A Shopify chatbot that only operates in English is a liability the moment a French, Spanish or German customer lands on your store. The question is not only how many languages a chatbot lists in its feature sheet, but what actually happens when a customer messages in a language your team does not speak.
This comparison covers five Shopify chatbots, distinguishes between three different kinds of “language support”, and shows what each tool does when a customer writes in an unexpected language.
Three things “language support” can mean
Most chatbot marketing pages list language numbers without specifying what those languages cover. Before comparing tools, clarify which type of language support you actually need.
Most Shopify chatbots provide type 1 (interface language) and limited type 2 (AI training), but charge a premium or require a higher plan for type 3 (auto-translation). Understanding the difference prevents you from buying a tool that lists 50 languages but only responds coherently in English.
How five Shopify chatbots handle multilingual customers
Capability comparison across all five tools
| Capability | AeroChat | Tidio (Lyro) | Shopify Inbox | Chatty | Relish AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Understands multilingual questions | Yes (AI model) | Yes (English primary) | Limited | Limited | Limited |
| Responds in customer’s language | Advanced plan+ | Some languages | Store language only | Store language only | Store language only |
| Auto-translates agent replies | Advanced plan+ | No | No | No | No |
| Interface available in multiple languages | Yes | Yes | Yes (Shopify admin) | Yes | Yes |
| WhatsApp multilingual support | Yes (Growth+) | No | No | No | No |
| Accuracy outside English | Strong (large model) | Moderate | Dependent on Shopify | Basic | Basic |
What happens in real multilingual scenarios
| Customer scenario | AeroChat | Tidio | Shopify Inbox | Chatty | Relish AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French customer asks about return policy | Answers in French (Advanced) | May reply in English | Sends store-language response | Sends store-language response | Sends store-language response |
| Spanish customer asks order status | Answers in Spanish (Advanced) | May mix languages | Limited Shopify data access | No order status access | Basic order access |
| Arabic message on WhatsApp | Supported (Growth+) | Not on WhatsApp | Not on WhatsApp | Not on WhatsApp | Not on WhatsApp |
| German product comparison question | Answers from catalogue in German | Responds in English or German | Store language only | Store language only | Store language only |
AeroChat multilingual AI: how it works in practice
On the Starter ($49/month) and Growth ($149/month) plans, AeroChat understands questions in multiple languages through the large language model it is built on. A French-speaking customer asking about your return policy will typically receive a response, but the reply will be generated in whatever language your knowledge base is written in, unless you have explicitly set up multilingual content.
On the Advanced plan ($349/month), auto-translation is active by default. This means:
- The AI detects the language of the incoming message automatically.
- It draws from your English-language knowledge base, FAQs and product descriptions to generate an answer.
- It translates that answer into the customer’s detected language before sending.
- Agents using the shared inbox also get a translation layer so they can respond in their own language and have the reply delivered in the customer’s language.
This matters most for merchants selling to markets across Europe, Latin America or the Middle East, where support volumes in non-English languages can be substantial but staffing a multilingual support team is not practical at the store’s scale.
Tidio Lyro and multilingual support: what to expect
Lyro AI draws from your knowledge base content and Tidio’s AI model. The model itself has multilingual capability, but Lyro’s published accuracy data focuses on English. Customers who write in Spanish, French or German will typically receive a response, but the confidence and accuracy of that response depends on the question type and how much relevant content exists in Tidio’s training for that language.
If you have a predominantly English knowledge base and a customer asks a nuanced product question in French, Lyro may reply in English or produce a less accurate response in French than it would in English. For a store where 90% of enquiries are in English and 10% are in other languages, this is manageable. For a store targeting multiple European markets equally, it is a meaningful limitation.
Shopify Inbox and language: the native option
Shopify Inbox is free and built into the Shopify admin. Its language behaviour is determined by your store’s locale settings. The AI sales associate answers product questions based on your catalogue data, but the responses are generated in your store’s default language.
If your Shopify store is set to English and a customer messages in French, Shopify Inbox will respond in English. There is no translation layer. For a merchant whose customers are all in one country and speak one language, this is not a problem. For a store with meaningful traffic from non-English speaking markets, it is a significant limitation.
Chatty and Relish AI: what “multilingual” covers
Both Chatty and Relish AI allow you to customise the widget’s display language, which means you can set the greeting, placeholder text and button labels to French, Spanish or another language. This is interface language, not AI language.
When a customer sends a question in French, the AI’s reply quality depends on its underlying model. For standard single-sentence questions (“Do you ship to France?”), a response is likely. For more specific product comparisons or nuanced return policy questions, the accuracy in non-English languages is not documented to the same standard as English.
Neither tool currently lists auto-translation as a published feature.
Choosing based on your actual language mix
| Your store’s situation | Recommended approach |
|---|---|
| Selling to one market in one language | Any tool works; language support is not the differentiator |
| 10-20% of enquiries in other languages | AeroChat Starter or Growth; the AI understands most questions, replies in your store language |
| Significant non-English traffic (30%+) | AeroChat Advanced for auto-translation; customers get replies in their own language |
| WhatsApp across multiple language markets | AeroChat Growth or Advanced; WhatsApp is covered from Growth plan upwards |
| Free tool, English-only store | Shopify Inbox; free, native, adequate for single-language operations |
What to test during the trial period
If your store receives meaningful traffic from non-English speaking markets, use the trial period to run these specific tests rather than only testing English questions:
- Write your 10 most common customer questions in each of your key non-English languages. Send them to the AI and read the response.
- Check whether the response is in the customer’s language or defaults to English.
- Test a nuanced question (a product comparison, a complex return scenario) in your second most common language. The quality gap between a simple question and a complex one is where language limitations show up.
- For WhatsApp specifically, send a test message in each target language and check the response quality and language match.
- Check whether your agents in the shared inbox can see both the original message language and the translated version.
Pricing across all five tools in this comparison, plan structures, billing models and overage rates — is detailed in the Shopify AI chatbot pricing guide.
