Help Scout alternatives
Customer Support · www.helpscout.com
Help Scout is customer support software combining a shared inbox, knowledge base, live chat, and AI assistance for support teams.
Switching to Helply saves $288 / year and covers 82% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Help Scout alternatives
We compared 17 products and found 10 cheaper options (3 of them cover at least half the compared features) · vs Help Scout Standard at $25/mo · scenario: single user, monthly billing, USD.
Help Scout’s own free plan covers this scenario. If you’re paying for features you don’t use, downgrading beats switching. The paid comparison below is for when you’ve outgrown free tiers — the “Free plans” view shows alternatives if you want free with different limits.
Help Scout costs $25/mo on the Standard plan at single user, monthly billing. We found 10 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 1 of them covers at least 75% of the 11 compared capabilities. Help Scout's own free plan covers this scenario, so downgrading may beat switching.
| Product | Match | Price | Annual savings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
TOP PICK Helply Per-ticket pricing plan · missing: Canned responses / macros, Voice / telephony | 82% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $288 / year 96% cheaper | |
Smartsupp Solo plan · missing: Ticketing, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, SLA management, Voice / telephony, Support automations | 45% | $17/mo how? ⓘ | $96 / year 32% cheaper | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, SLA management, Voice / telephony, Support automations | 64% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, SLA management, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Voice / telephony | 45% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, Voice / telephony, Support automations | 36% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Tidio Starter plan · missing: Knowledge base / help center, SLA management, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Voice / telephony live chat — adjacent | 55% | $24.17/mo how? ⓘ | $10.00 / year 3% cheaper |
Which Help Scout alternative for which situation
Picked by the numbers in this scenario — same subtype unless stated, assessed products only.
- Best free plan
- JivoChat — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 36%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $19/mo (Startups plan) · covers 64%
- Best paid drop-in
- Helply — $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) · covers 82%
- Need ticketing, omnichannel inbox, live chat & messaging, AI agents, AI copilot or support automations?
- Tidio — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need knowledge base / help center?
- tawk.to — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need SLA management?
- Helply — from $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan)
- Need canned responses / macros or CSAT surveys?
- Smartsupp — from $0/mo (Free plan)
What you give up
Capabilities Help Scout has that the top alternatives lack.
- Ticketing — Track customer requests as tickets through resolution.Missing from JivoChat, Smartsupp.
- Live chat & messaging — Chat with customers in real time on your site or app.Missing from tawk.to.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, Smartsupp.
- AI agents — Let an AI agent resolve support requests automatically.Missing from Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- AI copilot — Get AI-drafted reply suggestions for support agents.Missing from Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- SLA management — Set and track response-time targets for tickets.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- Canned responses / macros — Reuse saved reply templates for common questions.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, tawk.to.
- CSAT surveys — Survey customers on satisfaction after a support interaction.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, tawk.to.
- Voice / telephony — Handle customer support calls by phone.Missing from Tidio, JivoChat, Smartsupp, tawk.to.
- Support automations — Automate routine support tasks like tagging or follow-ups.Missing from JivoChat, Smartsupp.
Feature comparison
Help Scout vs the top alternatives, on the 11 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Help Scout | Tidio | JivoChat | Smartsupp | tawk.to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticketing from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Omnichannel inbox from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live chat & messaging from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Knowledge base / help center from Free | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI agents from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| AI copilot from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| SLA management from Standard | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Canned responses / macros from Free | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| CSAT surveys from Standard | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Voice / telephony from Standard | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Support automations from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scenario price cheapest qualifying plan | $25/mo Standard | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free | $0/mo Free |
✓ means the product offers the capability — possibly only on a higher tier than the plan priced below it. The price row shows the cheapest plan that qualifies for our comparison scenario, with its plan name; a $0 free plan may not include every checked capability.
What Help Scout covers
The capability set used for comparison. Grey entries are not available on self-serve plans.
- ✓ Ticketing — from Free
- ✓ Omnichannel inbox — from Standard
- ✓ Live chat & messaging — from Standard
- ✓ Knowledge base / help center — from Free
- ✓ AI agents — from Standard
- ✓ AI copilot — from Standard
- ✓ SLA management — from Standard
- ✓ Canned responses / macros — from Free
- ✓ CSAT surveys — from Standard
- ✓ Voice / telephony — from Standard
- ✓ Support automations — from Standard
- ↑ Routing & assignment — only from Plus, not compared
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Who switched
Anonymous: no account, no email, no IP stored. Reports are shown once a switch has 3 or more and never change ranking or order — alternatives are computed from prices and capabilities only.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/ (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-26)
- https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/#main-content (official_pricing, checked 2026-10-26)
Frequently asked
How much does Help Scout cost?
Help Scout's Standard plan costs $25/mo in our scenario (single user, monthly billing). A free plan exists.
Is there a free Help Scout alternative?
Yes. JivoChat has a free plan that covers 36% of the 11 capabilities we compared against Help Scout.
What is the cheapest Help Scout alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Tidio is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Help Scout alternative with SLA management?
Helply covers SLA management and costs $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) in our scenario.
Does Help Scout have a free plan?
Yes. Help Scout's free plan is limited to 5 seats.
When were these prices checked?
Between 2026-10-26 and 2026-10-29, on the vendors' official pricing pages.