Help ScoutProProfsHelp Scout vs ProProfs

Help Scout vs ProProfs: $25 apart for five people

A shared inbox and help desk against a live chat software: ProProfs is $25 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and ProProfs, 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 ProProfs if one person answers chat and you want every feature free. For five people, ProProfs is $25 a month cheaper than Help Scout ($125 a month on Help Scout against $100 on ProProfs), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $55 under ProProfs. Help Scout and ProProfs both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor ProProfs includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and ProProfs for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutProProfsProProfs
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatThe chat widget · free for one operator
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$0 · one operator, all features
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every planAbout $20/operator/mo · Team plan
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers$450/year · 2,500 AI interactions a month
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantIn the AI add-on
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthYes · a single operator

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. ProProfs has no ticket queue either.

    ProProfsProProfs

    As a chat in the widget, greeted by a rule or the AI add-on, with the visitor's page shown. 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 $100 on ProProfs.

    ProProfsProProfs

    One operator is free with every feature; a team pays per operator, about $20 a month each. $100 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. ProProfs folds AI ($450/year) into the plan instead.

    ProProfsProProfs

    AI chat automation is $450 a year for 2,500 interactions a month, a flat add-on. 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 ProProfs.

    ProProfsProProfs

    Website chat, with WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger on the team plan; no Telegram. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which ProProfs lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

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

    ProProfsProProfs

    A help desk, a knowledge base and surveys as sibling products; a suite from $499 a month. 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. ProProfs is minutes.

    ProProfsProProfs

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

Sources: Help Scout pricing · ProProfs 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 ProProfs Chat operator view: the chat with the visitor's page and history
ProProfsProProfs. The ProProfs Chat operator view: the chat with the visitor's page and history

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

Help Scout, ProProfs 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 ScoutProProfsProProfsSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per operator; AI flat
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
One operator
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.
Separate help desk product
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
Team plan
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
Team plan
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.
AI add-on
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
$450 a year flat
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Hands to an operator
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
Separate help desk product
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Greetings and routing
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.
Windows and macOS 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.
  • You need email, WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which ProProfs does not include outright.
  • Time to the first reply is an afternoon here and minutes on ProProfs.

Pick ProProfs if

  • One person answers chat and you want every feature free.
  • A flat yearly AI add-on beats a per-conversation meter for you.
  • Five people cost $25 a month less than on Help Scout ($100 against $125), before AI.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Help Scout does not ship.

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 $100 on ProProfs 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 ProProfs folds AI ($450/year) into the plan, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and tickets raised from a chat, which neither Help Scout nor ProProfs 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. ProProfs: $100 a month for five (5 operators × about $20); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $80 less than Help Scout and $55 less than ProProfs 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; ProProfs is a live chat software built around the chat widget. Both have a free plan: Help Scout's is 5 users, 100 contacts a month, ProProfs's is a single operator. Help Scout and ProProfs both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor ProProfs includes Telegram outright. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats; ProProfs folds AI ($450/year) into the plan. Neither Help Scout nor ProProfs has a ticket queue, and only ProProfs ships desktop apps. Help Scout is an afternoon; ProProfs is minutes.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. ProProfs: AI Chat Automation $450 a year for 2,500 interactions a month. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and ProProfs's $450/year, 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

ProProfs does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Free for one operator; the team plan is priced per operator and shown after sign-up, so its figure is from published summaries.), so they are marked unverified here beside Help Scout's, and ProProfs'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
    ProProfsProProfsSee 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
    ProProfsProProfs · 15-day trial of the team plan
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs ProProfs: the questions people ask

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

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); ProProfs $0 (one operator, all features).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); ProProfs About $20/operator/mo (Team plan).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor ProProfs has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and ProProfs 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

No credit card required