Short answer
Start with the helpdesk you already have: if what you want is better AI, add an AI agent inside it and skip the migration. If you need a new helpdesk, judge it on Shopify order data, AI that acts on orders, the pricing unit, migration effort and channels.- First option
- Keep your helpdesk and add Aide inside Zendesk, Gorgias or Front.
- Second option
- Aide Helpdesk, an AI-first inbox, free for 2 team members.
- Five checks
- Order data, AI actions, pricing unit, migration effort, channels.
- Pricing units
- Per seat, per ticket, per resolution, per conversation or per AI reply.
- Hidden cost
- Migration: history, macros, views, rules, integrations and team habits.
- Last checked
- October 27, 2026, against each helpdesk's own pricing and help pages.
Before you compare helpdesks, decide what the problem actually is: the inbox, or the AI in it and what that AI costs. The answer changes the plan. A helpdesk switch moves years of tickets, every macro and view your team relies on, and the habits that make your team fast.
This guide gives the two options Aide recommends, in order, then a neutral checklist you can run on any helpdesk, including the one you have today.
Option 1: keep your helpdesk
If your team works well in Zendesk, Gorgias or Front, keep it. Adding AI to the helpdesk you already use gets you most of what a switch promises, without the migration.
Aide connects to all three and works where your team already works:
- In Zendesk, Aide drafts on every ticket as an internal note and in the Aide panel, answers email tickets once a brand is live, and its procedures fill your ticket fields and run your macros.
- In Gorgias, Aide shows its draft in an Aide card with an "Aide: insert draft" macro, and answers live chat and email once an inbox is live.
- In Front, Aide writes drafts as Front drafts, answers email once live, and shows its work in the Aide panel in the sidebar and composer.
With Shopify connected, Aide can cancel, refund, change the shipping address or remove an unshipped item for shoppers who prove the order is theirs. Refunds wait for a teammate by default. Nothing reaches a customer until you take an inbox live, one inbox and one topic at a time.
Already weighing your helpdesk's own AI against Aide? See Zendesk AI alternatives and Gorgias AI Agent alternatives.
Option 2: an AI-first helpdesk
Some teams have no helpdesk yet, answer from a shared inbox, or want one built around an AI agent from the start. Aide Helpdesk is that. The Aide AI Agent is an assignee in the inbox, and a Needs a person view lists every open conversation it isn't handling.
It comes with routing rules, round-robin and balanced assignment, SLA policies, macros that fill in Shopify order details, sender rules that file receipts and newsletters, email and Slack notifications, and an audit log. Paid plans start at $39 a month, adding AI replies and unlimited team members. Human replies are always free.
Five checks for any helpdesk
Run these in order. The first two decide whether a helpdesk suits an ecommerce team at all.
Order data beside the conversation
The question behind most ecommerce tickets is an order. Check that the helpdesk shows the customer's orders, each shipment with live tracking, refunded amounts and what the shopper is buying, and that a teammate can act on the order without opening Shopify.
AI that acts on orders, with approval
Answering "where is my order" is table stakes. The requests that can't wait are changes: cancel #1042 before it ships, fix the address before the label prints. Ask whether the AI can make the change itself, how it confirms the shopper owns the order, and whether a refund over your limit waits for a person.
The pricing unit
Helpdesks and their AI are priced in different units, and the unit decides how your bill grows. Seats grow with headcount, tickets with volume. AI billed per resolution grows with how much the AI resolves, and AI billed per reply with how much it writes. Price last month's volume in each unit before comparing plans. The pricing guide works through each model.
Migration effort
List what would have to move: ticket history, macros, views, automation rules, integrations, reporting and the team's training. Then ask the new vendor what it imports. Aide Helpdesk, for example, imports help center articles from Zendesk, Gorgias and Front, but not ticket history from another helpdesk today.
Channels
Match the helpdesk to where your customers write: email, website chat, SMS, social messaging, phone. Count the channels you use now and the ones you plan to add this year, and check which plan each one needs.
Zendesk, Gorgias and Front side by side
Each of the three is a strong helpdesk, and each prices and connects differently.
| Zendesk | Gorgias | Front | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helpdesk priced per | Agent seat: Suite Team $55 a month billed yearly | Ticket: from $10 a month for 50, up to 5,000 a month, never per agent | Seat: Starter $25, Professional $65, Enterprise $105 a month billed yearly |
| Shopify orders | Shopify app in the ticket; agents refund orders and cancel unfulfilled ones | Its AI Agent can cancel orders, edit addresses and remove items in Shopify | Customers, orders, refunds and addresses shown in Front |
| Its own AI billed per | Automated resolution, $1.50 to $2.00 beyond the plan allowance | Automated interaction, which also counts as a helpdesk ticket | Autopilot from $0.05 a conversation; Copilot $20 a seat a month |
| Channels | Email, messaging, live chat and telephony on Suite plans | Voice and SMS as add-ons on any plan | Email, SMS and social on Professional and Enterprise; one channel type on Starter |
| Aide works inside it | Yes, every plan | Yes, every plan | Yes, every plan |
Checked October 27, 2026 against Zendesk pricing, Zendesk's Shopify integration, Gorgias pricing, Gorgias AI Agent actions for Shopify, Front pricing and Front's Shopify integration. Prices change, so check each vendor before you buy. Aide makes this page and connects to all three; to correct a fact, write to support@aide.app.