AR · July 2026 · 7 min read
One publishes its price and has Shopify on the cap table. The other makes you ask.
Both automate e-commerce support and both act on orders. The difference is transparency and where the cost curve bends.
Both of these can look up an order, process a return and issue a refund without a human. That already puts them ahead of most tools sold as customer service AI. The separation is elsewhere.
What they share
Native Shopify integration, order actions inside the conversation, and a focus on retail rather than general support. If your store has real ticket volume, both are credible.
Where they differ
| Gorgias | Zowie | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $10-900/mo published | Custom, sales-led |
| Seats | Unlimited at every tier | Not published |
| Investor | Shopify co-led Series C | Independent |
| G2 | 4.6 from 520 reviews | Thinner evidence base |
| Positioning | Order actions and support ops | Revenue as well as deflection |
Gorgias: cheap to start, expensive to grow into
Starter is $10 a month for 50 tickets with unlimited seats, which is the lowest barrier in this directory. The curve is the thing to model.
| Monthly tickets | Cost | Per ticket |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 (Advanced) | $900 | $0.18 |
| 6,000 | $1,260 | $0.21 |
| 8,000 | $1,980 | $0.25 |
A 20% volume rise from 5,000 to 6,000 produces a 40% cost rise, because overages run $0.36 per ticket. Peak season is when both happen at once.
Zowie: sales-led, revenue-framed
No published pricing, so evaluation requires a sales conversation and you cannot shortlist on cost. Positioning leans on support driving revenue rather than only deflecting tickets, which suits larger DTC brands where that framing has a budget behind it.
The Shopify investment matters
Shopify co-led Gorgias's $30M Series C in August 2022. That is a signal about integration priority rather than a vanity fact, and it is part of why the order actions are deeper.
Worth noting the public funding record for Gorgias is inconsistent: TechCrunch reports a $710M valuation in 2022 while a Sacra profile describes $530M in 2024. We have not resolved which is correct.
Which to choose
- Small to mid Shopify store: Gorgias, and start on a low tier.
- Want a price without a sales call: Gorgias, since Zowie publishes nothing.
- Large DTC brand treating support as a revenue channel: evaluate Zowie.
- Not on Shopify: neither. Reviewers note Gorgias scales poorly outside retail.
Pricing read from published sources and dated. We do not test resolution quality on either platform.
Frequently asked
Is Gorgias or Zowie better for Shopify?
Gorgias for most merchants — published pricing, unlimited seats, deepest native order actions, and Shopify as an investor. Zowie suits larger DTC brands framing support as revenue.
How much does Gorgias cost?
$10/mo for 50 tickets, $60 for 300, $360 for 2,000, $900 for 5,000, then $0.36 per ticket in overages.
How much does Zowie cost?
Not published. Sales-led, so a quote requires a conversation. We do not estimate figures vendors have not published.
Can both process refunds?
Yes. Both execute order actions natively on Shopify, which is the dividing line between e-commerce support tools that work and ones that escalate everything.
Does Shopify own Gorgias?
No, but Shopify co-led its $30M Series C in 2022 and is an investor. Gorgias remains founder-led under Romain Lapeyre.
What happens to Gorgias pricing at high volume?
Overages bite. At 6,000 tickets you pay $1,260 against $900 at 5,000 — 40% more cost for 20% more volume.
Which is better for a small store?
Gorgias Starter at $10 for 50 tickets. Zowie is not positioned for that end of the market.
Do either work outside Shopify?
Both support other platforms, but the advantage is the Shopify depth. Reviewers note Gorgias does not scale well for non-retail or multi-brand structures.
Which has more independent reviews?
Gorgias, at 4.6 from over 500 G2 reviews. Zowie has a thinner public evidence base.
Is there a cheaper Shopify option?
Tidio's free plan covers 50 conversations a month and integrates with Shopify for product recommendations, though it is far shallower on order actions.
Tools mentioned
Full reviews, pricing tiers and where each one breaks.
Gorgias
The Shopify-native default, with the deepest order, return and refund actions in this category.
Zowie
Resolution-focused e-commerce agent that also pushes for revenue rather than deflection alone.
Yuma AI
Autonomous agent built only for Shopify brands, with no pretence of serving anyone else.
Tidio Lyro
One of the few genuinely cheap autonomous agents, bundled with live chat and a basic help desk.
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WRITTEN BY AR · UPDATED 2026-07-29
I read the fine print. Vendor pricing pages, billing definitions, terms, funding filings and acquisition notices — then I do the arithmetic nobody publishes: what a platform actually costs at your volume, what its headline metric is really counting, and who owns it now. I do not run benchmarks, and no page here pretends otherwise.