10 Best Gorgias Alternatives & Competitors in 2026 (by Use Case)

Key takeaways

Gorgias is the help desk many Shopify brands start with: it puts order data next to every ticket, prices the helpdesk by ticket volume instead of by agent, and has a G2 score of 4.6. The same model is why stores start comparing. The bill follows ticket volume, overages are charged per ticket, and the AI agent is billed per automated interaction on top of the helpdesk. We compared 10 tools that replace Gorgias’s core job, tickets plus customer chat for online stores, and checked every pricing page and G2 profile in October 2026. Tidio sits first because it fits small and mid-sized stores best, and we say where it is lighter than Gorgias: deep order workflows. Each entry also names where that tool falls short of Gorgias.

Why teams look for a Gorgias alternative

Gorgias does several things well. It is built for e-commerce, connects Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento, and shows customer and order data beside each conversation. Email, chat, social, and a help center come on every plan, voice and SMS are add-ons, and the helpdesk is never priced per agent. Gorgias also says it powers customer conversations for 40% of Shopify brands, which is its own claim. If your volume is steady and your store runs on Shopify, you should probably stay.

Most stores leave for one of four reasons, all visible on Gorgias’s own pricing page (checked October 2026):

1. Ticket volume sets the bill. Plans cover 50, 300, 2,000, or 5,000 tickets a month. Past that, overage runs $0.40 per ticket on Starter, $40 per 100 on Basic, and $36 per 100 on Pro and Advanced. A sale, a launch, or a shipping delay raises the invoice in the same month.
2. The AI is billed per interaction, on top. AI Agent costs $1.00, $0.90, $0.90, or $0.85 per automated interaction depending on the plan. The pricing page opens with the AI included in each plan’s total, so Basic reads $90 a month rather than the $60 helpdesk price.
3. Cheap entry has trade-offs. Starter is $10 a month, but it is monthly billing only, covers 3 seats and 50 tickets, and has community support. Annual billing starts on Basic.
4. Higher plans move toward sales. Advanced, at $750 a month billed annually, goes through a sales call, and a custom plan starts above 5,000 conversations.

Your reason decides where to look. A cheaper desk with chat points to Tidio or Re:amaze, a marketplace seller to eDesk, a public per-agent price to Freshdesk or Zoho Desk, and an AI-first desk to Intercom. For a feature-by-feature read of the product first, see our Gorgias review.

Gorgias alternatives at a glance

Short answer: Tidio for small and mid-sized Shopify stores, Richpanel or Re:amaze for an e-commerce-native swap, eDesk for marketplace sellers, Freshdesk or Zoho Desk for a help desk with a public per-agent price, Intercom for an AI-first chat desk, and Zendesk for large teams with strict SLAs.

Tool	Best for	Starting price (billing basis)	Free plan / trial	G2 rating
Tidio	Small and mid-sized Shopify stores that want chat, tickets, and AI	$24.17/mo billed annually ($29 monthly), flat for up to 10 seats	Free plan · 7-day trial	4.6 (1,962)
Richpanel	E-commerce stores that want a Gorgias-style desk with order data	Free for 3 seats; Starter $20/user/mo billed annually ($29 monthly)	Free plan · trial	Not read
Re:amaze	Small stores that want unlimited team members on a flat price	$59/mo flat for unlimited team members; per member from $26.10 billed annually ($29 monthly)	Trial, no free plan	4.6 (140)
eDesk	Marketplace sellers (Amazon, eBay, Walmart) and D2C stores	$39/user/mo billed annually ($49 monthly) plus $0.99 per AI outcome	14-day trial	4.5 (80)
Zendesk	Large teams with SLAs, routing, and many channels	$19/agent/mo billed annually ($25 monthly), email and tickets only	14-day trial	4.3 (7,082)
Freshdesk	A help desk with public per-agent prices	$19/agent/mo billed annually ($23 monthly)	14-day trial	4.4 (3,773)
Intercom	AI-first chat and help desk	$29/seat/mo billed annually ($39 monthly) plus $0.99 per Fin outcome	14-day trial	4.5 (3,913)
Help Scout	Email-first teams that want a simple shared inbox	$25/user/mo billed annually ($30 monthly)	Free for 5 users · 15-day trial	4.4 (431)
Zoho Desk	Lowest cost per seat	Free; paid from $7/user/mo billed annually ($9 monthly)	Free for 3 users · 15-day trial	4.4 (7,954)
HubSpot Service Hub	Support tied to CRM records	Free; Professional from $90/seat/mo billed annually	Free for 2 users	4.4 (3,017)

How we evaluated these alternatives

We started from the tools that rank for this search, the ones AI answers name for Gorgias, and the previous edition of this article, then kept 10 that replace a help desk with tickets and customer chat for a store. Chatbot-only tools and WhatsApp-only tools are out. Five criteria map to why stores leave Gorgias:

1. Price model. Per seat, per ticket, per conversation, or flat, and what extra volume costs.
2. AI billing. Whether an AI agent is included, and what triggers a charge.
3. Store fit. Shopify, WooCommerce, and marketplace connections, and order data on the ticket.
4. Channels. Email, live chat, social, SMS, and phone.
5. Fit. Team size, order volume, and how much setup you do yourself.

Sources are pricing pages, plan comparisons, and G2 listings, and vendor claims are labeled as claims. No trial accounts were opened for this edition, so screenshots come from vendors’ public product pages and Tidio’s media library. Tidio goes first as the pick for small and mid-sized stores; the rest run roughly from closest to Gorgias to furthest.

The 10 best Gorgias alternatives in 2026

1. Tidio

Best for: small and mid-sized Shopify stores that want live chat, email tickets, and an AI agent in one inbox.

Tidio starts with the conversations shoppers open on your store and adds email tickets to the same inbox. A support email becomes a ticket with a status, a priority, and an assignee, and an agent can open the chat behind it. For Shopify stores, tidio.com lists cart preview and order history in the inbox, and native Shopify actions come on the Growth plan and up.

The Lyro AI agent answers repeat questions such as order status and shipping times, and Tidio says it can resolve up to 75% of support requests. Plans are priced by billable conversations, so adding a teammate adds no seat fee. That puts Tidio at the cheaper end of this list, and it is why AI answers describe it as a low-cost pick for small stores.

Pros

• One inbox for chat, email, social messages, and AI, so shoppers don’t repeat themselves.
• Flat plan prices for up to 10 seats, with a free plan to test.

Cons

• Quotas are priced separately for conversations, Lyro, and Flows, so you pay for what you use but have a few limits to watch.
• Built for small and mid-sized teams, so very large or complex queues are a better fit for a dedicated enterprise desk.

Pricing: from Tidio’s pricing page, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Free $0 (50 billable conversations a month, 10 seats); Starter $24.17 ($29), 100 conversations; Growth from $49.17 ($59), 250 to 2,000; Plus from $300 plus usage; Premium by quote. Lyro on its own starts at $32.50 ($39) for 50 conversations, and the first 50 are free.

Rating: G2 4.6/5 (1,962 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain a lower entry price, a free plan, and chat and AI in the same inbox. You give up Gorgias’s deeper order actions, its 150-plus app integrations, and its voice and SMS add-ons. See the full Tidio vs Gorgias comparison.

2. Richpanel

Best for: e-commerce stores that want a Gorgias-style desk with order data and a free starting point.

Richpanel is the closest like-for-like swap: an e-commerce help desk that puts the customer profile and orders beside the conversation, with refund and cancel buttons in the panel. Its pricing page offers a one-click migration from Gorgias. Pricing is per user, with a Free plan for 3 seats.

Pros

• A free plan with email, live chat, and 3 seats.
• Order management and returns sit in the same tool.

Cons

• Social channels start on Starter, and SMS and phone start on Pro.
• The pricing page mixes a per-user help desk price with separate order-based pricing for the self-service portal.

Pricing: per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Free $0 (3 seats, 50 AI assists per company); Starter $20 ($29); Pro $85 ($99); Enterprise custom. Richpanel markets its AI employees at about $0.20 per resolved conversation, which is its own claim.

Rating: Richpanel’s G2 page could not be read in October 2026.

Versus Gorgias: you gain a free plan and a per-user price that doesn’t track ticket volume. You give up Gorgias’s larger Shopify ecosystem and its flat per-store billing.

3. Re:amaze

Best for: small stores that want unlimited team members and chat on a predictable price.

Re:amaze combines a shared inbox with live chat, chatbots, and an FAQ, and it connects to e-commerce platforms. Its Starter plan is a flat $59 a month for unlimited team members, capped at 500 responded conversations a month, which suits a small team that outgrew seat pricing. Per-member plans start at $29.

Pros

• A flat plan for unlimited team members.
• Every trial includes the Plus plan’s features, with no credit card.

Cons

• AI resolutions beyond the monthly allowance cost $0.85 each.
• There is no free plan.

Pricing: Starter $59 a month flat (500 responded conversations). Per team member per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Basic $26.10 ($29); Pro $44.10 ($49); Plus $62.10 ($69). The AI Agent includes 5, 10, or 20 resolutions per user a month by plan, then $0.85 each.

Rating: G2 4.6/5 (140 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain a flat team price and built-in chat and chatbots. You give up Gorgias’s deeper Shopify integration and ticket-based pricing that scales with volume. Our Re:amaze review goes further.

4. eDesk

Best for: sellers who also sell on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, or TikTok Shop and want one inbox for all of it.

eDesk is built around marketplaces. It connects Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Mirakl, and TikTok Shop alongside Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, and shows order history on each ticket. Live chat and social messaging are in every plan, and the AI agent is included, billed per outcome.

Pros

• Strong marketplace coverage that most help desks lack.
• SLA timers and order history on the ticket.

Cons

• Each plan covers a fixed number of stores or marketplaces: 1 on Essential, 5 on Growth, 10 on Professional.
• Per-user prices plus $0.99 per AI outcome add up for larger teams.

Pricing: per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Essential $39 ($49); Growth $89 ($115); Professional $119 ($149); Enterprise custom. AI Agent is $0.99 per outcome, charged once per ticket. 14-day trial without a card.

Rating: G2 4.5/5 (80 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain marketplace support and SLA timers. You give up Gorgias’s volume-based pricing and Shopify-first depth, since eDesk bills per user.

5. Zendesk

Best for: larger teams that need deep ticketing, SLAs, skills-based routing, and many channels.

Zendesk is the benchmark most help desks get measured against. Support Team is $19 per agent a month billed annually ($25 monthly) for email and ticketing. Messaging and live chat start at Suite Team, $55 per agent billed annually, and SLAs at Suite Professional, $115. It is the safe pick when a store grows into a large support organization.

Pros

• Deep ticketing, SLA, and routing controls at the higher tiers.
• An official Shopify app shows order details and processes refunds in the sidebar.

Cons

• Live chat is not in the entry plan.
• AI resolutions and add-ons stack on top of seat prices.

Pricing: per agent per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Support Team $19 ($25); Suite Team $55 ($69); Suite Professional $115 ($149); Suite Enterprise is “Talk to Sales”. 14-day trial; no free plan on the pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.3/5 (7,082 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain a public price ladder and routing that scales to large teams. You give up an e-commerce-first design, because Zendesk bills by seat and its AI price comes on top of seats. Compare them directly in Gorgias vs Zendesk.

6. Freshdesk

Best for: teams that want a help desk with a public per-agent price and the usual ticketing tools.

Freshdesk is the most direct swap for a ticketing desk, and its price is on the page. Growth is $19 per agent a month billed annually ($23 monthly). Multiple SLA policies and round-robin routing start at Pro at $55. Skill-based assignment is Enterprise only.

Pros

• A low entry price per agent, with SLAs and routing a tier earlier than Zendesk.
• Mature ticketing as you move up the plans.

Cons

• Growth has a single SLA policy and no custom dashboards.
• You can only downgrade or cancel at the end of your term.

Pricing: per agent per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Growth $19 ($23); Pro $55 ($66); Enterprise $89 ($107). No free plan on the pricing page; 14-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (3,773 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain a price you can read and a long list of apps and integrations. You give up order data built for stores, and Freddy bills AI sessions on top of seats. See Gorgias vs Freshdesk.

7. Intercom

Best for: teams that want an AI-first, chat-led help desk and accept usage billing.

Intercom is the closest to Gorgias’s AI-agent model. Fin charges $0.99 per outcome on every plan, a little under Gorgias’s $1.00 on Starter. An outcome is a conversation the customer confirms resolved, one where they don’t ask for more help after Fin replies, or one where Fin completes a workflow. Live chat is included on every plan, and Essential is $29 per seat a month billed annually.

Pros

• A strong AI-first model for teams that want a bot to handle volume.
• Chat, email, and in-app messaging in one place.

Cons

• You get two bills, seats plus Fin outcomes, with no spending cap shown on the pricing page.
• Workflow builder, multiple team inboxes, and round robin start at Advanced.

Pricing: per seat per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Essential $29 ($39); Advanced $85 ($99); Expert $132 ($139). Fin is $0.99 per outcome. No free plan; 14-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.5/5 (3,913 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain a mature chat product and a public seat price. You give up ticket-based pricing that ignores team size, since Intercom charges for both seats and outcomes. More in our Intercom alternatives guide.

8. Help Scout

Best for: small, email-first teams that want a simple shared inbox with a free plan.

Help Scout feels like email with ownership added. The Free plan covers 5 users, 1 Inbox, and 1 Docs site, and the Beacon live chat widget comes with Standard at $25 per user a month billed annually ($30 monthly). The trade-off is scale: Standard stops at 25 users and Plus at 50.

Pros

• A real free plan for 5 users.
• Live chat and workflows start at $25 per user.

Cons

• Phone is an integration on every plan.
• Standard caps at 25 users and Plus at 50; Pro needs at least 10 users and a demo.

Pricing: per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Standard $25 ($30); Plus $45 ($54); Pro $75 ($90). Free for 5 users. 15-day trial.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (431 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain a free plan, a calm inbox, and a cheaper AI resolution ($0.75 per resolution). You give up e-commerce data on the ticket and a bill that ignores seat counts. See our Help Scout alternatives.

9. Zoho Desk

Best for: budget-conscious teams that start with email support and want inexpensive seats.

Zoho Desk has the lowest seat prices on this list. The free edition supports 3 users, and Express adds a cheap paid step at $7 per user a month billed annually. The picture changes with broader needs: telephony, Blueprints, multiple departments, and round-robin assignment start at Professional, and live chat through Zoho SalesIQ needs Enterprise.

Pros

• The free edition is a real entry point for 3 users.
• Express and Standard have low published seat prices.

Cons

• Free caps you at 3 users and Express at 5.
• Skill-based assignment and sandbox access need Enterprise.

Pricing: Free for 3 users and 1 email channel. Per user per month, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Express $7 ($9); Standard $14 ($20); Professional $23 ($35); Enterprise $40 ($50). 15-day trial without a card; the account then drops to Free.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (7,954 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain the lowest per-seat price here and a free tier. You give up chat on the cheaper plans and order data built for stores. See Zoho Desk alternatives.

10. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for: HubSpot CRM teams that want tickets tied to customer records.

HubSpot Service Hub makes sense when your team already works in HubSpot CRM. The buying case is customer context across sales, marketing, and support, not the cheapest seat. The help desk workspace, knowledge base, and customer portal start at Professional, so the free tier tells you little about the paid product.

Pros

• Fits teams that already organize customer work around HubSpot.
• Free tools for up to 2 users let you test the basics.

Cons

• Core help desk features require Professional.
• Professional and Enterprise carry mandatory onboarding fees.

Pricing: Free for up to 2 users. Professional starts at $90 per seat a month billed annually ($100 monthly, still an annual commitment) plus $1,500 onboarding. Enterprise starts at $150 per seat, billed annually, plus $3,500 onboarding. Customer Agent uses 50 credits, or $0.50, per conversation it resolves.

Rating: G2 4.4/5 (3,017 reviews)

Versus Gorgias: you gain CRM context on every ticket and a cheaper AI resolution ($0.50 against $0.85 to $1.00). You give up a low entry price, because Professional comes with a one-time onboarding fee. See HubSpot alternatives.

What 5 agents and 300 tickets cost

Seat prices and ticket prices don’t compare directly, so here is one store on every tool: 5 agents and about 300 tickets a month, the cheapest paid plan that covers email tickets, billed annually, before AI usage. Prices are from the pages above.

Tool	Plan	Math	Per month
Zoho Desk	Express	5 × $7	$35
Tidio	Growth (250 billable conversations)	flat, up to 10 seats	from $49.17
Gorgias	Basic (300 tickets)	flat, 500 seats	$50
Re:amaze	Starter (500 responded conversations, monthly)	flat, unlimited members	$59
Freshdesk	Growth	5 × $19	$95
Zendesk	Support Team (email and tickets)	5 × $19	$95
Richpanel	Starter	5 × $20	$100
Help Scout	Standard	5 × $25	$125
Re:amaze	Basic	5 × $26.10	$130.50
Intercom	Essential	5 × $29	$145
eDesk	Essential	5 × $39	$195
HubSpot	Professional	5 × $90, plus $1,500 one-time	$450

The rows to watch are the ones where tickets, not seats, set the bill. At 300 tickets Gorgias costs less than any per-seat desk with five agents, which is why it suits steady stores. The gap closes when volume climbs: 2,000 tickets on Gorgias Pro is $300 a month before AI, and every 100 tickets beyond the plan adds $36. A team that sees AI close 1,000 conversations a month pays about $900 on Gorgias Basic’s $0.90 rate, $990 on Intercom, and $500 on HubSpot. Price your busiest month, not your average one.

Tidio vs Gorgias

	Tidio	Gorgias
Best for	Small and mid-sized Shopify stores that want chat, tickets, and AI	E-commerce brands that want deep order data and actions on every ticket
Pricing unit	Billable conversations, flat per plan	Tickets per month, never per agent
Entry price	Free plan; Starter $24.17/mo billed annually	Starter $10/mo, monthly only; Basic $50/mo billed annually
Free plan	Yes: 50 billable conversations, 10 seats	None found on the pricing page
Live chat	Included, with Lyro in the same inbox	Included on every plan
AI agent	Lyro, from $32.50/mo billed annually for 50 conversations; says it can resolve up to 75% of requests	AI Agent, $0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction
Shopify	Cart preview and order history in the inbox, per tidio.com	Order data on the ticket; Shopify is its core platform
Voice and SMS	Not a focus	Add-ons from $25/mo and $17/mo, annual pricing
Support and onboarding	Self-serve; Plus adds a dedicated success manager	Community, standard, specialist, or dedicated tiers by plan

Gorgias is stronger on order actions, its integration list, and voice and SMS add-ons. If you run a high-volume Shopify store and want the deepest e-commerce desk, it is a fair choice. If your team is small, your budget is tight, and you want chat, tickets, and AI in one inbox, see Tidio’s help desk page.

How to switch from Gorgias

Plan for a week of parallel running, not a weekend:

1. Export what you need. Pull tickets, customers, macros, tags, and help center articles before you cancel.
2. List your automations. Check which plan of the new tool holds each rule, view, and macro you rely on.
3. Check your integrations. Note which apps feed order data, returns, and subscriptions into your tickets.
4. Check your contract dates. Line the cancellation up with your renewal, and note whether you pay monthly or annually.
5. Run both for a week. Connect the support email, rebuild your four or five daily automations, route a share of conversations to the new tool, then swap the chat widget and help center link.

Richpanel advertises one-click migration from Gorgias; with the others, expect to rebuild macros by hand. Whichever you choose, confirm the new inbox shows the shopper’s cart and orders next to the conversation.

How to choose

Match the tool to your bottleneck:

• You run a small or mid-sized Shopify store and want chat, tickets, and AI in one inbox. Choose Tidio.
• You want the closest e-commerce swap. Choose Richpanel, or Re:amaze for a flat team price.
• You sell on marketplaces. Choose eDesk.
• You want a help desk with a price on the page. Choose Freshdesk, or Zoho Desk for the lowest seat price.
• You want an AI agent to take volume. Choose Intercom, and set a budget for Fin outcomes.
• Your team is small and works from email. Choose Help Scout.
• Your team already uses HubSpot CRM. Choose HubSpot Service Hub, and budget for onboarding.
• You run a large team with strict SLAs. Choose Zendesk, and price Suite Professional with its add-ons.

Bottom line

Gorgias stays a fair choice when your store is on Shopify, your volume is steady, and you want order actions on every ticket. Move when the ticket meter or the AI interaction bill outgrows the plan, or when you want a free plan to test. Small and mid-sized stores that want chat, tickets, and AI without paying per ticket tier should start with Tidio. For an e-commerce-native swap, look at Richpanel or Re:amaze; for marketplaces, eDesk; for a public per-agent price, Freshdesk or Zoho Desk.

Related guides

• Gorgias review
• Gorgias vs Zendesk
• E-commerce help desk software
• Zendesk alternatives
• Freshdesk alternatives

Frequently asked questions