Best helpdesk for Shopify in 2026: 10 apps compared by how they bill

The best helpdesk for a Shopify store depends on two things: how many people answer customers, and what the helpdesk bill counts. Gorgias charges per ticket and suits order-heavy stores with a busy email queue.

Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Re:amaze, eDesk and Richpanel charge per agent seat and suit larger teams with set processes. Chatty, Tidio and Shopify Inbox start free and suit small and mid-sized stores that want AI chat and support in one app.

Most "best helpdesk" lists rank tools on features. That hides the part that changes your monthly bill.

Take a three-person team with 600 email tickets a month. Its helpdesk bill runs from $19.99 to $207, depending on whether the app counts AI conversations, people or tickets.

This guide groups 10 Shopify helpdesk apps by that billing unit. Every price below was read on the vendor's own pricing page on 7 October 2026.

Shopify helpdesk apps compared at a glance

Prices are in US dollars, billed monthly, unless the cell says "annual". Order actions mean what an agent can do to a Shopify order from inside the helpdesk.

App	Starting price	How you are billed	Free plan	Email ticketing	Shopify order actions	AI	Best for
Chatty	Free, then $19.99/mo	Per store, by AI conversations (50 to 1,000/mo), $0.40 per extra AI conversation	Yes, 1 team member, 50 AI conversations	Yes, every plan	View cart and recent orders; refunds and cancels in Shopify admin	AI agent included	Small and mid-sized stores wanting AI chat and tickets in one app
Shopify Inbox	Free	Free	Yes	No	Not listed	AI sales associate on storefront chat	Stores that only need storefront chat
Tidio	Free, then $29/mo	Billable conversations (human-answered chats and tickets), 10 seats included; Lyro AI sold separately	Yes, 50 billable conversations	Yes	Cancel, refund, change shipping address	Lyro, from $39/mo for 50 AI conversations on tidio.com (the App Store lists $39 for up to 200)	Small teams that live in chat
Help Scout	Free, then $25/user/mo (annual)	Per user	Yes, 5 users, 1 inbox	Yes	Refund, cancel, edit, duplicate	AI Answers, $0.75 per resolution	Email-first teams that want a clean shared inbox
Re:amaze	$29/user/mo, or $59/mo flat (Starter)	Per user; Starter is flat for unlimited users up to 500 responded conversations	No, 14-day trial	Yes	Refund, cancel, create draft orders	5 to 20 resolutions per user included, then $0.85 each	Small teams on several channels
Freshdesk	$19/agent/mo (annual)	Per agent	No, 14-day trial	Yes	Refund, cancel	First 500 AI agent sessions included, then $49 per 100	Growing teams that want a general helpdesk
Zendesk	$25/agent/mo ($19 annual)	Per agent	No, 14-day trial	Yes	Refunds and cancellations from the sidebar app	$1.50 to $2.00 per automated resolution	Large teams with complex routing and reporting
Gorgias	$10/mo for 50 tickets	Per ticket, never per agent	No, 7-day trial	Yes	Create, edit, duplicate, refund, cancel	$0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction	Busy Shopify brands with order-heavy email
Richpanel	$69/agent/mo (yearly contract)	Per agent seat, AI agents about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation	No, demo only	Yes	Refunds, address updates, discounts, draft orders	AI agents billed per handled conversation	Brands that want AI to resolve most tickets
eDesk	$49/user/mo ($39 annual)	Per user	No, 14-day trial	Yes	Returns, cancellations, order adjustments	$0.99 per AI outcome	Sellers on Amazon, eBay and other marketplaces

Read the "How you are billed" column first. It predicts your bill better than any feature row.

What should a helpdesk for a Shopify store do?

A Shopify helpdesk should turn customer emails into tickets and show the shopper's orders next to each one. It should also let a small team assign, prioritize and close work without losing track. Everything else is a bonus that depends on your size.

Four checks separate a real helpdesk from a chat widget:

1. Email tickets. Support email should become tickets with a status, an owner and a priority. Shopify Inbox does not do this. Every other app in the table does.
2. Order context. Agents should see the order without opening Shopify admin. Most apps here also let agents refund or cancel from the ticket. If you want the basics of how a ticket works, read our guide on what a support ticket is.
3. AI that hands off cleanly. An AI agent should answer simple questions and pass the rest to a person with the conversation attached.
4. A bill you can predict. This is where the apps differ most, so the next section runs the numbers.

The Shopify App Store's Helpdesk category listed 253 apps on 6 October 2026. Most share the same feature checklist, so billing is what sets them apart.

Why does the billing model matter more than the feature list?

The billing model decides how your cost grows. A per-ticket helpdesk costs more as orders grow, and a per-seat helpdesk costs more as you hire.

A per-conversation helpdesk costs more as chat volume grows. Pick the one that grows with the thing your store has least of. Two calculations show how far apart the bills land:

Running the numbers for a three-person team

Take one store: three people answer customers, and the store gets 600 email tickets a month. The table prices the helpdesk on each vendor's entry plan that fits, before any optional AI add-on.

App	Bills per	This store's number	Plan it lands on	Helpdesk cost per month
Chatty	Store, by AI conversations	3 team members, tickets are not counted	Basic (up to 5 team members)	$19.99
Freshdesk	Agent	3 agents	Growth, $19 each (annual)	$57
Zendesk	Agent	3 agents	Support Team, $25 each	$75
Help Scout	User	3 users	Standard, $25 each (annual)	$75
Re:amaze	User	3 users	Basic, $29 each (Starter caps at 500 responded conversations)	$87
Tidio	Billable conversation	600 human-answered conversations	Growth, 600 tier on tidio.com (the App Store listing shows $59 for 250 to 1,000)	$129
eDesk	User	3 users	Essential, $49 each	$147
Gorgias	Ticket	600 tickets	Basic, $60 for 300 plus 300 at $40 per 100	$180
Richpanel	Agent	3 agents	Pro, $69 each (yearly contract)	$207

Four things stand out:

• Chatty is the cheapest here because Helpdesk is not billed separately. Its plans count AI conversations. Human replies and tickets do not use up the plan. The trade-off is a lighter helpdesk, covered below.
• Gorgias costs more at 600 tickets but does not care about headcount. Its Basic plan allows 500 user seats. A store with 12 agents and 600 tickets pays the same $180, while Zendesk Support Team would cost 12 x $25 = $300.
• Per-seat apps are cheap for small teams and expensive for big ones. Freshdesk at $57 for three agents becomes $190 a month at ten agents on annual billing.
• Richpanel only sells yearly contracts. Three agents on Pro cost $207 a month, paid as $2,484 up front for the year.

How AI pricing changes the math

AI changes the math again, because each vendor counts AI in a different unit. Chatty counts every AI conversation in which the AI replies, and Gorgias counts automated interactions.

Zendesk, Re:amaze and Help Scout count resolutions, while Freshdesk counts sessions. Because the units differ, check each AI price against your own chat volume instead of against the other vendors.

Which Shopify helpdesks start free and bill by conversation?

Chatty, Tidio and Shopify Inbox all start free. Chatty and Tidio bill by conversation rather than by seat or ticket. Each plan includes a set number of team members, so a small team can grow without paying per person.

If a free plan is what you need most, our guide to free helpdesk apps for Shopify compares the free tiers. This section looks at where each one fits as your store grows.

Chatty

Chatty is an AI agent, live chat and helpdesk in one Shopify app, and Helpdesk is included on every plan, including Free. Turn on Helpdesk ticket mode for a connected email address and incoming emails become tickets.

Each ticket has a subject, the customer's email, a priority from Low to Critical and an assignee. Tickets move through Open, Pending, Snoozed and Resolved.

Agents can reply, send and close, send and snooze, forward, or leave an internal note the customer never sees. Any Inbox chat can be converted into a ticket from the desktop app.

Chatty plans are priced per store and count AI conversations. Free costs $0 with 50 a month, Basic $19.99 with 100, Pro $68.99 with 500 and Plus $199 with 1,000.

Extra AI conversations cost $0.40 each on paid plans, and you can set a spending limit in the app. Free includes 1 team member and 1 email address, and Basic raises that to 5 team members. Tickets and human replies are not counted against the plan.

Shopify Inbox

Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own free chat app. It puts an AI sales associate on your storefront that answers from your catalog, policies and store content. Staff can take over a chat from the AI.

Inbox has no email tickets, so it is a chat tool rather than a helpdesk. Many stores start here and add a helpdesk once support email grows. Our comparison of apps that add tickets to storefront chat covers that step.

Tidio

Tidio combines live chat, tickets and a separate AI agent called Lyro. On tidio.com, the Free plan covers 50 billable conversations and 10 seats, and Starter costs $29 a month for 100.

Tidio counts a conversation as billable when a human agent replies, in a chat or a ticket. AI-only chats do not use up that quota. Lyro is sold separately, from $39 a month for 50 AI conversations.

The Shopify App Store listing shows different tiers. It prices 250 to 1,000 conversations at $59 a month, while tidio.com charges $129 for 600. It also lists Lyro at $39 for up to 200 conversations.

Because the two price lists disagree, confirm the price on the checkout you will actually pay through. Tidio agents can cancel orders, offer refunds and change shipping addresses from the inbox. It fits a small team whose support starts in chat.

Where does Chatty fit, and when should you pick Gorgias or Zendesk instead?

Chatty fits a Shopify store with one to ten support people that wants AI chat and email tickets in one app. The bill counts AI conversations, so it does not grow with tickets. Gorgias or Zendesk fit better once support runs on rules, SLAs and reports.

Choose Chatty Helpdesk if:

• You want an AI agent on your storefront and a ticket queue for email, without paying for two tools.
• Your team is small, so a per-seat or per-ticket bill would cost more than your support volume justifies.
• You want to start free and move to Basic ($19.99) when a second person joins.

Choose Gorgias or Zendesk if:

• You need automation rules, macros, SLA timers or helpdesk reports. Chatty Helpdesk does not include these yet, and it does not create tickets from Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp.
• Agents refund, cancel and edit orders all day. Gorgias, Zendesk and most apps in this guide do that from the ticket. Chatty's docs describe the shopper's cart and recent orders next to a chat. Refunds and cancellations stay in Shopify admin.
• You run a large team across several brands and want one system for routing and reporting.

If you are weighing these two directly, our Chatty vs Gorgias comparison lays them side by side.

Which Shopify helpdesk charges per ticket?

Gorgias charges per ticket and never per agent, which makes it the main per-ticket option for Shopify. Starter costs $10 a month for 50 tickets, Basic $60 for 300 and Pro $360 for 2,000.

Tickets over the plan cost $0.36 to $0.40 each, depending on the plan. Gorgias is built for ecommerce, and agents can create, edit, duplicate, refund and cancel Shopify orders without leaving the ticket.

Its AI Agent costs $0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction, depending on plan. Basic with AI Agent starts at $90 a month and includes 30 automated interactions.

Gorgias suits a store whose ticket count is steady but whose team keeps growing. Basic and higher plans include 500 user seats, so new agents cost nothing. It is less kind to a store with a seasonal spike, since every extra ticket over the plan is billed.

A trial runs 7 days and there is no free plan. If the per-ticket bill is your problem, our list of helpdesks that bill differently covers the options.

Which Shopify helpdesks charge per agent seat?

Six apps in this guide charge per agent or per user: Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Re:amaze, eDesk and Richpanel. They are easy to budget when your team size is stable, and they get expensive each time you add a person.

Zendesk

Zendesk is the general-purpose helpdesk that large support teams standardize on. Support Team costs $25 per agent per month, or $19 on annual billing.

AI agents bill per automated resolution: $1.50 when committed in advance, $2.00 pay as you go. Zendesk's Shopify app lets agents process refunds and cancellations from the ticket sidebar.

The catch for a small store is setup time and cost per head. Zendesk shines when you need routing rules, SLAs, many brands and deep reporting. If those are not on your list, our roundup of lighter options than Zendesk is a better starting point.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a general helpdesk with a low entry price per agent. Growth costs $19 per agent per month on annual billing. The first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions are included on every plan, and extra sessions cost $49 per 100.

Freshdesk's Shopify app shows current and past orders and lets agents issue refunds and cancel orders from the ticket. The pricing page listed no free plan on 7 October 2026, only a 14-day trial. Freshdesk suits a growing team that wants a mature ticketing tool and does not need ecommerce-only features.

Help Scout

Help Scout is an email-first helpdesk built around a clean shared inbox. Standard costs $25 per user per month on annual billing. A Free plan covers 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 Docs site.

AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution, and you can cap the monthly spend. Help Scout's Shopify sidebar lets agents refund, cancel, edit or duplicate a customer's recent orders.

Help Scout fits a team whose support is mostly email and that values simple workflows over ecommerce automation.

Re:amaze

Re:amaze is a multichannel helpdesk with a Shopify integration and two ways to pay. Basic costs $29 per team member per month. Starter costs a flat $59 a month for unlimited team members, capped at 500 responded conversations.

Per-user plans include 5 to 20 AI resolutions per user each month, and each extra resolution costs $0.85. In Shopify, Re:amaze agents can refund or cancel orders and create draft orders.

The flat Starter plan is a good deal for a small team under 500 conversations a month. For more on how it compares, see our breakdown of where Re:amaze's AI hits its ceiling.

eDesk

eDesk is built for sellers who sell on marketplaces as well as Shopify. Essential costs $49 per user per month, or $39 on annual billing, and covers one store or marketplace. Its AI agent costs $0.99 per outcome on every plan.

The app connects Amazon, eBay and Walmart alongside Shopify. Agents can process Shopify returns, cancellations and order adjustments.

Pick eDesk if Amazon or eBay messages are a large share of your support. For a Shopify-only store, the marketplace features are cost you will not use.

Richpanel

Richpanel is an AI-first helpdesk that aims to resolve most tickets automatically. Pro costs $69 per agent a month and Pro Max $99, both on yearly contracts.

Its AI agents cost about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation, so you pay only for the conversations they handle. Pro Max adds multiple brands, advanced analytics and more channels.

Agents can update addresses, apply discounts, issue refunds and create draft orders. Richpanel's pricing page offered a demo but no free plan or trial on 7 October 2026. It fits a brand that can commit to a full year and wants AI to take most of the ticket volume.

Which helpdesk fits your Shopify team size?

Match the billing model to the thing your store has least of. A solo owner should not pay per seat, and a big team with steady volume should not pay per conversation.

A store with seasonal spikes should watch per-ticket overage. Here is how that plays out by team size:

• Owner answering alone: start free. Shopify Inbox covers storefront chat. Chatty Free and Tidio Free add AI chat and email tickets. Help Scout Free fits an email-only store.
• Two to five people, chat and email: Chatty Basic or Pro, Re:amaze Starter or Tidio. None of them charges per seat, so adding a teammate does not raise the bill.
• A busy email queue with many refunds and cancellations: Gorgias, or Help Scout and Re:amaze on per-seat plans. Order actions inside the ticket save the most time here.
• A large team, several brands or marketplace sales: pick Zendesk or Freshdesk for routing and reporting. Richpanel suits heavy AI automation, and eDesk suits stores where Amazon and eBay matter.

Before you commit, run three checks. First, count last month's support emails and chats, because that number prices every per-ticket and per-conversation plan.

Next, count the people who will log in next year, not this month. Then ask each vendor which Shopify order actions are on the plan you will buy, since some sit on higher tiers.