Help Scout vs Missive

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

Missive

• Small teams sharing addresses such as support@ or sales@
• Teams that want to discuss emails internally instead of forwarding them
• Businesses that also talk to customers over SMS, WhatsApp or live chat

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.

Missive

• There is no free plan; once the 30-day trial ends a paid plan is required.
• Starter is limited to 5 users and leaves out integrations, rules, API access, the AI assistant and analytics.
• SAML single sign-on and IP restriction are only available on Business.
• Missive says it offers no discounts for students, nonprofits or schools, and yearly plans are not refundable.

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.

Missive

Shared inboxes and team spaces

Team inboxes sit next to personal accounts, grouped into team spaces. Conversations can be assigned to a person or a team, with controls over who sees what.

Internal discussion in threads

Teammates talk about an email in an internal conversation attached to the thread, so nothing has to be forwarded or CC'd.

Collaborative drafting

Several people can write the same reply together in real time before it is sent.

Rules and automations

Automate repetitive handling such as assigning or tagging with up to 1,000 rules. Rules are available from the Productive plan.

Multi-channel inbox

Email from Gmail, Microsoft 365, iCloud or any IMAP account appears alongside SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and live chat conversations.

AI assistant and integrations

An AI assistant drafts and translates replies and can pull context from connected tools over MCP. It comes with Productive, along with 25+ app integrations and the API.

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.

Missive

• Starter$14

  per user / month, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly)

  Up to 5 users. Email, SMS and social accounts, team spaces and inboxes, conversations and tasks. No rules or integrations.

• Productive$24

  per user / month, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly)

  Up to 50 users. Adds integrations, rules and automations, the AI assistant, basic analytics, and API and MCP access.

• Business$36

  per user / month, billed yearly ($45 billed monthly)

  Unlimited users. Adds SAML single sign-on, IP restriction, advanced analytics and personalized team onboarding.

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.

Missive

• Annual discount

  20% off with yearly billing

  Billed yearly, Starter is $14 per user a month instead of $18, Productive $24 instead of $30 and Business $36 instead of $45. Missive states the yearly saving as 20%.