HubSpot Service HubKayakoHubSpot Service Hub vs Kayako

HubSpot Service Hub vs Kayako: CRM-based help desk or help desk

A CRM-based help desk against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. Where HubSpot Service Hub and Kayako 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 HubSpot Service Hub if your sales and marketing already live in HubSpot and support should share the CRM. Pick Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $75 a month on HubSpot Service Hub, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. HubSpot Service Hub and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price. Neither HubSpot Service Hub nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing HubSpot Service Hub against Kayako, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceHubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service HubKayakoKayako
Built aroundThe CRM record · help desk on top of HubSpotTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$15/seat/mo · Starter, yearlyQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$0 · Free tools: chat with HubSpot brandingQuote · widget included
AI agent$9 per 1,000 credits · 50 credits per resolution$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agentsBreeze · in the plansIn Kay
Free planYes · 2 users, branded chatNone · talk to a pricing expert

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    As a ticket on the CRM contact, with every marketing and sales touch beside it. Kayako raises tickets too, from tickets and a customer journey.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. HubSpot Service Hub raises tickets too, from the CRM record.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    Starter is $15 a seat; Professional is $90 with a $1,500 onboarding fee, and that is where routing and SLAs start. $75 for five people; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; HubSpot Service Hub prints $75.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    Customer Agent costs 50 credits per resolved conversation, and credits are $9 per 1,000, so about $0.45 a resolution. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. HubSpot Service Hub meters AI ($9 per 1,000 credits) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    Chat, email and Messenger on the lower plans; WhatsApp and calling on Professional; no Telegram. The same set as Kayako.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. The same set as HubSpot Service Hub.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    The rest of HubSpot: marketing, sales, CMS and the shared CRM. Kayako is a help desk instead.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub

    An afternoon on Starter; Professional comes with a paid onboarding. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. HubSpot Service Hub is an afternoon on Starter.

Sources: HubSpot Service Hub pricing · Kayako 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 HubSpot help desk workspace: the ticket with the CRM contact and its timeline
HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub. The HubSpot help desk workspace: the ticket with the CRM contact and its timeline
The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

Pricing references: HubSpot Service Hub pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13); Kayako pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

HubSpot Service Hub, Kayako 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.

FeatureHubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service HubKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; onboarding fees; AI by credits
Quote; AI per resolution
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
2 users, HubSpot branding
None
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
All plans
Widget included
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
Included
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Professional and up
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Messenger only
Messenger and X only
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not offered
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack and Teams notifications
Slack integration
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Customer Agent
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
50 credits per resolution, $9 per 1,000
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Creates a ticket
Escalates free of charge
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
On the CRM record
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Professional and up
Automation rules
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Reports; advanced on Professional
Reporting
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile
Browser only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick HubSpot Service Hub if

  • Your sales and marketing already live in HubSpot and support should share the CRM.
  • You want an AI agent priced per resolution at under a dollar.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Kayako offers no trial.
  • It prints its price ($75 a month for five) where Kayako quotes.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding here and an afternoon on Starter on HubSpot Service Hub.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than HubSpot Service Hub's: seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $75 a month on HubSpot Service Hub, and a quote on Kayako for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: HubSpot Service Hub meters AI ($9 per 1,000 credits) above the seats, Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither HubSpot Service Hub nor Kayako includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

HubSpot Service Hub on Starter: $30, $75 and $150 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $30 less than HubSpot Service Hub and against a quote on Kayako for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $55 under HubSpot Service Hub.

Where the two agree, and where they split

HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk built around the CRM record; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Only HubSpot Service Hub has a free plan (2 users, branded chat); Kayako offers no trial. HubSpot Service Hub and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price. Neither HubSpot Service Hub nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. HubSpot Service Hub ($9 per 1,000 credits) and Kayako ($1 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. HubSpot Service Hub and Kayako both raise tickets, and neither HubSpot Service Hub nor Kayako ships a desktop app. HubSpot Service Hub is an afternoon on Starter; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

HubSpot Service Hub: HubSpot Credits at $9 per 1,000; Customer Agent uses 50 credits per resolved conversation. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside HubSpot Service Hub's $9 per 1,000 credits and Kayako's $1 per resolution, 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

Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside HubSpot Service Hub's, and Kayako'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
    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub$0.45$212
    KayakoKayakoSee 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.

    HubSpot Service HubHubSpot Service Hub · Free tools, no trial clock
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

HubSpot Service Hub vs Kayako: the questions people ask

HubSpot Service Hub is a CRM-based help desk built around the CRM record; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. HubSpot Service Hub and Kayako both raise tickets, and neither HubSpot Service Hub nor Kayako ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: HubSpot Service Hub $15/seat/mo (Starter, yearly); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: HubSpot Service Hub $0 (Free tools: chat with HubSpot branding); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither HubSpot Service Hub nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside HubSpot Service Hub and Kayako 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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