Is Groove or Plain better?

Neither clearly leads. Groove starts at $12/month and Plain at $35/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Groove or Plain?

Groove starts at $12/month and Plain at $35/month.

Does Groove or Plain run on more platforms?

Groove runs on Web, Ios, Android. Plain runs on Web, API.

What is Groove best used for?

Groove is most often used for shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teams, handling email, chat and messaging support in one queue. Of those, shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teams and handling email, chat and messaging support in one queue are not what Plain is typically brought in for.

What can Groove do that Plain cannot?

Groove covers Shared inbox, Knowledge base, Live chat, Automation rules. Plain covers Multi-channel consolidation, AI agents, Workflow automation, Sidekick assistant.

Customer Support · head to head

Groove vs Plain

Groove

Customer Support

Simple, powerful support for growing businesses

From: $12/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

Plain

Customer Support

AI support infrastructure built for B2B teams

From: $35/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Groove billed per ticket at $1 rather than per agent, so support cost scales with how many customers get in touch; Plain foundation plan limited to 2,000 credits per month may be restrictive for high-volume teams
They diverge on capability: Groove covers Shared inbox, Plain covers Multi-channel consolidation.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Groove and Plain actually diverge.

Attributes where Groove and Plain differ
Attribute	Groove	Plain
Starting price	$12/month	$35/month
Pricing model	subscription	Tiered pricing per seat with credit system
Platforms	Web, Ios, Android	Web, API
Founded	2011	Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Customer Support).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Groove

Shared inbox
Knowledge base
Live chat
Automation rules
Reporting
Collision detection
Slack
Salesforce

Only in Plain

Multi-channel consolidation
AI agents
Workflow automation
Sidekick assistant
Insights engine
Linear and Jira integration
Help Center and Knowledge Base
API-first extensibility

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Groove

Shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teamsnot Plain
Handling email, chat and messaging support in one queuenot Plain

Plain

Consolidating support from multiple channels into one inboxnot Groove
Automating support workflows with AI agentsnot Groove
Extracting insights and trends from customer conversationsnot Groove
Building custom support solutions with API accessnot Groove
Implementing AI-assisted customer support at scalenot Groove

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Groove

Billed per ticket at $1 rather than per agent, so support cost scales with how many customers get in touch
A minimum of 250 tickets a month applies, which is a $3,000 annual commitment before any usage
A quiet month still pays the 250 ticket floor
No mailbox limit is published

Plain

Foundation plan limited to 2,000 credits per month may be restrictive for high-volume teams
Pricing increases significantly from Foundation to Horizon ($35 to $299 per month)
No published pricing for Frontier (custom) plan
Additional seat costs ($99 per seat) add up for larger teams
Credit-based system requires monitoring usage to avoid overages

Pricing, plan by plan

Groove

$12/month

Standard$12/month
- 1 mailbox
- Knowledge base
- Live chat
Plus$20/month
- 5 mailboxes
- Full reporting
- Rules
Pro$35/month
- 25 mailboxes
- Salesforce
- Enterprise SSO

Plain

$35/month

Foundation$35/month
- 2,000 credits per month
- Slack and email channels
- Ari AI agent
Horizon$299/month
- 15,000 credits per month
- All Foundation features
- Microsoft Teams integration
Frontier$null/custom
- Custom credit allowance
- All Horizon features
- Discord channels

Which should you pick?

Choose Groove if

You need shared inbox.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want knowledge base.

Groove review

Choose Plain if

You need multi-channel consolidation.
You work on Web, API.
You also want ai agents.

Plain review

Questions people ask

Is Groove or Plain better?: Neither clearly leads. Groove starts at $12/month and Plain at $35/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Groove or Plain?: Groove starts at $12/month and Plain at $35/month.
Does Groove or Plain run on more platforms?: Groove runs on Web, Ios, Android. Plain runs on Web, API.
What is Groove best used for?: Groove is most often used for shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teams, handling email, chat and messaging support in one queue. Of those, shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teams and handling email, chat and messaging support in one queue are not what Plain is typically brought in for.
What can Groove do that Plain cannot?: Groove covers Shared inbox, Knowledge base, Live chat, Automation rules. Plain covers Multi-channel consolidation, AI agents, Workflow automation, Sidekick assistant.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Groove: How is Helply priced?

Helply uses per-ticket pricing at 1 dollar per ticket. This single price covers all features including resolutions, drafts, churn alerts, upsell flags, feature requests, and documentation.

Source

Plain: What is included in the Foundation plan?

The Foundation plan ($35/month per seat) includes 2,000 credits per month, support for Slack and email, Ari AI agent, Linear and Jira integrations, and Help Center access. Up to 5 seats are included.

Source

Groove: Do I need to pay per team member for Helply?

No, Helply charges per ticket, not per seat. You can bring your entire team, AEs, PMs, and integrations without additional per-person charges.

Source

Plain: Can I use Plain with Microsoft Teams?

Yes, Microsoft Teams integration is available on the Horizon plan ($299/month) and higher.

Source

Groove: What's included in Helply's per-ticket price?

The per-ticket price of 1 dollar includes resolutions, drafts, churn alerts, upsell flags, feature requests, documentation, and all AI capabilities with no separate add-on charges.

Source

Plain: Is there a free trial for Plain?

Yes, Plain offers a 7-day free trial with no credit card required. You can also get 50% discount through their startup program.

Source

Groove: Is there a free trial for Helply?

Helply offers a free 12-minute demo walkthrough. Enterprise plans are also available for larger organizations.

Source

Groove vs Plain

Groove

Plain

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Groove

Only in Plain

What people use each for

Groove

Plain

Where each one falls short

Groove

Plain

Pricing, plan by plan

Groove

Plain

Which should you pick?

Choose Groove if

Choose Plain if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Groove

More on Plain

Keep looking

Other head to heads