Shopify Helpdesk Apps Compared: Pricing Units and Fit
A Shopify helpdesk app puts email, chat and social messages into one shared queue and shows the customer’s Shopify orders next to each ticket. If chat on your store is the only channel, Shopify’s free Shopify Inbox covers it. A helpdesk earns its fee when two or more people answer email and DMs and need to refund or edit an order without opening the admin in another tab.
Shopify Inbox facts come from the Shopify Help Center; helpdesk prices, ratings and features are as the apps’ Shopify App Store listings showed them on October 23, 2026. MITS builds Shopify apps but sells no helpdesk.
Signs you have outgrown Shopify Inbox
Shopify Inbox handles chat on your online store. Staff answer from the web, the desktop app or the iOS and Android apps, share product links, discount codes, images and videos, and see the shopper’s cart in the conversation header. Conversations can be assigned to staff, and the optional Inbox agent (Shopify’s AI) answers routine questions and hands harder ones to the Unassigned folder with the context so far. It is a chat tool, though. Order emails from Gmail, Instagram DMs and contact-form messages live elsewhere.
You need a helpdesk when:
- Customers reach you on three or more channels and someone regularly misses a message because it arrived in the “other” inbox.
- More than one person answers, and you have had two people reply to the same customer.
- Most messages are about orders (address changes, cancellations, refunds), and each one means copying an order number into the admin.
- You want to measure response times per person or per channel.
What the Shopify integration must do
“Integrates with Shopify” on a helpdesk listing can mean very different things, so check for these before a trial:
- Order sidebar. Open a ticket and see the customer’s orders, fulfillment status and tracking without searching.
- Order actions inside the ticket. Refund, cancel or edit the order from the ticket. Some apps only display order data, and the action still happens in the Shopify admin.
- Macros with order variables. A saved reply that fills in the order number, tracking link or delivery date by itself, so a “where is my order” answer takes one click.
- Customer history. Earlier tickets, total spent and number of orders, so a helper can tell a first-time buyer from a regular.
- Permissions for helpers. A part-time helper should be able to answer tickets without getting access to your payouts or app settings.
The second point is the big difference between apps. In the table below it is the “Order actions” row, worded the way each listing words it.
Shopify helpdesk apps compared
| Shopify Inbox | Gorgias | Zendesk | Re:amaze | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First paid plan | Free | Starter $10/month: 3 agents, 50 tickets | Suite Team $55 per agent/month, billed annually | Basic $29/month, each extra staff user $29 | Customer Service $29/month for 100 conversations |
| Price grows with | Nothing | Tickets ($0.40 per extra ticket on Starter; $40 per 100 extra on Basic) | Agents | Staff users (one plan priced by conversations) | Conversations |
| Order actions | Product links, discount codes; order status for signed-in shoppers via the Inbox agent | “Edit orders, refund and cancel inside tickets” | “Process refunds and cancellations, directly from the Zendesk Support sidebar app” | “Manage, modify, and create Shopify orders directly in customer support and chats” | Shopify orders shown next to each chat |
| Channels | Online store chat | Email, SMS, live chat, phone, social, help center, contact form | Messaging, phone, chat, email, social | Email, live chat, social, SMS, calls | Chat, email, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger |
| Free option | Free app | Not on the listing | 14-day trial | 14-day trial | Free plan |
| App Store rating | 4.6 (5,805 reviews) | 4.3 (705) | 3.2 (95) | 4.4 (181) | 4.8 (1,357) |
Freshdesk is missing from the table for a reason: its Shopify app is not on the Shopify App Store. Freshdesk’s partner page there listed no apps when we checked on October 23, 2026. The integration lives in the Freshdesk Marketplace instead, where Freshworks’ support documentation describes a Shopify app that shows customers’ current and past orders in the ticket and lets agents process refunds and cancel orders. If you already run Freshdesk, install it from there and test a refund on a test order before you rely on it.
What a helpdesk costs at 300 tickets a month
Take a store with two people answering and about 300 conversations a month across email, chat and Instagram. At list prices from the listings:
| App and plan | How it is charged | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Gorgias Basic | $60 includes 300 tickets, unlimited agents | $60 |
| Re:amaze Basic | $29 plus $29 for the second staff user | $58 |
| Zendesk Suite Team | $55 per agent, billed annually | $110 |
| Tidio Customer Service | $29 covers 100 conversations; 250–1,000 conversations cost $59 | $59 |
Now double the volume to 600 tickets, as a holiday month can. Gorgias Basic becomes $60 plus three packs of 100 at $40, so $180. Zendesk stays at $110, because it charges for people, not tickets. Per-ticket pricing is cheap when you are small and gets expensive in peak season. Per-agent pricing does the reverse. Count last November’s support messages before you pick, not last March’s.
AI comes on top. Gorgias lists an AI Agent add-on for every plan, and Tidio sells its Lyro AI as a separate plan ($39/month for 200 AI conversations on its listing). Price the plan for your people first, then decide whether automation is worth adding.
Ticket management habits that matter more than the app
Moving to a helpdesk does not decide who answers what or how fast. Before you migrate, write down:
- A response-time target. Shopify’s own customer service guide uses “resolving 80% of inquiries within 24 hours” as its example of a service-level agreement. Pick a number you can keep and display it in your auto-reply.
- Tags or views for the five reasons people write: where is my order, change or cancel, return or refund, product question, discount problem. They tell you which product page or policy causes the tickets.
- Ten macros for the answers you write every day, with order variables.
- One owner per ticket, so nobody assumes someone else replied.
Shopify’s guide also names CSAT (customer satisfaction surveys) as the measure of service gaps. If your helpdesk can send a short survey after a ticket closes, turn it on and read the low scores weekly. Our guide to the Shopify ticketing system covers this process in detail, independent of the app.
Mistakes to avoid
- Paying for AI before you have macros and clear policies. Write the answers your team gives today first, then judge what an AI add-on would change.
- Running Shopify Inbox chat and a helpdesk chat widget at the same time. Customers see two chat buttons and messages split between tools.
- Giving helpers full admin access because the helpdesk needs it. Set the helpdesk’s own roles instead.
- Comparing prices on the plan page only. Look at what happens when you exceed the ticket or conversation limit.
If chat is your main channel, start with live chat for Shopify. For the full set of support tools (tracking, returns, FAQ) see Shopify customer service apps, and for automation see Shopify customer service chatbots. More guides are in the running a store hub.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify have a built-in helpdesk? Shopify’s own support tool is Shopify Inbox, a free app for chat on your online store with staff assignment and an optional AI agent. It does not collect email or social messages into one queue, which is what a helpdesk app adds.
Is Gorgias priced per ticket? Its listing prices plans by tickets per month: Starter includes 50 tickets for $10, Basic 300 for $60, and extra tickets cost more on each plan. Agents are limited to three on Starter and unlimited on Basic.
Does Freshdesk have a Shopify app? Yes, but not on the Shopify App Store: Freshdesk’s Shopify app is installed from the Freshdesk Marketplace. Freshworks documents that it shows customers’ orders in tickets and lets agents refund and cancel orders.
Can a helpdesk refund Shopify orders? Some can. Gorgias lists refunds, cancellations and order edits inside tickets, and Zendesk lists refunds and cancellations from its sidebar app. Check the listing wording, because some helpdesks only display orders.