7 best SmartBot alternatives in 2026: Shopify AI chatbots compared

SmartBot alternatives at a glance

SmartBot, sold as "SmartBot: Leading AI Chatbot" by BestChat, holds 4.7 stars from 459 reviews on its Shopify listing. Here is how the seven alternatives and eesel stack up against it.

The column that sorts this list fastest is "best for". SmartBot sits in the storefront sales camp, and so do three of the alternatives. The others either bundle a team inbox or are a full helpdesk you'd move your support into.

Why Shopify stores look past SmartBot

Credit first. SmartBot is easy to start: it syncs your products, discounts, policies, pages and blogs, and goes live fast. Its paid plans include unlimited AI chats, which almost nobody else in this list offers. One merchant summed up the setup well, even while waiting for results.

"This app is absolutely seamless in terms onboarding and automatically learns all pages, policies, FAQs and products etc on your store whereas other apps may take longer to teach it and create FAQs etc or even 'workflows' and a lot more setup time."

Rover Rituals, Shopify App Store

The reasons people leave are specific, and they show up in the reviews again and again.

The price follows your catalog, not your traffic. Per the SmartBot pricing page, Starter is $30 a month for 500 products, Growth $100 for 3,000, Pro $300 for 20,000 and Enterprise $680 for unlimited. A store with 600 products pays Growth prices even if it gets 50 chats a month. Blogs, uploaded files and AI email replies also start at Growth.

Answers drift as the store changes. The most detailed long-term review comes from a store seven months in. It describes the bot repeating expired promotions after updates, and an order lookup that needs both the order number and the email.

"Overall, the chatbot is helpful, but it struggles to differentiate between current and outdated information, even when updates are made regularly. For instance, the chatbot sometimes provides customers with expired promotional details, which creates confusion when we have to explain that the offer is no longer valid."

All About Vibe, Shopify App Store

Training is limited to store content. SmartBot learns from your Shopify data and the FAQs you write. It does not list past support conversations as a source, so the answers your team has already perfected in email never reach the bot. A merchant who uninstalled after a short trial put it bluntly.

"It’s great that it links to your shopify store but the training options are way too limited which makes it impossible to use this AI bot for anything above tracking orders, making very basic (and often wrong) suggestions and redirecting customers to store policies."

Mori Film Lab, Shopify App Store

The free plan is a trial in practice. Free gives 300 AI chats for the life of the account and a 7-day Growth trial, which caught at least one reviewer off guard. My SmartBot review covers all of this in more depth, including why 54 of the 60 newest reviews were written within a week of install.

How I picked these SmartBot alternatives

When I asked ChatGPT the question a store owner would ask, "I use SmartBot, what else should I look at?", it shortlisted Chatty, Tidio, Rep AI, Gorgias, Manifest AI, Shopify Inbox and Re:amaze. That matched most of my Shopify chatbot apps roundup, so I kept all seven and judged each on four things:

1. What it learns from. Catalog and policies are table stakes. Past replies and help center articles are what make answers sound like your team.
2. Whether it can check a real order. A bot that explains your shipping policy is not the same as one that looks up order #1042.
3. What it charges for. This is the big one, because it decides how the bill grows.
4. Where the conversation goes when the AI is stuck. A clean handoff to a person, with the chat attached, saves the sale.

That third point is where most comparisons go wrong. Every tool below meters something different, so a "starting price" on its own tells you very little.

If your catalog is small and your chat volume is high, SmartBot's meter is friendly and a per-conversation tool will cost more. If your catalog is big and chats are few, it flips. I come back to this with a calculator after the list.

1. Shopify Inbox

Best for: stores that want a free AI sales agent on the storefront before paying for anything.

Features

Shopify Inbox is Shopify's own chat app, and it now ships with an opt-in Inbox agent. Per Shopify's help center, the agent answers questions about products, shipping, returns, sizing and policies using your catalog, policies, knowledge base facts and files, and published pages and blog posts. It can personalise recommendations for shoppers signed in with Shop, and you train it by rating its replies. When the agent is off, your staff answer from the desktop or mobile apps. My Shopify Inbox guide walks through setup.

Pricing

Free. There is no paid tier and no per-chat fee.

Pros

• Costs nothing and reads the same store data SmartBot does, with no sync to manage.
• Built and supported by Shopify itself, so there is no third-party vendor to chase.
• 4.6 stars from 5,807 reviews, the largest review base in this list.

Cons

• Storefront chat only: no email, social or helpdesk inbox.
• Recent reviews flag wrong answers and complaints about the latest chat design.
• No sales pop-ups, quizzes or A/B tests.

"This app has the potential to be a useful tool but as forewarned, it can make mistakes, and it does. I have had to disable it due to repeated mistakes that have negatively impacted my bottom line."

Signastyle Home, Shopify App Store

Verdict: start here if SmartBot's main job is answering pre-sale questions and you're under 500 products. If the free agent answers your top 20 questions well, you've just saved $360 a year. Skip it if you need email or social messages in the same place.

2. Chatty

Best for: stores that want the closest paid swap, with live chat and a light helpdesk included.

Features

Chatty puts an AI agent, live chat, an FAQ help center and an email helpdesk in one app. The AI learns from your store data, recommends products, adds items to the cart and tracks orders inside the chat window. Its inbox also takes Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. I covered it in full in my Chatty review.

Pricing

From the Chatty listing, checked 21 October 2026:

My Chatty pricing post works through the overage maths.

Pros

• Highest rating in this list: 4.9 from 1,882 reviews.
• Cheaper than SmartBot for low-volume stores, and the free plan resets every month.
• Reviewers praise fast, hands-on setup help.

Cons

• Every AI conversation counts, so a busy store pays more than on SmartBot's flat plans.
• AI training on past support conversations is listed as coming soon.
• The helpdesk is lighter than Gorgias or Re:amaze.

"She quickly resolved two issues: the AI giving an answer that confused customers - it answered the question but then asked for their order numbers."

Downton Distillery UK, Shopify App Store

Verdict: pick Chatty if you want SmartBot's job done with a team inbox thrown in and run under about 500 AI chats a month. Above that, the $0.40 overage adds up fast, so price it against the alternatives in my Chatty alternatives list.

3. Tidio

Best for: stores that want live chat, no-code flows and an AI agent from one long-established vendor.

Features

Tidio splits into three parts: a customer service inbox, Flows (rule-based chatbots for sales and lead capture), and Lyro, the AI agent. On Shopify, Lyro starts proactive chats on product pages, recommends in-stock products, and answers order status questions with native Shopify actions. Tidio has been on the App Store since 2014. For setup detail, see my Tidio on Shopify guide.

Pricing

From the Tidio listing, checked 21 October 2026:

Lyro tiers above 200 conversations are priced in Tidio's calculator. My Tidio pricing breakdown covers how the products stack.

Pros

• Lyro can act on Shopify orders, not only describe policies.
• Flows cover the proactive sales nudges SmartBot users like.
• Tidio says it has completed a SOC 2 examination, per its security page.

Cons

• Three products priced separately, so the real bill takes some assembling.
• $39 only covers 200 Lyro conversations a month.
• No training on past support replies listed.

"We’ve been using Tidio’s Lyro AI Agent along with their automated Flows and have been very happy with the results. Our AI resolution rate is around 90%, which has helped us significantly reduce the number of customer service inquiries our team needs to handle manually."

Happy Hygge Gifts, Shopify App Store

Verdict: Tidio is the pick if you want sales flows and an AI agent that can touch orders, and your AI volume stays near 200 chats a month. Larger stores should get the calculator quote first. My Tidio Lyro alternatives list goes wider.

4. Rep AI

Best for: stores with steady traffic that want an AI sales associate that steps in before shoppers leave.

Features

Rep AI is built around selling. Its Sales agent watches for shoppers about to drop off, approaches them with product recommendations, handles upsells and rescues abandoned carts. A separate Support agent handles order status, returns and exchanges, cancellations and order edits, and answers emails. My AI shopping assistant guide explains how this category works. Per the Rep AI pricing page, AI for email, social and WhatsApp is a beta add-on from $68 a month.

Pricing

From the Rep AI listing, checked 21 October 2026. Every plan adds $12 per extra 1,000 visitors.

The website prices Sales, Support and a bundled Concierge plan by monthly sessions instead. At 80,000 sessions it shows Sales at $578, Support at $250 and Concierge at $726 a month.

Pros

• The strongest proactive selling features in this list.
• Support skills can change orders, not only report on them.
• 14-day free trial on paid plans.

Cons

• Billing follows visitors, so a traffic spike raises the bill whether or not anyone chats.
• Order actions sit on the Support plan, priced separately from Sales.
• The highest published entry price of the storefront tools.

"I wanted to love it but when I go in and look at the chat records, it seems like most people are leaving them feeling kind of annoyed and frustrated. It's very much what you would expect from talking to AI..."

Unicorn Snot, Shopify App Store

Verdict: Rep AI fits a store that moved to SmartBot for conversions and wants a sharper sales tool. Read the chat logs in the first two weeks, as that reviewer did, and count revenue against the visitor bill. Pure support stores will get more from a helpdesk.

5. Manifest AI

Best for: stores that want sales and support agents they can configure in detail and test on placements.

Features

Manifest AI, from BIK, describes itself as an agent studio. You set instructions and guardrails, pick from 100+ pre-built commerce agents (fit predictor, product trivia, review summaries), and deploy the same agent on chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, email and voice. Per its site FAQ, it syncs your catalog, descriptions, policies and FAQs, runs on its own Lite, Pro and Ultra models, and hands unresolved chats to your helpdesk with a reason tagged. Built-in A/B tests compare quizzes, embeds and product page widgets.

Pricing

The Manifest listing shows a Free plan to test the chatbot, recommendations, training, cart recovery and lead collection. Paid pricing is not published; it runs through a demo.

Pros

• One agent across five channels, including voice.
• A/B testing of AI placements, which no other storefront tool here offers.
• Security badges for SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR on its site.

Cons

• No public paid price, so you can't compare before a sales call.
• Smallest review base here: 4.4 from 61 reviews.
• Configuration depth means more setup than SmartBot's sync-and-go.

"The app has been great and has contributed 30k in sales in just 30 days. It has freed up our teams time and has improved our conversion rate on the store."

Door Supplies Online, Shopify App Store

Verdict: Manifest suits a growing brand that wants SmartBot's sales angle across WhatsApp and Instagram too, and is happy to talk to sales for a price. If you want to know the bill before you install, look at Chatty or Tidio.

6. Gorgias

Best for: stores whose real problem is support volume, not storefront chat.

Features

Gorgias is a full Shopify helpdesk: email, chat, social and a help center in one queue, with Shopify order details next to each ticket. Its AI Agent answers FAQs and order questions, takes actions you control, and hands conversations to your team with context. It also covers pre-sale chats as a shopping assistant, which my Gorgias shopping assistant post covers.

Pricing

From the Gorgias pricing page, monthly billing, checked 21 October 2026:

With AI Agent added, Starter starts at $40 a month for 30 automated interactions. My Gorgias pricing for Shopify post has worked examples.

Pros

• A proper ticketing helpdesk, not just a chat widget.
• AI Agent can act on orders, with skills you review before they go live.
• SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA on its security page.

Cons

• Two meters at once: tickets on the helpdesk, plus every AI-automated interaction.
• A bigger move than swapping a chat app; your whole support process changes.
• The lowest rating of the group at 4.3 from 706 reviews, with recent reviews split on support quality.

"The gorgias AI agent is amazing and has really relieved pressure from our customer services department."

HARBOUR LIFESTYLE, Shopify App Store

Verdict: move to Gorgias when email and order tickets are the bulk of your work and SmartBot only covers the chat window. Budget for both meters, and compare it with the other picks in my Shopify helpdesk roundup. My Gorgias review goes deeper, and the Gorgias alternatives list covers the rest of the field.

7. Re:amaze

Best for: teams running several Shopify stores from one shared inbox.

Features

Re:amaze is a helpdesk that unifies email, social, SMS and voice for every store in one inbox. Agents can view, modify and create Shopify orders from a conversation. The chat widget has an AI agent, chatbots and proactive Cues messages, and the Pro plan adds multiple brands in one account. My Re:amaze review goes deeper.

Pricing

From the Re:amaze pricing page, checked 21 October 2026:

A $59 plan for unlimited team members, capped at 500 responded conversations a month, is listed for teams just starting. See my Re:amaze pricing breakdown.

Pros

• Multi-brand support on Pro, handy for merchants with several stores.
• Shopify order edits from inside the conversation.
• Reviewers praise named, reachable support staff.

Cons

• Per-seat pricing plus per-resolution AI fees.
• Only 5 AI resolutions per seat included on Basic.
• Security certifications are not listed publicly.

"A great user-friendly help desk service. Streamlines all of our emails and calls into neat categories and saves our company a huge amount of time."

True Leaf Market, Shopify App Store

Verdict: Re:amaze is the call for a small team managing several stores that wants one inbox, with AI as an extra. For a single store that only needs a sales chat, it's more helpdesk than you need.

8. eesel

Best for: stores that already run a helpdesk and want AI answers that check the order and sound like their own team.

Features

eesel is the AI helpdesk teammate I help build. It joins the helpdesk you already use, such as Gorgias, Zendesk or Freshdesk, and runs a chat bubble on your store. It learns from your past tickets, macros, help center and site.

With the Shopify integration, it looks up the order by number or customer email before answering. You set what it answers alone, what it drafts for a person, and what it hands over. I compare this route with built-in helpdesk AI in my AI layer vs built-in post.

Two customer stories show what that looks like. Rúngne, a Norwegian climbing apparel brand, runs three agents on Gorgias: one tags, one drafts, one answers plain questions from Shopify order and stock data. Between 8 August and 8 September 2026 it handled about 2,100 tickets. For product advice on a website, Beautek answers chats in German from 6,700 pages and documents, and turns leads into Zendesk tickets.

Pricing

From the eesel pricing page, checked 21 October 2026. One ticket or one chat is one credit, however long it runs.

Extra credits are $0.80 each if you turn on overage with a cap. Sizes in between are listed on the pricing page.

Pros

• Learns from past replies, so tone and policy match what your team already sends.
• Checks the Shopify order before answering, and works tickets as well as chat.
• No need to move helpdesks.

Cons

• No sales pop-ups, quizzes or cart recovery; it's a support teammate, not a sales widget.
• More expensive than SmartBot for a small store that only needs pre-sale chat.
• SOC 2 Type II is still underway.

Verdict: eesel is the right move when SmartBot is fielding support questions it can't really answer, like "where is my order" with only an email. If storefront upsells are the whole job, one of the sales tools above is a better fit.

What would each alternative cost your store?

Because every tool meters something different, the cheapest option changes with your numbers. Plug yours in below. The calculator picks the cheapest plan of each tool that fits.

At the default numbers (400 products, 800 AI chats, 15,000 visitors), SmartBot's $30 Starter plan is the cheapest paid option by a wide margin, and only the free Shopify Inbox beats it. That's the honest headline: people rarely leave SmartBot to save money. They leave for better answers, order handling, or a helpdesk. Push the catalog past 500 products and drop chats to 100, and Chatty's $19.99 plan overtakes it.

How to test a SmartBot alternative before you switch

Don't uninstall SmartBot on a hunch. Pick two alternatives, keep SmartBot running, and send all three the same 20 to 30 real questions pulled from your last month of chats. Five types matter most.

1. A product fit question from a real chat, like sizing or compatibility.
2. This week's promotion, right after you change it, to catch the stale-promo problem reviewers describe.
3. "Where is my order?" with only an email, because that's how most shoppers ask. Here's what a good order tracking chatbot should do.
4. A return policy edge case, such as a final-sale item or an international return.
5. "Can I talk to a person?", to see whether the chatbot escalation keeps the conversation and its context.

Score each answer as right, partly right or wrong, and note what each tool would cost at your volume. One thing I learned from an eesel trial on a German jewelry store's real traffic (about 1,000 tickets a month on Zendesk and Shopify): 88% of drafts pointed the right way, but agents sent only 12% as-is. Most rewrites were about length and tone, the kind of gap that closes once the AI trains on the team's own sent replies. A bot can be "accurate" and still not sound like you, so judge both. My guide on running an AI pilot turns this into a two-week plan, and the switching vendors guide covers the cutover.

Try eesel for your Shopify support

If you're looking past SmartBot because customers ask about orders, returns and delivery more than they ask for product picks, eesel is built for that half of the job, the WISMO automation half. It joins the Gorgias, Zendesk or Freshdesk queue you already run, puts a chat bubble on your store, and checks the Shopify order before it says a word. Question Beauty runs it this way on Gorgias: in a month it closed about 280 tickets on its own and handed refunds and complaints to a person with a note attached. STIL Classics prefers drafts: eesel looked up about 230 Shopify orders in a month and left every reply for a person to check and send.

You can try it on 100 free credits and test it against your own past tickets before it answers a single customer. Try eesel.