Help Scout

What is Help Scout?

Help Scout is a shared inbox for customer support that unifies email, SMS, social, chat and voice. Conversations look like email threads, not tickets. Its Docs product publishes a knowledge base. The Compass AI agent resolves requests, and Copilot drafts replies and suggests triage.

Who is it for?

Customer-support teams that want a simple, email-like tool, from 2 to 50 agents. The vendor reports 12,000+ customers. Teams that need a ticketing workflow with complex routing should look at Freshdesk or Zendesk. Pro adds HIPAA compliance.

Pricing

• Free: 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 Docs site.
• Standard: $25/user/mo, adds multiple inboxes, live chat, SMS and basic workflows.
• Plus: $45/user/mo, adds advanced workflows, customer portal, Salesforce and HubSpot integrations, and up to 50 light users.
• Pro: $75/user/mo, adds unlimited workflows, SLAs and inboxes, HIPAA compliance, SSO/SAML and a dedicated account manager.
• AI Answers: $0.75 per resolution, 3-month free trial.

Annual billing gives a 16% discount. Extra inboxes cost $10/mo and extra Docs sites $20/mo (annual). Prices checked on 6 October 2026.

Strengths

• Free plan covers 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 Docs site.
• Email-style conversations keep the interface close to a mailbox.
• Plus includes up to 50 light users, so non-support staff can view and comment cheaply.
• Connects to Jira, Slack, Shopify, Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier.

What to consider

• Free and Standard plans have basic automation.
• Salesforce and HubSpot integrations start at Plus ($45/user/mo).
• Extra inboxes cost $10/mo each and extra Docs sites $20/mo each.
• AI Answers is billed per resolution on top of seats.

Bottom line

Shortlist Help Scout if you want a simple email-style help desk with a free starting plan. Before buying, check the plan that includes the CRM integrations and workflows you need, because they start above Standard.