Gorgias alternative
A Gorgias alternative with support and marketing on one customer record.
Comparing Gorgias alternatives? Gorgias is a helpdesk and AI agent built into Shopify, made to resolve and sell in the conversation. The AI CMO is the AI-native marketing operating system, and its support agent answers only what your team allows.
Caleb Smith · CEO
to Christine · 8:05
Christine – our quiet regulars are coming back, and last night’s chats had replies ready when we opened. Take this to the board on Thursday.
Site chat · 2:14 AM
Draft modeDraft – not sent
From Returns policy.pdf · p. 2
Christine Allard
Head of Marketing
Alder & Co. · This week
Mon
Restock
Tue
VIP early
Wed
Low stock
Thu
Win-back
Fri
Picks
Win-back
Live1,284 in flight
212 came back
Site chat · 2:14 AM
Draft modeDraft – not sent
From Returns policy.pdf · p. 2
Caleb Smith · CEO
to Christine · 8:05
Christine – our quiet regulars are coming back, and last night’s chats had replies ready when we opened. Take this to the board on Thursday.
A fictional company. The figures are illustrative.
The AI CMO
The AI-native marketing operating system, with customer support built in. Site chat, support email and social comments in one Helpdesk, bound to the customer record your journeys, audiences and reports read. AI works in Observe, Draft or Auto for each conversation.
Gorgias
A conversational AI platform for ecommerce. An omnichannel helpdesk with email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, social and voice, built into Shopify, with an AI Agent that resolves, takes order actions and sells.
The bottom line
If a Shopify store wants its support desk to change orders and upsell inside the chat, Gorgias is built for exactly that. If you want support on the same record as your acquisition and retention, with AI that answers only what your team switches on, The AI CMO is the better fit.
Alternatives
Best Gorgias alternatives in 2026
Most Gorgias alternatives are other help desks. Choose by what the support desk should sit beside: a general service platform, an AI agent first, your email tool, or the whole marketing operation.
Zendesk – a general service platform
An AI-powered customer service platform for tickets and conversations from email, chat, phone and social, in one place, for service teams of any industry.
Intercom – an AI agent first
A helpdesk with its Fin AI agent built in, deployed across phone, email and chat.
What changes for you
Support that knows the whole customer.
Answers beside the whole customer
Once you know who you are talking to, each conversation shows their lifetime spend, orders, segment, last purchase and every previous conversation, from the same warehouse your journeys and reports read. When a high-value customer turns negative, the card raises a banner and offers a promo, never to anyone suppressed.
AI that answers only what your team switches on
The Customer Support Agent starts by learning silently, then proposes replies for a person to send, then answers on its own only the topics an administrator switches on, one at a time. It answers from knowledge marked For customers, never guesses business facts, and hands sensitive matters to a person.
The answer becomes retention
Contacting support, having an issue resolved, turning unhappy or rating a conversation are events, so a journey can follow up by email, SMS, WhatsApp, push or a website message, and its holdout, switched on, shows the revenue it caused. Your team decides which follow-ups exist and what they say.
The first ad on the same record
The customers your desk answers can be won on the same platform: Google Ads search campaigns ready for review, SEO articles, social posts and landing pages from one brief. Acquisition, retention and support share one customer record: the one behind the ad audience, the journey and the conversation.
Side by side
What each one does
How The AI CMO and Gorgias compare on customer support, and on the marketing around it. Where Gorgias is strong, we say so.
| Capability | The AI CMO | Gorgias |
|---|---|---|
| Support | ||
| Channels in one queue | Site chat, support email (forwarding, a hosted address, Microsoft 365 or IMAP and SMTP), contact forms, logged calls and visits, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit comments, Instagram, Facebook and Reddit DMs, App Store and Google Play reviews. | Email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and voice in one omnichannel inbox; voice and SMS as add-ons. |
| The customer beside the conversation | Lifetime spend, orders, segment, last purchase and previous conversations from your warehouse; every handle the record carries, one click to copy. | A customer sidebar and timeline, with Shopify built in. |
| AI replies | Observe, Draft or Auto per conversation. Auto answers only from what it can ground in knowledge marked For customers; sensitive requests, low confidence and every conversation after three automatic replies go to a person. | An AI Agent aimed at automating 60% of support, handing off to human agents with context. |
| How the AI earns trust | Three steps (Learning, Copilot, On its own), with each topic switched on by an administrator, and the numbers behind each move on its profile. | An AI Agent configured with your tone and policies. |
| Order questions | Lookups read a customer's order or account in your own systems through a browser – read only. Changes are made by a person. | AI Agent actions in Shopify: cancel an order, edit the shipping address, remove or replace an item, reship. |
| Knowledge | Documents and pages marked For customers or Internal, end dates for promotions, weekly re-reads, and a list of the questions it could not answer. | AI Agent learns from help center articles, web pages, uploaded documents, written Guidance and the store website. |
| What a model sees | Names, emails, phone and card numbers replaced before any model reads a message; self-exclusion, harm, chargebacks and legal threats never reach a model. It runs only after an administrator confirms the addendum. | Encryption at rest and in transit, GDPR and CCPA compliance, SSO, permissions and audit logs; data hosted in the US, EU or Australia. |
| Seats and reporting | Support seats that see only the Helpdesk; reporting by hour and by person, exported to CSV or PDF; optional ratings, off until a brand turns them on. | Performance reporting with dashboards and agent statistics; revenue analytics on Pro. |
| Several brands | An All brands queue for everyone who works several brands, each conversation naming its brand, with its own replies, knowledge and record. | Multi-store support for Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and WooCommerce. |
| Marketing | ||
| After the answer | Support events start journeys by email, SMS, WhatsApp, push and website messages, and a holdout, one toggle per journey, measures the revenue caused. | 300+ integrations, including Klaviyo, Recharge, Yotpo and Loop. |
| Acquisition | Google Ads search campaigns ready for review, SEO articles, social posts and landing pages from one brief. | A Shopping Assistant that recommends products inside the conversation. |
Honest tradeoffs
Where Gorgias is still ahead
Read on Gorgias's own pages. For a Shopify store whose support is the business, these matter.
Order changes inside the conversation
Gorgias's AI Agent can cancel a Shopify order, edit the shipping address, remove or replace an item and reship, within the conditions a store sets. The AI CMO's Lookups only read your systems; a person makes the change.
Voice, SMS and WhatsApp in the inbox
Gorgias brings voice, SMS and WhatsApp conversations into the same inbox as email and chat. The AI CMO's Helpdesk takes Site chat, email and social; calls are logged by hand, and SMS and WhatsApp are marketing channels, not support queues.
Built into Shopify
Gorgias describes itself as built into Shopify's DNA, with 300+ integrations across the commerce stack and a Shopping Assistant that sells in the chat. For a Shopify-only store, that depth of fit is a real reason to choose it.
In practice
The same job, done two ways
Real marketing tasks, with the honest time each takes.
A customer writes at 2 a.m. about an order
If order questions are a topic your administrator switched on, your team has defined a lookup and the customer is signed in, the support agent looks the order up and answers; otherwise the reply waits as a draft for the morning.
Gorgias's AI Agent answers, and where the store allows it, cancels or edits the Shopify order on the spot.
A loyal customer turns unhappy
The card raises a banner for a high-value customer turning negative, offers a promo in one click, and the event can start a save journey.
The customer's Shopify history sits in the sidebar while the agent decides what to do.
Show what support did for revenue
Support, journeys and orders read one warehouse, so a follow-up journey's holdout shows what it caused, and the Helpdesk report exports to PDF.
Gorgias reports the revenue its conversations drove, with revenue analytics on Pro.
Customer support
The questions they ask, answered beside the customer record.
Site chat, support email, social comments and app store reviews land in one queue. Each conversation with a known customer shows their lifetime value, orders and history, and the reply goes back the way the question came: by chat, email, under the comment or in a DM.
- Chat in ten languages, in your colors, with an honest reply-time promise.
- Replies reach visitors by email if they have left, when the brand has a support mailbox.
- Support seats see only the Helpdesk.
Helpdesk · Site chat
Draft modeCan I still change the size on my order?
Signed-in customer · Loyal · orders on record
Draft reply
From Returns policy · waiting for a person to send
The support agent
AI that earns each topic before it answers alone.
The Customer Support Agent learns silently first, comparing its replies with your team's. Then it proposes, and a person sends. It answers on its own only the topics an administrator switches on, and still hands over anything it cannot back with what you gave it.
- Knowledge marked For customers or Internal.
- Self-exclusion, chargebacks and legal threats always go to a person.
- An optional closing line, in your words, if you want customers told.
Morning brief · Tuesday
DailyYesterday's launch email beat your average open rate by 12 points. The winning subject line led with the product name, not the discount – I've applied that to Thursday's send. One thing needs you: the spring segment has gone quiet, and I've drafted a win-back journey for your approval.
Retention
The answer is where the next order starts.
Support events are journey triggers, so a resolved complaint can lead to a thank-you, a review request or a save offer by email, SMS, WhatsApp or push, and its holdout, switched on, shows whether it earned anything.
- Contacts support, resolved, turned unhappy, rated – each an event.
- Suppression and self-exclusion enforced on every send.
- Revenue caused, measured against held-out customers.
Welcome journey
LivePricing
One platform for every channel your team runs.
Acquisition, retention and customer support share one customer record. The current plans, and what each one carries, are on the pricing page.
An honest read
Which one is right for you?
Both answers are legitimate. Here is the fair version of each.
Choose The AI CMO if…
Choose The AI CMO when support should sit on the same customer record as your marketing, and the AI should answer only what your team has switched on.
Chat, email and social comments belong in one queue beside orders and lifetime value.
AI should learn first, propose second and answer alone topic by topic.
Support should feed journeys, holdouts and reports on one warehouse.
You run several brands and want one desk across them.
Choose Gorgias if…
Choose Gorgias when a Shopify store wants a helpdesk that resolves and sells inside the conversation.
Order changes by the AI (cancellations, address edits, swaps) are the priority.
Voice, SMS or WhatsApp support needs to share the inbox.
Your store lives on Shopify and its app ecosystem.
Support is the whole purchase, and marketing runs elsewhere.
Questions
Common questions
Straight answers about how The AI CMO compares to Gorgias.
What are the best Gorgias alternatives?
For a general-purpose service platform, Zendesk. For an AI agent first, Intercom. For service beside your email and SMS, Klaviyo. If you want support on the same customer record as your acquisition and retention, The AI CMO is built for that: Site chat, email and social in one Helpdesk, with AI that answers only the topics your team switches on.
Is The AI CMO a replacement for Gorgias?
For stores whose support runs on chat, email and social, yes, and the journeys, ads and reports come on the same record. If your desk depends on the AI changing Shopify orders, or on voice, SMS or WhatsApp conversations in the inbox, Gorgias does those and The AI CMO does not today.
How does pricing compare with Gorgias?
Gorgias bills by tickets a month, with AI Agent resolutions billed one by one and voice and SMS as add-ons; its own pricing page carries the current figures. The AI CMO is one subscription in place of a stack of separate tools, and the Customer Support Agent's work is charged in credits from the plan. What each plan includes is on the pricing page.
Can the AI answer customers on its own?
Only where your team allows it. On Auto it answers from knowledge marked For customers, your saved replies or the conversation itself, never guesses facts like prices or opening hours, and hands over sensitive requests, anything it is not sure of, and every conversation after three automatic replies. Account facts are read out only to signed-in customers.
Does it work with Shopify?
Yes. Shopify orders and products sync into your warehouse, so the customer card shows lifetime spend, orders and last purchase beside each conversation with a known customer, and Lookups can read an order's status from your own systems. Each new buyer also becomes a contact of the brand, with the store's own marketing consent. Order changes stay with a person.
What does the AI see of my customers' data?
Before a conversation reaches a model, names, email addresses, phone numbers, customer numbers and anything that looks like a card or bank number are replaced with placeholders, and put back on our servers afterwards. Messages about self-exclusion, harm, chargebacks or legal action never reach a model.
Read next
Start your first campaign today.
Gorgias resolves and sells inside the chat. The AI CMO puts support on the same record as the first ad and the next journey, so a resolved conversation can start the follow-up your team designed.