Your Shopify store gets 500 visitors a day. 490 leave without buying. What if an AI could talk to each one? That's the promise of modern customer platforms, but with so many choices, picking the right one feels like a high-stakes gamble. You're drowning in a sea of tabs comparing Gorgias, Tidio, and a dozen others, and they all start to look the same.
This guide cuts through the noise. We're not just listing features; we're comparing the core philosophies of three top contenders: Gorgias, the helpdesk powerhouse; Tidio, the sales-focused chat tool; and Convi, the new-generation AI copilot. This is an honest, Shopify-centric breakdown to help you decide which platform will actually make you more money and save you more time.
The Core Philosophy: Support, Sales, or a True AI Copilot?
Choosing a platform isn't just about features; it's about aligning with a philosophy that matches your business goals. Are you trying to manage a flood of support tickets, proactively engage every visitor, or build an automated commerce engine?
Gorgias: The Unified Inbox for Efficient Support
Gorgias is built for one primary purpose: to help support teams manage customer conversations efficiently. It excels at pulling all your communication channels—email, social media, live chat, and SMS—into a single, unified inbox. The entire platform is designed around a "ticket-centric" approach. Every customer interaction becomes a ticket that can be assigned, tracked, and resolved.
This is a powerful model for established brands with dedicated support teams. If you're dealing with hundreds or thousands of tickets a day, Gorgias provides the structure and tooling you need to maintain order and respond effectively. It’s less about proactive sales and more about reactive problem-solving at scale.
Tidio: The Proactive Sales Engine
Tidio, on the other hand, is fundamentally a sales tool. Its core strength lies in its proactive chat features, lead generation bots, and easy-to-use interface. Tidio wants you to engage with website visitors before they have a problem. It uses a "conversation-centric" approach, encouraging you to start chats, offer discounts, and capture leads automatically.
For smaller brands or those focused on maximizing every site visitor, Tidio is an attractive option. Its visual flow builder makes it easy to create chatbots that qualify leads and guide customers, even without a dedicated support team. The focus is squarely on converting visitors into customers.
Convi: The AI-Powered Commerce Suite
Convi represents a new wave of AI-native platforms that go beyond traditional chat and support. It’s not just a unified inbox or a sales chatbot; it's an all-in-one AI copilot designed to manage chat, search, and support autonomously. Convi's philosophy is that a powerful AI, deeply integrated with your Shopify store, can handle the entire customer journey—from answering complex product questions to providing personalized recommendations and driving sales.
This AI-first approach means that Convi can automate a significant portion of the interactions that would require a human agent on other platforms. It’s for the forward-thinking merchant who wants to leverage AI to create a highly efficient, personalized, and scalable customer experience without a large team.
Feature Breakdown: What Matters for Shopify Merchants
Let's move beyond philosophy and look at the features that have a real-world impact on your Shopify store.
| Feature | Gorgias | Tidio | Convi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Integration | Deep, bi-directional sync | Read-only, some order data | Native, deep integration |
| AI & Automation | Rule-based, add-on AI | Visual flow builder, Lyro AI | GPT-4 powered, proactive AI |
| Primary Use Case | High-volume support | Proactive sales & lead gen | Automated commerce |
| Pricing Model | Based on ticket volume | Freemium, feature-based | ROI-focused, free plan |
Shopify Integration
- Gorgias: Offers a deep, bi-directional integration with Shopify. This means you can view and edit order information, issue refunds, and manage customer data directly from the Gorgias dashboard. It’s a huge time-saver for support teams.
- Tidio: The integration is more basic. You can see customer and order information, but it's largely read-only. You can't take action on orders from within Tidio.
- Convi: As a Shopify-native platform, Convi’s integration is designed from the ground up to leverage your store’s data. It uses product information, customer history, and even your knowledge base to provide highly accurate and personalized interactions. It's not just about viewing data; it's about using it intelligently.
AI & Automation
- Gorgias: Relies heavily on rule-based automation ("if this, then that"). You can set up rules to tag tickets, assign them to agents, or send automated responses. While it has some AI features, they are often add-ons and not core to the product.
- Tidio: Features a user-friendly visual flow builder for creating chatbots. Its AI chatbot, Lyro, can answer common questions by drawing from a knowledge base. It’s a step up from simple rules but can be limited in its ability to handle complex, multi-step conversations.
- Convi: This is where Convi truly shines. Powered by GPT-4, its AI can understand and respond to a wide range of customer queries with human-like accuracy. It can handle a significant percentage of your support volume, act as a personal shopper, and proactively engage customers to prevent cart abandonment—all without you lifting a finger.
Pricing & Value
- Gorgias: Pricing is based on the number of "billable tickets" your store generates per month. This can get expensive quickly as your business grows, and it can discourage you from having more conversations with customers.
- Tidio: Offers a generous free plan, making it very accessible for new stores. Paid plans unlock more features and increase the number of conversations you can have. The pricing is generally considered affordable.
- Convi: Provides a competitive pricing model focused on delivering a clear return on investment. With a free plan available, you can experience the power of its AI firsthand. The value proposition is simple: Convi automates work that would otherwise require paid staff, directly impacting your bottom line.
Convi in Action: The AI Copilot at Work
Let's make this concrete. Imagine a customer lands on your Shopify store looking for "vegan leather bags." They open the chat widget.
- Customer: "Are your bags made from real leather?"
- Convi: "No, all of our bags are made from high-quality, 100% vegan leather. We use a durable and eco-friendly polyurethane material that has the look and feel of real leather without harming any animals. You can read more about our materials here [link]."
- Convi: "Our most popular vegan leather bag is the 'Everyday Tote' in black. It's currently on sale for 15% off. Would you like to see it?" (Displays product image and "Add to Cart" button).
- Customer: "That looks great! What are the shipping times to California?"
- Convi: "Standard shipping to California is typically 3-5 business days. We also offer expedited 2-day shipping for $15."
In this short interaction, the Convi AI has answered a product question, overcome a potential objection, upsold a specific product, and answered a shipping query. This entire conversation happened automatically, turning a simple question into a sale.
The Verdict: Which Platform is Right for Your Store?
There's no single "best" platform. The right choice depends entirely on your business's size, goals, and priorities.
Choose Gorgias if...
...you are an established, high-volume brand with a dedicated support team. You need a robust, ticket-based system to bring order to the chaos of customer service and your primary goal is support efficiency.
Choose Tidio if...
...you are a smaller brand or dropshipper focused on lead generation and proactive sales. You want an easy-to-use, affordable chat tool with a solid free plan to help you convert more website visitors.
Choose Convi if...
...you are a forward-thinking Shopify merchant who wants to leverage the power of AI to boost conversions, increase AOV, and provide a superior customer experience. You want a unified platform that automates commerce, not just chat.
Conclusion
The landscape of customer communication is shifting. While Gorgias perfected the helpdesk for the last era of ecommerce and Tidio mastered proactive chat for the current one, Convi is building the AI-powered infrastructure for the next. The choice is no longer just about managing tickets or starting conversations; it's about how much of your business you can intelligently automate.
If you're looking for an AI solution that handles this automatically, check out Convi.
Ready to see what an AI copilot can do for your store? Install the Convi app for free.
Want to learn more about optimizing your Shopify store? Read our article on The Top 5 AI Chatbot Apps for Shopify.
FAQs
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Can Convi handle complex customer support issues like Gorgias? Convi can handle a vast range of support issues by integrating with your knowledge base and order data. For highly complex or sensitive issues, it can seamlessly hand off the conversation to a human agent, providing them with the full context.
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Is Tidio's free plan good enough for a new Shopify store? Yes, Tidio's free plan is an excellent starting point for new stores. It provides basic live chat and chatbot functionality that can help you engage your first customers and generate leads without any initial investment.
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How does Convi's AI differ from Tidio's Lyro? While Lyro is a capable AI chatbot that answers questions from a knowledge base, Convi's AI is a more comprehensive commerce copilot. Powered by GPT-4 and deeply integrated with Shopify, it can handle more complex conversations, provide proactive sales assistance, and automate a wider range of tasks.
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Which platform offers the best value for a small but growing Shopify store? For a growing store, Convi often provides the best long-term value. Its ability to automate sales and support allows you to scale your business without scaling your headcount, delivering a strong return on investment.
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Can I use Convi alongside my existing helpdesk? Yes, many merchants use Convi as their frontline AI agent to handle the majority of customer interactions and then escalate to a helpdesk like Gorgias or Zendesk only when a human is truly needed.
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How long does it take to set up Convi on a Shopify store? Convi can be set up in under 5 minutes. After installing the app, it automatically syncs with your store's data and is ready to start engaging customers.
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Does Convi offer analytics and reporting like Gorgias and Tidio? Yes, Convi provides a detailed dashboard with analytics on conversations, sales influenced by AI, and customer satisfaction, helping you track its impact on your business.
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Is Convi suitable for stores with a large product catalog? Absolutely. Convi's AI is designed to handle large and complex product catalogs. It can instantly learn all of your product details to answer specific customer questions accurately.
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What kind of support does Convi offer to its users? Convi offers dedicated support to all of its users, including onboarding assistance and strategic advice on how to get the most out of the platform.
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How does Convi help with cart abandonment? Convi can proactively engage customers who have items in their cart and appear to be leaving the site. It can answer last-minute questions, offer a small discount, or create a sense of urgency to encourage them to complete their purchase.
Related Reading
Convi Team
Convi Team · AI Commerce & Shopify Experts
Written by the Convi team — building AI-powered support and shopping assistants for Shopify merchants. We share insights from working with hundreds of e-commerce stores.