Table of Contents
- Key takeaways: the best ecommerce live chat tools at a glance
- What is live chat for ecommerce?
- Why do ecommerce stores add live chat?
- What to look for in ecommerce live chat software
- The 7 best live chat tools for ecommerce in 2026
- 1. Shopify Inbox: best free live chat for Shopify stores
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 2. Tidio: best live chat plus AI for small stores on any platform
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 3. SiteGPT: best AI answer layer in front of a live chat tool
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 4. Gorgias: best ecommerce helpdesk with order actions
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 5. Text by LiveChat: best for sales-led live chat
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 6. Crisp: best flat-price shared inbox for a small team
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- 7. Zendesk: best for omnichannel service at scale
- Key features
- Pros
- Cons
- Pricing
- Rating
- Best for
- Ecommerce live chat software compared
- How much does live chat for ecommerce cost?
- The stack: which tool does which job
- How to choose the right ecommerce live chat tool
- Live chat vs chatbot for ecommerce: which do you need?
- Try the AI answer layer on your own store
- Frequently asked questions
- Basics
- What is live chat for ecommerce?
- What is the best live chat for ecommerce?
- Cost
- Is there free live chat for ecommerce?
- How much does ecommerce live chat software cost?
- AI and live chat
- Can an AI chatbot replace live chat on a store?
- Can SiteGPT track orders?
- Does SiteGPT have a Shopify app?
- Setup
- Which live chat tools work with SiteGPT?
- How long does it take to add live chat to a store?
- Sources
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Created time
Sep 11, 2023 05:09 PM
Live chat for ecommerce is a chat window on a store's website where shoppers message a real person, and the best tools in 2026 are Shopify Inbox for Shopify stores, Tidio for small stores on any platform, and an AI answer layer such as SiteGPT in front of a live chat inbox.
TL;DR
- Shopify Inbox is the free pick for Shopify stores. It is made by Shopify and rated 4.6 out of 5 from 5,812 reviews on the Shopify App Store.
- Tidio is the low-cost pick on any platform. Starter is $29 a month billed monthly, and the Lyro AI agent starts at $39 a month.
- SiteGPT is the AI answer layer in front of a live chat tool. It answers from your own content, then hands the chat to a person in Crisp, Zendesk or its iOS app. It has no order lookup and no Shopify app.
- Gorgias is the pick when agents must edit, refund or cancel orders inside the chat. Basic is $60 a month billed monthly.
- A 3-agent chat team starts at $0 on Shopify Inbox, $45 on Crisp Mini and $75 on Text by LiveChat Essential, each billed monthly.
Key takeaways: the best ecommerce live chat tools at a glance
Tool | Best for | Who answers first | Starting price |
Shopify Inbox | Free live chat on a Shopify store | An AI agent or your team, your choice | Free |
Live chat plus AI for small stores on any platform | Your team, with the Lyro AI agent as an add-on | Free plan, Starter $29 a month billed monthly | |
The AI answer layer in front of a live chat tool | AI from your own content, then a person | $59 a month billed monthly, or $39 a month billed yearly | |
Gorgias | An ecommerce helpdesk with order actions | Your team, with AI Agent as an add-on | Basic $60 a month billed monthly |
Text by LiveChat | Sales-led live chat with visitor tracking | Your team, with an AI agent included | $25 a user a month billed monthly |
Crisp | A flat-price shared inbox for a small team | Your team | Free plan, Mini $45 a month |
Zendesk | Omnichannel service at scale | Your team, with AI agents included | Suite Team $55 per agent a month billed yearly |
What is live chat for ecommerce?
Live chat for ecommerce is a chat widget on a store's pages that connects a shopper to a person on the store's team in real time. The shopper types a question about sizing, shipping or an order, and an agent replies from a shared inbox.
Most tools in 2026 add AI to that inbox. An AI agent answers the routine questions first and passes the rest to a person. The difference between a chatbot and live chat is covered in chatbots vs live chat.
Why do ecommerce stores add live chat?
Ecommerce stores add live chat to answer doubts before checkout and to fix order problems after it. Both moments decide whether a shopper buys again.
- Doubts before checkout. Baymard Institute puts the average documented cart abandonment rate at 70.22%. A fast answer on shipping, sizing or returns removes one reason to leave.
- Order problems after checkout. "Where is my order", returns and exchanges need a person or a tool that can read the order.
- Shoppers still want a person. In a 2026 Gartner survey of 3,566 customers, 87% said access to a human agent is essential when companies use AI in customer service.
For that reason, this guide ranks live chat tools and places AI in front of people. Stores that want a chatbot first can start with the benefits of chatbots in ecommerce.
What to look for in ecommerce live chat software
Ecommerce live chat software should cover five things. The ranking below uses the same five.
- A shared inbox for people. Agents need assignment, notes and a mobile app so chats do not wait.
- Store data in the chat. Order status, refunds and edits need a connection to Shopify or another store platform.
- AI in front of the team. An AI agent should answer routine questions and hand over with the context intact.
- Price at a small team size. Some tools charge per agent, some per conversation, and some per workspace.
- Third-party reviews. A rating on G2 or the Shopify App Store, with the review count behind it.
No tool is best overall. Each one gets a "best for" label. SiteGPT is this site's own product, and its limits are listed with the same weight as the others.
The 7 best live chat tools for ecommerce in 2026
1. Shopify Inbox: best free live chat for Shopify stores
Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own live chat app, and it is free. It puts a chat on the storefront that your team can answer, with an optional AI agent that learns from your catalog, policies and store content. A store on Shopify can start here at no cost.
Key features
- Live chat, email chat, file upload and push notifications
- An optional AI agent that answers from the catalog, inventory and policies
- Personalized replies from purchase history when buyers sign in with Shop
- Automated responses for greetings, FAQs, discounts, product recommendations and order updates
- Business hours and chat assignment
- Built-in analytics, including orders assisted and buyer satisfaction
- 21 languages listed on the App Store page
Pros
- Free, with no per-seat or per-conversation fee
- Made and supported by Shopify, so there is no second vendor
- Reads catalog, inventory and policy data with no setup
- The largest review base in this list: 5,812 reviews
Cons
- Works only on Shopify stores
- The listing names your catalog, policies and store content as the AI agent's sources. Files, drives and videos elsewhere are not listed
- Fewer team tools than a full helpdesk such as Gorgias or Zendesk
Pricing
Plan | Price | Notes |
Shopify Inbox | Free | Requires a Shopify store |
Rating
Shopify Inbox holds 4.6 out of 5 from 5,812 reviews on the Shopify App Store.
Best for
Shopify Inbox is best for Shopify stores that want live chat and an AI agent at $0. More Shopify options are compared in AI chatbots for Shopify.
2. Tidio: best live chat plus AI for small stores on any platform
Tidio is a live chat and ticketing tool with an AI agent called Lyro. It lists native Shopify actions, runs on several sites and stores, and has a free plan. It prices by billable conversations: chats that include a reply from a person on your team.
Key features
- Live chat and ticketing in one inbox
- Live visitors list and operating hours from Starter
- Lyro AI agent with human handoff, sold as an add-on
- Flows for proactive chat and lead capture
- Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and email integrations
- Native Shopify actions listed in the plan comparison
- Desktop and mobile apps
Pros
- Free plan with 50 billable conversations
- AI-only and unanswered conversations do not count as billable conversations
- 7-day free trial with no credit card
- Works on any store platform
Cons
- Lyro costs extra: from $39 a month billed monthly for 50 Lyro conversations
- The 75% average Lyro resolution rate on the pricing page is vendor-reported
- Removing Tidio branding is an add-on at $16.67 a month
- Starter covers only 100 billable conversations a month
Pricing
Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Billable conversations |
Free | $0 | $0 | 50 |
Starter | $29 | $24.17 | 100 |
Growth | From $59 | From $49.17 | From 250 |
Plus | From $300 plus usage | Contact sales | Custom |
Lyro AI Agent add-on | From $39 | From $32.50 | From 50 Lyro conversations |
Starter billed yearly costs $290.04 a year, against $348 billed monthly. That saves $57.96 (17%). Source: Tidio pricing. A feature-by-feature view is in SiteGPT vs Tidio.
Rating
Tidio holds 4.6 out of 5 from 2,097 reviews on G2.
Best for
Tidio is best for small stores on any platform that want people and AI in one inbox at a low entry price.
3. SiteGPT: best AI answer layer in front of a live chat tool
SiteGPT is an AI chatbot trained on your own content. In a live chat setup, it answers first and passes the chat to a person when the shopper asks for one. It is not a live chat inbox for a full team on its own, so this guide ranks it by that role.
SiteGPT does not look up orders. No live SiteGPT page describes an order lookup, so "where is my order" questions go to a person or to your tracking page. It has no Shopify app listed on its integrations page and installs on a store with an embed script.
Key features
- Trains on website pages, sitemaps, files and raw text, plus Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, Notion, GitHub and YouTube
- Answers in Crisp: an agent's reply makes SiteGPT step aside, and resolving the chat hands it back, per the SiteGPT for Crisp page
- Answers first in Zendesk Messaging and hands chats to human agents with full history, on Scale and above
- Chat integrations from Growth: Google Chat, Messenger, Slack, Crisp, Freshdesk Messaging and Zoho SalesIQ
- iOS app from Growth: push alerts when a visitor asks for a human and one tap to take over from the AI
- 95+ languages
- Auto refresh: monthly on Growth, weekly with a daily sitemap scan on Scale
Pros
- Answers can come from manuals, PDFs, help docs and product videos as well as store pages
- Works on any store platform with one script
- Flat monthly price with a published message quota
- Keeps your current live chat inbox in place when you connect it to Crisp, Zendesk, Freshdesk Messaging or Zoho SalesIQ
Cons
- No order lookup, refunds or order edits
- No Shopify app. Setup is an embed script
- No integration with Tidio, Gorgias, Text by LiveChat or Shopify Inbox, and no Intercom or HubSpot integration today
- Starter has no chat integrations and refreshes content manually
- The Zendesk AI Agent needs Scale, at $429 a month billed monthly
- No free plan. The 7-day free trial requires a credit card
Pricing
Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Messages a month | Members |
Starter | $59 | $39 | 4,000 GPT-4.1-mini or 400 GPT-4.1 | 1 |
Growth | $129 | $79 | 10,000 GPT-4.1-mini or 1,000 GPT-4.1 | 4 |
Scale | $429 | $259 | 40,000 GPT-4.1-mini or 4,000 GPT-4.1 | 10 |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Growth billed yearly costs $948 a year, against $1,548 billed monthly. That saves $600 (39%). Extra packs of 5,000 messages are $59 a month billed monthly. Source: SiteGPT pricing.
Rating
SiteGPT holds 4.9 out of 5 from 12 reviews on G2. The review base is small.
Best for
SiteGPT is best for stores whose answers live in policies, manuals and help docs, and that want AI to answer first inside Crisp, Zendesk or another chat tool their team already uses.
4. Gorgias: best ecommerce helpdesk with order actions
Gorgias is a helpdesk built for ecommerce. It puts email, live chat, social, SMS and voice in one inbox with order and customer history. Its Shopify App Store listing says agents can edit orders, refund and cancel inside tickets.
Key features
- Unified inbox for email, live chat, SMS, social and voice
- Edit, refund and cancel Shopify orders inside tickets
- AI Agent add-on for order, shipping and return questions, billed per automated interaction
- AI Shopping Assistant for product questions and recommendations
- Rules, macros and auto-tagging
- Plans priced by ticket volume, from 50 to 5,000 tickets a month
Pros
- The deepest order access in this list
- Unlimited agents from Basic, so price does not grow with team size
- Built for ecommerce, with revenue tracking in its analytics
Cons
- AI Agent is extra. It adds $30 a month to Basic billed monthly, for 30 automated interactions
- Each automated interaction past the plan limit costs $1.50
- Starter is billed monthly only and caps at 50 tickets and 3 agents
- A full helpdesk to set up. A one-person store may not need that much
Pricing
Plan | Helpdesk, billed monthly | Helpdesk, billed yearly (per month) | With AI Agent, billed monthly | Tickets a month |
Starter | $10 | Monthly only | $40, 30 automated interactions | 50 |
Basic | $60 | $50 | $90, 30 automated interactions | 300 |
Pro | $360 | $300 | $550, 190 automated interactions | 2,000 |
Advanced | $900 | $750 | $1,430, 530 automated interactions | 5,000 |
Basic billed yearly costs $600 a year, against $720 billed monthly. That saves $120 (17%). Extra tickets cost $0.40 each on Starter and Basic. Sources: Gorgias pricing and the Gorgias Shopify App Store listing.
Rating
Gorgias holds 4.6 out of 5 from 582 reviews on G2 and 4.3 out of 5 from 709 reviews on the Shopify App Store.
Best for
Gorgias is best for Shopify brands with a team that works tickets and must change orders without leaving the chat.
5. Text by LiveChat: best for sales-led live chat
Text is the live chat product from the team behind LiveChat. New customers on the LiveChat pricing page now see Text plans. It pairs a chat inbox with an AI agent and sales tools such as live visitor tracking and proactive campaigns. More detail is in HubSpot live chat alternatives.
Key features
- Website chat, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS and email in one inbox
- Selling through Shopify on every plan
- Live visitor tracking: 50 visitors on Essential, 400 on Growth
- Proactive campaigns: 3 on Essential, 30 on Growth
- AI Agent with human takeover: 10 AI resolutions a month on Essential, 200 on Growth
- Chat supervision and takeover on Growth
Pros
- An AI agent is included in every plan
- Sales tools built for stores, such as visitor tracking and campaigns
- 14-day free trial with no credit card
Cons
- Priced per user, so cost grows with the team
- Essential includes only 10 AI resolutions a month. 50 more cost $49.50
- Chat supervision is on Growth, at $99 a user a month billed monthly
Pricing
Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | AI resolutions |
Essential | $25 per user | $19 per user | 10 a month |
Growth | $99 per user | $79 per user | 200 a month |
Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Three users on Essential cost $684 a year billed yearly, against $900 billed monthly. That saves $216 (24%). Source: Text pricing on LiveChat.
Rating
The LiveChat listing holds 4.5 out of 5 from 821 reviews on G2.
Best for
Text by LiveChat is best for stores that treat chat as a sales channel and want visitor tracking and proactive messages.
6. Crisp: best flat-price shared inbox for a small team
Crisp is a shared inbox with a website chat widget, priced per workspace instead of per agent. A team of four pays the same as a team of one on Mini. SiteGPT connects to Crisp, so the two can work as a stack.
Key features
- Website chat widget, shared inbox and mobile apps on every plan
- E-commerce integrations on the Free plan
- Shared email inbox, shortcuts and chat triggers from Mini
- Omnichannel inbox, AI chatbot, knowledge base and routing rules from Essentials
- No limit on the number of conversations
- AI credits included: $5 on Mini, $25 on Essentials, $75 on Plus
Pros
- Free plan with 2 seats
- Flat price per workspace, with 4 seats on Mini and 10 on Essentials
- 14-day free trial of every plan with no card
Cons
- The Free plan has no AI credits
- The omnichannel inbox and AI chatbot start on Essentials at $95 a month
- Fewer order tools than Gorgias or Shopify Inbox
Pricing
Plan | Price a month, billed monthly | Seats included | AI credits |
Free | $0 | 2 | None |
Mini | $45 | 4 | $5 |
Essentials | $95 | 10 | $25 |
Plus | $295 | 20+ | $75 |
Mini works out to $11.25 a seat with all 4 seats in use. Yearly billing can be turned on in the Crisp app after you subscribe. Source: Crisp pricing.
Rating
Crisp holds 4.5 out of 5 from 207 reviews on G2.
Best for
Crisp is best for small store teams that want a shared inbox at a flat price, with room to add AI later. The AI chatbot for Crisp guide covers the AI options.
7. Zendesk: best for omnichannel service at scale
Zendesk is a customer service suite with ticketing, messaging, live chat, a help center and voice. Messaging and live chat start on Suite Team. It fits larger stores that run service across many channels and need reporting and routing.
Key features
- Messaging and live chat from Suite Team
- AI agents on every Suite and Support plan, billed per automated resolution
- Knowledge base and action builder on Suite Team
- Omnichannel routing and telephony
- Skills-based routing and an IVR phone menu on Suite Professional
Pros
- One platform for chat, email, voice and the help center
- The largest G2 review base in this list
- SiteGPT can run as the AI agent inside Zendesk Messaging on its Scale plan
Cons
- Per-agent pricing adds up. Three agents on Suite Team cost $1,980 a year billed yearly
- AI agent usage is billed per automated resolution on top of seats
- More setup than a store-focused chat tool
Pricing
Plan | Per agent a month, paid yearly | Live chat |
Support Team | $19 | No, email and ticketing |
Suite Team | $55 | Yes |
Suite Professional | $115 | Yes |
Suite Enterprise | Contact sales | Yes |
Source: Zendesk pricing. AI options for Zendesk are compared in AI chatbots for Zendesk.
Rating
Zendesk for Customer Service holds 4.3 out of 5 from 7,121 reviews on G2.
Best for
Zendesk is best for larger stores with a service team across chat, email and phone.
Ecommerce live chat software compared
Tool | Pricing unit | Free plan | AI agent | Order actions in chat | Rating |
Shopify Inbox | Free | Yes | Included | Order updates | 4.6 (5,812, Shopify App Store) |
Tidio | Billable conversations | Yes, 50 conversations | Lyro, from $39 a month | Native Shopify actions listed | 4.6 (2,097, G2) |
Flat plan with a message quota | No, 7-day trial with card | The product itself | None | 4.9 (12, G2) | |
Gorgias | Tickets, never per agent | No | Add-on, per automated interaction | Edit, refund, cancel | 4.6 (582, G2) |
Text by LiveChat | Per user | No, 14-day trial | Included, 10 to 200 resolutions | Selling through Shopify | 4.5 (821, G2) |
Crisp | Per workspace | Yes, 2 seats | AI credits from Mini | E-commerce integrations | 4.5 (207, G2) |
Zendesk | Per agent | No | Included, per resolution | Not listed on the pricing page | 4.3 (7,121, G2) |
How much does live chat for ecommerce cost?
Live chat for a 3-agent store team costs $0 to $174 a month billed monthly on the entry plans in this guide. The cheapest paid option per seat is Crisp Mini. The most expensive is an AI answer layer plus a chat inbox.
Setup for 3 agents | Billed monthly | What the price covers |
Shopify Inbox | $0 | Live chat and an AI agent, Shopify only |
Tidio Starter | $29 | 100 billable conversations, no Lyro |
Crisp Mini | $45 | 4 seats, $5 of AI credits |
Gorgias Basic | $60 | 300 tickets, unlimited agents, no AI Agent |
Text Essential, 3 users | $75 | 10 AI resolutions a month |
SiteGPT Growth plus Crisp Mini | $174 | 10,000 GPT-4.1-mini messages answered from your content, then a person in Crisp |
SiteGPT Growth billed yearly drops the stack to $124 a month ($79 plus $45), a saving of $600 a year on the SiteGPT side. The SiteGPT for Crisp page asks for a Crisp plugin identifier and key, so confirm your Crisp plan provides one.
The stack: which tool does which job
A store does not need one tool for every job. Many stores run three layers, and each layer can come from a different vendor.
Layer | Job | Tool |
Order layer | Order status, refunds, cancellations and edits | Shopify Inbox, Gorgias or Tidio |
Knowledge-trained answer layer | Answers from policies, size guides, manuals, PDFs and videos | |
Human layer | Takes over when the shopper asks for a person | Crisp, Zendesk, Freshdesk Messaging or Zoho SalesIQ, all SiteGPT chat integrations, or the SiteGPT iOS app |
SiteGPT sits in the middle layer only. It does not replace the order layer, because it has no order lookup. The human handoff guide compares how other AI chatbots pass a chat to a person.
How to choose the right ecommerce live chat tool
If you need | Pick | Why |
Free live chat on a Shopify store | Shopify Inbox | Free, made by Shopify, reads catalog and policies |
Live chat plus AI on WooCommerce or another platform | Tidio | Free plan, $29 Starter, Lyro as an add-on |
AI answers from manuals, PDFs and help docs before a person steps in | SiteGPT in front of Crisp or Zendesk | Trains on 7 cloud and code sources plus pages and files, hands off in your existing inbox |
Agents who refund and edit orders in the chat | Gorgias | Shopify order actions inside tickets, unlimited agents from Basic |
Chat as a sales channel | Text by LiveChat | Visitor tracking and proactive campaigns on every plan |
A flat price for a team of up to 10 | Crisp | $95 a month covers 10 seats on Essentials |
One suite for chat, email and phone | Zendesk | Messaging, voice and help center from Suite Team |
Live chat vs chatbot for ecommerce: which do you need?
Most stores need both, in that order of priority: a person for problems and an AI agent for repeat questions. Live chat alone means someone must watch the inbox. A chatbot alone leaves no path to a person, which 87% of customers in the Gartner survey called essential.
Stores that want the chatbot side in depth can use three guides. How to set up an ecommerce chatbot covers the launch steps. Ecommerce chatbot solutions ranks AI chatbots for stores. The benefits of chatbots in ecommerce covers what a bot can and cannot do.
Try the AI answer layer on your own store
The fastest test is to train SiteGPT on your shipping, returns and product pages, then ask it the ten questions your team answers most. If the answers hold up, connect it to your chat inbox. The 7-day free trial needs a credit card, and you can cancel before it ends.
Frequently asked questions
Basics
What is live chat for ecommerce?
Live chat for ecommerce is a chat widget on a store's website that connects shoppers to a person on the store's team in real time. Most tools now add an AI agent that answers routine questions first.
What is the best live chat for ecommerce?
The best live chat for ecommerce depends on the store. Shopify Inbox is the free pick on Shopify. Tidio is the low-cost pick on other platforms. Gorgias is the pick when agents must edit or refund orders in the chat.
Cost
Is there free live chat for ecommerce?
Yes. Shopify Inbox is free on Shopify stores. Tidio has a free plan with 50 billable conversations a month. Crisp has a free plan with 2 seats.
How much does ecommerce live chat software cost?
Entry plans for a 3-agent team range from $0 on Shopify Inbox to $75 a month on Text by LiveChat Essential, billed monthly. Zendesk Suite Team costs $55 per agent a month billed yearly.
AI and live chat
Can an AI chatbot replace live chat on a store?
No. An AI chatbot can answer repeat questions, but shoppers still need a person for problems. In a 2026 Gartner survey, 87% of customers said access to a human agent is essential.
Can SiteGPT track orders?
No. No live SiteGPT page describes an order lookup. SiteGPT answers from the content you train it on and hands the chat to a person in Crisp, Zendesk or its iOS app.
Does SiteGPT have a Shopify app?
No. SiteGPT has no Shopify app listed on its integrations page. It installs on a Shopify store, or any other store, with an embed script.
Setup
Which live chat tools work with SiteGPT?
SiteGPT connects to Crisp, Freshdesk Messaging and Zoho SalesIQ from the Growth plan, and runs as the AI agent inside Zendesk Messaging on Scale and above. It has no integration with Tidio, Gorgias, Text by LiveChat, Shopify Inbox, Intercom or HubSpot today.
How long does it take to add live chat to a store?
Shopify Inbox installs from the Shopify App Store. Tidio, Crisp, Text and SiteGPT install with an app or a script on the store's pages. A helpdesk such as Gorgias or Zendesk takes longer, because it needs channels, rules and macros set up.
Sources
Checked on 3 November 2026.
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