Richpanel alternative for Shopify, without a seat fee on top of the AI meter.
Richpanel meters the AI conversation and adds a seat fee on top. Arbyn charges $0, $59 or $99, flat.
The unit Richpanel bills for is the AI-handled conversation, so the better their AI works the more of your bill it becomes. Add $89 for every person on your team who uses the helpdesk. Re-read August 2026: the $200 monthly minimum we previously published could not be found on either of their first-party pages, so this page no longer states one. Arbyn is $99 a month, unlimited conversations, no seat fee, no minimum, with a $0 plan under it.
The real bill
What you’d actually pay.
Three real scenarios at three real volumes, using Richpanel's published 2026 pricing and the automation rate their own team recommends. Arbyn's side is a flat monthly price you pick in advance, with nothing metered on top of it.
One PRO seat, and every conversation handled by the AI. At Richpanel's own stated $0.20 average, 500 conversations is $100 of AI, on top of the $89 seat. We previously published a $200 monthly minimum here; re-read August 2026, it could not be found on either of their first-party pages this session, so it is dropped rather than carried forward unsourced. The rate is theirs. The one-seat assumption is ours. At 500 conversations, Arbyn lands on the $59 Growth plan, not the $99 Agent plan.
2,000 conversations at their stated $0.20 average is $400 of AI, plus one $89 PRO seat. This is also the volume Richpanel names as the point where their model starts to pay off, so it is the fairest place to stand them next to us. Arbyn is $99 at 2,000 conversations and $99 at 20,000.
Peak season is when the AI meter runs hardest, because the AI-handled conversation is the meter. 5,000 at their stated $0.20 average is $1,000, plus one $89 PRO seat. We hold the seat count at one, which understates them: Richpanel says their model pays off best above about three agents, and each of those is another $89 at the PRO rate. Their token-based billing can also land the AI line above or below $0.20 a conversation, because $0.20 is an average and not a price.
Re-verified August 2026. richpanel.com/pricing has been restructured since July: it now shows named seat tiers (Incubator $9/mo for 3 agents, Pro at either $69/agent or $50/mo depending on a billing-toggle state this read could not cleanly resolve, Pro Max $99-$100/agent) and a separate "Customer Service AI" add-on billed at about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation with graduated volume bands, rather than the flat "$100/seat, no plans or tiers" model this page previously quoted. The $200 monthly minimum we previously published under the AI line, and the "a common starting setup, one AI agent plus one seat, is about $300 a month" line, could not be found on richpanel.com/pricing or on the Shopify App Store listing this session, and are dropped rather than carried forward unsourced; we are not asserting the minimum was removed, only that it is not on either page we read. The $0.20 per-AI-conversation rate is reconfirmed on both surfaces. Because richpanel.com/pricing's own seat figures are ambiguous in this session's read, this page prices from the unambiguous Shopify App Store listing instead: PRO $89/mo (or $828/yr), PRO MAX $119/mo (or $1,188/yr), Self Service $119/mo (or $1,188/yr, priced by order volume, not conversations), "$89 per additional user", "AI conversations from $0.20 each", 4.8 stars from 129 reviews. The scenario assumptions are ours: one PRO seat, and every conversation handled by the AI. The rates are theirs. We publish no migration timeline, because their own pages give two different ones. Verified against richpanel.com/pricing.
Pricing model decoded
Two first-party price lists. One of them is ambiguous, so we price from the other.
Richpanel publishes their pricing in two places, and as of August 2026 both show named seat tiers rather than the single flat-rate usage model this page described in July. richpanel.com/pricing's own seat figures were ambiguous in this session's read (a billing-toggle state we could not cleanly resolve), so we price from the unambiguous Shopify App Store listing: a seat fee, plus a per-AI-conversation meter billed on token use. No monthly minimum was found on either page this session.
We previously published a $200 monthly minimum here. We could not re-find it. Re-read August 2026 on richpanel.com/pricing and their Shopify App Store listing: neither page states a $200 monthly minimum, and richpanel.com/pricing itself has been rebuilt around named seat tiers since July rather than the flat usage model that minimum sat under. We are not asserting the minimum was removed, only that it is not on either page we read this session, so we no longer publish it. Arbyn Starter is $0 a month for 150 AI conversations, Arbyn Growth is $59 for 500, and Arbyn Agent is $99 flat above that.
The seat is a second meter, and it is per person. Their Shopify App Store listing, re-read August 2026: PRO is $89 per additional user per month. Three seats is $267 a month before the AI has answered anything. Arbyn has no seat fee at any team size.
The AI rate is an average, not a price you were quoted. Reconfirmed on both their pages, August 2026: about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation, billed on actual token use and the LLM model you choose. Simpler conversations cost less, complex ones cost more, and the figure Richpanel states is an average across all customers. So the AI line on your invoice is computed after the fact, from tokens, and the number you planned around is an average of other people's months.
They tell you where they do not fit, and it is where most stores are. Richpanel themselves say their model pays off best above about three agents or 2,000 conversations a month. That is a straight answer and we respect it. It is also the exact range where a $0 Starter plan, a $59 Growth plan and a flat $99 Agent plan are the better tool, and you do not have to book a call to find out our price.
Side by side
Feature for feature. Honestly.
Where Richpanel and Arbyn actually differ. Not marketing checkboxes, just real features that work today, as of 2026.
| Capability | Arbyn$0, $59 or $99 flat | Richpanel |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat, $0/$59/$99 per mo | About $89 per helpdesk seat per month (their Shopify App Store PRO tier), plus about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation on their own stated average. No floor found on either first-party page as of August 2026. |
| Cost predictability | Fully flat | Two meters. The AI line is billed on actual token use, so the rate is an average rather than a number you were quoted. |
| Unlimited conversations | Yes | No. The AI-handled conversation is the billable unit. |
| Unlimited AI resolutions | Yes | No. They meter the AI conversation, not the resolution, so a conversation bills whether or not it resolves. |
| Email + chat + IG + FB | Email + chat, IG/FB soon | Email, live chat, social, WhatsApp, SMS, voice and marketplaces. Genuinely broader than Arbyn today. |
| Acts inside Shopify | Yes, in-thread | Yes, and autonomy is configurable per action. Their FAQ names refunds and cancellations as the approval kind and order status and tracking as the on-its-own kind. |
| Replies in your voice | Voice Fingerprint | No brand-voice model named on their pricing page or their App Store listing. |
| Free plan | Yes, 150/mo | No. The App Store listing header reads "From $89/month". A 14-day no-charge starting period is published on all three App Store plans. |
| Setup time | In minutes | Done-for-you migration from Gorgias, Zendesk and more. Their own pages give conflicting timelines, so we quote none. |
The honest part
Where Richpanel actually wins.
A page that only says “we win” is a sales pitch, not a comparison. So here are three things Richpanel genuinely does better than Arbyn today, no hedging. Take them seriously if they matter to your store. Most Shopify store owners weigh them against $0, $59 or $99 a month, flat, and an agent that can act on the order, and switch anyway.
Where Richpanel is genuinely ahead, stated plainly.
Richpanel's pricing page has been rebuilt since we last read it, and one thing has not changed: they tell you where they do not fit, in their own words. It pays off best above about three agents or 2,000 conversations a month, and below that they suggest you book a call first. That is a straighter answer than most pricing pages give, and it held up on a re-read in August 2026. The capacity-block and volume-rollover terms we previously described here were part of the flat usage model their page has since moved away from; we could not re-confirm them this session, so we no longer state them.
They also let you decide, action by action, what the AI may do without a person. Refunds and cancellations can be signed off by a human, or you can turn them loose. We have made a different call and we will defend it rather than hide it: on Arbyn, money-moving actions wait for your one-click approval, and then Arbyn performs the real Shopify mutation and confirms it to the customer. That is a money control, not a missing feature. Shipping address changes run on their own. Full autonomy on the money-moving actions is a beta authorization we are still building.
So the disagreement is not about whether Richpanel is a serious product. It is about the shape of the bill. Their model charges $89 for every person on your team who opens the helpdesk, and then charges again for the thing you actually want, which is the AI handling the conversation. Arbyn Agent charges $99 a month, flat, at any volume, with no seat fee, Arbyn Growth is $59 for 500, and Arbyn Starter is $0 for 150 AI conversations every calendar month.
Stay with Richpanel if you need voice, WhatsApp, social and marketplaces live today, or you are running a support floor of several people who need SOC 2 and HIPAA on the paperwork. Switch to Arbyn when your volume is under their 2,000-conversation sweet spot, or when you are done paying a seat fee and an AI fee to answer the same conversation once.
- 01Channels. Their hero is "Every channel: email, chat, social, SMS, WhatsApp, voice" and their FAQ adds marketplaces. Arbyn is support email and on-site live chat, SMS is on our roadmap, and Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and voice are still to come. This is their clearest win over us and we are not going to dress it up.
- 02Security and compliance posture we do not claim parity with: SOC 2 Type II audited annually, third-party audited HIPAA, GDPR audited and EU-ready, AES-256 at rest with TLS in transit, 99.9% uptime on AWS across three availability zones, annual third-party penetration tests, SAML SSO, 2FA and RBAC.
- 03A track record and a commitment behind it. They say they power support for 3,000+ businesses since 2020, they carry 4.8 stars from 129 Shopify App Store reviews, and they publish this: "If it doesn't resolve at least 50% of conversations autonomously in 30 days, we refund every dollar. No proration."
Where Arbyn wins
Three reasons store owners actually switch.
$99 is the whole bill
No seat fee, no per-conversation fee, no capacity blocks to buy. Arbyn Agent is $99 a month at any volume, Arbyn Growth is $59 for 500, and Arbyn Starter is $0 with 150 AI conversations every calendar month on full features.
Richpanel's own PRO tier is $89 a seat before a single AI conversation, and 500 AI conversations on top of that is $189, almost double our flat $99.
Your team is not a line item
Add a second person, a seasonal helper, an agency, a co-founder. Arbyn does not care and the price does not move. Richpanel's PRO tier is explicit: $89 per additional user, per their Shopify App Store listing.
Three seats on their model is $267 a month before a single AI conversation. Richpanel themselves say the model pays off best above about three agents.
The AI conversation is free, not the meter
Arbyn handles unlimited conversations on the $99 plan. Richpanel bills about $0.20 for each AI-handled conversation, on their own stated average, so every conversation their AI takes off your team's hands is a conversation that lands on your invoice instead.
Their AI line is billed on actual token use and the model you pick, so $0.20 is an average across all their customers, not a rate you were quoted. A complex month costs more than a simple one.
Arbyn vs Richpanel: common questions
Arbyn has three flat plans, $0, $59 or $99 a month, with no per-ticket, no per-resolution and no per-seat fee on any of them. Richpanel is priced $89 per seat, plus about $0.20 per ai-handled conversation, so their bill moves with how much your store gets used and the gap widens as you grow. This page shows the maths at three real volumes. Arbyn's free plan includes 150 AI conversations a month, $59 buys 500, and $99 is unlimited.
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