Help ScoutOlarkHelp Scout vs Olark

Help Scout vs Olark: AI at $0.75 per resolution or $400/mo flat

A shared inbox and help desk against a live chat software: Help Scout is $20 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and Olark, 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 Olark if you want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter. For five people, Help Scout is $20 a month cheaper than Olark ($125 a month on Help Scout against $145 on Olark), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $80 under Help Scout. Help Scout and Olark both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Olark includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and Olark for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutOlarkOlark
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatA simple chat box · AI agent at a flat price
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$29/agent/mo · human-only chat
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$29/agent/mo · the whole product is chat
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers$400/mo flat · unlimited AI conversations, 1 seat
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantNone
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthNone · trial, no card

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. Olark has no ticket queue either.

    OlarkOlark

    As a chat in the box on your site, with transcripts emailed afterwards. 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 $145 on Olark.

    OlarkOlark

    $29 buys a human agent seat; the AI Website Agent is $400 a month flat with one seat included. $145 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. Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan instead.

    OlarkOlark

    A flat $400 a month for unlimited AI conversations, with no token or per-outcome charge. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats instead.

  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 Olark.

    OlarkOlark

    Website chat only; no email inbox, WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which Olark lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

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

    OlarkOlark

    Transcripts, reports and integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot and help desks. 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. Olark is minutes.

    OlarkOlark

    Minutes: paste the snippet. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · Olark 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 Olark agent console: the chat list and the conversation with visitor details
OlarkOlark. The Olark agent console: the chat list and the conversation with 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 Olark

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.

OlarkOlark

$145/mo

Human agent seat.

5 × $29 seats
$145
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Olark's AI agent is a flat $400 a month for unlimited conversations; add that to the seats rather than a per-conversation rate. 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); Olark 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, Olark 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 ScoutOlarkOlarkSellio

Pricing

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

Channels

Website live chat
Beacon.
The whole product
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Transcripts only
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.
Not offered
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 notifications
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
AI Website Agent
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
$400 a month flat
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Hands to a human seat
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
Chats only
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Chat rules only
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Chat reports
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 $20 a month less than on Olark ($125 against $145), before AI.
  • You need email, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Olark does not include outright.

Pick Olark if

  • You want an AI chat agent at a flat monthly price with no usage meter.
  • Website chat is the only channel and simplicity beats features.
  • You want the AI in the seat price ($400/mo flat) rather than Help Scout's meter at $0.75 per resolution.
  • Time to the first reply is minutes 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 $145 on Olark 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 Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor Olark 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. Olark on Live chat: $58, $145 and $290 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 $100 less than Olark for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Help Scout and $195 under Olark.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); Olark offers a free trial. Help Scout and Olark both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Olark includes Telegram outright. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats; Olark folds AI ($400/mo flat) into the plan. Neither Help Scout nor Olark has a ticket queue, and neither Help Scout nor Olark ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; Olark is minutes.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Olark: AI Website Agent $400 a month flat, extra human seats $29 each. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and Olark's $400/mo flat, 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
    OlarkOlarkAssumed $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
    OlarkOlark · Free trial, 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 Olark: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Olark is a live chat software built around a simple chat box.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); Olark $29/agent/mo (human-only chat).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); Olark $29/agent/mo (the whole product is chat).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor Olark has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and Olark 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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