Gorgias is the best help desk for most Shopify stores, even though it does not top our general ranking: it is priced by ticket rather than by agent, puts order data in the inbox, and its AI agent can handle refunds, cancellations and address changes. Help Scout and Freshdesk score higher on our rubric and are cheaper for stores with high ticket volume and few agents.
Ecommerce support is seasonal and volume-driven, so the billing unit matters more than the plan name. Seat-priced tools get expensive when you add temporary staff for peak season; ticket-priced Gorgias gets expensive when volume spikes. Every AI Agent interaction at Gorgias also uses up a plan ticket. See per-seat vs per-resolution pricing and our rubric.
Quick picks
- Shopify store: Gorgias — order actions in the inbox and no charge per agent.
- Small store, mostly email: Help Scout — $25 per user and AI billed only per resolution.
- Phone, WhatsApp and EU hosting: Freshdesk — Freshdesk Omni from $29 per agent.
- High-volume, many channels: Zendesk — native phone, messaging and social, at a price.
The ranking
Help Scout
Small teams that work mainly in email8.3- Price from
- $25 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes
- EU data hosting
- No
Help Scout is a shared inbox, live chat widget and knowledge base for small and mid-size support teams. Paid plans start at $25 per user per month on annual billing, there is a free plan for up to 5 users, and its customer-facing AI agent costs $0.75 per resolution with no charge when the customer still needs a person.
The catch: Data is hosted in the United States only, and the prices on the pricing page are annual-billing prices: paying monthly costs $30 instead of $25 on Standard.
Freshdesk
Budget-conscious teams that want EU hosting and a cheap per-agent entry price8.0- Price from
- $19 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Freshdesk is Freshworks' help desk, sold in two versions: standalone Freshdesk for email ticketing, and Freshdesk Omni, which adds chat, phone and messaging. Freshdesk starts at $19 per agent per month on annual billing and Omni at $29. The Freddy AI Agent is sold in packs of 100 sessions for $49, and a session is charged whether or not the AI solves the customer's problem.
The catch: Freddy AI Agent sessions are used up whether or not the issue gets resolved, and the price per session is now several times what Freshworks' own June 2025 price list showed: $49 per 100 sessions, against $100 per 1,000 then.
HubSpot Service Hub
Teams already on HubSpot's CRM that want support tickets on the same customer records as sales and marketing7.5- Price from
- $7 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes
- EU data hosting
- Yes
HubSpot Service Hub is the customer service part of HubSpot's CRM: ticketing, shared inboxes, live chat, calling, a knowledge base and a customer portal, all on the same contact records as HubSpot's marketing and sales tools. Seats cost $7 (Starter), $90 (Professional) and $150 (Enterprise) per seat per month on an annual commitment. Professional and Enterprise also require one-time onboarding at $1,500 and $3,500. The Breeze Customer Agent costs $0.50 per resolved conversation, paid in HubSpot Credits.
The catch: The advertised prices leave things out. Professional and Enterprise need one-time onboarding ($1,500 and $3,500), the Starter price of $7 assumes an annual commitment against $20 month to month, and the included credits cover only about 60 AI resolutions a month on Professional. If you hold other HubSpot hubs at a higher tier, every Core Seat is priced at that tier.
Gorgias
Shopify and other ecommerce brands with many agents and moderate ticket volume7.4- Price from
- $10 per month
- Pricing model
- Per ticket volume
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Gorgias is a help desk built for online stores, above all Shopify stores, with order data in the inbox and an AI agent that can handle refunds, cancellations and address changes. It is priced by billable tickets a month rather than per agent. Basic costs $50 a month for 300 tickets, Pro $300 for 2,000 and Advanced $750 for 5,000, on annual billing. The AI Agent costs $0.90 per automated interaction, and each of those interactions also uses up one of your plan's tickets.
The catch: Every conversation the AI Agent handles is billed twice: once as an automated interaction at $0.90 and once as a helpdesk ticket against your plan's allowance. Beyond the interactions included in your plan, the AI rate rises to $1.50.
Intercom
Software and online businesses that want a customer-facing AI agent at the center of support6.9- Price from
- $29 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Intercom is a help desk with a shared inbox, ticketing, live chat Messenger, help center, native phone, SMS and WhatsApp, built around its Fin AI agent. Seats start at $29 per agent per month on annual billing, Fin costs $0.99 per outcome with no included allowance, and unlimited Copilot for agents is $29 per agent. The company behind it renamed itself Fin on May 12, 2026, while the help desk keeps the Intercom name, and Salesforce has signed an agreement to acquire it that had not closed when we last checked.
The catch: Fin charges $0.99 per outcome, and since March 2026 an outcome includes a configured handoff to a human, not only a resolution. A conversation Fin passes to your team through a Procedure you set up is billed even though a person still has to answer it.
Front
Small and mid-size operations and account teams that work mainly in email6.8- Price from
- $25 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Front is a shared inbox and ticketing tool built for teams that live in email, such as logistics, travel and B2B services. Plans cost $25, $65 and $105 per seat per month on annual billing. Copilot adds $20 per seat below Enterprise, and the Autopilot AI agent is charged per conversation by what it achieved: $0.05 to triage, $0.39 to hand off and $0.89 to resolve.
The catch: Seat caps push growing teams up a tier: Starter stops at 10 seats and Professional at 50, beyond which Enterprise is the only option at $105 per seat, annual only. Payments are non-refundable and removed seats keep being billed until the next term.
Zendesk
Mid-size and enterprise teams that need phone, messaging and email in one tool5.2- Price from
- $19 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Zendesk is a help desk for mid-size and large support teams that covers email, messaging, live chat, phone, WhatsApp, social channels and a help center in one suite. Omnichannel plans start at $55 per agent per month on annual billing, the Copilot agent-assist add-on costs $50 per agent and must be bought for every seat, and AI agents are billed per automated resolution under rules that Zendesk's own pricing page and help center currently describe differently.
The catch: Copilot cannot be licensed for a subset of agents: once it is on, every Suite Professional seat costs $115 plus $50. And the per-resolution price of AI agents under the billing model in force since May 2026 is not published.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Price from | Free plan | EU data hosting | German | Spanish | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | 8.3 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $25 per agent per month | Yes | No | Not documented | Not documented | Small teams that work mainly in email |
| Freshdesk | 8.0 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $19 per agent per month | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Budget-conscious teams that want EU hosting and a cheap per-agent entry price |
| HubSpot Service Hub | 7.5 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $7 per agent per month | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Teams already on HubSpot's CRM that want support tickets on the same customer records as sales and marketing |
| Gorgias | 7.4 | Per ticket volume | $10 per month | No | Yes | Not documented | Not documented | Shopify and other ecommerce brands with many agents and moderate ticket volume |
| Intercom | 6.9 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $29 per agent per month | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Software and online businesses that want a customer-facing AI agent at the center of support |
| Front | 6.8 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $25 per agent per month | No | Yes | No | No | Small and mid-size operations and account teams that work mainly in email |
| Zendesk | 5.2 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $19 per agent per month | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mid-size and enterprise teams that need phone, messaging and email in one tool |
True cost at 3, 10 and 50 agents
seats only with AI on
3 agents · Entry tier
3 agents: 750 tickets a month, 150 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent.
10 agents · Mid tier
10 agents: 2,500 tickets a month, 500 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent.
50 agents · Mid tier
50 agents: 12,500 tickets a month, 2,500 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent.
Estimates from vendors' published USD list prices with annual billing, verified on the date shown on this page. Taxes, discounts, onboarding fees and telephony usage are not included.
Help desk true-cost calculator
How to choose
If you run a Shopify store with several agents and a moderate number of tickets, pick Gorgias. Seats are free, so adding seasonal staff costs nothing, but check your monthly ticket count against Basic's 300 and Pro's 2,000.
If your ticket volume is high compared with your headcount, a seat-priced tool will usually cost less. Pick Help Scout for email-first stores or Freshdesk if you need phone and WhatsApp.
If you want an AI agent to handle most first contacts, compare Intercom at $0.99 per outcome with the Gorgias AI Agent at $0.90 per interaction, remembering that Gorgias also counts each AI interaction as a ticket.
If you already run on Zendesk, read Gorgias vs Zendesk before renewing; Gorgias documents an importer for Zendesk history.
Verdict
Gorgias is the default for Shopify and other ecommerce brands with several agents. Ignore it if your store handles a high volume of tickets with a small team, or sells mostly B2B, where Help Scout or Freshdesk will cost less.
For buyers in the United States
A help desk holds your customers' personal information, so the vendor's contract has to meet state privacy law: California and about twenty other states require written limits on what a vendor may do with that data. Healthcare teams also need a signed business associate agreement before any patient information reaches a ticket.
Every vendor we cover publishes a US dollar price list, so the prices on this site are the prices you will be quoted before discounts. If you also serve customers in Europe or the United Kingdom, check where the product can host data; each review lists EU and UK data hosting and whether a HIPAA business associate agreement is available.
Help desk software and data protection law in the United States
Frequently asked questions
What is the best help desk for Shopify?
Gorgias is built around Shopify, with order data in the inbox and an AI agent that can issue refunds and change addresses. It is priced by ticket: Basic is $50 a month for 300 tickets on annual billing, with no charge per agent.
Why does Gorgias rank below Help Scout and Freshdesk?
Our rubric scores products for all buyers, and Gorgias loses points because it documents no agent-assist AI and assigns the hosting region by merchant location rather than letting you choose. For a Shopify store those points may matter less than its order integrations. See how we review.
How does Gorgias bill for its AI Agent?
The AI Agent costs $0.90 per automated interaction on annual billing, and each interaction also counts as one of your plan's billable tickets. A store that automates many conversations pays twice for each of them.
Is per-ticket or per-agent pricing cheaper for an online store?
Per-ticket pricing is cheaper when many agents handle a modest volume, for example with seasonal staff. Per-agent pricing is cheaper when a few agents handle many tickets. Test both with your own numbers in the true-cost calculator.
Keep reading
- Best help desk softwarebest list
- Best help desk software for small businessbest list
- Best enterprise help desk softwarebest list
- Best free help desk softwarebest list
- Best AI help desk softwarebest list
- Best help desk software with EU data residencybest list
- Help desk vs shared inboxguide
- Do you need the AI add-on?guide
Sources
- Help Scout pricing — Help Scout · September 18, 2026
- User-based billing and plans guide — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- Light users — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- Manage your contact-based plan — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- About annual payments — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- Import emails or tickets into Help Scout — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- Security at Help Scout — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- HIPAA at Help Scout — Help Scout Docs · September 18, 2026
- AI transparency — Help Scout · September 18, 2026
- About Help Scout — Help Scout · September 18, 2026
- eCatholic customer story — Help Scout · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk pricing — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk Omni pricing — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks price list (current as of June 13, 2025) — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Understanding Freshdesk pricing plans — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Explore Freshdesk free plan — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Understanding full-time vs occasional agents — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Add and use collaborators to assist in ticketing — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Freddy AI Agent and chatbot sessions FAQs — Freshworks Support · September 18, 2026
- Manage Freddy AI add-ons — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks Terms of Service — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Manage languages — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Where is your data (servers) located? — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks Data Processing Agreement — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks sub-processors — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks Trust Center — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- HIPAA configuration guide — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- The Freddy AI trust framework — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk API: rate limit — Freshworks Developers · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk upcoming changes (December 2025 to June 2026) — Freshdesk Support · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk Omni — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk apps — Freshworks Marketplace · September 18, 2026
- Freshdesk — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks reports fourth quarter and full year 2025 results — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks reports record second quarter 2026 results — Freshworks · September 18, 2026
- Freshworks pricing and buyer data — Vendr · September 18, 2026
- Service Hub pricing — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- Service Hub Preise — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot Product & Services Catalog — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot Service Hub pricing guide — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot Credits — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- Understand HubSpot Credits and billing — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 19, 2026
- AI customer service agent — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- Manage seats — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot language offerings — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot data centers — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot security — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- Security and compliance — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- Sensitive data — HubSpot · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot AI cloud infrastructure FAQ — HubSpot Knowledge Base · September 19, 2026
- HubSpot Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — US Securities and Exchange Commission · September 19, 2026
- Gorgias pricing — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- Voice and SMS add-on price tiers (pricing page script) — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- How you're billed for using Gorgias — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Legacy pricing for Helpdesk and AI Agent subscribers — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Voice add-on 101 — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- SMS add-on 101 — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Import data from Zendesk — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Migrate from non-Zendesk providers — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Languages Gorgias can detect — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Set the language AI Agent replies in — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Security and privacy FAQ for Gorgias AI Agent — Gorgias Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Security at Gorgias — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- Data Processing Agreement — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- List of data subprocessors — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- Gorgias AI Agent — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- About Gorgias — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- Gorgias customer stories — Gorgias · September 18, 2026
- Intercom pricing — Intercom · September 18, 2026
- Intercom plans explained — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Pricing FAQs — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Fin AI Agent outcomes — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- From resolutions to outcomes: evolving how Fin delivers value — Intercom · September 18, 2026
- Fin pricing — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Pro add-on — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Proactive Support Plus add-on — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Early Stage program — Intercom · September 18, 2026
- Use Intercom in your preferred language — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Regional data hosting — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Security at Intercom — Intercom · September 18, 2026
- Historical data migration to Intercom — Intercom Help · September 18, 2026
- Fin AI Agent — Fin · September 18, 2026
- About Fin — Fin · September 18, 2026
- Today, Intercom becomes Fin — Intercom · September 18, 2026
- Salesforce signs definitive agreement to acquire Fin — Salesforce · September 18, 2026
- Intercom pricing: buyer data — Vendr · September 18, 2026
- Front pricing — Front · September 18, 2026
- Front plans and pricing — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Adding and removing licenses — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Guests in Front — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Channel limits per license — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Autopilot pricing and billing — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- AI Answers (legacy) — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Meet Autopilot, the AI agent built for control, not chaos — Front Community · September 18, 2026
- Switch to French? (staff answer on interface languages) — Front Community · September 18, 2026
- Data location — Front Help Center · September 18, 2026
- Data Processing Addendum — Front · September 18, 2026
- List of subprocessors — Front · September 18, 2026
- Security at Front — Front · September 18, 2026
- Rate limiting — Front Developers · September 18, 2026
- About Front — Front · September 18, 2026
- Front customers — Front · September 18, 2026
- Front pricing and buyer data — Vendr · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk pricing — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- What counts as an agent license in Zendesk — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Managing light agent seats in your Zendesk account — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Can I buy a Zendesk Copilot license for some agents only? — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- About automated resolutions for AI agents — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- About automated resolution tiers — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Managing resolution allowances — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Upgrading from automated resolutions to resolution allowances — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Main Services Agreement — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Agreements and terms: data processing agreement, sub-processor policy, business associate agreement — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About the Data Center Location add-on — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Regional Data Hosting Policy — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk Trust Center — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk AI data use information — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk language support by product — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- What is being removed (updated August 2026) — Zendesk Help · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk completes acquisition of Forethought — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- About Zendesk — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk QA — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Fortnum & Mason customer story — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Best Egg customer story — Zendesk · September 18, 2026
- Zendesk pricing and buyer data — Vendr · September 18, 2026
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: How we review