The best live chat software for ecommerce stores in 2026

Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own chat app, and it's free. While you chat, you see what the shopper viewed, what's in their cart, and their past orders. You can drop a product card, a photo or a discount code into the conversation. An AI agent handles simple questions, and the app runs in 21 languages.

The catch: it's built for one or two people. Merchants complain there's no search across past conversations, and the mobile app has quirks, like a send button that disappears. There's little in the way of routing between agents. It's Shopify-only, and eligibility depends on your store plan.

Our take: start here. Move to Crisp or Gorgias the day you need searchable history, email and chat in one inbox, or a second sales channel.

Crisp does two things few chat tools combine. Its ecommerce connector (Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Adobe Commerce) is on the free plan, so the customer profile shows their orders next to the chat. And it bills per workspace, not per conversation. Whether you get 80 or 800 chats in November, Mini stays at $45 a month.

For a 3-person store, that's the easiest bill to forecast: Mini gives you 4 seats, Essentials 10 for $95. AI is partly bundled as credits: $5 on Mini (about 90 automated conversations), $25 on Essentials (about 450). The free plan has no AI credits.

Crisp is a French company that hosts data in the EU and offers a signable data processing agreement, handy if you sell to European customers. Downsides from public reviews: advanced settings can be confusing and the plan lineup changes often. Our full Crisp review breaks down every plan.

Gorgias is a helpdesk built around Shopify, with chat as one channel. From any ticket, agents can see, edit or refund the order without opening the Shopify admin. When you're handling hundreds of requests a month, those saved clicks matter more than the sticker price.

Billing is per ticket, not per seat, and a ticket is anything that comes in: a chat, an email, an Instagram DM, a call. The $10 Starter plan includes chat, but only 50 tickets and 3 agents; Basic moves you to 300 tickets and unlimited agents for $60. Overage runs $40 per 100 tickets on Basic ($0.40 a ticket on Starter), $36 on Pro and Advanced. The AI Agent is billed on top: $1.00 per automated interaction ($0.90 billed yearly), $1.50 beyond your quota.

Merchant feedback is split. Fans say the AI takes real load off support and marketplaces stay well organized. Critics mention spam calls billed as tickets, a shaky mobile app, and a Q4 bill one merchant called steep.

Tidio shows Shopify orders next to the chat on every plan, free included. Its AI agent, Lyro, can take native Shopify actions like order tracking and cart recovery. If your goal is to automate "where's my order?", it's the most capable option at a small-store price.

Watch the billing model. Tidio counts conversations a human replies to, in tiers: 50 free, 100 on Starter, 250 and up on Growth. One good promo and you jump a tier. One reviewer said her plan went from 35 to 59 euros without warning. Lyro is extra, from $32.50 for 50 AI conversations. App Store pricing is different again ($29 and $59 a month).

One App Store review is worth reading before you switch AI on: a merchant uninstalled after Lyro gave a wrong status and destination for a custom order. Limit what the AI can say about orders. Tier details are on our Tidio pricing page.

Smartsupp, a Czech vendor, connects to WooCommerce and PrestaShop in one click and shows store customer data in its dashboard. Plus covers 3 agents for $25 a month billed yearly, the cheapest paid option on this list at that team size.

Its AI, Mira, is a paid add-on billed per 100 conversations, and it can draw on a product catalog of up to 30,000 items to answer stock and sizing questions. The free plan is tight: 1 agent, 25 conversations a month, 14 days of history, and automated messages count toward the cap.

On Shopify, there's a catch. The app only installs the free plan; for a paid plan you paste the chat code into your theme by hand. Doable, but it's why we point Shopify merchants elsewhere first.

Zendesk has the deepest toolset here: routing, macros, reporting, help center. Its Shopify app lets agents refund or cancel orders from inside Zendesk. Mind the plan, though: live chat comes with Suite Team at $55 per agent a month billed yearly. The cheaper Support Team plan doesn't include full chat.

For a store, the math is quick: 3 agents cost $165 a month, whatever the volume. That's the opposite of Gorgias or Tidio. Black Friday traffic doesn't change the bill; the seasonal hire you bring in does. AI includes 5 automated resolutions per agent per month on Team, then each resolution is billed.

For a store under 5 people, it's too heavy and too pricey. See our Zendesk review for plan details, or Zendesk alternatives for lighter options.

tawk.to gives you chat, ticketing, a knowledge base and a basic CRM for $0, with no cap on agents or conversations. For a new WooCommerce store, it's the cheapest way in.

Two trade-offs. The "Powered by tawk.to" branding stays unless you pay $29 a month. And the official site shows no order view: your team keeps the store admin open in another tab. AI Assist starts at $29 a month. A twist you won't find elsewhere: tawk.to rents human agents at $1 an hour to cover the chat around the clock.

Users call it an excellent free chat program and grumble about a limited API. For a first, no-risk chat widget, it's hard to beat.

iAdvize plays in a different league from the rest of this list. It targets large retailers that want to turn chat into guided selling, with AI and product experts. Chat conversations are hosted in the EU, in Frankfurt.

The entry price says it all: €290 a month for Essentials, €520 for Starter, €1,330 for Growth. No free plan, no self-serve trial. For a 3-person store, that's more than six times the cost of Crisp Mini.

It earns its spot for European retailers who want an EU vendor, EU data and hands-on onboarding. If you're a small team, skip it.