shopify listing, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome. Intercom's own site shows $19, $85 and $132 per seat billed yearly.
• Rating: 3.7 from 18 reviews, with 22% at one star.
• The catch: an outcome counts when a shopper confirms the answer, and also when they simply do not ask for more help.

Zendesk: enterprise ticketing with AI agents

Zendesk is the enterprise standard for ticketing, SLAs and routing across many channels. Live chat starts on the Suite plans. 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.

Which Tidio alternative fits your store

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

• Mostly product questions before purchase: Chatty, or Shopify Inbox if the budget is zero.
• Mostly order problems and email tickets: Gorgias, or Zendesk for a large team with SLAs.
• Steady volume and a fixed budget: Crisp.
• One to three agents who want a polished chat app: LiveChat.
• A big team that already runs a helpdesk: Intercom with Fin.

Before you commit, run three checks:

• Price your own monthly volume on each vendor's page, not the entry price.
• Find out what happens at the limit: a hard stop, an auto-upgrade, or an overage you can cap.
• Ask the AI ten real questions from your inbox during the free trial.

If you want a wider view of the category, read our guide to live chat apps for Shopify. Our ecommerce customer service guide covers the basics behind any of these tools.

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