# Zipchat AI Alternative for Shopify: Not Priced Per Reply

> Zipchat AI meters replies in tiers on your Shopify store, so a longer chat costs more. Arbyn is flat $99/mo unlimited, plus a free 150-conversation plan.

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

## How Zipchat AI charges

Per AI reply, tiered. $49 to $499/mo across four published tiers, metered by AI reply, plus $49 per 250 extra replies on every tier. Included allowances are 500, 1,500, 3,000 and 6,000 AI replies a month. At 2,000 conversations (about 5,000 AI replies at Zipchat's own ~2.5 replies per conversation) you clear Pro's 3,000-reply cap and land on Scale at $499/mo.

Zipchat meters the outbound AI reply, not the conversation. By their own numbers a conversation runs about 2.5 replies, so a longer back-and-forth costs more than a short one and the bill climbs as reply volume grows.

## Where Zipchat AI beats Arbyn

- More channels than Arbyn ships today. Their listing covers chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Arbyn is email and live chat right now, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- No seat fees anywhere. Every Zipchat tier includes unlimited team members, so growing the support team never changes the bill.
- Cheaper than Arbyn Agent in a narrow band. Zipchat's $49 Starter is rated by Zipchat at around 200 conversations a month, so between roughly 150 and 200 conversations it undercuts our $99. Below 150, Arbyn Starter is $0 and covers more.

Zipchat's pricing page is cleaner than most in this category. Four tiers, no seat fees, no double-billing, a published overage rate, and 20% off on annual billing. They are not hiding the meter. The question is not whether they are honest about it. The question is whether you want a meter at all.
The wedge is the unit. Zipchat bills the outbound AI reply, and by their own conversion a conversation runs about 2.5 of them. So the customer who asks three follow-up questions costs you more than the one who asks none, and the month your store gets busy is the month your support bill goes up. Arbyn bills $99 a month, flat, at any volume.

Switch to Arbyn when your reply volume has started deciding your bill, or when you want the AI to actually update the shipping address in the thread and put the refund in front of you for one tap instead of just reporting on the order.

## Where Arbyn wins

### Flat, not per reply

Arbyn Agent is $99 a month at any volume. A ten-message thread does not cost ten credits, and a busy November does not cost more than a quiet February.

_No overage line. Ever._

### A free plan that carries a real store

Arbyn Starter is $0 a month, 150 AI conversations per calendar month, permanent, with every feature turned on. There is no cut-down tier and nothing to upgrade to unlock.

_150 conversations, full features, $0._

### It does the Shopify work

Arbyn changes the shipping address inside the conversation on its own, and issues the refund or starts the return the moment you approve it, then writes the action to the Shopify order timeline. Not a link to the order. The action.

_Logged to the order timeline._

## Cost at real volumes

| Scenario | Volume | Their cost | You save with Arbyn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo store | 500 conversations/mo | $129/mo | $30/mo |
| Growing DTC | 2,000 conversations/mo | $499/mo | $400/mo |
| Scale | 5,000 conversations/mo | $1,773/mo | $1,674/mo |

Source: [zipchat.ai/pricing](https://www.zipchat.ai/pricing). Tiers, included AI reply allowances, the $49-per-250 overage and the ~2.5 replies-per-conversation ratio all verified July 2026 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.