# Best AI Chatbots for Online Stores in 2026: An Honest Comparison > Seven tools that answer shoppers with AI, compared on what matters to a shop: where answers come from, channels, pricing model and platform fit. Vendigit is ours, and we say so. Published: 2026-10-22 | Author: Vendigit Canonical: https://vendigit.com/journal/best-ai-chatbots-for-online-stores Every chat tool now has "AI" on its homepage. For an online store that makes the choice harder, not easier. This guide compares seven tools you are likely to consider when looking for the **best AI chatbot for an online store in 2026**: Tidio, Intercom, Gorgias, Jivo, HelpCrunch, SendPulse and Vendigit. One disclosure first: Vendigit is our product. We've tried to make this useful anyway, by starting with criteria, stating only facts we checked on each vendor's own pages in October 2026, and saying plainly where other tools are the better pick. ## How to judge an AI chatbot for a shop A shop's chat is not a SaaS help desk. Most messages are about specific products: is it in stock, how much, will it fit, how fast is delivery. So the questions to ask are different too. ### 1. Where do the answers come from? This is the big one. Some AI agents learn from help-centre articles and website pages. That works for "how do returns work." It works less well for "do you have the 18V version in black under $100," because product data lives in your catalog, not your FAQ. Ask each vendor: does the AI read my product catalog, and how often does it update? ### 2. Can it invent a price? If the model writes prices in its own words, sooner or later it will write a wrong one. Ask how the tool keeps numbers tied to your data. ### 3. Which channels? Website chat is a given. Beyond that it depends on your customers: Telegram matters a lot in Ukraine, WhatsApp elsewhere, Instagram for some niches. ### 4. How does it hand over? Complaints, refunds, wholesale and order problems need a person. Check that the handover keeps the conversation and that your managers actually get notified. More on this in [when a bot should hand over to a manager](/journal/when-ai-should-hand-over-to-manager). ### 5. How is it priced? Three models are common: per seat (per agent per month), per AI resolution or outcome, and flat plans with a conversation allowance. Per-resolution pricing is fair for big help desks and hard to budget for a small shop. We work through the numbers in [AI chatbot cost vs hiring a support agent](/journal/ai-consultant-cost-vs-operator). ### 6. Does it fit your platform? Shopify-first tools integrate deeply with Shopify. If you run Horoshop, Prom, OpenCart or a custom build, check what "integration" actually means. ## The tools at a glance All facts below are as of October 2026, from each vendor's own pages, linked. | Tool | Type | AI answers from | Channels (verified) | AI pricing model | |---|---|---|---|---| | Tidio (Lyro) | Live chat + AI agent | Your support content | Website chat (others not checked) | Add-on, from $32.50/mo for 50 Lyro conversations | | Intercom (Fin) | Support platform | Help content | Not checked | $0.99 per outcome, plus seats | | Gorgias | E-commerce help desk | Not checked | Not checked | $0.90–$1.00 per automated interaction | | Jivo | Live chat + AI agent | Your website and uploaded files | Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, Viber on Free; WhatsApp on PRO | AI Agent $69 per agent/month, annual | | HelpCrunch | Live chat + AI agents | Not checked | Not checked | 50 AI conversations/mo on Pro, 100 on Unlimited, more as add-ons | | SendPulse | Bot builder + messaging | Scripted flows; ChatGPT integration on Pro | WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Viber, online chat, TikTok on Pro | Per subscriber tier | | Vendigit (ours) | Catalog-grounded shop assistant | Your product feed and site pages | Website widget; Telegram on Growth+ | Flat plans: $20 / $65 / $99 per month | "Not checked" means we couldn't confirm it on the vendor's page, so we left it out rather than guess. ## The tools one by one ### Tidio (Lyro AI Agent) Tidio is a live-chat tool with an AI agent called Lyro. According to [Tidio's pricing page](https://www.tidio.com/pricing/), there is a free plan with 50 billable conversations, a Starter plan listed at $24.17 a month, Growth from $49.17 a month, and Lyro sold as an add-on starting at $32.50 a month for 50 Lyro conversations. The first 50 Lyro conversations are free, and paid plans have a 7-day trial with no card. The [Lyro page](https://www.tidio.com/lyro/) says Lyro "automatically scrapes your support content and uses it as its knowledge base." **Good fit if:** you want a familiar live-chat inbox with an AI layer for policy questions, and a free plan to start. ### Intercom (Fin AI Agent) Intercom is a full support platform. [Intercom's pricing page](https://www.intercom.com/pricing) lists Fin at $0.99 per outcome, on top of seats (the Essential seat is shown at $19 a month, reduced from $29). Intercom's [help article on resolutions](https://www.intercom.com/help/en/articles/8205718-fin-ai-agent-resolutions) explains that a resolution is charged when the customer confirms the answer helped or leaves without asking for more help. There's a 14-day trial. **Good fit if:** you run a larger support team with a help centre and want one platform for tickets, chat and AI. ### Gorgias Gorgias is a help desk built for e-commerce. [Gorgias's pricing page](https://www.gorgias.com/pricing) lists integrations with Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and WooCommerce, a Starter plan at $10 a month with 50 tickets, and an AI Agent billed per automated interaction: $0.90 on annual contracts, $1.00 monthly. Each automated interaction also counts as a help-desk ticket. The trial is 7 days. **Good fit if:** you're on Shopify or another supported platform and want ticketing, order context and AI in one place. ### Jivo Jivo is a live chat with a broad set of messenger channels. [Jivo's pricing page](https://www.jivochat.com/pricing/) lists plans at $28, $42 and $56 per agent a month (annual billing), a free plan that already includes Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and Viber, WhatsApp from the PRO plan, and an AI Agent at $69 per agent a month (annual). The [AI Agent page](https://www.jivochat.com/ai-agent/) says you point it at your website and upload a knowledge base, including price lists and product descriptions, and that it "will only consider your content." **Good fit if:** you need many messengers in one inbox, Viber and Instagram included. ### HelpCrunch HelpCrunch combines live chat, email and help-centre tools with AI agents. According to [HelpCrunch's AI agents documentation](https://docs.helpcrunch.com/en/chatbot/ai-agents-pricing-and-limits), the Pro plan includes 50 AI conversations a month and the Unlimited plan 100, with extra conversations available as add-ons. When the quota runs out, the AI step in the chatbot flow is skipped. **Good fit if:** you want a support suite with chat, email and a knowledge base, and AI is one part of it. ### SendPulse SendPulse is a messaging platform with a chatbot builder. [SendPulse's chatbot pricing page](https://sendpulse.com/en/pricing/messengers) lists a free plan (3 chatbots, 500 subscribers, 10,000 messages a month) and a Pro plan priced by subscriber count that covers WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Viber, online chat and TikTok, with a ChatGPT integration. The bots themselves are flow-based. If you're weighing that approach, see [AI assistant vs scripted chatbot](/journal/ai-assistant-vs-scripted-chatbot). **Good fit if:** you want broadcasts, subscriptions and guided flows across many messengers. ### Vendigit (ours) Vendigit is an AI shopping assistant built around one idea: answers about products come from the shop's product feed, not from the model's memory. It reads the feed your platform already exports (YML, XML including Google Merchant, CSV/TSV or JSON), re-syncs it every 6 hours, and reads your delivery, payment and returns pages. The model refers to products by ID, and Vendigit fills in the name, price and link on the product card straight from the feed; the model is instructed not to state a price or stock level it didn't find. Complaints, refunds, wholesale and order questions go to your manager, who can take the chat over and hand it back. Plans are flat: Starter $20 a month (1 shop, 300 dialogs, website widget, 14-day free trial with no card), Growth $65 (3 shops, 2,000 dialogs, widget and Telegram), Business $99 (unlimited shops, 4,000 dialogs), Enterprise by agreement. See the [plans on our home page](/pricing). What it doesn't do, so you can rule it out quickly: no Viber, Instagram, WhatsApp or Facebook channels; no order taking or order-status lookups; no native platform apps (it works from a feed URL or file); no ticketing help desk. It is also new, so there are no public case studies yet. **Good fit if:** you have a catalog of hundreds or thousands of products, most chat questions are about stock and price, and your customers write on your site or in Telegram. ## Which one should you pick? - **Mostly policy questions, help centre already written:** Tidio, Intercom or HelpCrunch. - **Shopify or BigCommerce shop with a support team and tickets:** Gorgias. - **Customers spread across Viber, Instagram and WhatsApp:** Jivo or SendPulse. - **Broadcasts and guided flows more than open questions:** SendPulse. - **Many products, questions about stock and price, site chat and Telegram:** Vendigit. A side-by-side with the two tools Ukrainian shops ask about most is in [Vendigit alternatives: Tidio vs Jivo vs Vendigit](/journal/vendigit-alternatives). Whatever you choose, test it on your own last 50 chat questions before paying. The vendor's demo shop is not your catalog. ## FAQ ### What is the best AI chatbot for a small online store? The one that answers from your data and fits your budget. For product-heavy shops that means an assistant that reads the catalog. For shops whose chats are mainly about delivery and payment, a live-chat tool with an AI add-on may be enough. ### Is per-resolution pricing cheaper than a flat plan? It depends on volume. At $0.90–$0.99 per resolution, 300 resolved chats a month cost around $270–$300 in AI fees alone, before seats. Flat plans cap the bill but limit dialogs. Do the sum for your own volume. ### Can an AI chatbot read my product catalog? Some can, many can't. Ask the vendor directly whether the AI reads a product feed or only help articles and web pages, and how often it updates. ### Which AI chatbots work in Telegram? From what we verified: Jivo and SendPulse include Telegram, and Vendigit includes it from the Growth plan. If your shop is the product-heavy kind, try Vendigit on your own catalog. [Start the 14-day free trial](https://app.vendigit.com/register), no card required.