Help ScoutLiveChatHelp Scout vs LiveChat

Help Scout vs LiveChat: shared inbox and help desk or live chat

A shared inbox and help desk against a live chat software: Help Scout is $120 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and LiveChat, 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

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 LiveChat if website chat is the channel and you want the most refined console and widget available. For five people, Help Scout is $120 a month cheaper than LiveChat ($125 a month on Help Scout against $245 on LiveChat), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $80 under Help Scout. Help Scout and LiveChat both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor LiveChat includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and LiveChat for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutLiveChatLiveChat
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatThe chat console · help desk and chatbot sold separately
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$19/agent/mo · Starter: 60-day history
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$49/agent/mo · Team
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI AnswersChatBot from $52/mo · a separate product
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantIncluded · Text Intelligence
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. LiveChat has no ticket queue either.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    As a chat in the agent console, with the visitor's page and typing shown live; tickets go to the separate HelpDesk product. 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 $245 on LiveChat.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    $19 buys the console with 60 days of history. Team at $49 keeps the history and adds reports. $245 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. LiveChat meters AI (ChatBot from $52/mo) above the seats as well.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    Text Intelligence assists are included; an AI answering customers means the separate ChatBot product from $52 a month. 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. email, WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on LiveChat.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    Website chat, Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp and email in the console; SMS via integration. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which LiveChat lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. LiveChat is a live chat software instead.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    A large marketplace, and sibling products for chatbot, help desk and knowledge base at their own prices. 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. LiveChat is an hour.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    An hour: paste the snippet, invite agents, answer. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · LiveChat 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 LiveChat agent console: the chat list, the conversation and the visitor details
LiveChatLiveChat. The LiveChat agent console: the chat list, the conversation and the visitor details

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 conversations on LiveChat

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.

LiveChatLiveChat

$245/mo

Full history, reports, agent groups.

5 × $49 seats
$245
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. LiveChat sells its chatbot as a separate ChatBot subscription from $52 a month, not per conversation; add that flat fee. 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); LiveChat 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, LiveChat 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 ScoutLiveChatLiveChatSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
Beacon.
The core product.
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Via marketplace integration.
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
Via marketplace integration.
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
Via marketplace integration.
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Not listed.
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.
ChatBot, a separate subscription.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
From $52/mo for ChatBot; copilot included.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
ChatBot transfers to agents.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
HelpDesk is a separate product.
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Routing rules; flows live in ChatBot.
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Reports and ratings.
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile apps.
Mac and Windows apps.
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 $120 a month less than on LiveChat ($125 against $245), before AI.
  • You need email, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which LiveChat does not include outright.

Pick LiveChat if

  • Website chat is the channel and you want the most refined console and widget available.
  • You need Apple Messages for Business.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Help Scout does not ship.
  • Time to the first reply is an hour 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 $245 on LiveChat 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 LiveChat meters AI (ChatBot from $52/mo) above the seats, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and tickets raised from a chat, which neither Help Scout nor LiveChat 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. LiveChat on Team: $98, $245 and $490 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 $200 less than LiveChat for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Help Scout and $395 under LiveChat.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; LiveChat is a live chat software built around the chat console. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); LiveChat offers 14 days, no card. Help Scout and LiveChat both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor LiveChat includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and LiveChat (ChatBot from $52/mo) both meter AI above the seats. Neither Help Scout nor LiveChat has a ticket queue, and only LiveChat ships desktop apps. Help Scout is an afternoon; LiveChat is an hour.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. LiveChat: Text Intelligence (copilot, suggestions, summaries) included. The ChatBot product is separate, from $52 a month yearly. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and LiveChat's ChatBot from $52/mo, 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
    LiveChatLiveChatAssumed $0$0
    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
    LiveChatLiveChat · 14 days, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs LiveChat: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; LiveChat is a live chat software built around the chat console. Neither Help Scout nor LiveChat has a ticket queue, and only LiveChat ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); LiveChat $19/agent/mo (Starter: 60-day history).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); LiveChat $49/agent/mo (Team).
  • Sellio puts every channel in one inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor LiveChat has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Help Scout and LiveChat 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

No credit card required