# Start free, with refunds your team approves.

Minimal and Aide both act on Shopify orders inside your helpdesk. Aide also runs without one, starts on a free plan, and bills per AI reply instead of per ticket.

Aide is a Minimal AI alternative for Shopify stores that want an AI agent to cancel, refund and edit orders inside Zendesk, Gorgias, Front or its own helpdesk, with refunds approved by a teammate. It starts free at 150 AI replies a month; Minimal starts at $489 for 1,000 tickets.

Source: https://aide.app/compare/minimal · Updated 2026-11-03 · By Ziyad Basheer

| | |
|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Aide: per AI reply. Minimal: per billable ticket, a full conversation. |
| Entry price | Aide: Free, then $39 a month. Minimal: $489 for up to 1,000 tickets. |
| Before you pay | Aide: 150 AI replies every month. Minimal: a 14-day money-back guarantee. |
| Helpdesks | Minimal: Zendesk, Gorgias, Freshdesk, Front, Trengo, Kustomer. Aide: Zendesk, Gorgias, Front or standalone. |
| Storefront chat | Minimal's storefront widget is in beta. Aide Chat installs from the Shopify theme editor. |
| Checked | November 3, 2026, using Minimal's pricing, Shopify and helpdesk pages and docs. |

## Ordered twice. Fixed in one message.

A duplicate order is easiest to undo before the warehouse picks it. Aide works out which order the shopper means, checks it is theirs, and cancels in Shopify.

Minimal cancels unfulfilled orders too. The differences are where each one runs and what it costs, below.

> Customer: I placed the same order twice by mistake. Can you cancel #1071?
>
> Aide: Done, Priya. Order #1071 hadn't been fulfilled, so it's cancelled in Shopify. Your other order, #1070, is still on its way.
>
> Order #1071 verified · Cancelled in Shopify

## Side by side

| | Aide | Minimal |
|---|---|---|
| Cancel unfulfilled orders | Yes, for verified shoppers | Yes |
| Refunds | Full or partial; a teammate approves by default | Full or partial, by line item |
| Address change before fulfillment | Yes | Yes |
| Systems beyond Shopify | WooCommerce read-only; UPS and FedEx tracking | Warehouse, logistics, subscription tools and custom APIs |
| Control per topic | AI Agent, Drafts or None | Automated, review, or fully human |
| No helpdesk | Aide Helpdesk and Aide Chat | Storefront widget, in beta |

*Checked November 3, 2026 against Minimal's public pages. Sources below.*

## 1,000 tickets on each meter

Take a store with 1,000 conversations a month for the AI.

- Minimal: up to 1,000 billable tickets is $489 a month, $0.48 a ticket. Up to 2,000 is $849.
- Aide at 2 AI replies per conversation: 2,000 replies, Pro at $149 with 4,000 included. At 4 replies, still $149. At 5, Pro plus 1,000 extra at $0.10, so $249.

Minimal's bill stays the same however many replies a ticket takes. Aide's moves with replies, and counts drafts and handoffs too.

## Sources

Minimal facts were checked on November 3, 2026 against its [pricing page](https://www.gominimal.ai/pricing), [home page](https://www.gominimal.ai/), [Shopify integration page](https://gominimal.ai/integrations/shopify), its helpdesk pages for [Zendesk](https://gominimal.ai/integrations/zendesk), [Gorgias](https://gominimal.ai/integrations/gorgias), [Freshdesk](https://gominimal.ai/integrations/freshdesk), [Front](https://gominimal.ai/integrations/front) and [Trengo](https://gominimal.ai/integrations/trengo), its [Kustomer article](https://gominimal.ai/blog/ai-customer-support-with-kustomer) and its [storefront widget docs](https://docs.gominimal.ai/set-up-and-integrations/agentic-storefront). We found no Minimal listing in a Shopify App Store search. Aide's facts are from the shipped product and its [pricing](https://aide.app/pricing). Aide wrote this comparison; corrections to support@aide.app.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can Minimal AI act on Shopify orders?

Yes. Minimal's Shopify page lists full or partial refunds, cancelling unfulfilled orders, draft orders, pre-fulfillment address changes, gift cards and discount codes, and you decide which actions the AI may take.

### How is Minimal AI priced?

In monthly tiers by billable tickets, from $489 for up to 1,000 ($0.48 each) to $7,200 for 20,000, then custom, with euros in Europe at the same numbers. A billable ticket is a full conversation you answer from your ticketing system; spam and no-reply tickets are not billed.

### When is Minimal AI the better choice?

When the AI needs to act beyond Shopify, in a warehouse, logistics or subscription system, or hand out gift cards and discount codes. Also when you run Trengo, Kustomer or Freshdesk, or your conversations run long, since Minimal bills the ticket rather than the reply.

### When is Aide not the right fit?

When customers expect phone support, which Aide doesn't do, or you need order changes on a WooCommerce store. Aide reads WooCommerce data and changes Shopify orders only.

### Can I try Aide without a sales call?

Yes. Sign up with email or Google and you start on Free with no card. Connect Shopify, add Aide Chat from the theme editor, and try the agent in its preview before customers see it.

### Does Aide work inside Gorgias?

Yes, on every plan. It drafts on every ticket in an Aide card with an insert-draft macro, and answers live chat and email once you take an inbox live.

## Related
- [Eight AI agents for Shopify, compared on five criteria.](https://aide.app/compare/best-ai-agent-for-shopify)
- [Keep Gorgias. Choose the AI inside it.](https://aide.app/compare/gorgias-ai-agent)
- [Aide for Shopify](https://aide.app/integrations/shopify)

Start free: https://my.aide.app/register