Gladly scores 21 out of 60 on six published criteria. Keeyu leads at 50, then Siena AI at 26. Six ranked helpdesks beat Keeyu on running unattended: Gladly, Richpanel and Intercom Fin at 9, Siena AI, Gorgias and Freshdesk at 8. Keeyu is not a helpdesk, so a team leaving Gladly still needs one. Every order is a promise. Keeyu keeps the promise.
Scored out of 60 on six published criteria, the best Gladly alternatives are Keeyu at 50 and Siena AI at 26, with Gladly itself at 21.
Keeyu is not a helpdesk, and anyone leaving Gladly still needs one. Keeyu is proactive e-commerce operations: it catches the broken order behind the conversation and fixes it. Every order is a promise. Keeyu keeps the promise.
The scores below measure one situation: an order breaks, and a customer is about to write about it. The table order is the rank.
Gladly alternatives compared at a glance
Gladly alternatives compared at a glance: rank, total out of 60, job and scope for each platform
Does it read operational data (carrier scans, inventory, OMS, payments), or only what the customer typed?
02
Detects the event that did not happen
A scan that never came, an order that never shipped, an SLA that lapsed.
03
Acts on the order, not the message
Refund, cancel, reship, replace, push to the 3PL, file the claim.
04
Runs without an agent touching it
Published autonomous resolution, not a draft awaiting a click.
05
Reaches the customer before they contact you
The outbound fires on detection, not in reply.
06
Documented time from event to resolution
A published clock, or a workflow with one.
Evidence strength
Source
Each score comes from the vendor's own public documentation, Keeyu's too, and each cell names what you can open and check.
Six criteria, 10 points each, weighted equally. Each score comes from the vendor's own public documentation, Keeyu's too, and each cell names what you can open and check.
A Gladly customer already has one of the strongest autonomy records here. What no helpdesk on this list does is notice a stalled order before the shopper does, which is why criteria 2 and 5 separate the field.
Leaving a helpdesk is usually framed as a headcount question. On Infinite Dialogues with Oti Jay I said: "at an e-commerce business, there might be less customer service people. But because the business is providing a great customer experience, more shoppers will come shop with it. And so there'll be more people supporting revenue in, say, the e-commerce team or the product team or the logistics team." On The 9-5 Exit Plan I put it as "the people that are currently fixing these problems after they've happened can be used to drive a revenue for the company. So instead of being a cost to the company, they actually become a revenue driver."
A Gladly conversation starts when a shopper writes, but an order held in a warehouse queue writes nothing. Catching it means checking each open order, on a schedule, against the stage its age says it should have reached. Events alone miss some: Shopify's webhook documentation says delivery "isn't always guaranteed" and tells apps to run reconciliation jobs.
An asterisk (*) marks a cell where a rival beats Keeyu.
The full scorecard
The full scorecard: scores out of 10 for Keeyu, Siena AI, Gorgias, Gladly, Richpanel, Intercom Fin, Freshdesk (Freshworks), Zendesk
What we compared
Keeyu
SSiena AI
GGorgias
GGladly
RRichpanel
IIntercom Fin
FFreshdesk (Freshworks)
ZZendesk
Detection source
9 out of 10
6 out of 10
3 out of 10
3 out of 10
3 out of 10
3 out of 10
3 out of 10
3 out of 10
Detects the event that did not happen
9 out of 10
2 out of 10
2 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
Acts on the order, not the message
9 out of 10
7 out of 10
8 out of 10
7 out of 10
7 out of 10
6 out of 10
6 out of 10
5 out of 10
Runs without an agent touching it
7 out of 10
8* out of 10, beats Keeyu
8* out of 10, beats Keeyu
9* out of 10, beats Keeyu
9* out of 10, beats Keeyu
9* out of 10, beats Keeyu
8* out of 10, beats Keeyu
7 out of 10
Reaches the customer before they contact you
9 out of 10
3 out of 10
2 out of 10
2 out of 10
2 out of 10
2 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
Documented time from event to resolution
7 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
0 out of 10
TotalOut of 60
50
26
23
21
21
20
17
15
1 cell ties Keeyu without beating it: 1 on criterion 4, running unattended.
01
Number 1: Keeyu
www.keeyu.com
50/60Total
50 / 60. Proactive e-commerce operations: it monitors payment, fulfillment, shipping and returns, then repairs the order before a conversation starts.
What starts the work
Order, stock, carrier and payment data
What it can change
The order, the money, the warehouse, the carrier claim
1Detection source9/10
Four operational streams, with storefront, ERP, WMS, carrier, payment, returns and helpdesk integrations. Not 10: no monitoring cadence is published.
2Detects the event that did not happen9/10
"Detect no movement for 24 to 48 hours", plus no scan in 48 hours, unshipped past cutoff and SLA breaches. Not 10: no expected-hop model.
3Acts on the order, not the message9/10
Highest on this page. Cancel the original, raise an express order, push it to the warehouse, notify the customer, file the carrier claim. Not 10: split shipments are undocumented.
4Runs without an agent touching it7/10
Six rivals beat it: Gladly, Richpanel and Intercom Fin at 9; Siena AI, Gorgias and Freshdesk at 8. "Proactive doesn't mean unattended: your team approves the plays, the system runs them."
5Reaches the customer before they contact you9/10
The outbound fires when stock fails and offers wait with a discount, swap or refund. Held at 9: the product page frames alerts as internal.
6Documented time from event to resolution7/10
A before-and-after clock for a named customer's workflow. Held at 7: keeyu.com states that figure at two different scopes.
Where it loses
On criterion 4, six of the seven helpdesks here resolve alone more often, and Gladly is one of them. Keeyu also runs no inbox: it takes no chat, email or voice conversations, which is the whole job you are replacing Gladly to do.
Buy it if
Buy Keeyu if many of your Gladly conversations were about orders that stalled, and you want those fixed before the shopper writes, next to whichever helpdesk you move to.
02S
Number 2: Siena AI
siena.cx
26/60Total
26 / 60. A Shopify AI agent that closes order tickets itself, and the top helpdesk score on this page.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Shopify refunds, labels, replacements
1Detection source6/10
Tracking across 2,000 or more carriers, plus order, subscription, returns and payment reads. Held at 6: it looks when a customer asks.
2Detects the event that did not happen2/10
Proactive delay detection is badged Coming Soon on its order tracking page as of 2026-09-23. Scored as not shipped.
3Acts on the order, not the message7/10
Address changes, labels, full and partial refunds, replacements, subscription changes in Shopify. Not higher: no 3PL write-back or carrier claim.
4Runs without an agent touching it8/10
Beats Keeyu, 8 against 7. "Siena handles the full lifecycle of interactions autonomously." Not higher: up to 80% is an automation rate, not a measured resolution.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you3/10
Its first proactive feature chases a pending ticket, so an inbound still starts it.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented. Its 90% faster resolution figure has no baseline.
Where it beats Keeyu
Criterion 4. Siena claims the whole interaction runs without a person, while Keeyu keeps a human approval on each play.
Where it loses
It sits a point under Gladly on running unattended. Like Gladly, it waits for the customer to write, and its delay monitoring has not shipped.
Buy it if
Buy Siena AI if you run on Shopify and want more of Gladly's order conversations closed by an agent, with explicit refund and replacement actions.
03G
Number 3: Gorgias
gorgias.com
23/60Total
23 / 60. The Shopify-native helpdesk, and the one on this page that keeyu.com names as an integration.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Shopify cancels, refunds, reships, returns
1Detection source3/10
Reads Shopify order and shipping data in depth, once a shopper writes. Every trigger it documents is inbound.
2Detects the event that did not happen2/10
Has order-age and transit-time conditions, evaluated only when a shopper asks. Nothing watches for an order that went quiet.
3Acts on the order, not the message8/10
Itemized Shopify actions with preconditions: cancel with restock, address edit, item swap, free reship, refund, return. Not higher: no 3PL write-back or carrier claim.
4Runs without an agent touching it8/10
Beats Keeyu, 8 against 7. "You set the confidence threshold. AI Agent handles what it's sure about." Not higher: its 60% average covers five named brands.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you2/10
Its outbound is a confirmation after a requested cancel: a reply, not a first contact.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented. It publishes automation rate, CSAT and conversation counts.
Where it beats Keeyu
Criterion 4. The merchant sets how confident the agent must be before it acts alone; Keeyu asks your team to sign off on plays.
Where it loses
It scores a point under Gladly on running unattended and six or seven under Keeyu on criteria 1, 2 and 5. Like Gladly, it starts when the shopper does.
Buy it if
Move from Gladly to Gorgias if you sell on Shopify and want order actions spelled out, then add Keeyu for the orders that break before anyone asks.
04G
Number 4: Gladly
gladly.ai
21/60Total
Tied 4th at 21 / 60. The platform this page is named for: conversation-first customer service with a money-back resolution guarantee.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Returns, exchanges, discounts
1Detection source3/10
"Gladly connects to your commerce, logistics, and marketing tools to take real actions, not just give answers." Every documented flow still begins with a customer contact.
2Detects the event that did not happen0/10
Not documented. Nothing on its site monitors orders for something that failed to happen.
3Acts on the order, not the message7/10
Order lookup, eligibility check, return, exchange, discount and sale in one loop. Not higher: refund, cancel, reship and WMS write-back are never named as actions.
4Runs without an agent touching it9/10
Beats Keeyu, 9 against 7. "We'll beat your resolution rate in 30 days. Or you don't pay." Not 10: its rates carry no customer base size.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you2/10
"AI proactively engages shoppers before they leave." That is pre-purchase, not a broken order.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented. Its 13 hours to under 1 is a response time, not a resolution time.
Where it beats Keeyu
Criterion 4, and on its own terms. Gladly counts a conversation resolved only when the customer never has to ask again, and backs that rate with a promise not to charge if it misses.
Where it loses
Criteria 2, 5 and 6 total 2 out of 30. The order problem reaches Gladly as a conversation, and it has no published price list for comparing a renewal.
Its 13 hours to under 1 shortens the reply, not the time to find the broken order. Its resolution rate counts conversations, so an order that stalls without anyone writing in never enters it.
Buy it if
Stay with Gladly if its resolution guarantee is why you bought it; most rivals below trade that for a public price or deeper Shopify actions.
04R
Number 4: Richpanel
richpanel.com
21/60Total
Tied 4th at 21 / 60. An e-commerce helpdesk built around AI agents, with autonomy terms written into a contract.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Returns, exchanges; money edits after approval
1Detection source3/10
"It reads the order, applies your policy, closes the ticket." The start is still a question.
2Detects the event that did not happen0/10
Not documented. Its only monitoring line concerns brand crises.
3Acts on the order, not the message7/10
Lookups, address edits, exchanges, store credit, subscription changes, cancellations, returns. Held at 7: "Lookups run free. Money and order edits wait for your approval."
4Runs without an agent touching it9/10
Beats Keeyu, 9 against 7. At least 50% of eligible conversations resolved alone in 30 days, no reopen for 72 hours, or that period's fees refunded.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you2/10
Proactive campaigns target high-intent site visitors: pre-purchase.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented. First response time is not resolution time.
Where it beats Keeyu
Criterion 4. Its guarantee terms define an autonomous resolution and name a refund if the floor is missed.
Where it loses
Same total as Gladly and the same gaps on criteria 2 and 5. By default a person still approves refunds and order edits.
Buy it if
Choose Richpanel if Gladly's guarantee mattered to you and you want a written autonomy floor from a helpdesk built for online stores.
06I
Number 6: Intercom Fin
fin.ai
20/60Total
20 / 60. Intercom's AI agent, backed by the largest published resolution sample on this list.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Refunds, cancellations, returns
1Detection source3/10
Reaches Shopify, Stripe and internal systems by API and MCP. Each documented flow begins with a query.
2Detects the event that did not happen0/10
Not documented. No missed scan, stalled order or lapsed SLA.
3Acts on the order, not the message6/10
"Fin resolves queries like order cancellations, shipping updates, returns, and abandoned carts." Not higher: no reship, 3PL write-back or claim.
4Runs without an agent touching it9/10
Beats Keeyu, 9 against 7. "Fin has industry leading resolution rates, averaging 76% across 12,000+ customers, with many seeing over 85%." Held at 9: resolved means no further help asked for.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you2/10
Proactive prompts re-engage shoppers before purchase.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented. A rate is a share, not a clock.
Where it beats Keeyu
Criterion 4, measured across more than 12,000 customers, the widest base any vendor here publishes.
Where it loses
It matches Gladly on running unattended and scores a point lower on acting on the order. Nothing starts until the question arrives.
Buy it if
Pick Intercom Fin if you want Gladly-level autonomy with a resolution rate you can compare against thousands of other companies.
07F
Number 7: Freshdesk (Freshworks)
freshworks.com
17/60Total
17 / 60. Freshworks' general helpdesk, with Freddy AI Agent facing customers and Freddy AI Copilot helping staff.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Refunds and order updates by API
1Detection source3/10
Freddy pulls live shipping status from backend systems after a customer asks.
2Detects the event that did not happen0/10
Not documented.
3Acts on the order, not the message6/10
Refunds, order updates, cancellations and stock checks through connected systems. Not higher: the refund is a generic API block, and there is no reship.
4Runs without an agent touching it8/10
Beats Keeyu, 8 against 7. "Launch email AI agents that understand customer intent and take action to resolve." Not higher: up to 80% is a ceiling, not an average.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you0/10
Not documented.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented. First-contact resolution is a share, not a clock.
Where it beats Keeyu
Criterion 4. Freshworks separates the agent that closes conversations from the copilot that only drafts.
Where it loses
Zero on criteria 2, 5 and 6, and a point behind Gladly on both order actions and autonomy.
Buy it if
Go to Freshdesk if Gladly's cost is the reason you are leaving and a general helpdesk with a public price will do.
08Z
Number 8: Zendesk
zendesk.com
15/60Total
15 / 60. The broad, general-purpose enterprise helpdesk. It ties Keeyu on criterion 4 and beats it nowhere.
What starts the work
An inbound message
What it can change
Actions through integrations and apps
1Detection source3/10
Integrations pass order and account data to the AI agent. Every flow begins with a request.
2Detects the event that did not happen0/10
Not documented. Its proactive wording describes help for staff.
3Acts on the order, not the message5/10
Actions run through integrations and apps, described generically. No prebuilt refund, cancel or reship.
4Runs without an agent touching it7/10
Tied with Keeyu. You "pay only for customer requests that were successfully resolved by the AI agent, without any escalation to a human agent." Not higher: no vendor-wide rate.
5Reaches the customer before they contact you0/10
Not documented.
6Documented time from event to resolution0/10
Not documented.
Where it loses
Six points under Gladly, and behind it on order actions, autonomy and outbound. Zendesk's order actions are a framework you configure, not a list.
Buy it if
Pick Zendesk if your support reaches well beyond e-commerce and you would rather be billed per automated resolution than sign Gladly's terms.
The vendors this list does not score
Kustomer ties Gladly at 21. eDesk scores 20, Tidio 17 and Re:amaze 13. None beats Keeyu on a criterion, so none is profiled. Kustomer is worth a look for a Gladly buyer: its outbound can fire on a shipping status change in order data, which scores 7 on reaching the customer first.
Agentforce Service (Salesforce) at 18 and Front at 15 each beat Keeyu on criterion 4, 8 against 7. The documentation of Pylon, Dixa, Enchant, Help Scout, Zoho Desk and Hiver was not read for this list, so they are unscored.
The real decision: Gladly vs Zendesk
Gladly scores 21, Zendesk 15. Zendesk wins no criterion against Gladly.
Order actions: Gladly 7, Zendesk 5. Gladly runs returns and exchanges in one loop; Zendesk leaves the action set to your integrations.
Running alone: Gladly 9, Zendesk 7. Gladly guarantees a rate; Zendesk defines a resolution for billing but publishes no rate.
First contact: Gladly 2, Zendesk 0. On detection, the missed event and a resolution clock, they tie.
The practical difference is commercial. Zendesk publishes plan pricing and bills automated resolutions; Gladly publishes no price list. Neither finds the stuck order before the shopper does.
For US sellers that gap has a legal deadline. When an order cannot ship in the stated time, or within 30 days if none was stated, the FTC's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires the seller to get the buyer's consent to the delay or refund the payment. A helpdesk that hears of the delay from the shopper is already late.
Recommendation
Each helpdesk below starts from the shopper's message, and that message comes after the break: an order that never synced, stock that ran out, a warehouse backlog or a carrier handoff that failed.
Leaving Gladly for Shopify depth: Gorgias, or Siena AI for an agent that closes tickets.
Keeping a written autonomy promise: Richpanel.
The broadest published resolution record: Intercom Fin.
A public price and a general helpdesk: Freshdesk or Zendesk.
Broken orders fixed before the conversation exists: Keeyu, next to the helpdesk you choose.
Any tool watching a warehouse sees only what the 3PL reports. Without scan and exception feeds it can flag an order past its cutoff, not why it is stuck, so those feeds belong in the 3PL agreement.
Whatever replaces Gladly will answer the customer. Keeyu is proactive e-commerce operations, the layer that repairs the order. Every order is a promise. Keeyu keeps the promise.
On the six criteria used here, Siena AI scores 26 out of 60, Gorgias 23, Richpanel and Kustomer 21, Intercom Fin and eDesk 20, Freshdesk and Tidio 17, and Zendesk 15. Gladly scores 21. Keeyu scores 50 and is not a helpdesk.
Is Zendesk a good Gladly alternative?
On this rubric Zendesk scores 15 against Gladly's 21 and wins no criterion. Gladly leads on acting on the order (7 against 5), running unattended (9 against 7) and first contact (2 against 0). Zendesk publishes plan pricing and bills per automated resolution; Gladly publishes no price list.
Which Gladly alternative is closest on AI autonomy?
Richpanel and Intercom Fin both match Gladly's 9 out of 10. Richpanel puts a 50% autonomous resolution floor in its guarantee terms, and Fin publishes a 76% average across 12,000 or more customers. Siena AI, Gorgias and Freshdesk score 8. Keeyu scores 7, because its team approves the plays.
Can Keeyu replace Gladly?
No. Keeyu runs no inbox and handles no chat, email or voice conversations, so a team leaving Gladly still needs a helpdesk. Keeyu watches payment, fulfillment, shipping and returns, and acts on a broken order: cancel, reorder on express, push to the warehouse, notify the customer and file the carrier claim.
Which Gladly alternative is best for Shopify stores?
Gorgias itemizes its Shopify order actions, including cancel with restock, free reship and refund, and scores 8 on acting on the order against Gladly's 7. Siena AI scores 26 overall and settles Shopify order tickets with refunds and replacements. Of the helpdesks here, Gorgias is the one keeyu.com names as an integration.
Does any Gladly alternative contact the customer before they write in?
Among helpdesks, Kustomer comes closest at 7 out of 10: its outbound can fire on a shipping status change in order data. Gladly scores 2, because its proactive engagement reaches shoppers before purchase. Keeyu scores 9: the outbound fires when an order breaks.
References
1. Keeyu, "Keeyu: Proactive E-commerce Operations, Powered by an AI Agent", https://www.keeyu.com/ (read 2026-09-24). Keeyu's helpdesk integrations, Gorgias among them.
2. Keeyu, "Product: The AI Agent for Proactive E-commerce Operations", https://www.keeyu.com/product (read 2026-09-23). Keeyu's detection streams.
3. Keeyu, "Proactive customer service", https://www.keeyu.com/blog/proactive-customer-service (read 2026-09-23). Keeyu's documented order actions and the team-approves-the-plays line.
4. Keeyu, "Top post-purchase issues and the proactive fix", https://www.keeyu.com/blog/top-post-purchase-issues-proactive-fix (read 2026-09-23). Keeyu's no-movement thresholds.
5. Siena AI, "Siena Order Tracking", https://www.siena.cx/order-tracking (read 2026-09-24). Siena's carrier coverage, on-request tracking and the Coming Soon delay detection.
7. Siena AI, "Siena Intelligent Follow-ups: The first step toward proactive CX", https://www.siena.cx/blog/intelligent-follow-ups-for-proactive-customer-experiences (read 2026-09-23). Siena's first proactive capability.
8. Siena AI, "Price matching", https://www.siena.cx/product-updates/price-matching (read 2026-09-23). Siena's partial refunds in Shopify.
9. Gorgias, "The only AI Agent built for ecommerce", https://www.gorgias.com/ai-agent (read 2026-09-23). Gorgias' confidence threshold and automation rate.
10. Gorgias, "AI Agent Actions: make changes to Shopify orders", https://docs.gorgias.com/en-US/ai-agent-actions-make-changes-to-shopify-orders-757792 (read 2026-09-23). Gorgias' itemized Shopify actions and confirmation emails.
11. Gladly, "AI customer service agent: devotion, not deflection", https://www.gladly.ai/product/ai-customer-service-agent/ (read 2026-09-24). Gladly's connections to commerce and logistics tools.
12. Gladly, "Agentic loops that resolve conversations end to end", https://www.gladly.ai/agentic-loops/ (read 2026-09-24). Gladly's order actions.
13. Gladly, "AI resolution rate guarantee, measured in your own data", https://www.gladly.ai/roi-guaranteed/ (read 2026-09-24). Gladly's resolution guarantee and its definition of a resolution.
15. Richpanel, "AI Customer Service Agents That Resolve", https://www.richpanel.com/ai-agents (read 2026-09-23). Richpanel's action list and approval gate.
23. Zendesk, "Autonomous AI agents for CX", https://www.zendesk.com/au/service/ai/ai-agents/ (read 2026-09-23). Zendesk's AI agent actions through integrations.
24. Kustomer, "Proactive Service", https://www.kustomer.com/proactive-service/ (read 2026-09-23). Kustomer's outbound triggered by order data.
25. Shopify, "About webhooks", https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/webhooks (read 2026-10-02). Webhook delivery is not always guaranteed; Shopify tells apps to run reconciliation jobs.
26. Federal Trade Commission, "Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule", https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/mail-internet-or-telephone-order-merchandise-rule (read 2026-10-02). The seller's duty to get consent to a shipping delay or refund when it cannot ship on time.
Keep the promise.
See how Keeyu catches and fixes post-purchase issues before customers notice.
In one call, we’ll map your operations and show how Keeyu detects issues, decides what needs to happen, and takes action across your existing systems.
We’ll confirm your integration requirements and rollout plan during the demo.
Copy Link
