Tidio Alternatives for Shopify Stores

Shopify stores usually look for a Tidio alternative when Lyro's AI conversations start to cost more each month, or when they need the AI to do things, such as open a return or skip a subscription, rather than answer questions about them. The right alternative depends on whether you need a fuller help desk, a stronger AI agent, or one agent that covers every channel and acts on orders.

Tidio is a popular first support tool for small Shopify stores: a chat widget, a help desk and Lyro, its AI agent, with a free plan to start. This guide covers how Tidio prices its plans and Lyro, the reasons stores move on, five alternatives with honest "pick this if" lines, and how to move your knowledge over. We checked every price on the vendor's own pricing page on October 19, 2026.

Disclosure: Concierge is our product.

Tidio prices people-handled conversations and Lyro AI conversations separately. From its pricing page (checked October 19, 2026):

Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and email are listed on every plan. Tidio's strengths are real: a free plan, a visual chatbot builder and social channels in one inbox.

• AI costs grow with every conversation: Lyro is billed by AI conversation quota on top of your plan. A busy season can push you to a bigger quota or a custom plan.
• Store actions need a higher plan: Native Shopify actions start on Growth, so on Free and Starter the AI mostly answers questions and hands the work to you.
• Subscriptions: If you sell subscriptions, a large share of requests are skip, pause and swap. Check whether a tool can make those changes during the chat, not just explain how.
• Channels beyond chat: Many store customers call or text. If those land somewhere else, the AI never sees them, and customers repeat themselves.
• Work behind the scenes: Reports, order checks and follow-ups for your team are outside what a chat widget is built for.

Concierge is Chargezen's set of digital employees. It answers customers on website chat, phone calls, texts, WhatsApp and email, with one memory of each customer across them. It tracks orders after confirming the customer, cancels orders when your rules allow, opens returns for a teammate to approve the refund, and pauses, skips or swaps subscriptions. The same agents do work for your team, such as the morning sales report. Starter is $20 a month with 20,000 credits, and Pro is $199 a month, or $1,990 a year, with 199,000 credits, for the whole workspace.

Pick it if customers reach you on more than chat, and most requests need an order or subscription changed. Tidio leads with a free plan, a visual chatbot builder and Messenger and Instagram, which Concierge doesn't answer. See Concierge vs Tidio.

Gorgias is a help desk built for Shopify, priced by ticket volume from $10 a month for 50 tickets. Its AI Agent costs $0.90 per automated interaction on an annual contract or $1.00 monthly, and each one counts as a ticket. Its Shopify integration lets your team cancel, refund and edit orders from the help desk; voice and SMS are add-ons (checked October 19, 2026). Pick it if you have a support team that works tickets all day. See Concierge vs Gorgias.

Fin costs $0.99 per outcome and runs in Intercom or alongside other help desks; Intercom's own help desk seats are listed at $29, $85 and $132 per seat a month (checked October 19, 2026). Pick it if you want Lyro's job done by a more capable AI agent and are happy to pay per outcome. See Concierge vs Intercom.

Re:amaze lists Basic at $29, Pro at $49 and Plus at $69 per seat a month on monthly billing, or a $59-a-month Starter plan with unlimited seats and up to 500 conversations. Its AI agent includes 5 to 20 resolutions per user a month, then $0.85 each (checked October 19, 2026). Pick it if you want a fuller help desk without a big jump in price. See Concierge vs Re:amaze.

Shopify Inbox is free. Its listing describes an AI sales associate that answers shoppers from your catalog, stock and policies (checked October 19, 2026). Pick it if you are leaving Tidio to cut costs and mostly get product questions in chat. See Concierge vs Shopify Inbox.

Whichever tool you choose, the AI is only as good as what you give it. Before you switch:

• 1. Export your FAQ and help articles: Copy the questions and answers Lyro uses. Remove anything outdated, like an old shipping time.
• 2. Write the policies down in full: Return window, damaged items, shipping times by region, subscription rules. The new agent needs the rule, not just a friendly answer.
• 3. Pull your top requests: Read last month's conversations and list the ten most common requests. Test the new tool on each one.
• 4. Rebuild flows as rules, not scripts: A visual flow like "ask for order number, then show status" becomes one instruction to an agent that can look up the order itself.
• 5. Decide what waits for a person: Refunds, exceptions and upset customers. Set these before the new agent goes live.
• 6. Run both, then switch the widget: Connect email and other channels first, check the agent's answers for a week, then replace the chat widget on your store.

Glossary: chat widget, chatbot, AI resolution rate, cost per resolution and help desk software. Read next: the best AI customer service agents for Shopify, AI agent vs chatbot and how to roll out an AI support agent in four stages.

For a team that works tickets all day, Gorgias; for a strong AI agent in an existing help desk, Intercom Fin; for free chat, Shopify Inbox. For one agent that answers chat, phone, texts, WhatsApp and email and acts on orders and subscriptions, Concierge.

On October 19, 2026, Tidio's pricing page listed Lyro from $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations, with paid quotas up to 1,000 a month, on top of a Tidio plan. Free and Starter include 50 Lyro conversations once.

Tidio lists native Shopify actions on its Growth plan and up (checked October 19, 2026). Ask Tidio which actions are included before you rely on them.

Yes. Shopify Inbox is free and answers shoppers in chat. It suits stores with mostly product questions; it isn't built to run returns or subscription changes.

Whether your Tidio chat history moves depends on both tools, so ask both vendors about export and import before you switch. At a minimum, export your FAQ and saved answers, and keep your Tidio account open until the new tool has run for a few weeks.