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Gladly review

Retail-focused AI agent and customer service platform that resolves orders and returns across chat, email, SMS and voice.

By Best AI AgentUpdated 8 October 202626 sources

In January 2026 Gladly renamed its AI agent from Gladly Sidekick to Gladly, and its agent workspace from Gladly Hero to Gladly Team 9.

Verdict

Buy Gladly if you are a mid-size or large retail brand that wants one AI agent and agent workspace built around a lifelong customer timeline. The catch: enterprise pricing is quote only, and the version that runs on another help desk supports only Zendesk and Gorgias today.

Good fit if you are

  • Mid-size and enterprise retail and ecommerce brands
  • Teams that want AI and human agents on one customer timeline
  • Zendesk or Gorgias teams adding an AI agent without switching help desks

Look elsewhere if you are

  • Buyers who need public enterprise pricing before a sales call
  • Teams on Salesforce, Freshdesk or Intercom wanting a drop-in AI agent
  • Very small teams that want a cheap per-seat help desk

Pros and cons

What we like

  • Takes real actions such as refunds and order updates, and hands off to people with full context 5,16.
  • Strong release controls: a Simulator, automatic versioning, A/B tests and a changelog 14,15,17,18.
  • Covers chat, email, SMS, Facebook, Instagram and a Voice AI add-on 10,16.
  • Clear data policy: customer messages are not used to train AI models, backed by SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS and HIPAA with a BAA 12,3.
  • Highly rated: 4.7 on G2 from 1,112 reviews 23.

What to watch

  • The enterprise platform, Voice AI and the helpdesk add-on are quote only 21,5,16.
  • The public Shopify tier charges $1.50 per AI resolution plus $120 per team member a month 22.
  • The helpdesk add-on covers only Zendesk and Gorgias, and on Gorgias only chat and email 19,8.
  • The Simulator is still in early access 14.
  • Gladly recommends at least 100 public answers before its AI performs well 11.

Key facts

Made byGladly
Pricing$1.50 per AI resolution (Shopify tier); enterprise by quote
Cost for ~1,000 conversations$1,500 a month (1,000 AI resolutions × $1.50 on the Shopify Starter tier, plus $120/mo per team member)
Also requiresShopify tier adds $120/mo per team member; the helpdesk add-on needs Zendesk Team or higher, or any paid Gorgias plan 22,7,8
ChannelsChat, Email, SMS, Social messaging, Voice
LanguagesMost ISO 639-1 languages, 58 listed; right-to-left only for Hebrew 13
Works withZendesk, Gorgias, Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, Klaviyo, Loop Returns, Attentive
Security reportsSOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS
Free trialFree Shopify plan with 100 AI interactions

What Gladly is

Gladly is a San Francisco customer service company that sells an AI agent and an agent workspace, Gladly Team, built around one lifelong conversation per customer 22,9,10. It now markets itself as an agentic commerce platform for retail, with one AI that both sells and serves 1. The AI agent was called Gladly Sidekick until January 2026 9.

The agent is not tied to Gladly's own help desk. Gladly AI for Helpdesks is an add-on that runs the same agent on Zendesk or Gorgias 5,19. In May 2026 Gladly announced agentic commerce features, including at-scale testing and AI presence on ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini 26.

What it can do

Teams configure the agent with Guides, written in plain language, that set steps, guardrails and when to hand off 5,11. It answers from your Public Answers knowledge base and uses App Platform connections to look up data and act in tools such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Loop Returns and Klaviyo 5,20. Every saved change becomes a version you publish per entry point, and you can A/B test versions or run simulated conversations before release 15,17,14.

On another help desk, Gladly gets its own admin seat and API token, listens for ticket webhooks and replies as 'Gladly AI' 6,7. On Gorgias it creates a ticket only when a person is needed, with the transcript and an AI summary attached 8.

  • Actions. Gladly executes actions such as refunds and order updates in third-party systems through its App Platform 5. Voice AI can process refunds and make reservations by phone 16.
  • Setup. Teams build Guides in plain language with no code 5. On another help desk, Gladly needs a dedicated admin seat, an API token and webhooks, and Gladly configures the connection 6,7.
  • Handoff to people. Transfer conditions and handoff messages are set in the 'When to get more help' tile, and replies that fail quality checks go to an agent instead 11.
  • Analytics. The AI Sessions page marks each conversation as resolved, handed off or not answered, with the handoff reason, alongside Guides and Answers performance dashboards 11.

Pricing

Gladly does not publish enterprise prices; the platform, Voice AI and the helpdesk add-on go through sales 21,16,5. The only public rates are on the Shopify App Store: a free plan with 100 AI interactions and one seat, then $1.50 per AI resolution, $0.25 per AI assist (the AI replies, then hands off) and $120 per team member a month, up to a spending cap you set 22. At those rates, 1,000 AI resolutions cost $1,500 a month before seats 22. Running Gladly on Zendesk also requires a Zendesk Team plan or higher 7.

PlanPriceIncludes
Free (Shopify app)$022100 AI interactions to test, AI agent for chat and email, Shopify product recommendations, 1 team member seat
Starter (Shopify app)$1.50 per AI resolution, $0.25 per AI assist, $120/mo per team member22Pay as you go up to a monthly spending cap you set (shown at $250/mo)
Gladly platformQuote21,9AI agent plus the Gladly Team agent workspace
Gladly AI for HelpdesksQuote (add-on)5,19The AI agent running on Zendesk or Gorgias
Voice AIQuote (add-on)16AI agent on phone calls with handoff to agents

Security and data

Gladly states SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, HIPAA with a BAA, GDPR and CCPA, plus annual penetration tests and 99.9% uptime 3. Its AI partners are Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic and Deepgram 12. Customer messages processed by the AI are not used to train models, and AI vendors keep data for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring only 12. Gladly does train its own retail models and removes personal data first 12,2. No ISO 27001 certificate or data residency option is published.

  • HIPAA. HIPAA with BAA 3
  • Training on your data. Customer messages are not used to train AI models; Gladly trains its internal models with PII removed 12
  • AI models. Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic and Deepgram 12

What customers say

Gladly rates 4.7 on G2 from 1,112 reviews and 4.8 on Capterra from 139 23,24. Most praise centres on the agent workspace and customer timeline, while some G2 reviewers want better reporting and AI accuracy 23. TrustRadius shows 8.3 out of 10 from 16 reviews, and the Shopify app has 4.7 from 29 25,22. Published AI results include The Black Tux at 68% AI resolution, Ollie at 60% and Balsam Hill at 91% 4,2.

PlatformRatingReviewsSeen
G2 (Gladly)234.7 / 51,1128 October 2026
Capterra (Gladly)244.8 / 51398 October 2026
TrustRadius (score out of 10) (Gladly CX Platform)258.3 / 5168 October 2026
Shopify App Store (Gladly: AI Customer Support)224.7 / 5298 October 2026

What Gladly claims (not independently verified):

  • 65% automated resolution on retail intents out of the box 2
  • 12-point average CSAT lift and 35% lower cost per resolved conversation 2
  • The Black Tux: 68% AI resolution in seven weeks 4
  • Ollie: 60% overall AI resolution rate 4
  • Balsam Hill: 91% resolution rate, up from 80% before launch 2
  • Rothy's: 33% shorter conversations while holding a 93% CSAT 1
  • +19% higher conversion and 41% of carts saved with the commerce agent 1

Concerns raised by others:

  • Some G2 reviewers say reporting is hard to use and that AI accuracy and integrations need work 23.
  • A Shopify App Store reviewer notes that Gladly is designed mainly for large or enterprise companies 22.

How we scored it

CriterionWhyScore
Independent tests
30% of the total		G2 has not published a hands-on test of this agent.2/5
What it can do
20% of the total		It takes actions like refunds and order updates in connected systems across chat, email, SMS, social and Voice AI, in most ISO 639-1 languages 5,10,16,13.5/5
Pricing
15% of the total		Only the Shopify self-serve tier is public at $1.50 per AI resolution plus $120 per seat; the enterprise platform and helpdesk add-on are quote only 22,21,5.3/5
Control
15% of the total		Gladly documents a Simulator, guardrails, configurable handoff, AI session reports, automatic versioning, A/B tests and a changelog 14,12,11,15,17,18.5/5
Security and data
10% of the total		SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, HIPAA with a BAA and a clear no-training policy, but no ISO 27001 or data residency choice is published 3,12.4/5
Customer evidence
10% of the total		It rates 4.7 on G2 from 1,112 reviews and publishes named AI results from The Black Tux, Ollie and Balsam Hill 23,4,2.5/5
TotalWeighted sum of the 6 levels, out of 10.7.4

Sources

  1. Agentic commerce platform built for top brands — Gladly, accessed 8 October 2026
  2. Retail AI software built on 450 million conversations — Gladly, accessed 8 October 2026
  3. AI you can trust with your customer data — Gladly, accessed 8 October 2026
  4. Customer stories — Gladly, accessed 8 October 2026
  5. What is Gladly AI for Helpdesks? — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  6. Requirements for Setting Up Gladly AI with Your Helpdesk — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  7. Set Up the Gladly AI + Zendesk Integration — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  8. Set Up the Gladly AI + Gorgias Integration — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  9. We've Updated Our Product Names — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  10. What is Gladly (AI) — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  11. Common Gladly AI FAQs — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  12. AI Security and Compliance — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  13. Supported Languages — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  14. Simulator Overview — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  15. Manage Gladly Agent Versions — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  16. Voice AI — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  17. A/B Test Gladly Agent Versions — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  18. Track and Review Gladly AI Configuration Changes — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  19. List of Helpdesk Partners — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  20. Gladly Help Center documentation index — Gladly Help Center, accessed 8 October 2026
  21. Gladly pricing — Gladly, accessed 8 October 2026
  22. Gladly: AI Customer Support — Shopify App Store, accessed 8 October 2026
  23. Gladly Reviews — G2, accessed 8 October 2026
  24. Gladly Reviews — Capterra, accessed 8 October 2026
  25. Gladly CX Platform Reviews & Ratings — TrustRadius, accessed 8 October 2026
  26. Gladly Announces Agentic Commerce Capabilities at Gladly Connect Live (press release) — Gladly via SalesTechStar, accessed 8 October 2026