An AI chatbot for a Shopify store costs anywhere from free to several hundred dollars per month, depending on message volume and pricing model. As a concrete example, ReplAi runs from a free 100-reply plan up to $299.95/mo for 10,000 replies. The pricing model matters more than the sticker price.
What pricing models do AI support tools use?
Almost every tool in this space charges by volume, but they count volume differently, and that difference decides your real bill.
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Per reply or per conversation. You pay for what the AI actually answers. Predictable, and cost scales with the work done.
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Per ticket. Helpdesk-style tools like Gorgias price plans by monthly ticket or interaction volume, with overage charges when you exceed your tier. Busy months cost more, and even tickets a human handles can count. Prices change, so check current pricing, but the model itself is the point; we analyse it in Gorgias pricing explained.
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Per contact. Marketing-automation tools like ManyChat scale pricing by how many contacts are in your list, whether or not they message you that month.
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Base plan plus AI add-on. Tidio, for example, has free and paid tiers, with its AI (Lyro) priced as an add-on by conversation volume. Two meters to watch instead of one.
There is no universally cheapest model. But for small and mid-size stores, models where the meter only runs when the AI does work tend to be the easiest to predict.
What does ReplAi cost, exactly?
We publish our pricing, so we will use it as the transparent worked example:
| Plan | Price | Replies per month | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 100 | Testing on real customers |
| Starter | $24.99/mo | 500 | New stores, low DM volume |
| Grow | $79.99/mo | 2,500 | Growing stores with daily DM flow |
| Pro | $299.95/mo | 10,000 | High-volume stores, 1,000+ orders/mo |
Under the hood, usage is measured in AI credits, an internal unit where 100 credits covers roughly 50-150 replies depending on conversation complexity. Every plan, including Free, includes onboarding with a real person. The WebChat storefront widget is normally a $4.99/mo add-on, and during the current launch promo every plan gets every feature at no extra cost. Full details are on the pricing page.
How do you estimate the plan size you need?
Work from your message volume, not your order volume:
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Count last month's inbound messages across Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and web chat. Most merchants underestimate this by half because they only remember the ones they answered.
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Assume most of it is automatable. Across the ReplAi merchant cohort in Q1 2026, 80% of messages were fully automated; stores doing 1,000+ orders per month typically see 70-80% handled without humans.
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Match that number to a reply tier, and leave 20-30% headroom for growth and campaign spikes.
A store getting about 400 customer messages per month fits Starter. A store getting 60-80 messages per day belongs on Grow or Pro.
Is the subscription the whole cost?
No, and honest budgeting includes the rest:
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Setup time. With ReplAi this is about 10 minutes via one-click Shopify install; with helpdesk-style platforms it can be days or weeks of workflow configuration.
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Ongoing tuning. Expect an hour or two per week early on, reviewing conversations and tightening instructions, dropping quickly after the first month.
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Human escalations. Someone still handles the 20-30% of conversations that need a person. That is a shift in an existing role, not a new hire.
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Add-ons. Watch for AI priced separately from the base platform, channel fees, and overage charges. This is where per-ticket and add-on models surprise people.
What return should you expect on that spend?
Two returns, and the second is bigger than most merchants expect.
Cost savings. If the AI absorbs the majority of routine volume, your team stops spending hours on tracking numbers and size charts. Merchants doing 1,000+ orders per month on ReplAi free up 4-8 hours of support time per day. We compare this against hiring in AI vs human support agents.
Revenue. DMs convert when answered fast. Baseline DM close rates sit around 3%, mostly because replies arrive late. In ReplAi's pilot cohort, DM sales rose +75% for the bottom quartile of merchants, +150% at the median, and +300% for the top quartile. The outlier, fashion brand Bronze, grew DM sales 13x in one month with zero new hires. Against a $24.99 or $79.99 subscription, even a fraction of that lift changes the math entirely.
How does ReplAi keep costs predictable?
ReplAi charges by replies, so the meter only runs when the AI actually answers a customer. There are no per-seat fees, no per-ticket overage model, and human takeover from the same inbox does not require a bigger plan. You can start on the Free plan (100 replies per month, real-person onboarding included), watch it handle live conversations on Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and WebChat, and upgrade only when volume justifies it.
The fastest way to sanity-check the numbers for your store is to book a demo and bring last month's message counts.
Frequently asked questions
Can I really run an AI chatbot for free? Yes, within limits. ReplAi's Free plan includes 100 AI replies per month plus onboarding with a real person, which is enough for a new store or a serious trial. Tidio also offers a free tier, though its Lyro AI is a volume-priced add-on. Free tiers are for validation; a store with real daily volume will outgrow them quickly.
What is an AI credit and why not just count replies? Credits are ReplAi's internal usage unit: 100 credits covers roughly 50-150 replies, because a quick order-status answer costs less compute than a long multi-product sales conversation. Plans are still communicated in replies per month, so you can budget against a number you can actually observe.
Why can two stores with the same revenue pay very different amounts? Because chat volume, not revenue, drives cost. A social-first fashion brand may get ten times the DMs of a search-driven electronics store with identical sales. Channel mix, COD share, and shipping speed all change how often customers message you.
Are per-ticket helpdesks always a bad deal? No. For larger teams that need deep multi-agent workflows, macros, and reporting, ticket-based platforms like Gorgias can be worth it, and prices change so always check current tiers. The mismatch is for small stores, where a viral month or a shipping delay can push you into overages precisely when cash is tightest. Our guide to Gorgias alternatives for small stores covers that scenario.