Deskpro vs Help Scout
We give Deskpro a 1.8 GPA and Help Scout a 2.2, out of 4.0. Help Scout grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Help Scout
Shared inbox and help desk with a knowledge base and AI answers
How we grade them
| 1.8GPADeskproWeak | 2.2GPAHelp ScoutFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DTeam is $39 an agent a month billed yearly, where the dearest tenth of help desks starts, and it's sold for at least 5 agents, so the floor is $195 a month even for one person. Deskpro AI needs Professional at $59 with a 10-agent minimum. | DStandard is $25 a user a month billed annually, $30 monthly, which is where the dearest tenth of this category starts and about three times its $8 middle. Plus is $45 and Pro $75 with a 10-user minimum. Extra Inboxes are $10 each and AI Answers $0.75 a resolution. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free. No free plan and no self-serve trial; the site offers a self-guided tour and demos instead, so you pay before your team can work in it. | CFree for up to 5 users, but the caps are ones you'll hit in a week: 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site with 10 articles, 100 contacts a month, 10 saved replies and no AI tools. The 15-day trial of Standard or Plus needs no card. |
| Features | BTickets from email, chat, phone, forms, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, Slack and Teams, a help center with a community, 150+ reports, AI on Professional and a self-hosted edition. It covers the whole job. | BEmail, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in one workspace with assignment, tags and internal notes, plus a hosted help centre, the Beacon widget, workflows, routing and reports. The support-inbox job is covered, though phone and voice only work through an integration. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It's a big system, with queues, SLAs, help centers and brands to set up, and the site steers you to demos rather than letting you start alone. | C4.2 from about 320 App Store ratings, which is on the low side for this category. That's the iPhone and iPad app rather than the whole service, and there are inboxes, Docs sites, workflows and routing rules to lay out first. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone and Android, with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, HubSpot, Zapier, GitHub, Aircall and Asana, and an API. No desktop app, so it stops at a B. | BWeb with iPhone and Android apps but no desktop app, and a long connections list: Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Linear, Shopify, Slack, Aircall and Zapier, with a public API. Phone and voice only arrive through one of those integrations. |
| Best for | teams that must host support data themselves | support teams leaving a shared Gmail mailbox |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Deskpro and Help Scout. How we grade
Where they differ
- Deskpro starts at $39 per agent / month, billed annually (minimum 5 agents). Help Scout starts at $25 per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly).
- Help Scout has a free plan. Deskpro does not.
- Deskpro is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Deskpro also covers help desk, live chat, help center and AI support agent.
- Help Scout also covers shared inbox, workflow automation, AI agents and reports.
At a glance
| Deskpro | Help Scout | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $39 per agent / month, billed annually (minimum 5 agents) | $25 per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Up to 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site with 10 articles, 100 contacts per month, 10 saved replies and 30 days of report history. No AI tools are included. |
| Free trial | None listed | 15-day free trial of Standard or Plus, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Deskpro Inc. | Help Scout |
| Price read from | deskpro.com | helpscout.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Deskpro
- Organizations that must keep support data on their own servers
- Public sector, healthcare and education support teams
- IT and HR service desks as well as customer support
Help Scout
- Support teams moving off a shared Gmail or Outlook mailbox
- Small teams: the Free plan covers up to 5 users
- Companies that want a help center and live chat alongside email
- Non-profits and early-stage startups that qualify for its discounts
Worth knowing
Deskpro
- Every plan has a seat minimum: 5 agents on Team, 10 on Professional and 25 on Enterprise.
- Deskpro AI, the AI chatbot and removing Deskpro branding need Professional or higher.
- No free plan or self-serve trial is offered; the site points to a self-guided tour and demos instead.
- The self-hosted Deskpro Private edition has no published price.
Help Scout
- The Free plan is limited to 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts a month, and includes no AI tools.
- AI Answers is billed separately at $0.75 per resolution once its 3-month free trial ends.
- Pro has a 10-user minimum, and trying Pro means talking to the sales team.
- Extra Inboxes cost $10 a month each on annual billing ($12 monthly) and extra Docs sites $20 ($24 monthly). Phone and voice work only through an integration.
Key features
Deskpro
- Tickets from every channel
- Email, chat, phone, contact forms, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, Slack and Microsoft Teams arrive as tickets in shared queues with SLAs.
- Help center
- A branded portal with a knowledge base, guides, news and a community, with 3, 10 or unlimited brand help centers by plan.
- Deskpro AI
- Ticket summaries, draft replies, intent and sentiment detection, tone and grammar help, and an AI chatbot, from the Professional plan.
- Self-hosted edition
- Deskpro Private runs on-premise or in a private cloud, with Private AI from Professional and clustering on Enterprise.
- Reports and dashboards
- More than 150 built-in reports, custom reports and dashboards, satisfaction surveys and data export.
- Choice of data center
- Cloud accounts are hosted in the US, UK or EU; Enterprise can pay for any of 22 AWS regions.
Help Scout
- Shared Inbox
- Email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger conversations arrive in one shared workspace, where they can be assigned, tagged, snoozed and discussed in internal notes.
- Docs knowledge base
- Docs sites publish a searchable, branded help center. The Free plan includes 1 site with 10 articles, and paid plans allow unlimited articles.
- Beacon help widget
- An embeddable widget that offers suggested help articles, a contact form and live chat on any website page or inside an app.
- Workflows and routing
- Workflows organize, assign or reply to conversations automatically: 150 basic on Standard, 500 advanced on Plus and unlimited on Pro. Round robin routing starts on Plus.
- AI Answers and AI Drafts
- AI Answers replies to customers from knowledge base content at $0.75 per resolution. AI Drafts suggests replies based on past conversations on Plus and Pro.
- Reports
- Pre-built reports cover volume, responses and customer happiness for each channel, with 30 days of history on Free, 2 years on Standard and all-time history on Plus and Pro.
Plans
Deskpro
Team$39
per agent / month, billed annually
Sold for at least 5 agents. Unified inbox for every channel, a self-service help center, a chatbot, apps and integrations, mobile apps and reports.
Professional$59
per agent / month, billed annually
Sold for at least 10 agents. Adds Deskpro AI, an AI chatbot, lite agents, several brands, branding removal, advanced call controls and CRM sync.
Enterprise$99
per agent / month, billed annually
Sold for at least 25 agents. Adds a sandbox, HIPAA-compliant hosting, security reviews, health checks, custom contracts and an account manager.
Deskpro PrivateCustom
Self-hosted on your own servers or private cloud, in Team, Professional, Enterprise and VPC editions from 10 agent licenses. Priced on request.
Help Scout
Free$0
Up to 5 users, 1 shared email Inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts per month, with limited saved replies and no AI tools.
Standard$25
per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
Up to 25 users and 2 Inboxes, with live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, 1 basic SLA policy, 150 basic workflows and AI Assist.
Plus$45
per user / month, billed annually ($54 billed monthly)
Up to 50 users and 5 Inboxes, with 500 advanced workflows, unlimited AI Drafts, round robin routing, a customer portal, and Salesforce, Jira and HubSpot.
Pro$75
per user / month, billed annually ($90 billed monthly)
Unlimited users with a 10-user minimum and 10 Inboxes, plus unlimited workflows and SLA policies, SSO/SAML, HIPAA compliance and an account manager.
Ways to pay less
Deskpro
- Nonprofit
Non-profit and education discounts on request
Deskpro's pricing page says volume, non-profit and educational discounts are available, with details from its sales team.
Help Scout
- Annual discount
16% off with annual billing
The pricing page shows a 16% discount for annual billing: Standard is $25 per user a month against $30 billed monthly, Plus $45 against $54 and Pro $75 against $90.
- Nonprofit
10% lifetime discount for non-profits and B Corps
Help Scout for Good gives non-profits and B Corporations a 10% lifetime discount on application, and up to 100% off for groups working on human rights, sustainability or representation in tech.
- Startups
6 months free for early-stage startups
New customers that are incorporated tech startups less than two years old with under $1 million in annual recurring revenue can apply for six months of the Plus plan and AI Answers at no charge.
