Help Scouttawk.toHelp Scout vs tawk.to

Help Scout vs tawk.to: five seats for $125 or $58

A shared inbox and help desk against a free live chat: tawk.to is $67 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Help Scout and tawk.to, 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 tawk.to if budget is zero and you can live with the tawk.to branding or pay $29 to remove it. For five people, tawk.to is $67 a month cheaper than Help Scout ($125 a month on Help Scout against $58 or more on tawk.to), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $13 under tawk.to. Help Scout and tawk.to both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor tawk.to includes Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Help Scout and tawk.to for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceHelp ScoutHelp Scouttawk.totawk.to
Built aroundA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chatFree chat for unlimited agents · paid add-ons per feature
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes$0 · unlimited agents
Chat in the price$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan$0 · $29/mo to remove branding
AI agent$0.75 per resolution · AI AnswersAI Assist from $29/mo · small free tier
Copilot for agentsIncluded · AI inbox assistantIn AI Assist
Free planYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a monthYes · the core product is free

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. tawk.to has no ticket queue either.

    tawk.totawk.to

    As a chat in the free dashboard; tickets are emails converted into a simple queue. 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 $58 on tawk.to.

    tawk.totawk.to

    Seats are free and unlimited. The money goes on add-ons: branding removal, AI Assist, video, hired agents. $58 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. tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/mo) above the seats as well.

    tawk.totawk.to

    AI Assist from $29 a month with a small free tier; it drafts and answers from your knowledge base. 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 tawk.to.

    tawk.totawk.to

    Website chat and email tickets; no native WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Help Scout adds email, WhatsApp and Instagram, which tawk.to lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

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

    tawk.totawk.to

    A knowledge base, a CRM, and human agents for hire at $1 an hour. 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. tawk.to is minutes.

    tawk.totawk.to

    Minutes: paste the widget and start chatting. Help Scout is an afternoon.

Sources: Help Scout pricing · tawk.to 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 tawk.to dashboard: the visitor list, the chat and the ticket queue
tawk.totawk.to. The tawk.to dashboard: the visitor list, the chat and the ticket queue

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

Help Scout, tawk.to 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 Scouttawk.totawk.toSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Free chat; add-ons per feature.
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
Unlimited agents.
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Beacon.
The product.
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Ticketing by email on the free plan.
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Included on paid plans.
Messaging channels in beta.
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Included on paid plans.
Messaging channels in beta.
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Beta.
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 Assist from $29/mo, trained on the knowledge base.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
$0.75 per resolution.
Add-on subscription.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Hands to the inbox.
Hands to agents.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with status; no separate ticket object.
Basic email tickets.
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Workflows; rule lists with counts per plan.
Triggers.
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports and Happiness ratings.
Basic reporting.
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

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

Pick tawk.to if

  • Budget is zero and you can live with the tawk.to branding or pay $29 to remove it.
  • You want to hire human chat agents by the hour.
  • Five people cost $67 a month less than on Help Scout ($58 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 $58 or more on tawk.to 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 tawk.to meters AI (AI Assist from $29/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 tawk.to 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. tawk.to: $58+ a month for five ($0 for chat, $29 to remove branding, $29+ for AI Assist); 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 $13 less than tawk.to 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; tawk.to is a free live chat built around free chat for unlimited agents. Both have a free plan: Help Scout's is 5 users, 100 contacts a month, tawk.to's is the core product is free. Help Scout and tawk.to both include website chat in the price; only Help Scout has email, WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Help Scout nor tawk.to includes Telegram outright. Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and tawk.to (AI Assist from $29/mo) both meter AI above the seats. Neither Help Scout nor tawk.to has a ticket queue, and only tawk.to ships desktop apps. Help Scout is an afternoon; tawk.to is minutes.

What each price leaves out

Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. tawk.to: AI Assist from $29 a month, with a small free tier. Beside Help Scout's $0.75 per resolution and tawk.to's AI Assist from $29/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
    tawk.totawk.toSee 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
    tawk.totawk.to · Not applicable; the core is free
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Help Scout vs tawk.to: the questions people ask

Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox; tawk.to is a free live chat built around free chat for unlimited agents. Neither Help Scout nor tawk.to has a ticket queue, and only tawk.to ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes); tawk.to $0 (unlimited agents).
  • Chat in the price: Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan); tawk.to $0 ($29/mo to remove branding).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Help Scout nor tawk.to has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Help Scout and tawk.to 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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