The best Richpanel alternative depends on what your store's support team needs most: a full ecommerce help desk, a simpler shared inbox with chat and WhatsApp, or an AI agent layer on top of what you already use. Check which store platforms each tool connects to, and whether agents can act on orders from inside the ticket.
Most store owners who leave Richpanel fall into one of four camps. Some want a more established ecommerce help desk. Some want something smaller and simpler for a two-person team. Some sell and support mostly over WhatsApp. And some are happy with their inbox and only want an AI agent to take the repetitive tickets.
Richpanel calls itself AI support and a help desk for ecommerce, so any replacement needs to cover at least part of that. Here are eight that do, in no particular order, grouped by what they're built for before you get to the full list.
Help desk, inbox or AI agent: three routes out
Ecommerce help desks. Gorgias and eDesk are built specifically for online store support, and each puts an AI agent at the heart of the product. They're the closest like-for-like move if your team works in tickets all day.
Shared inboxes and chat. Trengo, Crisp, Customerly and DelightChat pull email, chat and social messages into one inbox. They tend to be simpler to set up than a full desk, which suits smaller teams. If WhatsApp is where your customers talk to you, look first at the Shopify-focused option in this group, because it runs WhatsApp marketing alongside support.
AI support agents. Siena AI and Yuma AI aren't help desks in the usual sense. They're AI agents that answer shoppers, with one leaning on warm, personalised replies and the other stretching into sales and social as well as support.
Orders, refunds and the AI add-on question
Ecommerce support tools look alike in a demo. Where they differ is in how they treat your store data and who does the set-up work. These are the questions that separate them.
- Which store platforms and order systems does it connect to? If it doesn't plug into yours, agents end up copying order numbers between tabs.
- Can agents refund, cancel or edit an order from inside the ticket? Seeing an order isn't the same as being able to act on it.
- Is the AI included, or sold as a separate add-on? Some vendors bill AI per resolved ticket, which changes your monthly bill as volume grows.
- Who sets it up? Some vendors give you onboarding help, while others leave you with their help docs.
Then test with a week of your real tickets, not the demo. Real tickets include the grumpy ones, the half-written ones and the ones about parcels that went to the wrong address. That's where the differences show.
Eight support tools compared
| Tool | Kind of tool | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Crisp | Shared inbox and live chat | Smaller teams wanting multichannel messaging in one place |
| Customerly | AI help desk and live chat | Help desk, chat, help centre and mobile SDK together |
| DelightChat | Shopify shared inbox with WhatsApp | Shopify stores supporting and selling over WhatsApp |
| eDesk | Ecommerce help desk with AI | Online sellers wanting AI-led ecommerce support |
| Gorgias | Ecommerce help desk | Brands wanting an established ecommerce desk |
| Siena AI | Empathy-led support agents | Personalised, empathetic answers for shoppers |
| Trengo | Omnichannel shared inbox | Bringing every channel into one inbox |
| Yuma AI | Support and sales agents | AI agents across support, sales, social and chat |
Which shop each support tool is made for
In alphabetical order.
Crisp
Best for: Smaller support teams who want an all-in-one multichannel messaging inbox and the option to build an AI agent in a few steps, per the vendor.
Customerly
Best for: Online businesses wanting a help desk, live chat, help centre and mobile SDK in one platform, with an AI agent called Aura on top.
DelightChat
Best for: Shopify stores handling email, live chat, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in one shared inbox, and running WhatsApp marketing from the same tool.
eDesk
Best for: Ecommerce sellers who want customer support software built around online selling, with an AI agent at the centre of the work.
Gorgias
Best for: Online brands wanting an established ecommerce help desk with an AI agent, chat, FAQ pages and a wide set of integrations.
Siena AI
Best for: Commerce brands that want AI agents giving shoppers personalised support, positioned around empathy as well as automation.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Trengo
Best for: Teams that want every channel in one central inbox with AI agents built in, rather than a desk made only for shops.
Yuma AI
Best for: Ecommerce teams wanting AI agents that resolve support tickets and also cover sales, social and chat, not only the support queue.
My advice for online shops leaving Richpanel
If your team lives in tickets all day and needs order actions at their fingertips, stay in the ecommerce help desk group. If you're a small shop answering messages between packing parcels, a shared inbox with chat will feel lighter and quicker to learn.
Whichever route you take, connect your store, import a sample of past conversations and judge the tool on real work. For a wider view of the channels around support, my guide to customer engagement platforms is useful, and my list of customer communications management software covers the outbound side, from order updates to notices.
Where an AI agent layer fits
You don't always need to replace your help desk to get AI. If your current inbox works and the problem is volume, an AI agent layer can take the repeat questions, such as where's my order, and leave the tricky ones for people.
Start it on one ticket type, read its answers every day for the first week, and only widen its scope once you trust it. Keep an easy route to a human, because a shopper stuck in a loop with a bot is worse off than one waiting for a slow reply.
Do you make ecommerce support software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between an ecommerce help desk and a shared inbox?
An ecommerce help desk is built around orders and store data, so agents see order details next to the ticket. A shared inbox gathers messages from several channels into one place but usually does less with order data.
Can an AI agent replace my support team?
Not fully. AI agents can handle repeat questions such as order tracking, but disputes, damaged goods and upset customers still need a person. Treat AI as the first line, not the whole team.
Do I need a WhatsApp-first support tool?
Only if a big share of your customers message you there. If WhatsApp is a side channel, an omnichannel inbox that includes it'll usually be enough.
How do I move my support history to a new tool?
Ask each vendor whether it imports past tickets and customer records from your current tool, and test it with a small batch before you switch.
How should I test a new help desk?
Run a week of real tickets through it, including refunds and order changes, and note how many clicks each one takes your team.
