8 Best Gorgias Alternatives in 2026 (With Real Pricing)

Gorgias is the helpdesk most Shopify brands try first. People start looking for a replacement when the bill moves on its own: every ticket is metered, every AI resolution is charged on top, and phone support is a separate add-on that still needs a person to pick up.

The quick answer: The best Gorgias alternative for a Shopify store whose customers call and text is Carly. Carly Phone answers your store’s line with AI. It takes the “where’s my order” call at 9 pm, answers the exchange question by text, recognizes a returning customer, and hands the conversation to your team in one inbox when a person should take it. Set up Carly on your support line and call it yourself. If you want another helpdesk, Richpanel and Re:amaze are the closest ecommerce swaps on per-seat pricing, eDesk fits brands that also sell on Amazon and eBay, and Zendesk is the pick for large multi-brand teams.

Gorgias alternatives compared

US list prices, checked against each vendor’s pricing page on October 1, 2026. Billed annually unless noted.

Want to see the Carly row on your own line? Get started with Carly and give it last month’s ten most common customer questions.

Why teams leave Gorgias

• Every ticket is metered. Gorgias prices by ticket volume, not seats. Starter is $10 a month for 50 tickets (monthly billing only), Basic is $50 a month billed annually for 300, Pro $300 for 2,000 and Advanced $750 for 5,000 ($60, $360 and $900 month to month). Overage is $0.40 a ticket on Starter and Basic and $0.36 above that, and Gorgias’s own FAQ says a reply to an old thread can become a new billable ticket after a period of inactivity.
• AI that bills twice. AI Agent costs $0.90 per automated interaction on annual plans and $1.00 on monthly. Each plan includes a small allowance (30 interactions on Starter and Basic, 190 on Pro, 530 on Advanced), and Gorgias’s pricing data lists $1.50 for each interaction above it. Every one of those interactions also counts as a helpdesk ticket, so the better the AI performs, the faster both meters run.
• Phone is an add-on built for human agents. Voice and SMS are priced by monthly ticket volume: 25 voice tickets cost $25 a month billed annually ($30 monthly), with $2.20 for each one over, and 250 cost $146 ($175). SMS starts at $17 for 25 conversations. Gorgias Voice is built around your agents: phone menus, routing, forwarding to a mobile after hours, and call transcripts. The AI Agent page names email, chat, SMS and social as its channels.
• Terms that outlast your decision to leave. Gorgias’s terms of service require written notice at least 30 days before the end of the term to cancel, “regardless of whether the Subscription is monthly or annual.” Plans auto-renew, you can’t downgrade mid-term, and fees are non-refundable. Annual plans are billed upfront for the year.
• Reviews have turned. Gorgias sits at 2.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot. 2026 reviewers describe being billed for spam and for repeat contacts counted as new tickets, a UI 2.0 launch with regressions, and a long-time customer who asked about price and was offered a pricier annual plan. One July reviewer wouldn’t switch AI Agent on at all: “At 1.50 USD per AI conversation I cannot justify switching it on.”

Here’s the math for Emily’s Shopify skincare brand at 1,600 tickets a month. She’s on Pro with AI Agent: $471 a month billed annually, covering 2,000 tickets and 190 automated interactions. AI Agent resolves 500 conversations a month, so 310 of them bill at $1.50, another $465. Customers phone about their orders, so she adds the 250-call Voice tier at $146 a month. That’s $1,082 a month, close to $13,000 a year, on terms that need 30 days’ notice to leave. And the 8:30 pm call about a missing package still forwards to her cell or a voicemail box. If that sounds familiar, try Carly.

1. Carly: best Gorgias alternative for Shopify stores whose customers call and text

Carly is an AI assistant for businesses, and Carly Phone gives it a business line for calls and texts. When a customer calls to ask where their order is, Carly picks up, at any hour. It answers from your own knowledge (your shipping page, return policy, FAQs and documents), looks the customer up, and can text them a link while they’re still on the line. When the answer needs your team, like a refund call, Carly takes the details and hands the conversation over instead of sending the customer to voicemail.

Texts work the same way. A customer texts “the jar arrived cracked, can I swap it?” with a photo attached. Carly reads the photo, answers from your return policy, saves the customer’s details, and when it’s a decision your team should make, hands the thread over. Calls and texts land in one inbox per number, with transcripts, summaries, outcomes and voicemail recordings. Each thread has a “Carly replies / Human replies” switch, so Megan on your team can take over a conversation and hand it back when she’s done.

The difference from a per-ticket AI agent: Carly already knows the customer. It’s the same assistant that works your email and CRM, so when Claire, who emailed last week about a delayed wholesale order, calls in, Carly has that thread instead of opening a fresh ticket. Try Carly and call in as a returning customer to hear the difference.

Carly connects to thousands of apps, including Shopify, Gorgias, Stripe, HubSpot and Slack. Keep Gorgias for email and chat and let Carly take the phone line, or move email too: Carly can run an email agent on your own address, like support@yourstore.com, with a draft-for-review mode. For more on the store side, see our guide to the best AI assistants for Shopify.

Everything else your support line needs comes in the same setup:

• One number for calls and texts, a new local number or the one your customers already have.
• Call routing that rings your team all at once or in order, with business-hours and after-hours rules and phone menus.
• Human handoff in one shared inbox, with assignment and open, closed and unread states.
• Voicemail with transcripts, and STOP and HELP opt-outs handled automatically on texts.
• Call logging to HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365, plus Carly’s built-in CRM.

Best for: Shopify and DTC brands whose customers phone or text about orders, returns and exchanges. Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Setup: Connect your business number in Carly (the one you already have or a new one), then give it your knowledge, routing and handoff rules. The Carly team can help with setup. Get started with Carly.

2. Richpanel

Richpanel is the closest like-for-like Gorgias swap: an ecommerce helpdesk with a self-service portal where customers track and manage their own orders without opening a ticket. It charges per seat, not per ticket.

Best for: Small teams with high ticket counts who want to stop paying per ticket. Pricing: Base $9 a month for 3 users, Pro $50 a user a month billed annually ($60 monthly), Pro Max $100 ($120). The self-service portal is priced separately by order volume and is free up to 1,000 orders a month. Watch out for: Phone channels start on Pro and SMS on Pro Max, and AI-assisted replies are capped at 50 on Base and 200 on Pro.

3. Re:amaze

Re:amaze is a Shopify-friendly helpdesk with a shared inbox, live chat, chatbots and an FAQ center, sold per team member on month-to-month terms. Its AI Agent bills per resolution, with a monthly allowance per user.

Best for: Small teams that want no contract. Pricing: Basic $29 a team member a month ($26.10 billed annually), Pro $49 ($44.10), Plus $69 ($62.10). A $59-a-month Starter plan covers any number of team members, up to 500 responded conversations a month. AI Agent includes 5, 10 or 20 resolutions per user a month by plan, then $0.85 each. Watch out for: SMS and Voice channels start on Pro, and Re:amaze’s own menu still labels its AI tools beta.

4. eDesk

eDesk is built for sellers whose orders come from many places: Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce alongside Amazon, eBay, Walmart and other marketplaces, all in one inbox with order and tracking details on each ticket.

Best for: Brands selling on Shopify and marketplaces at the same time. Pricing: Essential $39 a user a month billed annually ($49 monthly) for one store, Growth $89 ($115) for five, Professional $119 ($149) for ten. AI Agent is included on every plan and charged at $0.99 per outcome. Watch out for: Voice is an add-on through eDesk Talk or Aircall, and eDesk’s FAQ says it gives no refunds for cancellations or downgrades.

5. Zendesk

Zendesk is the enterprise default: ticketing, messaging, help center and voice in one suite, with AI agents across channels. See our Zendesk alternatives guide.

Best for: Multi-brand teams with dozens of agents and an admin to run it. Pricing: Support Team $19 an agent a month billed annually ($25 monthly) covers email and ticketing. Suite Team $55 ($69) adds AI agents, messaging and telephony; Suite Professional is $115 ($149). Suite Team includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month and Suite Professional 10, then $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Watch out for: AI agents for voice require Zendesk’s voice product, which bills on usage above plan allowances.

6. Tidio

Tidio is a live chat and AI chatbot tool popular with small Shopify stores. Its Lyro AI agent answers questions from your FAQs, and the inbox also pulls in email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. More in our Tidio alternatives roundup.

Best for: Small, chat-first stores on a tight budget. Pricing: Free for 50 billable conversations a month. Starter $29 a month ($24.17 billed annually) for 100, Growth from $59 ($49.17) for 250. Lyro is billed separately: $39 a month for 50 conversations, up to $700 for 1,000. Watch out for: Phone and SMS aren’t among Tidio’s listed inbox channels, and the free plan’s 50 Lyro conversations are a one-time allowance, not monthly.

7. Yuma AI

Yuma AI isn’t a helpdesk. It’s an ecommerce AI agent that installs on top of Gorgias or Zendesk and bills only for tickets it fully resolves with no human touch. Siena AI is the similar option, at a $750 monthly platform fee plus $0.90 per automated ticket.

Best for: High-volume brands that want to keep Gorgias and swap the AI. Pricing: Annual bundles paid upfront. Yuma’s illustrative entry plan is $14,400 a year for 12,000 resolutions (about $1.20 each), dropping toward $0.55 at volume. Monthly plans bill $1.50 per resolution over quota. Watch out for: Every plan carries a 12-month commitment, and you still pay for the helpdesk underneath.

Matching the replacement to how your team uses Gorgias

• Customers call and text about orders, and after-hours calls hit voicemail: Carly. It answers the line with AI, knows returning customers and hands off in one inbox. Compare it with other AI receptionists and AI answering services.
• You want an ecommerce helpdesk without per-ticket billing: Richpanel or Re:amaze.
• You sell on Amazon, eBay or Walmart as well as Shopify: eDesk.
• Dozens of agents across several brands: Zendesk.
• Most questions come through website chat and the budget is tight: Tidio.
• You’re happy in Gorgias and only the AI bill hurts: Yuma AI or Siena AI on top.

Before you renew, call your store’s support number at 9 pm and ask where order #1042 is. Whatever happens next is what your customer hears. If it’s a voicemail greeting, set up Carly on your support line and hear what it says instead. For the wider field, see our best AI agents for customer support, and for tools that work around the queue, best AI automation tools for Gorgias and for Shopify.

FAQ

What is the best alternative to Gorgias?

For Shopify stores whose customers call and text, Carly is the best Gorgias alternative: its AI answers the phone line and text messages from your own policies, knows returning customers and hands off to your team in one inbox. For a like-for-like helpdesk swap, Richpanel and Re:amaze are the closest, and Zendesk fits large multi-brand teams. Try Carly next to your Gorgias setup and compare.

Is there a cheaper alternative to Gorgias?

Often, depending on your volume. Gorgias charges by ticket, so a small team with heavy volume can pay less on a per-seat tool: Richpanel starts at $9 a month for three users, Re:amaze at $26.10 a team member billed annually, and Tidio has a free plan. Check where phone and SMS land, though: Pro on Re:amaze, Pro and Pro Max on Richpanel. Carly’s AI agents start at $35 a month, and if the expensive part is the calls nobody answers, get started with Carly.

How much does Gorgias AI Agent cost?

Gorgias charges $0.90 per automated interaction on annual plans and $1.00 on monthly, with an allowance in each plan (190 on Pro, for example). Above it, Gorgias’s pricing data lists $1.50 per interaction, and every AI interaction also counts as a helpdesk ticket. If a human replies within 72 hours of an AI resolution, it’s billed only as a ticket.

Can I cancel Gorgias anytime?

Not quite. The pricing page says monthly plans can be cancelled anytime, but Gorgias’s terms of service require written notice at least 30 days before the end of the current term, monthly or annual, and fees already incurred are non-refundable. You also can’t downgrade mid-term. Check your renewal date before you plan a switch. Carly can run on the number you already have, so callers notice nothing when you move. Set up Carly on your support line.

Can I keep Gorgias and still put AI on my phone line?

Yes. Carly connects to thousands of apps, including Gorgias and Shopify, so you can keep Gorgias for email and chat while Carly answers calls and texts on your store’s number, the one you already have or a new local one. Get started with Carly to set it up.

Set up Carly for me. Carly connects to thousands of apps, from Gmail, Outlook and my calendars to Slack, HubSpot and QuickBooks, and keeps working after this chat is closed: answering email, booking meetings, following up and running workflows the moment something happens.

1. Add the Carly MCP server (https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/) and sign me in. Use the one that matches you:
   - Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/  (then I run /mcp, pick carly, and authenticate)
   - Codex: codex mcp add carly --url https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/  then  codex mcp login carly
   - Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, paste the URL, and sign in. Carly is also in Claude's connector directory at claude.ai/directory/carly.
   - ChatGPT: open Plugins, search for "Carly" and add it (or click + and paste the URL), then sign in.
   - Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly from Customize.
   - Muse: I will create a Carly API key at carlyassistant.com/integrations (Advanced > API Keys > Create a new key, with Select all scopes). Build a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/ using an API key as a bearer token, and ask me for the key in your secure credential prompt.
   - Grok: go to grok.com/connectors, choose New Connector, then Custom, paste the URL, and sign in.
   - Grok Bot: open Plugins, add a custom remote MCP server named carly with the URL, then I approve it and sign in.
   - Perplexity: Settings > Connectors > Custom connector > Remote, paste the URL, and sign in.
   - Anything else: add a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly with the URL. It signs in with OAuth.
   I sign in with my Carly account, or create one at carlyassistant.com.

2. Walk me through connecting my accounts at https://carlyassistant.com/integrations. Under Accounts, I type each email address I use and click Add Email. On each new address, I click Connect Gmail or Connect Outlook, tick what Carly can reach (Email, Calendar, Contacts, Drive or OneDrive), then click Connect with Google or Connect with Microsoft and grant access. For an address that is already connected, I open Manage access and click Connect next to anything missing. Repeat for every address. Then ask which of my other apps I want connected too.

3. Check it worked: list my connected mailboxes and calendars and tell me every account you can see.

4. Then ask me what to hand off first, for example: "Check all my inboxes for anything that needs a reply today."

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