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Running the shop
E-commerce helpdesk prices: what Gorgias, Zendesk, Freshdesk and Re:amaze publish, and what 600 tickets a month costs
We read four helpdesk pricing pages for UK online shops: what each publishes, how AI replies are priced per ticket, and what a 600-ticket month costs on each.
"Best customer service app for Shopify" is a search with a hundred answers, and the price pages behind them have changed shape in the last two years: every helpdesk now sells an AI reply, and every one of them prices it per conversation. We read four pricing pages on one day and worked them through for one shop.
What this is, and is not. A desk check of pricing pages as they stood on 1 October 2026. We did not trial any product and say nothing about how good they are. Prices change; read the live page before deciding.
What each publishes
| Helpdesk | Plan prices | AI replies |
|---|---|---|
| Gorgias | Starter US$10 a month for 50 tickets; Basic US$50 (annual) or US$60 for 300; Pro US$300 or US$360 for 2,000; Advanced US$750 or US$900 for 5,000; overage US$0.36 to US$0.40 a ticket | AI Agent on every plan, with an allowance of AI interactions included (30 on Starter and Basic, 190 on Pro, 530 on Advanced) and US$1.50 for each one beyond it; the page also quotes US$0.90 an interaction on annual contracts and US$1.00 monthly for AI Agent, so ask which rate a larger allowance is sold at; each AI interaction also counts as a ticket |
| Zendesk Suite (UK) | Team £45 an agent a month on annual billing, £59 monthly; Professional £89 or £115 | 5 automated resolutions an agent a month on Team, 10 on Professional; then £1.30 each committed, or US$2.00 pay-as-you-go |
| Freshdesk | Growth US$19, Pro US$55, Enterprise US$89 an agent a month on annual billing; 14-day trial, no free plan | Freddy AI Agent: first 500 sessions included, then US$49 per 100 sessions; AI Copilot US$29 an agent a month |
| Re:amaze | Basic US$29, Pro US$49, Plus US$69 a team member a month (10% off annual); Starter US$59 flat for unlimited members up to 500 conversations | AI Agent included with 5, 10 or 20 resolutions a user a month; US$0.85 each after |
Two pricing units: per ticket (Gorgias) and per agent (the other three), with AI on top of both at roughly a dollar a conversation.
The example shop
A two-person online shop on Shopify: the owner and one part-timer, 600 tickets a month, half of them "where is my order", a quarter returns, the rest everything else. Peak season doubles it.
The sums
| Helpdesk | Basis, 600 tickets, 2 people | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gorgias Pro | US$300 annual billing; 600 tickets inside the 2,000 | US$300, plus US$1.50 per AI reply after the 190 included |
| Gorgias Basic | US$50 for 300 tickets + 300 × US$0.40 overage | US$170 |
| Zendesk Suite Team | 2 agents × £45 | £90, plus £1.30 per AI resolution after 10 |
| Freshdesk Growth | 2 agents × US$19 | US$38, AI sessions within the 500 included |
| Re:amaze Starter | flat rate, 500 conversations | US$59, then the next tier |
Now add the AI. If the shop lets the AI answer the 300 WISMO tickets, Gorgias includes 190 on Pro and charges US$1.50 for each of the other 110: US$165. Zendesk includes 5 an agent on Team, 10 for two agents, and charges £1.30 for each of the other 290: £377. The owner forums we read call this the risk: the bill rises with the queue, and the queue rises in the month cash is tightest. In December, the same shop's AI line doubles.
What the price does not include
Setting up the macros, connecting Shopify, Royal Mail and the returns app, and the fortnight in which the owner still answers everything because the AI's replies need checking. None of the pages prices that, and for a shop this size it is the real cost.
Where Overlyft fits
An AI Customer Service Assistant set up by Overlyft works inside whichever of these the shop uses, or inside the Gmail inbox and Shopify Inbox a shop under a few hundred tickets usually has. It drafts the reply from the order, the tracking and the returns rules, and the owner approves and sends it. The set-up is priced after a fixed-price audit, and the shop pays Anthropic directly for its own Claude plan. The assistant is not a helpdesk; it is the person answering the tickets in the one you have, with the where-is-my-order replies as the model.
Short answers from this page
What does helpdesk software cost for a small online shop?
For a two-person shop handling 600 tickets a month, on prices published on 1 October 2026: Gorgias Pro is US$300 a month on annual billing, with 190 AI replies included and US$1.50 for each one beyond that; Zendesk Suite Team is £90 a month for two agents, with AI resolutions charged separately. Per-reply AI pricing means the bill grows with the busy season.
Source: Each supplier's pricing page, read 1 October 2026
Where this comes from: gorgias.com/pricing; zendesk.co.uk/pricing; freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing; reamaze.com/pricing; all read 2026-10-01. Shopify Community threads on per-ticket pricing in data/seo/research/packhand.md. Desk check only: we did not trial any product.
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.
