# HelpDesk review (2026): is it worth $19 a month per user, billed yearly?

> Ticketing with an AI agent for email, chat, Messenger and SMS

Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA.

HelpDesk is a ticketing system from Text, Inc. that collects email, website chat, Messenger and SMS into one inbox. Every plan includes an AI Agent that answers customers and an AI Copilot that helps agents write replies. Pricing is per user, with a monthly allowance of AI resolutions.

- **Category:** Help Desks & Live Chat
- **Made by:** Text, Inc.
- **Website:** https://www.helpdesk.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you lean on the AI: 10 resolutions a month on Essential, 200 on Growth, and extra 50-packs cost $49.50.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 12, 2026, HelpDesk is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $19 per user / month, billed yearly ($25 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Essential | $19 per user / month, billed yearly ($25 billed monthly) | Inbox and tickets, 3 ticketing rules, 1 AI Agent with 10 AI resolutions a month, and AI Copilot with 5 reply suggestions per user a month. |
| Growth | $79 per user / month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly) | 20 custom fields, 10 ticketing rules, up to 10 teams, 10 AI Agents with 200 AI resolutions a month, ticket summaries, chat supervision and 30 proactive campaigns. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom AI Agents, multiple brands, custom roles, SSO and audit logs, HIPAA compliance and a dedicated account manager. Sold through sales. |

Read from https://www.helpdesk.com/pricing/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with HelpDesk before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save up to 24% by billing yearly** (Annual discount): The pricing page shows yearly billing at $19 and $79 per user against $25 and $99 billed monthly, and says paying yearly saves up to 24%. Source: https://www.helpdesk.com/pricing/

## Key features

- **One inbox for four channels:** Email, website chat, Messenger and SMS land in the same inbox as tickets, with statuses, priorities and automated assignment.
- **AI Agent:** An AI Agent runs conversations using the knowledge, tone and skills you give it. One resolution is counted when it directly solves a customer question.
- **AI Copilot for agents:** Reply suggestions and AI text edits for human agents, plus ticket summaries, tag suggestions and similar-ticket suggestions on higher plans.
- **Selling through Shopify:** Every plan lists selling through Shopify, and the pricing page describes an AI sales skill with a live Shopify catalog and cart recovery campaigns.
- **Rules and routing:** Ticketing rules and automated assignment sort incoming tickets, with 3 rules on Essential and 10 on Growth.
- **Teams and reports:** Growth adds up to 10 teams, chat supervision and takeover, agent activity and performance reports.

## Good for

- Small ecommerce teams on Shopify that want support and sales in one inbox
- Teams that want an AI agent bundled into a per-user help desk
- Support teams that mix email, chat, Messenger and SMS

## Worth knowing

- AI resolutions are capped: 10 a month on Essential and 200 on Growth. Extra packs of 50 resolutions cost $49.50.
- There is no free plan; the 14-day trial is the only free access.
- Per-user pricing means Growth costs $79 per user / month when billed yearly, $99 billed monthly.
- The pages describe a browser-based product and list no desktop or phone apps; the chat widget can be embedded in your own mobile app.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. HelpDesk collects email, website chat, Messenger and SMS into one ticket inbox, with an AI Agent and a Copilot on every plan. The AI allowance is small on the cheap plan, at 10 resolutions a month, and the features most teams grow into sit on Growth at $79 a user.

- **Value for money: B.** $19 per user a month billed yearly is at the edge of the cheapest quarter ($19). Growth is $79 a user, and that is where the 20 custom fields and 10 teams are.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A 14-day trial with no credit card. There is no free plan.
- **Features: C.** Email, chat, Messenger and SMS in one inbox, with an AI Agent and Copilot. Essential has 3 ticketing rules and 10 AI resolutions a month, which is the gap.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record, and rules, teams and the AI Agent need setting up before they help.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with 8 listed integrations. The chat widget can be embedded in your own mobile app, but there are no phone or desktop apps.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from HelpDesk's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among help desk and live chat tools

- HelpDesk's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 36 of the 66 other help desk and live chat tools we grade, and level with 12.
- It stands best on value for money (B, above 44 of 66) and worst on features (C, above 3).
- Its paid plans start at $19 a month for each person, against a middle price of $29 for the category: 14 of the 57 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 7 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/customer-support

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace HelpDesk you would be making one mailbox that several people work at once. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $228 a year.

- You could make: Help desk: an app builder makes this well.
- You could not: One mailbox that several people work at once.
- You could not: An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles.
- You could not: Texts to thousands of numbers, registered with the carriers.
- You could not: A chat box on your site that reaches you the moment a customer types.
- You could not: A chatbot builder hooked into the messaging apps.
- You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Shopify, Webflow and HubSpot among them.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Shopify, Webflow, HubSpot, Slack, WordPress, WooCommerce, Salesforce, Klaviyo

**Tags:** Help desk, Shared inbox, Live chat, AI support agent, Chatbots, SMS marketing

## Alternatives

- [Zendesk](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zendesk): Ticketing, messaging, help center and AI agents for support teams. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/helpdesk-vs-zendesk)
- [Freshdesk](https://toolgpa.com/tools/freshdesk): Email ticketing help desk with a knowledge base and AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshdesk-vs-helpdesk)
- [Text by LiveChat](https://toolgpa.com/tools/livechat): Website chat, ticketing and an AI agent from the LiveChat team. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/helpdesk-vs-livechat)
- [Tidio](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tidio): Live chat, ticketing and the Lyro AI agent priced by conversations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/helpdesk-vs-tidio)
- [Gorgias](https://toolgpa.com/tools/gorgias): Ecommerce help desk priced by tickets, with a paid-per-use AI agent. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/gorgias-vs-helpdesk)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026:

- https://www.helpdesk.com/pricing/
- https://www.helpdesk.com/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/helpdesk
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).