The cheapest Help Scout alternatives at 25 agents are Jira Service Management at $5,650 a year and Freshchat, Intercom and LiveChat at $5,700, against $7,500 for Help Scout Standard, all on annual billing. Hiver costs exactly what Help Scout does. This list ranks 12 Help Scout alternatives on seat cost at 25 agents for the cheapest plan with email and live chat, breaks ties on channel coverage, and lists vendors without a ranked 25-agent price after the ranked ten. Prices are list prices as of 8 October 2026, from the October 2026 seat cost run.
Help Scout is tied 5th on the seat cost leaderboard at 25 agents and tied 4th of 33 on channel and language coverage with 8 native channels. AI Answers is ranked on AI price per outcome at $0.75 per resolution. The position changes with team size: at 100 agents Help Scout is 9th of 11, at $90,000 a year on Pro.
Why buyers look past Help Scout
- Seat caps. Standard holds up to 25 users and Plus up to 50. Past 50 the only plan is Pro, $75 a user a month billed annually, sold through Book a Demo with a 10-user minimum.
- 100 agents cost $90,000 a year. That is more than Zendesk Suite Team ($66,000) and Freshdesk Omni Growth ($34,800) at the same size.
- Phone needs Aircall. Voice runs through an Aircall integration, so it earns no native credit.
- No AI language count. Help Scout publishes no language count for AI Answers; Zendesk states 80+ and Freshdesk 60+.
- X, a community forum and Slack earn no credit. Each is native for at least one ranked alternative on this list.
Help Scout alternatives at a glance
Seat cost is the yearly list price on annual billing for the cheapest plan with email and live chat. “n/r” marks a vendor with no ranked 25-agent price.
| # | Vendor | Best for | Seat cost, 25 agents, a year | Seat cost rank | Native channels (of 12) | AI price | G2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jira Service Management | The lowest seat bill at 25 and 100 agents | $5,650 | 1st | 4 | $1.00 per AI agent resolution | 4.3 (986) |
| 2 | Freshchat | Teams that want to start free with up to 10 agents | $5,700 | 2= | 8 | $49 per 100 sessions | None on record |
| 3 | Intercom | In-app messaging with AI billed per outcome | $5,700 | 2= | 7 | $0.99 per outcome | 4.5 (3,918) |
| 4 | LiveChat | Chat-first teams with no user cap | $5,700 | 2= | 6 | $49.50 per 50 AI resolutions | 4.5 (813) |
| 5 | Hiver | The same 25-agent price and a lower 100-agent bill | $7,500 | 5= | 5 | Not published | 4.6 (1,292) |
| 6 | Freshdesk | A help center plus community forum at scale | $8,700 | 7th | 7 | $49 per 100 sessions | 4.4 (3,777) |
| 7 | eDesk | Online sellers | $11,700 | 8th | 5 | $0.99 per outcome | 4.5 (80) |
| 8 | Zendesk | Native voice, X and a community forum | $16,500 | 9th | 9 | $1.50 per automated resolution (committed) | 4.3 (7,094) |
| 9 | Front | Shared inboxes up to 50 seats | $19,500 | 10th | 8 | Quote only | 4.7 (2,515) |
| 10 | HubSpot Service Hub | A per-resolution AI price below Help Scout’s | $27,000 | 11th | 6 | $0.50 per resolution | 4.4 (3,018) |
| n/r | Missive | Shared email inboxes with SMS and social accounts | Not ranked (no email plus chat plan) | n/r | 5 | Not published | 4.7 (854) |
| n/r | Zoho Desk | More native channels than Help Scout | Not ranked (regional pricing) | n/r | 9 | Not published | 4.4 (7,983) |
How this list is ranked
Rank is seat cost at 25 agents: the list price of the cheapest plan that includes email and live chat, on annual billing, times 25 seats, for a year. Where that plan caps below 25 seats, the next plan up with a list price is used and named. Ties go to the vendor with more native channels out of the 12 counted on the coverage run. A vendor with no comparable 25-agent price is listed after the ranked ten with the reason, never as zero. Help Scout itself is not ranked here. The method behind every number is on how we test.