The short answer
Choose Tidio if you want one inbox for website chat, email, Instagram and WhatsApp, a mobile app for your team, and an AI agent that can act on orders. Choose Catchly if you mainly want an AI chat on your Shopify store that answers from your own products and policies, hands off to you when it is not sure, captures emails, and costs the same every month.
At a glance
| Catchly | Tidio | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 50 AI conversations a month and unlimited human chat | Yes, 50 billable conversations a month. The first 50 Lyro AI conversations are free once, not every month |
| Entry price with AI | $19 a month for 500 AI conversations | On its Shopify listing: Lyro AI Chatbot plan at $39 a month for up to 200 Lyro conversations, separate from the $29 Customer Service plan |
| How AI use is counted | One shopper chat with at least one AI reply, counted once per 24 hours | Per Lyro conversation, counted once however many replies it has. Human conversations are counted separately |
| Past the limit | No overage. The AI pauses and the chat keeps taking questions and emails | Usage caps on AI. Higher plans add usage based billing |
| Channels | Web chat on your Shopify store | Web chat, email, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox, plus a mobile app |
| Order actions by AI | No. Order status lookups once Shopify approves order access; changes go to your team | Lyro can handle order status, refunds, cancellations and order edits |
| Free trial | 14 days on paid plans | 7 days on paid plans |
| Billing | Through Shopify, on your Shopify invoice, in USD | See its pricing page and listing |
Tidio's own pricing page and its Shopify listing show different plan structures. The figures above come from the listing unless they say otherwise. Check both before you decide.
Where Tidio is the better choice
- You answer customers on several channels. Tidio puts website chat, email, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox. Catchly answers only on your Shopify storefront today.
- You want the AI to act on orders. Tidio describes Lyro handling refunds, cancellations and order edits. Catchly does not change orders. It passes those requests to your team.
- You want an app with a long list of reviews. Tidio has more than a thousand reviews on the Shopify App Store. Catchly is new and has none yet.
- Your team works from phones. Tidio has a mobile app.
Where Catchly is different
- One price that includes the AI. Every Catchly plan includes AI conversations. There is no separate AI add on and no overage charge. At your monthly cap the AI pauses, and the chat stays open so shoppers can still ask and leave their email.
- Built to answer only from your store. Catchly reads your products, collections, pages and policies. When the answer is not there, it says it is not sure and offers a person or takes an email. It does not search the web.
- A promise guard. Catchly is designed to stop the AI offering refunds, discounts or delivery dates your policies do not state, and to hand those chats to you.
- Corrections that stick. Fix this answer turns your correction into a rule the chat follows from then on.
- Lead capture in every chat. No sign in. You choose when the chat asks for an email, and leads go to your Shopify customers with marketing consent as an unticked box.
What a busy month costs
Say your store has 400 shopper chats with AI replies in a month. On Catchly that fits the Starter plan at $19, with room to spare. On Tidio the cost depends on which plans you combine and how many Lyro conversations you use, so read its pricing page with your own numbers. The useful question for any app is the same: what happens in your busiest month? With Catchly the answer is that the price does not change.
If you are switching
- Install Catchly and let it read your store. Products, pages and policies sync on their own.
- Copy your most common Tidio answers into Catchly as questions and answers, or import them from a CSV file.
- Test the chat in your Catchly admin. Each answer shows the store pages it came from.
- Turn off the Tidio widget in your theme, then turn on the Catchly app embed, so shoppers see one chat.
Catchly is live on the Shopify App Store. Install Catchly or try the live demo.
Sources
Facts about Tidio come from these public pages, read on 18 October 2026. Plans and prices may have changed since.
Tidio and Lyro are trademarks of their owner. Catchly is not affiliated with Tidio.