The strongest Help Scout alternatives are Zoho Desk for the lowest per-agent bill, Zendesk Suite, or Freshdesk Omni with its Voice add-on, when you need a native phone line, and Gorgias for Shopify stores. LiveChat, the sixth help desk in our catalog, bills per user like Help Scout but is built chat-first (LiveChat alternatives); Intercom and Front sit outside our catalog but sell per seat, much like Help Scout. The yardstick is Help Scout Standard at $25 per user per month billed annually, or $30 per user per month billed monthly, with live chat, social channels and AI Assist included. Every login counts as a billable user, so the bill grows with headcount (pricing guide). For five agents billed annually, Zoho Desk Standard runs $70 a month against $125 for Help Scout Standard, by our arithmetic. Price is not everything. The pricing units differ, and so do the AI meters.
What you give up when you leave Help Scout
Help Scout sells conversations, not tickets. Replies look like normal email with no ticket numbers by default, customers need no account, and live chat, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp join email from Standard. The Free plan costs $0 for up to 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts a month. Plus adds custom fields, Teams, round-robin routing, AI Drafts and AI Summarize. Every login is a billable user, the Account Owner included, so the bill grows with headcount; our Help Scout pricing guide walks through the plan math.
Three gaps push teams to look elsewhere. There is no native phone system: voice runs through integrations such as Aircall, a paid add-on on Standard and Plus. There are no custom statuses, no ticket types and no community forums. Hosting sits on AWS in the United States, with no EU-only data residency. If none of those bites, switching mostly trades one price model for another, and the tools below differ more in how they bill than in what an agent sees each morning.
Ratings tell a mixed story. On the review platforms where verified business users write, Help Scout holds up well, while the app-store figures judge the mobile agent app rather than the web help desk. Trustpilot draws few reviews and works as a map of complaint themes, not a trend line. A rival with a lower score is not automatically the weaker pick for your team, because each of these products serves a slightly different job and a different buyer.
| Product | Pricing unit | Free plan | Trial | Refund rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | Per user per month | Yes, up to 5 users | 15 days on Standard or Plus, no card | 30-day money-back on the first payment |
| Zoho Desk | Per agent per month | Yes, up to 3 users | 15 days, no card, then moves to Free | Full refund in the first 30 days (monthly) or 45 days (annual) |
| Freshdesk | Per agent per month | No self-serve free plan | 14 days with Enterprise features, no card | Payments non-refundable |
| Zendesk | Per agent per month | No | 14 days, no card | Non-refundable except the Customer Agreement's cases |
| Gorgias | Per account, by billable tickets a month | No | 7 days, no card | Non-refundable except where the law requires or at the vendor's discretion |
The trial on the subject's side covers Standard or Plus for 15 days without a card, while Pro trials go through sales. Scout (formerly AI Answers), Help Scout's AI agent, is billed through the Envoy add-on at $0.75 per resolution on top of the per-user price, billed monthly in arrears, with 3 free months only for new accounts and an optional monthly cap [1]. Scout answers in Beacon chat and email on Standard, Plus and Pro. It does not work on social channels or SMS, and it takes no actions such as refunds.
Multiply each per-agent price by your team size on the same billing term. Gorgias is the exception: it prices the account by billable tickets a month.
Zoho Desk: the lowest per-agent bill
Zoho Desk prices per agent per month: Express $7 billed annually or $9 billed monthly (up to 5 users), Standard $14 or $20, Professional $23 or $35, and Enterprise $40 or $50. Its Free plan holds 3 users with no time limit, and the 15-day trial moves the account to Free automatically instead of stopping it. Live chat and WhatsApp start on Standard. Telephony starts on Professional. Annual billing saves 20–34% depending on the edition, by our arithmetic.
The cheap tiers carry conditions. Generative AI on Express and Standard needs your own OpenAI key, billed by that provider, while the native Zia model comes at no charge from Professional. Light agents are a paid add-on from Standard at $6 per light agent per month, with 50 included on Enterprise. For ten agents on mid tiers billed annually, Zoho Desk Professional comes to $230 a month and Help Scout Plus to $450, by our arithmetic. Budget-led teams that want phone inside the help desk should start their shortlist here.
Freshdesk: deep ticketing, chat sold separately
Freshdesk charges per agent per month: Growth $19 billed annually or $23 monthly, Pro $55 or $66, and Enterprise $89 or $107. Plain Freshdesk has no live chat. Chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS come with Freshdesk Omni at Growth $29 or $35, Pro $79 or $95, and Enterprise $119 or $143 per agent per month. A Voice add-on, $15 per seat per month billed annually on Growth, brings a phone line into Omni. Every agent sits on the same plan, and automatic assignment starts on Pro.
For five agents billed annually, Freshdesk Growth totals $95 a month without chat and Omni Growth $145, against $125 for Help Scout Standard with chat included, by our arithmetic. Freddy AI Agent grants new customers 500 sessions once per account, then sells packs of 100 sessions for $49. Freshdesk's Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent per month billed annually or $35 monthly, on Pro and Enterprise only. Freshdesk has no self-serve free plan. Payments are non-refundable. Our Help Scout vs Freshdesk comparison goes through both line by line.
Zendesk: the full suite, voice included
Zendesk Support Team costs $19 per agent per month billed annually or $25 monthly, but it covers email ticketing and public social channels only, with no live chat, messaging or help center. Those start on Suite Team at $55 per agent per month billed annually or $69 billed monthly. Suite Professional is $115 per agent per month billed annually or $149 billed monthly, and Suite Enterprise is quote-only. The Suite adds telephony, which Help Scout leaves to integrations, though phone numbers and call minutes are billed by usage on top. Every agent, admin and suspended agent takes a paid seat, so audit your admin list before you price it.
AI agents include 5 automated resolutions per agent a month on Support Team and Suite Team, and 10 on Suite Professional. Extras cost $1.50 each committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go. Zendesk Copilot is $50 per agent per month, paid yearly, for all agent seats on Professional and higher. Light agents take no paid seat, up to 100 on Suite Professional. For ten agents billed annually, Zendesk Suite Team runs $550 a month and Help Scout Plus $450, by our arithmetic. The trial lasts 14 days without a card. No free plan exists.
Gorgias: built around Shopify, priced by tickets
Prices shown are what Help Scout lists for visitors in the United States, in US dollars. Your price can differ by country, currency and local taxes such as VAT.
Gorgias prices the account by billable tickets a month, never per user. Starter is $10 a month billed monthly only, with 50 tickets and 3 user seats. Basic is $60 a month billed monthly or $50 a month billed annually for 300 tickets, Pro $360 or $300 for 2,000 tickets, and Advanced $900 or $750 for 5,000. Overage runs $0.40 per ticket on Starter and Basic and $0.36 on Pro and Advanced. From Basic up to 500 seats, headcount does not change the price. Volume does.
Its AI Agent and order management need Shopify. AI Agent is an add-on bundle of included interactions billed per account; beyond the bundle each automated interaction costs $1.50, and each AI resolution also counts as a helpdesk ticket. Voice and SMS are add-ons too. The trade is clear, by our arithmetic: five agents under 300 tickets a month pay $50 on Gorgias Basic billed annually against $125 on Help Scout Standard, while 2,000 tickets on Gorgias Pro billed annually cost $300, the price of 12 Help Scout Standard users. The trial runs 7 days.
Intercom, Front and HubSpot: outside our catalog
Intercom lists Essential at $29 per seat a month, Advanced at $85 and Expert at $132 [2]. Its pricing has two parts: seats, plus usage such as Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome, where an outcome is a confirmed resolution, no further help request, or a completed workflow including handoffs. Advanced includes 20 free Lite seats and Expert 50, and HIPAA support and SLAs sit on Expert. WhatsApp and SMS are charged per message. The trial lasts 14 days with no card.
Front charges per seat per month billed annually: Starter $25 for up to 10 seats and one channel type, Professional $65 for up to 50 seats with SSO and SCIM, and Enterprise $105 [3]. Its Copilot is a $20 per seat per month add-on on Starter and Professional, and the Autopilot AI agent starts at $0.05 per conversation through sales. Front's trial runs 14 days with Professional features and no card. HubSpot Service Hub also belongs on a shortlist, mainly for teams whose sales side already runs on HubSpot.
Comparing AI meters takes care, because the units differ. Scout costs $0.75 per resolution and Fin $0.99 per outcome. Zendesk charges $1.50 per committed resolution after its included allowance, Gorgias $1.50 per interaction plus the ticket, and Freshdesk $49 per 100 sessions, where a session is not a resolution. At 1,000 resolutions a month, Scout comes to $750 and Fin to $990, by our arithmetic. No meter wins at every volume.
A Scout resolution, a Fin outcome, a Freddy session and a Gorgias interaction are different units, so model your own monthly volume on each one.
Cancellation is immediate, most data comes out only through the Inbox API and Docs API, and Help Scout restores a cancelled account only on written request within 14 days.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my data out of Help Scout before switching?+
In-app exports cover only some reports (All Channels, Email, Company, Happiness) as CSV or XLSX, without thread contents. Conversations, customers, users and Docs articles come out through the Inbox API and Docs API, and on request support sends the Account Owner a CSV of customer names and emails.
When should I give notice on an annual Help Scout plan?+
Help Scout's Terms renew a plan automatically for the same term unless written notice of non-renewal is given at least 30 days before it ends. Outside the 30-day money-back guarantee on the first payment, there are no refunds for unused months, and the plan cannot be reduced mid-term.
Which alternatives support HIPAA?+
Help Scout covers HIPAA on Pro, or on Plus with a paid add-on, always with a signed BAA, and its AI stays off until the AI Feature Healthcare Addendum is signed. Freshdesk offers HIPAA only on Enterprise with a BAA, Zendesk requires a BAA and a HIPAA-configured account, and Intercom lists HIPAA support on Expert. Zoho says Desk complies with HIPAA, acting as a Business Associate, while Gorgias's Trust Center lists HIPAA and offers a BAA even though its subscription agreement says not to upload protected health information under it.
Do customers count as billable users in Help Scout?+
No. Only people with a login are billed, the Account Owner included. On the Free plan, though, replies stop at 100 contacts a month, and logged phone conversations count toward that limit.
The bottom line
Stay with Help Scout if your support is email-first and you value replies that read like normal email, with chat and social channels from Standard. Pick Zoho Desk when the per-agent bill decides, Zendesk Suite or Freshdesk Omni with its Voice add-on when phones carry the load, and Gorgias when Shopify orders drive most of your tickets. Before you leave, export your data: most of it comes out only through the API, and a cancelled account can be restored only on written request within 14 days. Trial each one first.
- [1] Help Scout Pricing: Affordable Customer Support Software (2026-11) https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
- [2] Intercom Pricing (2026-11) https://www.intercom.com/pricing
- [3] Front Pricing and Plans (2026-11) https://front.com/pricing