The 8 best Gorgias alternatives for e-commerce in 2026

If you're running an e-commerce brand, you’ve probably come across Gorgias. It’s a popular helpdesk, especially for businesses on Shopify, and it does a decent job of keeping all your support conversations in one place. But as your brand gets bigger, you might start to feel the seams stretching a bit.

Sound familiar? Maybe it’s that sinking feeling when the monthly bill arrives after a killer sales campaign. Or perhaps you find yourself wishing your AI could do more, learn faster, and just feel connected to the rest of your business. You’re definitely not the only one.

Lots of growing businesses hit a point where they need more predictable pricing and smarter automation. We’ve been there too. So, we decided to dig in and find the 8 best Gorgias alternatives that can help you scale your support without the budget surprises. Let's get into it.

Why businesses start looking for Gorgias alternatives

Gorgias gets a lot right, especially for stores that are just getting their footing. But certain things can become a real headache as your ticket volume climbs. Here’s what we hear over and over again.

The costs get unpredictable, fast

As one user on Reddit bluntly put it, "the pricing can feel as you scale, turning a stable operational cost into a monthly guessing game."

The AI could be more powerful

Sure, Gorgias has AI features, but they can feel a bit boxed in, living only within the helpdesk itself. Today’s support teams need AI that learns from everything: your past tickets, internal Google Docs, Confluence pages, and product catalogs. You need an AI that doesn’t just spit out canned answers but can be tweaked to take action, like routing tickets or checking order statuses, with more control than a simple macro can offer.

Nobody wants to migrate their helpdesk

The standard advice for outgrowing a tool is to just switch to a new one. But let’s be real: migrating a helpdesk is a monster of a project. It means wrestling with years of customer data, retraining your entire team on a new system, and rebuilding every single one of your workflows from scratch. It’s a huge, time-sucking disruption that most teams would rather avoid.

There are some technical quirks

We’ve also heard from users who get frustrated with the platform's stability, especially the mobile apps, which can be buggy. If your team needs to provide support while on the move, that’s a pretty big deal. On top of that, its reporting can feel a little basic for data-hungry teams who want to dig deep into their performance metrics.

How we picked the best Gorgias alternatives

We didn't just pull these names out of a hat. Our list is based on what we think really matters to a growing e-commerce brand that actually cares about its customer support.

• Real automation: How well does the tool actually do the work for you? We looked for smart, context-aware AI that genuinely cuts down on agent workload, not just glorified canned responses.

• Fair pricing: Is the pricing clear and predictable? Does it grow with your business in a way that makes sense, or does it punish you for talking to more customers?

• Easy setup: How quickly can you get it working? We prioritized solutions that don't need a six-month implementation plan and a team of developers to show their value.

• Plays well with others: How well does it connect to your other tools? Deep integrations with Shopify, other e-commerce platforms, and the rest of your tech stack are a must.

• You're in control: Can you make it your own? The best tools let you fine-tune everything from the brand voice and workflows to specific support policies.

The top 8 Gorgias alternatives at a glance

Here’s a quick rundown of our top picks so you can see how they compare.

Tool	Best For	Starting Price	Key Feature
eesel AI	Adding powerful, self-serve AI to your existing helpdesk	$239/mo (annual)	Unifies all knowledge sources to automate support without migrating tools.
Zendesk	Large enterprises needing a highly customizable, all-in-one platform	$55/agent/mo	Robust, scalable ticketing with an extensive app marketplace.
Richpanel	Scaling e-commerce brands wanting a modern, self-service focused helpdesk	$85/user/mo	Strong self-service portal and deep Shopify integration.
Freshdesk	Teams seeking a feature-rich, scalable, and trusted industry leader	Free, then $15/agent/mo	Powerful omnichannel ticketing with a massive integration marketplace.
Help Scout	SMBs that prioritize a simple, human-centric shared inbox	$20/agent/mo	Clean interface focused on personal, collaborative support.
Outvio	High-volume e-commerce teams managing post-purchase support at scale	$4,500/year	All-in-one post-purchase platform with unlimited tickets and automations.
Front	Teams handling complex, collaborative customer conversations	$25/seat/mo	Turns email into a collaborative workspace for teams.
Gladly	Premium brands focused on long-term customer relationships	Starts at $1,800/mo	People-centric model with a single customer conversation timeline.

A detailed look at the 8 best Gorgias alternatives in 2026

Alright, let's get into the nitty-gritty of what makes each of these tools a solid choice.

1. eesel AI

Description: Here's the interesting thing about eesel AI: it's not another helpdesk you have to switch to. Instead, it’s a smart AI layer that plugs right into the system you already use, whether that's Gorgias, Zendesk, or something else. It works by connecting to all your scattered company knowledge, past tickets, help articles, internal docs, and Shopify product info, to automate frontline support, draft replies for agents, and triage tickets with impressive accuracy.

Why it's a great Gorgias alternative: It solves the core problems (high costs, weak AI) without forcing you to go through a painful migration. You keep the helpdesk your team already knows, but you give it a serious upgrade with an AI that actually understands your whole business.

Pros:

• Go live in minutes: It’s genuinely self-serve. You can connect your helpdesk, point it to your knowledge sources, and launch your AI agent without a single sales call.
• Predictable, transparent pricing: eesel AI uses a flat-rate model. Your bill won't suddenly double after a busy month, which makes forecasting your costs way easier.
• Unifies all your knowledge: This is its secret weapon. By learning from your entire ecosystem, it gives customers context-aware answers that a siloed, helpdesk-only AI just can't.
• Test with confidence: It has a cool simulation mode that lets you run the AI over thousands of your past tickets in a safe environment. You get a clear report on how it would have performed and what its resolution rate would be, all before you turn it on for live customers.

Cons:

• It’s an AI platform, not a complete helpdesk. You still need a primary system like Gorgias, Zendesk, or Freshdesk to manage the tickets themselves.

Pricing: The Team plan starts at $239/month (billed annually) for up to 1,000 AI interactions and includes the AI Agent, AI Copilot, and AI Triage tools.

2. Zendesk

Description: Zendesk is an industry leader and a powerful, enterprise-grade player in the customer service world. It offers a highly customizable suite of tools for ticketing, reporting, and omnichannel support that can handle any business size or industry with proven reliability.

Why it's a good Gorgias alternative: It’s the move for large or complex businesses that have outgrown the e-commerce-focused world of Gorgias and need a more robust, all-in-one platform with matched capabilities.

Pros:

• It’s extremely scalable and has features for pretty much any scenario you can think of.
• It has a massive marketplace filled with third-party integrations and apps.
• The reporting and analytics tools are top-notch for getting deep performance insights.

Cons:

• Given the platform's extensive capabilities, it can take a focused setup period to configure the system to your exact requirements.
• Zendesk provides several tiered plans to suit different organizational needs, with specialized features available across various levels.
• The comprehensive feature set is built to support complex operations, which may take some initial orientation for new users to explore fully.

Pricing: The Suite Team plan starts at $55 per agent/month (billed annually). Zendesk offers various plans that scale with your team's needs as you grow.

3. Richpanel

Description: Richpanel is a modern helpdesk built specifically for e-commerce. Its main goal is to give customers a slick self-service portal where they can track orders, start returns, and find answers themselves, deflecting a huge number of common questions.

Why it's a good Gorgias alternative: It takes a strong self-service-first approach that can dramatically reduce your total ticket count, and people often praise its clean, user-friendly design.

Pros:

• Excellent self-service features that proactively handle common tickets.
• A clean, modern interface that agents can pick up quickly.
• Deep integration with Shopify for smooth order management.

Cons:

• It has fewer integrations than larger, more established platforms like Zendesk.
• Its reporting is solid for e-commerce but might not be as advanced as what enterprise tools offer.

Pricing: The Help Desk Pro plan is $85 per user/month (billed annually). They may have additional costs for their Self-Service Portal, which is priced based on order volume.

4. Freshdesk

Description: Freshdesk is a mature, reliable, and super popular helpdesk known for its intuitive design and a solid set of features at a really competitive price. It gives you omnichannel support, powerful automation rules, and a massive marketplace of integrations to connect your other tools.

Why it's a good Gorgias alternative: It’s a powerful and mature all-around option that offers incredible reliability and scale. It's a fantastic choice for teams who want a proven, feature-rich platform that can grow with them indefinitely.

Pros:

• A generous free plan for up to 10 agents, providing high-quality support tools at no initial cost.
• It's incredibly reliable and intuitive, making it a favorite for teams of all sizes.
• Excellent automation and team collaboration features come built-in to streamline your workflow.

Cons:

• As a highly comprehensive platform, teams with exceptionally large ticket volumes may want to customize their dashboard to maintain the fastest performance.
• Freshdesk offers tiered plans to ensure teams only pay for what they need, with enterprise-grade AI and advanced analytics available on premium tiers.

Pricing: A free plan is available. Paid plans start at $15 per agent/month (billed annually).

5. Help Scout

Description: Help Scout is built for teams who want to provide a personal, human touch in every conversation. It feels less like a typical ticketing system and more like a shared inbox for your team, with a big focus on simplicity and clarity.

Why it's a good Gorgias alternative: It’s a great fit for brands whose identity is built on high-touch, personal customer service and who feel that traditional, ticket-focused helpdesks are too impersonal.

Pros:

• A clean, minimalist interface that's incredibly easy to navigate.
• Excellent for team collaboration on customer emails and conversations.
• Its whole philosophy is about having conversations, not just closing tickets.

Cons:

• It doesn't have the deep, native e-commerce integrations you'd find in Gorgias or Richpanel.
• Its automation tools are more basic compared to some of the other competitors.

Pricing: The Standard plan starts at $20 per agent/month. However, pricing is contact-based, so your costs can go up depending on how many unique customers you talk to.

6. Outvio

Description: Outvio is a post-purchase experience platform with a built-in help desk. It’s designed for online retailers that want to automate post-purchase operations end to end, including ticket management, shipping, returns, and branded tracking.

Why it’s a good Gorgias alternative: Outvio is popular for its 360° post-purchase approach. It covers what most stores need to run and optimize the post-purchase phase without stacking extra tools. With unlimited tickets, automations, and voice calls included, it’s especially cost-effective for e-commerce teams handling a high ticket volume.

Pros:

• Deep, native e-commerce automations for shipping, tracking exceptions, and returns
• Unlimited tickets, unlimited agents, automations, and voice calls at no extra cost
• Full post-purchase suite in one platform: branded tracking, return portals, and a chatbot

Cons:

• Enterprise-focused platform (best fit when you ship at scale)
• Works best as your post-purchase hub, not just a standalone inbox
• Smaller integration catalog than Gorgias’s app ecosystem

Pricing: Outvio offers a post-purchase plan starting at $4,500 per year, which includes the help desk module at no extra cost. The plan includes unlimited tickets, agents, automations, and voice calls. If you prefer to use only the help desk module, pricing starts at $150 per agent.

7. Front

Description: Front is a communication hub that pulls email, social media, SMS, and other channels into one collaborative inbox. It's particularly good at helping internal teams work together to solve complex customer problems without a lot of back-and-forth.

Why it's a good Gorgias alternative: This is a strong choice for B2B e-commerce or for brands where a single support ticket often needs input from sales, logistics, and finance.

Pros:

• Amazing team collaboration features, like internal comments and shared drafts.
• Integrates well with CRMs like Salesforce to give you a full customer picture.
• Makes it clear who owns what on complicated, multi-step conversations.

Cons:

• It's not really built for the high-volume, quick-fix support common in D2C e-commerce.
• It can get pretty pricey as you add more users and AI add-ons, which are often priced per resolution.

Pricing: The Starter plan begins at $25/seat/month (billed annually).

8. Gladly

Description: Gladly does things differently with its "people-centric" model. Instead of organizing support by tickets, it organizes everything around the customer. All communication, no matter the channel, gets rolled into a single, lifelong conversation timeline.

Why it's a good Gorgias alternative: This is for high-end, luxury, or subscription brands that care more about building deep, long-term relationships than just closing tickets as fast as possible.

Pros:

• Gives agents a complete, chronological history of every customer interaction.
• Helps you deliver highly personalized service that makes customers feel remembered.
• Strong omnichannel support is baked into its core design.

Cons:

• It's much more expensive than most alternatives, with a high entry price and a 10-seat minimum that puts it out of reach for many smaller businesses.
• Switching from a ticket-based to a conversation-based model can be a big mental shift for teams used to traditional helpdesks.

Pricing: Starts at $180 per user/month, with a required 10-seat minimum.

How to choose the right Gorgias alternative for your brand

Picking a new tool can feel like a huge decision, but it really comes down to strategy. Are you trying to fix a broken system, or are you trying to make a good system great?

Your choice really boils down to one question: do you need an AI layer or a full helpdesk replacement?

• A full helpdesk replacement (Freshdesk, Zendesk, etc.): This is the way to go if your main problems are with Gorgias's basic ticketing system, interface, or channel limits. If the platform itself feels like the bottleneck, it's time for a change. Just be ready for the ride: migrating data can be messy, retraining your team takes time, and it's a big upfront effort. Platforms like Freshdesk and Zendesk provide the enterprise-grade foundation that many scaling brands eventually require.

• An AI layer (eesel AI): This is the move if you're generally fine with your helpdesk but desperately need to automate repetitive tickets, improve your AI, and get costs under control. It's often the smarter, faster choice because you get the power of next-gen AI without the headache of migration. It starts delivering value right away because it learns from your existing data, making it a low-risk, high-reward upgrade.

To make the right call, ask yourself a few questions:

• What’s our single biggest bottleneck in support right now?

• What's our budget, and how do we want it to scale as we grow?

• How much time and energy can we realistically put into a migration?

• Is our main goal to replace our current system or to just become way more efficient?

This video provides a detailed comparison of Zendesk and Gorgias, exploring the features that make them popular Gorgias alternatives.

Finding the right Gorgias alternatives: Get more from your helpdesk without the hassle

Gorgias is a decent tool, but its per-ticket pricing and automation limits often have growing e-commerce brands looking for something more.

The market has plenty of great options, from industry leaders like Freshdesk to simple, friendly platforms like Help Scout. But the most effective move might not be to switch your helpdesk at all.

By adding an intelligent AI layer like eesel AI, you can solve the biggest headaches your support team faces, like a mountain of repetitive tickets, while saving money and skipping a disruptive platform change. You get the best of both worlds: the system your team already knows, powered by an AI that knows your entire business.

Curious to see how much time you could save? Simulate eesel AI on your historical tickets for free and get a precise automation report in minutes. No sales calls, no migration, just instant answers.