For teams who love Help Scout’s simplicity but want integrations, SSO and AI without the tier jumps. $19 a seat, everything included — where Help Scout starts at $25 and adds up. AI at $0.49 a resolution, not $0.75.
The short answers
Verified · Updated July 2026How much does Help Scout cost?
Help Scout is priced per user/seat: Free (up to 5 users, capped at 100 contacts/mo), Standard $25, Plus $45, and Pro $75 per user per month. Salesforce, HubSpot and Jira integrations start on Plus; SSO is Pro-only. Its AI Answers bot is billed separately at $0.75 per resolution. SupportWire is one plan at $19 per seat with live chat, ticketing, knowledge base, integrations, SSO and AI all included.
Is SupportWire cheaper than Help Scout?
Per seat, yes: SupportWire is $19 versus Help Scout's $25 entry ($45 once you need integrations, $75 for SSO) — and SupportWire bundles what Help Scout gates. On AI it's $0.49 per resolution versus Help Scout's $0.75, about a third less. The first 50 resolutions each month are free.
Is SupportWire a good Help Scout alternative?
Yes — especially for a 10–200-person team that wants live chat, integrations and AI in one predictable bill. Help Scout is a well-liked shared inbox (G2 ~4.4, Capterra ~4.6) that pioneered human-first support, but it gates integrations to Plus and SSO to Pro, and charges $0.75 per AI resolution. SupportWire includes all of it at $19 a seat, AI at $0.49.
Every number on this page is dated and cited. Jump to sources ↓
The real cost
Same team, a smaller number.
Help Scout is per-seat too — but each tier jump is forced by something a growing team needs, and AI is billed on top. Here’s what real teams actually land on.
3 × $25. AI Answers is billed on top at $0.75 per resolution
3 seats × $19, knowledge base + AI included, 50 resolutions free/mo
Those integrations start on Plus, so 8 seats jump to $45 each
8 seats × $19, native integrations + AI all included
SSO/SAML is Pro-only — 15 seats at $75 each
15 seats × $19, SSO + integrations + AI included
Straight talk: at three seats on Standard, Help Scout is close. But the moment you need Salesforce or HubSpot, SSO, or AI you can budget for, you’re on Plus or Pro, and SupportWire comes out ahead with everything in one number. Neither product has a native phone channel (Help Scout voice is integration-only; SupportWire has none).
See it for yourself
Help Scout’s pricing, captured today.
Not our summary — Help Scout’s own pages on 10 July 2026. Per-seat tiers, AI metered at $0.75 a resolution, and the features that live a tier up.
Credit where it’s due
Help Scout is genuinely well-liked.
Help Scout helped invent the idea that support should feel human, and its customers broadly love it. We are not here to pretend otherwise.
The one thing long-time customers pushed back on: the 2025 migration that moved existing accounts onto a “contacts you help” model.
“The closest approximation to my current $22/month plan starts at $50/month and covers an average of 100 customer interactions per month.”
Daniel Jalkut · bitsplitting.org · Apr 30, 2025 [4]Cost at scale“A three-person team handling 500 unique customers a month paid $66/month before. Under the new pricing structure, the minimum cost is $266/month.”
Daniel Jalkut · bitsplitting.org · Apr 30, 2025 [4]To be fair: that model applies to the Free tier and migrated legacy accounts — new Help Scout plans are per-seat. We include this so you have the full picture, not to overstate it.
Side by side
Help Scout vs SupportWire.
Feature by feature, grouped by what a growing support team actually runs into. Every cell is factual and footnoted.
Why teams switch
One number where Help Scout adds tiers.
Three things you get on day one, without a tier jump or a second vendor.
$0.49 a resolution, not $0.75.
Kal bills only when it closes a ticket — 50 free every month, then $0.49 each, about a third under Help Scout’s AI Answers. Predictable, and only ever for outcomes.
One plan. No tier jump to grow up.
$19 a seat, and integrations, SSO, ticketing and AI are simply there — not features you unlock at $45 or $75. Add a seat when you hire, drop it when you don’t. Lite seats are free and unlimited.
Answers from your real docs.
Kal reads from your knowledge stores — Notion, Drive, your help center — and cites its sources on every reply. Help Scout’s AI Answers only learns from your public Docs.
Everything your team needs,
in one predictable number.
Live chat, ticketing, knowledge base, integrations, SSO and AI — included, at $19 a seat. No tier jump for integrations or SSO, no $0.75 AI meter. The simplicity Help Scout promised, with the pieces it puts behind higher tiers.
Switching is a Tuesday
Off Help Scout, live by the afternoon.
Export from Help Scout, point your widget, invite your team. No consultants, no downtime, migration help on us.
- Now
Export from Help Scout
Pull your conversation history and Docs articles out of your Help Scout account.
- In 1h
Point your widget
Swap the Beacon snippet on your site for SupportWire. Same afternoon, no downtime.
- In 2h
Import & invite
Bring your contacts and articles in and invite your agents. Lite seats are free and unlimited.
- In 3h
Kal goes live
Turn on Kal. First 50 resolutions each month are free, then $0.49 each.
14-day trial, no card. Kal runs during the trial, and we move your Help Scout data over for you.
Questions, answered
Help Scout vs SupportWire, in plain terms.
The things teams ask us — and the AI assistants they ask — before they switch. Straight, sourced answers.
Help Scout is billed per user/seat: Free (up to 5 users, 100 contacts/mo), Standard $25, Plus $45, Pro $75 per user per month. Extra inboxes are $10/mo and extra Docs sites $20/mo. Salesforce, HubSpot and Jira integrations begin on Plus; SSO/SAML on Pro. Its AI Answers bot is a separate add-on at $0.75 per resolution. SupportWire is one plan at $19 per seat with live chat, integrations, SSO and AI included.
Not for new customers today — the current public plans are per user/seat ($25 / $45 / $75). The "contacts you help" model applies to the Free tier and to existing customers who were migrated to it in 2025, a change some long-time users publicly pushed back on. New signups price per seat, the same way SupportWire does — SupportWire is simply lower at $19 and bundles more.
Help Scout's AI Answers resolves tickets from your public Docs and is billed at $0.75 per resolution on top of your plan (AI Drafts, which suggest replies for agents, are unlimited on Plus and Pro). SupportWire's Kal is $0.49 per resolution — about a third less — with the first 50 free every month, and it cites its sources.
On SupportWire, native integrations (Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot), SSO/SAML and the AI agent are included at $19 a seat. On Help Scout those integrations start on Plus ($45/seat), SSO is Pro-only ($75/seat), extra inboxes are $10/mo, extra Docs sites $20/mo, and AI Answers is a $0.75-per-resolution add-on. Same work, fewer line items.
For a 10–200-person team that wants live chat, integrations and AI in one predictable bill, yes. You get per-seat pricing at $19, integrations, SSO and AI all included, and AI billed at $0.49 per resolution. Help Scout is an excellent shared inbox, but its integrations, SSO and AI sit behind higher tiers or add-ons.
Yes. Export your conversations and Docs from Help Scout, point your Beacon/chat snippet at SupportWire, and your team can be live the same afternoon. Migration help is on us, and there’s no annual lock-in.
Updated July 2026
Sources
- [1] Help Scout — Pricing and plans (Accessed 10 Jul 2026) · helpscout.com/pricing
- [2] Help Scout — Customer support channels (no native voice/phone) (Accessed 10 Jul 2026) · helpscout.com — channels
- [3] Help Scout — About (founded 2011, remote, Certified B Corp) (Accessed 10 Jul 2026) · helpscout.com/about
- [4] bitsplitting.org, Daniel Jalkut — “Whither Help Scout?” on the 2025 pricing migration (30 Apr 2025) · bitsplitting.org
- [5] Help Scout — G2 reviews (~4.4/5) (Accessed 10 Jul 2026) · g2.com — Help Scout
- [6] Help Scout — Capterra reviews (~4.6/5) (Accessed 10 Jul 2026) · capterra.com — Help Scout
- [7] SupportWire — Pricing (Accessed 10 Jul 2026) · supportwire.ai/pricing
Help Scout pricing, channels and company facts verified against helpscout.com in July 2026; review scores reflect Help Scout’s public G2 and Capterra listings the same month. Help Scout figures are Help Scout’s own; SupportWire figures come from supportwire.ai/pricing. All trademarks belong to their owners.
Keep comparing
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Authority flows both ways. Line SupportWire up against the rest, or run the real numbers.
A modern home for your support.
Keep the simplicity you loved about Help Scout: add live chat, integrations, SSO and affordable AI. One number, everything included, $19 a seat. 14-day trial, no card, migration help on us.