--- pair: gorgias-vs-polyai page_url: https://ai-agent.review/compare/gorgias-vs-polyai record_url: https://ai-agent.review/compare/gorgias-vs-polyai.md agents: [gorgias, polyai] tested_performance: not-yet-tested facts_checked_at: 2026-09-20 --- # Gorgias AI Agent vs PolyAI Comparing **Gorgias AI Agent** (Gorgias, https://ai-agent.review/agents/gorgias.md) and **PolyAI** (PolyAI, https://ai-agent.review/agents/polyai.md). Source-based review. This portal has not run a hands-on benchmark, so nothing here reports observed performance. No record contains a score, a rating or a benchmark result, and none will until the agents have actually been tested. Facts last checked 20 Sept 2026, the earlier of the two records. ## Fit comparison Each state describes what the reviewed sources establish about a workflow, not whether the product is good at it. Vendor-documented means the vendor documents the workflow. External report means a source outside the vendor discusses it. Caveat documented means a cited source describes a limitation or failure in a specific context; read it alongside any capability evidence. Not established means the reviewed sources do not settle it, which is not the same as the product being unable to do it. States are derived from the cited claims below, never stored. | Area | Gorgias AI Agent | PolyAI | | --- | --- | --- | | Billing | Not established | External report | | Orders | External report | External report | | Returns | Vendor-documented | Not established | | Product questions | Vendor-documented | Vendor-documented | | Account issues | Not established | Not established | | Complaints | Not established | Caveat documented | | Human handoff | Vendor-documented | Caveat documented | | Small businesses | Caveat documented | Not established | | Mid-market | Not established | Not established | | Enterprise | Not established | External report | Evidence for each verdict is listed per agent below. ### Gorgias AI Agent: fit evidence ### Billing — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Orders — External report - **Vendor capability:** Gorgias documents AI Agent actions that cancel unfulfilled Shopify orders with restock and full refund, edit shipping addresses, remove or replace an order item, reship an order free of charge, and add an order note. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [AI Agent Actions: make changes to Shopify orders](https://helpcenter.gorgias.com/en-US/ai-agent-actions-make-changes-to-shopify-orders-757792); claim id: `gorgias-fit-orders-vendor`)_ - **Independent report:** A Shopify merchant reviewer (Devoción Coffee, United States, 5 stars) reported the AI Agent handles order tracking and shipping-update questions "quickly and accurately". _(Independent report, published 19 Aug 2026, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Gorgias: AI, Helpdesk & Chat — Shopify App Store reviews](https://apps.shopify.com/helpdesk/reviews?page=2); claim id: `gorgias-fit-orders-indep`)_ > Documented limits apply within the capability rather than negating it: a cancellation is not passed to third-party logistics or fulfilment apps, an address change that alters tax or shipping cannot be refunded or charged by the agent, order modification applies to unfulfilled orders only, and item replacement is limited to one item with multi-item or paid replacements escalated to a human. ### Returns — Vendor-documented - **Vendor capability:** Gorgias markets AI Agent support skills that "Make exchange and returns easy with personalized links" and documents a dedicated action that generates a Loop Returns portal deep link personalized to the customer and selected order. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [AI Agent action: send Loop Returns portal deep link](https://helpcenter.gorgias.com/en-US/ai-agent-action-send-loop-returns-portal-deep-link-757795); claim id: `gorgias-fit-returns-vendor`)_ > For the documented Loop Returns flow the agent does not process the return itself; it sends a pre-authenticated portal link, and the action requires an active Loop Returns account plus an API key with Order and Return scopes. Merchants can gate the action with conditions such as a 14-day order window. ### Product questions — Vendor-documented - **Vendor capability:** Gorgias documentation states the AI Agent draws on Shopify store data, Help Center articles, the public website and product catalog, custom Guidance documents and uploaded documents when composing answers. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [How Gorgias's AI Agent works](https://helpcenter.gorgias.com/en-US/how-gorgiass-ai-agent-works-1997817); claim id: `gorgias-fit-productq-vendor`)_ > The same documentation states the agent will not reply when it cannot ground an answer in a verified source, and instead escalates; no independent evaluation of product-answer accuracy was found. ### Account issues — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Complaints — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Human handoff — Vendor-documented - **Vendor capability:** Gorgias documents built-in handover signals (customer anger, explicit requests for a human, sensitive topics such as self-harm, violence, legal threats or financial account requests), configurable handover topics, and a pre-send draft review where "If it doesn't have enough knowledge to answer reliably...it hands over rather than guessing." _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Customize how AI Agent hands over to your team](https://docs.gorgias.com/en-US/customize-how-ai-agent-hands-over-to-your-team-6008591); claim id: `gorgias-fit-handoff-vendor`)_ > Handover configuration differs by channel: email and SMS expose customer-notification settings, while chat adds confirmation prompts, wait-time messaging and email capture. ### Small businesses — Caveat documented - **Vendor capability:** Gorgias states its help desk "scales from 50 to 5,000 tickets a month, never priced per agent", offers self-serve "Sign up free", and includes "AI Agent on every plan, pay only when it resolves a conversation". _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Gorgias pricing](https://www.gorgias.com/pricing); claim id: `gorgias-fit-small-vendor`)_ - **Independent report of failure:** A 2-star Trustpilot reviewer reported leaving the AI Agent switched off, writing "At 1.50 USD per AI conversation I cannot justify switching it on - if customers actually use it, that is a four-figure bill at the end of the month." _(Independent report, published 31 Jul 2026, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Gorgias reviews on Trustpilot](https://www.trustpilot.com/review/gorgias.com); claim id: `gorgias-fit-small-fail`)_ > The same complaint appears verbatim in a 2-star Shopify App Store review from GPerformance (Slovakia, 2026-07-31); Gorgias itself publishes no per-resolution dollar figure, so the $1.50 figure is a customer report, not a vendor-confirmed price. ### Mid-market — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Enterprise — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### PolyAI: fit evidence ### Billing — External report - **Vendor capability:** PolyAI's integrations page lists "billing & payments" among the functions its agents perform against connected systems. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI — Integrations](https://poly.ai/integrations/); claim id: `polyai-billing-vendor`)_ - **Independent report:** TechCrunch reported that PolyAI's voice assistants complete tasks including payment processing for contact-centre callers. _(Independent report, published 7 Sept 2022, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI lands $40M to handle contact center calls automatically](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/07/polyai-lands-40m-to-handle-contact-center-calls-automatically/); claim id: `polyai-billing-tc`)_ > PolyAI's own handoff documentation names billing disputes as an example of a conversation the agent escalates to a human rather than resolving. ### Orders — External report - **Vendor capability:** PolyAI's integrations page lists "order management" and "booking & reservations" among the supported agent functions. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI — Integrations](https://poly.ai/integrations/); claim id: `polyai-orders-vendor`)_ - **Independent report:** TechCrunch reported that PolyAI's system handles order status updates and reservation management on inbound calls. _(Independent report, published 7 Sept 2022, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI lands $40M to handle contact center calls automatically](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/07/polyai-lands-40m-to-handle-contact-center-calls-automatically/); claim id: `polyai-orders-tc`)_ ### Returns — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Product questions — Vendor-documented - **Vendor capability:** PolyAI documents curated FAQ topics, retrieval-augmented generation, and external knowledge sources ingested from URLs, files (PDF, Office, CSV, JSON, HTML and others) and helpdesk knowledge bases. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI Docs — Knowledge sources introduction](https://docs.poly.ai/knowledge/sources/introduction.md); claim id: `polyai-knowledge-vendor`)_ > URL ingestion is documented as limited to one level below the starting URL and a maximum of ten embedded pages, and the Zendesk and Gladly knowledge syncs are marked beta. Those constrain one ingestion route rather than the capability itself, so they are recorded here rather than as a gap. No independent evidence of answer quality was found, so the verdict stays unknown. ### Account issues — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Complaints — Caveat documented - **Documented gap:** PolyAI's handoff documentation names complaints, alongside billing disputes and out-of-scope requests, as the conversation types where the agent escalates to a human rather than resolving autonomously. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI Docs — Voice channel: Handoffs](https://docs.poly.ai/voice-channel/handoffs.md); claim id: `polyai-complaints-gap`)_ ### Human handoff — Caveat documented - **Vendor capability:** PolyAI documents voice handoff via SIP REFER, SIP INVITE or SIP BYE with escalation context passed through custom X- SIP headers, a Handoff State API endpoint and a Conversations API transcript, plus chat handoff integrations for Salesforce, Zendesk, NICE CXone, Amazon Connect, Webex and Five9. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI Docs — Voice channel: Handoffs](https://docs.poly.ai/voice-channel/handoffs.md); claim id: `polyai-handoff-vendor`)_ - **Documented gap:** PolyAI's handoff documentation states that with the default SIP REFER method "the utterance may not play before the transfer completes because the REFER fires at the same time as function execution", and that inbound SIP voicemail detection on the destination side is "not available by default" for SIP REFER, BYE or INVITE transfers. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI Docs — Voice channel: Handoffs](https://docs.poly.ai/voice-channel/handoffs.md); claim id: `polyai-handoff-gap`)_ ### Small businesses — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Mid-market — Not established No public source was found that settles this. ### Enterprise — External report - **Vendor capability:** PolyAI positions itself as an enterprise-scale agentic dialog platform and markets to nine industries: consumer services, financial services, healthcare, hotels, insurance, restaurants, retail, telecom and utilities. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI homepage](https://poly.ai/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-vendor`)_ - **Independent report:** CX Today reports PolyAI was placed in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI Platforms as a Niche Player, with Gartner highlighting its low customer churn and research investment. _(Independent report, published 19 Aug 2025, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Gartner Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI Platforms 2025: The Rundown](https://www.cxtoday.com/customer-analytics-intelligence/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-conversational-ai-platforms-2025-the-rundown/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-gartner`)_ - **Independent report:** TechCrunch reported PolyAI's customers included FedEx and Marriott alongside dozens of enterprise and government clients handling millions of interactions monthly. _(Independent report, published 7 Sept 2022, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI lands $40M to handle contact center calls automatically](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/07/polyai-lands-40m-to-handle-contact-center-calls-automatically/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-tc-customers`)_ > Gartner's cautions in the same analysis concern inflexible consumption-based pricing and an immature channel partner network. ## Product information | Attribute | Gorgias AI Agent | PolyAI | | --- | --- | --- | | Deployment model | The AI Agent is a cloud SaaS feature of the Gorgias help desk, included on every plan and billed only when it resolves a conversation. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI states its service is hosted on AWS, that the company is ISO 27001-certified and aligned with National Cyber Security Centre guidelines; it publishes Sandbox, Staging and Live environments with API-driven publishing, and no self-hosted option is documented. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Channels | Gorgias states the AI Agent operates in its omnichannel inbox covering email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI is voice-first — its documentation calls it an "enterprise platform for building voice and chat agents" and its pricing is per minute of voice-agent use — with secondary documented channels covering web chat, SMS and RCS, email, and iOS/Android SDKs (including in-app voice calling). (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Languages | Gorgias documentation states that "AI Agent detects the language a customer writes in and replies in the same language", with a setting to override the reply language; no supported-language count for the agent is published. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI's languages page claims "75+ languages with native fluency" and lists 42 by name, while its developer documentation homepage states 24+ languages. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Help desk and CRM integrations | Across all vendor pages and documentation checked, the AI Agent is offered only as a feature of the Gorgias help desk itself rather than as a layer over third-party help desks. (Editorial assessment, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI documents integrations with Salesforce (customer lookup and case management), Zendesk (Talk voice routing and ticketing), Gladly, NICE CXone, Amazon Connect, Webex, Five9 and Twilio, and its marketing site claims "130+ integrations available" across telephony/voice routing, CRM and knowledge, productivity, and vertical systems. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Knowledge sources | Knowledge sources documented for the AI Agent are Shopify store data (orders, customers, products), Help Center articles, the public website and product catalog, custom Guidance documents, uploaded documents, and connected third-party app actions. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI combines curated FAQ topics with RAG over external sources — scraped URLs, uploaded files (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, CSV, JSON, XML, MD, HTML, EML, EPUB and more) and beta syncs from Zendesk Help Center and Gladly — chunked at 2000 characters with 500-character overlap. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Actions in backend systems | Documented AI Agent actions include Shopify order changes (cancel, edit shipping address, remove item, replace item, free reshipment, order note), Loop Returns portal links and return shipping status, Recharge, Skio and Loop subscription management, and 3PL lookups via ShipStation, ShipBob, ShipHero and ShipMonk, alongside custom actions built through the action builder. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI states its agents perform account management, authentication, call routing, billing and payments, booking and reservations, order management, troubleshooting and FAQ against integrated systems, with custom connectors documented alongside telephony, CRM and payments integrations. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Human handoff | Handover to human agents is triggered by built-in signals (anger, explicit request for a human, sensitive topics), merchant-configured handover topics, and a low-confidence check on the agent's draft reply before sending. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI documents that the agent "runs autonomously by default and escalates to a human only when needed", transferring calls via SIP REFER, SIP INVITE or SIP BYE and passing customer ID, verification status, escalation reason and transcript through SIP headers and the Handoff and Conversations APIs. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Target customer size | Gorgias positions the product for ecommerce brands handling roughly 50 to 5,000 tickets per month, priced by ticket volume rather than per agent. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | PolyAI targets enterprise contact centres across nine industries and sells via demo request, with ongoing use "priced on a per-minute basis, which includes proactive performance improvements, maintenance and 24/7 support" and no published price points or free tier. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | | Vendor-reported performance claims | In its own September 2026 ecommerce AI benchmark (18 vendors, 212 live stores, 8,390 conversations), Gorgias ranks its AI Agent #1 overall, with 74% support automation and a 76/100 blind quality score for support and 84% automation with 76/100 quality for shopping; separately Gorgias markets a 60% automation rate for email and chat and bills the agent per resolved conversation. (Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026) | Unknown | Full source links for each attribute are in the per-agent records linked above. ## Industry comparison An industry state says where the cited sources place the product, not how well it performed there. The same four states and the same rubric apply. Industry entries cite claims published in the agent's own record, by id, so a source is never stored twice and the two copies can never disagree. An industry with no entry is unknown, which is a gap in the public record rather than a finding. | Industry | Gorgias AI Agent | PolyAI | | --- | --- | --- | | Retail and e-commerce | External report | Vendor-documented | | Financial services | Not established | Vendor-documented | | Telecommunications | Not established | Vendor-documented | | Travel and hospitality | Not established | External report | | Healthcare | Not established | Vendor-documented | | Public sector and education | Not established | External report | | Logistics and delivery | Caveat documented | External report | Evidence for each industry is listed per agent below. ### Gorgias AI Agent: industry evidence ### Retail and e-commerce — External report - Gorgias positions the product for ecommerce brands handling roughly 50 to 5,000 tickets per month, priced by ticket volume rather than per agent. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Gorgias pricing](https://www.gorgias.com/pricing); claim id: `gorgias-cmp-targetsize`)_ - A Shopify merchant reviewer (Devoción Coffee, United States, 5 stars) reported the AI Agent handles order tracking and shipping-update questions "quickly and accurately". _(Independent report, published 19 Aug 2026, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [Gorgias: AI, Helpdesk & Chat — Shopify App Store reviews](https://apps.shopify.com/helpdesk/reviews?page=2); claim id: `gorgias-fit-orders-indep`)_ > Gorgias is positioned for ecommerce brands, and a merchant reviewing on the Shopify App Store reports the agent handling order and shipping questions. One reviewer describes one store, not the segment. ### Financial services — Not established No reviewed source places this product in this industry. ### Telecommunications — Not established No reviewed source places this product in this industry. ### Travel and hospitality — Not established No reviewed source places this product in this industry. ### Healthcare — Not established No reviewed source places this product in this industry. ### Public sector and education — Not established No reviewed source places this product in this industry. ### Logistics and delivery — Caveat documented - Gorgias documentation states that when the AI Agent cancels a Shopify order, "The cancellation does not get passed along to other 3rd-party logistics (3PL) or order fulfillment apps." _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [AI Agent Actions: make changes to Shopify orders](https://helpcenter.gorgias.com/en-US/ai-agent-actions-make-changes-to-shopify-orders-757792); claim id: `gorgias-weak-3pl-sync`)_ > The only source placing the product against fulfilment systems is a documented limitation: a cancellation made by the agent is not passed to third-party logistics or fulfilment apps. Nothing establishes broader logistics coverage either way. ### PolyAI: industry evidence ### Retail and e-commerce — Vendor-documented - PolyAI positions itself as an enterprise-scale agentic dialog platform and markets to nine industries: consumer services, financial services, healthcare, hotels, insurance, restaurants, retail, telecom and utilities. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI homepage](https://poly.ai/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-vendor`)_ > Retail and restaurants are among the marketed verticals. The claim is the vendor's positioning of the product. ### Financial services — Vendor-documented - PolyAI positions itself as an enterprise-scale agentic dialog platform and markets to nine industries: consumer services, financial services, healthcare, hotels, insurance, restaurants, retail, telecom and utilities. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI homepage](https://poly.ai/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-vendor`)_ > Financial services and insurance appear in the nine industries PolyAI markets to. A marketed vertical is a statement of intent, not evidence of a deployment. ### Telecommunications — Vendor-documented - PolyAI positions itself as an enterprise-scale agentic dialog platform and markets to nine industries: consumer services, financial services, healthcare, hotels, insurance, restaurants, retail, telecom and utilities. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI homepage](https://poly.ai/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-vendor`)_ > Telecom is one of the nine marketed industries, sourced to PolyAI's own homepage. ### Travel and hospitality — External report - PolyAI positions itself as an enterprise-scale agentic dialog platform and markets to nine industries: consumer services, financial services, healthcare, hotels, insurance, restaurants, retail, telecom and utilities. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI homepage](https://poly.ai/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-vendor`)_ - TechCrunch reported PolyAI's customers included FedEx and Marriott alongside dozens of enterprise and government clients handling millions of interactions monthly. _(Independent report, published 7 Sept 2022, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI lands $40M to handle contact center calls automatically](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/07/polyai-lands-40m-to-handle-contact-center-calls-automatically/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-tc-customers`)_ > Hotels are a marketed vertical, and TechCrunch separately named Marriott among the customers. The report names the account; it does not describe what the agent handles there. ### Healthcare — Vendor-documented - PolyAI positions itself as an enterprise-scale agentic dialog platform and markets to nine industries: consumer services, financial services, healthcare, hotels, insurance, restaurants, retail, telecom and utilities. _(Vendor-reported, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI homepage](https://poly.ai/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-vendor`)_ > Healthcare is one of the nine industries on PolyAI's own homepage. No healthcare deployment is independently reported. ### Public sector and education — External report - TechCrunch reported PolyAI's customers included FedEx and Marriott alongside dozens of enterprise and government clients handling millions of interactions monthly. _(Independent report, published 7 Sept 2022, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI lands $40M to handle contact center calls automatically](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/07/polyai-lands-40m-to-handle-contact-center-calls-automatically/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-tc-customers`)_ > The same TechCrunch report refers to dozens of enterprise and government clients. Government clients are counted, not named or described. ### Logistics and delivery — External report - TechCrunch reported PolyAI's customers included FedEx and Marriott alongside dozens of enterprise and government clients handling millions of interactions monthly. _(Independent report, published 7 Sept 2022, checked 20 Sept 2026; source: [PolyAI lands $40M to handle contact center calls automatically](https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/07/polyai-lands-40m-to-handle-contact-center-calls-automatically/); claim id: `polyai-enterprise-tc-customers`)_ > TechCrunch named FedEx among PolyAI's customers. A named account in funding coverage, with no description of the workflows in use. ## Gorgias AI Agent: evidence base The independent evidence behind these states comes mainly from other independent sources. Independent sources behind these verdicts: apps.shopify.com, trustpilot.com. By kind: other independent sources (1), end-user review sites (1). Verdicts across agents are not directly comparable while the evidence behind them comes from different kinds of source. See https://ai-agent.review/methodology#evidence-asymmetry. ## PolyAI: evidence base The independent evidence behind these states comes mainly from analysts and trade press. Independent sources behind these verdicts: cxtoday.com, techcrunch.com. By kind: analysts and trade press (4). Verdicts across agents are not directly comparable while the evidence behind them comes from different kinds of source. See https://ai-agent.review/methodology#evidence-asymmetry. ## Corrections Factual corrections with a public source are accepted at corrections@ai-agent.review and answered within 14 days. Method: https://ai-agent.review/methodology