IntercomHelp ScoutIntercom vs Help Scout

Intercom vs Help Scout: $300 apart for five people

A customer messaging platform against a shared inbox and help desk: Help Scout is $300 a month cheaper for five people. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

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 Intercom if your support lives in the website messenger and in-app, and you want product tours and outbound messages in the same tool. Pick Help Scout if email is your main channel and you want the calmest inbox your agents will ever use. For five people, Help Scout is $300 a month cheaper than Intercom ($425 a month on Intercom against $125 on Help Scout), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $80 under Help Scout. Intercom and Help Scout both include website chat and email in the price; only Help Scout has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Intercom nor Help Scout includes Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Intercom and Help Scout sell here at one price.

At a glanceIntercomIntercomHelp ScoutHelp Scout
Built aroundThe Messenger · tickets came laterA calm email inbox · Beacon adds chat
Entry plan$29/seat/mo · Essential: inbox and Messenger$25/user/mo · Standard: 2 inboxes
Chat in the price$29/seat/mo · Essential, with tickets$25/user/mo · Beacon on every plan
AI agentFrom $0.99 per outcome · Fin, printed on the pricing page$0.75 per resolution · AI Answers
Copilot for agents$29/agent/moIncluded · AI inbox assistant
Free planNone · 14-day trialYes · 5 users, 100 contacts a month

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    IntercomIntercom

    As a message in the Messenger, with ticketing available from Essential. Help Scout has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    As a conversation in a shared inbox, assigned and tagged; it is email first, with Beacon chat beside it. Intercom raises a ticket where Help Scout keeps a conversation.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    IntercomIntercom

    $29 buys the inbox, Messenger and ticketing. Advanced at $85 adds workflows and round-robin routing. $425 for five people, against $125 on Help Scout.

    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 $425 on Intercom.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    IntercomIntercom

    Fin is $0.99 or more per outcome on every plan, printed on the pricing page, on top of seats. Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    AI Answers, the chatbot, is $0.75 per resolution. The AI inbox assistant is included. Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    IntercomIntercom

    Messenger and email on every plan; WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go lines. Help Scout adds WhatsApp and Instagram, which Intercom lacks.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Email, Beacon chat, Messenger and SMS; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. WhatsApp and Instagram are here and not on Intercom.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    IntercomIntercom

    Product tours, banners, surveys and outbound campaigns; Proactive Support Plus is $99 a month. Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk instead.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    Docs, the knowledge base, and customer profiles with properties; no contact center or campaigns. Intercom is a customer messaging platform instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    IntercomIntercom

    An afternoon for a website-first team: install the Messenger, invite the team, answer. Help Scout is an afternoon.

    Help ScoutHelp Scout

    An afternoon: forward the support address, add Beacon, invite the team. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team.

Sources: Intercom pricing · Help Scout 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 Intercom Inbox: a conversation list with the Messenger thread and the customer profile
IntercomIntercom. The Intercom Inbox: a conversation list with the Messenger thread and the customer profile
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

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 Fin outcomes on Intercom, AI Answers resolutions on Help Scout

3000+
IntercomIntercom

$722/mo

Adds workflows, multiple inboxes and round robin.

5 × $85 seats
$425
300 Fin outcomes × $0.99
$297
Copilot, 5 × $29
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. From $0.99 per Fin outcome on every plan, as printed on the pricing page. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

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.

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: Intercom pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); Help Scout pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). 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

Intercom, Help Scout 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.

FeatureIntercomIntercomHelp ScoutHelp ScoutSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; Fin per outcome; channels metered
Per user; extra inboxes $10; AI per resolution.
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
None; 14-day trial
5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month.
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The Messenger, all plans
Beacon.
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
All plans
The core of the product.
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Pay-as-you-go
Included on paid plans.
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Via integration
Included on paid plans.
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not native
Not a channel.
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
Fin, trained on your help center
AI Answers, trained on Docs.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
From $0.99 per outcome, on top of seats
$0.75 per resolution.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Fin hands to a teammate
Hands to the inbox.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

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

Apps

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

Which one, for whom

Pick Intercom if

  • Your support lives in the website messenger and in-app, and you want product tours and outbound messages in the same tool.
  • Fin's AI quality matters more to you than its per-outcome price.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Help Scout does not have.
  • Time to the first reply is an afternoon for a website-first team here and an afternoon on Help Scout.

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 $300 a month less than on Intercom ($125 against $425), before AI.
  • You need WhatsApp and Instagram in the price, which Intercom does not include outright.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Intercom or Help Scout who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $425 a month on Intercom against $125 on Help Scout for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Intercom meters AI (from $0.99 per outcome) above the seats, Help Scout meters AI ($0.75 per resolution) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Intercom nor Help Scout includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Intercom on Advanced: $170, $425 and $850 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Help Scout on Standard: $50, $125 and $250 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $380 less than Intercom and $80 less than Help Scout for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $755 under Intercom and $155 under Help Scout.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox. Only Help Scout has a free plan (5 users, 100 contacts a month); Intercom offers a 14-day trial, no card. Intercom and Help Scout both include website chat and email in the price; only Help Scout has WhatsApp and Instagram. Neither Intercom nor Help Scout includes Telegram outright. Intercom (from $0.99 per outcome) and Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Intercom has tickets and Help Scout does not, and neither Intercom nor Help Scout ships a desktop app. Intercom is an afternoon for a website-first team; Help Scout is an afternoon.

What each price leaves out

Intercom: Fin AI agent from $0.99 per outcome on every plan; Copilot $29 per agent per month yearly ($35 monthly). WhatsApp, SMS and phone are pay-as-you-go. Help Scout: AI Inbox assistant included; AI Answers (the chatbot) $0.75 per resolution. Beside Intercom's from $0.99 per outcome and Help Scout's $0.75 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 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
    IntercomIntercom$0.99$475
    Help ScoutHelp Scout$0.75$360
    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.

    IntercomIntercom · 14-day trial, no card
    Help ScoutHelp Scout · 15 days, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Intercom vs Help Scout: the questions people ask

Intercom is a customer messaging platform built around the Messenger; Help Scout is a shared inbox and help desk built around a calm email inbox. Intercom has tickets and Help Scout does not, and neither Intercom nor Help Scout ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential: inbox and Messenger); Help Scout $25/user/mo (Standard: 2 inboxes).
  • Chat in the price: Intercom $29/seat/mo (Essential, with tickets); Help Scout $25/user/mo (Beacon on every plan).
  • Sellio's inbox: Telegram, which neither Intercom nor Help Scout has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Intercom and Help Scout 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