Gorgias AI Pricing Calculator: A Guide to Estimating Costs

Understanding AI pricing can be complex for busy ecommerce brands. While the potential of AI agents is clear, pricing models based on "outcomes" or "resolutions," like the one Gorgias uses, can be difficult to predict. Monthly costs can fluctuate, sometimes unexpectedly.

Got cold outreached by Gorgias, a couple of features caught my eye so i thought sure I'll jump on a call and see some demos and maybe get a quote In my head I was thinking $250/month per seat would be ABSOLUTELY the most I'd pay... NOP was wayy off. Sales rep threw out a number that was nearly triple LOL. Who in the right mind is paying for this much for this???

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This guide provides a detailed overview of the Gorgias AI Agent's pricing structure. We will cover how to calculate potential costs by examining their helpdesk plans, the additional fees for the AI Agent, and how these two costs can apply to a single ticket.

What is the Gorgias AI agent?

Gorgias is a well-known helpdesk platform designed for ecommerce businesses, used by brands like Olipop and Reebok to manage customer conversations.

The "AI Agent" is its primary automation feature. It functions as a digital assistant focused on handling common support questions and assisting with sales inquiries.

Been using gorgias AI for our online shop and it’s broken… I’ll go first - used gorgias for a while and the replies by AI seemed… too 'AI'. Customers complained they wanna speak to a human too many times as the responses were just not it. And credits burn way too fast and couldnt even see where it all got burnt

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For support, Gorgias states the AI Agent can resolve up to 60% of common questions, such as order status inquiries and return requests.

For sales, it acts as a "Shopping Assistant." It can engage with shoppers in chat, provide product recommendations, and answer pre-purchase questions. Through its integration with platforms like Shopify, it can also perform actions like editing an order or issuing a discount code. The feature is divided into a Support Suite for efficiency and a Marketing Suite for revenue generation.

How Gorgias AI pricing actually works

Gorgias uses a two-layer pricing model. The first layer is a subscription to a base helpdesk plan, which is based on ticket volume. The second layer is an additional fee for each ticket the AI Agent resolves autonomously.

These fees are not always mutually exclusive. As this infographic illustrates, a single ticket resolved by the AI can incur costs from both layers simultaneously.

Layer 1: Your base helpdesk plan

The foundation of a Gorgias bill is the subscription plan. Users select a tier based on their anticipated monthly volume of "billable tickets".

According to Gorgias's billing documentation, a "billable ticket" is any conversation that receives a response. This includes replies from human agents, rule-based automated responses, and responses from the AI Agent.

Plans such as Starter, Basic, Pro, and Advanced each include a specific monthly ticket limit. Exceeding this limit results in overage fees. For example, the Pro and Advanced plans charge an additional $36 to $40 for every 100 tickets over the allowance. These costs can accumulate, particularly during peak business periods.

Layer 2: The AI agent automation fee

In addition to the base plan, there is an outcome-based "automation fee" for the AI Agent. This fee is $0.90 per automated resolution on an annual plan, or $1.00 per resolution on a month-to-month plan.

Gorgias defines a billable "automated interaction" as any customer ticket that the AI fully resolves without human intervention within a 72-hour period.

Based on Gorgias's documentation, when the AI Agent resolves a ticket, that single interaction costs the ~$0.90 automation fee and it counts as one billable ticket toward the monthly helpdesk plan limit.

This can be summarized in the following table:

As the table shows, a ticket resolved by the AI is counted toward the base plan's ticket allowance while also incurring the automation fee.

Using a Gorgias AI pricing calculator (and how to create your own)

Gorgias does have a calculator to help you estimate your return on investment, but it's important to understand what it’s really calculating. To get a true feel for your monthly bill, you'll need to do a bit of math on your own.

The official Gorgias Shopping Assistant ROI calculator

Gorgias provides an official Shopping Assistant ROI calculator on their site. Its main job is to show you how much extra revenue you might make by using the AI for sales, not to predict your support costs.

To use it, you just plug in your store’s numbers:

• Monthly Traffic

• Average Order Value (AOV)

• Baseline Conversion Rate

The tool then spits out the potential sales lift and your return on investment. It's a handy tool for seeing the potential upside of the AI's sales features. But it won't tell you what your monthly bill for support automation will look like. For that, you need a different plan.

A step-by-step framework to calculate your estimated monthly cost

Let's walk through a simple way you can get a pretty good estimate of your total monthly cost.

Step 1: Figure out your base plan. Look at your average monthly ticket volume and pick the Gorgias plan that makes sense. For instance, if you handle about 1,800 tickets a month, you'd probably land on the Pro plan, which gives you 2,000 tickets for $300/month (on an annual plan).

Step 2: Estimate your automation potential. Go through your past support tickets. What percentage are simple, repetitive questions about order status, returns, or basic product info? A decent starting point for many ecommerce stores is that 40-60% of questions are automatable. Let's play it safe and say 50% of your 1,800 tickets (900 tickets) could be handled by AI.

Step 3: Calculate the AI resolution cost. Multiply the number of automatable tickets by the per-resolution fee.

• 900 tickets × $0.90/resolution = $810

Step 4: Add it all up. Now, just combine your base plan cost and your estimated AI resolution cost.

• $300 (Pro plan) + $810 (AI resolutions) = $1,110 total estimated monthly bill.

Just remember, this is an estimate. During a flash sale or a holiday rush like Black Friday, your ticket volume could easily double, and your costs would double right along with it. Here’s a quick look at how that volatility can play out:

As you can see, your costs can almost double when your business is firing on all cylinders.

Understanding the Gorgias pay-per-resolution model

The pay-per-resolution model has specific characteristics to consider.

How costs scale with ticket volume

In this model, costs scale directly with ticket volume. A successful marketing campaign that increases orders may also increase the number of routine support inquiries, such as "where is my order?" tickets. Each automated resolution for these inquiries adds to the monthly bill. This direct correlation between business activity and support costs can make budgeting challenging, particularly during periods of high growth or seasonal peaks.

Defining an "automated resolution"

Gorgias defines a resolution as an interaction where a customer receives an AI response and does not reply within 72 hours. This means billing is triggered by the customer's lack of response within a set timeframe. The trigger for billing is the customer's silence, not their confirmed satisfaction.

An alternative model: Pay-per-interaction

An alternative approach is the pay-per-interaction model. In this structure, platforms like eesel AI assign a clear, upfront cost to every AI reply or action. This provides a direct calculation for costs: the number of AI interactions multiplied by a fixed price, which can lead to more predictable budgeting.

Some tools also allow users to test AI capabilities before full implementation. For instance, an AI Copilot can draft replies for human agents to review and send. This allows a team to evaluate the AI's quality and accuracy with real customer questions before committing to full automation.

Gorgias's full helpdesk and AI pricing plans

To give you the full picture, here’s a breakdown of Gorgias's official pricing plans. Just remember that the AI Agent is an add-on, and its cost is layered on top of these base prices.

Note: Pricing is based on the official Gorgias pricing page as of late 2024. The AI Agent is an add-on. Automated interactions cost ~$0.90 each and also count toward your monthly ticket limit.

Simulating costs for accurate forecasting

In summary, the Gorgias AI Agent uses a layered pricing model that combines a base plan tied to ticket volume with a per-resolution fee for automation. This fee also consumes a ticket from the base plan's allowance. This structure can lead to variable costs that scale with business activity, which may present budgeting challenges.

The definition of a "resolution", based on 72 hours of customer silence, is another factor to consider when forecasting expenses.

To accurately project ROI and costs, a simulation can be a useful tool. While a spreadsheet-based calculator relies on estimates, a simulation provides a more data-driven forecast.

Platforms like eesel AI offer a simulation mode. This feature allows you to run the AI on historical support tickets to see how it would have performed. It can show how it would have responded, the percentage of tickets it could have resolved, and the associated costs, all without interacting with live customers. This provides a forecast based on your own data, offering a clear picture of how AI could perform for your brand.

Invite eesel to your team and run a free simulation on your past tickets to see your true automation potential and ROI.