# 9 Best Help Scout Alternatives for Customer Support Teams (2026) Nine alternatives to Help Scout, compared on seat price, the AI agent each includes, channels and billing, with the options for keeping Help Scout and adding an AI agent. > Source: https://www.robylon.ai/blog/help-scout-alternatives > Author: Dinesh Goel (https://www.robylon.ai/author/dinesh-goel) > Last updated: 2026-10-08 ## Key takeaways - Closest like-for-like shared inbox for a B2B team: Front, from $25 a seat a month billed annually, with its Autopilot AI agent at $0.89 per resolution. - Shared inbox that stays inside Gmail or Outlook: Hiver, from $25 a user a month billed annually; Hiver publishes no separate AI agent price. - Fuller ticketing at a lower seat price: Zoho Desk from $7 a user a month billed annually, or Freshdesk from $19. - Keep Help Scout and add AI: Help Scout AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution, in the Beacon chat widget only; Robylon does not run inside Help Scout. - Replace Help Scout with an AI agent that resolves tickets across email, chat, voice and WhatsApp: Robylon, from $25 a month, with voice phone calls from the Business plan at $180. The strongest Help Scout alternatives in October 2026 are Front for a B2B shared inbox, Hiver for teams that want to stay in Gmail or Outlook, Freshdesk and Zoho Desk for fuller ticketing at a lower seat price, Zendesk for larger teams, Intercom for messenger-led support, HubSpot Service Hub for HubSpot CRM teams and Gorgias for Shopify stores. Robylon fits teams that want to replace Help Scout with an [AI agent that resolves tickets](https://www.robylon.ai/support) across email, chat, voice and WhatsApp, with a lighter inbox for the people behind it. Help Scout is a clean shared inbox with Docs knowledge base sites and the Beacon chat widget. Teams evaluating or running it look elsewhere when they need an AI agent that works on email, takes actions in other systems or covers voice without a second vendor. Every tool below is judged on three things: whether its AI takes the action a ticket needs, whether every channel runs from one setup, and whether it fits the stack you already run. ## Help Scout alternatives at a glance | Tool | Best for | What the AI does | Billing unit | Free plan | Paid from | G2 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Help Scout (baseline) | Small teams wanting a simple shared inbox | Answers only, in the Beacon chat widget | Per user, plus per AI resolution | Yes, up to 5 users | [$25 a user (Standard, annual)](https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/) | [4.4 (431)](https://www.g2.com/products/help-scout/reviews) | | Robylon | Replacing Help Scout with an AI agent and a lighter inbox | Answers and acts in your systems | Per AI credit; seats optional | Free forever, 300 credits a month (about 40 chats) | [$25 a month (Pro, 500 credits)](https://www.robylon.ai/pricing) | [5.0 (42)](https://www.g2.com/products/robylon-ai-robylon-ai/reviews) | | Front | B2B teams sharing one inbox across departments | Autopilot answers and acts through Connectors | Per seat, plus per AI conversation outcome | No; 14-day trial | [$25 a seat (Starter, annual)](https://front.com/pricing) | [4.7 (2,515)](https://www.g2.com/products/front/reviews) | | Hiver | Shared inboxes inside Gmail or Outlook | Answers chat; Skills act on email | Per user; no published AI price | No; 7-day trial | [$25 a user (Growth, annual)](https://hiverhq.com/pricing) | [4.6 (1,293)](https://www.g2.com/products/hiver-in-gmail/reviews) | | Freshdesk | Full ticketing at a low seat price | Answers and runs workflows with API actions | Per seat, plus per AI session | 2 agents free for 6 months | [$19 a seat (Growth, annual)](https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/) | [4.4 (3,777)](https://www.g2.com/products/freshdesk/reviews) | | Zoho Desk | Low seat prices, especially with Zoho CRM | Zia drafts replies; Zia Agents billed by tokens | Per user; AI agents per LLM token | Yes, 3 users | [$7 a user (Express, annual)](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html) | [4.4 (7,976)](https://www.g2.com/products/zoho-desk/reviews) | | Zendesk | Larger teams needing routing, voice and compliance | Answers and acts; one channel type per agent | Per seat, plus per AI resolution | No; 14-day trial | [$19 a seat (Support Team, annual)](https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/) | [4.3 (7,093)](https://www.g2.com/products/zendesk-for-customer-service/reviews) | | Intercom | Messenger-led support with proactive messaging | Fin answers and acts, billed per outcome | Per seat, plus per AI outcome | No; 14-day trial | [$85 a seat (Advanced, annual)](https://www.intercom.com/pricing) | [4.5 (3,918)](https://www.g2.com/products/fin/reviews) | | HubSpot Service Hub | Teams that run sales and marketing on HubSpot | Customer agent answers and acts, from Professional | Per seat, plus credits per AI resolution | Yes, free tools for 2 users | [$20 a seat (Starter list price)](https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/service) | [4.4 (3,018)](https://www.g2.com/products/hubspot-service-hub/reviews) | | Gorgias | Shopify stores | Answers and acts on Shopify orders | Per ticket, plus per AI interaction | No; 30-day trial | [$10 a month (Starter, 50 tickets)](https://www.gorgias.com/pricing) | [4.6 (582)](https://www.g2.com/products/gorgias/reviews) | Prices checked October 2026 on each vendor's pricing page. G2 ratings read October 2026, with the review count in brackets. Robylon publishes this page and ranks itself first; every tool on the list, Robylon included, gets the same "Where it falls short" line. ## What Help Scout does Help Scout is a helpdesk for small and mid-size support teams that combines a shared inbox, Docs knowledge base sites and the Beacon chat widget for websites and apps. Its AI agent, AI Answers (powered by an engine called Compass), answers visitors inside Beacon from Docs, websites and files, and lets the customer escalate from any answer; it takes no actions. Help Scout bills per user, from $25 a month billed annually on Standard, and AI Answers adds $0.75 per resolution on Standard, Plus and Pro. The Free plan covers up to 5 users. ## Why teams look beyond Help Scout ### AI answers only in chat AI Answers runs only in the Beacon widget, on websites, web apps and the iOS and Android SDKs. Help Scout's [AI Answers page](https://www.helpscout.com/agent/) lists AI Answers on email as "Coming soon" in October 2026, so every email still goes to a person. ### No actions in other systems Help Scout lists connecting Compass to payment processors, CRMs and other apps as "Coming soon", so a refund, an order change or an account update still needs a teammate. Its MCP server gives outside AI agents read-only access. ### Phone through a partner Help Scout has no phone channel of its own. Calls come through the Aircall integration, announced on 27 January 2026, so voice support means a second vendor. ### User caps on each plan Standard stops at 25 users and Plus at 50; Pro has no cap but a 10-user minimum and is sold through a demo. SSO/SAML costs $100 a month as an add-on on Standard and Plus, and HIPAA $100 a month on Plus; both are included on Pro. ### AI billed per resolution AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution, and nothing when the customer asks for more help. At 1,800 AI resolutions a month that is $1,350 before seats, and on annual plans the [resolutions pricing article](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1746-ai-resolutions-pricing) says the charges come out of the prepaid annual credit. ### No data residency option Help Scout's [data processing addendum](https://www.helpscout.com/company/legal/dpa/) says personal data may be processed in the United States and wherever its sub-processors operate, and lists no data residency option. ## Two paths away from Help Scout Leaving Help Scout means one of two things, and they lead to different tools. - **Keep the Help Scout helpdesk and add an AI agent.** The team stays in Help Scout and only the agent answering customers changes. Help Scout's own AI Answers is the in-house choice. Robylon does not run inside Help Scout. Fin runs on several other helpdesks, but [Fin's helpdesk pricing page](https://fin.ai/pricing) does not name Help Scout as of October 2026. Two AI agents off this list do connect: Chatbase's [escalation action](https://www.chatbase.co/docs/user-guides/chatbot/actions/escalate-to-human.md) opens tickets in Help Scout from its Standard plan, and [Ada's docs](https://docs.ada.cx/llms.txt) list Help Scout among its handoff targets. - **Replace the helpdesk.** The team moves to another inbox. Front and Hiver replace Help Scout's shared inbox most directly; Freshdesk, Zoho Desk, Zendesk, Intercom and HubSpot Service Hub replace it with fuller ticketing; Gorgias suits Shopify stores; and Robylon's own inbox suits teams whose human workload fits a shared inbox with tickets, SLAs and queues. A team moving to Freshdesk, Zoho Desk, Zendesk or Gorgias tickets, or Intercom chat, can add Robylon inside it on Business. Front and Hiver are the closest like-for-like replacements for Help Scout's shared inbox, and Freshdesk and Zoho Desk are the closest for full ticketing. ## How we compared the tools We read each vendor's pricing page, docs and trust or security page, and each tool's G2 page, on 7 and 8 October 2026, using US prices. We did not run hands-on tests for this page. We compared them on what the AI agent can resolve, channels covered, where each runs, billing model, setup effort, and how each works for support agents and team leads. ## The 9 best Help Scout alternatives ### 1. Robylon **Best for:** teams replacing Help Scout that want an AI agent to resolve tickets across email, chat, voice and WhatsApp, with Robylon's own inbox for the people behind it. **What it is for:** Robylon is an AI customer support platform that resolves tickets across email, chat, voice and WhatsApp. It works standalone or alongside an existing helpdesk. It takes the action a ticket needs, through tools built from your APIs and connected apps, and hands the rest to a person with the checking done. Every channel runs from one setup. And it fits the stack you already run: Robylon answers inside Freshdesk, Zendesk, Zoho Desk, Salesforce, Vtiger and Gorgias tickets and inside Intercom, Freshchat, SalesIQ and Zendesk messaging chat. Help Scout is not on that list, so a Help Scout team runs Robylon standalone, with its own inbox and optional human seats. Robylon resolves over 95% of queries automatically for a [gaming company](https://www.robylon.ai/customer-stories/robylons-ai-agent-resolves-knowledge-base-queries-for-a-gaming-company). **What the AI does:** - A [triage agent](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/ai-agents/triage-agent) routes each conversation to the sub-agent built for its topic. - Agents call [tools built from your APIs](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/data-and-integrations/api-tools-functions) and from [32 pre-built integrations](https://www.robylon.ai/platform/integrations), among them Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce and Google Sheets, to look up an order, issue a refund or update an account. Custom API integrations start on Business. - The knowledge base answers from your sources, and the [KB gap report](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/improve/kb-gap) shows what it could not answer. A [public help center](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/knowledgebase/help-center) does the job of Help Scout's Docs sites. - Anything the agent cannot finish goes to a person in Robylon's inbox with the conversation, intent and checks attached. - [Evaluations](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/improve/evaluations) score conversations against your criteria. **Channels:** email, website and in-app chat, voice, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, SMS through Twilio, YouTube comments, and reviews on Google Play, the App Store and Google My Business, all on the [channels page](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/channels-connectors/channels). Robylon's [unified inbox](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/inbox/unified-inbox) gives a human team tickets, [SLAs](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/inbox/slas) and [queues](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/human-users/queues); phone calls and [AI Copilot](https://www.robylon.ai/docs/inbox/ai-copilot) need Advanced or Expert seats. **Pricing:** by AI credits rather than per seat ([see pricing](https://www.robylon.ai/pricing)). Starter is free with 300 credits a month (about 40 conversations, chat only); paid plans start at $25 a month for 500 credits, with WhatsApp and email on Pro; Business starts at $180 a month and adds voice phone calls; yearly billing takes 10% off. Seats for a human team are optional, at $19 (Basic), $49 (Advanced) or $89 (Expert) a month. G2 rating: [5.0 from 42 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/robylon-ai-robylon-ai/reviews). **Where it falls short:** Robylon cannot run inside Help Scout, so a team keeping Help Scout's inbox cannot use it. Voice phone calls start on Business at $180 a month, and a human agent taking calls needs an Advanced seat at $49. Credits per conversation vary with the AI model chosen, and no voice price is published. **Where Help Scout does better:** - **A free helpdesk:** up to 5 users with a shared inbox, a Docs site and Beacon at no cost; Robylon's free Starter plan covers the AI agent on chat only. - **A per-resolution AI price:** $0.75 per resolution with a monthly spending cap; Robylon's credits are used on every conversation, resolved or not. - **A long AI trial:** new accounts get 3 months of free, unlimited AI Answers resolutions. - **More integrations:** more than 100 apps, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Linear, Aircall, Stripe and Shopify, against Robylon's 32 pre-built integrations. - **Review volume:** 431 G2 reviews against Robylon's 42. **Pick it if:** you are leaving Help Scout and want most tickets resolved by an AI agent across email, chat, voice and WhatsApp. Stay on Help Scout with AI Answers if your team keeps its inbox and the AI mostly answers chat questions. ### 2. Front: best for B2B shared inboxes **Best for:** B2B teams sharing one inbox across support, operations and account management; the closest like-for-like replacement for Help Scout's inbox. Front is a shared inbox with ticketing over Gmail, Office 365 or any other mailbox, used by more than 9,300 businesses. Macros, SLAs, a customer portal and Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics 365 sync start on Professional. Since 6 October 2026 Front also hosts other vendors' AI agents on every plan at no charge. **What the AI does:** Autopilot, a paid add-on on every plan, tags, routes, summarises, drafts and sends replies inside Front, and updates records in other systems through Connectors, Salesforce among them. Autopilot is optimised for English only. **Channels:** email, Front Chat, customer portal, web forms, Slack, Facebook, Instagram, X and Telegram; WhatsApp through an add-on or partners; SMS and voice through integrations. **Pricing:** Starter costs $25 per seat a month billed annually ($35 monthly), Professional $65 ($85) and Enterprise $105, annual only. Autopilot charges each conversation once: $0.05 for Triage, $0.39 for Handoff or $0.89 for Resolution ([Front pricing](https://front.com/pricing)). G2: [4.7 from 2,515 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/front/reviews). **Where it falls short:** Starter takes one channel type and caps at 10 seats, Professional caps at 50, there is no free plan, and a conversation Autopilot drafted on before handing over still costs $0.39. **Pick it if:** several teams answer customers together, mostly by email, and you want Help Scout's shared-inbox feel with an AI agent that acts. ### 3. Hiver: best for Gmail and Outlook **Best for:** support, operations and finance teams that want ticketing on top of the Gmail or Outlook mailbox they already use. Hiver sells two products at the same prices: Hiver in Gmail, a Chrome extension, and Hiver Omni, a web app that connects Gmail, Outlook (Microsoft 365) and other mailboxes and adds chat, Slack, voice, SMS and WhatsApp, which launched on 30 September 2026. **What the AI does:** AI Agents answer website chat visitors from your help centre, website and files; the help centres document them on Pro and Elite, in early access. Skills act on email: they tag, assign, draft or send replies, update HubSpot and call any external system through an API step. **Channels:** email, live chat, web forms, help centre, customer portal and Slack (Pro and above) and WhatsApp (Hiver Omni); voice through an add-on or Dialpad; SMS through Twilio in early access. **Pricing:** Growth costs $25 per user a month billed annually ($35 monthly), Pro $55 ($65) and Elite $85 ($95); the Voice add-on costs $30 per voice seat a month with 1,000 pooled minutes. Hiver publishes no separate price for AI Agents ([Hiver pricing](https://hiverhq.com/pricing)). G2: [4.6 from 1,293 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/hiver-in-gmail/reviews). **Where it falls short:** there is no free plan, Growth caps at 10 users, and with no published AI price the AI agent's cost cannot be worked out in advance. **Pick it if:** your team lives in Gmail or Outlook and wants the structure of Help Scout's shared inbox without leaving it. ### 4. Freshdesk: best for full ticketing **Best for:** small and mid-size teams that want fuller ticketing and SLA policies at a lower seat price. Freshworks sells Freshdesk, email-first, and Freshdesk Omni, which adds full live chat, Instagram, WhatsApp and the Chat AI Agent, with data hosted in the US, the EEA, the UAE, India or Australia. **What the AI does:** Freddy AI Agent answers from knowledge sources and runs workflows with API actions, including pre-built Shopify, Stripe, PayPal and Wix integrations; chat agents run only on Freshdesk Omni. **Channels:** email, customer portal, web chat and Facebook Messenger; Freshdesk Omni adds Instagram and WhatsApp. Phone comes through Freshcaller, a separate Freshworks product. **Pricing:** Freshdesk Growth costs $19 per agent a month billed annually ($23 monthly), Pro $55 ($66) and Enterprise $89 ($107); Freshdesk Omni costs $29 ($35), $79 ($95) and $119 ($143). Freddy AI Agent costs $49 per 100 sessions ([Freshdesk pricing](https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/)). G2: [4.4 from 3,777 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/freshdesk/reviews). **Where it falls short:** a Freddy session is billed whatever the outcome, and there is no free-forever plan, only 2 free agents for 6 months. **Pick it if:** you want a full helpdesk at a seat price below Help Scout's. The [Freshdesk alternatives guide](https://www.robylon.ai/blog/freshdesk-alternatives) covers the reverse decision. ### 5. Zoho Desk: best on price **Best for:** small and mid-size teams, especially on Zoho CRM, that want the lowest seat prices. **What the AI does:** Zia summarises tickets and drafts replies on Professional and Enterprise; Answer Bot answers customers from Standard; custom Zia Agents run on every edition. **Channels:** email, web forms, help centre, X, Facebook and Instagram, and from Standard live chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat and LINE; phone through third-party telephony from Professional. **Pricing:** Express costs $7 per user a month billed annually ($9 monthly), Standard $14 ($20), Professional $23 ($35) and Enterprise $40 ($50); Zia Agents on Zoho-hosted models include 30 million tokens a month, then $1 per million ([Zoho Desk pricing](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html)). G2: [4.4 from 7,976 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/zoho-desk/reviews). **Where it falls short:** Zoho publishes no tokens-per-conversation figure, so the AI agent's cost cannot be worked out in advance, and Express caps at 5 users. **Pick it if:** you want a full helpdesk at the lowest seat price, or you already run Zoho CRM. ### 6. Zendesk: best for larger teams **Best for:** larger support teams that need skills-based routing, native voice and a long compliance list. Zendesk carries more than 1,800 marketplace apps, committed data hosting from Suite Professional, and PCI DSS, FedRAMP LI-SaaS and ISO 42001 certifications. **What the AI does:** AI agents answer and take actions in external systems on every Suite and Support plan; each agent serves one channel type: messaging, email or voice. **Channels:** email, web widget messaging and live chat, voice through Zendesk Talk, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, X, LINE, WeChat and Slack; SMS through an add-on. **Pricing:** Support Team costs $19 per agent a month billed annually ($25 monthly), Suite Team $55 ($69) and Suite Professional $115 ($149); the AI agent adds $1.50 per committed automated resolution or $2.00 pay-as-you-go ([Zendesk pricing](https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/)). G2: [4.3 from 7,093 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/zendesk-for-customer-service/reviews). **Where it falls short:** the AI agent's per-resolution price is the highest on this list, and covering messaging, email and voice means building three agents. **Pick it if:** your team needs routing depth, native voice and certifications Help Scout does not list. The [Zendesk alternatives guide](https://www.robylon.ai/blog/zendesk-alternatives) covers that suite. ### 7. Intercom: best for messenger-led support **Best for:** teams that run support through a messenger and want an AI agent from the same vendor. Intercom is the helpdesk sold by Fin (formerly Intercom), which Salesforce has owned since 10 September 2026. **What the AI does:** Fin AI Agent answers from your knowledge sources and acts through Procedures that call any REST API, in more than 45 languages for chat, email and social messaging. **Channels:** Messenger live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Slack and Discord; phone through Fin Voice for select customers, through sales. **Pricing:** Advanced costs $85 per seat a month billed annually ($99 monthly) and Expert $132 ($139); Fin AI Agent adds $0.99 per outcome ([Intercom pricing](https://www.intercom.com/pricing)). G2: [4.5 from 3,918 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/fin/reviews). **Where it falls short:** SSO, HIPAA support and SLAs need the Expert seat, and Intercom publishes no voice price. **Pick it if:** your team runs support and onboarding through a messenger, with product tours and proactive messages. ### 8. HubSpot Service Hub: best inside HubSpot **Best for:** teams already running sales and marketing on HubSpot that want tickets on the same customer record. **What the AI does:** the customer agent, on Professional and Enterprise, answers from the knowledge base, web pages and files, and runs up to 20 configured actions, custom API requests included; voice is a public beta. **Channels:** email, live chat, forms, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp (Professional and Enterprise, up to 1,000 messages a month) and calling; SMS in beta through a Twilio add-on. **Pricing:** Starter lists at $20 per seat a month (shown at $7 billed annually as a limited-time offer for new customers), Professional $90 billed annually and Enterprise $150; the customer agent uses 50 credits ($0.50) per resolution, with 3,000 credits a month included on Professional ([HubSpot Service Hub pricing](https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/service)). G2: [4.4 from 3,018 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/hubspot-service-hub/reviews). **Where it falls short:** the customer agent needs Professional, which carries an annual commitment, and included credits are shared with every other credit feature. **Pick it if:** your company already runs on HubSpot and wants support on the same CRM record as sales and marketing. ### 9. Gorgias: best for Shopify stores **Best for:** Shopify brands that want a helpdesk built around the store. **What the AI does:** on Basic and above, AI Agent cancels, edits, reships and annotates Shopify orders and acts in eight returns, subscription and shipping apps; it needs a connected Shopify store. **Channels:** email, chat, help center, contact forms, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp; voice and SMS through paid add-ons. **Pricing:** Starter costs $10 a month for 50 tickets, Basic $50 a month billed annually for 300 and Pro $300 for 2,000; AI Agent adds $0.90 to $1.00 per automated interaction on top of the ticket fee ([Gorgias pricing](https://www.gorgias.com/pricing)). G2: [4.6 from 582 reviews (G2, October 2026)](https://www.g2.com/products/gorgias/reviews). **Where it falls short:** an AI-resolved ticket is billed twice, as a ticket and as an automated interaction, and Gorgias's docs list no AI Agent on voice as of October 2026. **Pick it if:** you run a Shopify store and want a helpdesk priced by tickets, not seats. ## Alternatives by situation | Situation | Tool or tools | |---|---| | Closest like-for-like shared inbox | Front, Hiver | | Stay inside Gmail or Outlook | Hiver | | Lowest paid seat price | Zoho Desk ($7 a user, billed annually) | | Free plan for a small team | Zoho Desk (3 users), HubSpot free tools (2 users), Robylon Starter (AI agent, chat only) | | Full ticketing with SLAs at a lower seat price | Freshdesk, Zoho Desk | | Routing depth and compliance for a large team | Zendesk | | AI agent that answers email as well as chat | Robylon, Front, Intercom, Freshdesk, Zendesk, HubSpot Service Hub, Gorgias | | Chat, email, voice and WhatsApp in one product | Robylon, HubSpot Service Hub, Zendesk, Intercom (voice through sales) | | Shopify store, priced by tickets | Gorgias | | Data hosted outside the US | Freshdesk, Zoho Desk, Zendesk, HubSpot Service Hub, Front, Gorgias, Intercom (by contract) | ## What to decide before switching ### Actions versus answers Count the share of tickets that need an action in another system. If most do, shortlist Robylon, Front, Freshdesk, Intercom, HubSpot Service Hub, Zendesk, Hiver for email through Skills, and Gorgias for Shopify stores. If most need answers in chat, Help Scout AI Answers already covers it. ### Channels your customers use List your customers' channels. Robylon includes [voice phone calls](https://www.robylon.ai/platform/voice) from Business and [WhatsApp](https://www.robylon.ai/platform/whatsapp) from Pro; Zendesk has voice through Zendesk Talk; HubSpot Service Hub includes calling, with its customer agent on calls in beta; Intercom sells Fin Voice through sales. Freshdesk routes phone through Freshcaller, Zoho Desk through third-party telephony, Gorgias and Hiver through voice add-ons, and Help Scout and Front through integrations including Aircall. ### Where your team works Decide whether your human team leaves Help Scout. If it stays, the options are AI Answers or a third-party agent that escalates into Help Scout. If it moves, check the new helpdesk for the workflows, SLA policies and routing you use today. ### Pricing at your volume Seats and AI usage both drive cost, in different billing units. On published prices for 3,000 chat and email conversations a month, 60% resolved by the AI (1,800 resolutions), 3 human agents and monthly billing: | Tool | Option | AI cost a month | Seats a month | Total a month | AI cost per resolution | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Robylon | Business, Basic seats | $625.00 | $57.00 | $682.00 | $0.35 | | HubSpot Service Hub | Customer agent, Professional seats | $870.00 | $300.00 | $1,170.00 | $0.48 | | Help Scout | AI Answers, Standard seats | $1,350.00 | $90.00 | $1,440.00 | $0.75 | | Freshdesk | Freddy AI Agent, Omni Growth seats | $1,470.00 | $105.00 | $1,575.00 | $0.82 | | Intercom | Fin, Advanced seats | $1,782.00 | $297.00 | $2,079.00 | $0.99 | | Front | Autopilot, Professional seats | $2,070.00 | $255.00 | $2,325.00 | $1.15 | | Gorgias | Pro with AI Agent | $2,520.00 | Not counted | $2,520.00 | $1.40 | | Zendesk | AI agents, Suite Team seats, pay-as-you-go | $3,570.00 | $207.00 | $3,777.00 | $1.98 | Robylon's figure is 3,000 conversations at about 7.5 credits each: the Business 10,000-credit tier at $300 plus 13 extra 1,000-credit bundles at $25, and 3 Basic seats at $19. Help Scout's figure assumes AI Answers resolves the same 1,800, though it runs only in Beacon chat today. On yearly billing, Help Scout comes to $1,425.00 a month and Robylon to $652.00. Hiver and Zoho Desk are left out: Hiver publishes no AI agent price, and Zoho Desk's Zia Agents bill by tokens with no published tokens-per-conversation figure. ## When to stay on Help Scout - Your team has 5 users or fewer and fits the Free plan's 100 contacts a month. - The AI mostly answers questions in website or in-app chat, at $0.75 per resolution and nothing on handover. - Your team likes Help Scout's inbox and fits Standard's 25 users or Plus's 50. - You need HIPAA on a mid-tier plan: Help Scout offers it on Plus as a $100-a-month add-on, with a BAA. - Phone volume is low and the Aircall integration covers it. What usually drives a switch is an AI agent that cannot answer email or take actions. A team whose only gap is chat answers can stay and turn on AI Answers. ## Adding AI to Help Scout Robylon does not run inside Help Scout, so a team that keeps Help Scout adds AI Answers, on Standard, Plus or Pro: 1. Baseline conversations a month, the share arriving through Beacon chat versus email, resolution rate and CSAT. 2. Connect knowledge sources: Docs sites, public websites, PDFs, Word and Excel files, Google Docs and written Improvements ([AI agents in Help Scout](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1757-ai-agents-in-help-scout)). 3. Set guardrails that send chosen topics straight to the team. 4. Turn AI Answers on in Beacon on your website, web app or the iOS and Android SDKs. 5. Set a monthly spending cap before the 3-month free trial ends. 6. Review escalated conversations weekly and add Improvements. 7. Compare against the baseline at $0.75 per resolution before the trial ends. For refunds or order changes, Chatbase's agent takes Shopify and Stripe actions and opens escalation tickets in Help Scout from its Standard plan at $150 a month. An agent on email, voice and WhatsApp means taking the replace path. ## Choosing a Help Scout alternative Help Scout is a clean, affordable shared inbox with Docs, Beacon and a free plan for 5 users. For a small team whose customers mostly need answers in chat, Help Scout with AI Answers remains a sensible home. Move when the AI has to work email, take actions in other systems or answer the phone. Front and Hiver are the closest shared-inbox replacements, Freshdesk and Zoho Desk cost less per seat for full ticketing, and Zendesk and HubSpot Service Hub suit larger or CRM-led teams. Robylon suits teams that want the agent to take the action a ticket needs, run every channel from one setup and fit the stack they already run, with Robylon's inbox in place of Help Scout's. Its Starter plan is free to try. ## Sources we checked 1. [Help Scout pricing](https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/), read 2026-10-07 2. [AI Answers and Compass, Help Scout](https://www.helpscout.com/agent/), read 2026-10-07 3. [AI resolutions pricing, Help Scout docs](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1746-ai-resolutions-pricing), read 2026-10-07 4. [AI agents in Help Scout, Help Scout docs](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1757-ai-agents-in-help-scout), read 2026-10-07 5. [Free plan, Help Scout docs](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1597-free-plan), read 2026-10-07 6. [Data processing addendum, Help Scout](https://www.helpscout.com/company/legal/dpa/), read 2026-10-07 7. [Front pricing](https://front.com/pricing), read 2026-10-08 8. [Hiver pricing](https://hiverhq.com/pricing), read 2026-10-08 9. [Freshdesk pricing](https://www.freshworks.com/freshdesk/pricing/), read 2026-10-07 10. [Zoho Desk pricing](https://www.zoho.com/desk/pricing.html), read 2026-10-07 11. [Zendesk pricing](https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/), read 2026-10-07 12. [Fin and Intercom pricing](https://www.intercom.com/pricing), read 2026-10-07 13. [Fin pricing for other helpdesks](https://fin.ai/pricing), read 2026-10-07 14. [HubSpot Service Hub pricing](https://www.hubspot.com/pricing/service), read 2026-10-08 15. [Gorgias pricing](https://www.gorgias.com/pricing), read 2026-10-07 16. [Escalate to a human, Chatbase docs](https://www.chatbase.co/docs/user-guides/chatbot/actions/escalate-to-human.md), read 2026-10-08 17. [Handoff integrations, Ada docs](https://docs.ada.cx/llms.txt), read 2026-10-07 ## Frequently asked questions ### What are the best Help Scout alternatives? Front and Hiver are the closest Help Scout alternatives for a shared inbox, Freshdesk and Zoho Desk for fuller ticketing at lower seat prices, Zendesk for larger teams, and HubSpot Service Hub for CRM teams. Robylon suits teams replacing Help Scout with an AI agent that resolves tickets across email, chat, voice and WhatsApp. ### What is a cheaper alternative to Help Scout? Zoho Desk is the cheapest paid Help Scout alternative, at $7 per user a month billed annually, with a free edition for 3 users. Freshdesk starts at $19. Help Scout Standard costs $25. With AI at 3,000 conversations a month, Robylon comes to $682 against $1,440 for Help Scout with AI Answers. ### How much does Help Scout cost? Help Scout is free for up to 5 users and 100 contacts a month. Standard costs $25 per user a month billed annually ($30 monthly), Plus $45 ($54) and Pro $75 ($90) with a 10-user minimum. AI Answers adds $0.75 per resolution, with nothing charged when the customer asks for more help. ### Is there a Help Scout alternative that works inside Gmail or Outlook? Hiver is the Help Scout alternative built for Gmail and Outlook. Hiver in Gmail runs as a Chrome extension inside Gmail, and Hiver Omni connects Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365 mailboxes in a web app. Both cost from $25 per user a month billed annually, and Hiver publishes no separate AI agent price. ### What is the difference between Help Scout and Front? Front is a shared inbox built for B2B teams across support, operations and account management, while Help Scout targets small support teams. Front starts at $25 a seat a month billed annually with no free plan, and its Autopilot AI agent acts in other systems. Help Scout AI Answers answers chat questions only. ### How does Help Scout compare with Zendesk? Zendesk is the larger suite: voice through Zendesk Talk, skills-based routing on Suite Professional and AI agents that take actions on every plan. Help Scout is simpler and has a free plan for 5 users. Zendesk Suite Team costs $55 per agent a month billed annually against $25 for Help Scout Standard. ### Which Help Scout alternative covers voice and WhatsApp? Robylon, HubSpot Service Hub and Zendesk cover both voice and WhatsApp natively. Robylon includes WhatsApp from Pro and voice phone calls from Business at $180 a month, HubSpot from Professional, and Zendesk from Suite Team. Intercom sells Fin Voice through sales. Help Scout takes phone calls only through Aircall. ### Can I keep Help Scout and add an AI agent? Help Scout AI Answers is the main way to add an AI agent while keeping Help Scout, at $0.75 per resolution in the Beacon chat widget. Robylon does not run inside Help Scout, and Fin does not list it. Chatbase can open escalation tickets in Help Scout from its $150 Standard plan.