Userlike and Sondercase: two different tools
Userlike, founded in 2011 and based in Cologne, has been part of Lime Technologies since 2021 and has been called Lime Connect since 2025. Visit userlike.com today and you land on the Lime Connect website. The product is a platform for website chat and messaging, with AI features sold as add-ons. The vendor names mid-size companies and corporations as its audience, in industries such as automotive, energy, insurance and ecommerce, and describes itself as not a pure ticket system.
Sondercase is AI customer service built only for online stores. It resolves the cases that follow a purchase: “where is my order?”, returns, warranty claims, cancellations, address changes, and product and policy questions. It reads the real order and tracking data from your store and from DHL, DPD, GLS and other carriers. Replies can run fully automatically, and the matching store action comes fully prepared for your approval.
So if you are looking for a Userlike alternative, the thing to decide is whether you need a chat window on your website or store requests resolved.
Userlike pricing compared with Sondercase pricing
Lime Connect has a transparent pricing page (as of 7 October 2026, prices excluding VAT according to the vendor):
- Free: €0, 1 seat, website chat only, 200 conversations
- Pro: from €105 per month billed monthly, from €87 billed yearly, at least 3 seats
- Enterprise: on request, at least 5 seats
- Connect AI Agent: add-on from Pro, per the pricing page from €99 per month including 100 conversations
Seats apply to every user, including operators who never talk to customers. Further add-ons include Copilot (from €19 per month per user) and Workflows (from €50 per month for 1,000 executions).
At Sondercase, the AI agent is the product, not an extra. Every feature and channel is in every plan, and so are team members. Prices are final prices, including VAT for customers in Germany:
- Starter: €39 per month (€29 yearly), around 100 resolved cases
- Growth: €89 per month (€69 yearly), around 400 resolved cases
- Scale: €199 per month (€159 yearly), around 1,500 resolved cases
Worked example for a store team that wants the AI to handle about 100 requests a month, billed monthly, using the entry prices from the pricing page: Lime Connect Pro from €105 plus AI Agent from €99 comes to from €204 per month excluding VAT (about €243 including 19% VAT; entry prices from the pricing page, which shows no per-seat price), for 100 AI conversations. Sondercase Starter costs €39 per month as a final price (including VAT for customers in Germany) for 150 AI drafts and 15 store actions, around 100 resolved cases, team included. The units are not identical (a conversation versus a resolved case), but the volume is comparable. For the full maths behind support costs, see what a support ticket really costs.
Store actions: built in or built by you
The Lime Connect AI agent can work with other systems through “actions” and MCP servers. Its documentation notes that setting up and configuring your own MCP server requires IT and programming skills. The documented Shopify example enables product search and product details, in other words product advice. A ready-made function for refunds, cancellations or return labels is not described in the documentation pages on Connect AI, actions and MCP (as of October 2026).
Sondercase comes with these actions. In Shopify and WooCommerce the AI handles refunds, cancellations and address changes, opens return cases whose labels your customers receive through the returns portal, and places replacement orders. Replies can run fully automatically, per category and each with a confidence score and its reasoning. Store actions come fully prepared, and you release them with one click. Uncertain cases go to a human.
Store integration: chat widget or order data
The Lime Connect integrations page lists Shopify, Shopware, Magento, Oxid, PrestaShop and other platforms; the linked guides describe installing the chat widget. WooCommerce is not listed there; the ecommerce page mentions WooCommerce as compatible in its FAQ. According to the vendor, order data can be connected via APIs, MCP or the Custom Add-on Builder, which takes your own integration work.
Sondercase connects to Shopify and WooCommerce at the order level: order status, line items, tracking numbers and customer history flow live into every reply. EU consumer rights such as the right of withdrawal and the statutory warranty are treated as floors.
Channels: chat first or inbox first
Here Lime Connect is broader: website chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, SMS, Telegram, Threema and video calls. Email and messengers start on Pro. Emails arrive by forwarding to an address provided by Lime Connect.
Sondercase starts where most store requests land: the support inbox. You connect your existing inbox, and WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook come on top, all in every plan. Sondercase does not offer a website live chat.
Setup and trial
You set up Sondercase yourself with a guided setup, no engineering and no migration. There are three ways to try it:
- Live demo without signup on the homepage: enter your store domain and Sondercase resolves a real support case using public store data.
- 14-day free trial, no credit card, in draft mode: nothing goes out before you have seen it. Once the replies are right, you switch them to automatic.
- Cancel monthly, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Conclusion
Lime Connect, formerly Userlike, is a mature chat and messaging platform for mid-size and large organisations across industries, with hosting in Germany according to the vendor and a wide range of channels. For an online store whose support is mostly order questions, Sondercase is the more direct Userlike alternative: AI agent and team included from €39 per month, replies fully automatic if you want, and refunds, cancellations and returns prepared in the store for your approval, without custom programming.