Help Scout
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 Zoho Desk saves $300 / year and covers 92% of the compared capabilities.
Find my alternative
Way less money.
Top Help Scout alternatives
We compared 13 products and found 7 cheaper alternatives · 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 7 assessed alternatives that are cheaper in this scenario; 3 of them cover at least 75% of the 12 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: SLA management, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony | 58% | $1/mo how? ⓘ | $288 / year 96% cheaper | |
Freshdesk Growth plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, Live chat & messaging, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Voice / telephony | 58% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Chatwoot Startups plan · missing: Ticketing, Live chat & messaging, Knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, Routing & assignment, Voice / telephony, Support automations | 33% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Zendesk Support Team plan · missing: Omnichannel inbox, AI agents, AI copilot, SLA management, Canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, Routing & assignment, Support automations | 33% | $19/mo how? ⓘ | $72 / year 24% cheaper | |
Tidio Starter plan · missing: Knowledge base / help center, SLA management, Voice / telephony live chat — adjacent | 75% | $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
- Zoho Desk — $0/mo (Free plan) · covers 92%
- Best open source or self-hosted
- Chatwoot — $0/mo (Hacker plan) · covers 33%
- Best paid drop-in
- Helply — $1/mo (Per-ticket pricing plan) · covers 58%
- Need ticketing, omnichannel inbox, live chat & messaging, knowledge base / help center, AI agents, AI copilot, canned responses / macros, CSAT surveys, routing & assignment, voice / telephony or support automations?
- Crisp — from $0/mo (Free plan)
- Need SLA management?
- Zoho Desk — 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 Chatwoot.
- Live chat & messaging — Chat with customers in real time on your site or app.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Knowledge base / help center — Publish a self-serve help center for customers.Missing from Tidio, Chatwoot.
- AI agents — Let an AI agent resolve support requests automatically.Missing from Chatwoot.
- AI copilot — Get AI-drafted reply suggestions for support agents.Missing from Chatwoot.
- SLA management — Set and track response-time targets for tickets.Missing from Crisp, Tidio.
- Canned responses / macros — Reuse saved reply templates for common questions.Missing from Zoho Desk.
- Routing & assignment — Automatically route tickets to the right agent or team.Missing from Chatwoot.
- Voice / telephony — Handle customer support calls by phone.Missing from Tidio, Chatwoot.
- Support automations — Automate routine support tasks like tagging or follow-ups.Missing from Chatwoot.
Feature comparison
Help Scout vs the top alternatives, on the 12 compared capabilities.
| Capability | Help Scout | Crisp | Zoho Desk | Tidio | Chatwoot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ticketing from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel inbox from Standard | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live chat & messaging from Free | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| 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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Routing & assignment from Plus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| 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 Hacker |
✓ 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 Free
- ✓ 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
- ✓ Routing & assignment — from Plus
- ✓ Voice / telephony — from Standard
- ✓ Support automations — from Standard
Price ladder
Observed prices from the official pricing page.
Sources
Every claim traces to an official source and a check date.
- https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/ (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-31)
- https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/#main-content (official_pricing, checked 2026-08-31)
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. Zoho Desk has a free plan that covers 92% of the 12 capabilities we compared against Help Scout.
What is the cheapest Help Scout alternative?
In our scenario (single user, monthly billing), Crisp is the cheapest assessed alternative at $0/mo (Free plan).
What is the cheapest Help Scout alternative with Knowledge base / help center?
Crisp covers Knowledge base / help center and costs $0/mo (Free 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 2026-08-31 and 2026-09-07, on the vendors' official pricing pages.