Best AI Chatbot for Ecommerce Stores (2026)

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For most small and mid-size stores, Tidio is the best AI chatbot to start with: it has a free plan, its Lyro AI agent is sold in small monthly packs, and the prices are published. If you already run support in Gorgias, its AI Agent is the simpler choice because it works inside the same helpdesk. Siena AI and Zowie are built for brands with thousands of tickets a month.

Quick comparison

	Free plan	Starting price	What scales the price	Standout	Shopify App Store rating*
Tidio	Yes (50 one-time Lyro conversations)	Lyro $39/mo (up to 200 conversations) on the App Store	Lyro conversations, human conversations, Flows visitors	Cheap entry, live chat plus AI	4.8 (1,356 reviews)
Gorgias AI Agent	No (7-day trial)	$0.90 per resolved conversation on most plans, plus a helpdesk plan from $10/mo	Resolved conversations and tickets	AI inside a Shopify helpdesk	4.3 (706 reviews)
Siena AI	No (no trial)	$750/mo platform fee + $0.90 per automated ticket	Automated tickets	Order, return and subscription actions	No Shopify App Store listing
Zowie	Not published	Quote only	Not published	Chat, email and voice in 175+ languages	No reviews yet
Manifest AI	Free to test (30-day minimum trial)	Not published	Not published	AI shopping assistant and upsells	4.4 (61 reviews)

*As listed on the Shopify App Store in November 2026.

Two kinds of AI chatbot

Before picking one, decide what you want the bot to do:

Support automation: answer "where is my order?", process returns, change addresses. Gorgias, Siena AI, Zowie and Tidio's Lyro all do this to some degree.
Pre-sale shopping help: answer product questions and recommend items. Manifest AI focuses here, and Siena and Gorgias also list shopping features.

Most small stores need a bit of both. Most large brands buy the support side first because that is where ticket costs are.

Tidio

Tidio combines live chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox and adds Lyro, an AI agent that answers from your own support content.

Pricing (Shopify App Store listing): Free plan with 50 human conversations, Flows for 100 visitors a month and ticketing. The Customer Service plan is $29/month for 100 conversations or $59/month for 250 to 1,000. The Lyro AI Chatbot plan is $39/month ($390/year) for up to 200 Lyro conversations and lists native Shopify actions. Paid plans have a 7-day trial. Tidio's own Lyro page says a Lyro conversation "starts from $0.5" and that every account starts with 50 free conversations.

What it does well: low entry price, a free plan that works for tiny stores, and AI chats that don't use up your human conversation quota.

Watch out: Tidio meters human conversations, Lyro conversations and Flows visitors separately. The 50 free Lyro conversations are a one-time allowance, not monthly. Tidio says its customers "average a 75% resolution rate with Lyro AI"; that is Tidio's figure, not one we measured. Our Tidio review covers the limits in detail.

Skip it if: you handle a high volume of complex order tickets and need a full helpdesk.

Gorgias AI Agent

Gorgias is a Shopify helpdesk, and its AI Agent is an add-on available on every plan.

What it does (from Gorgias's own pages): it answers customer questions on email, chat and SMS, learns from your store data and help content, and can take actions through connected tools, such as cancelling an order, processing a return or modifying a subscription. It hands off to a human when it lacks confidence, detects frustration or hits a topic you've marked for humans. Gorgias also lists a Shopping Assistant that answers product questions and recommends products.

Pricing: a Gorgias blog post updated May 2026 says "each resolved conversation costs $0.90 on most plans," with Starter plans from $1, and that plans include 90 to 2,500+ automated interactions a month. You also need a helpdesk plan: Starter $10/month (50 tickets), Basic $60 (300), Pro $360 (2,000) or Advanced $900 (5,000).

How it's billed: only conversations the AI resolves on its own are billable. Gorgias's help center says a conversation counts as automated if no human is needed within 72 hours, and that a fully AI-resolved ticket incurs both a ticket fee and an automation fee. Handed-off conversations pay only the ticket fee.

Skip it if: you don't want a full helpdesk and only need a chat widget on your storefront.

Siena AI

Siena AI sells AI customer service agents to established consumer brands.

Pricing: $750/month platform fee (core AI engine and unlimited sandbox) plus $0.90 per automated ticket. There is no free plan or trial, and no Shopify App Store listing. Implementation and support are not priced publicly; the full quote comes from a "Get pricing" form.

What it does: handles order status, address changes, return labels, refunds and replacements; subscription actions like skip, pause or swap (Recharge is named); and a shopping agent that recommends products from order history. It integrates with Shopify, Zendesk, Yotpo, AfterShip, ShipBob and Loop. Enterprise features include SSO, audit logs and SOC 2 Type II compliance.

Skip it if: you get a few hundred tickets a month. The platform fee alone is $750.

Zowie

Zowie is an AI agent platform for larger retailers across chat, email and voice in 175+ languages.

What it does: an Agent Studio for building agents from flows, plain-language playbooks and a knowledge base; order tracking plus returns, refunds and exchanges via Shopify; a Supervisor that scores both AI and human conversations; and knowledge connectors for Zendesk, Salesforce, Kustomer, Freshdesk and Intercom.

Pricing: not published. You book a demo. Its Shopify app is free to install and has no reviews yet.

Skip it if: you want to sign up and start today, or you are a small store.

Manifest AI

Manifest AI is a Shopify app that acts as an AI shopping assistant on your storefront.

What it does (App Store listing): an AI chatbot trained on your store, AI product recommendations with cross-sell and upsell, cart and checkout recovery, lead collection, live chat with multi-language support, and A/B testing. The plan also lists a dedicated AI expert.

Pricing: the listing shows only "Free to install. Additional charges may apply," with a minimum 30-day free trial and month-to-month or long-term agreements afterward. Paid prices are not published.

Skip it if: you need to know your monthly cost before you install.

What it costs at two store sizes

Only published prices are used. Zowie and Manifest AI are left out because they do not publish prices.

Small store, about 150 AI-handled chats a month:

Tidio: Lyro plan $39/month (up to 200 Lyro conversations). Add the Customer Service plan at $29 if you also want 100 human conversations: $68/month.
Gorgias: Basic $60/month plus up to 150 × $0.90 = $135 if every chat is resolved by AI, so up to $195/month.
Siena AI: $750 + 150 × $0.90 = $885/month.

Larger brand, 3,000 AI-resolved tickets a month:

Gorgias: 3,000 × $0.90 = $2,700/month in AI fees, plus a helpdesk plan such as Advanced at $900.
Siena AI: $750 + 3,000 × $0.90 = $3,450/month, before implementation.
Tidio: above 1,000 Lyro conversations, Tidio's pricing moves to Plus (from $300/month plus usage) or Premium (contact sales), so the exact cost isn't published.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Tidio if you are a small store and want live chat plus AI for under $70/month.
Choose Gorgias if you already use (or want) Gorgias as your helpdesk and want the AI inside it.
Choose Siena AI if you handle thousands of tickets a month and want an AI agent that takes order and subscription actions.
Choose Zowie if you are a larger retailer that needs voice and many languages and is fine with a sales process.
Choose Manifest AI if your goal is product recommendations and upsells on the storefront, and you can wait for a quote.

If you are weighing a helpdesk at the same time, see Gorgias vs Tidio and our best helpdesk for Shopify roundup.

Common questions

What is the cheapest AI chatbot for a Shopify store? Of the tools here with published prices, Tidio is the cheapest: a free plan with 50 one-time Lyro conversations, then a Lyro plan at $39/month on the Shopify App Store.

Do AI chatbots charge per conversation or per resolution? It varies. Tidio meters Lyro conversations. Gorgias and Siena charge per resolved or automated ticket ($0.90 each on most Gorgias plans and on Siena).

Can an AI chatbot process returns and refunds? Several say so on their own pages. Gorgias's AI Agent can process returns and cancel orders through connected tools, Siena lists refunds and return labels, and Zowie lists returns, refunds and exchanges via Shopify.

Is Siena AI worth it for a small store? Probably not. The $750/month platform fee comes before any per-ticket charges, and Siena positions itself for brands with high ticket volume.

How we put this together

We did not test these tools hands-on. Facts and prices come from the companies' own pages, read in November 2026: Tidio's Shopify App Store listing and Lyro page; Gorgias's AI Agent pricing blog post, billing help article and Shopify App Store listing; Siena AI's pricing and home pages; Zowie's own product pages and Shopify App Store listing; and Manifest AI's Shopify App Store listing. AI pricing changes often and depends on volume, so confirm the current numbers before you commit.

Best AI Chatbots for Ecommerce Stores in 2026