Best Shopify Helpdesk App: 10 Options Compared (2026)

The best Shopify helpdesk app depends on your team size and your channels. Gorgias suits high-volume teams that edit orders in the helpdesk, Zendesk suits teams that need phone support, Tidio suits chat-first stores, and Fyncall suits small teams answering WhatsApp, Instagram, email and web chat from one inbox. Shopify Inbox is the free baseline.

This shortlist is for Shopify store owners and support leads. Fyncall (a Builderson Group Limited product) wrote this comparison and makes one of the apps on it, so weigh it accordingly. Claims about other vendors link to their own pages and were checked in November 2026. Plans change, so confirm on each vendor’s site before you buy.

What is the best Shopify helpdesk app?

No single Shopify helpdesk app is best for every store. The right Shopify customer service app covers the channels your customers already use, prices in a unit that fits your team (per seat, per ticket or flat), and shows Shopify orders next to each conversation so nobody has to switch tabs.

Here is the short version, one line per app:

• Shopify Inbox: best free starting point for storefront chat.
• Gorgias: best for high-volume Shopify teams that edit orders in the helpdesk.
• Zendesk: best for teams that need telephony and broad tooling.
• Tidio: best for chat-first stores with a larger free team.
• Richpanel: best for teams migrating ticket history.
• Re:amaze: best for per-member pricing with a flat starter option.
• Help Scout: best for email-first teams.
• Commslayer: best for unlimited seats on a low starting price.
• eDesk: best for marketplace sellers.
• Fyncall: best for small teams on WhatsApp, Instagram, email and web chat.

How did we choose and compare them?

We picked full helpdesks that Shopify merchants commonly shortlist, plus Shopify Inbox as the free reference point. Every app is described with the same attributes, taken from its own pricing page, help centre or Shopify App Store listing in November 2026. We did not run hands-on tests of each product for this article, so treat this as a buyer’s shortlist, not a lab review.

For every app we note the starting price, the pricing unit, the free plan, whether WhatsApp and Instagram DMs are listed, what can be done with Shopify orders, the App Store rating with review count, and when another tool on this list fits better.

If you are mainly comparing AI agents rather than full helpdesks, our AI customer support tools for Shopify post covers that separately. For how AI-first helpdesks differ from helpdesks with AI added on, see AI helpdesk for ecommerce.

How do the apps compare at a glance?

The table lists the lowest published starting price for each Shopify helpdesk app. Prices checked Nov 2026, in USD.

“Not stated” means the vendor’s pricing page did not mention the channel when we checked, not that the channel is impossible. Ask the vendor before you rule it out.

Shopify Inbox: best free starting point

Best for: new Shopify stores that want free storefront chat before they need a helpdesk.

Shopify Inbox is a free app built by Shopify that adds an AI sales assistant and live chat to your online store. It answers product questions from your own catalogue. The listing names only Shopify Admin and Online Store under “Works with” and does not mention WhatsApp or Instagram. Our post on Shopify Inbox vs an AI agent covers where its AI assistant stops.

• Starting price: free.
• Channels: storefront chat. “Email chat” is listed as a feature, but one reviewer says they could not reply by email, so test it first.
• Shopify depth: built by Shopify, so it sits inside your Shopify admin.
• Rating: 4.5 from 5,819 reviews.

Choose something else when: messages arrive on more than one channel, or you need tickets, assignment and response-time targets. Shopify Inbox is a chat tool, not a ticketing helpdesk.

Gorgias: best for high-volume Shopify teams that edit orders in the helpdesk

Best for: Shopify teams handling hundreds or thousands of tickets a month who want agents to change orders without leaving the helpdesk.

Gorgias prices by tickets per month. Starter is $10 a month for 50 tickets (monthly billing only), Basic is $60 a month ($50 billed yearly) for 300 tickets, Pro is $360 ($300 yearly) for 2,000 and Advanced is $900 ($750 yearly) for 5,000. Its AI Agent includes 30, 30, 190 or 530 automated interactions on those four plans, then costs $0.90 per interaction billed yearly or $1.00 monthly, and each automated interaction also counts as a ticket.

• Channels: email, chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, plus voice and SMS as add-ons.
• Shopify depth: agents can create, duplicate, edit, refund and cancel orders from the helpdesk, according to Gorgias’s Shopify page. Its order editing goes further than Fyncall’s.
• Rating: 4.3 from 708 reviews.

Choose something else when: your volume is low and unpredictable, because ticket-based pricing moves with every conversation, including the ones the AI handles. Our Gorgias alternatives guide covers the options in more detail, and our Gorgias vs Tidio vs Fyncall comparison works out monthly bills for all three at small-store volumes.

Zendesk: best for teams that need telephony and broad tooling

Best for: larger or multi-brand teams that need phone support, IVR and deep configuration.

Zendesk prices per agent. Support Team starts at $19 per agent a month billed annually ($25 monthly), but that plan is mainly email ticketing. Messaging, social channels such as WhatsApp, and telephony come with the Suite plans: Suite Team is $55 per agent a month annually ($69 monthly) and Suite Professional is $115 ($149). IVR starts on Suite Professional. Copilot is an extra $50 per agent a month.

• Channels: email on every plan; messaging, social channels and voice on Suite plans, with phone numbers, call minutes and WhatsApp fees charged extra.
• Shopify depth: a Shopify integration shows store data in the ticket sidebar.
• AI: new accounts are moving to resolution tiers whose prices Zendesk does not publish; it asks you to contact sales.
• Rating: 3.2 from 96 reviews.

Choose something else when: you are a small Shopify team that does not need phone support and wants a short setup. See our Zendesk alternative page for a side-by-side view.

Tidio: best for chat-first stores with a larger free team

Best for: stores that start with live chat and want several people on the free plan.

Tidio has a free plan with 50 billable conversations a month and allows up to 10 seats on Free, Starter and Growth. Starter is $29 a month ($24.17 billed yearly) for 100 billable conversations, which are conversations a human replies to. Growth starts at $59 a month ($49.17 billed yearly). The Lyro AI agent is a separate add-on from $39 a month for 50 AI conversations, or $32.50 a month billed yearly.

• Channels: live chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, marked on Free, Starter and Growth in the pricing table.
• Shopify depth: “Native Shopify actions” are listed on Growth and higher, not on Free or Starter.
• Rating: 4.8 from 1,356 reviews, the most of any helpdesk on this list after Shopify Inbox.

Tidio’s free plan is more generous on seats than Fyncall’s: 10 seats against 2 team members. If five people answer chat and you want to pay nothing, Tidio fits better.

Choose something else when: you need Shopify order actions without moving up to Growth, or more than 10 people on a self-serve plan.

Richpanel: best for teams migrating ticket history

Best for: growing direct-to-consumer brands moving from another helpdesk who want to keep their old tickets.

Richpanel has one plan at $99 per seat a month billed annually, or $119 billed monthly, and you can commit monthly or annually. AI is metered at about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation, with a $200 monthly AI minimum and top-ups in $100 blocks. Its terms of service say terms renew automatically and cannot be ended early for convenience, so read them before signing.

• Channels: email, chat, social, SMS, WhatsApp and phone.
• Migration: direct importers for Gorgias, Zendesk, Kustomer and Help Scout. Fyncall has no importer, so this is a real advantage if your history matters.
• Free plan: none. The App Store listing shows a trial.
• Rating: 4.9 from 136 reviews.

Choose something else when: you are a small store that wants to stay well under a few hundred dollars a month, or you do not want a $200 monthly AI minimum on top of seats. Our Richpanel alternative page has the details.

Re:amaze: best for per-member pricing with a flat starter option

Best for: small teams that want low seat prices, or one flat price while volume is low.

Re:amaze is $29 per team member a month on Basic (about $26 billed annually), $49 on Pro and $69 on Plus. The flat Starter plan is $59 a month with Basic features for unlimited team members, capped at 500 responded conversations a month. Each per-member plan includes a few AI resolutions per user (5 on Basic), then $0.85 each.

• Channels: email, chat and social channels; SMS and voice on Pro and higher. The pricing page did not name WhatsApp or Instagram when we checked.
• Rating: 4.5 from 181 reviews.

Choose something else when: you expect the AI to handle a large share of conversations, because the included AI allowance is small, or when WhatsApp is a main channel and you cannot confirm support.

Help Scout: best for email-first teams

Best for: small teams whose support is mostly email and who want a clean shared inbox.

Help Scout has a free plan for 5 users and up to 100 contacts a month. Standard is $30 per user a month ($25 billed annually). AI Answers is charged at $0.75 per resolution, free for the first three months, and you can set a monthly cap.

• Channels: email first, with live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and SMS listed, and phone through integrations.
• Pricing unit: per user, so cost grows as the team grows.
• Rating: 3.7 from 19 reviews on the Shopify App Store.

Choose something else when: most of your customers message on WhatsApp or Instagram, or you want a price that does not rise with each new teammate.

Commslayer: best for unlimited seats on a low starting price

Best for: budget-minded Shopify stores that want the whole team in the helpdesk without paying per seat.

Commslayer has a free plan with 300 billable conversations a month, and Plus starts at $39 a month for 700 conversations. Every plan, including Free, has unlimited seats. AI messages are included by plan, then $0.075 per extra AI message, and you can set a spending cap.

• Channels: email, live chat, WhatsApp and Instagram DMs on every plan, including Free. Voice is billed per minute; SMS was listed as coming soon when we checked.
• Pricing unit: conversations per month, not seats.
• Rating: 4.9 from 243 reviews.

Choose something else when: you need SMS today, or you would rather have a price that does not rise with conversation volume.

eDesk: best for marketplace sellers

Best for: sellers who run Shopify alongside Amazon, eBay, Walmart or other marketplaces and want those messages in one place.

eDesk charges per agent: Essential is $55 per agent a month ($45 annually) and covers one online store or marketplace, Growth is $125 ($99 annually) for five, and Professional is $159 ($129 annually) for ten. Its AI agent is $0.99 per outcome, charged once per ticket when it answers or takes an action.

• Marketplaces: Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Mirakl, Veepee and Cdiscount are named on the pricing page.
• Channels: email, live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok Shop.
• Store platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop and Shopware.

Choose something else when: you sell only on Shopify. Per-agent pricing and marketplace features are aimed at multi-channel sellers, and a Shopify-only tool will usually cost less.

Fyncall: best for small teams on WhatsApp, Instagram, email and web chat

Best for: Shopify teams of one to ten who want WhatsApp, Instagram, email and web chat in one inbox at a flat price.

Fyncall is an AI helpdesk built only for Shopify. The Free plan is $0 with up to 2 team members, 25 AI messages a month and unlimited human replies. Pro is $34 a month ($370 a year) with unlimited team members and 500 AI messages a month. An AI message is one reply the AI sends to a customer; replies from your team never count.

• Channels: WhatsApp (through Meta Cloud API or Twilio), Instagram DMs and comments, email (Gmail, Outlook or any mailbox through SMTP/IMAP with built-in presets) and a web chat widget that is free on every plan.
• Shopify depth: each conversation shows the customer’s order history, tracking and address. Agents can send products, build an order with a discount code and send a checkout link.
• AI agent: one named agent per channel. It looks up orders and tracking, and can change a shipping address or cancel an unfulfilled order only after the customer confirms. It checks refund eligibility and refund status but does not issue refunds. You set each channel to Auto-Reply, Draft & Review or Off, as described in the AI escalation docs.
• Handover: when a conversation needs a person, the team gets it with a summary and the AI keeps helping the customer while they wait. Our guide to Shopify AI agent handoff covers the triggers and rules.
• On the Free plan: guardrails (including switching individual AI tools off), handover settings, Draft & Review, saved views, saved replies and collision detection.
• Pro adds: AI Copilot, ticketing with SLAs, unlimited workflows, an unlimited knowledge base, Instagram automations and unlimited team members.
• Rating: Fyncall has no App Store reviews yet.

Where Fyncall is weaker, plainly:

• Shopify only. No WooCommerce, BigCommerce or marketplaces.
• No phone, SMS or Facebook Messenger. Zendesk and Gorgias offer phone support; Fyncall does not.
• No importer. Richpanel imports old tickets; with Fyncall, old tickets stay in your previous tool.
• Order editing is narrower than Gorgias. Gorgias agents can edit and refund orders from the helpdesk.
• No mobile app for agents yet.

Choose something else when: you need phone support, sell beyond Shopify, or need years of ticket history in the new tool on day one.

Which free Shopify helpdesk is best for a store just starting out?

For a store just starting out, the best free Shopify helpdesk is the one that matches where your customers already write to you. Start free, and move to a paid plan only when a real limit gets in the way.

1. List your channels. Check the last month of messages and count where they came from: email, store chat, WhatsApp, Instagram.
2. If almost everything is store chat, Shopify Inbox costs nothing and may be enough.
3. If several people answer chat, Tidio’s free plan allows up to 10 seats and Commslayer’s allows unlimited seats.
4. If messages come from WhatsApp and Instagram as well as email, pick a free plan that covers those channels. Fyncall Free, Commslayer Free and Tidio Free all list WhatsApp and Instagram.
5. Check the pricing unit before you grow. Per-agent pricing rises with headcount, ticket pricing with volume, and flat pricing with neither until you hit the plan’s limits.
6. Test with real questions on the free plan for a week before you commit.

For a cheap Shopify helpdesk with WhatsApp and Instagram, compare the cost at your own team size on our pricing comparison, not starting prices alone. Our Shopify helpdesk comparison works out monthly bills at 500, 1,000 and 2,000 conversations.

Common questions

Is Shopify Inbox a helpdesk?

Shopify Inbox is a free storefront chat app with an AI sales assistant, not a full helpdesk. Its listing does not mention WhatsApp or Instagram, and it is not built around tickets. Most stores move to a helpdesk once messages arrive on more than one channel.

Which Shopify helpdesk has WhatsApp and Instagram on a free plan?

Fyncall Free includes WhatsApp and Instagram alongside email and web chat, for up to 2 team members. Commslayer lists both on every plan, including Free, with unlimited seats, and Tidio’s pricing table marks both on its free plan. With Fyncall, Meta or Twilio charges WhatsApp message fees separately from the Fyncall plan.

What is the cheapest Shopify helpdesk with unlimited team members?

Commslayer has unlimited seats on every plan, including Free, with paid plans from $39 a month. Fyncall Pro is $34 a month with unlimited team members and 500 AI messages. Re:amaze Starter is $59 a month flat for unlimited team members, capped at 500 responded conversations.

Can I move my ticket history to a new helpdesk?

It depends on the tool. Richpanel offers direct importers from Gorgias, Zendesk, Kustomer and Help Scout. Fyncall has no importer, so treat a switch as a fresh start and keep the old tool for past tickets.