# IllumiChat Alternative for Shopify: Credits, Not One Number

> IllumiChat's own pricing page and Shopify listing name two different credit caps for the same $29/mo Pro plan. Arbyn is $99/mo flat, unlimited, or $0 for 150 AI conversations.

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

## How IllumiChat charges

Credits per AI message, cap disputed by their own pages. $0 Free, then $29/month ($290/year) for Pro, credit-metered. IllumiChat's own pricing page says Pro includes up to 2,000 credits a month. Its own Shopify App Store listing and its own billing documentation both say 1,200. Its billing docs define one credit as one AI chat message, flat; its pricing-page FAQ says a credit's cost depends on the model and the actions taken. Three IllumiChat pages, not agreeing with each other.

IllumiChat's $29 entry tier is real, and it is credit-metered. What that credit buys depends which IllumiChat page you read. Arbyn runs on email and on-site chat for $99 a month flat, or $0 to start, and the number does not change depending on which page you're on.

## Where IllumiChat beats Arbyn

- IllumiChat's own product documentation lists five live messaging channels: SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, and website live chat. Arbyn's live channels today are support email and on-site live chat. Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, voice and SMS are on our roadmap, not live yet.
- Their entry paid tier costs less than Arbyn at low volume. IllumiChat Pro is $29/month ($290/year); Arbyn Agent is $99/month flat. A store whose usage stays inside whatever IllumiChat's real credit cap turns out to be pays less on IllumiChat Pro than on Arbyn.
- IllumiChat's Pro and Enterprise tiers add configurable extras Arbyn does not sell as separate knobs: API access, custom branding, multiple team members and workspaces, and, on Enterprise, MCP tool integrations and SSO/SAML. Arbyn's two plans differ only by conversation volume; every feature is on, on both.

Switch to Arbyn anyway when: you want one number you do not have to reconcile across three of the vendor's own pages, you want the AI to change the address on the order itself and refund, cancel, discount or gift-card it once you approve, and you do not need Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, or SMS today.

## Where Arbyn wins

### One number, not three

$99 a month, flat, unlimited AI conversations. Nothing to reconcile between a pricing page, an App Store listing, and a billing doc, because there is one number, and it is the only one anywhere.

_IllumiChat's own pricing page, its own Shopify listing, and its own billing documentation each state a different monthly credit allowance for the identical $29 Pro plan: 2,000, 1,200, and 1,200. The Free plan splits three ways too: 100, 100, and 50._

### Acts on the order, not the address book

Arbyn changes the shipping address on the order itself, inside the conversation, on its own, and issues a refund, cancels the order, applies a discount, or sends a gift card once you approve it, then logs it to the Shopify order timeline. IllumiChat's own Shopify Actions documentation lists four actions: product search, order tracking, cart management, and updating a customer's saved address book. It does not document a refund, a cancellation, a discount, or a gift card.

_IllumiChat's "Customer Updates" action needs only a read_customers scope, per their own docs, and edits the address on file for next time, not the shipping address on a specific order that has not shipped yet._

### Start at $0

The free Starter plan gives you 150 AI conversations a month with every feature on, permanently. No trial clock, no plan to guess your way into.

_IllumiChat's own billing docs say every new workspace starts a 14-day Pro trial automatically, no card required, then auto-downgrades to Free when it ends. That is a fact about IllumiChat, not a knock on it; Arbyn simply has no trial at any point._

## Cost at real volumes

| Scenario | Volume | Their cost | You save with Arbyn |
|---|---|---|---|
| What their own $29 plan actually includes | Same $29/mo Pro plan, three IllumiChat pages | IllumiChat: 2,000 credits/mo (their pricing page) or 1,200 (their Shopify listing and their own billing docs) | Arbyn: $99/mo flat, unlimited AI conversations, or $0 for 150/mo |
| A customer wants their money back, or the order cancelled | Refund, cancellation, discount, or gift card, mid-conversation | IllumiChat's own Shopify Actions doc lists four actions. None of them is a refund, a cancellation, a discount, or a gift card | Arbyn issues the refund, cancels the order, applies the discount, or sends the gift card, once you approve it, and logs it to the order timeline |
| Which channels are actually live | Messaging channels, as each vendor documents them | IllumiChat's own Channels doc lists 5: SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram DM, and Live Chat | Arbyn's live channels today: support email and on-site live chat. The rest is roadmap, not shipped |

Source: [illumichat.com/pricing](https://illumichat.com/pricing). Verified July 2026, re-checked 2026-07-17. IllumiChat's own pricing page states $0 Free / 100 credits, $29/mo Pro ($290/yr) / 2,000 credits, and a custom Scale tier with unlimited credits. Its own Shopify App Store listing states the identical $29/mo Pro plan at 1,200 credits, not 2,000, and its Free plan at 100 credits. Its own billing documentation states Free at 50 credits, Pro at 1,200 credits, and defines one credit as one AI chat message, flat, where the pricing page's own FAQ says a credit's cost depends on the model chosen and the actions taken. Three first-party IllumiChat pages, not fully agreeing with each other on the numbers or the definition. We publish the model, not a disputed number. 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.