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Which One Should a Shopify Fashion Store Use?
Choose TailorTalk if your buyers message you on Instagram or WhatsApp: size questions, screenshots, “is this still available?”. Choose Shopify Inbox if your buyers ask on your website and you want a free assistant inside the Shopify admin.
Plenty of stores run both: Inbox on the website chat, TailorTalk on Instagram DMs and WhatsApp, with both reading the same Shopify catalog.
Sell in the conversations that start before a shopper visits your store. Best if you want to:
Help shoppers who are already on your online store, at no cost. Best if you want to:
What each one does well, including where Shopify Inbox comes out ahead.
| Feature | TailorTalk | Shopify Inbox |
|---|---|---|
| Where the AI replies | Instagram DMs, WhatsApp and website chat, on one agent with shared memory. | The online store's chat widget only. |
| Instagram DMs and comments | Replies to DMs, story replies and comments, and Comment Guard hides fake sellers. | Not available. Instagram and Messenger support ended in July 2023. |
Sells in the chat, plus Shopify-triggered order updates and cart recovery. | Not available in Inbox. Shopify Messaging, a separate product, sends WhatsApp campaigns. | |
| Size, stock and product questions | Answers from every variant in the live Shopify catalog, with your fit guidance. | Answers product, sizing, shipping and policy questions from the catalog and policies. |
| Screenshot-to-product matching | Matches a shopper's photo or screenshot to the closest pieces in your catalog. | Not documented for Inbox. |
| Closing the sale | Sends a Stripe, PayPal or Razorpay payment link inside the DM. | The agent adds items to the cart; staff can send discount codes that apply automatically. |
| Sold-out pieces | Offers in-stock alternatives, then messages the shopper when the piece is back. | Not documented for Inbox. |
| Price | From $49/month for 400 conversations. | Free, on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans. |
| Inside the Shopify admin | Separate TailorTalk dashboard, connected through the Shopify API. | Built into the Shopify admin and mobile app, with live cart activity for staff. |
Shopify Inbox details checked on 2 October 2026 against Shopify's Help Center.
Three differences that matter when your buyers live on Instagram and WhatsApp.
Shopify Inbox's agent is a genuinely good assistant for shoppers who are already on your store. Shopify built it for that, and it is free.
But for a fashion brand, the question often arrives before the shopper ever visits the store: a reply to a story, a shared reel, "do you have this in M?" in a DM, or a WhatsApp message from a returning customer. Inbox does not reach any of those.
TailorTalk does. It answers in Instagram DMs and WhatsApp from the same live Shopify catalog, so the sale can happen right where the question was asked.
The most common fashion DM is not a question, it is a screenshot: a Pinterest pin, a celebrity look, a frame from someone else's reel.
TailorTalk matches that picture against your Shopify catalog on silhouette, colour and fabric, and replies with the closest pieces you actually have. If the size they want is sold out, it offers alternatives and messages them when the original is back.
Then it confirms size and colour and sends a payment link inside the conversation, so the buyer never has to find the product on your site.
You do not have to choose. Many stores keep Shopify Inbox on the website chat and add TailorTalk for Instagram and WhatsApp, with both reading the same catalog.
If you would rather have one agent and one conversation history across every channel, TailorTalk also runs your website chat, so a shopper who asked in a DM and returns on your site continues the same conversation.
Either way, WhatsApp adds what Inbox cannot: Shopify-triggered order updates and cart recovery on the channel your customers actually read.
Shopify Inbox is free. TailorTalk is priced on conversations across every channel.
Up to 400 monthly conversations across Instagram DMs, WhatsApp and website chat.
Up to 1,600 monthly conversations.
Up to 6,000 monthly conversations.
For high-volume brands, with a custom quote.
Available on the Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus plans. Shopify lists no separate charge for the AI agent.
The agent works only in the online store's chat widget, and requires the new customer accounts.
Up to 100 agent replies per conversation for guests and 1,000 for signed-in customers, and 50 conversations per customer per day.
Keep Shopify Inbox on your website and let TailorTalk take the DMs, or run one agent everywhere.
TailorTalk reads your Shopify catalog and orders through the Shopify API, so it quotes the same live stock and prices as your store.
Link your Instagram professional account and a WhatsApp number through Meta's official APIs. Inbox keeps the website chat.
Prefer one memory across every channel? Use TailorTalk's website chat in place of Inbox, so DMs and site chats share one conversation.
What Shopify Inbox covers, what it does not, and how it fits alongside TailorTalk.
Answer size, fit and stock questions in Instagram DMs and WhatsApp from your live Shopify catalog, and take payment in the chat.