At 200–300 tickets/week (~850–1,300/month), I’d generally pick Gorgias for a Shopify-first brand.
My ranking
| Gorgias | Zendesk | Native Shopify |
|---|
| Shopify fit | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Ecommerce workflows | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Ease of setup | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Automation/AI | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| Reporting/complex ops | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Cost at your volume | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| Best for | Growing DTC brand | Complex/multi-channel CX org | Lean/simple support |
1. Gorgias — best overall fit
Gorgias is purpose-built around ecommerce/Shopify, so your agents can work with customer/order context without constantly jumping into Shopify. It also has macros, rules, routing, help center, satisfaction reporting, revenue analytics, and integrations with ecommerce tools such as Klaviyo, Recharge, Loop Returns and Yotpo.
The interesting part for your volume is pricing. Current annual pricing starts at $50/mo for 300 tickets, then $300/mo for 2,000 tickets. Gorgias charges based on tickets rather than agent seats, and AI Agent is an additional usage-based cost.
At ~1,000 tickets/month, you'd therefore likely be looking at the 2,000-ticket Pro tier, rather than trying to squeeze into the 300-ticket plan.
Why I'd choose it: your support operation is big enough that a shared inbox is starting to become limiting, but probably not so complex that you need Zendesk's enterprise-level machinery.
2. Zendesk — best if you're building a serious CX operation
Zendesk is the more powerful/general-purpose platform. Its current pricing is $19/agent/month for Support Team, $55 for Suite Team, and $115 for Suite Professional on annual billing.
The Shopify integration is quite good: agents can see orders, fulfillment information, customer context, and can process refunds and cancellations directly from Zendesk.
I'd choose Zendesk instead if you expect things like:
- Multiple brands/stores
- A large support team
- Phone + email + chat + social all becoming important
- Sophisticated SLAs and routing
- More elaborate reporting/QA
- Support expanding beyond ecommerce
- A dedicated CX/operations person managing the platform
In other words, Zendesk is the better platform; Gorgias is probably the better tool for this particular stage of a Shopify brand.
3. Native Shopify — best if keeping costs and complexity down is the priority
Shopify Inbox is surprisingly capable for a lean operation. It gives you website chat, shared conversations, product links, discounts, mobile access, and instant answers.
Shopify specifically recommends Inbox and Shopify Flow for handling higher support volume, including automated responses for things like order status and shipping questions.
But at 200–300 tickets/week, I'd be hesitant to make native Shopify the entire support stack if those are genuine tickets rather than mostly lightweight chats. You'll likely start wanting better:
- Ticket routing
- Agent performance metrics
- Macros/workflows
- Cross-channel history
- Customer segmentation
- Automation
- Help-center/self-service
- QA and reporting
That's where Gorgias starts earning its cost.
What I'd do in your shoes
Shopify + Gorgias + a good help center/FAQ.
And I'd specifically focus on automating the repetitive 30–50% of tickets: "Where's my order?", returns, exchanges, cancellations, address changes, product questions, shipping policy, subscription questions, etc.
The goal shouldn't be "get a nicer inbox." It should be "turn 1,000 monthly support contacts into ~500–700 human-handled conversations."
One important caveat: Gorgias's pricing has changed to usage/ticket-based billing, so I'd model your actual ticket definition before buying. Their current documentation says a ticket becomes billable when a response is sent from the helpdesk, with additional AI-resolution charges when applicable.
Bottom line:
Gorgias = my pick for you.
Zendesk = pick it if you anticipate a much more complex CX operation.
Shopify native = pick it if support simplicity/cost is more important than operational sophistication.
If you tell me how many support agents you have, your main ticket types, and whether you handle email + Instagram/SMS/chat, I can give you a much more precise Gorgias-vs-Zendesk recommendation and estimated monthly cost.
