Help Scout

Overview

Help Scout is the help desk for teams whose support is mostly email and who want it to feel like email. The shared inbox, Docs knowledge base, and Beacon widget set up in minutes, and the current pricing makes it one of the clearest buys in the category: a free plan for up to five users with one inbox and one Docs site, then Standard at $25, Plus at $45, and Pro at $75 per user. AI Assist drafting is unlimited on paid plans, and AI Answers — the self-service agent — is priced at $0.75 per resolution with a three-month free trial, which is a far more legible meter than the bundled AI tiers at Intercom or Zendesk. Reviewers rate it around 4.6 out of 5 and praise onboarding; the limits are reporting depth on the lower tiers, thin native social channels, and the absence of an autonomous chatbot builder. Two pricing traps: the 26th agent on Standard forces the whole team up to Plus, and per-resolution AI billing is unpredictable once volume climbs. Buy Help Scout if you have an email-first support team under about 25 agents and want AI priced per outcome. Buy Zendesk if you need phone, ticket routing, and reporting at scale, or Freshdesk if you want cheaper per-agent tiers with more channels.

Pros & Cons