Add AI automation to your Shopify chat
Shopify Inbox is a free, native live-chat inbox for your human team. Chatonbo is an AI agent that answers 24/7, tracks orders, recommends products, and builds checkout links. Here's how they compare - and why many stores run both.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Shopify Inbox details are illustrative, based on Shopify's publicly documented features as of 2026 and subject to change.
Why Add Chatonbo to Shopify Inbox
Shopify Inbox is a great free human inbox. Chatonbo adds the AI automation and agentic selling it doesn't do - and the two work well together.
It answers when nobody is online
Shopify Inbox is a human inbox: when your team is offline, most conversations turn into "leave your email and we'll get back to you." Chatonbo is an AI agent - it answers product questions, tracks orders, and recommends items 24/7, so after-hours visitors get help instead of a form.
Grounded answers, not manual quick replies
Shopify Inbox automates with saved quick replies and instant answers you write and maintain by hand. Chatonbo trains on your website, docs, and product catalog and generates grounded AI answers automatically - no scripting every response, and it adapts to how customers actually phrase questions.
Agentic selling, not just chatting
Chatonbo doesn't just reply - it acts. It looks up live order status, checks stock, validates discount codes, and builds one-click checkout links. Shopify Inbox surfaces order context to your agents, but the shopper still relies on a human to do those things.
Use it everywhere you sell
Shopify Inbox only works on Shopify. If you also run a WooCommerce store, a Wix site, or a WordPress blog, Chatonbo gives you one AI agent across all of them - same setup, same knowledge, 50+ languages.
Chatonbo vs Shopify Inbox: Which Should You Use?
Shopify Inbox and Chatonbo are often compared, but they solve different halves of the same problem. Shopify Inbox is a free, native live-chat inbox: it lives inside the Shopify admin and the Shop app, lets your team chat with shoppers, and offers saved quick replies plus simple instant answers you write yourself. For a store with staff available to chat, it's a clean, zero-cost way to talk to customers.
What it isn't is an autonomous AI agent. When no one is online, conversations mostly become "leave your email." It doesn't answer open-ended questions from your knowledge base on its own, it doesn't look up a shopper's order and return tracking, and it doesn't build a one-click checkout link with a validated discount. Those are exactly the things Chatonbo does. Chatonbo trains on your content and runs as an AI agent that answers 24/7, tracks orders (read-only, via Shopify Protected Customer Data), recommends in-stock products, validates discounts, and assembles [checkout links](/glossary/checkout-link) - the agentic actions that deflect tickets and lift conversion.
The practical answer for most stores isn't "either/or." Run Chatonbo as your AI-first chat to handle the automatable volume around the clock, and keep a human inbox for the conversations that genuinely need a person - Chatonbo offers a one-click handoff for exactly that. You get free native human chat plus an always-on AI agent, instead of choosing between them. And because Chatonbo also runs on WooCommerce, Wix, WordPress, and any site, it's the better choice the moment you sell beyond Shopify.
The Verdict
Shopify Inbox is an excellent free choice if you want a native human live-chat inbox built into Shopify - and your team is available to staff it.
But if you want chat that works when no one is online - answering questions, tracking orders, recommending products, and sending checkout links automatically - you need an AI agent. Chatonbo adds that layer, works alongside your inbox, and starts free.
Ready to add AI to your Shopify chat?
Start free with 100 AI conversations per month and no credit card required - your store gets an agent that never goes offline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Chatonbo and Shopify Inbox.
Shopify Inbox is Shopify's free live-chat inbox: a place for your human team to chat with shoppers, with saved quick replies and basic instant answers you write yourself. Chatonbo is an AI agent that answers automatically 24/7 - it trains on your content, tracks live orders, recommends in-stock products, validates discounts, and builds one-click checkout links. They can complement each other: Chatonbo handles the AI-resolvable conversations and hands off to a human when needed.
Not in the agentic sense. Shopify Inbox is primarily a live-chat tool for human agents, with quick replies and simple automated answers that you configure manually. It does not autonomously answer open-ended questions from your knowledge base, track orders for the shopper, or build checkout links the way a dedicated AI agent like Chatonbo does.
If your priority is a free human inbox tightly built into the Shopify admin and the Shop app, Shopify Inbox is a solid, native choice. If you want an AI that answers around the clock, deflects repetitive questions, tracks orders, recommends products, and sends checkout links - without a human online - Chatonbo is the better fit. Many stores run both: Chatonbo for AI automation, with handoff to a human inbox for the rest.
Yes. Chatonbo installs as a Shopify theme app extension and runs as your AI-first chat. When a conversation needs a person, it offers a one-click "talk to a human" handoff, and you can keep using your existing inbox for those. There's no conflict - Chatonbo handles the automatable volume and escalates the rest.
Shopify Inbox is free. Chatonbo has a free plan too (100 conversations/month), then flat paid plans at $19/month (Pro, 5,000 conversations) and $59/month (Business, 10,000 conversations) - with no per-conversation or per-resolution fees. You pay for the AI automation and agentic features (order tracking, recommendations, checkout links) that a human inbox doesn't provide.