Best Shopify Live Chat App: 7 Top Picks Compared (2026)

Shoppers leave when their questions go unanswered. A Shopify live chat app catches them in that moment and turns a hesitation into a sale. I tested seven of the best live chat apps for Shopify against their live App Store listings, so every rating and price here is current, not copied from last year’s roundups. I’m Allan Vu, Digital Marketing Specialist at BOGOS, and I review Shopify apps for store owners every week. Here is what actually fits your store, and where the popular rankings get it wrong.

TL;DR

• Best all-in-one pick: Moose (formerly MooseDesk). It holds a perfect 5.0 rating, carries the Built for Shopify badge, and combines an AI chatbot, live chat, and a helpdesk in one Shopify-native app. Every plan includes unlimited AI replies, even the free one, with no per-ticket fees.
• Best proven alternative for most stores: Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat. It has the largest track record here, a 4.9 rating from 1,880 reviews, and the Built for Shopify badge.
• Best for high-volume support teams: Gorgias. It runs a full helpdesk across chat, email, SMS, voice, and social, with ticket-based pricing that fits busy stores.
• Chatim is not on the Shopify App Store. It installs through a code snippet or Google Tag Manager, so it has no App Store rating and no one-click install. I explain the trade-off below.
• tawk.to’s real App Store rating is 3.6 from 89 reviews, with 21% one-star. Other roundups cite 4.2 to 4.8 from 200-plus reviews. That number is stale.
• All ratings, review counts, and prices below come from live Shopify App Store listings and developer pricing pages, checked in September 2026.

1. How I tested and chose these apps, plus my 3 quick picks

I built this list from primary sources. For each app I read the live Shopify App Store listing, the developer’s documentation and pricing page, and the most recent merchant reviews. I checked every app for renames, price changes, and delistings, because those are exactly the details older articles miss. You can read our full method on the how we judge a Shopify app page.

This matters because most live chat roundups repeat outdated data. One popular article still calls Tidio “the highest-rated live chat app on the Shopify App Store” with “approximately 900 reviews.” Tidio now has 1,340 reviews, and it is no longer the highest-rated. I verified each number so you can install with confidence.

Based on these criteria, the three apps I recommend most highly are:

2. Essential features to look for in a Shopify live chat app

The best live chat apps share a core set of features. Check each app against this list before you install.

• Real-time chat and a shared inbox: Agents answer shoppers live and manage every conversation in one place.
• AI chatbot and automation: A bot answers common questions, tracks orders, and covers you when no agent is online.
• Order, cart, and customer visibility: Agents see what the shopper has in their cart and their order history during the chat.
• Channel integrations: The best apps pull WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and email into the same inbox.
• A mobile app: You reply to shoppers from your phone when you are away from the desk.
• Proactive and cart-recovery messaging: The app reaches shoppers who hesitate at checkout and nudges them back.
• Low setup effort and no speed drag: A good widget installs without a developer and loads without slowing your store.
• A clear pricing model: Apps charge per agent, per conversation, per AI message, or per Shopify plan. Match the model to your volume.

3. The 7 best Shopify live chat apps reviewed

#1 Moose: AI Chatbot & Live Chat (formerly MooseDesk)

️🏆 Best for: Shopify merchants who want an AI chatbot, live chat, and a helpdesk in one Shopify-native app, without stitching together several tools or paying per-ticket fees.

Pricing:

• Free: $0 a month, with unlimited AI replies, AI training on 100 products, and 1 team member
• Starter: $19 a month, with 500 products, 3 team members, 1 email channel, and a 7-day trial
• Growth: $49 a month, with 5,000 products, 10 team members, unlimited email, and 300 tickets a month
• Business: $249 a month, with 20,000 products, unlimited team members, and 2,000 tickets a month

Rating and reviews:

• 5.0 stars from 482 reviews
• 98% of ratings are five stars

Moose is my top pick overall. Most Shopify chatbot apps do one job well. Moose combines three: an AI chatbot that handles FAQs, order tracking, and product questions on its own; live chat for human handoff; and a helpdesk that keeps every support conversation in one dashboard. It connects directly to your Shopify product catalog and order data through the API, so it answers with real store information instead of generic replies. The app was renamed from MooseDesk and now has paid tiers after an early free period.

The pricing is what sets it apart. Every plan includes unlimited AI chatbot replies, even the free one. There are no conversation caps, no per-resolution fees, and no surprise invoices in a busy month. MooseDesk’s team says it kept per-conversation pricing off on purpose, because it kept seeing merchants hit a cap mid-BFCM, when the chatbot would go quiet at the worst possible moment. For a small Shopify team, a predictable monthly cost matters more than usage-based billing.

Key features:

• Unlimited AI chatbot replies on every plan, including free
• Shopify-native connection to orders, products, and customer data through the API, with no manual sync
• Three tools in one: AI chatbot, live chat, and helpdesk under a single subscription
• FAQ builder, order tracking, and self-service support
• Mobile app and a multilingual widget

Pros and cons:

• Pro: Unlimited AI chatbot replies on every tier, including free
• Pro: Flat monthly pricing, with no per-ticket or per-resolution fees
• Pro: Shopify-native, so it reads orders, products, and customer data without a manual sync
• Pro: A free plan that is genuinely usable for a store getting started
• Con: A newer player, with a smaller community and fewer third-party tutorials than Tidio or Gorgias
• Con: Advanced ticket workflows and custom roles sit on the higher tiers

What merchants say: Merchants repeatedly praise the free plan and the fast, helpful support team, naming specific agents. Reviewers also call the setup quick and the interface clean. I found no recurring complaint pattern. Moose is not the right fit if you need a full omnichannel helpdesk that pulls email, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and phone into one inbox at scale. Gorgias handles that channel breadth better.

#2 Chatty AI Chatbot & Live Chat

️🏆 Best for: Stores that want a proven AI chatbot and live chat in one built-for-Shopify app.

Pricing:

• Free: 50 AI conversations a month, unlimited human conversations, AI trained on up to 200 products
• Basic: $19.99 a month, adds AI order tracking, a multi-channel inbox, and five members
• Pro: $68.99 a month, adds the AI shopping assistant, proactive engagement, and cart recovery
• Plus: $199 a month, adds up to 1,000 AI conversations and AI training on up to 20,000 products
• Extra AI conversations cost $0.40 each

Rating and reviews:

• 4.9 stars from 1,880 reviews
• 95% of ratings are five stars

Chatty pairs an AI sales agent with live chat and a helpdesk inbox. The bot answers product questions, suggests products, and tracks orders while you are away. Your team then manages WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and email from one dashboard. It launched in 2022 and has the largest review base of any app here.

Key features:

• AI chatbot trained on your products, FAQs, and past chats
• Multi-channel inbox for chat, email, and social messages
• FAQ help center that lets customers self-serve
• Proactive messages based on visitor behavior
• Mobile app for replies on the go

Pros and cons:

• Pro: Highest review count on this list, plus the Built for Shopify badge
• Pro: Free plan runs unlimited human conversations
• Con: AI conversations are capped by plan, and overages cost extra
• Con: The feature set takes time to learn

What merchants say: Merchants praise the support team by name and the ease of customizing the chat widget and FAQ page. The common complaint is a learning curve for new users, though reviewers say support helped them through it.

#3 Tidio: AI Chatbot & Live Chat

️🏆 Best for: Stores that want an AI agent that acts on orders, not just answers questions.

Pricing:

• Free: live chat for 50 users, automation flows for up to 100 visitors a month, ticketing, and the mobile app
• Customer Service: $29 a month for 100 conversations, scaling to $59 for up to 1,000
• Lyro AI Chatbot: $39 a month for up to 200 AI conversations with native Shopify actions

Rating and reviews:

• 4.8 stars from 1,340 reviews
• 86% of ratings are five stars

Tidio is one of the most established apps in this category, live since 2014. Its Lyro AI agent goes beyond answers. It handles order status, refunds, cancellations, and order edits inside Shopify, and it sells on product pages by comparing products and adding items to the cart. AI usage is capped, so your bill never surprises you.

Key features:

• Lyro AI agent with native Shopify order actions
• Chat, email, Instagram, and WhatsApp in one inbox
• Proactive AI on product pages that recommends and adds to cart
• Visual chatbot builder and automation flows
• Capped AI usage to control costs

Pros and cons:

• Pro: AI that takes real actions on orders, not just replies
• Pro: Long track record and strong onboarding
• Con: Costs climb as your conversation volume grows
• Con: Some merchants want better email ticket assignment

What merchants say: Merchants highlight easy setup and high AI resolution rates, with one store reporting around 90% of inquiries handled by Lyro. A few larger teams ask for more control over routing email tickets.

#4 Algoshop AI Chatbot & Live Chat

️🏆 Best for: Stores that want a chatbot to sell proactively, not just answer support questions.

Pricing:

• Free: 100 AI messages and 100 live chat messages a month, 100 products synced, custom logo and avatar, analytics
• Starter: $39.90 a month, adds 1,000 AI messages, order tracking, and 1,000 products
• Essential: $79.90 a month, adds the WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram AI chatbot
• Ultimate: $199.90 a month, adds 10,000 AI messages and unlimited product sync

Rating and reviews:

• 4.9 stars from 79 reviews
• 94% of ratings are five stars

Algoshop treats the chatbot as a sales engine. It watches shopper behavior in real time and triggers Outreach Cards with coupons, product recommendations, and countdown timers. It also manages WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram messages and auto-replies to social comments. It is the newest app on this list, launched in January 2026, so it has a shorter track record than the others.

Key features:

• Proactive Outreach Cards triggered by shopper behavior
• 24/7 multilingual AI chatbot across 20-plus languages
• WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram management with social auto-reply
• Self-service order tracking with live chat handoff
• Analytics dashboard for behavior insights

Pros and cons:

• Pro: Proactive selling features that most support-first apps lack
• Pro: Built for Shopify badge despite being new
• Con: New app with the smallest review base here
• Con: Message-quota pricing can add up for busy stores

What merchants say: Merchants like the human-like tone, the single dashboard for social channels, and the fact that the widget does not slow their store. One reviewer felt the free trial was too limited to judge performance, and the developer replied that the free plan renews monthly.

#5 Chatim

️🏆 Best for: Stores that want flat pricing and are comfortable installing outside the App Store.

Pricing:

• Free: basic live chat, chatbot flow, and a contact button for one user
• Starter: $9 a month, adds team access, email notifications, and custom branding
• Pro: $29 a month, adds Chatim AI for up to 200 conversations, Slack, and integrations
• Ultimate: $59 a month, adds up to 500 AI conversations, white label, and API access

Rating and reviews:

• No Shopify App Store rating or review count
• Chatim is not listed on the Shopify App Store

Chatim bundles live chat, an AI chatbot, a CRM, and a help center into one widget. Its pricing is flat, so paid plans include unlimited chats and unlimited team members, with only AI conversations metered. The important caveat is the install. Chatim confirms on its own site that it is not on the Shopify App Store. You add it with a code snippet in your theme or through Google Tag Manager instead.

Key features:

• Live chat, AI chatbot, CRM, and knowledge base in one widget
• Flat pricing with unlimited chats and team members on paid plans
• Abandoned-cart chatbot that engages hesitating shoppers
• Integrations with Slack, WhatsApp, Messenger, and more
• Setup in about three minutes with no developer

Pros and cons:

• Pro: Flat pricing avoids per-agent and per-seat fees
• Pro: Free plan has no visitor limits
• Con: Not on the Shopify App Store, so there is no one-click install and no App Store reviews to check
• Con: It is not vetted through Shopify’s app review process

What merchants say: Because Chatim is off the App Store, there is no Shopify review record to summarize. Its own site features testimonials from small business owners who value the built-in chatbot. Treat vendor testimonials with more caution than verified App Store reviews.

#6 tawk.to Live Chat

️🏆 Best for: Stores that need live chat and have zero budget.

Pricing:

• Free: real-time chat, ticketing, a knowledge base, and unlimited agents
• Paid add-ons: branding removal and hired agents cost extra

Rating and reviews:

• 3.6 stars from 89 reviews
• 71% of ratings are five stars, but 21% are one star

tawk.to is genuinely free, with no limit on agents, chats, or sites. It includes ticketing, a knowledge base, and visitor monitoring, and it runs on iOS and Android. The catch is the polarized rating. Many roundups cite tawk.to at 4.2 to 4.8 from 200 or more reviews. Its live Shopify App Store listing tells a different story: 3.6 stars from 89 reviews, with one in five ratings at one star.

Key features:

• Unlimited agents and unlimited chats for free
• Ticketing and a built-in knowledge base
• Real-time visitor monitoring
• 45-plus languages
• iOS and Android apps

Pros and cons:

• Pro: Truly free for the core features
• Pro: No cap on agents or chat volume
• Con: A $29 charge just to remove the branding, and the AI plan is not available through Shopify
• Con: Merchants report missed-chat notifications and leftover code after uninstall

What merchants say: Positive reviews focus on the price, since the core tool costs nothing. The one-star reviews cluster around real issues: notifications that fail, a fee to remove branding, settings you manage on tawk.to’s site instead of your Shopify admin, and tracking code left behind after uninstall.

#7 Gorgias: AI, Helpdesk & Chat

️🏆 Best for: High-volume stores that need a full helpdesk, not just a chat widget.

Pricing:

• Starter: $10 a month for three agents and 50 tickets, then $0.40 per extra ticket
• Basic: $60 a month for unlimited agents and 300 tickets
• Pro: $360 a month for 2,000 tickets
• Advanced: $900 a month for 5,000 tickets

Rating and reviews:

• 4.3 stars from 705 reviews
• 82% of ratings are five stars

Gorgias is a helpdesk built for ecommerce. It centralizes chat, email, SMS, voice, and social in one inbox, then layers an AI agent on top that resolves tickets end to end. It pulls order data, tracking, and customer history straight into the widget, and it connects to more than 100 other tools. Pricing is based on ticket volume, which suits stores with steady support demand.

Key features:

• Unified inbox for chat, email, SMS, voice, and social
• AI agent that resolves tickets on its own
• AI shopping assistant that recommends and upsells
• Deep Shopify data inside every conversation
• 100-plus integrations

Pros and cons:

• Pro: The most complete helpdesk on this list
• Pro: AI agent deflects a real share of routine tickets
• Con: Ticket-based pricing climbs to $900 a month at the top tier
• Con: Heavier than a small store needs

What merchants say: Merchants praise the AI agent for handling routine tickets and single out their customer success managers by name. Many have used Gorgias for years. The recurring concern is cost, since ticket-based pricing adds up for growing stores.

4. How to pick the right live chat app for your store

The best app depends on your store’s size, budget, and support volume. Match your situation to one of these.

• You run a new or small store on a tight budget: Start with Moose for unlimited free AI replies, or tawk.to if you want a free tool with human chat only.
• You want one app for chatbot, live chat, and support tickets: Choose Moose. It combines all three in a Shopify-native app with flat pricing and no per-ticket fees.
• You are growing and want AI to deflect tickets: Choose Chatty or Tidio. Both pair a capable AI agent with live chat and scale as you grow.
• You sell across many channels: Pick an app with a true multichannel inbox, such as Chatty, Tidio, or Algoshop, so WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and email land in one place.
• You handle high support volume: Choose Gorgias for a full helpdesk with ticketing across email, SMS, voice, and social, or Tidio for a lighter established option.
• You want chat to recover carts and drive sales: Look at Algoshop for proactive Outreach Cards, or Tidio and Chatty for cart recovery on their higher tiers.

Conclusion

The right Shopify live chat app depends on what your store needs today. For most stores, Moose is the pick, combining an AI chatbot, live chat, and a helpdesk in one Shopify-native app with unlimited AI replies on every plan. For the longest proven track record, Chatty is the strong alternative. For high-volume support teams, Gorgias delivers a full helpdesk. Before you install any of them, check the live App Store listing yourself. Ratings, prices, and even app names change, and the current data should guide your choice, not a ranking from last year.

FAQs