Helpin vs Help Scout at a glance
A simple inbox should not leave your team doing all the follow-up work. In Helpin, AI agents can answer a customer, check their account, create a task and help get the underlying problem fixed.
Help Scout offers a shared inbox, Docs and AI answers. Helpin keeps chat and email just as central, while giving your team a fast workspace for projects, deals, meetings and the docs that keep answers accurate.
Invite the people who need the context without adding seat fees. Every Cloud plan includes an AI allowance, and Helpin can import your Help Scout Docs articles.
- Keep the inbox simple and automate what follows. Helpin’s agents can investigate issues, do product work and update docs while your team stays in one fast workspace.
- Help Scout centers on customer conversations. Its inbox, Docs and AI answers cover support, with integrations for projects and sales.
Compare what your team can do in each product. Plan requirements and connected tools are shown where they matter.
| Capability |  HelpinOpen source · Cloud or self-hosted | Help ScoutShared inbox |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Price model | Per workspace | Per user: Standard $25, Plus $45 a month billed annually |
| Free plan | Self-hosted Community edition | Up to 5 users and 100 contacts a month |
| AI agent | AI usage allowance included in every Cloud plan | AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | 15 days, no card |
| Open source and self-hosting | Free Community edition (AGPL-3.0) | |
| Support | ||
| Channels | Web chat and email | Email, chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, SMS |
| AI answers with human handoff | ||
| Help center | AI answers, own domain, API reference, agent-maintained docs | Docs sites; 2 on Standard, 3 on Plus |
| Widget SDKs | Web: JavaScript, React, Next.js, Vue | Web, iOS, Android |
| Support reporting | Knowledge-gap and project reports | Reports; history length depends on plan |
| Support response-time policies (SLAs) | Limited on Standard and Plus | |
| Beyond support | ||
| Project management | Roadmaps, sprints, objectives, epics | Through the Jira integration on Plus |
| CRM with deals | Contacts, companies, deals and AI follow-ups | Customer properties and company profiles |
| Meeting notes | Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex | |
| Code delivery from a task | Built-in planning, coding and review; GitHub PRs and GitLab MRs | |
| MCP server | Read context, update work and start agents | Hosted, read-only |
Comparison data verified October 2026.
Why choose Helpin over Help Scout?
Give agents the context and tools to carry out work, keep your team in control, and bring everyone into the same fast workspace.
Helpin- Workspace price
- Unlimited teammates
- AI allowance
No per-seat or per-resolution fees.
Helpin charges per workspace with unlimited teammates and an included AI allowance. Invite support, engineering and sales without buying another seat. Extra AI usage is metered only if you enable it on a paid plan. There is no separate charge for each resolved conversation.
Helpin- Report
- Agent work
- Review
- Follow-up
Give agents the work behind the reply.
A bug report can become a task with the customer’s conversation attached. Scribe plans, Forge writes and tests the code, and Lens reviews it. After the release is confirmed, configured automation can follow up with affected customers under your approval rules.
Helpin- Release
- UI capture
- Article update
Keep the guides current as you ship.
Quill can update your help center and internal docs from released changes and unanswered questions. It can capture fresh screenshots and browser recordings too. Your team reviews and publishes the changes, so customers and agents have current instructions.
Helpin- Your instructions
- Context and tools
- Action
Build agents around the way you work.
Describe a job in plain language to build a custom agent or flow. Choose its tools, instructions, skills and approval rules. Agents can use connected services for account details, code and logs, so they can investigate before taking the next step.
Core feature comparison
Feature names can sound alike across tools. What matters is how each product handles the work, and what your team does next.
Inbox and channels
HelpinHelpin gives your team a fast shared inbox for chat and email. Echo, the support agent, can answer from your docs and check connected tools for account details, code and logs. It can follow up after a reply or bring in a teammate. Customer history, internal notes and linked tasks stay with the conversation.
Help Scout’s inbox covers email, live chat through Beacon, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and SMS, with phone through integrations such as Aircall. Workflows, SLA policies and inbox limits scale with the plan: Standard includes two inboxes and Plus five.
The difference: Helpin gives chat and email teams a fast inbox with agents that can investigate and follow up. Help Scout adds social channels.
AI agents that carry out work
HelpinAsk Helpin AI to investigate an issue and get the work moving. Scribe plans the task, Forge writes and tests the code, Lens reviews it, and Quill updates the docs. Build custom agents and flows in plain language, with your choice of tools, skills and approval rules. Start work in chat or through configured automations.
Help Scout sells AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution and presents its customer-facing agent as Compass. It answers from Docs and other supplied content. Its agent page lists app connections and email support as coming soon; separate AI Assist, Drafts and Summarize features help teammates in the inbox.
The difference: Helpin can take a support request into planning, code and review, with the same customer context available throughout.
Help center and internal docs
HelpinKeep your help center and internal docs spaces current as your product changes. Quill can turn unanswered questions and released changes into article updates, with fresh screenshots and browser recordings. Your team reviews and publishes them. Customers can search your help center or ask AI for an answer with article citations.
Help Scout Docs publishes knowledge base sites: two on Standard and three on Plus, with more available as an add-on. AI Answers draws on them.
The difference: Bring your Help Scout articles into Helpin, then use Quill to keep guides and internal docs current as you ship.
From question to fix
HelpinA customer’s bug report can become a task with the conversation attached. AI agents can investigate, plan, write code and open a GitHub pull request or GitLab merge request for review. After a confirmed release, configured automation can update affected customers under your approval rules. Objectives, roadmaps, epics and sprints keep the work in view.
Help Scout connects to Jira on the Plus plan and above, so engineering work lives in another tool.
The difference: Helpin connects the conversation to agents that can work on the fix, then supports customer follow-up after release.
Customer records, CRM and meetings
HelpinKeep deals, contacts and companies beside their conversations, meetings and open work. Beacon, the sales agent, can identify buying intent, suggest the next step and carry out approved follow-ups. Record meetings on Google Meet, Zoom, Teams or Webex, then turn decisions into assigned tasks. Your team can see what was promised and what still needs doing.
Help Scout keeps customer properties, company profiles and, on higher plans, custom fields, and integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce on Plus. It doesn’t include a deals pipeline or meeting notes.
The difference: Helpin helps your team act on sales intent and meeting decisions, with a built-in deal pipeline and owned follow-ups.
Developers and integrations
HelpinConnect Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Hermes and other compatible AI tools through Helpin’s MCP server. They can find context, update tasks and docs, and start Helpin agent runs with the access you allow. Helpin agents can also use external MCP tools. GitHub, GitLab and the web SDKs connect your code and product to the same workflow.
Help Scout provides APIs, webhooks, integrations and Beacon SDKs for iOS and Android. Its MCP connection can search conversations and pull information. Current connections are read-only: external agents cannot send replies, change tags or edit Docs through it.
The difference: Helpin’s MCP tools support permitted changes as well as reading, so your external agents can move the work forward.
Pricing and value
HelpinHelpin charges per workspace, with unlimited teammates. Starter is $79 and Growth $239 a month billed annually, or $99 and $299 billed monthly. Every Cloud plan includes an AI usage allowance. Extra usage is metered only when you enable it on a paid plan. Self-hosting has no Helpin license fee; you pay for your infrastructure and AI provider.
Help Scout charges per user: Standard is $25 and Plus $45 a month billed annually, with Pro from ten users. A free plan covers up to five users and 100 contacts a month, and AI Answers adds $0.75 per resolution.
Estimate what your team would pay
Compare the plans for your team size and AI usage. Check the notes for costs outside the estimate, including any extra tools you need. See Helpin pricing.
Estimated at list prices · 8 teammates · 300 AI resolutions a month · billed annually
HelpinGrowth$239 a month
$2,868 a year
- Growth plan, one workspace
- $239
- 8 teammates
- Included
- AI usage allowance
- $239 included
Every Cloud plan includes an AI allowance. Extra usage is metered only if you enable it.
$585 a month
$7,020 a year
- 8 × Plus at $45
- $360
- 300 AI resolutions × $0.75
- $225
Helpin is an estimated $4,152 less a year on these inputs.
Helpin costs less at every team size up to 100 teammates.
- Help Scout’s monthly-billing prices aren’t shown on its pricing page, so annual rates are used. Prepaying for AI resolutions can lower the rate.
- For one or two users, Help Scout’s free and Standard plans can cost less than Helpin.
- Helpin measures AI usage in tokens, not resolutions. Paid plans can turn on metered overage beyond the allowance.
Cloud or open source
Helpin is the same product either way. Let us run it on Helpin Cloud, or self-host the open-source Community edition on your own servers.
HelpinRun Helpin Cloud or self-host the open-source Community edition with Docker Compose. Support, projects, CRM, docs and AI agents are included under AGPL-3.0. When you self-host, you choose the infrastructure, AI providers and external services your workspace uses.
Help Scout is a hosted service, and there’s no way to run it on your own infrastructure.
Helpin Cloud
Hosted by Helpin- One price per workspace, unlimited teammates
- AI usage allowance included in every plan
- Your own AI keys on Enterprise
- Managed by Helpin, with support
Community edition
Open source · AGPL-3.0- Free, with no plan limits or seat counts
- Every product, coding agents included
- Runs on your own AI provider and keys
- Docker Compose on your own servers
Switching and onboarding
HelpinTry Helpin Growth for 14 days with no card and $140 of AI usage. Start with one support address or a real project, invite your team, and give the agents a job. We can help you plan the move around the data and tools you already use.
Help Scout offers a 15-day trial with no card and a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first payment. Its built-in importer brings conversations, customers and tags from more than 30 tools. Helpin imports Help Scout Docs today; conversation history isn’t imported yet.
Moving from Help Scout.
Bring your docs over today, and keep older conversations where they are.
Take from Help Scout
- Docs articles, imported directly into Helpin
- Your customer list
- Saved replies and tags you want to keep
Set up in Helpin
- Chat widget on your site or app
- Support address, forwarded to Helpin
- Help center on your own domain
- Team inboxes, tags and saved replies
- AI agent guidance and approval rules
- 01
Run Helpin alongside Help Scout
Available nowInstall the widget on a few pages and connect a support address. Move queues over when your team is ready, ideally before your next renewal.
- 02
Import your Help Scout Docs
Available nowBring your Help Scout Docs articles into Helpin Knowledge.
- 03
Move conversation history
Not yetConversation history isn’t imported yet. Keep Help Scout available for older threads while new ones arrive in Helpin.
Check the features your team depends on.
These specific requirements are worth checking as you plan your move from Help Scout.
Social messaging.
Help Scout supports messaging channels including WhatsApp and Instagram. Helpin supports chat and email.
Historical conversations.
Help Scout provides conversation importers. Helpin can import Help Scout Docs articles, but not past conversations yet.
Mobile chat SDKs.
Help Scout provides Beacon SDKs for iOS and Android. Helpin currently provides web SDKs.
A small free Cloud inbox.
Help Scout’s free plan covers up to five users and 100 contacts a month. Helpin offers a Cloud trial and a free self-hosted edition.
Keep support simple as the work grows.
Helpin connects a fast inbox to agents, projects and sales. Check your messaging channels and history import needs when planning the move.
Choose Helpin if…
- You want agents to check connected account data and act on customer requests.
- You want product work, sales follow-ups and meetings beside the inbox.
- You want imported help articles to stay current with AI-prepared updates.
- You want unlimited teammates and an AI allowance without per-resolution fees.
Check Help Scout if…
- You require WhatsApp, Instagram or SMS in the same inbox.
- You need a built-in importer for historical conversations or native mobile chat SDKs.
FAQs about Helpin vs Help Scout
Is Helpin a good Help Scout alternative?
Yes. Helpin gives teams a fast shared inbox with AI agents that can investigate, follow up and carry requests into product work. It also includes projects, CRM, meetings and docs, with workspace pricing and an included AI allowance.
Does Help Scout charge per contact?
Help Scout moved to contact-based billing in 2024 and later returned to per-user pricing for new customers. Some existing accounts still use contact-based billing.
Can Helpin import from Help Scout?
Yes, for Help Scout Docs articles. Conversation history is not imported yet.
Is Helpin cheaper than Help Scout?
Helpin’s workspace price stays the same as you invite teammates, and AI answers draw from the included allowance. Help Scout can cost less for a small inbox, including on its free plan. Compare team size, AI volume and the extra project or CRM tools you need.
Can we run Helpin alongside Help Scout?
Yes. Add the Helpin widget to a few pages or forward one support address, and keep Help Scout for everything else while your team tries the workflow. Move the rest when you’re ready.
How is AI billed in Helpin?
Every Cloud plan includes a monthly AI usage allowance, measured in tokens at published rates. On an active paid plan you can turn on metered overage if you need more. Self-hosted installs use your own AI provider and pay it directly.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. The 14-day trial runs on the Growth plan, needs no card, and includes $140 of AI usage.
Can we self-host Helpin?
Yes. The Community edition is free and open source under AGPL-3.0, and runs with Docker Compose. It includes support, projects, CRM, docs and AI agents, including coding and review.
Will you help us switch?
Yes. Book a call and we’ll plan the move with you: what to set up first, how to run both tools side by side, and when to cut over.