Shopify live chat

Your Shopify site is where your customers and prospects find, research, and buy products. It’s also where your customers go for support. These critical interactions require real-time support, and live chat is a vital channel that enables you to provide the best customer experience.

In a sea of Shopify live chat apps, our guide can help you find the best one. Follow along as we detail what Shopify live chat is, why it’s essential, and key features so you can pick the right option for your business.

• What is Shopify live chat?

• A comparison chart of the top 15 Shopify chat apps

• The 15 best Shopify live chat apps

• Features of Shopify chat apps

• Benefits of integrating your e-commerce site with a Shopify chat app

• How to choose the right app for Shopify chat

• Frequently asked questions

• Try Shopify live chat with Zendesk for free

Shopify’s live chat feature is an e-commerce customer service tool that seamlessly embeds on your Shopify storefront via a chat service provider.

While it may look like an ordinary chatbox or widget to customers, Shopify live chat typically comes with features that ordinary live chat apps don’t have, like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). These features help detect customer sentiment and intent, so customer support agents can determine what kind of assistance is needed even if the shopper isn’t sure.

What is Shopify live chat used for?

Business owners use Shopify live chat apps to provide pre- and post-sale customer support via live chat and social messaging. Installing a live chat app on a Shopify site enables live customer service and proactive support. Agents or bots can prompt shoppers about abandoned carts or nudge them back toward items they’ve viewed multiple times.

Customers engage with live chat apps to ask questions about shipping status, returns, exchanges, products, and much more. The combination of instant assistance and personalized, proactive outreach increases conversion rates, strengthens customer loyalty, and drives down customer service operation costs.

Check out our comparison table that highlights the starting price, free trial options, and key features of the best live chat apps for Shopify.

Let’s take a deep dive into the best Shopify live chat apps so you have the right information to make the best decision for your business.

1. Zendesk

Zendesk provides a complete omnichannel support experience, integrating with all your service channels like live chat, messaging, phone, email, and social media. This enables your agents to begin conversations in a chat and continue them on another channel when necessary—within a single dashboard.

Integrating Zendesk with Shopify live chat enhances the customer experience with personalized service while making your agents more productive and efficient. Rather than spending time toggling between apps and systems to find important information, agents have all the details they need in the Agent Workspace, including customer data, order history, previous tickets, and context. With everything in one place, agents can focus on resolving customer requests and provide convenient, personalized experiences.

Zendesk also enables support agents to find and identify relevant prospects for upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Using smart triggers, Zendesk even notifies support agents when a customer leaves the site or abandons their shopping cart. This allows those agents to offer proactive support by reaching out to resolve issues or answer questions that may be preventing the sale.

With time-saving automations and robust self-service options—like AI-powered chatbots and help center and knowledge base software—Zendesk streamlines workflows to make ticket queues more manageable, too.

For businesses that already use (and love) Shopify, bring your e-commerce customer service skills to the next level and boost digital engagement with a live chat plugin. With 1,500+ pre-built apps and integrations in the Zendesk Marketplace, you can enhance the capabilities of your existing tech stack or seamlessly connect to other business tools—no coding required.

Zendesk also offers its own robust customer support, with expert guidance that helps users leverage features with greater confidence and efficiency.

Pricing:

• Support Team: $19 per agent/month

• Support Professional: $55 per agent/month

• Support Enterprise: $115 per agent/month

• Suite Team: $55 per agent/month

• Suite Growth: $89 per agent/month

• Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month

• Suite Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing

  *Plans are billed annually.

Features:

• Native and third-party chatbot integrations

• API

• Branding customization

• Canned responses

• 1,500+ apps and integrations

• Performance metrics

• Pre-built analytics dashboards

• Knowledge base management

• Start a free trial

• View pricing

• Request a demo

• Take a product tour

• Evaluate the ROI of Zendesk

Free trial:

2. Chatra

Designed for small businesses as well as online retailers, Chatra’s cloud-based Shopify live chat app features group chat, chat notes, multilingual support, and a user-friendly interface. With live typing insights, customer service reps can see what customers are typing before they hit send, giving them a head start on their response.

The real-time visitor list lets agents see how many people are on the website and reach out to those who seem to need assistance. Users can also collect customer feedback with Chatra to identify areas of improvement for the live chat experience. However, reviewers have mentioned Chatra’s slow support, limited integrations, and lack of scalability.

Features:

• Live chat

• Chatbots

• Instagram DM

• Facebook chat

• Real-time visitor list

• Chat automation

• Typing insights

• Saved replies

• File transfer

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per agent/month (limited features)

• Essential: $17 per agent/month

• Pro: $23 per agent/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

3. Tidio

Businesses can use Tidio’s live chat app for Shopify to connect with customers in real-time and provide support. Some of Tidio’s features include a visual chatbot editor, automated answers, and Lyro, an AI-powered chatbot.

Tidio’s Shopify app comes with other customer service platform features, including standard chatbots (the Lyro AI bot is an add-on) and email integration. Users can customize the chat widget to reflect their brand colors. Tidio also offers support for multiple languages and mobile devices.

Features:

• 1 chat operator

• Unlimited conversations

• Live typing preview

• Live visitor data

• Visitors' profile notes

Pricing

• Free: $0 per month (50 conversations)

• Starter: $29 per month (3 seats)

• Communicator: $25 per operator/month

• Chatbots: Starting at $29 per month (3 seats)

• Chatbots and Communicator bundle: Starting at $29 per month + $25 per seat/month

• Tidio+: $394 month

Free trial:

4. PingMe Facebook Messenger Chat

PingMe Facebook Messenger Chat app for Shopify helps brands replicate the look and feel of Messenger on their Shopify site. Some businesses choose this option to provide a familiar experience for the customer. Once the app is installed and connected to your Facebook page, you can customize the look and feel to include elements of your brand.

The app offers reporting and analytics, so users can identify areas of improvement and decide which widgets or campaigns should be optimized. It also boasts a shipping notice feature, which automatically sends shipping status updates after customers place an order.

Features:

• Customizable chat widget

• Set working days and times

• Instagram direct messaging

• Get customer contact information

• Send emails directly in-app

Pricing:

• Basic: $0 per month (limited features)

• Premium: $6 per month

Free trial:

5. Gorgias

Gorgias is a live chat and help desk solution for small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses with dedicated support teams. This Shopify app integrates live chat into its multichannel customer service system to organize customer support tickets. From the Gorgias Shopify live chat, customers can seek help for refunds and order cancellations, and ask subscription questions.

Gorgias allows users to manage their conversations from email, phone, and social platforms. View message histories, set up automated responses, and track which pages draw the most customers. Users can also escalate messages and tag responses as urgent for issues that require immediate attention. Agents can award loyalty points directly within the live chat widget, too.

Features:

• Unlimited customer support agents

• 300 tickets per month

• Live chat

• Customer service

• Automation add-on available

Pricing:

• Starter: $10 per month

• Basic: $50 per month

• Pro: $300 per month

• Advanced: $750 per month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

6. tawk.to

The free Shopify live chat app from tawk.to enables support and sales agents to interact with website visitors and customers in a single dashboard. In addition to its live chat capabilities, tawk.to features a knowledge base and ticketing system that users can integrate with their Shopify store.

The tawk.to live chat software works on iOS, Windows, and Mac OS X. The app allows users to monitor website visitors in real time and support customers who need assistance. Businesses can also track and monitor team progress and performance analytics.

Features:

• Real-time visitor monitoring

• 45+ languages

• Android and iOS apps

• Built-in knowledge base

• Canned messages

• Group messaging

• Unlimited agents and chat history

• Tagging

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

Free trial:

7. JivoChat

JivoChat’s Shopify live chat app helps customer-facing teams in e-commerce provide live chat support to customers. JivoChat allows agents to handle multiple chats, monitor visitors, and measure performance with reporting and analytics.

JivoChat also has CRM features like tags and statuses, so agents can quickly access customer data and see where potential customers are in the sales pipeline. JivoChat features typing insights as well, which means agents can see what a customer is typing and prepare their answers for speedier responses.

Features:

• Smart triggers

• Detailed visitor info

• Canned responses

• Chat and file transferring

• Live visitor monitoring

• Chatbot

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (5 users)

• Professional: $19/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

8. Re:amaze

Re:amaze is a cloud-based live chat app for Shopify that also provides a help desk that can consolidate your communication channels, customer data, and ticketing systems. It offers an app marketplace, allowing users to connect the app with a few popular customer service tools.

Users can track visitors with items in their carts, monitor their browsing activity, and send support messages. Re:amaze offers automations to help users organize communications and sends notifications to address backlogged queries.

Features:

• Unlimited email inboxes

• Social media integrations

• Live chat and chatbots

• Trainable AI intents

• Workflows and pre-written responses

• FAQ

• 1,000 free push notifications

Pricing:

• Basic: $29 per additional user/month

• Pro: $49 per additional user/month

• Plus: $69 per additional user/month

• Enterprise: $899 per month

Free trial:

9. HelpCenter

HelpCenter includes features like ticketing, FAQ pages, and a simple help desk with its Shopify live chat software. The help desk enables multichannel support, enabling users to centralize customer requests from email, chat, and FB Messenger.

HelpCenter also lets users manage multiple e-shops from a single account. HelpCenter offers chatbots for automated support and allows agents to make a contact form available while they’re away. As a result, customers can submit their questions around the clock, and agents can address the requests when they return.

Features:

• 50 tickets per month

• Unlimited FAQs

• FAQ translation

• FAQ import and export

• Premium templates

• Unlimited support agents, live chat, and auto-responses

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (10 tickets)

• Basic: $8 per month

• Standard: 45 per month

• Advanced" $100 per month

Free trial:

10. Dondy

Dondy: WhatsApp Chat+Marketing allows you to configure your widget to answer questions, provide customer support, or guide potential customers to products of interest. With Dondy, agents can message customers with abandoned carts through WhatsApp to assist with any issues preventing the sale. Users can send customers automated messages, including reminders, special offers, and coupon codes.

Dondy enables businesses to customize the chat widget to match the look and feel of their branding. It also features basic reporting and analytics so management can monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to make informed business decisions.

Features:

• Premium button designs

• Widget text customization

• Custom hours

• Product URL linking

• Reporting and analytics

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

• Pro: $5.59 per month

• Advanced: $11.99 per month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7 days

11. Formilla

Built for sales, marketing, and support teams, Formilla’s live chat for Shopify app combines email and in-app messaging with its live chat capabilities. Formilla enables automated support processes with chatbots, real-time website visitor tracking, and lead generation with various sales and marketing-oriented features.

Users can implement Formilla on desktop computers and mobile devices. The software features international language support, customizable forms, and chat widgets to assist customers wherever they are. Other features include marketing automation for promoting sales and sending follow-ups, plus desktop notifications that alert agents when a customer connects to your live chat widget.

Features:

• 1 chat agent

• Unlimited live chats

• Desktop and mobile apps

• Custom branding

• Custom language

• Canned messages

• In-app messages

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (1 chat agent)

• Premium: $13.99 per month

• Professional: $39.99 per month (2 chat agents)

• Growth: $59.99 per month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

12. Live Chat by Combidesk

Live Chat by Combidesk is a Shopify live chat app that has customizable reporting dashboards. The reporting and analytics metrics include customer data such as chat history, visitor priority, and shopping cart contents. Users can keep tabs on website visitors and see what pages they’re scrolling through.

Users can also customize the live chat widget to match their company’s branding. The app offers message templates for quick dialogue setup soon after installation. Users can create offline messages to address customer questions during off-peak times, too.

Features:

• Live visitor monitoring

• User-friendly dashboard

• Message templates

• Customizable chat widget

• Chat history

• Visitor priority

• Message templates

Pricing:

• Standard: $8 per month

Free trial:

13. Richpanel

Richpanel’s live chat and help desk app for Shopify enables agents to deliver customer support across service channels. The live chat add-on features a customizable chat widget and integrates with email, social media, and your e-commerce store. Other features include feedback and reviews, knowledge base software, and a basic reporting and analytics dashboard.

Richpanel also uses ChatGPT to provide an AI-powered assistant. It leverages machine learning to improve its responses over time and passes requests to live agents when appropriate. Additionally, Richpanel includes a self-service portal to help customers complete simple tasks on their own.

Features:

• Email and live chat

• Facebook and Instagram chat

• Shopify integration

• Basic reports

• Self-service add-on from $100 per month

Pricing:

• Starter: $24 per user/month

• Regular: $40 per user/month

• Pro: $80 per user/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14. CK: WhatsApp Chat + Abandoned

CK: WhatsApp Chat is a live chat Shopify app that adds a button to your online store. Customers can click to connect with support agents via WhatsApp for real-time customer service. CK offers multiple agent support, meaning customer service agents can pass conversations to each other without making the customer repeat themselves.

Additionally, CK provides backup SMS messaging if WhatsApp encounters problems. The app also provides targeted messaging features like abandoned cart email alerts, which notify agents when a customer abandoned a cart so they can reach out to see if the customer needs help.

Features:

• Unlimited manual cart recovery messages

• Automated recovery messages

• WhatsApp CRM

• Email alerts

• Cash on delivery (COD) confirmation

• Priority support

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

• VIP: $9.99 per month

• Advanced: $29.99 per month

Free trial:

15. LiveChat

LiveChat with Help Desk offers integrations with some common communication tools, like Mailchimp and WhatsApp. Mobile access means conversations with customers are automatically synced across devices, so businesses can offer customer support from anywhere.

With LiveChat’s customer view, agents can see a customer’s purchase history and what they currently have in their cart. Its chat engagement feature helps guide potential customers while they’re shopping and provides real-time assistance by answering questions about products or services. Nudge website visitors about abandoned items in their cart and send announcements to shoppers when their most-viewed items go on sale.

Features:

• 60-day chat history

• Basic chat customization

• Asynchronous communication

• Data security

Pricing:

• Starter: $16 per month

• Team: $33 per month

• Business: $50 per month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

The right Shopify live chat apps provide features to help boost the customer experience. Here are a few features that can help you build customer relationships and increase customer loyalty.

AI-powered chatbots

AI-powered chatbots (like those included with Zendesk AI) use machine learning to improve their responses with each customer support interaction. They can answer FAQs and seamlessly transfer conversations to a live agent when a human touch is required. Bots can also reach out to customers who have spent more time than usual on the checkout page to offer a discount code to close the sale.

Because AI chatbots deflect tickets and streamline workflows, agents are more efficient and productive. That means lower staffing costs, shortened resolution times, and higher customer satisfaction. This makes chatbots an effective complement to the best Shopify live chat apps.

Omnichannel support

Enable agents to provide an omnichannel experience for customers by giving them the tools they need to manage chats from Shopify in the same space as chats from other channels. With a unified omnichannel workspace, agents have the information and context from the entire customer journey in one place. That means agents can provide a personalized support experience and assist customers without leaving their workspace.

Automations

With the growing demand for in-app and website live chats, businesses need to find a way to scale their chat operations. Automation provides many capabilities that enable companies to scale live chat without losing the magic of a real-time conversation.

A live chat solution for Shopify apps needs automations that streamline workflows and eliminate the manual, repetitive work of initiating, routing, and managing live chats. These features include:

• Intelligent routing: Intelligent routing sends conversations to the best-suited agents based on expertise, request type, channel, or priority. This ensures all customer inquiries are resolved efficiently and effectively.

• Triggered replies: Triggered replies are automatically sent when an event occurs. For example, an automated out-of-office response with self-service information can be sent to a customer when they contact your team outside of normal business hours.

• Pre-written responses: Macros or shortcuts help agents reply to common questions faster and with consistent messaging.

• Automated CSAT surveys: Configure automated CSAT surveys to go out to customers immediately after an interaction, so you can collect feedback while the experience is still fresh in their minds.

Reporting and analytics

Whether customer conversations happen over live chat, in person, or via email, the data collected during every interaction is invaluable. The best live chat apps for Shopify offer reporting and analytics software that ensures none of that data falls through the cracks by consolidating it across all channels, so you can generate useful insights.

Live chat apps should also include the reporting capabilities you need to track progress against essential KPIs, such as:

• Missed chats

• Average handle time (AHT)

• First contact resolution rate (FCR)

• Average wait time

• Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

No-code setup

No-code installation means users can implement, customize, and update an app without employing an army of software developers. When Shopify live chat apps set up easily with low-code or no-code implementation, this saves your business time and money.

Add your live chat tool to your Shopify storefront with:

• No-code setup

• Embedded chat widgets

• Easily customizable options

For example, Zendesk sets up quickly—no coding required. Within minutes, you can have a Shopify live chat solution that is easy to use and customize, that enables omnichannel support, and that scales with your business.

When looking for a Shopify live chat app, ensure that it’s also a complete customer service solution. This allows you to maximize the advantages and enhance the customer experience. Here are some common benefits that come with choosing a Shopify chat app for your website.

Personalized customer experiences

In a digital world, it can be challenging to replicate the personalized customer experience that customers get in a brick-and-mortar store. That’s why it’s so important to integrate with a customer service solution—like Zendesk—that enables more than just live chat.

For example, Zendesk offers a unified omnichannel workspace that provides context about the customer—such as interaction history, buying preferences, prior issues, and personal data—allowing agents to provide a personalized customer experience.

The right Shopify live chat app empowers your team to be proactive in e-commerce and deliver direct support to customers within your online store. You can set triggers that automatically send a welcome message to returning visitors offering personalized recommendations based on previous orders and preferences.

Improved customer support

Shopify live chat apps allow businesses to provide real-time communication and assistance and 24/7 support. Customers can ask follow-up questions and get answers immediately, all while receiving a personalized experience. With widget integrations, customers can browse any page they like while continuing to chat with your reps in real time. Even though they’re online, shoppers can still have a comfortable, immersive conversation.

Reduced cart abandonment, increased conversions, and higher cart value

By proactively chatting with customers on your site, your team can provide potential—or hesitant—customers with support and guidance throughout their shopping experience. Live chat apps help businesses increase sales conversions by offering support when shoppers appear to be stuck during the checkout process or have product questions. It also helps increase cart value, boosting sales even further.

For example, Spoonflower, a leading marketplace for home decor and premium fabrics, has experienced a boost in revenue since implementing live chat.

“Our revenue per user is higher when a customer is chatting with us versus browsing the site on their own,” says Michelle Swart, data analyst and Zendesk administrator at Spoonflower. She added that Spoonflower’s “conversion rate in chat is nine times higher than the standard conversion rate for customers using the site.”

More purchases. Less abandoned shopping carts. It’s a win-win.

Improved agent efficiency

Shopify live chat helps support teams do more with less. It allows agents to carry on multiple chats simultaneously across channels, which saves time, maximizes resources, and increases productivity and reach—something that is impossible with support by phone.

Automations eliminate repetitive tasks, freeing up agents to handle more complex requests. Self-service resources offered through Shopify live chat—like chatbots and help center articles—deflect tickets, making ticket queues more manageable. Plus, when integrated with the right customer support software, like Zendesk, agents can seamlessly switch between conversations across different channels, all within a single workspace.

As the number of live chat apps in the Shopify app store increases, we’ve simplified the process of picking the right app for your business. As you compare different apps, consider how well they perform on each criterion and use those scores as your guide to choosing the right app.

Consider both the customer and the agent experience

Customers and agents will regularly engage with your live chat app. Ensure the Shopify app you choose improves the customer experience and has the tools and features to enhance the employee experience.

Evaluate integration options

The best live chat apps integrate easily with the systems you already use, enabling you to enhance the functionality and capabilities of your current tools and e-commerce site. Adding the right integrations streamlines data to create a 360-degree customer view and breaks down data silos between departments. This provides every team with the context and tools to personalize the customer experience.

The Zendesk Marketplace gives you access to over 1,500 pre-built apps and integrations—such as sales CRMs, marketing automation tools, internal communication apps, billing systems, and more—so you can supercharge the live chat app for your Shopify store.

Assess scalability and fit—now and in the future

It may be tempting to choose the most basic chat app that meets all your current requirements. While a basic chat app may get your team up and chatting quickly, if the demands on your team grow, you may be forced to migrate to a new app.

A better option is to find a flexible chat app that satisfies your current needs but can scale to meet your evolving needs as you grow and expand your service operation. When paired with agile customer experience software, the right Shopify live chat app should allow you to serve multiple customers simultaneously. This will enable agents to solve issues quickly and deliver better experiences.

Test the software with a free trial

A best practice in choosing the right software for your business is taking advantage of software that offers a free trial. That way, your agents can test out the features and capabilities of the live chat app to see if it meets your business needs. You can also gather feedback from the team on what it does well (and doesn’t do well), and determine if another app would be a better fit.

Determine time to value and ease of implementation

The best chat software sets up quickly—in minutes, not months—and should integrate easily with your current tech stack. It should also be intuitive so your support team can use it from day one.

Zendesk, for instance, sets up fast so you can start maximizing your time to value. It's simple to implement, too, meaning customer support agents can jump right in without having to sit through cumbersome and costly training sessions.

When your business can seamlessly implement new software and continue providing exceptional customer service, you usually notice the difference in your bottom line.

Check out these frequently asked questions to help you solidify your pick for the best live chat app for Shopify.