Help Scout vs Freshdesk
Help Scout and Freshdesk side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Help Scout | Freshdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Customer Support & Chatbots | Customer Support & Chatbots |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $25/mo (checked October 2026) | $19/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Not listed |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Help Scout lists a free tier and Freshdesk does not.
Freshdesk has the lower starting price ($19/mo against $25/mo for Help Scout). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Customer Support & Chatbots category.
About each tool
Help Scout
Shared-inbox helpdesk with live chat, SMS and AI reply drafting; a Free plan exists, and Standard is $25 per user a month (reported as billed annually).
Strengths
- Help Scout lists a Free plan with 5 users, 1 inbox and 1 Docs site, and says Free accounts need no payment method.
- Help Scout lists Salesforce, Jira and HubSpot integrations on Plus, and its AI page mentions connecting to 100+ tools and a mobile app.
- Help Scout lists unlimited AI Drafts on Plus and Pro, and its AI page describes thread summaries, tone and grammar edits, and translation for agents.
- Help Scout says its AI Answers agent supports over 50 languages, can be tested privately before launch, and lets you set monthly spending caps.
- Customers don't need a login and are not billed; Help Scout's billing guide says a billable user is anyone who needs a login to manage or view conversations.
- Help Scout's terms and billing guide offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first payment, for monthly and annual plans.
Limitations
- Free is capped at 100 contacts a month, 10 saved replies, 10 tags, 10 articles and 30 days of reporting history.
- Pricing is per user per month, and the Account Owner counts as a billable user. Extra inboxes cost $10 a month billed annually ($12 monthly), extra Docs sites $20 ($24 monthly), and extra light users $10 ($12 monthly).
- Pro has a minimum of 10 users and a trial requires contacting sales; SSO/SAML and HIPAA are listed in the Pro plan highlights. HIPAA-covered accounts need a signed BAA and an AI addendum to use AI features.
- AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution, billed monthly in arrears, after a 3-month free trial for new customers; hitting a monthly spending cap disables it for the rest of the cycle.
- Terms of Service say there are no refunds for partial months or annual payments outside the 30-day guarantee, and that Help Scout may use de-identified customer data to build AI training datasets unless you opt out by emailing help@helpscout.com.
- Help Scout's own pages disagree in places: the pricing table's inbox counts (1, 2, 5, 10) conflict with its plan descriptions, and the AI add-on is called Envoy AI on the pricing page, Scout in the docs, and AI Answers on the AI page.
Freshdesk
Helpdesk with ticketing, shared inbox and knowledge base, plus Freddy AI Agent and Copilot add-ons. Per-agent plans; 14-day trial and a limited free program.
Who it is for
Support teams that handle customer requests by email and other channels. The plans scale from small teams to larger ones that need SLAs, routing rules and audit logs.
Strengths
- Three paid plans (Growth, Pro, Enterprise), starting at $19 per agent per month billed annually
- 14-day free trial
- Freddy AI Agent: 500 sessions included for new customers on every paid plan
- A Free Program for Freshdesk (not Omni) covers up to 2 agents for 6 months, with ticketing, a knowledge base and email support
- The Enterprise plan lists skill-based routing, sandbox, audit logs and IP whitelisting
Limitations
- Freddy AI Copilot is a separate add-on at $29 per agent per month, listed for Pro and Enterprise
- Freddy AI Agent sessions beyond the first 500 cost $49 per 100 sessions
- The Free Program is limited to 2 agents and 6 months, and is not shown on the public pricing page
