Help ScoutFacebook ChatHelp Scout vs Facebook Chat

Help Scout vs Facebook Chat: five seats for $125 or $0

A shared inbox and help desk against a Meta Business Suite inbox: Facebook Chat is $125 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and Facebook Chat, 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 Facebook Chat if customers only write on Messenger and Instagram and you have no budget. For five people, Facebook Chat is $125 a month cheaper than Help Scout ($125 a month on Help Scout against $0 on Facebook Chat), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, which only Facebook Chat's figure comes under. Help Scout and Facebook Chat both include Instagram in the price; only Help Scout has website chat, email and WhatsApp. Neither Help Scout nor Facebook Chat includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and Facebook Chat for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutFacebook ChatFacebook Chat
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatMessenger and Instagram DMs · free with a Page
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$0 · with a Facebook Page
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every planNone · the website Chat Plugin was retired in 2024
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI AnswersNone to buy · instant replies and FAQs
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantMeta AI drafts · for some businesses
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthYes · the whole inbox is free

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. Facebook Chat has no ticket queue either.

    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat

    As a Messenger or Instagram message in the Business Suite inbox, with the customer's profile beside 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 Facebook Chat.

    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat

    There are no seats and no price; anyone with a Page role can answer. $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. Facebook Chat has no AI to bill (none to buy) instead.

    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat

    No AI agent to buy. Instant replies, away messages and FAQs are rules; Meta AI drafts replies for some businesses. 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. website chat, email and WhatsApp are here and not on Facebook Chat.

    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat

    Messenger, Instagram DMs and comments; WhatsApp lives in its own app, and the website plugin is gone. Help Scout adds website chat, email and WhatsApp, which Facebook Chat lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. Facebook Chat is a Meta Business Suite inbox instead.

    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat

    Posting, scheduling and ads for the Page; nothing beyond Meta's own channels. 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. Facebook Chat is none.

    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat

    None: it is already there when you have a Page. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · Facebook Chat 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 Meta Business Suite inbox: Messenger and Instagram threads in one list
Facebook ChatFacebook Chat. The Meta Business Suite inbox: Messenger and Instagram threads in one list

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

Help Scout, Facebook Chat 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 ScoutFacebook ChatFacebook ChatSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Free
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
The whole product
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Beacon.
Website Chat Plugin retired in 2024
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Not offered
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
Separate WhatsApp Business app
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
DMs and comments
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.
Not offered
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
Rules, not an AI agent
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
No AI 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.
Labels and done state only
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Instant replies, away messages, FAQs
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Page insights
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile apps.
Browser and mobile
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 website chat, email and WhatsApp in the price, which Facebook Chat does not include outright.
  • You want an AI agent at all; Facebook Chat has none to buy.

Pick Facebook Chat if

  • Customers only write on Messenger and Instagram and you have no budget.
  • One or two people answer and you do not need assignment or tickets.
  • Five people cost $125 a month less than on Help Scout ($0 against $125), before AI.
  • Time to the first reply is none here and an afternoon on Help Scout.

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 Facebook Chat 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 Facebook Chat has no AI to bill (none to buy), where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor Facebook Chat 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. Facebook Chat: $0 a month for five (free for anyone with a Page role); 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 Facebook Chat'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; Facebook Chat is a Meta Business Suite inbox built around Messenger and Instagram DMs. Both have a free plan: Help Scout's is 5 users, 100 contacts a month, Facebook Chat's is the whole inbox is free. Help Scout and Facebook Chat both include Instagram in the price; only Help Scout has website chat, email and WhatsApp. Neither Help Scout nor Facebook Chat includes Telegram outright. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats; Facebook Chat has no AI to bill (none to buy). Neither Help Scout nor Facebook Chat has a ticket queue, and neither Help Scout nor Facebook Chat ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; Facebook Chat is none.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Facebook Chat: No AI agent; instant replies and FAQs are rule-based. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and Facebook Chat's none to buy, 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
    Facebook ChatFacebook ChatSee 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
    Facebook ChatFacebook Chat · Not applicable; free
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs Facebook Chat: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Facebook Chat is a Meta Business Suite inbox built around Messenger and Instagram DMs.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); Facebook Chat $0 (with a Facebook Page).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); Facebook Chat None (the website Chat Plugin was retired in 2024).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor Facebook Chat has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and Facebook Chat 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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