Best AI agents for ecommerce: 11 tools compared

An AI agent for ecommerce is software that talks with shoppers, or with you, in plain language and acts on your store data: it finds an order, recommends a product, starts a return or guides a shopper to checkout. For online stores, our pick is Kanal: its AI agent sells and supports customers on WhatsApp, with Shopify order and catalog data in every conversation, and the conversation keeps going after the visitor leaves your site.

We compared 11 AI agents for ecommerce, Kanal included, on the job they do, the channels they cover and the pricing shown on their own pages on October 19, 2026. Some are customer service agents inside a helpdesk, some are shopping assistants on your storefront, and one works for the merchant inside the Shopify admin. Agents that shop on the buyer's side, inside assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini, are a separate subject: see our guide to agentic commerce.

This page compares AI agents. For web chat apps you install from the Shopify App Store, see our best Shopify chatbot apps. For WhatsApp platforms only, read our best WhatsApp chatbot comparison.

What is an AI agent for ecommerce?

An ecommerce AI agent is a language model connected to your store. It reads your catalog, policies and orders, understands what a customer writes, and completes tasks that used to need a person on your team.

The difference with a scripted chatbot is action:

• A scripted chatbot follows a decision tree you build: buttons, menus, keywords. It is predictable, and it stops at the first question you did not plan for.
• An AI agent reads free text, answers from your own data and takes actions. It looks up an order, starts a return, recommends products, applies a discount or adds items to a cart. When it cannot help, it passes the conversation to a person with the history.

Where the agent lives matters as much as what it knows. A website widget only works while the visitor is on your site. An agent on WhatsApp, like Kanal's Shopify AI agent, keeps the conversation going after the visitor leaves. Our guide to the AI chatbot for ecommerce covers the channel choice in more depth.

The 3 main types of ecommerce AI agents

Most tools below belong to one of three families, and some cover two.

1. Customer service agents (after the purchase). They resolve "where is my order?", returns, refunds, cancellations and subscription changes, usually inside a helpdesk. Examples: Gorgias Support Agent, Intercom Fin, Zendesk AI agents, Tidio Lyro, Siena, Yuma.
2. Shopping and sales assistants (before the purchase). They answer product questions, compare items, recommend products and guide shoppers to checkout. Examples: Rep AI, Manifest AI, the Gorgias Shopping Assistant, Fin for Ecommerce, Salesforce Agentforce Guided Shopping.
3. Merchant-side agents (operations and marketing). They work for you, not for your customers: product descriptions, discounts, reports, collections. Examples: Shopify Sidekick, Salesforce Agentforce Merchandising.

Kanal covers the first two families in one agent, on WhatsApp: it answers order and product questions and recommends products. Store automations such as cart recovery, post-purchase follow-ups and back-in-stock alerts run on the same platform.

How we compared the tools

We read each tool's website and Shopify App Store listing in September 2026, then re-read every pricing page and listing on October 19, 2026. Every feature and price below comes from those pages. Our pick comes first, then support agents, shopping assistants and merchant-side tools. For each tool, we noted:

• Main job and channels: what the agent does and where it answers.
• Store data and actions: what it can read (orders, catalog, stock) and do (refunds, returns, cart).
• Pricing model and entry price: as displayed, without conversion. Vendors do not count a billable resolution the same way, so read each definition.

AI agents for ecommerce compared

The 11 best AI agents for ecommerce

1. Kanal, the AI agent that sells and supports on WhatsApp

The Kanal app: automations list.

The Kanal app: integrations page.

Kanal is a WhatsApp marketing and sales platform for online stores, deepest on Shopify. Its AI agent learns your catalog, FAQ and store policies, then talks to your customers inside WhatsApp, so the conversation keeps going after they leave your site.

• It sells: it answers product questions and recommends products from your catalog, with a link to buy.
• It supports: order status and product questions around the clock, in more than 96 languages. When a question needs a person, your team takes over from the shared inbox with the full conversation and the customer's Shopify orders in view.
• It knows your store: Shopify orders, customers and catalog sync automatically, and Kanal connects to Klaviyo, Recharge, Crisp, Gorgias and Zendesk. PrestaShop stores connect through the store API, with setup done by a Kanal expert.
• Automations around it: abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase follow-ups and back-in-stock alerts, triggered by Shopify events, plus WhatsApp campaigns to your segments.
• Price: the AI agent comes with the Scale plan, $149/month on the Shopify App Store, which also adds segments, advanced automations and the integrations. The Pro plan at $89/month covers cart recovery, campaigns and the inbox without the AI agent. Meta's WhatsApp fees are passed through at cost (see the plans).

Why it comes first: Kanal is built around WhatsApp rather than a website widget or a ticket queue. The agent reaches customers in the app they already use, knows their orders, and sells as well as it supports, on the same platform as your store automations. The AI agent page lists every feature.

2. Gorgias AI Agent, support and shopping inside an ecommerce helpdesk

Screenshot of the Gorgias website.

Gorgias is a helpdesk built for ecommerce. Its AI Agent has two parts: a Support Agent for after the purchase and a Shopping Assistant for before it. For the bill, see how Gorgias charges for tickets and automated interactions.

• What it does: order tracking, returns and FAQs, plus discounts and upsells based on live inventory and shopper data. Through integrations, it can also edit subscriptions, issue refunds and update shipping details, and it reads order history, stock levels and customer tags from Shopify.
• Channels: email, chat, social, voice and SMS.
• Pricing model: per automated interaction. On Gorgias's pricing page on October 19, 2026, Starter cost $40/month billed monthly with AI Agent ($10 helpdesk plus $30 AI Agent), including 50 tickets and 30 automated interactions; extra interactions cost $1.00 on Starter and down to $0.85 on Advanced. The Shopify App Store listing shows a 7-day free trial and a 4.3/5 rating (706 reviews).

Worth a look if your support team already works in a ticket queue. Kanal's Gorgias integration lets Gorgias users keep handling WhatsApp conversations there.

3. Intercom Fin, an AI agent priced per outcome

Screenshot of the Intercom website.

Fin is Intercom's AI agent. It works with the Intercom helpdesk or with others such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk and Gorgias, and it answers on live chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp and social channels.

• Ecommerce: Fin for Ecommerce answers product questions, recommends products, guides shoppers to checkout and handles returns, exchanges and order updates in the same conversation, using Shopify variants, pricing and availability. It is only available to Shopify stores, and it requires Intercom.
• Languages: more than 45.
• Pricing model: $0.99 per outcome, such as a resolution or a handoff procedure you configured, with a minimum monthly commitment (Intercom gives 50 outcomes as an example) when Fin runs on another helpdesk. On the Intercom helpdesk, seats come on top: the page showed Essential at $19 per seat/month billed annually on October 19, 2026. 14-day free trial without a card.

Worth a look if your Shopify store already runs on Intercom, or you want results-based pricing inside your current helpdesk.

4. Zendesk AI agents, resolution pricing in a full help desk

Zendesk includes AI agents in its customer service plans. They handle multi-step requests on messaging, email and voice, and they connect to the systems your business already runs on.

• What it does: answers from your help center and other sources such as PDFs, asks clarifying questions and takes actions across connected systems, in more than 80 languages. Built-in QA reviews every interaction.
• Shopify: the Zendesk app (rated 3.2/5, 94 reviews on the Shopify App Store) lets your agents process refunds and cancellations from the Zendesk Support sidebar.
• Pricing model: agent seats plus automated resolutions, meaning requests resolved without escalation to a person. On Zendesk's pricing page on October 19, 2026, Suite Team cost $55 per agent/month paid yearly ($69 monthly), with 5 automated resolutions per agent per month included; extra resolutions cost $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay as you go. 14-day free trial.

Worth a look if you need a multichannel help desk for a team of agents. Kanal also has a Zendesk integration.

5. Tidio Lyro, an AI agent with capped usage

Screenshot of the Tidio website.

Tidio is a helpdesk with chat, email, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox, and Lyro is its AI agent.

• What it does: Lyro answers from your support content and acts within your rules: order status, refunds, cancellations and order edits, in Shopify or through an API. On product pages, it compares products and adds them to the cart.
• Pricing model: per Lyro conversation, however many replies Lyro sends. Tidio's pricing page says the first 50 conversations are free for the lifetime of the account. On the Shopify App Store on October 19, 2026, Lyro AI Chatbot was $39/month for up to 200 conversations, with a free plan and a 7-day free trial; the app is rated 4.8/5 (1,355 reviews) on its Shopify App Store listing.

Worth a look if website chat is your main channel and you want capped AI costs. Our best Shopify chatbot apps list covers Tidio in more detail.

6. Siena AI, AI agents for consumer brand CX teams

Screenshot of the Siena AI website.

Siena presents itself as an AI CX operating system for consumer brands. It runs agents for support, shopping, social, quality assurance and voice of the customer.

• What it does: post-purchase workflows in a single flow, such as updating addresses, generating labels, issuing refunds and sending replacements, plus subscription skips, pauses and swaps. Its Shopping Agent handles questions before the purchase, with proactive conversation starters.
• Integrations: Shopify, helpdesks such as Zendesk, Gorgias, Intercom, Kustomer, Gladly and Dixa, plus Recharge and Loop Returns.
• Pricing model: a $750/month platform fee plus $0.90 per automated ticket, on Siena's pricing page on October 19, 2026. The final price depends on ticket volume and team structure.

Worth a look if your CX team works in a helpdesk and you want one AI layer for support, shopping and social.

7. Yuma AI, support automation paid per full resolution

Screenshot of the Yuma AI website.

Yuma plugs AI agents into your helpdesk (Gorgias, Zendesk, Kustomer, Gladly or Re:amaze) and your Shopify store, and says it is built for any ecommerce platform.

• What it does: "where is my order?", returns, refunds, cancellations, subscription changes and address edits, handled end to end with actions. You set the confidence threshold, and the rest goes to your team with context. Sales AI (a product page Q&A widget) and Social AI are add-ons.
• Pricing model: only full resolutions are billed, meaning tickets resolved with no human involved, on 12-month plans. On Yuma's pricing page on October 19, 2026, Starter showed $14,400/year (about $1.20 per resolution for 12,000 resolutions) as an illustrative price, paid upfront. The first 30 days are free, with no implementation fee.

Worth a look if you run a helpdesk and want to pay only for the tickets the AI resolves on its own.

8. Rep AI, a proactive shopping assistant

Screenshot of the Rep AI website.

Rep AI is an AI shopping assistant for Shopify that starts the conversation: its behavioral AI spots hesitating shoppers and opens a chat to recommend products, answer questions and guide them to checkout.

• Support: order status, returns, cancellations and FAQs, 24/7, then a handoff to live chat or to human agents in Zendesk or Gorgias. It replies in each shopper's language.
• Channels: website widgets, email, Instagram and Facebook DMs, and WhatsApp.
• Pricing model: based on storefront visitors. The Shopify listing shows a plan that is free to install with 100 visitors a month, $12 per extra 1,000 visitors, and Starter at $104/month for up to 10K visitors, with a 14-day free trial. The app is rated 4.6/5 (119 reviews) on its Shopify App Store listing, read on October 19, 2026.

Worth a look if your priority is converting website traffic with proactive chats.

9. Manifest AI, prebuilt agents for sales and support

Screenshot of the Manifest AI website.

Manifest AI is a platform to build AI agents for support and marketing. It syncs your catalog, policies and FAQ, then answers pre-sale questions, recommends products and handles order status and return questions in the same conversation.

• Channels and platforms: website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, voice calls and email, on Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce. Handoffs go to your helpdesk, email, live chat or WhatsApp.
• Extras: more than 100 prebuilt agents, such as a fit predictor, and A/B tests of placements like quizzes and product page widgets.
• Pricing: no public price list. On October 19, 2026, the Shopify listing showed a free test plan and a 4.4/5 rating (61 reviews).

Worth a look if you want to test several AI placements on your storefront.

10. Shopify Sidekick, the merchant-side assistant in your admin

Screenshot of the Shopify Sidekick website.

Sidekick works for you, not for your customers. It is Shopify's AI assistant: it has direct access to your Shopify data and takes action in your admin, within each staff member's permissions. Our guide to Shopify Magic covers the rest of Shopify's AI features, and our Shopify review looks at the platform as a whole.

• What it does: the example prompts on Shopify's page include SEO product descriptions, pricing analysis, a weekly performance summary, discount setup, low-stock alerts and ad spend by channel. In 2026, it learned to create customers and companies and to write ShopifyQL queries on web performance and payments data.
• Price: included in every Shopify plan, according to Shopify's pricing page on October 19, 2026. Features and usage limits vary by plan.

Worth a look if you want help running the store itself, next to a customer-facing agent. Our Shopify Sidekick guide goes deeper.

11. Salesforce Agentforce, agents for Commerce Cloud stores

Screenshot of the Salesforce website.

Agentforce is Salesforce's AI agent platform. Its commerce features run on Commerce Cloud, for B2C and B2B stores.

• For shoppers: Agentforce Guided Shopping brings visual product search and your catalog into a chat, answers store and product FAQs, and offers Apple Pay and Google Pay checkout in the chat.
• For merchants: Agentforce Merchandising handles site setup, personalized promotions and product descriptions, and recommends ways to move slow inventory. B2B buyers get Guided Buying to reorder at pre-negotiated prices.
• Pricing model: on Agentforce's pricing page on October 19, 2026, Flex Credits cost $500 per 100,000 credits, with 20 credits per action (about $0.20 an action); per-conversation pricing and per-user licenses are also offered. Commerce Cloud pricing is on request.

Worth a look if your store already runs on Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

How to choose an AI agent for your store

Start from the job you want done, then test with real questions.

1. Pick the job. Selling before the purchase, support after it, or help for your own team. Several tools here cover both sides of the sale, Kanal among them.
2. Pick the channel. Website chat catches visitors while they browse. A helpdesk agent works your ticket queue. WhatsApp keeps the conversation open after the visitor leaves.
3. Check store data and actions. During the trial, ask a badly phrased order question and a sizing question. The agent should read the real order and catalog, and only take the actions you allow.
4. Test the handoff. A person should take over with the conversation history, in the inbox your team already uses.
5. Price it at your volume. The model changes the bill more than the headline price: per outcome or resolution (Fin, Zendesk, Yuma, Siena), per automated interaction (Gorgias), per conversation (Tidio), per visitor (Rep AI), per action (Salesforce), included (Sidekick) or a monthly plan (Kanal). On WhatsApp, Meta's messaging fees also apply, and our WhatsApp Business pricing guide explains them.
6. Say it is an AI. In the EU, the AI Act's transparency rules, which require that people using a chatbot know they are talking to a machine, apply from August 2026, according to the European Commission.

Choose Kanal if you sell online and want an AI agent that sells and supports on WhatsApp, with your Shopify data in every conversation and automations from store events on the same platform. Book a demo or compare the plans.

Look at a helpdesk agent (Gorgias, Zendesk, Fin) only if your support team already works in a ticket queue and email is your main support channel; Kanal's Gorgias and Zendesk integrations bring WhatsApp into those inboxes.

Keep reading: our guide to the AI chatbot for ecommerce, the best WhatsApp chatbot platforms compared, and the AI chatbot page for Kanal's support automation.