The short answer
Choose Zipchat if you sell on WhatsApp and Instagram as well as your website, want WhatsApp marketing, or also run a store outside Shopify. Choose Catchly if your shoppers ask their questions on your Shopify store and you want a price that counts conversations, not individual AI messages, with no overage.
At a glance
| Catchly | Zipchat | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, 50 AI conversations a month and unlimited human chat | Its Shopify listing shows a free plan with 120 AI replies a month. Its pricing page shows a 7 day trial instead |
| Entry paid plan | $19 a month for 500 AI conversations | Starter at $64 a month billed yearly, or $80 billed monthly, for 750 AI replies, which it estimates at about 300 conversations |
| How AI use is counted | One shopper chat with at least one AI reply, counted once per 24 hours | Per AI reply: each outbound AI message counts as one reply |
| Past the limit | No overage. The AI pauses and the chat keeps taking questions and emails | Extra replies sold in packs, $49 for 250 replies on most plans |
| Channels | Web chat on your Shopify store | Website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and email |
| Platforms | Shopify | Shopify, WooCommerce and other site builders |
| Team members | Your Shopify staff use the Catchly admin | Unlimited team members |
Why per reply and per conversation pricing feel different
A shopper who asks about a jacket often sends three or four messages: is it waterproof, how does it fit, do you ship to Canada, can I return it. On a plan that counts AI replies, that one shopper uses three or four units. On Catchly it is one AI conversation, however many replies it takes, and the same chat is counted once in a 24 hour period. Neither model is wrong, but they suit different stores. If your chats are short, per reply pricing can work well. If your shoppers ask follow up questions, per conversation pricing is easier to predict.
Where Zipchat is the better choice
- You sell through messaging apps. Zipchat answers on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger and offers WhatsApp marketing. Catchly is web chat only today.
- You want the AI to take actions. Zipchat lists order tracking, returns, cash on delivery checks, discounts and stock checks as actions its agent can take.
- You are not only on Shopify. Zipchat works with WooCommerce and other platforms.
- Reviews. Zipchat has a high rating from a couple of hundred reviews on the Shopify App Store. Catchly is new and has none yet.
Where Catchly is different
- A lower, flat entry price. $19 a month for 500 AI conversations, billed through Shopify, with a 14 day free trial.
- No packs to top up. At your cap the AI pauses until next month. The chat stays open, shoppers can still leave their email, and you can still reply.
- Grounded answers with a guard. Built to answer only from your store's products, pages and policies, and designed to stop the AI offering refunds, discounts or delivery dates your policies do not state.
- Product comparisons from your catalog. When a shopper asks to compare two or three products, Catchly shows a side by side table built from your product data, such as price, material, fit and sizes in stock.
- Fix this answer. Correct a reply once and the chat follows your correction from then on.
If you are switching
- Install Catchly. It reads your products, collections, pages and policies by itself.
- Bring over any custom answers as questions and answers, by hand or from a CSV file.
- Send test chats with the questions your shoppers ask most, and check the sources under each answer.
- Switch off the old widget so shoppers see one chat button.
Catchly is live on the Shopify App Store. Install Catchly or try the live demo.
Sources
Facts about Zipchat come from these public pages, read on 18 October 2026. Its pricing page and its Shopify listing did not fully agree on that date, and we show both where they differ. Plans and prices may have changed since.
Zipchat is a trademark of its owner. Catchly is not affiliated with Zipchat.