The short answer
Choose Chatty if you want a broad toolkit in one app: chat, ticketing, a help center, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, cart recovery, and the reassurance of a large review base and the Built for Shopify badge. Choose Catchly if you want more AI conversations at each price, no overage at all, and a chat built to answer only from your store's own data.
At a glance
| Catchly | Chatty | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 50 AI conversations a month, unlimited human chat | 50 AI conversations a month, unlimited human chats, 200 products, 1 seat |
| Around $20 a month | Starter, $19: 500 AI conversations | Basic, $19.99: 100 AI conversations |
| Around $50 to $70 a month | Growth, $49: 2,000 AI conversations | Pro, $68.99: 500 AI conversations |
| Higher plan | Pro, $129: 6,000 AI conversations | Plus, $199: 1,000 AI conversations |
| How AI use is counted | One shopper chat with at least one AI reply, counted once per 24 hours | One AI conversation, counted once when it ends and only if the AI replied |
| Past the limit | No overage. The AI pauses and the chat keeps taking questions and emails | $0.40 for each extra AI conversation, with a spending cap you can set. The free plan stops at its limit |
| Channels | Web chat on your Shopify store | Web chat plus WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, with ticketing and a help center |
| Free trial | 14 days on paid plans | 7 days on paid plans |
Chatty's prices above are its monthly prices. It also offers yearly billing at a discount.
Where Chatty is the better choice
- Proof from other merchants. Chatty has a very large number of reviews on the Shopify App Store and carries the Built for Shopify badge. Catchly is new and has no reviews yet.
- More channels and tools in one app. WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, ticketing, a help center and cart recovery.
- Translation for your team. Chatty lists real time translation and an admin in several languages. Catchly's chat replies in the shopper's language, but its admin is in English.
Where Catchly is different
- More AI conversations for the money. As of October 2026, Catchly Starter includes 500 AI conversations for $19 against 100 on Chatty Basic at $19.99, and Catchly Growth includes 2,000 for $49.
- No overage, ever. There is no per conversation charge past your plan. The AI pauses until next month, and the chat keeps capturing questions and emails so you can reply.
- Built to answer only from your store. When the answer is not in your products, pages or policies, Catchly says it is not sure and offers a person or takes an email. It does not search the web.
- A promise guard. Designed to stop the AI offering refunds, discounts or delivery dates your policies do not state.
- Fix this answer. One correction becomes a store rule the chat follows from then on.
How to choose
Count the AI chats you expect in a busy month, not an average one. Then look at what each plan does at that number. If you expect around 400 AI chats, Catchly Starter covers it at $19 with no extra charge. On a plan with 100 included conversations and a per conversation overage, the extra 300 are billed on top unless you set a cap. If you need social channels or a help center, that may be worth the difference. If you mainly need good answers on your storefront, it may not.
If you are switching
- Install Catchly and let it read your products, pages and policies.
- Move your saved answers into Catchly as questions and answers, or import a CSV file.
- Test the chat in your admin and check the sources under each reply.
- Turn off the old app embed in your theme, then turn on Catchly, so shoppers see one chat.
Catchly is live on the Shopify App Store. Install Catchly or try the live demo.
Sources
Facts about Chatty come from these public pages, read on 18 October 2026. Plans and prices may have changed since.
Chatty is a trademark of its owner. Catchly is not affiliated with Chatty.