Overview

Inbox gathers email, SMS, social, chat, and voice in one workspace, while Docs provides searchable, branded help centers. The package also includes ticket automation, SLA management, a customer portal, and API access, giving teams tools for both direct support and customer self-service.

A mobile app supports customer service away from a desk, and integrations connect Help Scout with more than 100 tools or apps. HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II compliance, SSO, and permissions configurable at company, team, or user level make it relevant to organizations with more involved access and security needs.

Key features

Shared Inbox: Consolidating five channels can reduce the need to split customer conversations across separate systems. Inbox capacity is plan-dependent, so teams with several queues should compare limits before choosing.
Docs: Searchable, branded knowledge bases let customers find answers without contacting support. The Free plan allows one Docs site and 10 articles, enough for a narrow starter collection but restrictive for broader documentation.
Workflows and SLAs: Automation and SLA policies help teams structure repetitive handling and response commitments. Standard includes 150 basic workflows and one basic SLA policy; Plus raises that to 500 advanced workflows and two advanced SLA policies, while Pro removes the stated SLA-policy limit.
Access and integrations: Granular permissions and SSO support more controlled account access, while more than 100 integrations and API access give teams options for connecting other tools.
AI Answers: New accounts receive three months of unlimited resolutions, followed by a pay-per-resolution add-on at $0.75 per resolution, billed monthly. That makes the trial useful for evaluating demand, but ongoing cost depends on usage.

Pricing

Help Scout is freemium, with paid plans starting at $25 per user per month. Annual pricing is shown as 16% lower than monthly pricing. Standard and Plus offer 15-day trials without a credit card; the AI Answers trial is separate and lasts three months for new accounts.

Plan	Price and capacity	What it means
Free	$0.00 USD per free; 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts per month, 10 saved replies, 10 tags, and 10 articles.	A practical starting point for a small team, but the contact ceiling and single Inbox limit its usefulness as support volume or queue complexity grows.
Standard	$25.00 USD per month; billed $25 per user/mo. Up to 25 users, 2 Inboxes, 2 Docs sites, 1 basic SLA policy, 150 basic workflows, and 30-day report history.	For growing teams that need more than the free capacity and basic service commitments. Per-user billing means the price scales with headcount.
Plus	$45.00 USD per month; billed $45 per user/mo. Up to 50 users, 5 Inboxes, 3 Docs sites, 2 advanced SLA policies, 500 advanced workflows, and 2-year report history. Includes 25 light users.	A better fit for teams running several queues or needing longer reporting history and more sophisticated workflows.
Pro	$75.00 USD per month; billed $75 per user/mo. Unlimited users, minimum 10 users, 10 Inboxes, 5 Docs sites, unlimited SLA policies, and all-time report history. Includes 50 light users.	Designed for scale and security, but the 10-user minimum creates a substantial entry commitment even for teams that need its higher limits.
AI Answers Add-on	$0.75 USD per once; billed $0.75 per resolution on a monthly basis.	Pay per resolution after the three-month trial; pre-paid discounts are available.

The Free plan avoids a subscription charge but gives up capacity. Standard and Plus are the clearest step-ups for teams that need more Inboxes, Docs sites, workflows, or SLA policies; Pro is harder to justify unless its scale and security tier matches the organization’s needs.

Platforms

Help Scout lists API platform support and offers a mobile app for customer support on the go. Its API access is also a useful option for teams that need programmatic connections.

Who it's for

Help Scout is best suited to customer-support teams that want shared multi-channel handling alongside a branded self-service knowledge base. Small teams can start on Free, while growing operations can pay for additional queues, automation, and SLA capacity. Teams that need only a lightweight inbox may find the broader support suite and per-user paid pricing more than they need.

Pros and cons

Pro: Email, SMS, social, chat, and voice share one Inbox, making Help Scout a strong fit for teams serving customers through several channels.
Pro: Docs, the customer portal, workflows, and SLA management cover both self-service and structured support operations.
Pro: HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II compliance, SSO, and layered permissions address security and access-control needs.
Con: Free is capped at one Inbox, 100 contacts per month, and 10 articles, which can constrain even a small team as usage grows.
Con: Paid pricing is per user, and Pro requires at least 10 users, making higher capacity costly for smaller teams.
Con: AI Answers becomes usage-priced after the free trial, so ongoing spend varies with resolutions.

Alternatives

For a different shared-inbox approach, Cerb has a freemium Community plan with unlimited workers and seats, while its licensed self-hosted plan is $40 per month. Drag is worth considering for teams seeking a Gmail-based shared inbox with board views and a paid Starter plan at $12 per month billed annually. Loop Email is a paid option with mobile and desktop platform support, starting at $18.75 per month billed monthly.

Zoho TeamInbox is another freemium shared-inbox option with web, iOS, and Android support. Hiver offers a freemium model and annual paid tiers, including Growth at $25 per month with two shared inboxes and 10 users. Helpwise is a paid alternative with a free trial and mobile apps. Missive is a paid cross-platform option, with a Starter plan at $14 per month billed yearly for up to five users. Coherence is a freemium alternative for web and Android.

Compare more options in Shared Inbox Software, Help desk software, Customer Self-Service Software, and Knowledge base software.

Verdict

Choose Help Scout if your support team needs multi-channel conversations, help-center publishing, and structured workflow and access controls under one roof. Its free tier provides a sensible entry point, but its contact and Inbox caps are tight, and paid per-user pricing makes expansion a real cost decision. Teams that need only a shared inbox should compare narrower alternatives; teams building a fuller support operation will find the plan ladder more compelling.

	Help Scout	Unthread
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Paid from	$25/mo	$75/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api	api, Web
Free plan	Yes	No
Customer portal	Yes	Yes
Embedded widget	—	Yes
Guided workflows	—	Yes
Automated resolution	—	Yes
Knowledge sources	—	help_center

Help Scout vs Unthread

Help Scout

Unthread