Help ScoutAcquireHelp Scout vs Acquire

Help Scout vs Acquire: a free plan against a trial

A shared inbox and help desk against a customer engagement platform: one prints a price and one quotes. What decides between Help Scout and Acquire, 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 Help Scout if email is your main channel and you want the calmest inbox your agents will ever use. Pick Acquire if you need cobrowsing and video calls in the same tool as chat. For five people it is $125 a month on Help Scout, and a quote on Acquire, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Help Scout and Acquire both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Acquire includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and Acquire for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutAcquireAcquire
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatChat, cobrowse and video · priced by quote
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxesQuote · no printed prices
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every planQuote · Self Service tier
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI AnswersComing soon · bots listed, not priced
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantNone printed
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthNone · trial on request

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. Acquire has no ticket queue either.

    AcquireAcquire

    As a chat that can turn into a cobrowse or a video call with the same agent. 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; Acquire prints no figure to set beside it.

    AcquireAcquire

    No seat price is printed; the Self Service and Integrated tiers are quoted after a demo. No figure for five people here; Help Scout prints $125.

  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. Acquire has no AI to bill (coming soon) instead.

    AcquireAcquire

    Bots are listed as coming soon with no price; today the product is human agents with cobrowsing. 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, WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Acquire.

    AcquireAcquire

    Website chat, SMS, email and voice or video on the Integrated tier; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which Acquire lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

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

    AcquireAcquire

    Cobrowsing, screen sharing and video for guided support; workflows, SLAs and queues. 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. Acquire is a sales cycle.

    AcquireAcquire

    A sales cycle: a demo, a quote, then onboarding by their services team. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · Acquire 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 Acquire agent view: a chat with the cobrowse and video controls beside it
AcquireAcquire. The Acquire agent view: a chat with the cobrowse and video controls beside it

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

Help Scout, Acquire 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 ScoutAcquireAcquireSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Quote after a demo
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
None; trial on request
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Beacon.
With cobrowse and video
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Integrated tier
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
SMS only
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
Not offered
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.
Notifications only
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
Bots listed as coming soon
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
Not priced
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.
Cases, not a ticket queue
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Workflows and queues
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Reporting
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile apps.
Browser only
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, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Acquire does not include outright.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Acquire offers a free trial.

Pick Acquire if

  • You need cobrowsing and video calls in the same tool as chat.
  • You are buying for a regulated or high-touch team and want a services-led rollout.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales cycle here and an afternoon on Help Scout.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Help Scout's: no prices printed; three tiers quoted after a demo.

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, and a quote on Acquire 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 Acquire has no AI to bill (coming soon), where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor Acquire 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. Acquire quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $80 less than Help Scout and against a quote on Acquire 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; Acquire is a customer engagement platform built around chat, cobrowse and video. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); Acquire offers a free trial. Help Scout and Acquire both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Acquire includes Telegram outright. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats; Acquire has no AI to bill (coming soon). Neither Help Scout nor Acquire has a ticket queue, and neither Help Scout nor Acquire ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; Acquire is a sales cycle.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Acquire: Bots are listed as coming soon; no AI price is printed. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and Acquire's coming soon, 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

Acquire does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (No prices printed; three tiers quoted after a demo.), so they are marked unverified here beside Help Scout's, and Acquire'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
    Help ScoutHelp Scout$0.75$360
    AcquireAcquireSee 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
    AcquireAcquire · Free trial on request
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs Acquire: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Acquire is a customer engagement platform built around chat, cobrowse and video.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); Acquire Quote (no printed prices).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); Acquire Quote (Self Service tier).
  • Sellio puts every channel in one inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor Acquire has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Help Scout and Acquire 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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