shoppa vs Tidio for Australian Stores 2026

For shoppa vs Tidio, choose shoppa when you want product advice and payment in the chat. Choose Tidio when you want staff live chat with scripted flows and Lyro AI assistance.

shoppa is an AI shopping agent you add to your site with two lines of code. Your customers find and compare products from your catalogue, buy in the chat and get help after the sale. Tidio combines a staff inbox with automation, and Lyro can also recommend products from connected catalogue data.

What is Tidio

Tidio is a live chat and chatbot tool with the Lyro AI agent. It combines live chat and ticketing with Flows, its visual chatbot builder. Tidio has installations for Shopify and WordPress, so it suits stores that want staff conversations and automation in the same service.

Those parts do different jobs. Your staff answer conversations through the inbox. Flows follow paths you design, while Lyro handles questions using connected knowledge and can pass a conversation to a person.

For a small store, the choice depends on what happens after the first answer. A returns-policy reply is one task. Helping a customer compare two products, refine the choice and pay is a longer shopping task.

Lyro AI Compared With shoppa

Lyro learns answers from your FAQs and website content. Its Product Recommendations feature also connects catalogue data through Shopify, WooCommerce, a product feed or an application programming interface (API). Tidio describes product cards and Shopify add-to-cart within the conversation.

shoppa answers from your live catalogue and store documents. It compares products side by side on the attributes that affect the purchase, with their trade-offs stated. A customer can follow up with “show me those in navy” and shoppa carries the earlier context into the next search.

Shopping task	shoppa	Tidio with Lyro
Product information	Live catalogue data and store documents	Support knowledge plus connected catalogue data for Product Recommendations
Product selection	Side-by-side comparisons and conversation-based refinement	Product recommendations with follow-up questions and visual cards
Buying	Basket and payment in the chat	Tidio documents in-chat add-to-cart for Shopify
Human help	Handover to your staff or helpdesk	Handover alongside the Tidio staff inbox

Consider this illustrative request: “How do these two coats differ, and which has a hood?” The comparison needs each coat’s attributes, not a general article about coats. A catalogue record showing a hood answers one part. The material and other supplied details explain the trade-offs.

shoppa’s comparison table puts the relevant catalogue attributes beside each product. Its connected store documents supply policy answers if the customer then asks about returns. Lyro’s documented catalogue recommendations make it a candidate for product questions too, with cards that lead customers towards a product choice.

The deciding shoppa benefit is the complete purchase workflow. Customers can compare the options, add the chosen item and pay without leaving the conversation. They can later track the order or start a return there, with human handover when they need your staff.

Tidio vs Shopify Chat

Shopify’s own chat is Shopify Inbox, with staff conversations and an optional Inbox agent. Staff can send product links and discount codes. Turning on the agent adds automatic answers from the catalogue, store policies and other connected store knowledge.

The Inbox agent can also use cited web search for reviews or feedback about a specific product in your catalogue. It can personalise recommendations from available customer details. Shopify Inbox therefore gives Shopify stores a choice between staff replies and automated assistance.

Tidio adds its own inbox, the Flows builder and Lyro to that decision. It suits a store that wants those tools together, including installations beyond Shopify.

For catalogue discovery and payment in your own branded chat, choose shoppa. Its answers use your catalogue and documents without open-web answers.

The shoppa and Shopify Inbox comparison explains that choice in more detail.

Rules-Based Flows and Open Conversation

Tidio Flows follow rules and triggers you build in a drag-and-drop editor. You can use them for a greeting or a planned sequence of questions. That gives you control over the path a customer follows.

A scripted path needs an answer for each branch you want it to handle. A customer who changes from asking about material to asking for a cheaper alternative can leave that path. Lyro handles open questions separately from Flows, so Tidio gives you both approaches.

shoppa handles that changing shopping request within the conversation. Your customer can narrow the catalogue by colour, adjust the budget and compare another item while keeping the earlier requirements. Choose it when the question leads to a purchase decision with several changes along the way.

Free Limits and AUD Pricing

Tidio’s free plan includes 50 billable staff conversations per month. Flows can reach 100 unique visitors per month. The initial 50 Lyro conversations are a separate, one-off allowance that doesn’t renew on the free plan.

That distinction matters when you reach the Lyro limit. Waiting for another month doesn’t restore the free AI allowance. Paid Lyro quotas renew monthly, and product recommendations require a paid Lyro quota. Tidio separates the staff conversation allowance from Lyro conversations and Flows visitors.

shoppa has a free trial. For paid usage, you choose per-session pricing for predictable costs or per-token pricing to pay for what the agent uses. Each store receives a quote in Australian dollars (AUD).

Match the charging unit to the job you want covered. A Tidio staff conversation, a Lyro conversation and a Flows visitor are different allowances. shoppa’s quote covers the chosen session or token model for its shopping agent.

The Tidio pricing guide explains its plan structure. Get a quote for shoppa’s AUD pricing.

Choose shoppa or Tidio

Choose shoppa when you want shoppers to get product advice and order in the chat. It combines catalogue-based comparison with payment and after-sale help. Conversation-based search lets customers change their requirements without restarting the choice, and your own product data and documents supply the answers.

Choose Tidio when you want low-cost live chat with scripted flows and some AI replies. Its free allowances suit a small volume of staff conversations and Flows visitors. Paid Lyro adds recurring AI usage and catalogue recommendations while keeping your staff inbox in the same tool.

If your free Lyro allowance is nearly exhausted, decide whether you want to extend that support setup or use a shopping agent through payment. The Tidio alternatives guide compares other replacement choices by the job you need them to do. Browse other shoppa comparisons when another tool is on your shortlist.