Alternatives
Shopify Inbox alternatives for Shopify stores
Updated by the SayMaya team
The short answer
Shopify Inbox is free and a good default. The main alternatives are SayMaya, Tidio and Gorgias. Pick SayMaya for verified order lookups by order number and email, guardrails against invented discounts, and a team inbox with email handoff notices. Pick Tidio for chatbot flows, and Gorgias for a helpdesk across email, SMS, social and voice.
What is Shopify Inbox?
Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own chat app for online stores, free on the Shopify App Store. It includes an Inbox agent that answers questions about products, shipping, returns, sizing and policies from your catalog, policies, pages and Knowledge Base, makes recommendations, helps with order lookups and adds items to the cart. Your team replies from desktop, iOS and Android apps.
Why do Shopify stores look for a Shopify Inbox alternative?
Usually because of how it is priced and what it is built around, not because it lacks features. Common reasons to compare:
- The Inbox agent needs new customer accounts; on legacy accounts, chats stay with your staff
- You want order status shared only after a matching order number and email, without a sign-in
- You want a shared team inbox with an email notice on every handoff
- You need chat on a site that is not a Shopify online store
Which Shopify Inbox alternatives are worth a look?
Each of these covers part of what stores use it for, with a different center of gravity:
- SayMaya: AI chat that answers from your live Shopify data, plus a team inbox. AI included in every plan, from free to $299 a month, no overage charges
- Tidio: live chat, chatbot flows and the Lyro AI agent, sold as separate plans from $29 a month
- Gorgias: a helpdesk for email, chat, SMS, social and voice, priced by ticket volume from $10 a month
- Re:amaze: a helpdesk for email, chat, social, SMS and calls, priced per staff user from $29 a month
How does SayMaya's AI differ from Shopify Inbox?
SayMaya's AI reads your products, prices, stock, store policies and active discounts at the moment a shopper asks, and shares order status only after the shopper gives a matching order number and email. It answers and hands off; refunds, cancellations and order edits stay with your team, and the chat moves to your shared inbox with an email notice when a person is needed. Shopify's Inbox agent uses your catalog, policies, pages and Knowledge Base, can cite web results for product-adjacent content, and works only in your online store's chat widget.
When is Shopify Inbox the better choice?
Stay with Shopify Inbox, or pick it, if any of these are true:
- You want a free app built and supported by Shopify
- Your team wants mobile apps to reply on the go
- Your shoppers write in many languages; the listing shows 21
- You want recommendations personalized for shoppers with an active Shop session
How do you switch from Shopify Inbox to SayMaya?
Three steps, no code, and you can start on the free plan:
- Install from the Shopify App Store. Approve the app in your Shopify admin. Your team inbox is created for you, with one-click sign-in from the app.
- Switch on the chat in your theme editor. SayMaya is a theme app embed. Turn it on, save, and the chat button appears on your storefront. No code edits, no theme files to change.
- Choose what the AI may use. In Settings, pick the data the assistant can answer from: products, inventory, orders, policies and discounts. Change it any time.
- Turn off your old chat widget in the theme editor so shoppers see one chat button
