Help 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.
Help Scout vs HubSpot Service HubHelp Scout vs HubSpot Service Hub: five seats for $125 or $75
A shared inbox and help desk against a CRM-based help desk: HubSpot Service Hub is $50 a month cheaper for five people. Where Help Scout and HubSpot Service Hub split, and a third option for small teams.
By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below
No credit card. Live in minutes.
The short answer
Pick Help Scout if email is your main channel and you want the calmest inbox your agents will ever use. Pick HubSpot Service Hub if your sales and marketing already live in HubSpot and support should share the CRM. For five people, HubSpot Service Hub is $50 a month cheaper than Help Scout ($125 a month on Help Scout against $75 on HubSpot Service Hub), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45, comes in $30 below HubSpot Service Hub. Help Scout and HubSpot Service Hub both include website chat and email in the price; only Help Scout has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor HubSpot Service Hub includes Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Help Scout against HubSpot Service Hub, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.
At a glanceHelp ScoutHubSpot Service Hub
Help ScoutHubSpot Service HubBuilt aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatThe CRM record · help desk on top of HubSpot
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$15/seat/mo · Starter, yearly
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$0 · Free tools: chat with HubSpot branding
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers$9 per 1,000 credits · 50 credits per resolution
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantBreeze · in the plans
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthYes · 2 users, branded chat
The six differences that decide it
Everything else on this page follows from these.
- 01
Where a conversation starts
Help ScoutAs a conversation in a shared inbox, assigned and tagged; it is email first, with Beacon chat beside it. HubSpot Service Hub raises a ticket where Help Scout keeps a conversation.
HubSpot Service HubAs a ticket on the CRM contact, with every marketing and sales touch beside it. Help Scout has no ticket queue behind its conversations.
- 02
What the seat buys
Help 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 $75 on HubSpot Service Hub.
HubSpot Service HubStarter is $15 a seat; Professional is $90 with a $1,500 onboarding fee, and that is where routing and SLAs start. $75 for five people, against $125 on Help Scout.
- 03
How the AI is billed
Help ScoutAI Answers, the chatbot, is $0.75 per resolution. The AI inbox assistant is included. HubSpot Service Hub meters AI ($9 per 1,000 credits) above the seats as well.
HubSpot Service HubCustomer Agent costs 50 credits per resolved conversation, and credits are $9 per 1,000, so about $0.45 a resolution. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats as well.
- 04
Channels in the price
Help ScoutEmail, Beacon chat, Messenger and SMS; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on HubSpot Service Hub.
HubSpot Service HubChat, email and Messenger on the lower plans; WhatsApp and calling on Professional; no Telegram. Help Scout adds WhatsApp and Instagram, which HubSpot Service Hub lacks.
- 05
Beyond the inbox
Help ScoutDocs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk instead.
HubSpot Service HubThe rest of HubSpot: marketing, sales, CMS and the shared CRM. Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk instead.
- 06
Time to the first reply
Help ScoutAn afternoon: forward the support address, add Beacon, invite the team. HubSpot Service Hub is an afternoon on Starter.
HubSpot Service HubAn afternoon on Starter; Professional comes with a paid onboarding. Help Scout is an afternoon.
Sources: Help Scout pricing · HubSpot Service Hub 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.
Help Scout. The Help Scout inbox: a conversation list, the email thread and the customer sidebar
HubSpot Service Hub. The HubSpot help desk workspace: the ticket with the CRM contact and its timelineWhat 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.
Help ScoutHubSpot Service Hub$206/mo
Shared inbox, chat, 500 credits.
- 5 × $15 seats
- $75
- 290 resolved conversations × $0.45
- $131
Yearly billing; monthly costs more. 50 credits per resolution at $9 per 1,000 credits; Starter's 500 credits cover about ten. Rates recorded on 2026-09-13.
$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); HubSpot Service Hub pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13). 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.
Help Scout, HubSpot Service Hub 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 ScoutHubSpot Service HubSellio
Help ScoutHubSpot Service HubSellioPricing
Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per seat; onboarding fees; AI by credits
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
2 users, HubSpot branding
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock
Channels
Website live chat
Beacon.
All plans
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
All plans
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
Professional and up
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.
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.
Customer Agent
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
50 credits per resolution, $9 per 1,000
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Creates a ticket
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over
Support operations
Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
On the CRM record
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Professional and up
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Reports; advanced on Professional
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 WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which HubSpot Service Hub does not include outright.
- Time to the first reply is an afternoon here and an afternoon on Starter on HubSpot Service Hub.
Pick HubSpot Service Hub if
- Your sales and marketing already live in HubSpot and support should share the CRM.
- You want an AI agent priced per resolution at under a dollar.
- Five people cost $50 a month less than on Help Scout ($75 against $125), before AI.
- You need a ticket queue, which Help Scout does not have.
The third option: Sellio
- Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $125 a month on Help Scout against $75 on HubSpot Service Hub for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
- You want a ceiling on AI spend: Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats, HubSpot Service Hub meters AI ($9 per 1,000 credits) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
- You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor HubSpot Service Hub 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. HubSpot Service Hub on Starter: $30, $75 and $150 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 $30 less than HubSpot Service Hub for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Help Scout and $55 under HubSpot Service Hub.
Where the two agree, and where they split
Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk built around the CRM record. Both have a free plan: Help Scout's is 5 users, 100 contacts a month, HubSpot Service Hub's is 2 users, branded chat. Help Scout and HubSpot Service Hub both include website chat and email in the price; only Help Scout has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor HubSpot Service Hub includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and HubSpot Service Hub ($9 per 1,000 credits) both meter AI above the seats. HubSpot Service Hub has tickets and Help Scout does not, and neither Help Scout nor HubSpot Service Hub ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; HubSpot Service Hub is an afternoon on Starter.
What each price leaves out
Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. HubSpot Service Hub: HubSpot Credits at $9 per 1,000; Customer Agent uses 50 credits per resolved conversation. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and HubSpot Service Hub's $9 per 1,000 credits, 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
- Step 1
Count agents and channels
Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.
5 people reply5 seatsWebsite chat61%WhatsApp27%Email12% - 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 closes480Help Scout$0.75$360HubSpot Service Hub$0.45$212Sellio$0.05$19Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.
- 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 Scout · 15 days, no cardHubSpot Service Hub · Free tools, no trial clockSellio · Free plan, no cardConfirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.
FAQ
Help Scout vs HubSpot Service Hub: the questions people ask
Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk built around the CRM record.
- Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); HubSpot Service Hub $15/seat/mo (Starter, yearly).
- Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); HubSpot Service Hub $0 (Free tools: chat with HubSpot branding).
- Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor HubSpot Service Hub has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.
The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and HubSpot Service Hub 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.
No credit card required