AI chatbots for Shopify: 9 tools compared (2026)

An AI chatbot on a Shopify store is now expected to sell, not only to answer: suggest the right product, check it is in stock, put it in the cart and apply a discount code before checkout. We compared nine AI chatbots for Shopify on those tasks, on how they hand over to a human and on what they cost. We make Reponse, listed first. Every other tool is described from its own documentation, pricing page and Shopify App Store listing, checked on October 7, 2026.

This article is part of our guide to agentic commerce on Shopify.

How we compared

Each tool is described on four shopping tasks and three practical points:

• Products: does it recommend products from your catalog?
• Stock: does it check availability when it suggests a product, or work from data synced earlier?
• Cart: does it add the product to the cart and send the shopper to the Shopify checkout?
• Discount codes: does it apply a code, create one, or leave codes to your staff?
• Handover to a human, how it bills, and its App Store rating, read on October 7, 2026.

"Documented" means the vendor's help center or docs describe the feature. "Claimed" means it only appears on marketing pages. The order runs from the free options for a small store to the tools built for bigger teams: it is not a ranking.

The nine at a glance

All nine recommend products from your catalog and can hand a conversation over to a person. The sources are in each tool's section below.

1. Reponse (our product)

Reponse is a Shopify app that brings live chat, a shared inbox, tickets, loyalty and referral into the Shopify admin. Its AI agent in the store chat answers from your catalog and policies, checks the live price and availability with Shopify before it shows a product, builds the cart, applies a Shopify discount code (the shopper's own, or a reward redeemed from loyalty points) and hands the cart to the Shopify checkout. When it can't answer, it opens a ticket for your team with the conversation and asks for the shopper's email.

• Pricing: three plans with every AI agent, at $39 a month for 1,000 AI actions, $99 for 3,000 and $249 for 10,000, then $0.05 per extra action within the monthly budget you set; once it is spent, the AI hands over to your team until the next billing cycle. Each starts with a free 14-day trial covering half the plan's actions. One AI action is one customer served by the AI, or one draft written for your team, however many messages it takes. Human live chat, the helpdesk, loyalty and referral come in every plan with unlimited seats: your team's work is included. Billing goes through your Shopify invoice (pricing).
• Choose it if you want the chat to sell and the support behind it in one app: tickets, the support emails you forward, loyalty and referral.
• Know before you pick it: Shopify only, in English and French. The AI sells in the store chat, with no WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS or phone channel, and the app has no App Store reviews yet.

2. Shopify Inbox

Shopify's own chat app now comes with an opt-in AI agent. In the store chat, it recommends products from your catalog, answers availability questions, adds items to the cart and, once the shopper signs in, looks up their order. Your staff take over with the AI's context; when no one is available, the shopper is given your email address.

• Pricing: free, for stores on Shopify's Basic, Grow, Advanced or Plus plan, with no AI usage fee listed (Shopify Help Center).
• Choose it if you want a free AI agent in your store chat and handle email, returns and reviews in other tools.
• Know before you pick it: it is a chat, not a helpdesk, with no tickets and no email inbox. The agent needs new customer accounts, works only in the store chat and always tells shoppers they are chatting with AI. Discount codes are shared by your staff.

3. Chatty

Chatty puts a live chat, an AI agent, a helpdesk inbox and an FAQ page in one Shopify app. Its AI recommends best sellers, new arrivals and related products, adds and removes cart items, sends a checkout link with the current cart and shares your existing Shopify discounts, one offer per conversation unless the shopper asks for more. It answers from your products, discounts, pages and knowledge base, and hands over to its inbox, which has tickets. It carries the Built for Shopify badge.

• Pricing: a free plan with 50 AI conversations a month; Basic $19.99/mo (100), Pro $68.99/mo (500), Plus $199/mo (1,000); $0.40 per extra AI conversation, with human chats unlimited (pricing).
• Choose it if you want a low entry price and one inbox for the store chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
• Know before you pick it: product data refreshes daily, AI replies outside the store chat and custom recommendation rules need Pro or Plus, and the free plan stops at its AI limit.

4. Tidio (Lyro AI Agent)

Tidio is a live chat and helpdesk for many platforms, and Lyro is its AI agent, sold as an add-on. With a Lyro quota, it syncs your Shopify catalog, shows product cards with an add to cart button and variant choice, and skips items that are out of stock. Tidio's Flows automations can create percentage coupon codes, check order status and suggest products after an add to cart. Lyro hands over to your team on rules you set, in up to 48 languages.

• Pricing: a free plan with 50 Lyro conversations, once; Starter $29/mo ($24.17 billed yearly); the Lyro add-on from $39/mo for 50 conversations ($32.50 billed yearly) (pricing).
• Choose it if you sell on several platforms or want to draw scripted Flows yourself.
• Know before you pick it: Lyro is billed per conversation on top of the plan, and a shopper who comes back after 15 minutes starts a new one. Lyro sending discount codes is claimed on Tidio's site, not documented in its help center.

5. Zipchat

Zipchat is an AI agent for sales and support across web chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, built for Shopify and also available on WooCommerce and Wix. It recommends products from the catalog, asks qualifying questions, creates unique single-use Shopify discount codes within limits you set, looks up orders by email and order number, and escalates to your team or to a Zendesk ticket. It carries the Built for Shopify badge.

• Pricing: a free App Store plan with 120 AI replies a month; Starter $80/mo ($64 billed yearly) for 750 replies. Every AI reply on any channel counts (pricing).
• Choose it if you want one AI agent on chat, WhatsApp and Instagram, creating discount codes itself.
• Know before you pick it: billing counts replies, not conversations: Zipchat's free plan equates its 120 replies to about 50 conversations. Adding to the cart isn't documented, and its docs describe a knowledge base built by crawling your site rather than a live stock check.

6. Rep AI

Rep AI is a chat widget that steps in when a shopper hesitates. It shows product carousels from your Shopify catalog, reads inventory and prices live, adds to the cart and lets the shopper edit it in the conversation, applies a discount code the shopper names and offers a checkout button. Support answers come from your site and files, with order lookup by number and email.

• Pricing: billed by monthly store visits, whether or not shoppers chat. On the App Store, it is free up to 100 visitors a month, then $104/mo for 10,000 visits on the sales plan, or $130/mo with support included (Concierge) (pricing).
• Choose it if you want an agent that opens the conversation with hesitant shoppers and works the cart in chat.
• Know before you pick it: you pay for traffic, not conversations. Order tracking is partial on the sales plans, channels beyond the website are a paid add-on, and its own inbox is in beta.

7. Manifest AI

Manifest AI is a shopping assistant with product search, quizzes and support. It recommends products, offers an add to cart button with a size and color picker (options out of stock are greyed out) and a checkout button, and shows order details after an identity check. It shares the discount codes you create in its dashboard, and hands over to email or to a helpdesk such as Gorgias, Zendesk or Shopify Inbox.

• Pricing: free to test on the App Store, with no public price list: paid plans go through a demo (App Store listing).
• Choose it if product discovery, with search and quizzes, matters to you as much as chat.
• Know before you pick it: there are no published prices, each reply costs credits that depend on the AI model, and cancelling goes through its support team.

8. Gorgias AI Agent

The AI Agent of the Gorgias helpdesk plays two roles: support and a Shopping Assistant. It recommends products from your catalog and the shopper's browsing and purchases, adds to the cart from a product card in chat, and can create unique single-use Shopify codes, valid for 3 days, at a percentage you set, as often as the discount strategy you pick allows. It replies in over 80 languages and hands over on frustration, a request for a person or topics you define.

• Pricing: Starter with AI Agent is $40/mo for 50 tickets and 30 automated interactions; beyond that, an automated interaction costs $1.00 on monthly plans or $0.90 on yearly ones, and it also counts as a helpdesk ticket (pricing).
• Choose it if you run, or want, a full helpdesk with email, SMS, voice and social, with the AI inside it.
• Know before you pick it: each AI interaction is charged as an automated interaction and also counts as a ticket, and older AI Agent subscriptions may need an upgrade to get the Shopping Assistant.

9. Alhena

Alhena is an AI shopping and support agent for e-commerce brands. Its product cards come from your Shopify catalog with an add to cart button. It answers from your site, help center, documents, past tickets and reviews, looks up orders, and hands over to one connected helpdesk, such as Zendesk or Gorgias, or to its own.

• Pricing: a free plan with 25 conversations a month; Essentials $239/mo ($199 billed yearly) for 200 conversations; $1.20 per extra credit (pricing).
• Choose it if you're a growing brand with a helpdesk already, and want one AI on chat, email, social and voice.
• Know before you pick it: product data is refreshed daily (live inventory needs a custom tool), discount codes aren't documented, and the free plan caps the catalog at 500 products.

Also considered: Yuma AI

Yuma's Sales AI, a product-page question and shopping widget, lists one Enterprise plan on the App Store, from $250 a month and set by store volume. Its site claims recommendations and a personalized coupon generator, but we found no public documentation of cart actions, and the app had no reviews on October 7, 2026.

How to choose for a small store

• With no budget, start with Shopify Inbox's free AI agent, or the free tiers of Chatty, Zipchat, Alhena or Tidio, which cap the AI.
• If the AI should sell up to the checkout, read the cart and discount code columns, then check which plan includes them: several tools keep them for paid tiers.
• Count the billing unit. Per visit (Rep AI) costs even when no one chats, per reply (Zipchat) counts every message, per conversation (Chatty, Tidio, Alhena) is the easiest to predict, per AI action (Reponse) counts a whole conversation the AI leads as one action, and the Gorgias plans include a monthly allowance.
• Think about after the sale. A chat-only tool leaves email and returns to other apps; a helpdesk such as Gorgias, Chatty's inbox or Reponse keeps them in one place.

Replacing a helpdesk rather than adding a chat? See Gorgias alternatives for Shopify stores.

FAQ

Which AI chatbot for Shopify can recommend in-stock products, build the cart and apply a discount code?

Most do part of it. All nine recommend products, and all but Zipchat document adding them to the cart. For discounts, Reponse and Rep AI apply a code the shopper gives, Gorgias AI Agent and Zipchat create single-use codes, Chatty and Manifest AI share codes the store already has, and Shopify Inbox leaves codes to your staff. For stock, Reponse and Rep AI document a live check with Shopify. Check which plan includes each task: several tools keep them for paid tiers.

Is there a free AI chatbot for Shopify?

Yes. Shopify Inbox's AI agent is free on Shopify's Basic plan and up. Chatty's free plan includes 50 AI conversations a month, Zipchat's free App Store plan 120 AI replies, Alhena's 25 conversations, and Tidio's free plan 50 Lyro conversations, once. Reponse's plans start at $39 a month for 1,000 AI actions, with every AI agent, human live chat and the helpdesk included; each starts with a free 14-day trial covering half the plan's actions.

Do AI chatbots for Shopify check live stock?

Not all in the same way. Reponse checks price and availability with Shopify before it shows a product, Rep AI reads inventory from Shopify in real time and Tidio skips out-of-stock items. Chatty and Alhena work from catalog data synced daily, and Zipchat's docs describe a knowledge base built by crawling the store.

How are AI chatbots for Shopify priced?

Per AI conversation (Chatty, Tidio's Lyro, Alhena), per AI action (Reponse, where a customer served by the AI counts once), per AI reply (Zipchat), per store visit whether or not the shopper chats (Rep AI), or per automated interaction on top of tickets (Gorgias). Reponse's plans start at $39 a month for 1,000 AI actions, then $0.05 per extra action, and Shopify Inbox charges nothing.

Can an AI chatbot hand over to a human?

All nine can, in different ways. Some pass the conversation to staff in their own inbox (Shopify Inbox, Chatty, Tidio, Gorgias, Reponse, Zipchat), others to a helpdesk you connect, such as Gorgias or Zendesk (Rep AI, Manifest AI, Alhena). When no one is available, Shopify Inbox gives the shopper your email address, and Reponse opens a ticket and asks for theirs.

Do I still need a chatbot if my products are in ChatGPT?

Yes, for the shoppers who land on your store. ChatGPT sends buyers to your product pages and your own checkout, and the questions left about size, delivery and returns get answered there. See how ChatGPT shopping chooses products.