# FunctionalAI Alternative for Shopify: $24.99/mo, 400 Msgs

> FunctionalAI bills $24.99/mo for 400 messages, then 10 cents each, cheaper than Arbyn at low volume. Arbyn is $99/mo flat, unlimited, once you outgrow it.

Source: https://arbyn.app/compare/functionalai

## How FunctionalAI charges

$24.99/mo for 400 messages. FunctionalAI's Medium plan is $24.99/mo for 400 messages, then $0.10 each after that. Genuinely cheaper than Arbyn under about 1,500 messages a month; Pro at $99.99/mo lands a dime over Arbyn's flat price.

FunctionalAI's Medium plan is a genuine $24.99 a month for 400 messages, with a published $0.10 for each one after that. A message is not a conversation, a single back-and-forth can use several, so the real number of conversations that buys you is smaller than 400. Even generously counted, it undercuts Arbyn below roughly 1,500 messages a month, and their own Pro tier lands at $99.99, a dime over Arbyn's flat price.

## Where FunctionalAI beats Arbyn

- FunctionalAI's Medium plan, $24.99 a month for 400 messages, is genuinely cheaper than Arbyn for a store with light chat volume.
- The 10-cent overage rate is published plainly on both paid tiers, not buried in a support doc.
- 5,444 reviews on the Shopify Inbox app they benchmark against on their own site shows the category is real and well-trodden; FunctionalAI's own listing has 1 review so far and 5.0 stars, an early but clean start.

_2025_

## Where Arbyn wins

### A conversation, not a message

Arbyn's $99 covers unlimited conversations, however many messages each one takes. FunctionalAI meters the message: its Medium plan's 400 messages a month buys fewer actual customer conversations than the number implies, since one exchange is rarely a single message each way.

_FunctionalAI's own Pro tier, $99.99 a month for 1,500 messages, lands a dime above Arbyn's flat $99, right about where the free ride from being cheap ends._

### No overage to configure

Arbyn Agent has no per-unit rate to watch. FunctionalAI's own pricing page states plainly that both paid tiers charge $0.10 for every message past your plan's cap, so a busy month is a bigger bill, not a flat one.

_The Basic tier's 100 free messages are a one-time trial, per FunctionalAI's own FAQ: "no recurring resets, no card required."_

### Acts on the order, not just the chat widget

Arbyn updates a shipping address inside the conversation on its own, and prepares a refund for your approval. FunctionalAI's own Shopify listing describes engaging visitors, tracking chats and improving replies, with no claim of touching an order.

_FunctionalAI's listing headline is "AI chatbot widget for your store", chat only, no channel or order-action claim beyond that._

## Cost at real volumes

| Scenario | Volume | Their cost | You save with Arbyn |
|---|---|---|---|
| You stay under 400 messages | 350 messages a month | FunctionalAI Medium: $24.99/mo | cheaper than Arbyn's $99/mo flat, at this volume |
| One conversation, several messages | A single back-and-forth exchange | FunctionalAI: bills the message, not the resolution | Arbyn: bills nothing per message, ever |
| A customer wants their money back | Refund or address change, mid-chat | FunctionalAI: not claimed on their Shopify listing | Arbyn: changes the address itself, prepares the refund for approval |

Source: [apps.shopify.com/functionalai and functional-ai.com/pricing](https://apps.shopify.com/functionalai). Every FunctionalAI figure here comes from apps.shopify.com/functionalai (the Free, $24.99/mo Medium and $99.99/mo Pro tiers, the June 4, 2025 launch date) and functional-ai.com/pricing (the 100/400/1,500 message allowances, the published $0.10 per extra message on Medium and Pro, and the one-time, non-recurring nature of the free 100 messages). Both checked July 2026. Verified against

## Pricing

- **Arbyn Starter** - $0/month, permanently free. 150 conversations / month. Resets 1st of each month.
- **Arbyn Agent** - $99/month flat, unlimited conversations. Or $990/year (2 months free, saves $198, 17% off).
- **There is no trial.** Billing starts immediately on the Agent plan. The free Starter plan is permanent.
- The conversation cap is the only difference between plans. There is no feature gating.

## Channels

Live today: **support email** and **on-site live chat**. That is the complete list.

SMS, Instagram DMs, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Voice are on the roadmap and are NOT live. Arbyn does not edit orders or change line items. Money-moving actions (cancel, refund, discount, gift card, reship, return) require the store owner's approval, and then Arbyn performs them. Running them fully autonomously is a beta authorization and is in development. Shipping address changes are already autonomous.

## What Arbyn does on a Shopify order

- **Change the shipping address**: Live. Arbyn does this on its own. Arbyn updates the shipping address on the Shopify order itself, inside the conversation, and writes the change to the order timeline.
- **Cancel an order**: Live. You approve it, then Arbyn cancels the order. Anything that moves money waits for the store owner's approval. That is a deliberate control, not a missing feature. Once you approve, Arbyn fires Shopify's order cancellation itself and confirms it to the customer.
- **Issue a refund**: Live. You approve it, then Arbyn issues the refund. Arbyn prepares the refund against the original payment method and sends it to you. On approval it files the refund in Shopify. You can cap the value it is allowed to prepare, per channel.
- **Apply a discount**: Live. Arbyn creates a real Shopify discount and applies it to the cart, handing the shopper a checkout with the code already on it. It can also issue a discount code on an order once you approve it.
- **Send a gift card, or reship an order**: Live. You approve it, then Arbyn does it. Arbyn creates the gift card, or raises the replacement order, in Shopify once you approve.
- **Start a return**: Live. You approve it, then Arbyn opens the return. Arbyn opens the return in Shopify on your approval.
- **Look up a gift card or store-credit balance**: Live. Arbyn does this on its own. "Do I have store credit left?" is a question most support tools answer with a human. Arbyn reads the balance itself, for a verified customer or from the code they give you, and reports the masked card, the balance and the expiry. If there is no card, it says so rather than guessing.
- **Handle a subscription question**: Live. You choose what it does. Arbyn knows which of your products are sold as a subscription, shows that on the product card in the conversation, and sends a subscriber to their subscription management page to pause, skip or cancel. It answers how your subscriptions work from your own knowledge, but it does not read an individual customer's contract, so it will not state their renewal date or status. Most cancels are a customer with product piling up, and the fix is getting them to the page where they can slow the cadence down. Reading the contract itself is on the roadmap.
- **Answer support email and live chat**: Live. Arbyn reads every inbound support email and every chat, works out the intent, pulls the live Shopify context, and replies in your brand voice.

Money-moving actions (cancel, refund, discount, gift card, reship, return) require the store owner's approval, and then Arbyn performs them. Running them fully autonomously is a beta authorization and is in development. Shipping address changes are already autonomous.