The HelpDocs Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about HelpDocs in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
HelpDocs
The Insider’s Guide
Hosted knowledge base software priced by editor, not by reader
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among docs and wiki tools, read from HelpDocs’s own pages.
Made by HelpDocs Ltd. · checked Oct 6, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from HelpDocs’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on HelpDocs’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 6, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.2
GPA, above 4 of the 51 other docs and wiki tools we grade
HelpDocs is hosted knowledge base software for customer self-service, internal team documentation and AI assistants. Teams write and organize articles in its editor, publish them on their own domain with ready-made templates, and deliver answers through the Lighthouse in-app widget, Slack and an MCP server. Plans are priced by the number of editors, readers are unlimited, and every plan includes a monthly allowance of HelpDocs AI credits.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about HelpDocs, taken from its own pages and our grades.
- 1
Best for a customer help centre without a sales call
Small teams on a tight budget should look elsewhere.
- 2
Paid plans start at $99 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $99 per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly).
- 3
You can try it first
14-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required
- 4
It runs on Web
Web, with a browser extension too.
- 5
Editor with reusable content
Clips are reusable blocks that update in every article they sit in, and Variables store a value such as a product name once so a change reaches every mention.
- 6
HelpDocs AI
AI credits pay for drafting and rewriting articles, generating meta descriptions, alt text and search tags, and Ask AI answers. Bloom adds AI style enforcement.
- 7
Lighthouse widget
An embeddable help widget lets customers find answers from the knowledge base inside a website or product, and is set up without writing code.
- 8
A 2.2 GPA, above 4 of 51
That is against the other docs and wiki tools we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
The plain part of HelpDocs you could make: wiki, templates and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 5 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
HelpDocs at a glance
- Pricing
- Free trial, from $99 per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- 14-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required
- Runs on
- Web, Browser extension
- Made by
- HelpDocs Ltd., since 2016
- Category
- Docs & Wikis
- Our grade
- 2.2 GPA, fair
The report card
Best for a customer help centre without a sales call
HelpDocs is a hosted help center you can buy without talking to anyone: pick a plan, start the trial, publish on your own domain, and pay for editors only. There's no free plan, the lowest-priced plan is $99 a month billed annually for 5 editors and 3 languages, the audit trail and permissions need Bloom at $239, and SSO needs Harvest at $399. Small teams on a tight budget should look elsewhere.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | D | Sprout is $99 a month billed annually, or $129 monthly, where this category's middle is $15 and even its dear quarter starts at $75. Five editors are included, readers are unlimited. The audit trail and permissioning wait on Bloom at $239, SSO on Harvest at $399. |
| Free plan and trial | C | No free plan. Every plan has a 14-day trial that asks for no card, which is the ordinary arrangement, and after that the cheapest way in is $99 a month billed annually. |
| Features | B | It covers the whole help-centre job: reusable Clips and Variables that update everywhere at once, AI drafting and Ask AI answers, the Lighthouse in-app widget, machine or hand translation, a REST API, a Slack app and an MCP server. |
| Ease of use | C | No app rating on record, and there's a site to stand up: a domain to point, templates to fill, articles to write and a widget to embed, with AI credits to keep an eye on. No sales call to sit through, at least. |
| Platforms and integrations | B | A web app with a browser extension, integrations with Slack, Intercom, Front, Crisp, Gorgias and HubSpot, a REST API that returns JSON and an MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT. No phone apps on record. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who HelpDocs is for
- Fits if you want to buy a help center today without a sales call
- Works for products that need help content inside the app, through the Lighthouse widget
Who it is not for
- Skip it if you need a free plan, because after 14 days the lowest-priced plan is $99 a month
- Tight if you publish in many languages on Sprout, which covers 3 and 10 machine translations a month
- Pricey if you need single sign-on, as that only comes with Harvest at $399 a month
- Pricey if you need an audit trail or advanced permissions, which start on Bloom at $239 a month
- Tight if you need more than 25 editors or long analytics: only Harvest adds editors, at $25 each, and Sprout keeps 90 days
Good to know
Good for
- Support teams that want to buy a help center without a sales call
- Products that need help content embedded inside the app
- Early-stage startups, which can apply for 50% off for two years
Worth knowing
- There is no free plan: after the 14-day trial the cheapest plan is $99 a month billed annually, or $129 billed monthly.
- Plans include 5, 15 or 25 editors. Only Harvest lists extra editors, at $25 each per month.
- Sprout is limited to 3 languages and 10 machine translations a month, and has no audit trail, advanced permissioning or SSO.
- Analytics history covers 90 days on Sprout, 180 days on Bloom and 365 days on Harvest.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$99
A month to start
HelpDocs is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $99 per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly).
Five editors are included, readers are unlimited.
Sprout
$99
per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly)
5 editors, 1,000 AI credits a month, 3 languages, unlimited viewers, the Lighthouse widget and custom CSS and JavaScript.
Bloom
$239
per month, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
15 editors and 5,000 AI credits, adding advanced permissioning, an audit trail, embedded SSO (JWT), 20 languages and custom HTML templates.
Harvest
$399
per month, billed annually ($499 billed monthly)
25 editors and 10,000 AI credits, adding SSO with anonymous mode, IP restriction, unlimited languages and 2 additional domains.
Trying it first
14-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required
Read from helpdocs.io on Oct 6, 2026.
Ways to pay less
Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
The pricing page marks annual billing as saving 20%: Sprout is $99 a month instead of $129, Bloom $239 instead of $299 and Harvest $399 instead of $499.
Stated on helpdocs.ioStartups
Greenhouse: 50% off for two years
Startups under 3 years old with 5 or fewer employees can apply for 50% off Sprout, Bloom or Harvest for 24 months, plus 3,000 bonus AI credits.
Stated on helpdocs.io
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
2
Places it runs: Web and Browser extension
Hosted knowledge base software priced by editor, not by reader. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: public API, AI features, wiki, templates, reports.
- Editor with reusable content
- Clips are reusable blocks that update in every article they sit in, and Variables store a value such as a product name once so a change reaches every mention.
- HelpDocs AI
- AI credits pay for drafting and rewriting articles, generating meta descriptions, alt text and search tags, and Ask AI answers. Bloom adds AI style enforcement.
- Lighthouse widget
- An embeddable help widget lets customers find answers from the knowledge base inside a website or product, and is set up without writing code.
- Connections to AI tools and Slack
- An MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other clients to the knowledge base, a Slack app brings articles into a workspace, and a REST API returns JSON.
- Multilingual knowledge bases
- Articles are translated by machine or by hand. Sprout covers 3 languages, Bloom 20 and Harvest unlimited, each with a monthly allowance of machine translations.
- Permissions and governance
- Advanced permissioning and an audit trail start on Bloom. Single sign-on, IP restriction and custom HTTP headers come with Harvest.
Where it runs
- Web
- Browser extension
What it works with
- Slack
- Intercom
- Front
- Crisp
- Gorgias
- HubSpot Service Hub
- Claude
- ChatGPT
HelpDocs is made by HelpDocs Ltd., and has been around since 2016.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
4/51
Other docs and wiki tools it is graded above
HelpDocs's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 4 of the 51 other docs and wiki tools we grade, and level with 8.
It stands best on features (B, above 21 of 51) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).
Its paid plans start at $99 a month, against a middle price of $16.50 for the category: 36 of the 41 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 11 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 52 docs and wiki tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. HelpDocs’s own letter is outlined.
- DValue for moneyAbove 0 of 51
- CFree plan and trialAbove 4 of 51
- BFeaturesAbove 21 of 51
- CEase of useAbove 9 of 51
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 10 of 51
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 47 docs and wiki tools. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. HelpDocs is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
The plain part of HelpDocs you could make: wiki, templates and reports. What surrounds it you could not. The 5 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 39 of the 51 other docs and wiki tools grade higher. It costs $1,188 a year.
What you could make
- Wiki, templates and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- It plugs into other products, Slack, Intercom and Front among them, and has an API.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
- What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on and roles and permissions.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. HelpDocs’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Helpjuice, Document360, KnowledgeOwl, ProProfs Knowledge Base and Archbee
The 5 tools HelpDocs is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.2GPA
Helpjuice
Free trial · from $249/mo
Hosted knowledge base software with a design built for you.
- HelpDocs also covers templates.
- Helpjuice also covers chat assistant and AI search.
- 2.2GPA
Document360
Free trial
Hosted knowledge base software for public and private docs.
- HelpDocs also covers reports.
- Document360 also covers AI search and Markdown.
- 2.2GPA
KnowledgeOwl
Free trial · from $100/mo
Knowledge base software with unlimited readers on every plan.
- Only HelpDocs lists a browser extension.
- HelpDocs also covers templates.
- KnowledgeOwl also covers chat assistant and AI search.
- 2.4GPA
ProProfs Knowledge Base
Free plan · from $49/mo
Knowledge base software for help centers and internal wikis.
- ProProfs Knowledge Base has a free plan. HelpDocs does not, though it has a free trial.
- ProProfs Knowledge Base also covers AI search.
- 2.2GPA
Archbee
Free trial · from $80/mo
Documentation platform for public and internal knowledge portals.
- Only HelpDocs lists a browser extension.
- Only Archbee lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps.
- HelpDocs also covers wiki, templates and reports.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
14
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is HelpDocs free?
No, HelpDocs is a paid product, but you can try it first. 14-day free trial on every plan, no credit card required.
How much does HelpDocs cost?
HelpDocs lists 3 plans. Sprout: $99 per month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly).
What platforms does HelpDocs work on?
HelpDocs is available on Web. It also has a browser extension.
Does HelpDocs offer any discounts?
HelpDocs publicly lists the following: Save 20% with annual billing; Greenhouse: 50% off for two years.
Does HelpDocs have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 6, 2026. HelpDocs is listed for Web.
Does HelpDocs have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 6, 2026. HelpDocs is listed for Web.
Is HelpDocs open source?
HelpDocs is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 6, 2026.
Does HelpDocs have an API?
Yes. HelpDocs offers a public API, according to its own site.
What does HelpDocs integrate with?
HelpDocs's listing names Slack, Intercom, Front, Crisp, Gorgias, HubSpot Service Hub, Claude and ChatGPT.
Who makes HelpDocs?
HelpDocs is made by HelpDocs Ltd. It dates from 2016.
What are the alternatives to HelpDocs?
The closest alternatives to HelpDocs in our directory are Helpjuice, Document360, KnowledgeOwl, ProProfs Knowledge Base and Archbee.
How does HelpDocs compare with other docs and wiki tools?
HelpDocs's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 4 of the 51 other docs and wiki tools we grade, and level with 8.
Is HelpDocs good value for money?
ToolGPA grades HelpDocs D for value for money. Its paid plans start at $99 a month, against a middle price of $16.50 for the category: 36 of the 41 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of HelpDocs?
The plain part of HelpDocs you could make: wiki, templates and reports.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from HelpDocs’s own pages on Oct 6, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from HelpDocs's own pages on 6 October 2026. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-03-17.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by HelpDocs Ltd. Prices change, so check helpdocs.io before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- HelpDocs, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/helpdocs
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "HelpDocs: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 6, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/helpdocs
Know someone choosing between docs and wiki tools?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/helpdocs/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
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- ONLYOFFICE Insider's GuideOpen-source office suite for documents, sheets, slides and PDFs3.4 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what HelpDocs’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. HelpDocs is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by HelpDocs Ltd. Prices and plans change: check helpdocs.io before you buy.