Help Scout3CXHelp Scout vs 3CX

Help Scout vs 3CX: $125 apart for five people

A shared inbox and help desk against a business phone system with live chat: 3CX is $125 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and 3CX, and a third option for small teams.

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

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The short answer

Pick Help Scout if email is your main channel and you want the calmest inbox your agents will ever use. Pick 3CX if phone is your main channel and you want chat and WhatsApp to ring the same agents. For five people, 3CX is $125 a month cheaper than Help Scout ($125 a month on Help Scout against $0 on 3CX), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, which only 3CX's figure comes under. Help Scout and 3CX both include website chat and WhatsApp in the price; only Help Scout has email and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor 3CX includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and 3CX for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp Scout3CX3CX
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatPhone calls · a PBX with a chat widget
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$0 · SMB Free: up to 10 users
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$0 · live chat on the free tier
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI AnswersNone for chat · call transcription launching
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantNone
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthYes · up to 10 users, 3CX-hosted

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    As a conversation in a shared inbox, assigned and tagged; it is email first, with Beacon chat beside it. 3CX has no ticket queue either.

    3CX3CX

    As a call, or as a chat that rings the same agent queue; there is no ticket behind it. Help Scout has no ticket queue either.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    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 $0 on 3CX.

    3CX3CX

    The licence is per system per year, sized by simultaneous calls, not per agent; the free tier covers ten users. $0 for five people, against $125 on Help Scout.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    AI Answers, the chatbot, is $0.75 per resolution. The AI inbox assistant is included. 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat) instead.

    3CX3CX

    No AI agent for chat. Call transcription and analytics are listed as launching soon. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Email, Beacon chat, Messenger and SMS; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. email and Instagram are here and not on 3CX.

    3CX3CX

    Voice, live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and SMS through the phone system; no email queue. Help Scout adds email and Instagram, which 3CX lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. 3CX is a business phone system with live chat instead.

    3CX3CX

    The phone system itself: extensions, call queues, IVR, recordings and video meetings. Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    An afternoon: forward the support address, add Beacon, invite the team. 3CX is a day for the phone system.

    3CX3CX

    A day for the phone system; minutes for the chat widget once the PBX is up. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · 3CX 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 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
The 3CX web client: the call queue with a live chat conversation in the same panel
3CX3CX. The 3CX web client: the call queue with a live chat conversation in the same panel

Pricing references: Help Scout pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); 3CX pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Help Scout, 3CX 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.

FeatureHelp ScoutHelp Scout3CX3CXSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per system per year, by simultaneous calls
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
Up to 10 users, hosted by 3CX
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Beacon.
Widget rings the agent queue
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
No email queue
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
Through the phone system
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
Messenger only
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack notifications.
Internal 3CX chat only
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
None for chat
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
No AI agent to bill
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
No AI to hand off from
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
Calls and chats, no ticket queue
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Call flows, not support automations
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Call reports
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

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.
  • You need email and Instagram in the price, which 3CX does not include outright.
  • You want an AI agent at all; 3CX has none for chat.

Pick 3CX if

  • Phone is your main channel and you want chat and WhatsApp to ring the same agents.
  • You want a free tier for a small team that already needs a PBX.
  • Five people cost $125 a month less than on Help Scout ($0 against $125), before AI.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Help Scout does not ship.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $125 a month on Help Scout against $0 on 3CX for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats and 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat), where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and tickets raised from a chat, which neither Help Scout nor 3CX includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Help Scout on Standard: $50, $125 and $250 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. 3CX: $0 a month for five (five users on the free tier); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $80 less than Help Scout and more than 3CX's $0 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

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; 3CX is a business phone system with live chat built around phone calls. Both have a free plan: Help Scout's is 5 users, 100 contacts a month, 3CX's is up to 10 users, 3CX-hosted. Help Scout and 3CX both include website chat and WhatsApp in the price; only Help Scout has email and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor 3CX includes Telegram outright. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats; 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat). Neither Help Scout nor 3CX has a ticket queue, and only 3CX ships desktop apps. Help Scout is an afternoon; 3CX is a day for the phone system.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. 3CX: No AI agent for chat; call transcription and analytics are listed as launching soon. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and 3CX's none for chat, 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 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
    Help ScoutHelp Scout$0.75$360
    3CX3CXSee vendorNot quoted
    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.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout · 15 days, no card
    3CX3CX · Free tier, no trial clock
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs 3CX: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; 3CX is a business phone system with live chat built around phone calls. Neither Help Scout nor 3CX has a ticket queue, and only 3CX ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); 3CX $0 (SMB Free: up to 10 users).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); 3CX $0 (live chat on the free tier).
  • Sellio: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor 3CX has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Help Scout and 3CX rows is on the shared inbox page.

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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