A Gorgias alternative: compare the bill before you switch

By Jernej, HelpStack co-founder. We sell one of the products compared here.

HelpStack is worth testing if you want a shared inbox with live Shopify order context and a subscription that does not increase with ticket count. Keep Gorgias if your team depends on its integrations or workflows that you have not reproduced and tested elsewhere. A lower subscription is not a reason to lose the context of an open refund.

HelpStack vs Gorgias pricing at your ticket volume#

We checked Gorgias's public pricing calculator on 23 September 2026, selected Monthly, and checked it with Add AI Agent off and on. These are USD monthly prices, not the lower annual-billing rates. We chose the plan whose included ticket allowance matches each volume, rather than keeping a small plan and accumulating overage.

Method: add the displayed Helpdesk and AI Agent charges, with no ticket overage at these exact allowances. The HelpStack column holds Starter constant because our billing configuration has no per-ticket charge. It is a base subscription, not a promise that 8,000 credits will cover AI work on every ticket. We have not converted currencies or included taxes, voice/SMS add-ons or third-party channel charges. This is pricing arithmetic, not a measured customer bill or a feature-equivalent quote.

Overage can change which Gorgias plan makes sense. At 2,000 tickets, staying on Basic would be $60 + (1,700 × $0.40) = $740 for Helpdesk alone, versus $360 on Pro. Its pricing table lists Basic overage as $40 per 100 tickets; this example uses whole blocks. Check your bill's ticket definition and expected seasonal volume before choosing a tier.

HelpStack charges credits for AI generation, translation and other metered work. Plain sent and received messages cost zero credits. More drafts, longer histories, tool calls and heavier models change consumption without changing ticket count. Growth costs €79/month plus VAT and includes 30,000 credits. Measure a representative trial's credit usage before choosing between plans; ticket volume alone cannot give an honest all-in AI price.

Channels and Shopify: what you can move#

These are HelpStack's channel paths, not a claim that every Gorgias channel or integration has an equivalent here. Gorgias lists email, chat and social on its pricing page, plus Voice and SMS add-ons. Verify any channel you depend on individually rather than treating “social” as a complete specification.

HelpStack can look up Shopify orders, tracking, customers and products for a reply. AI drafts let an agent review the answer before sending. In the embedded Shopify inbox, agents can handle conversations, but admin, billing and member management require the HelpStack web app. The storefront widget also needs the app embed enabled in the theme editor. Do not budget a migration as a single connection click.

Where Gorgias is the better fit#

Gorgias is the better fit when you need its published 150+ app integrations or Voice/SMS add-ons; HelpStack is not a like-for-like replacement for that setup.

Our embedded Shopify inbox uses polling rather than WebSockets. We also have no dedicated Gorgias ticket or macro importer in the code reviewed for this page. If preserving your current workflows and complete history inside the new tool is a requirement, resolve that gap before switching. Do not assume a Shopify order lookup recreates a macro that also changes an order or updates a ticket.

What happens to macros and ticket history#

Connecting channels does not transfer Gorgias macros, ticket IDs, internal notes, tags, assignments or status history. Keep an accessible archive and access to any records your team needs. Treat macros as workflows to rebuild and test: record the text, variables, conditions and actions, then check each proposed replacement against an actual support case. Do not enable an automated replacement just because its reply text looks right.

We traced HelpStack's channel creation, email poller, backfill validation and Meta history service on 23 September 2026. This checklist describes those code paths, not a completed customer migration:

Email read state can break a parallel trial. On servers supporting custom IMAP keywords, HelpStack selects mail without its processed marker, including read mail. Otherwise it selects unread mail and marks it read after processing. Two tools sharing that mailbox can affect what gets picked up. Check the provider's behaviour with test mail before sharing a live inbox.

A cutover checklist with a way back#

1. Name a cutover owner. Save the current forwarding, channel and widget settings. List open cases with their owners and next actions, plus the macros each case needs.
2. Prepare a test channel in HelpStack. Keep automatic replies and auto-approval off during the trial and any backfill. Invite the agents who will answer it.
3. Send a message from outside the team, reply from HelpStack, then reply again as the customer. Check threading, attachments, sender identity and assignment. Repeat for every channel you plan to move. Test Shopify lookups against an order you can verify independently.
4. Rebuild and test the required macro workflows. Give each moved case its old ticket reference and enough context for its new owner. Leave cases you cannot safely hand over in Gorgias.
5. Move one channel at an agreed time. Use one replying system per channel or case, not two teams answering the same traffic. Change routing or the widget as applicable; complete social-provider connection changes separately. Stop old-tool replies for moved traffic, test both directions again and reconcile both queues.
6. If delivery, history or a required workflow fails, pause HelpStack replies and check pending sends. Restore saved routing and the previous widget; reconnect social channels through their provider's procedure. Verify Gorgias receives and sends before handing it back. Manually reconcile trial messages and unresolved cases: HelpStack records do not automatically sync back to Gorgias.

Keep the old records until you have reconciled the handover and met your retention obligations.

Try the answers before moving customer traffic#

Test HelpStack on your own website without connecting your support channels. That demo tests answers from your site, not ticket migration or Shopify order access. Follow it with a channel trial if the answers are useful.

For a wider shortlist, compare our Tidio alternative, Intercom alternative and Zendesk alternative pages, or the Gorgias alternatives guide.