Help Scout pricing plans at a glance
Prices are per user per month in US dollars, from the Help Scout pricing page. Yearly billing saves about 16 percent. Sales tax is added where it applies.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly, about | Users | Inboxes | Docs sites | Light users | SLA policies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Up to 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | Basic |
| Standard | $25 | $21 | Up to 25 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 1 basic |
| Plus | $45 | $37.80 | Up to 50 | 5 | 3 | 25 | 2 advanced |
| Pro | $75 | $63 | 10 minimum, no cap | 10 | 5 | 50 | Unlimited |
Extra inboxes cost $10 a month and extra Docs sites $20 a month. Every plan, including Free, has the API, with higher rate limits on bigger plans. Reporting history grows with the plan: 30 days on Free, two years on Standard and Plus, all time on Pro.
What you actually get on each Help Scout plan
Free covers up to five users and 100 contacts a month. It is a real product for a founder answering email, not for a team that sells a support tier.
Standard is where most small teams start. You get two shared inboxes, two Docs sites, live chat through the Beacon widget, AI Assist and AI Summarize for agents, and one basic SLA policy. For three or four people answering email with one response-time promise, $21 a seat billed yearly is hard to beat, and we say that as a competitor.
Plus is the plan most growing US teams end up on, and the reasons are usually SLAs and AI drafting. It adds two advanced SLA policies, unlimited AI Drafts, five inboxes and more light users. Plus caps at 50 users.
Pro removes the SLA limit and adds all-time reporting, SSO and HIPAA support, but it has a ten-user minimum. A team of six that needs a third SLA policy pays for ten seats on Pro, which is $630 a month billed yearly instead of $227 on Plus.
What AI Answers adds to the Help Scout cost
Help Scout splits AI into two parts. AI Assist, Summarize and (from Plus) AI Drafts help your agents write and are included in the seat. AI Answers is the part that talks to customers and closes conversations on its own, and it is billed at $0.75 per resolution on top of seats. New accounts get a three-month free trial of it.
Per-resolution billing is fair at low volume. At 100 resolutions a month it is $75. The problem is that it grows with ticket volume, not with headcount, and a good month for your AI is an expensive month for your budget.
| AI resolutions per month | AI Answers cost per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | $150 | $1,800 |
| 600 | $450 | $5,400 |
| 1,000 | $750 | $9,000 |
| 2,000 | $1,500 | $18,000 |
Before you sign, estimate how many conversations the AI will resolve after the trial ends, and budget that line the same way you budget seats.
What Help Scout really costs per year
Here is what the paid plans cost for common team sizes, billed yearly, before tax and before AI Answers. Pro is shown at ten users for the five-person team because of the minimum.
| Team size | Standard | Plus | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 users | $1,260 a year | $2,268 a year | $7,560 a year (10-seat minimum) |
| 10 users | $2,520 a year | $4,536 a year | $7,560 a year |
| 25 users | $6,300 a year | $11,340 a year | $18,900 a year |
Add 600 AI resolutions a month and every column grows by $5,400 a year. For ten users on Plus that takes the yearly total from $4,536 to $9,936.
Help Scout costs that do not show in the plan price
Three smaller items belong in the budget as well.
- Extra inboxes and Docs sites: $10 and $20 a month each once you pass the plan limit, which adds up for teams that run separate inboxes per brand or region.
- SSO and HIPAA on Standard or Plus: both come with Pro and are paid add-ons below it.
- Consistent sender identity: Help Scout replies go out as normal email, so the signature under every reply is part of how customers see you. Teams with many agents often manage that with a central email signature manager so every support reply carries the same approved footer.
None of this is hidden in a bad sense. It is the normal price of a modular email help desk. Budget it before you compare Help Scout with a tool that bundles AI into the seat.
Which Help Scout plan should you choose?
Pick Standard if you are a small team answering email with one SLA and little need for AI drafting. It is one of the best-value help desks for that job.
Pick Plus if you need two SLA policies, unlimited AI Drafts or more than two inboxes, and you have fewer than 50 users.
Pick Pro only if you need more than two SLA policies, SSO or HIPAA, and you have close to ten users or more.
If AI answering customers is the main reason you are shopping, add your expected AI Answers resolutions to the seat price first. That total is the number to compare.
Help Scout pricing compared with other help desks
How the plan that unlocks several SLA policies compares with the tools buyers shortlist with Help Scout. Prices per agent per month, billed yearly, from each vendor's pricing page.
| Tool | Plan with several SLA policies | Price | How AI is billed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | Plus (2 policies) or Pro (unlimited, 10 users minimum) | about $37.80 or $63 | AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution |
| Ticketagent | Team (unlimited) | $49 | AI drafts and 150 resolutions per seat each month included, pooled |
| Freshdesk | Pro | $55 | Copilot $29 per agent, AI Agent sessions $49 per 100 after the first 500 |
| Zoho Desk | Standard | $14 | Generative AI from Professional |
| Zendesk | Suite Professional | $115 | Per automated resolution, Copilot $50 per agent |
Help Scout Standard and Plus are cheaper per seat than Ticketagent Team, and without AI resolutions Plus wins for a ten-person team. The picture changes once the AI does real work. Ten users on Plus with 600 AI resolutions pay about $828 a month. Ten agents on Ticketagent Team pay $490 a month, including AI drafts on every ticket, a pooled 1,500 AI resolutions a month and unlimited SLA timers, warnings and escalations with no ten-seat minimum.
Help Scout pricing questions
How much does Help Scout cost per month?
Help Scout costs $25, $45 or $75 per user per month on Standard, Plus and Pro when billed monthly, and about $21, $37.80 or $63 billed yearly. Pro requires at least ten users. AI Answers is billed separately at $0.75 per resolution.
Is Help Scout free?
Help Scout has a free plan for up to five users and 100 contacts a month, with one inbox and one Docs site. Paid plans start with Standard at $25 per user per month, or about $21 billed yearly.
How much does Help Scout AI cost?
AI Assist and Summarize are included from Standard and unlimited AI Drafts from Plus. AI Answers, which resolves conversations on its own, costs $0.75 per resolution on every plan after a three-month free trial, so 600 resolutions a month cost $450.
Does Help Scout charge per user?
Yes. Help Scout charges per user per month, with light users included for people who only read and leave notes: 15 on Standard, 25 on Plus and 50 on Pro. Pro has a minimum of ten paid users.
Is Help Scout cheaper than Zendesk?
Yes, for comparable SLA features. Help Scout Plus includes two advanced SLA policies at about $37.80 per user billed yearly, while Zendesk puts SLA policies on Suite Professional at $115 per agent. Both bill AI resolutions separately.
What is a cheaper alternative to Help Scout with AI?
For teams whose AI resolves hundreds of conversations a month, Ticketagent Team at $49 per agent billed yearly includes AI drafts, 150 AI resolutions per seat each month and unlimited SLA policies. Ten agents pay $490 a month against about $828 on Help Scout Plus with 600 AI Answers resolutions.