The short answer
It depends on what your chat is mostly about
Choose AI Chat Bot if your chat is mostly pre-sale questions: will it arrive by Saturday, can I send it back, what's it made of. It answers from your own shipping, returns and product pages, never invents a discount or a delivery date, and emails you anything it can't answer, with the order number when there is one. Plans are flat, from $19 a month, and count customer messages, not tickets.
Stay with Gorgias if most of your volume is order questions you want closed without a person: where's my order, change my address, cancel, refund. Its AI Agent works inside your Shopify store and can do those things; we can't see orders at all. Gorgias is also the pick if a team answers email, social and chat from one inbox.
How we compared
We make AI Chat Bot. We compared it with Gorgias using Gorgias's pricing page, its billing article, its AI Agent page and its Shopify App Store reviews, all read on October 1, 2026, and our own product as it works today. We didn't run a paid Gorgias account. Reviews quoted are a few of 706 and aren't a sample of all of them. Where Gorgias is the better pick, we say so.
Why people switch
Why small stores look for a Gorgias alternative
The price climbs with every ticket
Starter is $10 a month for 50 tickets and Basic $60 for 300, then $0.40 for each extra ticket ($0.36 on Pro and Advanced). A ticket is any conversation that gets a reply from a person, a rule or the AI Agent.
Source: Gorgias pricing
One AI answer can be billed twice
The AI Agent adds $30 a month for 30 automated interactions on Starter and Basic. Gorgias's billing article says a ticket resolved entirely by the AI Agent can carry both an automation fee and a ticket fee, and the pricing page charges $0.85 to $1.00 for each automated interaction, depending on the plan.
The AI bill is hard to predict
A store owner reviewing Gorgias on the Shopify App Store in July 2026 said they couldn't justify switching the AI on, because heavy use would mean “a four-figure bill” at the end of the month.
A help desk to set up and run
On Starter and Basic, onboarding is self-serve, per the pricing page. One store that left after 25 days summed up its trial as “no onboarding” (April 2026); Gorgias replied that onboarding on that plan is self-serve, with documentation and email support.
Side by side
AI Chat Bot vs Gorgias, row by row
| Feature | AI Chat Bot | Gorgias |
|---|---|---|
| Starting paid price | $19 a month ($17 yearly) for 1,500 customer messages, every feature included | $10 a month for 50 tickets (Starter, monthly only); Basic $60 ($50 yearly) for 300. The AI Agent adds $30 a month ($27 yearly) for 30 automated interactions. |
| Billing unit and overage | Customer messages answered. No overage: past the allowance it answers in a shorter form, or a top-up adds 2,000 for $20. | Tickets plus automated interactions. $0.40 per extra ticket ($0.36 on Pro and up), $0.85 to $1.00 per automated interaction by plan, and an AI-resolved ticket can count as both. |
| Free plan or trial | Free for ever with 100 messages a month, after a 7-day trial of 200. No card. | 7-day free trial, no card. No free plan. |
| Order lookup and actions | None. It can't see orders, says so, and takes the order number and email for your team. | Yes. The AI Agent tracks packages and can refund, cancel, edit orders, update addresses and start returns in Shopify (actions from Basic up). |
| Pre-sale questions | Shipping, returns, sizing, materials and ways to pay, from your own pages, with policies in substance exactly. Never promises a delivery date or a discount your site doesn't publish. | Answers product and policy questions and recommends products, trained on your Shopify store data, help center and docs. |
| How answers stay accurate | Every factual answer must cite your facts; one that cites nothing is replaced by a handoff to you. | Brand voice and guardrails from Basic up. You set a confidence threshold, and it escalates what it isn't sure about. |
| How much of your store it reads | Up to 40 pages at signup, the pages you add, and uploaded files. Main pages, not every product. | Your Shopify store data, so your catalog and orders. |
| When it can't answer | A Talk to a person button under every reply. You get the question and their details by email in seconds. | It hands the ticket to your team in the Gorgias inbox, with the conversation. |
| Leads | Takes a name, a way to reach them and what they need, plus an order number or company for stores. Wholesale, gifting and press enquiries become leads. | Conversations become tickets in the inbox, next to the customer's Shopify profile and orders. |
| Channels | Your website widget and a hosted chat page. | Email, chat, social and a help center on every plan; voice and SMS as paid add-ons from Basic. |
| Store platforms | Any website: one line in your Shopify theme, a WordPress plugin, or a hosted link. No Shopify app and no store connection. | Shopify and WooCommerce on every plan; BigCommerce from Basic; Magento from Pro; 150+ app integrations. |
| Team seats | No seats. Alerts go to the email you choose, with a backup contact. | 3 seats on Starter, 500 from Basic. Not priced per agent. |
| Reporting | Results against a held-back group of visitors, chat ratings, and a spreadsheet export. | Support performance on every plan; revenue attribution from Pro. |
| Best fit | Small stores whose chat is mostly pre-sale questions, run by people with no time to work a help desk. | Stores with a support team and many order questions to resolve inside Shopify. |
Checked October 1, 2026, on their pricing page.
Where we're the better pick
Where AI Chat Bot is the better pick
Pre-sale answers from your own policies
It gives your delivery times as your estimates, your returns policy in substance exactly, and your size guide where you publish one. It never mentions a sale, a discount code or low stock your site doesn't state. Ecommerce chatbot.
One price you can plan around
A flat plan counted in customer messages. No ticket fee, no fee per AI answer, and no overage: past the allowance it keeps answering in a shorter form. At 1,500 customer messages a month that's Starter at $19, against about $310 for Gorgias Basic with its AI Agent on our assumptions below. Plans.
Order questions handed over cleanly
It says plainly that it can't look orders up, asks for the order number and the email it was placed under, and emails you the lot, ready to look up in Shopify. Human handoff.
Wholesale and gifting enquiries become leads
A bulk, wholesale, corporate gifting or press enquiry is treated as a lead: it asks what they're after, their name, email and company, and emails it to you in seconds. Lead alerts.
On your Shopify store in minutes, no app
Paste one line into your theme's main layout file and it shows on every page. Nothing to connect to your store, and nothing that can touch an order. Shopify guide.
Where they're the better pick
Where Gorgias is the better pick
Most of your chats are about orders
If “where's my order” and “can I change my address” fill your inbox, Gorgias's AI Agent can track the package and make the change in Shopify. Ours can only take the order number and pass it to you.
A team works one inbox across channels
Gorgias puts email, chat, social, voice and SMS in one help desk with macros, rules and up to 500 seats. We have no help desk, no ticketing and no shared inbox; you reply by phone or email after our alert.
You want answers from the whole catalog
Gorgias learns from your Shopify store data. We read your main pages and the files you upload, so a large catalog's product-by-product questions often come to you instead.
You want a long public track record
Gorgias has 706 Shopify App Store reviews averaging 4.3. We're new and don't have customer reviews or case studies yet; trying it on your own store is the proof we can offer.
Everything AI Chat Bot does
What you get, on every plan
Answers you can trust
Answers from your website and documents
Paste your address and it reads your key pages in about a minute, and up to 40 once you sign up. Add price lists or brochures as PDF, Word or text files, and write your own answers to common questions. How it works.
Says when it doesn't know
An answer has to come from your facts or quote your own pages word for word. When nothing covers a question, it says so and passes it to you instead of guessing. Custom chatbot.
Stays up to date
It re-reads your website every week, or every day on Growth and Pro, and emails you when a price or policy it quotes has changed.
Answers in your customer's language
It replies in the language the visitor writes in, from the same facts, and the chat's buttons switch to that language too.
Leads, bookings and handoffs
Captures the lead
It answers first, then asks for a name, a way to reach them and what they need, and keeps the full conversation with the lead. Lead generation.
Email alerts in seconds
Each lead arrives by email with a one-line summary of what they want. Unanswered, you get one reminder after 5 minutes, then your backup contact is told. Urgent leads are marked urgent. Lead alerts.
Books appointments
It sends customers to the booking page you already use, or connects to Google Calendar and offers your real free times. Bookings.
A person is always one tap away
A Talk to a person button sits under every reply. Asking for you sends you their question and details at once. Human handoff.
Sends leads to your CRM
A webhook passes each lead to Zapier or Make, and from there into HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce or anything else. CRM guides.
Control and proof
Check answers before customers see them
The Test page shows its answers to the questions your customers ask. Fix one in a step, and preview what an edit changes before you save it. Test and correct.
Rules for your kind of business
25 business types each come with their own rules: a roofer's assistant never promises what insurance pays, a dentist's never gives clinical advice. Business types.
Results measured against a control group
Hold back a small share of visitors from seeing it, and Results compares the two groups, so you see what it adds rather than every lead it touched. Customers' ratings of their chats show there too. Results.
Your data, yours to take
Download your leads and conversations as a spreadsheet, choose how long they're kept, and delete your account yourself. Security and privacy.
On your website
One line of code, or a plugin
Paste one line into any website, install the free WordPress plugin, or share your own chat page link. Chat widget.
Never in the way
It never pops open by itself, takes your colors, and goes full screen on phones so it's easy to use.
Answers around the clock
Evenings and weekends get the same answers as office hours, and urgent leads can wake you if you want them to. After hours.
Plans: Free for ever with 100 customer messages a month, after a 7-day trial of 200. Paid plans from $19 a month, no setup fee, cancel any time. Compare plans.
What it costs
What it costs at real volumes
| Customer messages a month | AI Chat Bot | Gorgias (help desk plus AI Agent) |
|---|---|---|
| 300 (about 85 chats) | Starter: $19 a month ($17 yearly). | Starter with AI Agent: $40, plus 35 extra tickets ($14) and 13 extra AI interactions ($13) = about $67. Help desk only, your team answering: about $24. |
| 1,500 (about 430 chats) | Starter: $19 a month, 1,500 messages included. | Basic with AI Agent: $90, plus 130 extra tickets ($52) and 185 extra AI interactions ($166.50) = about $308.50. Help desk only: about $112. |
| 5,000 (about 1,430 chats) | Growth: $49 a month ($43 yearly), 5,000 included. | Pro with AI Agent: $550, plus 525 extra AI interactions ($472.50) = about $1,022.50. Help desk only: $360. |
Gorgias prices from its pricing page and billing article, read October 1, 2026: monthly billing, before tax, cheapest plan for each volume. Our assumptions: every chat is one ticket; a chat is about 3.5 customer messages; the AI Agent fully resolves half of chats (Gorgias says 60%); AI interactions past the allowance cost the per-interaction rate in the pricing page's plan table ($1.00 on Starter, $0.90 on Basic and Pro, $0.85 on Advanced); extra tickets at $0.40 each. Email, social and voice tickets would add to Gorgias's count; they aren't in these figures because we only answer website chat. AI Chat Bot counts each customer message it answers, including order questions it hands to you; a top-up adds 2,000 for $20.
For whoever signs off
- Cost
- A flat monthly plan from $19, or the Free plan. No setup fee, no per-resolution charge. An optional top-up adds 2,000 messages for $20.
- Risk
- Try it on your own site with no account, then a 7-day trial with no card. Cancel any time; your data downloads as a spreadsheet.
- Security
- Conversations are stored in named regions with named providers, kept as long as you choose, and deleted when you delete your account. Security and privacy.
- Effort
- About a minute to read your site, a few to check its answers, one line of code or a plugin to go live.
Switching
How to switch from Gorgias
Try it on your store first
Paste your store's address and it reads your shipping, returns and product pages in about a minute. Ask it what shoppers ask you, before you sign up. How it works.
Bring over your most-used answers
Copy your most-used macros and help center answers into owner answers, which outrank your website, and upload size guides or care sheets as PDF, Word or text files.
Decide where order questions go
Set the email for alerts and a backup contact. To pass each lead on to the help desk or CRM you keep, add a webhook for Zapier or Make. CRM guides.
Swap the chat widget
Paste our one line into your theme (Shopify guide) and remove Gorgias's chat. Ticket history, macros, rules and the Shopify order view stay in Gorgias, and you can keep it for email if you like.
Questions
Questions buyers ask
Is Gorgias free?
No. Gorgias has a 7-day free trial and plans from $10 a month for 50 tickets, as of October 1, 2026. AI Chat Bot has a Free plan of 100 customer messages a month for ever, after a 7-day trial. Compare plans.
How much is the Gorgias AI Agent?
From $30 a month for 30 automated interactions on Starter and Basic ($27 billed yearly), with 190 on Pro and 530 on Advanced. The pricing page's plan table puts each automated interaction at $1.00 on Starter, $0.90 on Basic and Pro and $0.85 on Advanced, and an AI-resolved ticket can also count as a ticket.
Can AI Chat Bot tell customers where their order is?
No. It can't see orders, stock or accounts, and it says so instead of guessing. It asks for the order number and email and sends them to you, so you can look the order up in Shopify. If that's most of your chat, Gorgias fits better.
Is AI Chat Bot a help desk or ticketing system like Gorgias?
No. It's a website chatbot that answers visitors and emails you the leads and questions it can't answer. There's no shared inbox, no tickets and no email or social channels; you reply from your own phone or inbox.
Does it work with Shopify?
Yes, on any Shopify theme you can edit, with one line of code in theme.liquid. There's no Shopify app and no connection to your orders or catalog. Step-by-step guide.
Will it make up a discount or a delivery date?
No. The rules for online stores forbid stating a sale, discount code, low stock or delivery date your site doesn't publish, and every answer has to cite your own pages. What it says for stores.
Can I keep Gorgias for email and use AI Chat Bot for chat?
Yes. Remove Gorgias's chat from your theme so shoppers see one chat bubble, and keep Gorgias for email and social. A webhook can pass each lead we capture to Zapier or Make. CRM guides.
Gorgias is a trademark of its owner. AI Chat Bot isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Gorgias. Competitor details come from their own public pages on the date shown and can change; tell us if something is out of date and we'll correct it.