Freshdesk vs Help Scout

Freshdesk is a ticketing system with routing, SLAs, automation and a customer portal, priced per agent from 19 dollars a month on annual billing. Help Scout is a shared inbox priced per user, free for up to five users, that keeps support looking like email. One is for teams measuring response times, the other for teams protecting a personal tone.

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Both are reviewed in full in our help desk ranking: Freshdesk and Help Scout.

1. 01

   Ticket or conversation

   The first thing to settle is what a reply looks like. Freshdesk treats each message as a ticket with a status and an SLA, which is what a team needs if it must prove response times to anyone. Help Scout says it deliberately shows customers no ticket numbers or portal logins, only a plain email. Each is the correct answer for a different support culture.

   Depends on the buyer

2. 02

   Starting cost and the pricing meter

   Help Scout lists a free plan with five users, one inbox, one Docs site and 100 contacts a month, then Standard at 25 dollars per user per month. Freshdesk's pricing page lists no free plan: a 14-day trial, then Growth at 19 dollars per agent per month billed annually. Both charge per person. Only Help Scout can be run at zero cost.

   Edge: Help Scout

3. 03

   Routing, SLAs and automation

   Freshdesk puts round-robin routing and multiple SLA policies in Pro and skill-based routing in Enterprise, with ticketing, automations and a knowledge base in every plan. Help Scout is not without SLAs: one basic policy on Free and Standard, two advanced on Plus, unlimited on Pro, with workflows graded the same way. For layered routing rules, Freshdesk goes further.

   Edge: Freshdesk

4. 04

   Channels in the box

   Help Scout lists email, live chat, SMS, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp on every plan, with phone available through an integration from Standard upwards. Freshdesk's plan table centres on ticketing, a shared inbox and a customer portal, which is available in all three plans. Teams that mostly answer written messages get a broad channel set from Help Scout without moving up a tier.

   Depends on the buyer

5. 05

   How much there is to set up

   Help Scout's appeal is how little there is to configure: a shared inbox, saved replies and a simple knowledge base cover most of a small team's needs. Freshdesk offers far more capability, and with it more settings and automation rules to maintain. For high-touch email support by a handful of people, Help Scout is the lighter tool.

   Edge: Help Scout

6. 06

   AI agents and what they cost

   Both sell an AI agent on a usage meter. Help Scout's AI Answers costs 0.75 dollars per resolution, billed monthly, with spending caps available. Freshdesk's Freddy AI Agent includes the first 500 sessions and then charges 49 dollars per 100 sessions, while Freddy AI Copilot for agents is 29 dollars per agent per month on annual billing. A resolution and a session are different units.

   Depends on the buyer

Is Freshdesk or Help Scout better for a small team?

It depends on what the team has to prove. If nobody asks for detailed SLA figures and most contact is written, Help Scout's shared inbox is lighter and more personal, and its free plan covers five users.

If the team needs layered routing, several SLA policies or a portal per product, Freshdesk fits better.

Does Help Scout have a free plan like Freshdesk?

Help Scout does: its pricing page lists a free plan with five users, one inbox, one Docs site and 100 contacts a month.

Freshdesk's pricing page lists no free plan, only a 14-day trial of the Enterprise plan followed by paid plans starting at 19 dollars per agent per month on annual billing.

Do customers see ticket numbers in Freshdesk and Help Scout?

In Help Scout they do not: the company states that customers receive an ordinary email with no ticket number and no portal to log into.

Freshdesk is a ticketing desk, where each request becomes a ticket with a status that customers can follow through the customer portal included in every plan.

How are Freshdesk and Help Scout priced?

Both charge per person. Freshdesk lists Growth at 19, Pro at 55 and Enterprise at 89 dollars per agent per month, billed annually.

Help Scout lists Standard at 25, Plus at 45 and Pro at 75 dollars per user per month, with a discount of 16 per cent for annual billing.

• Freshdesk pricing page: Freshdesk plan prices, trial, feature tiers and Freddy AI charges.
• Help Scout pricing page: Help Scout free plan limits, per-user prices, channels, SLA tiers and AI Answers price.
• Help Scout blog: why it avoids the term ticket: customers see no ticket numbers in Help Scout replies.