Each option, on the same template.
Who it suits, how it charges, and where it falls short, with a link to the pricing page we used.
Flat per workspace, seats includedCrisp
Best for: Small teams wanting an affordable shared inbox.
Free covers 2 seats with no AI credits. Mini is $45/month for 4 seats and $5 of AI credits (about 90 automated conversations), Essentials $95/month for 10 seats and $25 of credits (about 450), and Plus $295/month for 20 seats and $75 of credits (about 1,350). Extra seats are $10/month.
Strengths- A flat workspace price with several seats included.
- A free plan to start.
Limits- AI volume is capped by the included credits; heavier use means buying more.
- The Free plan has no AI credits.
Per seat + per AI outcomeFin
Best for: Larger support teams that want a mature AI agent and helpdesk.
Helpdesk seats are $29 (Essential), $85 (Advanced) and $132 (Expert) per seat per month on annual billing. The Fin AI agent costs $0.99 per outcome; on another helpdesk a minimum of 50 outcomes a month applies. 14-day free trial.
Strengths- Answers in 45+ languages, with channels including voice, SMS, Slack and Discord.
- Runs on its own helpdesk or on top of the one you already use.
Limits- Seats and outcomes both grow with volume.
- Now owned by Salesforce (acquisition completed 10 September 2026), so check roadmap and contract terms.
Conversation-volume tiersOctocom
Best for: Ecommerce teams wanting AI support grounded in Shopify data.
Basic is $100/month for up to 199 conversations and 3 teammates. Advanced is $200/month for up to 5,000 conversations and 10 teammates. Scale is custom.
Strengths- Native Shopify app with order, product and customer access.
- A high conversation ceiling on Advanced for the price.
Limits- The pricing page doesn’t say which plans include WhatsApp; ask before you buy.
- Teammate limits per tier (3 on Basic, 10 on Advanced).
Per seat + per AI-handled conversationRichpanel
Best for: DTC brands with a support team of several agents.
Helpdesk seats are $99 per seat per month billed annually, or $119 monthly, with no per-ticket fee. AI is billed by usage; Richpanel puts an AI-handled conversation at about $0.20, varying with the model and tokens used. It advertises “50% automated in 30 days. Or your money back.” and a “30% lower total bill, in your contract”, with eligibility conditions.
Strengths- A low AI cost per conversation, by Richpanel’s own estimate.
- Written automation and savings guarantees.
Limits- The per-seat price adds up as the team grows.
- The pricing page offers a demo and a calculator rather than a free trial.
Separate meters for human and AI conversationsTidio
Best for: Small online stores adding live chat and an optional AI agent.
Free includes 50 billable conversations and a one-off 50 Lyro AI conversations. Starter is listed at $24.17/month for 100 conversations and Growth from $49.17/month. Beyond the one-off allowance, the Lyro AI Agent is sold separately, from $32.50/month for 50 AI conversations. Plus starts at $300/month plus usage.
Strengths- A free plan, and Lyro, Customer Service and Flows can be bought separately.
- Lists native Shopify actions and a WhatsApp integration.
Limits- Human conversations and AI conversations are metered separately, so costs rise on both.
Per agent + per automated resolutionZendesk
Best for: Mid-size and larger support teams that need a full helpdesk.
Support Team is $19, Suite Team $55 and Suite Professional $115 per agent per month billed yearly ($25, $69 and $149 monthly). Each plan includes 5 automated resolutions per agent a month (10 on Suite Professional); more cost $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Copilot is $50 per agent per month.
Strengths- A mature helpdesk; Suite Team lists an AI knowledge base plus messaging and live chat.
- You pay for automated resolutions, not attempts.
Limits- Per-agent and per-resolution costs both grow with volume.
- Beyond the included allowance, $1.50–$2.00 per resolution is among the highest published AI rates.
Per AI replyZipchat
Best for: Shopify stores focused on AI-assisted selling across channels.
Starter is $80/month, or $64/month billed annually, for 750 AI replies (about 300 conversations). Pro is $300/month, or $240 annually, for 3,000 replies. Extra replies cost $49 per 250. 7-day free trial.
Strengths- Website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram DM, Messenger and email on every plan.
- Unlimited team members.
Limits- Metered by AI replies; a conversation usually takes several (750 replies is about 300 conversations).
- Overage is sold in packs of replies.
Ticket-based help desk + prepaid AI packsChatrevia (our product)
Best for: Shopify stores and websites wanting a help desk with optional AI and no seat fees.
Free includes one website, 25 tickets and 10 AI resolutions a month. Paid plans start at $9/month for 50 tickets, with no per-seat fees. The optional AI Agent is a prepaid monthly pack of AI resolutions at $0.55 to $0.75 each, depending on plan and billing. Extra tickets cost $0.20 to $0.30 and extra AI resolutions use the plan’s AI rate, billed after each month.
Strengths- AI messenger, shared inbox, tickets, hosted help center and consented session replay in one workspace.
- Shopify on paid plans: order lookup by order number and email, customer context in the inbox, product cards that add to the shopper’s own cart, single-use AI discount codes within your rules, and returns and exchanges sent to Shopify for approval.
- Revenue attribution on paid plans: revenue from chat (direct, influenced and recovered), chat-to-sale conversion, order value, AI-only revenue and return on the plan, from Shopify orders, a thank-you page snippet for other platforms, or the API.
- Recovery on paid plans: abandoned-cart reminders in the chat and on the shopper’s next visit, then by email with a cart-restore link and an optional single-use code (emails on Basic and above, with opt-in consent), plus follow-ups when a shopper goes quiet, with quiet hours, frequency caps and recovered revenue in reports.
- Conversation insights: a confidence score on every AI answer with a one-click “Improve answer” that saves a Q&A snippet (every plan), and on Pro and above the topics customers ask about, sentiment, knowledge gaps and the questions that lead to purchases.
- Handoff to a teammate in the same conversation, with the history kept, and per-teammate auto-translate: read customers in your language and reply in theirs.
- Knowledge from your website, PDF, Word, text and Markdown files, Q&A spreadsheets (CSV or Excel) and Notion pages kept in sync; the AI agent’s instructions keep a version history with word-level diffs and one-click restore.
- Custom CSS for the messenger on Advanced and above, scoped to the messenger and sanitized.
- Helpdesk escalation on Pro and above: send conversations to Zendesk, Gorgias or Freshdesk as one ticket with the full transcript, orders and revenue; visitor follow-ups are added to it, public agent replies sync back to the chat, and solving the ticket resolves the conversation.
- AI actions on Pro and above: the AI agent can call your own APIs (orders, subscriptions, tickets) with result cards and visitor confirmation for changes.
- Developer platform: a REST API, HMAC-signed webhooks with retries and a delivery log (Pro and above), and identity verification for signed-in users (HMAC or JWT, every plan).
Limits- A new product, with no public reviews or case studies yet.
- The messenger supports 11 languages, far fewer than Fin’s 45+.
- WhatsApp and Messenger need your own Meta app. After the 24-hour window, Messenger and Instagram can’t be answered and WhatsApp takes only your one approved follow-up template.
- On paid plans the AI answers only with the AI Agent add-on, and a busy month adds both extra tickets and extra AI resolutions.