Help Scout alternatives in 2026: 8 options for support teams of 5 to 30

Your Help Scout bill grows faster than your team, and next month's total is hard to predict. The AI agent adds $0.75 for every conversation it resolves, and agent 26 moves the whole team from Standard to Plus.

Below are 8 Help Scout alternatives priced for 5, 15 and 30 agents, AI included. Deskwoot is ours, so it comes first, downsides included. Its paid plans have no agent cap.

The short answer: which Help Scout alternative fits which team

Pick by how your team works:

• Email plus messaging apps, with a fixed price per AI conversation: Deskwoot (ours)
• Mostly email, with several departments in the loop: Front or Missive
• Coming from shared Gmail or Outlook addresses: Hiver
• Ticketing at a low seat price: Freshdesk or Zoho Desk
• Complex ticketing at scale: Zendesk
• Support that starts in chat: Intercom

Monthly bill: 15 agents on annual billing, before tax, with the AI agent answering 1,800 of 3,000 conversations a month and resolving 900, as worked out in the cost section below.

Channels: those each vendor lists for that plan. Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page, in US dollars, checked on October 28, 2026.

Why teams look for a Help Scout alternative

AI billed per resolution

Help Scout's pricing page, checked October 28, 2026, puts its AI agent (sold as Envoy, called AI Answers in the FAQ) at $0.75 per resolution on every paid plan. New accounts get 3 months of unlimited AI Answers resolutions free.

A resolution counts when the AI answered and the customer did not escalate, search the knowledge base, ask more or say they still need help. You pay once per conversation, and nothing when the customer clicks "I still need help".

Paying only when the AI did the job is a fair deal. The budgeting problem is that the bill depends on two numbers you do not control: volume and resolution rate.

Take 1,000 conversations a month with the AI answering 600:

• At a 50% resolution rate, that is 300 resolutions, or $225 on top of seats.
• At the 73% average rate Help Scout quotes in its own savings calculator, it is 438 resolutions and $328.50.

The line grows as the AI gets better, which helps the queue and makes the budget harder to plan.

You can set a monthly spending cap. When it is reached, AI Answers switches off until the next cycle and customers wait for a person again.

User limits per plan

Each Help Scout plan has a user ceiling:

• Free: up to 5 users
• Standard: up to 25
• Plus: up to 50
• Pro: unlimited, with a minimum of 10 users

The step between plans is where it hurts. 25 agents on Standard cost $625 a month billed annually. Agent 26 forces Plus, and 26 users at $45 cost $1,170 a month, 87% more for one hire.

Inboxes have limits too: Standard includes 2, and each extra one costs $10 a month billed annually.

Switching does not remove ceilings by itself. Front Starter stops at 10 seats, Missive Starter at 5 users, Hiver Growth at 10 and Zoho Desk Express at 5, so check the cap on the plan your headcount lands on as well as the price.

What 5, 15 and 30 agents pay

One scenario, scaled to 3 team sizes, with prices billed annually, before tax:

• 5 agents: 1,000 conversations a month; the AI agent answers first on 600 and resolves 300 without a person.
• 15 agents: 3,000 conversations, 1,800 answered by AI, 900 resolved.
• 30 agents: 6,000 conversations, 3,600 answered by AI, 1,800 resolved.

For each tool we picked the plan we judge closest to Help Scout Standard (shared inbox, live chat, basic automation). We moved up where a user cap or a missing feature forced it, and the notes under the table name those choices.

The AI line covers the AI agent only. AI drafting add-ons are listed in each tool's section.

Notes on the plans and numbers:

• Missive, Hiver and Zoho Desk publish no price per AI unit, so their rows are seats only (Zoho lists up to 30M free tokens a month for its AI agents). Ask for the AI number in writing before you compare them.
• Zoho Desk is priced on Professional, the first plan with Zia. On Standard the 3 columns would be $70, $210 and $420.
• Zendesk at $2.00 pay as you go: $825, $2,475 and $4,950. Freshdesk's 500 free sessions come once per account.
• At 15 and 30 agents we priced Intercom on Advanced, the first plan with multiple team inboxes (Help Scout Standard has 2) and round robin assignment. On Essential those columns would be $1,176 and $2,352.
• Deskwoot counts every conversation its AI works on, handoffs included, so its AI count is double the resolution count, and Copilot use in other conversations adds to the same count. Startup would be $54.50 at 5 agents, but 1,000 conversations is exactly its monthly limit.
• Monthly billing costs more per user: Help Scout Standard $30, Front Professional $85, Missive Productive $30, Hiver Growth $35, Zoho Desk Professional $35, Zendesk Suite Team $69.

In this scenario the AI line is 64% of the Help Scout bill at 5 and 15 agents, and half of it at 30, where Plus raises the seat price. At Zendesk it is 60% at every size.

The AI unit moves the ranking more than most seat discounts do.

The 8 Help Scout alternatives

Deskwoot (we make it), with downsides

Deskwoot is ours, so weigh this section with that in mind. It targets the two problems above.

Pick something else if you need Messenger or Instagram today, or your full Help Scout history in the new tool.

Paid plans have no agent cap. Per agent a month, billed annually:

• Startup $3.20 ($4 monthly)
• Business $6.40 ($8 monthly)
• Enterprise $9.60 ($12 monthly)

AI is counted once per conversation per calendar month when Fynn (the AI agent) or Copilot works on it. Business includes 100, then $0.05 each, with $0.07 on Startup and $0.03 on Enterprise (billing guide).

For the 15 agent team in the cost table that comes to $181 a month on Business. Next month's bill follows from how many conversations Fynn and Copilot touch, whatever share of them ends without a person.

One inbox takes email, live chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, SMS, X DMs, Microsoft Teams, Discord, 3CX phone calls and, on Enterprise, a REST API channel. Fynn answers on all but phone calls.

Email works by forwarding on every plan. From Startup, Outlook connects in one click and Gmail over IMAP and SMTP.

The downsides:

• No Help Scout importer. Contacts and simple conversations come in by CSV, and a conversations CSV brings only one first message per row.
• No Messenger or Instagram yet; Help Scout Standard has both.
• SLA policies, tickets, the REST API, audit logs and custom roles are Enterprise only.
• Startup includes 1,000 conversations a month, and the free plan is 1 agent.
• Gmail has no one click connection, and we are a far smaller company than Zendesk, Intercom or Freshworks.

The next step is one test with your own email: start the 7 day trial (Enterprise, no card, up to 30 seats including yours) and forward a second support address to it while Help Scout keeps running.

Front

Front is built around a shared inbox where email threads involve people outside support: comments on a message, shared drafts, and inboxes for sales or account managers next to the support queue.

According to Front's pricing page, checked October 28, 2026, per seat a month billed annually:

• Starter $25 ($35 monthly): up to 10 seats and one channel type
• Professional $65 ($85 monthly): up to 50 seats, across channels
• Enterprise $105, on annual terms only

Autopilot, the AI agent, starts at $0.05 per conversation. Copilot costs $20 per seat a month below Enterprise.

Native WhatsApp costs Meta's fees plus a 20% admin fee. There is no free plan.

Pick Front if your support inbox is mostly email and several departments touch it. Skip it if you will pass 50 agents soon or want a knowledge base in several languages below Enterprise.

Missive

Missive is a team inbox for email with internal chat, tasks and assignment in the same window.

According to Missive's pricing page, checked October 28, 2026, per user a month billed annually:

• Starter $14 ($18 monthly): up to 5 users
• Productive $24 ($30 monthly): up to 50 users, with rules, integrations and API access
• Business $36 ($45 monthly): no user cap

AI drafts, translates, summarizes and runs rules on Missive AI credits or your own key for Anthropic, OpenAI or Gemini models, with no credit price shown. The trial is 30 days of Productive without a card.

The pricing page lists email, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. Missive's docs also describe a website chat widget that runs on your own Twilio account: free under 200 active chats a month, with Twilio billing usage above that.

The gap for a Help Scout team is Docs, because the pricing page shows no public knowledge base.

Pick Missive if you are under 50 people, mostly on email, and want a light tool at a low seat price. Skip it if you need a help center in the same tool, or chat without a Twilio account.

Hiver

Hiver comes as Hiver in Gmail, which runs inside Gmail, and Hiver Omni. Omni is a standalone platform for Gmail, Outlook and other providers, with live chat, Slack, voice and a help center.

According to Hiver's pricing page for Omni, checked October 28, 2026, per user a month billed annually:

• Growth $25 ($35 monthly): up to 10 users
• Pro $55 ($65 monthly)
• Elite $85 ($95 monthly)

AI Agents and AI Copilot are listed from Growth with no usage price. Voice costs $30 per voice seat with 1,000 pooled minutes. SLAs, CSAT surveys and API access start on Pro.

Seats come in steps: 2 to 5, then multiples of 5, so a team of 12 pays for 15. The trial is 7 days of Elite without a card.

Pick Hiver if your team works from shared Gmail or Outlook addresses and wants a help desk that keeps that feel. Get the AI agent's usage terms in writing before you sign.

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is classic ticketing at a low entry price, with a customer portal, a knowledge base and day passes for occasional agents ($2 a day on Growth).

According to Freshdesk's pricing page, checked October 28, 2026, per agent a month billed annually:

• Growth $19
• Pro $55
• Enterprise $89

The page shows no free plan, and the trial is 14 days of Enterprise. None of the plans on that page lists website chat, which Help Scout Standard includes.

Freddy AI Agent includes 500 sessions once per account, then $49 per 100. The page defines a session as an interaction between a customer and the AI agent, with no condition that it resolves anything; for email it is a 72 hour window from the customer's first message.

Freddy AI Copilot is $29 per agent a month billed annually, on Pro and Enterprise only. Multiple SLA policies and round robin assignment also start on Pro. More in our Freshdesk comparison.

Pick Freshdesk for ticketing structure at a low seat price. Skip it if you want AI drafting help on the cheapest plan.

Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk has a free plan for 3 users. According to Zoho's pricing page and plan comparison, checked October 28, 2026, per user a month billed annually, with no user cap above Express:

• Express $7 ($9 monthly): up to 5 users
• Standard $14 ($20 monthly)
• Professional $23 ($35 monthly)
• Enterprise $40 ($50 monthly)

What the plans add:

• Standard: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, WeChat and LINE, plus an answer bot that replies from your knowledge base. Its chat widget serves logged in customers.
• Professional: Zia, telephony and round robin assignment.
• Enterprise: full live chat through Zoho SalesIQ.

Every paid plan lists AI agents that run on Zoho's own models with up to 30M free tokens a month, or on your own key.

Generative features such as summaries and reply suggestions run on your own OpenAI key, so OpenAI bills you. The page shows no fee per resolution.

The trial lasts 15 days without a card, then the account drops to the free plan.

Pick Zoho Desk if you already run Zoho apps or want messaging apps on a mid priced plan. Skip it if you need chat for anonymous website visitors below Enterprise.

Zendesk

Zendesk is the deep end: ticketing, routing, an app marketplace and AI agents on every plan.

According to Zendesk's pricing page, checked October 28, 2026, per agent a month billed annually:

• Support Team $19 ($25 monthly): email and ticketing
• Suite Team $55 ($69 monthly): adds messaging, live chat and telephony
• Suite Professional $115 ($149 monthly)

AI is billed per automated resolution, a request the AI agent resolved without a person. Support Team and Suite Team include 5 per agent a month, Suite Professional 10, and more cost $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay as you go.

Copilot is $50 per agent a month on Professional and up. More in our Zendesk comparison.

Pick Zendesk for ticketing depth and many integrations. Skip it if a high resolution volume would push the AI line past the seat bill, as in the 30 agent example.

Intercom

Intercom is built around its Messenger chat and its AI agent, Fin.

According to Intercom's pricing page, checked October 28, 2026, per seat a month billed annually:

• Essential $19 for new customers, struck through from $29. The page says the discount lasts as long as you stay subscribed.
• Advanced $85: round robin and multiple team inboxes start here, plus 20 free Lite seats for colleagues who collaborate but do not reply to customers.
• Expert $132

Fin costs $0.99 per outcome: the customer confirms the issue is resolved, stops asking after Fin replies, or Fin completes a set workflow, handoffs included. You pay at most once per conversation, however many questions Fin answers in it.

Copilot is $29 per agent a month billed annually after 10 free conversations per agent. More in our Intercom comparison.

Pick Intercom if chat is your main channel and Fin's answers justify the outcome fee. Skip it if most of your volume is email and seat price matters.

Moving off Help Scout

What Help Scout lets you export

Less than most teams expect. The report export (CSV or XLSX) holds conversation properties and metrics, but Help Scout's help article on exporting reports says it leaves out "the conversation thread contents and satisfaction rating comments".

It is a spreadsheet of facts about conversations, and you cannot read a single reply in it.

Where the rest of your data is

Help Scout's help article on data export options says everything else comes through its APIs:

• customers, users and conversations through the Inbox API
• all Docs articles through the Docs API

Account owners can also ask support for a CSV of customer names and email addresses, without conversation history.

So the customer CSV covers contacts, and full threads need someone who can script against the API. Run the export while your account is active, and ask Help Scout how long data stays available after you cancel.

Moving Help Scout Docs

Docs is the easier part: the Docs API returns every article.

List your article URLs and plan redirects, so links in old emails and saved replies keep working. Our knowledge base software guide helps with picking the new home.

When staying on Help Scout is right

• Your team will stay at or under 25 users for the next year and most volume is email. Standard at $25 is a fair price for a calm help desk built around email.
• AI Answers resolves a modest number of conversations. At 100 resolutions a month the AI line is $75, and the spending cap keeps it in check.
• You rely on Messenger, Instagram, Docs and Beacon working together in one place.
• Your team searches old threads every day and nobody has time to script an API export.
• Your contract renews in a few months. Compare now so any switch lines up with the renewal date.

A 6 step checklist

1. Export 3 months of Help Scout reports and note conversations a month, AI Answers resolutions and active users.
2. Price your shortlist at today's headcount and the one you expect in 12 months, on the plan each user cap forces, with that vendor's AI unit.
3. Decide on history: archive it through the API, or start fresh with contacts only.
4. Ask Help Scout for the customer CSV and pull your Docs articles through the Docs API.
5. Trial your first choice next to Help Scout. Forward a second address to it, test the AI on 50 real questions, and read how its billing page counted them.
6. Switch on a quiet day: move email forwarding, swap the chat widget, redirect Docs URLs, and keep Help Scout until you have checked the archive.

The longer version is in our guide to switching help desk software, and the help desk software comparison covers tools outside this list.

If Deskwoot is on your shortlist

Your Help Scout history will not come over in one click, so settle the archive first. To price your exact team, use the estimator on the pricing page.

The trial is 7 days of Enterprise, no card, up to 30 seats including yours. If you do not pick a plan afterwards, the workspace stays on the free plan for 1 agent.

The next step is step 5 of the checklist with Deskwoot: forward a second support address to the trial and add your public Docs site as a source for Fynn while Help Scout keeps running.