Summary and recommendation
Gorgias user management can be run manually, but complexity usually increases with role models, licensing gates, and offboarding dependencies. This guide gives the exact mechanics and where automation has the biggest impact.
Gorgias is a ticket-based e-commerce helpdesk with three fixed roles: Admin, Agent, and Light Agent. There are no custom roles or granular permission overrides available through the UI - role assignment is the only lever admins have. SSO via Google and Microsoft is available on all plans; custom SAML SSO is available on higher-tier plans.
No SCIM provisioning exists on any plan, so every app lifecycle action - onboarding and offboarding - requires manual steps in the Gorgias UI or a custom REST API integration.
Quick facts
| Admin console path | Settings → Team → Agents |
| Admin console URL | Official docs |
| SCIM available | No |
| SCIM tier required | All Helpdesk plans |
| SSO prerequisite | No |
User types and roles
| Role | Permissions | Cannot do | Plan required | Seat cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin | Full access to all settings, billing, integrations, macros, rules, reports, and agent management. Can invite, edit, and deactivate agents. | All plans | Counted as an agent seat; does not consume tickets independently but contributes to team ticket usage. | Admins count against the agent seat limit on the Starter plan (max 3 agents including admins). | |
| Agent | Can view and respond to tickets, use macros, manage own profile. Access to reports and settings is restricted. | Cannot access billing, modify integrations, create or edit rules, or manage other agents. | All plans | Each agent seat is included up to the plan's agent limit; additional agents may require a plan upgrade. | Gorgias uses ticket-based pricing, not per-seat pricing. However, the Starter plan caps agents at 3. Higher plans have no published hard agent cap but pricing is tied to ticket volume. |
| Light Agent | Can view tickets and leave internal notes only. Cannot send replies to customers. | Cannot send external replies, manage settings, or access billing. | Basic plan and above (not available on Starter) | Light Agents are available at no additional per-seat cost on eligible plans, but availability depends on plan tier. | Light Agent availability and exact seat limits should be confirmed with Gorgias sales, as documentation does not publish a hard cap. |
Permission model
- Model type: role-based
- Description: Gorgias uses a fixed set of predefined roles (Admin, Agent, Light Agent). There are no custom roles or granular permission sets available through the UI. Role assignment is per-agent.
- Custom roles: No
- Custom roles plan: Not documented
- Granularity: Role-level only; no per-feature or per-team permission overrides available to admins.
How to add users
- Log in as an Admin and navigate to Settings → Team → Agents.
- Click 'Invite agent' (or 'Add agent').
- Enter the agent's email address.
- Select the role: Admin, Agent, or Light Agent.
- Optionally assign the agent to one or more Teams.
- Click 'Send invitation'. The invitee receives an email to set up their account.
Required fields: Email address, Role
Watch out for:
- On the Starter plan, the account is capped at 3 agents total (including admins). Inviting a 4th agent requires a plan upgrade.
- The invited user must accept the email invitation before they can log in; there is no way to force-activate an account.
- If SSO (Google/Microsoft/SAML) is enforced, the invited user must authenticate via the configured SSO provider.
| Bulk option | Availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import | No | Not documented |
| Domain whitelisting | No | Automatic domain-based user add |
| IdP provisioning | No | Not documented |
How to remove or deactivate users
- Can delete users: Verify in tenant
- Delete/deactivate behavior: This app exposes delete operations in its API documentation, but the admin-console path may present removal as deactivation, archiving, or deletion depending on tenant configuration. Confirm whether the UI action is reversible before treating removal as recoverable.
- Navigate to Settings → Team → Agents.
- Locate the agent to be deactivated.
- Click the agent's name or the edit icon to open their profile.
- Click 'Deactivate agent' (or toggle the active status to inactive).
- Confirm the deactivation in the prompt.
| Data impact | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Owned records | Tickets previously assigned to the deactivated agent remain in the system and retain the agent's name in the assignment history. They are not automatically reassigned. |
| Shared content | Macros and rules created by the deactivated agent remain active in the account and are not deleted. |
| Integrations | Any personal API tokens or OAuth connections associated with the deactivated agent may need to be manually reviewed and revoked. |
| License freed | Because Gorgias uses ticket-based pricing rather than per-seat billing, deactivating an agent does not directly reduce the monthly bill. It does free up an agent slot on plans with agent caps (e.g., Starter's 3-agent limit). |
Watch out for:
- Tickets assigned to a deactivated agent are not automatically reassigned; admins should manually reassign open tickets before deactivating.
- Deactivated agents still appear in historical ticket views and reports.
- There is no bulk deactivation option in the UI; each agent must be deactivated individually.
License and seat management
| Seat type | Includes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Admin | Full platform access including settings, billing, and agent management. | Included in plan; no separate per-seat charge. Counts toward agent cap on Starter plan. |
| Agent | Ticket handling, macro usage, customer-facing replies. | Included in plan up to plan's agent limit. Starter plan: up to 3 agents at $10/mo. Higher plans: agent limits scale with ticket volume tier. |
| Light Agent | Internal notes and ticket viewing only; no customer-facing replies. | Available on Basic plan and above; no additional per-seat charge published, but subject to plan-level availability. |
- Where to check usage: Settings → Team → Agents (shows active agent count and roles)
- How to identify unused seats: Admins can review the agent list at Settings → Team → Agents and check last-login or ticket activity via the Statistics/Reports section to identify inactive agents. No dedicated 'unused seat' report exists.
- Billing notes: Gorgias bills primarily on ticket volume per month, not per agent seat. Plan tiers are: Starter ($10/mo, 50 tickets, up to 3 agents), Basic ($60/mo, 300 tickets), Pro ($360/mo, 2,000 tickets), Advanced ($900/mo, 5,000 tickets), Enterprise (custom, 6,000+ tickets). Additional tickets beyond the plan limit are billed at an overage rate. Agent seat limits are a secondary constraint, most relevant on the Starter plan.
The cost of manual management
Gorgias bills on ticket volume, not per agent seat, so adding agents does not directly increase your monthly cost on most plans. The exception is the Starter plan, which hard-caps accounts at 3 agents total (including admins) - adding a fourth agent forces an upgrade to the Basic plan at $60/mo.
For every app that relies on an IdP like Okta or Azure AD for offboarding, Gorgias is a gap: deprovisioning an agent from the IdP does not touch the Gorgias account. Admins must deactivate agents one at a time through Settings → Team → Agents, with no bulk action available.
What IT admins are saying
The most consistent friction reported by Gorgias admins centers on offboarding. Deactivating an agent does not automatically reassign their open tickets, requiring a manual cleanup step before or after deactivation.
The absence of bulk deactivation compounds this for teams managing larger agent rosters during offboarding cycles. The Starter plan's 3-agent cap is a recurring pain point, with users citing the price jump to Basic as disproportionate for small teams needing a fourth seat.
Lack of custom roles is also flagged by teams that want to restrict specific features - such as ticket tag visibility or channel access - without granting full Admin permissions.
Common complaints:
- Users report that there is no way to bulk-invite or bulk-deactivate agents, requiring manual one-by-one management for larger teams.
- Some users note that deactivated agents' open tickets are not automatically reassigned, creating a manual cleanup step.
- Users on the Starter plan report frustration with the 3-agent hard cap requiring a significant price jump to the Basic plan to add a 4th agent.
- Lack of custom roles or granular permissions is cited as a limitation for teams that want to restrict specific features (e.g., preventing agents from viewing certain ticket tags or channels) without granting full Admin access.
- No SCIM provisioning means that offboarding agents from an IdP (e.g., Okta) does not automatically deactivate them in Gorgias; manual deactivation is always required.
- Some users report confusion about whether deactivating an agent reduces their bill, given the ticket-based pricing model.
The decision
Gorgias manual administration is straightforward for small, stable teams on Basic or higher plans. The fixed role model and ticket-based pricing mean seat management is low-overhead day-to-day. The calculus changes for teams with frequent agent turnover, IdP-driven offboarding workflows, or a need for granular permissions - none of those are supported natively.
If your organization requires automated provisioning or deprovisioning tied to an HR or IdP event, the REST API is the only path; the UI offers no shortcuts.
Bottom line
Gorgias manual user management is functional but entirely one-by-one, with no bulk actions, no SCIM, and no automatic ticket reassignment on deactivation. For every app in your stack that handles offboarding automatically, Gorgias will remain a manual exception until a REST API integration is built.
Teams on the Starter plan face an additional constraint with the hard 3-agent cap. The fixed role model is sufficient for most support team structures, but teams needing permission granularity below the Admin/Agent/Light Agent split will find no native solution.
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