Should you build your own Gorgias?
Build a small ecommerce support inbox from email and store webhooks
A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Gorgias, build a small ecommerce support inbox from email and store webhooks. The hard boundary is deep commerce integrations, order actions, automation, ai, and high-volume support operations, plus channel integrations and support operations.
ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.
Build a closest honest personal substitute for Gorgias in an empty repository.
Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, WebSockets, and Docker Compose; do not offer alternative stacks.
The core loop is: receive customer messages from email and store webhooks into a small shared ecommerce support inbox, reply from one place, and retain a searchable conversation history.
Make the first run work locally with one documented command.
Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward.
Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials.
Implement one workspace, agents, contacts, inboxes, conversations, messages, labels, and assignment.
Provide a website chat widget with reconnect, unread counts, file limits, and clear availability state.
Create a shared inbox with filters, collision warnings, notes, canned replies, and searchable history.
Add email notifications, browser notifications, and an immutable assignment and status log.
Implement spam controls, attachment scanning hooks, retention settings, export, and contact deletion.
Ship Docker Compose, backups, health checks, migrations, and a documented admin recovery flow.
Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states.
Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs.
Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path.
Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps.
Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane.
Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure.
Deliberately leave out many social and messaging channels.
Deliberately leave out AI agents trained on proprietary support data.
Deliberately leave out enterprise workforce management, SSO, and compliance.
Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used.The prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running. · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR
What would building your own look like?
Receive customer messages from email and store webhooks into a small shared ecommerce support inbox, reply from one place, and retain a searchable conversation history.
What you will need
- Docker
- PostgreSQL
- public HTTPS deployment
- email or chat channel credentials
People still pay for Gorgias because support software survives because missing or misrouting one customer message is expensive and every channel behaves differently. The recurring cost buys message delivery, webhooks, threading, identity, permissions, attachments, notifications, spam, search, uptime, and retention, not just the visible interface.
xdeep commerce integrations, order actions, automation, AI, and high-volume support operations
xomnichannel integrations
xlarge-scale deliverability
xAI resolution tuning
xenterprise routing and compliance
Prefer something ready-made?
License, setup, and limitations for each alternative.
How much does Gorgias cost?
- Monthly billing
- $60/mo$60/mo
- Per year
- $720/yr$720/yr
- Annual billing
- $600/yr17% cheaper than paying monthly
- On a Brazilian card, with 3.5% IOF
- R$314/moR$3,135/yr
Saved to My list. You will see a notice on this site when the price changes.
You complete the purchase on Gorgias’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | What is included |
|---|---|---|---|
| starter | $10/workspace≈ $10 | - | 50 billable tickets/month; 3 user seats; email only; 2 API requests/second |
| basic | $60/workspace≈ $60 | $50/workspace≈ $50 | 300 billable tickets/month; up to 500 user seats; 2 API requests/second; unlimited stores |
| pro | $360/workspace≈ $360 | $300/workspace≈ $300 | 2,000 billable tickets/month; up to 500 user seats; 2 API requests/second; unlimited stores |
| advanced | $900/workspace≈ $900 | $750/workspace≈ $750 | 5,000 billable tickets/month; up to 500 user seats; 2 API requests/second; unlimited stores |
| enterprise | custom | - | More than 5,000 billable tickets/month; up to 500 user seats; 4 API requests/second |
Free tierno free tier (7-day trial; no card; all features available during trial)
Billing termsStarter monthly only; Basic, Pro, Advanced and Enterprise monthly + annual (annual billed upfront; about 16% off / 2 months free)
Additional costsTicket overages are $0.40 each on Starter/Basic, $0.36 each on Pro/Advanced, and custom on Enterprise. AI Agent costs $1.00 per resolved interaction monthly or $0.90 annually, and each AI interaction also consumes a helpdesk ticket; AI overage is $1.50. Voice and SMS are paid add-ons, and applicable sales tax is extra.
verified 2026-10-20 · source ↗
Is it cheaper to build or buy Gorgias?
Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.
Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.
Starting hours estimated from the analysis (closest consolation build: one sitting). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).
Can I rebuild Gorgias?
Not really. Gorgias’s value is not the code: Recheck price before merge. See the honest breakdown above.
How much does Gorgias cost?
Gorgias costs about $60/mo (Basic, checked 10/20/2026), which is $600 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Gorgias?
Honestly: deep commerce integrations, order actions, automation, AI, and high-volume support operations; omnichannel integrations; large-scale deliverability; AI resolution tuning; enterprise routing and compliance. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Gorgias?
Yes: Chatwoot (Email and Shopify conversations share one inbox; useful ecommerce plumbing, minus Gorgias's deeper store automations.) tawk.to (A free shared inbox with a Shopify order tab; the AI order bot is where the bill starts.) The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.