Tidio alternatives for small Shopify stores

01 Which Tidio alternative is right for you?

The right alternative depends on why you want to leave Tidio. The price, no one to answer, or shoppers asking the same few questions again and again: each reason points to a different kind of tool. Write your reason down before you compare apps.

Every other app on this page is described only from its own Shopify App Store listing, as read on 26 October 2026. BOOX is our app.

02 What does Tidio include, and what does it cost?

Tidio combines live chat, a helpdesk and an AI chatbot, with a free plan and paid plans from $29 a month. This is how its App Store listing shows the plans:

• Free: live chat conversations with 50 users, and Flows for up to 100 visitors a month.
• Customer Service: $29 a month for 100 conversations, and $59 for 250 to 1,000 conversations.
• Flows: $29 a month, for up to 40k visitors.
• Lyro AI Chatbot: $39 a month, for up to 200 conversations with the Lyro bot.

Every paid plan has a 7-day free trial, and you can pay yearly: $290 for the $29 plans, and $390 for the Lyro plan. Removing Tidio branding is listed as an add-on on the Flows and Lyro plans. Notice what sets the price: the number of conversations or visitors. Before you look for a cheaper app, check how many conversations you had last month.

The full comparison with Shopify's free chat: Shopify Inbox vs Tidio.

Source: Tidio: AI Chatbot & Live Chat on the Shopify App Store, checked 26 October 2026.

03 What are the alternatives to Tidio?

There are three kinds of alternatives: another chat or helpdesk app (Shopify Inbox, Chatty, Gorgias, Moose), FAQs on the product page (StoreFAQ, HelpLab), or an FAQ popup that shows when a shopper hesitates (BOOX, ours).

Prices are in US dollars, as listed on 26 October 2026. We left ratings out: they change all the time, and each listing shows its own.

Sources: the Shopify App Store listings of Tidio: AI Chatbot & Live Chat, Shopify Inbox, Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat, Gorgias: AI Helpdesk & Chat, Moose AI Chatbot & Live Chat, StoreFAQ: Product FAQ Chatbot, HelpLab FAQ Page, Product FAQs, BOOX: FAQ Popup. Checked 26 October 2026.

04 Is there a free alternative to Tidio?

Yes. Shopify Inbox, Shopify's own chat, is free, and several other apps have a free plan with limits. The limits differ a lot, so read them:

• Shopify Inbox: free. Shopify's Help Center says it has an AI agent you choose to turn on, which answers questions about products, shipping, returns, sizing and store policies. Shopify Inbox is available only for stores on the Basic, Grow, Advanced or Shopify Plus plan, and the agent works only in your online store's chat widget. When no staff are available, the agent gives the shopper your store's email address. Shopify also writes that you're responsible for the accuracy of what the agent tells your customers.
• Chatty: the free plan has 50 AI conversations a month, and unlimited conversations with your team. The AI answers FAQs and recommends products.
• Moose: its listing calls the free plan Free Forever, with unlimited AI chatbot replies and unlimited FAQs.
• StoreFAQ: the free plan has up to 100 FAQ page views, and 25 AI conversations in total, not per month.
• HelpLab: the free plan has up to 10 FAQs. Showing them on product pages is listed only in the $7.99-a-month plan.

And with each of them, the cost the listing doesn't show is time: a free chat still needs someone to answer, or a bot whose answers you have checked. What that time is worth: is live chat worth it for a small store.

Sources: Shopify Help Center, Shopify Inbox and the Inbox agent, Assigning your Inbox agent to conversations. The App Store listings of Shopify Inbox, Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat, Moose AI Chatbot & Live Chat, StoreFAQ: Product FAQ Chatbot and HelpLab FAQ Page, Product FAQs. Checked 26 October 2026.

05 Which other chat and helpdesk apps are there?

If you want to keep a chat, three apps built in a similar way to Tidio are Chatty, Gorgias and Moose. Each combines website chat with an inbox for messages, and each has an AI bot, in a plan or as an add-on.

• Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat: its listing says the AI answers FAQs and recommends products, and from the Basic plan it also tracks orders, with a multi-channel inbox. Basic is $19.99 a month, with 100 AI conversations a month and $0.40 for each extra one, and a 7-day free trial.
• Gorgias: AI Helpdesk & Chat: a helpdesk with one inbox for email, live chat, SMS, social and voice, where you can edit, cancel or refund orders inside tickets. Starter is $10 a month, with 50 tickets a month and three agents, and $0.40 for each extra ticket, and this plan lists live chat only. Basic is $60 a month for 300 tickets, and adds customer service. The AI Agent, which the listing says handles order, shipping and return questions 24/7, is listed as an add-on, with no price on the listing. The listing shows no free plan, and every plan has a 7-day free trial.
• Moose AI Chatbot & Live Chat: an AI chatbot built from your FAQs, Q&A and products, which routes complex cases to agents. It also has one inbox for chat, email and social messages, and product-specific FAQs shown on each product page. The free plan is listed as Free Forever, and Starter is $19 a month.

In all three, as in Tidio, the bot and your team answer in a chat window: the shopper has to open it and type.

Sources: the App Store listings of Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat, Gorgias: AI Helpdesk & Chat and Moose AI Chatbot & Live Chat, checked 26 October 2026.

06 No one to answer chat: can the product page answer instead?

Yes, when shoppers ask the same few questions. An answer already on the page needs no one online, and the shopper doesn't have to type a question and wait. Three ways, simplest first:

1. A line next to the buy button for each fact that is the same on every product: the shipping cost, delivery time and returns. No app needed.
2. An FAQ section on the product page. According to their listings, StoreFAQ: Product FAQ Chatbot creates FAQ pages and product FAQs with AI, with an AI chatbot and live chat. HelpLab FAQ Page, Product FAQs shows FAQs you write, and its listing doesn't mention AI. A shopper sees them only after scrolling to where they sit on the page.
3. An FAQ popup that shows at the moment of hesitation. Instead of waiting for the shopper to scroll or open a chat, the popup brings the product's questions to them, and they click one to see the answer. That is how BOOX works, and BOOX is our app.

You can also combine them: answers to the common questions on the page, and chat for the rest, in the hours someone can answer.

Every way to answer shoppers, with the apps for each: five ways to answer shoppers.

Sources: the App Store listings of StoreFAQ: Product FAQ Chatbot and HelpLab FAQ Page, Product FAQs, checked 26 October 2026.

07 How to choose: six checks before you switch

Choose by three things: who will answer, how varied the questions are, and how many conversations you get a month. These checks answer them:

1. Read last month's conversations. If most are the same few questions about a product, answers on the page can cover them. If they vary a lot, or are about orders already placed, you need a chat.
2. Count your conversations a month. Most plans on this page are measured in conversations, tickets, views or answers, so that number sets what you will actually pay, more than the price at the top of the listing.
3. Decide who answers when you are away. A bot, answers on the page, or an email you reply to tomorrow. Check what the app does when no one is online.
4. Check the language. On each listing's Languages line, Hebrew appears for StoreFAQ, and not for Tidio, Shopify Inbox, Chatty, Gorgias, Moose or HelpLab. Gorgias, Moose and HelpLab list English only. That line doesn't necessarily tell you which languages the bot answers in, so try a few real questions in your shoppers' language.
5. Check your Shopify plan. Shopify Inbox is available only on the Basic, Grow, Advanced or Shopify Plus plan.
6. Try before you leave. Keep your current chat on until the new tool has answered real questions, and check its answers.

Sources: the Languages line on each app's Shopify App Store listing, and the Shopify Help Center for the plans Shopify Inbox is available on. Checked 26 October 2026.

08 Where BOOX fits

BOOX fits a store whose shoppers stall on the same few questions about a product, with no one to answer them in real time. It is not a chat. It is our app, so keep that in mind as you read this part.

• What it does: a popup on the product page offers three questions about the product and their answers. BOOX writes the questions and answers with AI from the product page and the store's policies, and you can edit any of them. The shopper clicks a question, or types their own.
• When it shows: after time on the page (30 seconds by default), after a scroll, or after an add to cart with no checkout. You choose, with separate rules for computers and phones. It opens by itself at most once per visit and never blocks scrolling.
• Every answer ends with an add-to-cart button that takes the shopper to the store's own buy button. Your data shows, per product and per question, how many saw the popup, how many answered, and how many bought after answering.
• Free for up to 50 answers a month. Premium, unlimited: $10 a month, with a 14-day free trial.

When it doesn't: BOOX doesn't replace everything Tidio does. It is built for questions about a product before purchase, not for order status, a back-and-forth conversation, or messages that come by email and social media. If you need those, stay with a chat or a helpdesk, such as Shopify Inbox, Chatty, Gorgias or Moose. And if what's missing is one fact that is the same for every product, like the shipping cost, a line next to the buy button may be enough.

How BOOX works