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Software · head to head

Help Scout vs Jira Service Management

Help Scout logo

Help Scout

Software

Customer service software that people love

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Jira Service Management logo

Jira Service Management

Software

High-velocity service management

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Help Scout the free plan caps contacts at 100 a month, so it is a volume trial rather than a standing free tier; Jira Service Management the vendor's own pricing page as captured by the Internet Archive on 28 December 2021 named four tiers, Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise; the Free tier caps at 3 agents per site with one site, five major incidents per month, and unlimited alerts capped at 100 emails and 200 SMS per day, while Standard, Premium, and Enterprise each cap at 5,000 agents per site, with Enterprise adding unlimited sites and requiring a Confluence subscription for some features; per-figure dollar pricing was not shown on this capture, only per-agent pricing structure
  • They diverge on capability: Help Scout covers Shared inbox, Jira Service Management covers Incident management.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Help Scout and Jira Service Management actually diverge.

Attributes where Help Scout and Jira Service Management differ
AttributeHelp ScoutJira Service Management
Founded20112002

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (subscription), free tier (Yes), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Help Scout

  • Shared inbox
  • Knowledge base
  • Live chat
  • Customer profiles
  • Workflows
  • Reporting
  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot

Only in Jira Service Management

  • Incident management
  • Change management
  • Problem management
  • Asset management
  • Knowledge management
  • SLAs
  • Jira Software
  • Confluence

Both cover

  • Slack
  • SOC2
  • GDPR
  • Web support
  • Ios support
  • Android support

What people use each for

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

Help Scout

  • Shared inbox and help desk for customer support teamsnot Jira Service Management
  • Publishing a knowledge base alongside email and chat supportnot Jira Service Management

Jira Service Management

  • IT service managementnot Help Scout
  • Incident responsenot Help Scout
  • Change managementnot Help Scout
  • Asset trackingnot Help Scout

Where each one falls short

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

Help Scout

  • The free plan caps contacts at 100 a month, so it is a volume trial rather than a standing free tier
  • Inboxes are rationed by plan, at 1 on free, 5 on Plus and 10 on Pro
  • Each plan also caps users, at 25 on Standard and 50 on Plus
  • The Pro plan at $75 per user per month carries a 10 user minimum, so the entry cost is $750 a month
  • SSO, SAML and HIPAA compliance are Pro only
  • AI Answers is billed separately at $0.75 per resolution on top of the seat price

Jira Service Management

  • The vendor's own pricing page as captured by the Internet Archive on 28 December 2021 named four tiers, Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise; the Free tier caps at 3 agents per site with one site, five major incidents per month, and unlimited alerts capped at 100 emails and 200 SMS per day, while Standard, Premium, and Enterprise each cap at 5,000 agents per site, with Enterprise adding unlimited sites and requiring a Confluence subscription for some features; per-figure dollar pricing was not shown on this capture, only per-agent pricing structure

Pricing, plan by plan

Help Scout

Free
  • Standard$20/month
    • 2 mailboxes
    • 1 Docs site
    • Email & live chat
  • Plus$40/month
    • 5 mailboxes
    • Custom fields
    • Advanced permissions
  • Pro$65/month
    • 25 mailboxes
    • Enterprise security
    • HIPAA compliance

Jira Service Management

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 3 agents
    • Ticket management
    • Knowledge base
  • Standard$20/month
    • Unlimited customers
    • 250 agents
    • 20 GB storage
  • Premium$45/month
    • Advanced incident management
    • Asset management
    • Change management
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Unlimited sites
    • 24/7 support
    • Data residency

Which should you pick?

Choose Help Scout if

  • You need shared inbox.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want knowledge base.
Help Scout review

Choose Jira Service Management if

  • You need incident management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want change management.
Jira Service Management review

Questions people ask

Is Help Scout or Jira Service Management better?
Neither clearly leads. Help Scout starts at Free and Jira Service Management at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Help Scout or Jira Service Management?
Help Scout starts at Free and Jira Service Management at Free.
Does Help Scout or Jira Service Management run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Help Scout for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Help Scout best used for?
Help Scout is most often used for shared inbox and help desk for customer support teams, publishing a knowledge base alongside email and chat support. Of those, shared inbox and help desk for customer support teams and publishing a knowledge base alongside email and chat support are not what Jira Service Management is typically brought in for.
What can Help Scout do that Jira Service Management cannot?
Help Scout covers Shared inbox, Knowledge base, Live chat, Customer profiles. Jira Service Management covers Incident management, Change management, Problem management, Asset management. Both handle Slack, SOC2, GDPR, Web support.
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Related pages

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