Help ScoutLiveHelpNowHelp Scout vs LiveHelpNow

Help Scout vs LiveHelpNow: $170 apart for five people

A shared inbox and help desk against a help desk and live chat: Help Scout is $170 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and LiveHelpNow, 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 LiveHelpNow if you want the knowledge base and chat to be the same product from day one. For five people, Help Scout is $170 a month cheaper than LiveHelpNow ($125 a month on Help Scout against $295 on LiveHelpNow), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $80 under Help Scout. Help Scout and LiveHelpNow both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor LiveHelpNow includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and LiveHelpNow for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutLiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatChat and a knowledge base · tickets on the middle plan
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$39/agent/mo · Essential
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$39/agent/mo · chat on every plan
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI AnswersFrom $99/mo · Knowledge AI; conversational AI from $499
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantIncluded · AI Agent Assist
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthNone · no trial printed

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. LiveHelpNow has no ticket queue either.

    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

    As a chat or a knowledge base search; email tickets arrive on the Professional plan. 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 $295 on LiveHelpNow.

    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

    $39 buys chat, the knowledge base and social on Essential; ticketing starts on Professional at $59. $295 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. LiveHelpNow meters AI (from $99/mo) above the seats as well.

    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

    Knowledge AI is from $99 a month for 2,000 answers; conversational AI from $499 for 1,000 conversations. 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 LiveHelpNow.

    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

    Chat, email tickets, SMS and social; no native WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which LiveHelpNow lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

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

    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

    Workforce management, call logging and a support portal. 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. LiveHelpNow is a day.

    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

    A day: add the chat and build the first knowledge base articles. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · LiveHelpNow 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 LiveHelpNow agent dashboard: the chat queue with the knowledge base search beside it
LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow. The LiveHelpNow agent dashboard: the chat queue with the knowledge base search beside it

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 LiveHelpNow

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.

LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow

$445/mo

Ticketing, workforce management.

5 × $59 seats
$295
300 AI conversations × $0.5
$150

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Conversational AI is $499 a month for 1,000 conversations, about $0.50 each; the rate is a stated assumption from that pack. Rates recorded on 2026-09-13.

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); LiveHelpNow 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.

Start freeSee every plan

Help Scout, LiveHelpNow 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 ScoutLiveHelpNowLiveHelpNowSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per agent; AI in monthly packs
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.
All plans
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Professional and up
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
SMS only
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
Social channels
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.
Knowledge AI and conversational AI
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
From $99 a month in packs
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Hands to an agent
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
Professional and up
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Automations by plan
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Dashboards on Professional
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.
  • Five people cost $170 a month less than on LiveHelpNow ($125 against $295), before AI.
  • You need email, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which LiveHelpNow does not include outright.

Pick LiveHelpNow if

  • You want the knowledge base and chat to be the same product from day one.
  • AI sold in monthly answer packs suits your budgeting.
  • Time to the first reply is a day here and an afternoon on Help Scout.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than Help Scout's: per agent per month; AI sold in monthly packs of answers or conversations.

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 $295 on LiveHelpNow 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 LiveHelpNow meters AI (from $99/mo) 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 LiveHelpNow 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. LiveHelpNow on Professional: $118, $295 and $590 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 $250 less than LiveHelpNow for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Help Scout and $495 under LiveHelpNow.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; LiveHelpNow is a help desk and live chat built around chat and a knowledge base. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); LiveHelpNow offers no trial. Help Scout and LiveHelpNow both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor LiveHelpNow includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and LiveHelpNow (from $99/mo) both meter AI above the seats. Neither Help Scout nor LiveHelpNow has a ticket queue, and neither Help Scout nor LiveHelpNow ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; LiveHelpNow is a day.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. LiveHelpNow: AI Agent Assist included; Knowledge AI from $99 a month; Conversational AI from $499 a month. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and LiveHelpNow's from $99/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
    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNowAssumed $0.5$240
    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
    LiveHelpNowLiveHelpNow · None printed
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs LiveHelpNow: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; LiveHelpNow is a help desk and live chat built around chat and a knowledge base.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); LiveHelpNow $39/agent/mo (Essential).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); LiveHelpNow $39/agent/mo (chat on every plan).
  • Sellio: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor LiveHelpNow has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

Sellio's side of the Help Scout and LiveHelpNow 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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