Help Scout prices per user and keeps AI as a metered add-on rather than a headline product. The plans are Free, Standard at $25 per user a month, Plus at $45 per user a month and Pro at $75 per user a month, with the annual price running 16% below monthly. Standard covers the basics for growing teams: multiple inboxes, live chat and SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, multiple knowledge bases, one basic SLA policy, basic workflows, unlimited tags and saved replies and an AI inbox assistant. Plus adds advanced workflows, two advanced SLA policies, a secure customer portal, unlimited AI drafts, round robin routing and integrations with Salesforce, Jira and HubSpot. Pro adds unlimited workflows, unlimited SLA policies, multiple routing types, SSO and SAML and HIPAA compliance. AI resolutions are billed at $0.75 each.
TL;DR
Help Scout and Intercom charge for seats in different shapes. Help Scout has a Free plan and then Standard at $25 per user a month, Plus at $45 and Pro at $75, with AI resolutions at $0.75 each. Intercom starts at $29 per seat a month on Essential, which includes the Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome, then Advanced at $85 per seat with 20 free Lite seats and Expert at $132 per seat with 50 free Lite seats. Help Scout is the simpler helpdesk: shared inboxes, knowledge bases, workflows and SLA policies. Intercom is a wider platform where the helpdesk and the AI agent are one product, and the AI bill is metered per resolution outcome rather than bundled into the seat.
Intercom prices per seat and puts its AI agent on every plan. Essential is $29 per seat a month and includes the Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome, with a shared inbox, ticketing, pre-built reports and a public help center. Advanced is $85 per seat a month and adds the higher-tier helpdesk features plus 20 free Lite seats, while Expert is $132 per seat a month with 50 free Lite seats. Fin is also sold separately, at $0.99 per outcome, so it can sit in front of an existing helpdesk such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Freshdesk. Intercom also publishes a resolution rate for Fin and a guarantee around its performance, and it offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
The decision usually turns on how much of the support stack you want from one vendor and how you want to pay for AI. Help Scout is cheaper per seat at every published tier, $25 against $29 at the entry point and $45 against $85 in the middle, and its AI cost is a flat $0.75 per resolution. Intercom's seat price is higher, but the Fin agent is native to the same system as the inbox, so a conversation, its history and the AI that resolved it live in one place, and the vendor states that every conversation improves the next one. Teams that want a clean, affordable helpdesk with a support-centric feature set tend to land on Help Scout. Teams whose plan is to let an AI agent take first contact, and who want the agent and the helpdesk from the same vendor, tend to land on Intercom.
| Feature | Help Scout | Intercom |
|---|---|---|
| Free option | Free plan before any paid tier | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Entry paid seat | Standard at $25 per user a month | Essential at $29 per seat a month |
| Mid tier | Plus at $45 per user a month | Advanced at $85 per seat a month, 20 free Lite seats |
| Top tier | Pro at $75 per user a month | Expert at $132 per seat a month, 50 free Lite seats |
| AI pricing | $0.75 per resolution | Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome, included on every plan |
| AI position | Inbox assistant plus resolution billing | Native AI agent that owns first contact in the same product |
| Channels | Multiple inboxes, live chat and SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger | Shared inbox and ticketing with messenger, plus full contact-centre products |
| Governance | SSO/SAML and HIPAA on Pro at $75 per user a month | Advanced features plus free Lite seats on higher tiers |
| Annual discount | 16% off monthly prices | Published seat prices are quoted per month |
| Best fit | Teams that want an affordable helpdesk with metered AI | Teams that want the AI agent and the helpdesk from one vendor |
Pick Help Scout if
Help Scout is the lower-cost seat at every tier: $25 per user a month on Standard against Intercom's $29, and $45 on Plus against $85. What you get for it is a focused product: multiple inboxes, knowledge bases, workflow automation and SLA policies, with a secure customer portal, unlimited AI drafts and round robin routing on Plus, and unlimited workflows, SSO/SAML and HIPAA on Pro. AI is priced per resolution at a flat $0.75, which keeps the cost tied to work done rather than to a seat, and annual billing takes 16% off. The trade is depth: there is no native agent taking first contact across every channel, and governance features sit on the top plan.
Pick Intercom if
Intercom costs more per seat, $29 on Essential and $85 on Advanced against $25 and $45, and it charges $0.99 per Fin outcome on top. In return the agent is native to the same system as the inbox, and the vendor states that every conversation improves the next one, which matters when the goal is to resolve first contact automatically rather than to assist a human. Free Lite seats from Advanced up (20, then 50 on Expert) offset part of the difference for teams with many occasional users. Fin can also be bought alone at $0.99 per outcome and run in front of an existing helpdesk, which makes it a viable upgrade path for a Help Scout shop that only wants the agent.
Neither vendor publishes third-party review data we are willing to restate as fact, and we did not run either product. The satisfaction figures quoted above are the vendors' own published claims. Every price here comes from the two vendors' own pricing pages as published when this comparison was written.
Help Scout at every published tier. Standard is $25 per user a month against Intercom's Essential at $29 per seat, Plus is $45 against Advanced at $85, and Pro is $75 against Expert at $132. AI is also cheaper on Help Scout at $0.75 per resolution against Intercom's $0.99 per Fin outcome, though Intercom includes free Lite seats from Advanced up.
Help Scout bills AI resolutions at a flat $0.75 each, alongside an AI inbox assistant on Standard and unlimited AI drafts on Plus. Intercom includes the Fin AI Agent on every plan and bills it at $0.99 per outcome, and Fin can also be purchased on its own at the same rate to run in front of another helpdesk.
Help Scout has a Free plan that precedes its paid tiers. Intercom does not publish a free plan for the helpdesk; it offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, and includes free Lite seats from the Advanced tier upwards.
On Help Scout, SSO/SAML and HIPAA compliance are on the Pro plan at $75 per user a month. On Intercom, security and governance features are tied to the higher tiers, with Advanced at $85 per seat and Expert at $132 per seat, and AI scoring and workforce features are sold as separate products at rates such as $50 and $83 per agent a month.
Help Scout usually fits better. Standard at $25 per user a month covers multiple inboxes, live chat and SMS, messaging channels including WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, multiple knowledge bases, one basic SLA policy and basic workflows, which is enough for a small team, and the AI cost only accrues at $0.75 per resolution actually delivered.
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