CRM Comparison

Gorgias vs HelpDesk (2026)

Gorgias is an ecommerce-native helpdesk wired into Shopify with ticket-based pricing; HelpDesk is a general-purpose ticketing tool by LiveChat with flat per-agent seats. Here's how to pick in 2026.

Gorgias

Ecommerce-focused customer support helpdesk with deep Shopify integration and AI automation built to resolve tickets and drive sales simultaneously.

Pricing From $10/mo (Starter, 50 tickets); Pro from $360/mo
Our rating 4.4/5
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HelpDesk

Cloud-based ticketing platform by LiveChat that turns multi-channel customer messages into organized, automatable support tickets with built-in AI tools.

Pricing From $29/user/mo (Team); Business $50/user/mo
Our rating 4.2/5
Visit HelpDesk

TL;DR

  • Pick Gorgias if you run a Shopify store and want support and sales working together — order actions, revenue attribution, and AI that resolves order-status tickets automatically.
  • Pick HelpDesk if you want straightforward multichannel ticketing for a general team, with flat per-agent pricing and built-in AI at no extra cost.

The core difference: ecommerce engine vs general ticketing

Gorgias is a conversational AI helpdesk built for ecommerce brands. Over 17,000 mostly-Shopify merchants use it, and the whole product is organized around one job: resolving high-volume order tickets and turning support into revenue. Live Shopify data sits inside each conversation, so an agent can refund, edit an order, or apply a discount without leaving the ticket.

HelpDesk, by LiveChat, is a general-purpose cloud ticketing system. It centralizes email, web forms, live chat, and social into one queue for any kind of support team — SaaS, retail, IT, nonprofits — with 13,000+ customers. It makes no assumptions about your commerce stack. That neutrality is the trade-off: broad and clean, but without Gorgias's order-action superpowers.

Pricing

The pricing models differ as much as the products. Gorgias is ticket-based: from $10/mo (Starter, 50 tickets) up to Pro from $360/mo, with plans scaling by monthly ticket volume rather than seat count. That suits seasonal spikes — you pay for the peak — but overages can add up fast, and AI Agent is metered on top at ~$0.90–$1.00 per automated interaction.

HelpDesk is flat per-seat: $29/user/mo (Team) and $50/user/mo (Business), with AI summaries and auto-tagging included. For a small, steady team, budgeting is trivial and there are no volume surprises.

AI and automation

Gorgias's AI Agent is a resolution engine — it closes routine ecommerce tickets (where's my order, returns) end to end, with vendor-claimed 60% instant resolution, but billed per interaction. HelpDesk's AI is an assist layer — summaries, auto-tagging, and language detection that speed up human agents rather than replacing them, and it's bundled free. If deflecting order tickets is the goal, Gorgias; if you want to make agents faster without metered AI bills, HelpDesk.

Channels and ecosystem

Gorgias unifies email, chat, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, SMS, and voice with revenue attribution tying conversations to sales. HelpDesk covers email, forms, chat, and social, and leans on its LiveChat sibling for real-time chat — great if you already run LiveChat, less seamless if you don't.

Who should pick what

  • Shopify store drowning in order-status tickets → Gorgias.
  • General SaaS, IT, or nonprofit support team → HelpDesk.
  • Seasonal ecommerce with spiky volume → Gorgias (ticket-based scales with you).
  • Small team wanting flat, predictable bills → HelpDesk.
  • Team that wants support tied to revenue → Gorgias.
  • Already using LiveChat for chat → HelpDesk (native escalation).

Bottom line

If your queue is dominated by Shopify order questions and you want AI to resolve them while agents drive revenue, Gorgias pays for itself. If you run general support and value flat, predictable per-seat pricing with free AI assist, HelpDesk is the cleaner, cheaper fit. Match the tool to whether commerce is your core.

Try them yourself

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Frequently asked questions

Gorgias vs HelpDesk — which is better?
It depends on what you sell. Gorgias is better for Shopify and ecommerce brands because it pulls live order data into tickets and lets agents refund or edit orders without leaving the helpdesk. HelpDesk is better for general SMB and SaaS support teams that want clean multichannel ticketing with flat, predictable pricing and no ecommerce specialization.
Is Gorgias cheaper than HelpDesk?
At the very bottom Gorgias starts lower at $10/mo for 50 tickets, but its Pro tier jumps to $360/mo and pricing scales with ticket volume — costs spike during seasonal peaks. HelpDesk charges a flat $29/user/mo (Team) or $50/user/mo (Business), so a small team with steady volume gets more predictable bills, while a high-ticket store can pay far more on Gorgias.
Which one integrates with Shopify better?
Gorgias, decisively. Its entire product is built around Shopify — agents see full order history and can cancel, modify, or refund orders and trigger macros inside a ticket. HelpDesk connects to business tools through 100+ integrations but has no native order-management depth; ecommerce actions mean tab-switching.
Does either include AI ticket resolution?
Both, but differently. Gorgias AI Agent auto-resolves routine ecommerce questions like order status and returns, billed separately at roughly $0.90–$1.00 per automated interaction. HelpDesk bundles AI summaries, auto-tagging, and language detection into standard plans at no extra cost, but it assists agents rather than fully resolving tickets.
Which is better for a non-ecommerce support team?
HelpDesk. It is platform-agnostic and serves retail, SaaS, IT, and nonprofits equally well, with flat per-seat pricing and no Shopify assumptions baked in. Gorgias delivers far less value off Shopify, and teams on WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or custom stacks get a weaker experience.