Shopify Inbox is the store's own chat. Vorena is a separate concierge.
Shopify's help pages describe Inbox as storefront chat with an optional agent, staff handoff, and order lookup. Vorena is a Shopify app for plain-language product discovery, on flat monthly plans with a conversation allowance.
Shopify's chat versus a concierge with a monthly allowance
Shopify Inbox is chat on the online store. Shopify's help page on chat settings says the greeting, availability hours, and automatic first replies apply to conversations that staff handle, and that Track my order is available whether or not the Inbox agent is active. When the agent is assigned, that page says it uses its own persona, managed from the Inbox page in Shopify admin. The theme editor is where a store turns chat on and places the chat button.
The Inbox agent persona page says activating the agent creates a default persona from store content. The merchant sets tone, wording, personality, and service style. Facts the agent should use go in the product catalog, store policies, published storefront content, or the Shopify Knowledge Base app. The same page says a persona cannot override Inbox settings or built-in safety behavior. It gives examples a persona should not force: blocking every staff handoff, requiring a product recommendation in every reply, or routing every conversation to one contact.
Vorena is a separate Shopify app. A shopper describes what they want, and the concierge answers from that store's catalog with live price and stock, and can add the product to cart in the chat. Lite at $29 a month and Starter at $99 a month are flat monthly plans with a conversation allowance. They are not unlimited. A conversation counts when it starts, and the allowance resets monthly. Growth and Scale are coming soon. Vorena does not handle returns, discount codes, or order tracking.
Shopify Inbox vs Vorena, from the public pages
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| Shopify Inbox | Vorena | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Shopify Help Center: storefront chat. Staff handle conversations with a greeting, availability hours, and automatic first replies. An Inbox agent can be assigned and uses its own persona. | An AI shopping concierge for Shopify. The shopper asks in plain language. Vorena shows live price and stock and can add to cart in the chat. |
| Where answers come from | The persona help page: the product catalog, store policies, Knowledge Base facts and files, and published storefront content such as pages, blog posts, sizing guides, and product care guides. For a specific catalog product, the agent can use cited web search for qualitative reviews. Product facts, care, usage, and styling come from store sources, not web search. | The live Shopify catalog. Vorena reads the store's own product images at catalog sync, on every plan, for attributes such as shape, color, material, occasion, and style. |
| Product recommendations | The persona help page says the Inbox agent bases product recommendations on the store catalog only. A persona instruction cannot require a product recommendation in every reply. | Recommendations are products from the store's catalog, shown in the conversation. Cross-sell and upsell suggestions are coming on Growth. They are not part of Lite or Starter. |
| Orders | The persona help page says order lookup always requires the customer to sign in. Track my order, using an order number and email, is available as an instant answer whether or not the agent is active. | Add to cart in the chat. This site does not describe order tracking, returns, or discount codes. |
| When a person takes over | The persona help page says if the agent cannot answer, or the customer asks to speak with a person, the conversation can be handed off to staff. If handoff is not available after a limit, the customer is given the store's sender email. | Vorena is the concierge in the chat. It is not described here as a staff inbox or a helpdesk. |
| Limits | The persona help page: in one conversation, up to 100 messages if the customer is not signed in and up to 1,000 if they are. Each customer can start up to 50 conversations a day with the store. At a limit, the agent stops and hands off if staff handoff is available. | Flat monthly plans with a conversation allowance, not unlimited. A conversation counts when it starts. The allowance resets monthly. At the limit, the Vorena chat is hidden from the store until the allowance resets next month or the plan is upgraded. Chats already under way can finish. Lite is 50 conversations a month. Starter is 500. |
| Price | The Shopify App Store listing, fetched 15 October 2026, says Free. The help pages cited here do not state a monthly price. | Lite $29/month and Starter $99/month. 14-day free trial, no credit card, billed through Shopify. Growth and Scale are coming soon. Plan changes go through Shopify. |
| App Store rating | 4.6 from 5,818 reviews, on the Shopify App Store listing fetched 15 October 2026. | No reviews yet. The Vorena listing fetched the same day shows 0.0 out of 5 and the words No reviews yet. |
Best for: Shopify Inbox, as Shopify's help pages describe it, is storefront chat with an optional agent, staff handoff, and order lookup. Vorena is a separate concierge on flat monthly plans with a conversation allowance.
- You want the chat Shopify documents in its own help center, including staff availability and handoff.
- You want Track my order and order lookup, which the persona and chat-settings help pages describe.
- You want the price on the App Store listing, which says Free.
- You want a concierge whose job is finding a product and adding it to cart.
- You want flat monthly plans with a conversation allowance, and you do not want a per-visitor price.
- You can buy Lite or Starter today. Photo search and upsell suggestions are coming on Growth. Proactive chat is coming on Scale and is not part of the plans on sale.
See where Vorena's catalog understanding comes from: explore vision enrichment
Shopify Inbox vs Vorena, answered
Is Shopify Inbox free?
The Shopify App Store listing for Shopify Inbox, fetched on 15 October 2026, says Free. The Help Center pages cited on this page describe how chat and the Inbox agent work. They do not state a monthly price.
Does the Inbox agent recommend products?
Shopify's persona help page says the Inbox agent bases product recommendations on the store catalog only. It also says a persona cannot force a product recommendation in every reply. Vorena recommends catalog products in the conversation and can add to cart. Cross-sell and upsell suggestions on Vorena are coming on Growth.
Can Shopify Inbox look up an order?
Yes, on Shopify's terms. The persona help page says order lookup always requires the customer to sign in. Track my order uses an order number and email and is available whether or not the Inbox agent is active. Vorena does not describe order tracking.
What does Vorena charge, and is it unlimited?
No. Vorena is not unlimited. Lite is $29 a month for 100 products and 50 conversations. Starter is $99 a month for 250 products and 500 conversations. A conversation counts when it starts, and the allowance resets monthly. At the limit, the Vorena chat is hidden from the store until the allowance resets next month or the plan is upgraded. Chats already under way can finish. There is a 14-day free trial, no credit card, and billing goes through Shopify. Growth and Scale are coming soon.
Does Vorena start the chat on its own?
No. Proactive chat triggers are coming on Scale. They are not on Lite or Starter, and they are not built today. Shopify's instant-answers help page describes conversation starters when the Inbox agent is active, and custom instant answers when it is not.
Sources & further reading
- 1.Shopify Help Center — Configuring your Inbox agent persona. Fetched 2026-10-15. Persona, catalog and policy sources, product recommendations from the store catalog, order lookup sign-in, and conversation limits.
- 2.Shopify Help Center — Configuring chat settings and appearance for Shopify Inbox. Fetched 2026-10-15. Greeting, availability, first replies, Track my order, and the Inbox agent persona.
- 3.Shopify Help Center — Set up instant answers for Shopify Inbox. Fetched 2026-10-15. Instant answers when the agent is off, conversation starters when it is on, and English-only suggested instant answers.
- 4.Shopify — Shopify Inbox — Shopify App Store. Fetched 2026-10-15. Listed as Free. Rating 4.6 from 5,818 reviews.
- 5.Shopify App Store — Vorena — Shopify App Store. Fetched 2026-10-15. The listing shows 0.0 out of 5 and the words No reviews yet.
See the concierge on your own catalog.
Install Vorena on Shopify and let shoppers ask for what they want — in plain language, through to the cart.