Help Scout
A simple, email-like shared inbox that keeps customer support personal, even as your team grows.
Our verdict
The easiest help desk to hand a new agent on day one, with genuinely helpful support behind it, but teams that need deep automation or advanced reporting will outgrow it faster than they'd outgrow Freshdesk or Intercom.
How we rated it
Overall 4.4 / 5
Pricing
Free
Free
A genuinely free plan for very small teams just getting started with a shared inbox.
- Up to 5 users, 1 inbox, and 1 Docs help center site
- 100 contacts per month
- 10 saved replies and 10 tags
- Access to 1 integration
Standard
$21/mo
For growing teams ready to move past a plain inbox. Price shown is per user, billed annually; monthly billing is $25/user.
- Up to 25 users and 2 shared inboxes
- Live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger channels
- Unlimited contacts, saved replies, and tags
- One basic SLA policy and basic workflows
- AI Inbox Assistant included
Plus
Popular$38/mo
Help Scout's most popular plan, for teams handling more volume across channels. Price shown is per user, billed annually; monthly billing is $45/user.
- Everything in Standard, for up to 50 users and 5 inboxes
- Advanced workflows and two advanced SLA policies
- Unlimited AI Drafts, plus round robin routing
- Secure customer portal and company-level conversation grouping
- Salesforce, Jira, and HubSpot integrations
Pro
$63/mo
For larger teams that need top-tier security and dedicated support. Price shown is per user, billed annually; monthly billing is $75/user. Requires talking to sales rather than a self-serve signup.
- Everything in Plus, for unlimited users (10 minimum) and 10 inboxes
- Unlimited SLA policies and multiple routing types
- SSO/SAML sign-in and HIPAA compliance included
- Dedicated onboarding specialist and strategic account manager
Features
- A shared inbox styled like a normal email client, so new agents can learn it in minutes
- Live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger all flow into the same inbox as email
- AI Drafts and AI Summarize suggest replies and shorten long back-and-forth threads for agents
- AI Answers, a chatbot add-on that resolves customer questions on its own using your help content, billed per resolution
- Docs, a searchable and brandable knowledge base you can link to from your site or support widget
- Beacon, an embeddable widget that puts a contact form, live chat, and help articles right on your website or in your app
- Workflows that automatically tag, assign, or reply to conversations based on rules you set
- Free native mobile apps for iOS and Android so agents can reply and triage tickets from their phone
Alternatives
Freshdesk
A budget-friendly help desk that gets your team up and running fast, with AI ticket handling built in.
Zendesk
A large, battle-tested help desk that brings ticketing, live chat, and AI agents together for teams that have outgrown simpler tools.
Gorgias
A help desk built specifically for online stores, with order details, refunds, and an AI agent built right into every ticket.