Scale your support.
Not your monthly bill.
HelpSpot includes the features Help Scout puts on its Plus plan—custom fields, advanced SLAs, round-robin routing and a customer portal—plus unlimited inboxes, at one annual price.
Why teams switch from Help Scout
The same frustrations we hear from every Help Scout switcher
The "Plus" Plan Step-Up
Custom fields, internal teams, round-robin routing, advanced SLAs and the secure customer portal start on Help Scout Plus: $45 per user per month billed annually, compared with $25 for Standard.
All Features Included
We don't split features across plans. Custom fields, round-robin assignment, SLAs, the customer portal and full reporting access are included for every customer from day one.
The "Inbox Tax"
Each Help Scout plan includes a set number of inboxes (2 on Standard, 5 on Plus, 10 on Pro) and Docs sites (2, 3 or 5). Beyond that, each inbox costs $10/mo and each Docs site $20/mo, billed annually.
Unlimited Inboxes
Unlimited shared inboxes and unlimited knowledge bases are standard. No calculators required to figure out your bill.
SLA Policies by Plan
Help Scout rations SLA policies by plan: one basic policy on Standard, two advanced policies on Plus, and unlimited only on Pro ($75 per user per month).
Built-in SLAs
Powerful SLA management is built-in. Set complex rules, business hours, and escalation paths without buying extra software.
Help Scout vs HelpSpot
See how the two platforms compare on what matters most
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User Caps by Plan
Standard allows up to 25 users and Plus up to 50. Growing past that requires Pro ($75 per user per month, billed annually).
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Pay-Per-Resolution AI
Their 'AI Answers' chatbot charges $0.75 per resolution. Success is penalized with a variable bill that grows with your volume.
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Reporting History by Plan
Standard keeps 2 years of pre-built report history. All-time history starts on Plus.
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Portal on Plus Only
The secure customer portal starts on Plus. Standard offers Beacon, an embeddable help widget.
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Room to Grow
Unlimited mailboxes and brands in every plan. Adding agents moves you up a team-size tier, and your features never change. See our pricing structure.
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AI Included Free
We don't punish you for efficiency. AI summarization, triage, and drafting are included for every user without per-ticket fees.
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Data Forever
We never delete your reporting data. Plus, you get full API access and direct SQL database access (on self-hosted) to build any report.
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Complete Customer Portal
Give customers a fully branded, secure portal where they can log in, view all historical tickets, check status, and upload files.
Feature-by-feature comparison
Comparing Help Scout Plus ($45/user/mo, billed annually) with HelpSpot on the support workflows below. Help Scout pricing read September 30, 2026. Help Scout also offers live chat, messaging channels and a Pro plan with more features; the two products do not match feature for feature.
HelpSpot
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Help Scout
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|---|---|---|
| Feature | All Inclusive | Plus $45/user/mo (annual) |
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Core Ticketing
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| Familiar email-inspired workflow | ||
| Email-to-ticket conversion | ||
| Collision detection | ||
| Custom fields | Up to 10 (Plus) | |
| Conditional field logic | ||
| Rich customer replies (images, files, emoji) | ||
| Unlimited mailboxes | 5 included (+$10/mo each) | |
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Portal & Knowledge Base
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| Customer portal (Login & History) | ||
| Contact form | ||
| Portal theme customization | Custom CSS | |
| Multi-brand portals | 3 Docs sites (+$20/mo each) | |
| Knowledge base | ||
| Knowledge base WYSIWYG | ||
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Automation & Workflow
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| Trigger rules | ||
| Time based automation rules | ||
| Round-robin assignment | ||
| SLA management | 2 advanced policies | |
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AI Features
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| AI writing assistance | Included | Included |
| AI ticket summarization | Included | Included |
| AI translation | Included | Included |
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Reporting & Analytics
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| Built-in reports | All-time history | |
| Custom report builder | ||
| Real-time dashboards | ||
| Export to Excel/CSV | ||
| Direct SQL database access | Self-hosted | Impossible |
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Pricing Model
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| Feature tiers | None (team-size tiers only) | Free, Standard, Plus, Pro |
| Add-on costs | None | Extra inboxes, Docs sites, AI Answers |
| Unlimited tickets | ||
| Cancel anytime | ||
| Refund policy | 30 days | |
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Support & Deployment
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| Phone support | All plans | |
| Self-hosted option | ||
| EU data residency | Included | |
| Access logs and redaction | Basic | |
| Implementation help | Free | Add-on on Plus (included on Pro) |
| API access | Unlimited | Rate limited (400/min on Plus) |
Ready to simplify your support?
Simple to start. Expensive to scale.
Help Scout's Standard plan looks affordable until you need custom fields, round-robin routing, advanced SLAs, a customer portal or more than 2 inboxes. Here's what a 10-agent team pays on annual billing.
Help Scout
Plus plan: custom fields, round robin, advanced SLAs, customer portal
+ Add-ons not included: inboxes beyond 5, Docs sites beyond 3, onboarding, AI Answers. Standard would be $3,000/yr. List prices, annual billing, read September 30, 2026 from helpscout.com/pricing.
HelpSpot
Simple pricing, everything included
Save $3,201 (about 59%) vs. Help Scout Plus in year one
Migration made easy
We'll help you every step of the way
Export Your Data
Use Help Scout's API to export your conversation history and customer profiles.
Import to HelpSpot
Our team handles the heavy lifting, mapping your Help Scout tags and mailboxes to HelpSpot categories.
Go Live
Redirect your email channels to HelpSpot. Your team enjoys a similar email-like workflow, but with more power.
Deploy Your Way
Same price, same features. Choose the deployment that works for you.
Same powerful features and pricing across all hosting options.
US Cloud
CloudUS-East Region
Dedicated AWS infrastructure with 99.9% uptime. Managed updates and automated backups.
EU Cloud
CloudFrankfurt Region
GDPR-compliant hosting. Full data sovereignty with all information isolated within the EU.
Self-Hosted
EnterpriseOn-Premise Infrastructure
Complete control on your own hardware. Ideal for air-gapped networks or strict compliance.
Maximum Control & Data ResidencyWhat we believe
We've been building help desk software since 2005. Along the way, we've developed strong opinions about how support should work.
Single Assignment
Every ticket has one owner. Clear accountability means faster resolution and better outcomes.
Read moreHuman-First Support
Complex cases need a person who owns them. HelpSpot gives your team the tools to see them through.
Read moreSimple Pricing
One price. All features. No add-ons, no surprises. Budget with confidence.
Read moreBeyond Shared Mailbox
Email chaos ends here. Get collision detection, automation, and the visibility you need.
Read moreCompare other platforms
See how HelpSpot stacks up against other help desk solutions.
"Of the number of helpdesk systems we looked into, ranging from the off-the-shelf expensive systems to completely 'free', your product was the best looking, simplest for both the customer and the staff, the quickest to set-up and configure and reasonably priced."
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about switching from Help Scout
Yes! HelpSpot is designed with the same 'email-first' philosophy. If your team likes the shared inbox feel of Help Scout, they will feel right at home in HelpSpot—but with much more power under the hood.
Yes, limited by plan: one basic SLA policy on Standard, two advanced policies on Plus, and unlimited policies on Pro. In HelpSpot, SLA management is included in every plan.
Absolutely. Unlike Help Scout which is US-cloud only, HelpSpot offers a dedicated EU Cloud option hosted in Germany, fully compliant with strict data residency requirements.
No. HelpSpot includes unlimited shared mailboxes in your single annual price. Help Scout includes 2 to 10 inboxes depending on the plan and charges $10/month for each one beyond that. With HelpSpot you don't pay extra to set up a new 'hr@' or 'sales@' address.
HelpSpot is the best Help Scout alternative for teams that need unlimited mailboxes and full features without upgrading. Help Scout charges for inboxes beyond each plan's allowance and puts custom fields, round-robin routing, advanced SLAs and the customer portal on its Plus plan. HelpSpot includes unlimited mailboxes, custom fields, SLA management, AI, and reporting in one plan, with cloud and self-hosted options at the same price.
On annual billing (read September 30, 2026), Help Scout Standard costs $3,000/year for 10 users ($25 per user per month) and includes 2 inboxes. Plus, which adds custom fields, round-robin routing, advanced SLAs and the customer portal, costs $5,400/year ($45 per user per month) before add-ons. HelpSpot costs $2,199/year for 10 agents with unlimited mailboxes and all features included: $3,201 (about 59%) less than Plus and $801 less than Standard.
No. Custom fields start on Help Scout Plus ($45 per user per month, billed annually), with up to 10 per conversation. On Standard ($25), you can't add structured data fields to conversations. HelpSpot includes custom fields in every plan.
Trusted by teams who made the switch
Trusted by industry leaders
Ready to switch?
We'll help you move.
Start your free trial and our team will help migrate your data, train your agents, and get you up and running. No risk, no commitment.
