Facts reuse the Simple Chat vs pages. Review counts are not invented for Simple Chat. Confirm current rates on App Store listings and vendor pricing pages.
1
Simple Chat
Chat + email billed only when AI closes
Simple Chat is our app, so read this entry knowing that. It does chat and email inside Shopify Admin, with AI that can look up orders, change addresses, and close tickets on its own. There is no Instagram, no SMS, no voice. If Gorgias channels you never opened are most of what you pay for, this is the trade.
Pricing. $0.29 per AI-closed conversation, no platform fee, no seats. Modeled at 1,000 AI tickets: $290 vs Gorgias $1,200 on published annual list prices.
2
Tidio
Free live chat, Flows, and social messaging
Tidio comes at support from the chat widget rather than the ticket queue. The free plan is real: live chat, Flows, and ticketing, with Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp on the listing. Lyro, its AI agent, is sold in conversation packs. A good landing spot if Gorgias was mostly a chat tool for you anyway.
Pricing. Three products, three meters. Customer Service bills on human conversations, Flows on visitors reached, Lyro on AI conversations. The App Store lists Customer Service from $29/month, Flows from $29/month, and Lyro from $39/month for up to 200 AI conversations; tidio.com/pricing shows annual rates of $24.17/mo for Starter (100 billable conversations) and Lyro from $32.50/mo for 50.
3
Re:amaze
Like-for-like omnichannel helpdesk on per-teammate pricing
Re:amaze is the closest like-for-like swap here: chat, email, social, SMS, and voice in one inbox, and it can create and edit Shopify orders from the conversation. What changes is the meter. You pay per teammate, from $29/user/month, instead of per ticket, which suits teams whose volume swings more than their headcount.
Pricing. The published numbers agree between reamaze.com/pricing and the App Store: Basic $29, Pro $49, Plus $69 per teammate per month, falling to $26.10, $44.10, and $62.10 on annual billing. Plans include 5, 10, or 20 AI Agent resolutions per user each month; past those, $0.85 apiece. A flat Starter covers 500 responded conversations for $59/month.
4
Zendesk
Enterprise omnichannel and company-wide ticketing
Zendesk is what you move to when support stops being a store mailbox and becomes a department. Suite ticketing, SLAs, routing, voice, a large marketplace. The Shopify sidebar app lets agents refund and cancel orders from the ticket. It is heavier than everything else on this list, on purpose.
Pricing. Suite pricing on the Shopify listing runs per agent per month on annual billing: Team $55, Growth $89, Professional $115, Enterprise $150. zendesk.com/pricing adds two per-agent add-ons, Copilot at $50 and Contact Center at $83. AI agents come included and are then metered on automated resolutions; the one number the pricing FAQ does not publish is the overage rate.
5
Intercom
Stores already on Fin, or Fin on another helpdesk
Intercom is here mostly because of Fin, which lists at $0.99 per outcome and can run on a helpdesk you already own. The rest of Intercom is seats: Advanced lists at $85 per seat per month on annual billing. If price is why you are leaving Gorgias, do the Fin math first. It is a strong agent with an expensive floor.
Pricing. Watch which price sheet you are reading. Annual rates on intercom.com/pricing: Essential $29, Advanced $85, Expert $132 per seat per month. The App Store shows monthly rates: $39, $99, and $139. Fin is $0.99 per outcome on both, and Copilot adds $29/agent/month on the vendor page. The model below uses three Advanced seats at annual list prices plus 1,000 Fin outcomes.
