Key takeaways
- A shared inbox for customer email with simple AI helpers.
- Best for: Small teams that want a simple shared inbox, Businesses that want to cap chatbot spending.
- Pricing: Free plan, paid plans from Standard: $25 per user per month, as listed on November 6, 2026.
- Business data: Help Scout says it does not send customer data back to OpenAI to train the foundation model.
What Help Scout does
Help Scout puts customer email in a shared inbox that feels like regular email. A small business can answer customers as a team and add a help site. It lists a free plan and an AI chatbot called Envoy billed per resolution.
Who it’s for
A good fit for
- Small teams that want a simple shared inbox
- Businesses that want to cap chatbot spending
Not a good fit for
- Teams that want a complex ticketing setup
- Businesses that need SSO and HIPAA, which are on the Pro plan only
Help Scout pricing
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | $0, with 5 users, 1 Inbox and 1 Docs site |
| Standard | $25 per user per month |
| Plus | $45 per user per month |
| Pro | $75 per user per month |
There is a free plan. As listed on Help Scout’s pricing page on November 6, 2026. Prices change, so check the live page before you buy.
Key features
- AI Inbox assistant
- Included in Standard.
- AI Drafts
- Unlimited on Plus and Pro.
- Envoy chatbot
- $0.75 per resolution, with a monthly spending cap you can set.
- Trials
- Standard and Plus have a 15-day trial with no credit card.
How to get started with Help Scout
- Go to Settings, then Inboxes, and click New Inbox.
- Enter an email address and an inbox name.
- Choose Open Inbox to view it or Inbox Settings to customize it.
- To use your own domain, add it, click Send Code and confirm the code.
- Set up forwarding from your email provider into the inbox.
Steps based on Help Scout’s own documentation. Menus change, so follow the live page if they differ.
Full walkthroughHow to Set Up Help Scout for Your TeamAccounts, team invites, admin and data settings, connecting your apps, and three tasks to try first.Business data and privacy
Help Scout says it does not send customer data back to OpenAI to train the foundation model. It may use limited customer samples internally to evaluate and tune features, but not to retrain OpenAI's base model.
Source: Help Scout’s own documentation.
Help Scout alternatives
Intercom
by Intercom
A customer support inbox with an AI agent called Fin.
Best for Businesses that want website chat and an AI agent in one place
Paid plans from Essential: $19 per seat per month for new customers
Zendesk
by Zendesk
A full customer support platform with email, chat and AI agents.
Best for Teams that expect their support needs to grow
Paid plans from Support Team: $19 per agent per month, billed yearly
Tidio
by Tidio
Live chat and an AI chatbot for small business websites.
Best for Small online shops and service sites
Free plan, paid plans from Starter: $24.17 per month
Freshdesk
by Freshworks
A support ticket system with Freddy AI features.
Best for Teams that want tickets and AI in one tool
Paid plans from Growth: $19 per agent per month, billed yearly
Help Scout: common questions
Does Help Scout have a free plan?
Yes. Help Scout's pricing page lists a Free plan with 5 users, 1 Inbox and 1 Docs site.
How does Help Scout charge for its Envoy chatbot?
Envoy costs $0.75 per resolution billed monthly, and you can set a spending cap. The page also lists a 3-month free period.
Sources
Read on November 6, 2026. Vendors change prices and menus, so check the live page before you buy.
About the author
Andy Kang, AI Partner Team. Andy Kang writes the AI directory for AI Partner Team, which sets up and builds AI tools for small businesses alongside managed IT. Each page is written from the vendor’s own pricing, help and trust pages, and shows the day those pages were checked.
- Facts come from the vendor’s own website and help docs, linked on every page.
- Each page shows the date we last read those sources.
- We do not score or rank tools. We say who each one suits and who it does not.
- If a vendor does not publish a price, we say so instead of guessing.