Best CRM for ecommerce brands
Ecommerce customer relationships run through order history, subscriptions and support conversations, not deal stages. Compared on price and which piece of that each tool actually owns.
Klaviyo wins for an ecommerce brand that wants unified customer data and messaging as the center of its stack, positioning itself as 'the B2C CRM' with a self-service Customer Hub and helpdesk built in. Gorgias wins instead for a brand whose main pain point is support ticket volume, since it's the only one of the three priced by ticket count rather than usage or subscriber count.
The short answer
- Klaviyo's free tier covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month; paid tiers scale by contact count and messaging volume through an interactive pricing calculator with no static published number, per klaviyo.com/pricing.
- Recharge starts at $99/month (Starter) plus 1.49% + $0.19 per transaction, with a Plus tier at $499/month adding bundles, loyalty programs and a lower transaction rate, per getrecharge.com/pricing.
- Gorgias prices by ticket volume, from 50 to 5,000 tickets a month, explicitly 'never priced per agent,' with an AI Agent included on every plan and costs tied to resolved conversations rather than seats, per gorgias.com/pricing.
Ecommerce customer data, subscription and support tools compared
| Tool | Starting price | Pricing model | Cold outbound allowed? | Own database? | What it owns | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | Free (250 profiles); paid usage-based, no flat number | By contacts and messages sent | Not built for cold outbound; opt-in marketing only | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Customer data, email/SMS marketing, a self-service Customer Hub and helpdesk | A brand wanting unified customer data as the center of its Shopify stack | A brand wanting a flat, predictable monthly price instead of usage-based billing |
| Recharge | $99/mo (Starter) + 1.49% + $0.19/transaction | Flat tier plus per-transaction fee | Not applicable, subscription retention tool | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Subscription management, cancellation prevention, failed-payment recovery, win-back flows | A brand running a subscription program wanting retention tools built for that model | A brand without a subscription product; Recharge is scoped entirely to that model |
| Gorgias | Priced by ticket volume, no per-agent fee | By tickets handled per month (50 to 5,000+) | Not applicable, support tool, not outbound | No, hosted multi-tenant SaaS | Centralized support inbox, AI Agent for automated resolution, Shopping Assistant | A brand whose support ticket volume is the main cost driver, not agent headcount | A brand wanting sales pipeline or deal-stage features in the same tool |
Figures checked on klaviyo.com/pricing, getrecharge.com/pricing and gorgias.com/pricing, September 2026.
How each one fits an ecommerce brand
Klaviyo
Positions itself directly as 'the B2C CRM,' combining email and SMS marketing with a Customer Hub for self-service order tracking and a built-in helpdesk. Its Klaviyo Data Platform for deeper customer data sits as a separate paid add-on. Pricing is entirely usage-based with no static number to quote. Not for: a brand wanting a fixed monthly price it can budget against exactly.
Recharge
Built specifically around subscription commerce: unified checkout, a customer portal with passwordless login, gift and prepaid subscription options, and retention tools like cancellation prevention and win-back campaigns. Bundles and loyalty programs are reserved for Plus and Custom tiers. Not for: a brand without a subscription product, since the entire tool is scoped to that model.
Gorgias
A centralized support inbox integrated with Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento and WooCommerce, with an AI Agent included on every plan claiming 60% instant resolution, and a Shopping Assistant for pre-purchase engagement. It's explicitly a support platform, not a sales CRM with pipeline features. Not for: a brand wanting deal tracking or a sales pipeline in the same tool.
When none of these is the answer
A brand-new ecommerce store with a handful of orders a week doesn't need dedicated customer data, subscription or support software yet. Shopify's own basic email tools and a shared support inbox cover that stage, and these tools pay off once order volume or a growing subscriber list makes manual customer communication slow.
Disclosure: SalesCrew is our product, and it isn't built for direct-to-consumer ecommerce at all. It has no Shopify-native checkout integration, no subscription billing and no consumer-facing support inbox designed around order status. It's built for B2B sales motions: outbound, a pipeline and an inbox for reaching businesses, not consumers. It isn't ranked above because it solves a different problem than what an ecommerce brand's customer stack needs.
Questions
- Does an ecommerce brand need a traditional CRM, or these instead?
- Almost always these instead. A traditional B2B-style CRM with deal stages doesn't map well to ecommerce, where the unit of relationship is a customer's order and message history, not a sales opportunity. Klaviyo, Recharge and Gorgias each cover a different piece of that: customer data and messaging, subscription retention, and support conversations.
- Why doesn't this page show a flat starting price for Klaviyo?
- Because there isn't one beyond its free tier. Klaviyo's paid pricing is fully usage-based, scaling with contact count and messaging volume through an interactive calculator on its site, with no static published dollar figure at a given contact count, per klaviyo.com/pricing. Its free tier covers up to 250 active profiles and 500 emails a month.
- What does Recharge actually cost?
- $99/month for its Starter tier, aimed at brands launching a subscription program, plus 1.49% + $0.19 per transaction. Its Plus tier is $499/month with a lower transaction rate and adds bundles and loyalty features, per getrecharge.com/pricing.
- Is Gorgias priced per agent like most helpdesk software?
- No, and that's a real differentiator. Gorgias explicitly markets itself as scaling by ticket volume, from 50 to 5,000 tickets a month, 'never priced per agent,' per gorgias.com/pricing. Its AI Agent is included on every plan, with costs tied to how many conversations it resolves rather than a flat seat fee.