Help ScoutSmartsuppHelp Scout vs Smartsupp

Help Scout vs Smartsupp: $42 apart for five people

A shared inbox and help desk against a live chat and chatbot for ecommerce: Smartsupp is $42 a month cheaper for five people. Where Help Scout and Smartsupp split, 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 Smartsupp if you are a small European store and want chat, Messenger and WhatsApp in one package. For five people, Smartsupp is $42 a month cheaper than Help Scout ($125 a month on Help Scout against $83 on Smartsupp), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45, comes in $38 below Smartsupp. Help Scout and Smartsupp both include website chat and WhatsApp in the price; only Help Scout has email and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Smartsupp includes Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Help Scout against Smartsupp, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp ScoutSmartsuppSmartsupp
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatChat with visitor recordings · packages, not seats
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$17/mo · Solo: 1 agent, yearly
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$0 · Free: 1 agent, 25 conversations
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers$16 per 100 conversations · Mira AI, yearly
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantIncluded · AI reply assistant on paid plans
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthYes · 1 agent, 25 conversations a month

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. Smartsupp has no ticket queue either.

    SmartsuppSmartsupp

    As a chat in the widget, with a recording of the visitor's session you can replay. 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 $83 on Smartsupp.

    SmartsuppSmartsupp

    Packages, not seats: Solo is one agent at $17, Plus three at $25, Expert five or more at $83. $83 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. Smartsupp meters AI ($16 per 100 conversations) above the seats as well.

    SmartsuppSmartsupp

    Mira, the AI agent, is $16 per 100 conversations a month on yearly billing, bought in packs. 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 and Instagram are here and not on Smartsupp.

    SmartsuppSmartsupp

    Website chat, Messenger and WhatsApp on every plan, email on paid plans; no Instagram or Telegram. Help Scout adds email and Instagram, which Smartsupp lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. Smartsupp is a live chat and chatbot for ecommerce instead.

    SmartsuppSmartsupp

    Visitor recordings, automated messages and a Shoptet and Shopify presence in Europe. 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. Smartsupp is minutes.

    SmartsuppSmartsupp

    Minutes: paste the widget or install the ecommerce app. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · Smartsupp 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 Smartsupp dashboard: the chat with the visitor's session recording beside it
SmartsuppSmartsupp. The Smartsupp dashboard: the chat with the visitor's session recording beside it

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

Help Scout, Smartsupp 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 ScoutSmartsuppSmartsuppSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Packages with agents included
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
1 agent, 25 conversations
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.
Paid plans
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
All plans
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.
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.
Mira
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
$16 per 100 conversations
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.
Chats only
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Automated messages; workflows on Plus
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Chat statistics
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile apps.
Browser and mobile
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 and Instagram in the price, which Smartsupp does not include outright.
  • Time to the first reply is an afternoon here and minutes on Smartsupp.

Pick Smartsupp if

  • You are a small European store and want chat, Messenger and WhatsApp in one package.
  • Session recordings beside the chat help you sell.
  • Five people cost $42 a month less than on Help Scout ($83 against $125), before AI.
  • Time to the first reply is minutes here and an afternoon on Help Scout.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $125 a month on Help Scout against $83 on Smartsupp for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats, Smartsupp meters AI ($16 per 100 conversations) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Help Scout nor Smartsupp 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. Smartsupp: $83 a month for five ($83 for the package with five agents); 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 $38 less than Smartsupp 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; Smartsupp is a live chat and chatbot for ecommerce built around chat with visitor recordings. Both have a free plan: Help Scout's is 5 users, 100 contacts a month, Smartsupp's is 1 agent, 25 conversations a month. Help Scout and Smartsupp both include website chat and WhatsApp in the price; only Help Scout has email and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor Smartsupp includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and Smartsupp ($16 per 100 conversations) both meter AI above the seats. Neither Help Scout nor Smartsupp has a ticket queue, and neither Help Scout nor Smartsupp ships a desktop app. Help Scout is an afternoon; Smartsupp is minutes.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Smartsupp: Mira AI $16 per 100 conversations a month on yearly billing; AI reply assistant included on paid plans. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and Smartsupp's $16 per 100 conversations, 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
    SmartsuppSmartsuppSee 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
    SmartsuppSmartsupp · 14-day trial of the paid plans
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs Smartsupp: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; Smartsupp is a live chat and chatbot for ecommerce built around chat with visitor recordings.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); Smartsupp $17/mo (Solo: 1 agent, yearly).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); Smartsupp $0 (Free: 1 agent, 25 conversations).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor Smartsupp has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and Smartsupp 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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