We spent three weeks testing every major Gorgias alternative, specifically from an eCommerce perspective — Shopify integration depth, AI automation quality, ticket volume pricing traps, and phone support gaps. One member of our team uses Brilo.ai as a paying customer; we note this where relevant.

Here's what we found.

Why Are eCommerce Teams Leaving Gorgias?

Gorgias gets a lot right — its Shopify integration is genuinely best-in-class, and for small stores handling under 500 tickets a month, the pricing feels reasonable. The problems emerge at scale.

The pricing model punishes success. Gorgias charges by ticket volume, not by agent seat. When your store has a good month — a sale, a viral product, a Black Friday surge — your support costs spike in lockstep with your revenue. Teams describe this as paying a "success tax":

"The pricing can feel [suffocating] as you scale, turning a stable operational cost into a monthly guessing game." — Reddit, r/shopify

For a 5-agent team handling 5,000 tickets, Gorgias costs $1,500/month. The same team on a seat-based helpdesk pays a predictable monthly fee regardless of ticket volume.

Phone support doesn't exist. Gorgias is a chat, email, and social media helpdesk. There is no native phone or voice channel. For eCommerce brands where customers call about urgent order issues — and research consistently shows a majority prefer calling for urgent problems — this means either ignoring that channel or paying for a completely separate phone system.

No native SLA management. For growing teams where response time accountability matters, Gorgias forces reliance on third-party apps to track SLA targets. Native SLA management — standard in Freshdesk, Zendesk, and most mature helpdesks — is simply absent.

Reporting is shallow for data-driven teams. Gorgias emphasises activity metrics (tickets closed, response time) over unit economics (cost per resolution, revenue impact per channel). Teams that want deeper analytics consistently hit a ceiling.

AI is assistive, not resolution-driven. Gorgias's AI features help agents draft responses — they don't autonomously resolve tickets the way newer AI-first platforms do. For teams that want to reduce headcount rather than just assist agents, this is a meaningful gap.

Our Ranking Methodology

TL;DR Comparison Table

1. Brilo.ai — Best for AI Voice Call Automation

Best for: eCommerce brands where inbound phone calls — WISMO queries, return requests, order changes — consume significant agent time that Gorgias completely ignores.

Why Brilo belongs on a Gorgias alternatives list:

Gorgias has no phone channel. None. If your customers call — and a significant portion of them do when their order is delayed, damaged, or missing — Gorgias gives you no answer. You either ignore those customers, hire agents to answer phones manually, or pay for a completely separate phone system.

Brilo.ai's AI voice agent fills exactly this gap. It picks up inbound calls autonomously, resolves routine queries (order status, return policy, product availability, delivery estimates) from your knowledge base, and escalates to a human only when the situation genuinely requires it — 24/7, in multiple languages.

The specific eCommerce use case where Brilo pays for itself fastest: WISMO calls. Research consistently puts "Where Is My Order?" at 35–50% of total inbound call volume for eCommerce brands. Brilo resolves those calls without a human agent. At Gorgias's ticket-based pricing, each WISMO ticket costs you money. Brilo handles the phone equivalent for a predictable monthly fee.

We signed up, connected our knowledge base (Brilo auto-scraped our product pages and returns policy), and had a live AI agent handling real inbound test calls in 7 minutes and 14 seconds. Order status queries were answered accurately. Return policy questions required zero escalation.

Disclosure: one of our team is a paying Brilo customer. We ran 40 test calls over two weeks to fairly stress-test it.

Signup → onboarded: 7 minutes, 14 seconds

Standout Features:

• Native AI voice agent — answers inbound calls 24/7, including WISMO, returns, and FAQs

• Auto-trained from your product pages, return policies, and FAQs

• Unified inbox for call transcripts, chat, and email

• Multilingual support — handles international customers natively

• Real-time escalation with full call transcript to a human agent

• Month-to-month pricing — no ticket-volume success tax

Pricing:

• Free Plan: Free — 10 minutes/month, 1 AI agent, 1 workspace, Community support

• Pro Plan: $149/month — 600 minutes, 3 AI agents, 3 workspaces, 1 AI phone number, additional usage at 16 cents/min, Private Slack Channel

• Growth Plan: $499/month — 2,500 minutes, unlimited AI agents, 5 workspaces, 1 AI phone number, additional usage at 14 cents/min, Private Slack Channel

• Custom Plan: Talk to us — 5,000+ minutes, unlimited AI agents, unlimited workspaces, additional usage at <14 cents/min, white glove onboarding

Predictable per-minute pricing — costs don't spike during Black Friday.

Cons:

• Not a full helpdesk replacement — for chat, email, and social ticket management, pair Brilo with a chat/email tool like Re:amaze or Freshdesk

• Focused on inbound call automation — for outbound order confirmations or proactive SMS, other tools are better suited

• Integration ecosystem still growing vs. Gorgias's Shopify-native depth

What's unique: The only platform in this list that handles inbound phone calls autonomously — the channel Gorgias completely ignores.

Try it free: brilo.ai — no credit card, no per-ticket pricing surprises.

2. Re:amaze — Best Direct Gorgias Replacement

Best for: eCommerce teams that want Gorgias-level Shopify integration but with predictable per-seat pricing and built-in SMS.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 15 minutes. Re:amaze is the closest feature competitor to Gorgias — native Shopify integration lets agents view and edit order information, process refunds, and update shipping addresses directly from the helpdesk without tab-switching. Live chat, chatbots, FAQ management, and SMS are all included.

The pricing difference is the clearest reason to switch: Re:amaze charges per seat ($29/seat/month), not per ticket. A team handling 5,000 tickets/month with 5 agents pays $145/month on Re:amaze vs. $1,500/month on Gorgias.

Multi-store support is built in — particularly useful for merchants running multiple Shopify stores or selling across Shopify and WooCommerce simultaneously.

"Re:amaze has almost the same Shopify features as Gorgias at a fraction of the cost once you hit any real volume." — Reddit, r/shopify

Signup → onboarded: 15 minutes

Pricing: Basic from $29/seat/month; Pro from $49/seat/month; Plus from $69/seat/month.

Pros:

• Seat-based pricing — no ticket-volume spikes.

• Closest Gorgias feature set.

• Multi-store support.

• SMS included.

• Works with Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce.

Cons:

• No native phone/voice.

• Interface less polished than Gorgias.

• AI features less advanced than newer platforms.

• Setup complexity flagged in G2 reviews.

What's unique: The most direct Gorgias replacement — comparable eCommerce features, seat-based pricing, and multi-store support at a fraction of Gorgias's cost for high-volume teams.

3. Freshdesk — Best Budget Seat-Based Alternative

Best for: Growing eCommerce teams that want to escape Gorgias's per-ticket pricing and need a proven helpdesk with solid Shopify integration.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 12 minutes. Freshdesk's free plan supports 2 agents — the most generous starting point of any helpdesk on this list. The Shopify integration surfaces order data and customer profiles in tickets. Phone support is available via Freshcaller — something Gorgias completely lacks.

Reddit consistently names Freshdesk as the most common destination for teams leaving Gorgias over pricing:

"Freshdesk is less expensive than its competitors — orders of magnitude less expensive — and has about 80% of the functionality." — TrustRadius verified review

Signup → onboarded: 12 minutes

Pricing: Free plan (2 agents); Growth from $15/agent/month; Pro from $55/agent/month. AI Copilot from $29/agent/month extra.

Pros:

• The free plan is genuinely functional.

• Phone via Freshcaller.

• Seat-based pricing — predictable costs.

• Shopify integration.

• Solid automation rules.

Cons:

• Full AI is a paid add-on.

• Shopify integration requires setup — not as native as Gorgias.

• Key features on the Pro tier.

What's unique: The most recommended Gorgias escape route on Reddit — predictable per-agent pricing, a functional free plan, and phone support that Gorgias can't match.

4. Tidio — Best Budget Live Chat + AI

Best for: Smaller Shopify stores that want live chat, AI chatbots, and cart abandonment recovery — without Gorgias's ticket-volume pricing model.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 9 minutes. Tidio's native Shopify app surfaces order data in real time, and the Lyro AI assistant handles FAQ responses, order status queries, and basic product questions without requiring configuration from scratch. Cart abandonment recovery — proactively reaching out to customers who leave without purchasing — is a feature Gorgias doesn't offer at all.

The trade-off: Tidio's own pricing model also has conversation caps on lower tiers. But for stores under 500 conversations/month, the free plan covers it.

Pricing: Free plan (50 conversations/month); Starter from $29/month; Growth from $59/month.

Pros:

• Cart abandonment recovery is built in.

• Native Shopify integration.

• AI chatbot on paid plans.

• Fast setup.

• Free plan functional for small stores.

Cons:

• No phone/voice.

• Conversation caps mirror Gorgias's volume-based pain at scale.

• Not designed for high-volume operations.

What's unique: The only tool on this list that proactively recovers abandoned carts alongside handling support — support that makes money, not just handles problems.

5. Help Scout — Best for Email-First Simplicity

Best for: eCommerce teams that find Gorgias overcomplicated and want clean, collaborative email support with order context — without per-ticket billing surprises.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 13 minutes. The Shopify integration surfaces customer order history alongside every support email — agents have full context without tab-switching. AI summarisation and draft suggestions are included at the base price. Flat per-user pricing means costs don't move with ticket volume.

The deliberate simplicity is both Help Scout's strength and its limit. No phone support, no deep order editing from within tickets, and less automation depth than Gorgias. But for teams where simplicity and predictable costs are the priority, that's a reasonable trade.

Pricing: Standard from $20/user/month; Plus from $40/user/month; Pro from $65/user/month.

Pros:

• Flat pricing — no ticket-volume spikes.

• AI included at base price.

• Order history in every ticket.

• Clean, intuitive interface.

• No per-ticket billing model.

Cons:

• No phone/voice.

• Can't process refunds or edit orders from within tickets (unlike Gorgias).

• Limited automation depth.

What's unique: The simplest possible eCommerce helpdesk — order context in every email, flat pricing, and AI included without an add-on fee.

6. Zendesk — Best for Enterprise eCommerce Scale

Best for: Large eCommerce operations (5+ agents, 2,000+ tickets/month) that need enterprise-grade automation, SLA management, and reporting depth that Gorgias can't provide.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 18 minutes. Zendesk's native Shopify app surfaces order data, allows refunds and cancellations from the ticket sidebar, and provides near-real-time customer data sync. Native SLA management — completely absent in Gorgias — is built into Suite Team from day one. Reporting goes significantly deeper than Gorgias's activity metrics.

Zendesk is rarely the right answer for small Shopify stores — the setup complexity and $55/agent/month price don't make sense under 1,000 tickets/month. But for teams that have genuinely outgrown Gorgias, it's the platform that scales without a ceiling.

Pricing: Suite Team from $55/agent/month; Suite Professional from $115/agent/month.

Pros:

• Native SLA management (Gorgias has none).

• Deep reporting and analytics.

• Phone via Zendesk Talk.

• 1,800+ integrations.

• No ticket-volume pricing.

Cons:

• Expensive.

• Complex setup — 3+ months average deployment.

• AI is a paid add-on.

• Trustpilot score 1.9/5.

What's unique: Provides what Gorgias specifically lacks for growing teams — native SLAs, deep reporting, and phone support — at per-agent pricing that doesn't spike during Black Friday.

7. Kustomer — Best for Seat-Based Pricing at Scale

Best for: Larger eCommerce brands that want to replace Gorgias's ticket-counting model with predictable seat-based pricing and a customer-centric data model.

What We Found In Testing:

Kustomer's core differentiator from Gorgias is architectural: instead of organizing support around tickets, it organizes around customers. Every interaction — email, chat, social, order history, loyalty status, Klaviyo segments — appears in a single customer timeline. Agents never ask customers to repeat themselves because the full context is immediately visible.

The pricing model is the clearest reason to switch from Gorgias at scale: flat per-seat pricing means a Black Friday surge costs the same as a quiet week.

Pricing: Custom — contact sales. Seat-based pricing rather than ticket-based.

Pros:

• Customer-centric timeline model.

• Seat-based pricing — no Black Friday cost spikes.

• Deep Shopify + Klaviyo integration.

• Enterprise-grade AI.

Cons:

• Opaque pricing requires sales engagement.

• Overkill below 20+ agents.

• Implementation requires professional services.

What's unique: The most direct answer to Gorgias's "success tax" complaint — a platform where handling 10,000 tickets in December costs the same as handling 1,000 in January.

8. Gladly — Best for Relationship-Driven DTC Brands

Best for: DTC eCommerce brands that prioritise long-term customer relationships over transaction-by-transaction efficiency — where support is part of the brand experience, not just a cost centre.

What We Found In Testing:

Gladly's "people-centric" model organises all communication — email, chat, SMS, voice, social — around a single lifelong customer conversation rather than individual tickets. For brands where a customer's relationship spans years of purchases, this model gives agents context that ticket-based tools like Gorgias can't replicate.

Native voice support is included — making Gladly one of the few alternatives that covers phone calls without a separate integration.

Pricing: Custom — contact sales. Per-seat pricing model.

Pros:

• Lifelong conversation timeline per customer.

• Native voice included.

• Seat-based pricing.

• Strong DTC brand track record.

• Omnichannel from one workspace.

Cons:

• Pricing requires sales engagement.

• Not suitable for small stores.

• Setup complexity is high.

• Better for high-touch brands than high-volume discount retailers.

What's unique: The only platform here that treats every customer as having a single ongoing conversation across all channels — rather than thousands of individual tickets.

9. Richpanel — Best for Self-Service-First eCommerce

Best for: eCommerce stores that want to reduce total ticket volume by giving customers a portal to resolve their own issues — rather than just handling tickets more efficiently.

What We Found In Testing:

Richpanel's self-service portal lets customers track orders, request returns, and manage subscriptions without ever opening a ticket. For stores where the majority of queries are order status and return requests — the same queries Brilo.ai handles on voice — Richpanel deflects them from the helpdesk entirely via a customer portal.

Deep Gorgias Shopify integration is a core Richpanel feature, making migration smooth for stores switching from Gorgias.

Pricing: Help Desk Pro from $85/user/month (billed annually). Self-Service Portal priced separately based on order volume.

Pros:

• Self-service portal dramatically reduces ticket volume.

• Clean, modern interface.

• Deep Shopify integration.

• Fast agent onboarding.

Cons:

• More expensive than Freshdesk or Re:amaze on a per-user basis.

• Self-Service Portal is an additional cost.

• Less suited for high-touch, relationship-driven brands.

What's unique: The only tool on this list that primarily solves eCommerce support by preventing tickets, not just handling them faster.

10. eDesk — Best for Marketplace + Shopify Sellers

Best for: eCommerce brands selling across multiple channels — Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Etsy — who need centralised ticket management across all marketplaces in one inbox.

What We Found In Testing:

eDesk's strength is multi-marketplace consolidation — it pulls in messages from Shopify, Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and 250+ other platforms into one unified inbox with order data attached. For stores where Gorgias's Shopify-only depth is actually a limitation because you also sell on Amazon, eDesk covers what Gorgias cannot.

AI-generated responses are included and trained on your past tickets — the resolution quality improves as the AI learns your specific workflows.

Pricing: Support from $89/agent/month; Automate from $119/agent/month.

Pros:

• 250+ marketplace integrations.

• Centralised inbox across all sales channels.

• AI trained on your ticket history.

• Strong for high-volume multi-channel sellers.

Cons:

• More expensive than most alternatives.

• No phone/voice.

• Primarily for retail/marketplace sellers — not ideal for SaaS or B2B.

• Setup complexity for multi-channel configurations.

What's unique: The only tool on this list built for sellers who aren't Shopify-only — if Amazon and eBay are significant channels alongside Shopify, eDesk is the only platform that handles all three with equal depth.

How to Choose: eCommerce-Specific Decision Framework

Do your customers also call you?

Gorgias has no phone support. Brilo.ai's AI voice agent handles inbound calls autonomously 24/7 — WISMO queries, return requests, and FAQs are resolved without a human picking up. Pair it with any helpdesk for the full stack.

Is per-ticket pricing the main frustration?

Re:amaze for the closest Gorgias feature set at per-seat pricing. Freshdesk for the lowest per-seat cost with solid Shopify integration. Kustomer for seat-based pricing at enterprise scale with no Black Friday surprises.

Do you need native SLA management?

Gorgias doesn't have it. Zendesk, Freshdesk Pro, and Kustomer all include SLA management natively.

Are you selling on Amazon, eBay, and Shopify as well?

eDesk — it's the only tool here with deep multi-marketplace support that matches Gorgias's Shopify integration quality on other channels.

Do you want to reduce ticket volume, not just handle it faster?

Richpanel's self-service portal deflects tickets before they're created. Brilo.ai deflects phone calls before they reach an agent. Both reduce headcount requirements rather than just making agents faster.

Are you a DTC brand where support is part of the brand experience?

Gladly — the lifelong conversation model with native voice is purpose-built for high-touch DTC brands.

FAQs

What is the best Gorgias alternative with per-seat pricing?

Re:amaze is the closest feature match with per-seat pricing ($29/seat/month). Freshdesk is the most affordable per-agent option (from $15/agent/month). Kustomer offers per-seat pricing at enterprise scale. All three eliminate Gorgias's ticket-volume model.

Does Gorgias have phone support?

No — Gorgias has no native phone or voice channel. It covers email, live chat, social media, and SMS only. For inbound call automation, Brilo.ai handles calls autonomously. For human agent call routing, Freshdesk (via Freshcaller) or Zendesk Talk are the strongest options.

What is the best Gorgias alternative for small Shopify stores?

Tidio's free plan for stores under 50 conversations/month. Re:amaze from $29/seat/month for stores wanting Gorgias-level Shopify features at a predictable price. Freshdesk's free plan (2 agents) for email-first teams.

How expensive does Gorgias get at scale?

For a 5-agent team handling 5,000 tickets/month, Gorgias costs $1,500/month. The same team on Re:amaze Basic pays $145/month — a $1,355/month difference. For teams handling 10,000 tickets/month, Gorgias's Advanced plan is $750/month regardless of agent count.

What is the best Gorgias alternative for multi-store merchants?

Re:amaze — multi-store support is a core feature, handling multiple Shopify stores from one inbox. Gorgias supports multi-stores but charges per ticket across all stores combined.

Can I migrate from Gorgias without losing ticket history?

Yes. Export your ticket data from Gorgias first (Settings → Export). Freshdesk, Zendesk, and Re:amaze all have import tools. Kustomer offers migration assistance. Plan to run both platforms in parallel for at least a week before cutting over.

What is the best Gorgias alternative for WISMO call automation?

Brilo.ai — it handles "Where Is My Order?" calls autonomously with AI, 24/7, without a human agent. For stores where WISMO calls are 30–50% of inbound call volume, this eliminates the most repetitive category of customer contact.