A friendly shared inbox and help desk for small teams, with a free plan for up to 5 users. Its AI includes an Inbox assistant, AI Drafts, and Envoy, an add-on AI assistant that resolves customer requests, priced per resolution.
Pricing
Subscription: From Help Scout's pricing page (Oct 28, 2026): Free plan (5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site). Standard $25, Plus $45, Pro $75 per user/month. The page has a Monthly/Annual toggle (annual shows 16% off), and the text we read didn't make clear which billing basis these prices are for, so that's unknown. Envoy add-on: $0.75 per resolution, billed monthly, with a 3-month free trial; pre-paid discounts available.
Getting set up
According to Help Scout: start on the Free plan or a free trial, connect your support email, and for Envoy, add your website or other sources to configure the AI.
The plain-English overview
Has your team outgrown answering customers from a shared Gmail? Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk that many small teams pick at that point. Here's the short version from Help Scout's pricing page, as of Oct 28, 2026.
Here's what Help Scout lists:
- A Free plan: 5 users, 1 inbox, and 1 Docs site.
- Standard: multiple inboxes, live chat and SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger, knowledge bases, basic workflows, and an AI Inbox assistant.
- Plus: everything in Standard, with advanced workflows, a secure customer portal, unlimited AI Drafts, and connections to Salesforce, Jira, and HubSpot.
- Pro: unlimited workflows, SSO, HIPAA compliance, and a dedicated onboarding specialist.
- Envoy add-on: an AI assistant that resolves customer requests. Help Scout says your team is always a click away for more complex questions, and you can add your website or other sources to set it up in minutes.
Who it's for: small teams that want a simple, shared support inbox, with AI help added at their own pace.
Good to know: Help Scout's savings calculator uses an average resolution rate of 73%. That's Help Scout's own figure, so treat your own results as unknown until you try it. The 3-month free trial of Envoy is a low-risk way to find out.
Want to compare? See Freshdesk with Freddy AI, Zendesk AI agents, or Tidio Lyro.
Sources
- Help Scout — pricing page (checked Oct 28, 2026)
Where each fact came from
- What it can do · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Help Scout — pricing page
- Overview · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Help Scout — pricing page
- Where it runs · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Help Scout — pricing page
- Getting set up · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked regularly — Help Scout — pricing page
- Pricing · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked often — Help Scout — pricing page
- Pricing model · checked Oct 28, 2026 · rechecked often — Help Scout — pricing page
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