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Help Scout Pricing & Plans

#7 in Helpdesk

by Helpscout · helpscout.com ↗

Customer support platform for shared inbox management, knowledge base, and customer communication.

#7Helpdesk#12Customer Service ManagementSmall business
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Pricing at a glance

◇ Pricing model

Per-user subscription pricing with a free tier, publicly posted monthly and annual plan pricing, and usage-based add-ons for AI Answers plus paid extras for Inboxes and Docs sites.

↻ Billing notes

Help Scout publicly offers monthly and annual billing, and the annual toggle advertises a 16% discount on the pricing page. The support guide says billing is in U.S. Dollars (USD), accounts are billed in advance, and users added during the cycle are prorated at the next billing date. Standard and Plus trials last 15 days with no credit card required, while Pro requires talking to sales for a demo. Help Scout also says AI Answers gets a 3-month free trial and that non-profit organizations receive a 10% discount that can be combined with the annual payment discount.

Plans and pricing

4 tiers

Free

monthly
$0
  • 5 users
  • 1 Inbox
  • 1 Docs site

Limited to the basics: 5 users, 1 Inbox, and 1 Docs site. The pricing page does not publish a separate public feature matrix for Free beyond those limits.

Standard

monthly
$25 per user/mo
  • Multiple Inboxes
  • Live chat, Instagram, & Messenger
  • Multiple knowledge bases
  • One basic SLA policy
  • Basic workflows
  • Unlimited tags and saved replies

The public pricing page shows Standard at $25 per user per month. The page does not publish a separate seat minimum for Standard.

Plus

monthly
$45 per user/mo
  • Advanced workflows
  • Two advanced SLA policies
  • Unlimited AI Drafts
  • Round robin routing
  • Salesforce, Jira, and HubSpot
  • Internal teams

The public pricing page shows Plus at $45 per user per month. The plan comparison also notes up to 25 users and 15 light users included on Plus.

Pro

monthly
$75 per user/mo
  • Unlimited workflows
  • Unlimited SLA policies
  • Multiple routing types
  • SSO/SAML
  • HIPAA compliance
  • Up to 50 light users

The public pricing page shows Pro at $75 per user per month. The plan comparison says Pro has a minimum of 10 users and supports unlimited users in the top-level plan table.

Add-ons and extras

AI Answers

$0.75 / resolution

Usage-based AI assistant add-on billed per resolution on a monthly basis. Help Scout also advertises a 3-month free trial for AI Answers and says pre-paid discounts are available.

Additional Inbox

$12 USD per month per Inbox on monthly billing, or $10 USD per month per Inbox when paid annually

Extra Inboxes can be added to paid plans. The support docs say billing stops immediately if you delete an extra Inbox.

Additional Docs site

$20 per site, per month

Extra Docs sites can be added on any paid plan. The support docs say there is no limit to collections, categories, or articles within a single Docs site.

Hidden and indirect costs

Worth budgeting for
⚠  Help Scout does not publicly describe every possible billing edge case on the pricing page, but it does disclose that users added mid-cycle are prorated at the next billing date. That means seat count changes can increase the next invoice even if the plan price itself stays the same. The docs also note that the Account Owner is billable, so that role counts toward billing. Some capabilities are add-ons rather than included features, which can raise the total monthly cost.
⚠  AI Answers is priced separately from the core plan and is charged per resolution, so heavy automation usage can create variable monthly spend. The pricing page also says that alternate payment options are only available when payment due is more than $2500 and the customer is prepaying annually, which can matter for larger buyers. Non-profit discounts exist, and there is a separate Help Scout for Good program for qualifying organizations, but the exact startup-plan economics are not publicly disclosed in the supplied sources.

What buyers actually pay

A small team only needs the entry-level plan and wants to avoid a paid subscription.

Expected cost$0 for the Free plan, with 5 users, 1 Inbox, and 1 Docs site included.
user countInbox countDocs site count

A growing support team needs core helpdesk automation and plans to pay monthly.

Expected costAt least $25 per user per month on Standard, plus any paid extras such as additional Inboxes or AI Answers usage.
number of usersadditional InboxesAI Answers resolution volume

A team wants the higher-tier collaboration and security features and expects to buy at scale.

Expected cost$45 per user per month on Plus or $75 per user per month on Pro, with possible extra spend for AI Answers and paid add-ons.
plan tieruser countAI Answers resolutionsextra Inboxesextra Docs sites

Pricing FAQ

Yes. The pricing page says Standard and Plus come with a 15-day free trial and no credit card is required. The same page says Pro is sold by demo, so buyers interested in Pro should talk to sales. Help Scout also says AI Answers includes a 3-month free trial.

Help Scout publicly offers both monthly and annual billing. The pricing page shows an annual discount of 16%, and the support guide explains that users can switch between monthly and annual payments in-app. The docs also state that billing is in USD.

Yes. Help Scout says additional Inboxes cost $12 USD per month per Inbox on monthly billing or $10 USD per month per Inbox when paid annually. Additional Docs sites cost $20 per site per month on any paid plan. The support guide also says deleting an extra Docs site stops billing immediately.

Help Scout says non-profit organizations receive a 10% discount, and that discount can be combined with the annual payment discount. The pricing page also mentions Help Scout for Good for qualifying non-profits and B Corporations, plus a startup plan for early-stage companies, but the exact public pricing for those programs is not disclosed in the supplied sources. The pricing page further says pre-paid discounts are available for AI Answers.

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