I tried the 7 best Shopify live chat apps in 2025

If you're running a Shopify store, you’re probably juggling a million things at once. You're the marketer, the inventory manager, and the salesperson. The last thing you need is to be stuck answering "Where's my order?" for the tenth time today. A good live chat app can be a lifesaver, turning a curious browser into a paying customer and freeing you up to actually grow your business.

But a quick search on the Shopify App Store will show you hundreds of options. How do you pick the right one? I’ve spent the last few weeks digging into the most popular and promising Shopify live chat apps to see which ones are actually worth your time. This guide is the result, no fluff, just a straight-up look at the top 7 contenders for 2025.

What are Shopify live chat apps?

On the surface, a Shopify live chat app is just that little widget that pops up in the corner of a website, letting you talk to customers in real time. But let's be real, they've become way more than that.

These days, the best Shopify live chat apps are more like command centers for customer conversations. Many come with AI-powered chatbots that can handle common questions around the clock, so you don't have to. They often pull in messages from your email and social media, putting everything into one inbox. They can also connect directly to Shopify to show you a customer's order history or what they have in their cart. The goal has shifted from just answering questions to providing smart, proactive support that can increase sales, cut down on abandoned carts, and make your customers genuinely happy.

How we picked the best Shopify live chat apps for this list

I wanted this list to be actually useful, not just a roundup of feature pages. So, I installed and tinkered with these apps in a real store setting to see how they felt in practice.

Here's what I was looking for:

• Quick setup: How fast can you get it working without needing to call in a developer?

• Real Shopify integration: Does it do more than just sit on your site? I wanted apps that could see cart details, order history, and product info.

• Smart AI and automation: Can it handle support and sales tasks on its own without annoying your customers?

• Good user experience: Is it easy and intuitive to use, both for your team and for your shoppers?

• Clear pricing: Are the costs straightforward, or are there hidden fees waiting to bite you?

A quick comparison of the top 7 Shopify live chat apps

App	Best For	Key Features	Shopify Integration Depth	Pricing Model
eesel AI	Intelligent Automation	AI chatbot trained on past tickets, docs & Shopify catalog; risk-free simulation; customizable actions.	Deep (via API actions)	Subscription (no per-resolution fees)
Gorgias	E-commerce Helpdesks	Ticketing system, social media integration, powerful macros and rules.	Very Deep (native)	Subscription (ticket-based)
Tidio	All-in-One Functionality	Live chat, Lyro AI chatbot, email marketing, generous free plan.	Deep (native)	Freemium / Subscription
Shopify Inbox	Simple & Free Solution	Free, native Shopify app, basic chat and automated answers.	Native	Free
LiveChat	Established Businesses	Robust ticketing, advanced reporting, extensive integrations.	Deep (native)	Subscription (per agent)
Zendesk	Full CX Suites	Omnichannel support, advanced analytics, powerful automations.	Deep (requires setup)	Subscription (per agent)
Re:amaze	Multichannel SMBs	Unified inbox for chat, email, social; push campaigns and chatbots.	Deep (native)	Subscription (per agent)

The 7 best Shopify live chat apps in 2025

Here’s a closer look at each app, what I liked, and what I thought could be better.

1. eesel AI

eesel AI comes at this from a different angle. It’s less of a traditional live chat tool and more of an AI platform built to automate your customer support. Its AI Chatbot for Shopify learns from everything you’ve got: your help docs, past support conversations, Google Docs, and your Shopify product catalog. The result is an AI that can give really specific, helpful answers 24/7, often solving a customer's problem before a human ever has to get involved.

The setup was what really caught my attention. You can connect your accounts and get a chatbot running in a few minutes without ever having to talk to a salesperson. Its simulation feature is also pretty brilliant; it lets you test the AI on thousands of your actual past customer tickets. This way, you can see exactly how well it would perform and what your automation rate would be before you let it talk to live customers.

A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation feature, which allows users to test the AI's performance on past customer tickets before deploying it live.

• Pros:

  • Live in minutes: You can set it up yourself, which is a huge plus.

  • Knows everything: It pulls information from all your sources, including past tickets and your Shopify products, for accurate answers.

  • Try before you buy: The simulation gives you a clear picture of its performance and ROI based on your own data.

  • Predictable pricing: You pay a flat monthly fee, so no surprises based on how many issues it solves.

• Cons:

  • It's built around AI automation, so if you're looking for a simple, manual-only live chat tool, this isn't it.

• Pricing:

  • Team: $299/month ($239/month billed annually) for up to 1,000 AI interactions. Includes AI Copilot, Slack integration, and training on docs and websites.

  • Business: $799/month ($639/month billed annually) for up to 3,000 AI interactions. Adds the AI Agent, training on past tickets, AI Actions (like triage), and bulk simulation.

  • Custom: Custom plans are available if you need things like API access or unlimited interactions.

2. Gorgias

You’ve probably heard of Gorgias, it's a big name for a reason. It’s not just a chat app; it’s a full-blown helpdesk made for e-commerce. Its real magic is how deeply it plugs into Shopify. The moment a customer messages you, their entire order history and shipping status pop up right next to the chat.

Having that context makes it so much easier for your team to give fast, personal support. Gorgias is also great at automation. You can set up rules to tag tickets automatically, send canned responses to common questions, or flag messages that seem like a sales opportunity. The only catch? The ticket-based pricing can really sneak up on you as your store grows, making your bill hard to predict.

A screenshot of the Gorgias dashboard showing its deep integration with Shopify, where customer order history and shipping details appear alongside the live chat conversation.

• Pros:

  • Incredible Shopify integration that gives you tons of customer context.

  • Handy rules and macros that save time on repetitive tasks.

  • A single inbox for managing chat, email, and social media.

• Cons:

  • The price is based on how many tickets you get, so it can get expensive fast if you're growing.

  • The interface has a bit of a learning curve.

• Pricing:

  • Starter: $10/month for 50 tickets.

  • Basic: $60/month ($50/month billed annually) for 300 tickets.

  • Pro: $360/month ($300/month billed annually) for 2,000 tickets.

  • Advanced: $900/month ($750/month billed annually) for 5,000 tickets.

  • AI Agent: This is an add-on priced per resolution (around $0.90 - $1.00 each), and those resolutions also count against your ticket limit. The costs can add up quickly here.

3. Tidio

Tidio is a favorite for many because it jams a lot of features into one package, even on its free plan. You get live chat, an AI chatbot called Lyro, and email marketing tools all in one place. It's a solid all-in-one option for new stores that want to cover a few bases without paying for multiple apps.

The visual chatbot builder is pretty simple to use. You can drag and drop to create automated flows that capture leads, answer FAQs, or offer discounts to people about to leave your site. While it's packed with features, it can feel a little bloated if you just want a straightforward chat tool. The pricing is also a bit complicated, with separate costs for human chats and add-ons for the AI agent.

A screenshot of Tidio's visual chatbot builder, which allows users to create automated chat flows using a drag-and-drop interface.

• Pros:

  • A great free plan that includes live chat and a decent number of chatbot triggers.

  • Easy-to-use visual editor for building your own chatbots.

  • Comes with other tools like email marketing.

• Cons:

  • The Lyro AI can sometimes get stumped by more complicated questions.

  • It can feel like overkill if you don't need all the extra marketing stuff.

• Pricing:

  • Free: Includes 50 live chat conversations and 100 chatbot triggers.

  • Starter: Starts at $29/month ($24.17/month billed annually) for 100 conversations involving a human.

  • Growth: Starts at $59/month ($49.17/month billed annually) with higher limits.

  • Lyro AI Agent & Flows: These are paid add-ons with their own usage-based pricing.

4. Shopify Inbox

Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own live chat tool, and its biggest selling point is that it's 100% free. It’s already part of the Shopify ecosystem you use every day, and turning it on is as easy as flipping a switch.

It handles the basics well: you can chat with customers, see their cart, send product links, and create discount codes on the fly. It even has some light automation with suggested replies and instant answers for basic questions. It's a fantastic place to start, but if your business is growing, you'll probably hit its limits and need more powerful automation and reporting features pretty soon.

• Pros:

  • It's free and already built into your Shopify admin.

  • Couldn't be easier to set up and use.

  • Has all the core features you need to talk to customers and help them buy.

• Cons:

  • Missing advanced features like a real ticketing system, detailed analytics, or complex automation.

  • It only works for the chat on your website, not other channels.

• Pricing:

  • Free.

5. LiveChat

LiveChat has been around for a long time, and you can tell. It's a solid, dependable platform that’s a good fit for bigger businesses with dedicated support teams. It has a great ticketing system, detailed reporting, and lots of options for managing and routing chats to different agents.

It also connects with over 200 other tools, including a deep integration with Shopify. The platform feels polished and professional, but that comes with a higher price tag. It's priced per agent, so it can get costly, and features like chatbots are sold as a separate add-on.

A screenshot of the LiveChat agent dashboard, showing the interface used to manage customer conversations, view reporting, and handle tickets.

• Pros:

  • Packed with features for managing larger support teams.

  • Excellent reporting and analytics.

  • A very reliable and scalable platform.

• Cons:

  • The per-agent pricing can add up quickly as your team grows.

  • The interface feels a little dated compared to some of the newer apps.

• Pricing:

  • Starter: $25/month per agent ($19/month billed annually).

  • Team: $59/month per agent ($49/month billed annually).

  • Business: $89/month per agent ($79/month billed annually).

  • ChatBot: This is a separate product that starts at $52/month (billed annually).

6. Zendesk

Zendesk is the big one. It's an enterprise-level platform, and its live chat is just one part of a much larger customer experience suite. If you're a big business that needs to manage support across every imaginable channel (chat, email, phone, social media), Zendesk is a beast. Its automation and reporting tools are top-notch.

But all that power comes with a lot of complexity and a hefty price. Setting up Zendesk is a whole project, not just a quick install. For most Shopify stores, it’s probably overkill. It’s the kind of tool you get when you have a big, dedicated support department that needs to manage a huge volume of complex inquiries.

A screenshot of the Zendesk Agent Workspace, illustrating the comprehensive interface for managing customer support across multiple channels.

• Pros:

  • A true all-in-one solution for every customer conversation.

  • Incredibly powerful and customizable automation.

  • Best-in-class analytics.

• Cons:

  • It's complicated and takes a lot of time to set up and learn.

  • It's very expensive, especially for smaller teams.

• Pricing:

  • Suite Team: $69/month per agent ($55/month billed annually).

  • Suite Professional: $149/month per agent ($115/month billed annually).

  • Suite Enterprise: $219/month per agent ($169/month billed annually).

  • Advanced AI agents: This is another expensive, separate add-on.

7. Re:amaze

Re:amaze finds a nice middle ground between a simple tool like Shopify Inbox and a full helpdesk like Gorgias. It gives you a shared inbox to manage live chat, email, SMS, and social media. It also has useful e-commerce features built right in, like chatbots, push notifications, and an FAQ builder.

The Shopify integration is solid, letting you see and manage customer order info from the dashboard. Re:amaze is a really well-rounded choice for small to medium-sized stores that have outgrown a basic chat widget but aren't quite ready for an enterprise-level system.

• Pros:

  • Great for managing multiple channels from one inbox.

  • A good mix of powerful features and ease of use.

  • Comes with a knowledge base and chatbot features included.

  • Cons:

  • The interface can feel a bit busy at times.

• Pricing:

  • Basic: $29/month per team member ($26.10/month billed annually).

  • Pro: $49/month per team member ($44.10/month billed annually).

  • Plus: $69/month per team member ($62.10/month billed annually).

Pro tips for choosing the right Shopify live chat apps

Picking an app isn't just about comparing feature lists. Here’s a better way to think about finding the right fit for your store.

Figure out your biggest headache first

What's the main problem you're trying to solve? Are you losing sales because people have questions right before they check out? Or is your inbox overflowing with the same repetitive support questions? If sales is your goal, look for apps that show you what's in a customer's cart. If support efficiency is the problem, focus on tools with good automation and AI.

Think beyond the chat widget

A chat box is just a band-aid if your team is still answering the same questions all day. The best tools use AI and automation to solve problems instantly. Instead of just answering questions faster, what if you could stop many of them from being asked in the first place? That's the idea behind tools like eesel AI, which focuses on automating the resolution, not just the conversation.

Check how deep the Shopify integration goes

Almost every app will say it has a "Shopify integration," but that can mean a lot of different things. At the very least, you should be able to see a customer's order history. The best ones let you do things like issue refunds or apply discounts right from the chat window. Make sure the app can pull the specific data you need to be helpful.

Pick Shopify live chat apps that can grow with you

The simple, free app that works today might hold you back in six months. Try to choose a platform that can scale. Look for something that can handle more complex tasks and connect to more of your data as your business grows. That way, you won't have to switch systems and migrate all your data down the road.

Go beyond Shopify live chat apps with AI automation

After digging into all these apps, a clear trend emerged. The future of customer support on Shopify isn't just about having faster one-on-one chats. It's about using smart automation to give customers instant, accurate answers while freeing up your team for the conversations that really matter.

While most live chat apps are designed to help you manage the constant flow of customer questions, others like eesel AI are built to reduce that flow altogether. By using all of your company's knowledge to power an AI that can solve problems on its own, you can scale your support without having to scale your team.

If you're curious about moving beyond a simple chat box, you can set up eesel AI and test it on your own historical support tickets in just a few minutes.

See how much you can automate with eesel AI for free