Gorgias is a capable helpdesk, and many Shopify brands run happily on it. Others start looking around when the bill grows faster than the store, or when they need something it does not do. If you are comparing options, this checklist helps you judge any helpdesk fairly, including ours.
1. How is it priced?
Helpdesks bill in very different ways:
- Per ticket: the bill grows with every conversation, including spam and “thank you” replies unless the vendor excludes them.
- Per seat: predictable, but it punishes you for adding part-time help.
- Flat tiers: one price for a band of volume, often with unlimited seats.
Ask for the price at your current volume and at double it. A tool that is cheap today can become your biggest software cost after a good season.
2. How is AI billed?
AI is where surprise bills come from. Check:
- Is AI usage included, or charged per interaction on top of the plan?
- Is a ticket the AI solved charged twice, once as a ticket and once as an AI interaction?
- Is there a hard cap you control, or does usage keep going and bill you later?
- Does anything upgrade your plan automatically?
3. Can your team act on orders inside the ticket?
For an online store most tickets end with an order change. Compare whether agents can refund, cancel, duplicate and edit orders without leaving the conversation, and whether each action is recorded on the ticket.
4. Does it work on your platform, not just Shopify?
If you run, or might run, a store on WooCommerce or another platform, check what works there today. Many helpdesks list several platforms but offer full order actions and AI on Shopify only. Ask for the feature list per platform, in writing.
5. Can you reach the vendor?
When something breaks during a sale, response time matters. Check whether human support is available on your plan, how fast they answer, and whether there is a public status page.
6. How fast is the chat widget?
Some chat widgets add a lot of JavaScript to every page and slow your store. Ask for the size of the script that loads on page view, and test your store’s speed before and after installing it.
7. How easy is it to leave?
Before you join, check how you would leave:
- Can you export all tickets and customers?
- Is the widget fully removed when you uninstall?
- Can you cancel and delete your account yourself?
8. Run a two-week trial with real tickets
Demos look perfect. Real tickets do not. During a trial:
- Forward a copy of your real support email.
- Import your saved replies.
- Answer a few days of real conversations, including at least one refund.
- Test the AI in draft mode only, and count how many drafts you would have sent unchanged.
Where Hushdesk fits
We built Hushdesk for small Shopify teams who want a calm inbox and predictable costs:
- Flat plans with unlimited seats.
- AI answers included under a hard cap, and nothing upgrades on its own.
- Shopify order actions in the ticket, and a chat widget whose loader is under 8 KB.
WooCommerce and other platforms are on our list but not ready yet, so if you need them today, say so and we will tell you honestly when they arrive.
Whichever tool you choose, compare it on your own tickets, at your own volume, with the exit door checked before you walk in.
