Richpanel meters the AI conversation and puts a $200 floor under it. Arbyn charges $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 $100 for every person on your team who uses the helpdesk, and a $200 monthly minimum underneath both. 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 is $99 flat at every one.
One seat, and every conversation handled by the AI. At Richpanel's own stated $0.20 average, 500 conversations is $100 of AI, which sits below their $200 monthly minimum, so the minimum is what bills. This lands on the same number their own pricing FAQ calls a common starting setup: one AI agent plus one seat, about $300 a month. The rate is theirs. The one-seat assumption is ours.
2,000 conversations at their stated $0.20 average is $400 of AI, clear of the $200 floor, plus one 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. Their bill has moved. 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 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 $100. 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.
Verified July 2026, and read on their pages in the same session this was written. The usage model is quoted from richpanel.com/pricing: "For your human team. $100/seat per month", "~$0.20 per AI handled conversation. Billed on your actual token use and the LLM model you choose... The average is $0.20 across all customers", a $200 monthly minimum, "No plans or tiers to pick", and "A common starting setup, one AI agent plus one seat, is about $300 a month." Because $0.20 is their stated average rather than a contracted rate, every scenario above labels it as such. The scenario assumptions are ours: one helpdesk seat, and every conversation handled by the AI. The rates are theirs. Their Shopify App Store listing publishes a different, seat-tier model (PRO $89/mo, PRO MAX $119/mo, Self Service $119/mo, from $89/month, 4.8 stars from 129 reviews), and Richpanel never reconciles the two, so nothing on this page merges or averages them. We publish no migration timeline, because their own pages give two different ones. Usage model verified against richpanel.com/pricing.
Pricing model decoded
Two first-party price lists. They do not agree with each other.
Richpanel publishes their pricing twice, and the two versions are different products. richpanel.com/pricing sells a usage model with no tiers at all: a seat fee, a per-AI-conversation meter and a monthly minimum. Their Shopify App Store listing sells three named seat tiers. Richpanel never reconciles them anywhere, so we quote each figure to the page it lives on and never blend the two.
Your bill has a floor before your volume does. Their pricing FAQ, verbatim: "The AI is about 20 cents per conversation it handles, with a $200 monthly minimum. No plans or tiers to pick. A common starting setup, one AI agent plus one seat, is about $300 a month." A quiet January still bills the minimum. Arbyn Starter is $0 a month for 150 AI conversations, and Arbyn Agent is $99 flat above that.
The seat is a second meter, and it is per person. Verbatim: "For your human team. $100/seat per month", and "Each person on your team who uses the helpdesk is $100 a month." Richpanel themselves say the model pays off best above about three agents, which is $300 a month of seats 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. Verbatim: "~$0.20 per AI handled conversation. Billed on your actual token use and the LLM model you choose. Simpler conversations cost less, complex ones cost more. The average is $0.20 across all customers. Last audited June 2026." 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.
Unused volume does not stay yours. Verbatim: "Your volume is monthly. If you don't use it all, you get extra time after the month ends: 15 days on monthly billing, 90 days on yearly. After that, unused volume expires." To their credit there is no overage rate and no automatic surcharge: past your volume, conversations go to your human team, and more AI capacity is an opt-in $100 block. It is a stop, not a penalty.
They tell you where they do not fit, and it is where most stores are. Verbatim: "it pays off best above about 3 agents or 2,000 conversations a month. Below that, the $200 monthly minimum can still pay back... but book a call first." That is a straight answer and we respect it. It is also the exact range where a $0 Starter 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$99 flat | Richpanel |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat $99/mo | $100 per helpdesk seat per month, plus about $0.20 per AI-handled conversation on their own stated average, with a $200 monthly minimum. No plans or tiers. |
| Cost predictability | Fully flat | Two meters and a floor. 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 $200 AI minimum is the floor and 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 a flat $99 a month (or $0 to start) and an agent that can act on the order, and switch anyway.
Where Richpanel is genuinely ahead, stated plainly.
Richpanel's pricing page is more honest than most in this category, and some of the things people assume about usage billing are not true here. There is no overage rate and no automatic surcharge: when you hit your monthly volume, conversations go to your human team, and extra AI capacity is an opt-in $100 block you choose to buy. Unused volume rolls for 15 days on monthly billing and 90 days on yearly. They also 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.
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 puts a $200 floor under a quiet month, charges $100 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 charges $99 a month, flat, at any volume, with no seat fee and no minimum, and $0 for your first 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 and a monthly minimum 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 in beta, 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 monthly minimum, no capacity blocks to buy. Arbyn Agent is $99 a month at any volume, and Arbyn Starter is $0 with 150 AI conversations every calendar month on full features.
Richpanel's own FAQ describes a common starting setup, one AI agent plus one seat, as about $300 a month. That is three times our flat price before your volume has done anything.
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 page is explicit: "Each person on your team who uses the helpdesk is $100 a month."
Three seats on their model is $300 a month before a single AI conversation, and $300 is also the point where they say the model starts paying off.
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 is a flat $99/mo for unlimited AI conversations and resolutions, with no per-ticket, per-resolution or per-seat fees. Richpanel is priced $100 per seat, plus about $0.20 per ai-handled conversation, so their bill moves with how much your store is used and the gap widens as you grow. This page shows the actual math at three real volumes. There is also a free Arbyn Starter plan with 150 AI conversations per month at $0.
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