Front vs Gorgias (2026): Which Should You Choose?

The one-line version: Front is a collaborative shared inbox — it's built for B2B, services, and operations teams who treat support as an extension of relationships and need to work email and conversations together. Gorgias is a Shopify-native ecommerce help desk — it's built for DTC and online retail brands who want order actions, refunds, and revenue tracking baked directly into every ticket. Same broad category (customer communication), genuinely different center of gravity.

This guide breaks down what each one actually is, how their pricing models differ (and they differ a lot), how each handles AI, what real users say on G2 and Capterra, and a clear "who should choose what." A disclosure up front: Macha (the company publishing this) makes an AI agent layer that runs on top of Zendesk and Freshdesk — so we don't integrate with either tool here, which lets us keep this even-handed. We'll save the one honest aside about where we fit for the end.

How we compared

We pulled plan names and prices from the official pricing pages for Front and Gorgias, cross-checked against third-party pricing breakdowns (Lindy, Chatarmin, eesel) where the official pages omit detail. For real-user signal we used G2 and Capterra aggregate ratings, review counts, and recurring pros/cons, with an attributed reviewer quote for each tool. Where a figure isn't pinned on an official page (Gorgias' higher-tier list prices move between sources), we flag it. Pricing in this space changes often — confirm current rates before you budget. Our next review is scheduled for December 2026.

The core difference: collaboration vs. commerce

This is the whole decision, so slow down here.

Front is organized around collaboration. Its mental model is a shared inbox — your team's email, chat, SMS, and social land in one place where teammates can comment internally, @mention each other, assign messages, and draft replies together without forwarding threads or jumping into a separate chat tool. It feels like email with superpowers, which is exactly why account managers, client-services teams, logistics/ops desks, and B2B support functions gravitate to it. The unit of work is a conversation tied to a relationship.

Gorgias is organized around ecommerce. Its mental model is a ticket connected to an order. The headline feature is a best-in-class Shopify (and BigCommerce/Magento) integration: an agent can see order history, issue a refund, edit or cancel an order, and track shipments without leaving the ticket, and Gorgias attributes revenue generated through support conversations. The unit of work is a ticket tied to a transaction.

That single split — relationship-centric collaboration vs. transaction-centric commerce — drives nearly every other difference, including the pricing model.

What is Front

Front is a customer communication platform built on a shared inbox. It unifies email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and social into team inboxes where conversations can be assigned, commented on, and resolved collaboratively. Core strengths:

• Shared inboxes with internal collaboration — @mentions, internal comments, shared drafts, and clear assignment so a team works one queue instead of forwarding emails.
• Omnichannel conversations — email, chat, SMS, social, and messaging in one view (omnichannel unlocks on higher tiers).
• Rules and automations — routing, macros, SLA rules, and workflow automation to move conversations without manual triage.
• Analytics and AI — team and conversation analytics, plus an AI layer (Copilot, Autopilot, Smart QA/CSAT) for drafting, deflection, and quality scoring.

Front shines for B2B, professional-services, and ops teams where support is relationship-driven and several people often touch one account. For a deeper cost breakdown, see Front pricing explained.

What is Gorgias

Gorgias is a help desk built specifically for ecommerce. Where Front thinks in conversations and relationships, Gorgias thinks in tickets connected to orders and revenue. Core strengths:

• Deep ecommerce integrations — view, refund, edit, cancel, and track Shopify/BigCommerce/Magento orders directly inside a ticket; the Shopify integration is its most-praised feature.
• Revenue tracking — attributes sales influenced by support (chat-driven and proactive conversations), so support is measured as a revenue lever, not just a cost center.
• Macros, rules, and intent detection — automation tuned for high-volume DTC questions (where's my order, returns, exchanges) to clear repetitive tickets fast.
• AI Agent — an autonomous bot that resolves ecommerce queries across email, chat, and SMS.

Gorgias shines for Shopify and DTC brands drowning in order-related questions who want commerce actions and AI resolution in one place. For the full cost picture, see Gorgias pricing explained.

Side-by-side comparison

Rates current as of mid-2026 from official pricing pages; ratings from G2/Capterra as cited. Confirm before budgeting — pricing changes often.

Pricing: two completely different models

This is where the comparison gets interesting, because Front and Gorgias don't just have different prices — they bill on different axes.

Front charges per seat per month (annual billing):

• Starter — $25/seat/mo · shared inbox, ticketing, AI Topics, basic analytics, knowledge base. Limited to a single channel type and a max of 10 seats.
• Professional — $65/seat/mo · omnichannel, macros, advanced analytics, multiple workspaces, SSO/SCIM. Up to 50 seats.
• Enterprise — $105/seat/mo · unlimited seats, smart/unlimited automation rules, custom roles, and AI Copilot, Smart QA, and Smart CSAT included.

Front's AI is mostly an add-on stack below Enterprise: Autopilot (the autonomous bot) from $0.05 per conversation, Copilot $20/seat/mo, Smart QA $20/seat/mo, Smart CSAT $10/seat/mo. The model is predictable if you know your headcount — your bill scales with agents.

Gorgias charges per ticket volume — unlimited users on every plan (monthly list pricing; annual is cheaper):

• Starter — $10/mo · ~50 billable tickets/month.
• Basic — ~$60/mo · ~300 tickets (about $50/mo on annual).
• Pro — ~$300/mo (some sources list ~$360 monthly list — flagged) · higher ticket allotment, more features.
• Advanced — ~$900/mo (about $750/mo annual) · highest published tier.
• Enterprise — custom.

The Gorgias AI Agent costs ~$0.90 per resolution on annual plans (or $1.00 monthly) — and crucially, each AI resolution also counts as a billable ticket, so an automated resolution is effectively billed twice. Tickets over your plan quota run roughly $0.40 each (Starter/Basic), dropping to ~$0.36 (Pro/Advanced) and ~$0.32 (Enterprise).

The practical takeaway: Front's cost tracks your team size; Gorgias' cost tracks your ticket volume. A 3-person team handling 8,000 ecommerce tickets a month will find Gorgias' unlimited-users model attractive — but should model the per-ticket-plus-AI math carefully. A 25-person B2B services team with moderate ticket volume will find Front's per-seat model simpler to forecast. (Watch the per-resolution AI metering on Gorgias and the per-conversation Autopilot meter on Front — both add up.)

AI: deflection for retail vs. assist for teams

Both have leaned hard into AI, but in keeping with their positioning.

• Gorgias AI Agent is built to autonomously resolve ecommerce queries — order status, returns, exchanges — across email, chat, and SMS, using its order data to actually take action. It's priced per resolution, which aligns cost with outcomes but, as reviewers note, can get expensive at volume (and the double-counting as a ticket compounds it). A current limitation: the AI Agent doesn't cover voice, Instagram DMs, or WhatsApp yet.
• Front's AI splits into Autopilot (autonomous deflection, per conversation), Copilot (agent-assist: drafting, summaries), and Smart QA/CSAT (quality and satisfaction scoring). It's tuned more toward helping a human team work faster and consistently than toward fully autonomous retail deflection — fitting for relationship-heavy support.

Net: if your goal is autonomous deflection of repetitive order questions, Gorgias' AI Agent is purpose-built for that. If your goal is making a collaborative team faster and more consistent, Front's Copilot-led stack fits better. Either way, budget AI as a separate line item — it's the most common source of "the bill was higher than the sticker" on both.

What users say

Aggregate sentiment lines up with the "different tools, different jobs" framing.

• Front — 4.7/5 on G2 across roughly 2,429 reviews (some sources cite ~2,460), and around ~4.5/5 on Capterra (Capterra figure approximate). The standout theme is collaboration. As one verified G2 reviewer put it: "What I like best about Front is how it brings email and team collaboration together in one place. The shared inboxes, internal comments, and clear assignment of messages help our team stay organized and aligned without needing to forward emails or rely on external chat tools." The most common watch-out: advanced automation and AI features are gated to higher tiers, and the ticketing is less ecommerce-specialized than a purpose-built retail desk.

• Gorgias — 4.6/5 on G2 across roughly 547 reviews, and 4.6/5 on Capterra (~133 reviews). Reviewers consistently praise the Shopify integration as best-in-class — one G2 reviewer called it "an incredibly convenient helpdesk solution for eCommerce businesses, thanks to its powerful integration with platforms like Shopify." The most frequent criticisms: pricing feels high for startups, the ticket-plus-AI billing can surprise teams at scale, and analytics and automation can feel rigid without tuning.

Net: both are well-liked, Front edges Gorgias slightly on raw rating across a far larger review base, and the recurring complaint on both is AI/usage pricing stacking on top of the base plan.

Who should choose what

• Choose Gorgias if you run a Shopify or DTC ecommerce brand and most of your tickets are order-related (WISMO, returns, refunds, exchanges). You want order actions inside the ticket, revenue attribution, and autonomous AI deflection — and your ticket volume, not headcount, is the thing that scales.
• Choose Front if you're a B2B, services, agency, or ops team where support is relationship-driven and multiple teammates touch the same accounts. You want a true shared inbox with internal collaboration, predictable per-seat pricing, and AI that makes your humans faster.
• Borderline? If you sell physical products online, lean Gorgias. If your "tickets" are really client conversations and projects, lean Front. The Shopify-actions question usually settles it: if you'd use refund/edit-order-in-ticket every day, that's Gorgias' home turf.
• Either way, model the usage cost. Gorgias' per-resolution AI (double-counted as a ticket) and Front's per-conversation Autopilot both stack on top of the base plan.

Where an AI layer like Macha fits (honestly)

One honest aside, scoped narrowly: Macha is an AI agent layer that runs on top of Zendesk and Freshdesk — and to be upfront, it does not integrate with Front or Gorgias, so it isn't a third option in this particular decision. We mention it only so you have the full landscape: if you're also weighing Zendesk or Freshdesk for the customer-support side and want stronger AI resolution than the built-in bots, Macha's AI agents connect to your knowledge and automate the work action by action. If that's relevant to your stack, you can 7-day free trial, no credit card required. If you're committed to Front or Gorgias, stick with their native AI — Macha won't help there, and we won't pretend otherwise.

Frequently asked questions

What's the main difference between Front and Gorgias? Front is a collaborative shared inbox built for B2B, services, and ops teams — email and conversations worked together with internal comments and assignments. Gorgias is a Shopify-native ecommerce help desk where tickets connect to orders, with refunds/edits inside the ticket and revenue tracking. Front is relationship-centric; Gorgias is commerce-centric.

Is Gorgias only for Shopify? Gorgias also supports BigCommerce and Magento, but its deepest, most-praised integration is with Shopify, and it's overwhelmingly used by Shopify/DTC brands. If you're not running an online store, Gorgias' core advantages mostly don't apply.

Which is cheaper, Front or Gorgias? They bill differently, so it depends on your shape. Front is per seat ($25/$65/$105 per seat per month, annual), so cost tracks headcount. Gorgias is per ticket volume (from $10/mo, unlimited users), so cost tracks ticket count — plus ~$0.90–$1.00 per AI resolution that also counts as a ticket. A small team with high ticket volume often prefers Gorgias' model; a larger team with moderate volume often prefers Front's predictability.

Can Front handle ecommerce support? It can handle ecommerce conversations, but it lacks Gorgias' native order actions (refund/edit/cancel in-ticket) and revenue tracking. For order-heavy Shopify support, Gorgias is purpose-built; Front fits better when support is relationship- and collaboration-driven.

How does each one price AI? Gorgias charges ~$0.90 per AI resolution on annual plans ($1.00 monthly), and each resolution also counts as a billable ticket. Front sells AI as add-ons: Autopilot from $0.05/conversation, Copilot at $20/seat/mo, plus Smart QA/CSAT — with Copilot and QA/CSAT included on Enterprise. Budget AI separately on both.

The bottom line

Front vs. Gorgias isn't really "which is better" — it's "which team are you." Gorgias is the answer for Shopify and DTC brands: a help desk where every ticket is wired to an order, AI deflects the repetitive WISMO/returns flood, and support is measured in revenue. Front is the answer for B2B, services, and ops teams: a genuine shared inbox where collaboration, internal comments, and predictable per-seat pricing matter more than commerce actions. Both earn strong, high-volume review scores; the shared complaint is usage-based AI pricing stacking on the base plan. Match the tool to how your team actually works — and confirm every rate on the official pricing pages before you commit, because they move often.

Vendor details cited were current as of mid-2026 from Front's and Gorgias' official pricing pages; ratings are from G2 and Capterra as noted. Some Gorgias higher-tier prices and Front's Capterra rating are approximate and flagged as such. Next review: December 2026.