Shopify helpdesk apps: four meters, and only one of them is agents
Three of these four do not charge per agent, which changes the comparison completely.
Helpdesk pricing is usually per agent, so most buyers arrive at this category with per-agent arithmetic in their head. For Shopify apps that instinct is wrong more often than it is right: the four tools here bill on tickets, on FAQ page views, on agents and on AI conversations respectively. Same category, four different meters.
That matters because the meters reward opposite behaviour. A per-ticket tool gets cheaper when your FAQ page deflects questions; a page-view tool gets more expensive precisely when that page starts working. Knowing which you are on tells you what to optimise after you install it.
How we picked
- We read prices on the vendor’s own listing or pricing page and date them, and we click through to the monthly column where the table opens on annual.
- We name the meter first, because in this category the meter is the decision.
- We say who should skip each app — several of these are Shopify-shaped in ways that make them a poor fit for a business wider than the store.
The picks
The unusual one: agents are unlimited and you are billed for tickets over an allowance. That inverts the normal advice — adding a colleague to the inbox is free, and the way to cut the bill is to answer fewer tickets, which is what its FAQ builder is for.
Skip it if you already run a general helpdesk like Zendesk or Freshdesk for a business wider than the store — this is Shopify-shaped, not company-shaped
Visit HelpCenter →Read our full HelpCenter review →Metered on the traffic your FAQ pages receive rather than on how many FAQs you write. Read that sentence twice before adopting it at volume: the meter runs fastest exactly when the pages are doing their job.
Skip it if you have real traffic, because the page-view meter charges you for the FAQ pages doing their job, or you need ticketing, agent workflows and multichannel support reporting
Visit StoreFAQ →Read our full StoreFAQ review →The conventional meter, and the one to pick if your support spans marketplaces as well as the store. Billed annually by default with a monthly option, and the free plan is a real starting point rather than a demo.
Skip it if you run a non-commerce SaaS or service business (general helpdesks fit better and cheaper), or your ticket volume is low enough that a shared inbox already copes
Visit eDesk →Read our full eDesk review →Bills on more than one axis, and the plan table opens on the annual column, so the monthly figure is not the one you first see. Workable if you can size all the meters honestly; risky if you cannot, because the over-cap rate is the number that decides the bill.
Skip it if you need the AI agent to keep answering past the first 50 conversations without paying, you cannot get the over-cap rate and the Plus usage rate quoted before signing, you want one per-seat price rather than three independent meters, or you are buying on the strength of the 67 percent resolution figure and need it as a commitment rather than an average
Visit Tidio →Read our full Tidio review →Compared at a glance
| Tool | What it meters | Pricing, as we read it |
|---|---|---|
| HelpCenter | per ticket, agents unlimited | Free to install, and the meter is tickets rather than agents — Basic already gives unlimited support agents, then bills for every ticket over the allowance. read 2026-08-29 |
| StoreFAQ | per FAQ page view and AI conversation | Four tiers, metered on FAQ page views and AI chatbot conversations rather than on the number of FAQs. read 2026-08-21 |
| eDesk | per agent | Free plan to start; Essential $39 per agent/mo, Growth $89 (recommended), Professional $119, Enterprise custom — all billed annually, with monthly billing 20% higher ($49 against $39 on Essential). read 2026-08-17 |
| Tidio | three meters at once | (read 2026-08-24 on www.tidio.com/pricing/ with both billing columns clicked, and on www.tidio.com) The plan table opens on the annual column, so the first figures on the page are not what month-to-month costs. read 2026-08-24 |
Deflection is a pricing decision, not just a support one
Every question your FAQ answers is a ticket somebody does not have to read. On a per-ticket meter that is money; on a per-agent meter it is time; on a page-view meter it is, awkwardly, a cost. The same improvement therefore pays off differently depending on which app you installed, which is a good argument for choosing the meter before choosing the feature set.
If you are early enough to still be deciding, build the FAQ page first and watch what people still ask afterwards. The residue is your real ticket volume, and it is the number every quote in this category should be sized against.
Frequently asked questions
Is a per-ticket helpdesk cheaper than per-agent?
It depends entirely on the ratio between your team size and your ticket volume. A two-person team drowning in tickets is better off per agent; a larger team with modest volume is usually better off per ticket.
Do I need a separate FAQ app?
Not if your helpdesk builds one, and two of the apps here do. A dedicated FAQ app earns its place when you want the pages indexed and structured for search rather than just answered in a widget.
What should I check before installing an AI chat tier?
The over-cap rate, and whether the AI keeps answering once the included conversations run out. That single line decides whether an AI tier is a fixed cost or a variable one.
Free tools for this decision
Other buying guides on this site
- Virtual phone systems: the seat price is not the bill
- Helpdesk platforms: the entry tier is never the product you saw
- WhatsApp and messaging inboxes: platform fee plus per-message, always
- Someone has to answer: live receptionists against an AI agent
- Calling at volume: dialer, call centre or just a good phone system
Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you sign up we may earn a commission, at no cost to you, and it never changes what we write. Every figure above was read on the vendor’s own page on the date shown.