DriftHelp ScoutDrift vs Help Scout

Drift vs Help Scout: $2,375 apart for five people

A conversational marketing platform against a shared inbox and help desk: Help Scout is $2,375 a month cheaper for five people. Where Drift and Help Scout split, and a third option for small teams.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick Drift if you want a sales chatbot that qualifies visitors and books meetings, not a support inbox. Pick Help Scout if email is your main channel and you want the calmest inbox your agents will ever use. For five people, Help Scout is $2,375 a month cheaper than Drift ($2,500 a month on Drift against $125 on Help Scout), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45, comes in $80 below Help Scout. Drift and Help Scout both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Drift nor Help Scout includes Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Drift against Help Scout, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceDriftDriftHelp ScoutHelp Scout
Built aroundSales conversations · a marketing tool, not a help deskA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chat
Entry planFrom $2,500/mo · Premium, yearly contract$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes
Chat in the priceFrom $2,500/mo · one contract for the whole team$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan
AI agentBy contract · part of the Salesloft platform$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers
Copilot for agentsBy contractIncluded · AI inbox assistant
Free planNone · sales-led, no trialYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a month

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    DriftDrift

    As a chat with a website visitor that Drift tries to qualify and route to a sales rep or a meeting. Help Scout has no ticket queue either.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    As a conversation in a shared inbox, assigned and tagged; it is email first, with Beacon chat beside it. Drift has no ticket queue either.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    DriftDrift

    There are no support seats: one annual contract from $2,500 a month covers the revenue team. $2,500 for five people, against $125 on Help Scout.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    $25 buys two inboxes on Standard. More inboxes are $10 a month each; Pro has a ten-user minimum. $125 for five people, against $2,500 on Drift.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    DriftDrift

    AI chat and qualification are part of the Salesloft platform and priced in the contract. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    AI Answers, the chatbot, is $0.75 per resolution. The AI inbox assistant is included. Drift meters AI (by contract) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    DriftDrift

    Website chat, email sequences and meeting booking; no WhatsApp, Instagram or ticket queue. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which Drift lacks.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Email, Beacon chat, Messenger and SMS; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. email, WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Drift.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    DriftDrift

    Account-based marketing, playbooks, meeting booking and Salesloft's sales engagement suite. Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk instead.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. Drift is a conversational marketing platform instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    DriftDrift

    Weeks: a sales-led onboarding with playbooks and routing, and Salesloft has said the product is winding down. Help Scout is an afternoon.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    An afternoon: forward the support address, add Beacon, invite the team. Drift is weeks.

Sources: Drift pricing · Help Scout pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Drift conversation view: a visitor chat with routing to a rep and a meeting booker
DriftDrift. The Drift conversation view: a visitor chat with routing to a rep and a meeting booker
The Help Scout inbox: a conversation list, the email thread and the customer sidebar
Help ScoutHelp Scout. The Help Scout inbox: a conversation list, the email thread and the customer sidebar

Pricing references: Drift pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06; needs verification); Help Scout pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Drift, Help Scout and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureDriftDriftHelp ScoutHelp ScoutSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Annual platform contract from $2,500/mo.
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Sales-led only.
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The core of the product, aimed at lead capture.
Beacon.
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Sales email sequences; not a support inbox.
The core of the product.
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Not a channel.
Included on paid plans.
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Not a channel.
Included on paid plans.
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Not a channel.
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack notifications for sales alerts.
Slack notifications.
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI for qualification and booking rather than support answers.
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
By contract.
$0.75 per resolution.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to reps.
Hands to the inbox.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
No ticketing.
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Playbooks for lead routing.
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Pipeline and conversion reporting; no CSAT.
Reports and Happiness ratings.
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile.
Browser and mobile apps.
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Drift if

  • You want a sales chatbot that qualifies visitors and books meetings, not a support inbox.
  • You already run Salesloft and want chat inside the same platform.
  • Time to the first reply is weeks here and an afternoon on Help Scout.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Help Scout's: drift's pricing page redirects to Salesloft. Published figures come from third-party summaries and Salesloft's own materials; Salesloft has announced the product is being wound down.

Pick Help Scout if

  • Email is your main channel and you want the calmest inbox your agents will ever use.
  • You want a mature knowledge base in the same product.
  • Five people cost $2,375 a month less than on Drift ($125 against $2,500), before AI.
  • You need email, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Drift does not include outright.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $2,500 a month on Drift against $125 on Help Scout for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Drift meters AI (by contract) above the seats, Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Drift nor Help Scout includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Drift: $2,500 a month for five (one annual contract, from $2,500 a month); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Help Scout on Standard: $50, $125 and $250 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $2,455 less than Drift and $80 less than Help Scout for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Help Scout.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Drift is a conversational marketing platform built around sales conversations; Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); Drift offers no trial. Drift and Help Scout both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Drift nor Help Scout includes Telegram outright. Drift (by contract) and Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Neither Drift nor Help Scout has a ticket queue, and neither Drift nor Help Scout ships a desktop app. Drift is weeks; Help Scout is an afternoon.

What each price leaves out

Drift: AI features are part of the Salesloft platform and priced by contract. Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Beside Drift's by contract and Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How these figures were read

Drift does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Drift's pricing page redirects to Salesloft. Published figures come from third-party summaries and Salesloft's own materials; Salesloft has announced the product is being wound down.), so they are marked unverified here beside Help Scout's, and Drift's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    DriftDriftSee vendorNot quoted
    Help ScoutHelp Scout$0.75$360
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    DriftDrift · None; sales-led contracts
    Help ScoutHelp Scout · 15 days, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

Drift vs Help Scout: the questions people ask

Drift is a conversational marketing platform built around sales conversations; Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox. Neither Drift nor Help Scout has a ticket queue, and neither Drift nor Help Scout ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Drift From $2,500/mo (Premium, yearly contract); Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes).
  • Chat in the price: Drift From $2,500/mo (one contract for the whole team); Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Drift nor Help Scout has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Drift and Help Scout on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

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