Help ScoutFreshdeskHelp Scout vs Freshdesk

Help Scout vs Freshdesk: $150 apart for five people

A shared inbox and help desk against a help desk: Help Scout is $150 a month cheaper for five people. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

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 Freshdesk if your support is email tickets first and you want SLAs, time tracking and field service in one help desk. For five people, Help Scout is $150 a month cheaper than Freshdesk ($125 a month on Help Scout against $275 on Freshdesk), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $80 under Help Scout. Help Scout and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only Help Scout has website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Freshdesk includes Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Help Scout and Freshdesk sell here at one price.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutFreshdeskFreshdesk
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatEmail tickets · chat is the separate Freshchat
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$19/agent/mo · Growth: email and tickets
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$55/agent/mo · Pro, with Freshchat on top
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers$49 per 100 sessions · 500 trial sessions once per account
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistant$29/agent/mo · Freddy Copilot
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthNone · 14-day trial

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. Freshdesk raises a ticket where Help Scout keeps a conversation.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    As a ticket in an email queue. Chat conversations live in Freshchat and become tickets when escalated. Help Scout has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  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 $275 on Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    $19 buys email tickets on Growth. Chat and messaging mean adding Freshchat or an Omni bundle. $275 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. Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats as well.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Freddy AI Agent: 500 trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100. Freddy Copilot is $29 per agent on top. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats as well.

  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, WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Freshdesk.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Email and web forms on every plan; chat, WhatsApp and Instagram arrive with Freshchat. Help Scout adds website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram, which Freshdesk lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. Freshdesk is a help desk instead.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    Field service, time tracking, SLAs and a marketplace; the wider Freshworks suite for IT and sales. 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. Freshdesk is a day or two.

    FreshdeskFreshdesk

    A day or two: connect the support address, set groups and SLAs, then add Freshchat for the widget. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · Freshdesk 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 Freshdesk ticket view: the queue on the left, the ticket thread and the properties panel
FreshdeskFreshdesk. The Freshdesk ticket view: the queue on the left, the ticket thread and the properties panel

What your team would pay

Move the sliders. Yearly-billing rates from each vendor’s pricing page, next to Sellio’s plan for the same number of seats.

5 people who answer customers

50

300 AI Answers resolutions on Help Scout, AI agent sessions on Freshdesk

3000+
Help ScoutHelp Scout

$350/mo

Two inboxes, Beacon chat, Docs.

5 × $25 seats
$125
300 AI Answers resolutions × $0.75
$225

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. $0.75 per resolution by AI Answers, as printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

FreshdeskFreshdesk

$422/mo

Custom roles, round robin, more automations and reporting.

5 × $55 seats
$275
300 AI agent sessions × $0.49 (rounded to 100-session packs)
$147
Copilot, 5 × $29
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. 500 trial sessions are available once per account, not every month. Recurring estimates exclude that trial and charge $49 per 100-session pack. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

Sellio · Mini

$55/mo

One price for the workspace: 3 channels, 2 AI agents, $5 AI credit a month.

Workspace, 5 of 5 seats
$45
AI past 100 included conversations
$10
Copilot for agents
Included

About $0.05 per AI conversation past the credit, with a daily and monthly cap you set. Yearly billing takes 20% off. See every plan.

Pricing references: Help Scout pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); Freshdesk pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). Calculator uses yearly-billing rates. Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

5 people, website chat plus 2 more channels, 2 AI agents: $45 a month. Start free, no card.

Start freeSee every plan

Help Scout, Freshdesk 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 ScoutFreshdeskFreshdeskSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per agent; AI per agent and per session
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
Not on the pricing page; 14-day trial
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

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

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
Freddy, trained on the knowledge base
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
500 one-time trial sessions, then $49 per 100
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Escalates to agents
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Automations, form-based
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Reports and CSAT
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile apps.
Browser and mobile 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.
  • Five people cost $150 a month less than on Freshdesk ($125 against $275), before AI.
  • You need website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Freshdesk does not include outright.

Pick Freshdesk if

  • Your support is email tickets first and you want SLAs, time tracking and field service in one help desk.
  • You are already on Freshworks products and want the same admin and billing.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Help Scout does not have.
  • Time to the first reply is a day or two here and an afternoon on Help Scout.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Help Scout or Freshdesk who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $125 a month on Help Scout against $275 on Freshdesk for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats, Freshdesk meters AI ($49 per 100 sessions) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor Freshdesk 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. Freshdesk on Pro: $110, $275 and $550 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $80 less than Help Scout and $230 less than Freshdesk for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Help Scout and $455 under Freshdesk.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); Freshdesk offers 14 days of Enterprise. Help Scout and Freshdesk both include email in the price; only Help Scout has website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Freshdesk includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and Freshdesk ($49 per 100 sessions) both meter AI above the seats. Freshdesk has tickets and Help Scout does not, and neither Help Scout nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; Freshdesk is a day or two.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Freshdesk: Freddy AI Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly; 500 AI agent trial sessions once per account, then $49 per 100 sessions. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and Freshdesk's $49 per 100 sessions, 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
    FreshdeskFreshdesk$0.49$245
    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
    FreshdeskFreshdesk · 14 days of Enterprise
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs Freshdesk: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Freshdesk is a help desk built around email tickets. Freshdesk has tickets and Help Scout does not, and neither Help Scout nor Freshdesk ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); Freshdesk $19/agent/mo (Growth: email and tickets).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); Freshdesk $55/agent/mo (Pro, with Freshchat on top).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor Freshdesk has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and Freshdesk 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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