Help ScoutKayakoHelp Scout vs Kayako

Help Scout vs Kayako: shared inbox and help desk or help desk

A shared inbox and help desk against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. What decides between Help Scout and Kayako, 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 Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $125 a month on Help Scout, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Help Scout and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price; only Help Scout has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Kayako includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and Kayako for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutKayakoKayako
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxesQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every planQuote · widget included
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantIn Kay
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthNone · talk to a pricing expert

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

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. 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; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. 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. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. 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. WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Kayako.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. Help Scout adds WhatsApp and Instagram, which Kayako lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

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

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. 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. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · Kayako 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 Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

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

Help Scout, Kayako 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 ScoutKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

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

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Escalates free of charge
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.
Automation rules
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 WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Kayako does not include outright.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Kayako offers no trial.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Help Scout does not have.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding 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, and a quote on Kayako 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 Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor Kayako 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. Kayako 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 Kayako 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; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); Kayako offers no trial. Help Scout and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price; only Help Scout has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Kayako includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and Kayako ($1 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Kayako has tickets and Help Scout does not, and neither Help Scout nor Kayako ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and Kayako's $1 per resolution, 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

Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Help Scout's, and Kayako'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
    KayakoKayakoSee 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
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs Kayako: the questions people ask

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

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Help Scout and Kayako 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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