Customer Support · alternatives
Alternatives to Help Scout
19 customer support tools sit alongside Help Scout in this directory. Below is what separates each from Help Scout on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 19
- With a free tier
- 8
- Cheaper to start
- 10
- Help Scout starts at
- Free, then $20/month
Why people look past Help Scout
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Help Scout has a free tier, and starts at $20/month against a category median of $29/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Customer service suite with live chat and automation
- Starts $20 a month cheaper, at Free.
- 4 tiers to Help Scout's 3.
Customer service software for scaling companies
- Starts $20 a month cheaper, at Free.
- 4 tiers to Help Scout's 3.
Cloud contact center from AWS
- Starts $20 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a usage-based model rather than subscription.
- 1 tier to Help Scout's 3.
Gmail-based help desk
- Starts $20 a month cheaper, at Free.
- 4 tiers to Help Scout's 3.
High-velocity service management
- Starts $20 a month cheaper, at Free.
- 4 tiers to Help Scout's 3.
Open-source customer engagement platform
- Starts $1 a month cheaper, at $19/month.
- 2 tiers to Help Scout's 3.
Every Help Scout alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout (this page) | Free, then $20/month | Subscription | 3 | |
| Customerly | Free | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| HubSpot Service Hub | Free | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| Amazon Connect | Free | Usage-based | 1 | vs Help Scout |
| Hiver | Free | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| Jira Service Management | Free | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| Chatwoot | Free, then $19/month | - | 2 | vs Help Scout |
| LiveAgent | Free | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| Freshworks Customer Service Suite | Free, then $19/agent-per-month | - | - | vs Help Scout |
| Klaus | $50/month | - | 1 | vs Help Scout |
| Front | $25/month per seat | Subscription | - | vs Help Scout |
| Groove | $12/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Help Scout |
| Freshservice | $19/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| Kustomer | On request | Quote | - | vs Help Scout |
| Gladly | $180/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Help Scout |
| DelightChat | $29/month | - | 3 | vs Help Scout |
| HappyFox | $29/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Help Scout |
| Dixa | $39/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Help Scout |
| BMC Helix | On request | Quote | - | vs Help Scout |
| Dialpad Contact Center | $95/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Help Scout |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Help Scout badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (8)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Customerly , Free
- HubSpot Service Hub , Free
- Amazon Connect , Free
- Hiver , Free
- Jira Service Management , Free
- Chatwoot , Free, then $19/month
- LiveAgent , Free
- Freshworks Customer Service Suite , Free, then $19/agent-per-month
Cheaper than Help Scout (10)
Entry price under Help Scout's $20/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Customerly , Free
- HubSpot Service Hub , Free
- Amazon Connect , Free
- Hiver , Free
- Jira Service Management , Free
- Chatwoot , Free, then $19/month
- LiveAgent , Free
- Freshworks Customer Service Suite , Free, then $19/agent-per-month
What you would be giving up
Help Scout is most often brought in for shared inbox and help desk for customer support teams, publishing a knowledge base alongside email and chat support. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Help Scout is broadly right and the question is cost, the Help Scout pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Customer Support category lists everything the directory holds, and best customer support tools ranks them.
Help Scout runs on web, ios, android. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Help Scout alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Help Scout?
- 19 other customer support tools are listed in this directory, led by Customerly, HubSpot Service Hub, Amazon Connect, Hiver. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Help Scout?
- 8 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Customerly, HubSpot Service Hub, Amazon Connect, Hiver, Jira Service Management.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Help Scout?
- Yes. 10 of the alternatives below start under Help Scout's $20/month: Customerly at Free, HubSpot Service Hub at Free, Amazon Connect at Free, Hiver at Free.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Help Scout?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Help Scout has a free tier, and starts at $20/month against a category median of $29/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Help Scout?
- Help Scout is most often brought in for shared inbox and help desk for customer support teams, publishing a knowledge base alongside email and chat support. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Help Scout?
- None of the customer support tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Help Scout alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Customer Support, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored slot runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Help Scout against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Help Scout covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every customer support tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Customer Support category, 19 tools beside Help Scout. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.