The best alternatives to Help Scout
Help Scout might not be the right fit: the price, a missing feature or a payment model you don't like. These are the closest alternatives in our catalog, ordered by rating, with the full review of each one.
Why look for a Help Scout alternative
Help Scout has been selling the same thing with conviction since 2011: a shared inbox the customer receives as an ordinary email, with a knowledge base and a chat widget. Its AI agent, AI Answers, resolves chat sessions at $0.75 each, and that is where the limit almost nobody mentions sits, because it works only inside the widget and never touches email. Capterra scores it 4.6 across some 226 reviews with ease of use at 4.7, and the steady complaint is reporting. The $25 the page shows is the annual price: paid monthly it is $30.
What its own users repeat in the August 4, 2026 sweep:
- The AI agent lives only in the website and mobile chat widget: support emails are resolved by nobody but your team (strong theme)
- It bills per resolution, so the invoice climbs the better it works, and the configurable spending cap switches the agent off on reaching it rather than throttling it (strong theme)
- Reporting and analytics fall short, and it is the complaint that repeats most across verified reviews along with an uneven mobile app (strong theme)
- The price the page shows is the annual-commitment one and the toggle arrives set there without saying so, so a budget built on monthly billing falls short (present theme)
- Aggregators still publish the old per-contact model, so comparing prices against those listings means comparing against a product no longer sold (present theme)
Best alternatives to Help Scout
AI chat that resolves your store's repeat questions without a human agent.
Helpdesk with an AI agent for Shopify stores: resolves tickets and issues refunds from the ticket itself.
What the internet says about each alternative
Tidio 3.8/5 · Free + from $24.17
It goes live in an afternoon and the Lyro agent genuinely clears repeat questions, which is what holds up its 4.8 out of 5 across more than twelve hundred Shopify store reviews. What recurs against it is the bill: the cap is counted in billable conversations, Lyro is charged separately from «$32.50» «/mo.», and the entry figure the page shows, «$24.17» «/mo.», is the annual-billing one, because the toggle loads on annual and the monthly price is never printed. Support has got worse too: several 2026 voices say they never get past the automated agent.
Where it wins: Up and running in minutes with no technical team, which is what small businesses repeat most Where it slips: Cost climbs fast with volume: the cap counts billable conversations, so a sales spike gets paid for
Gorgias 3.3/5 · Free trial · from $10
The agent genuinely resolves tickets and there are stores three and five years into paying for it, but the shop window is still the problem: the entry plan card loads with the AI toggle already on, so the headline reads $40 when the helpdesk subscription is $10. What is new this sweep is support, the most repeated complaint of the last six weeks, and that there is now a seven-day free trial with no card.
Where it wins: The AI agent issues refunds and order edits straight from the ticket rather than just answering, and four separate merchants say so in the last six weeks Where it slips: Support is the most repeated and most recent complaint: four separate voices in six weeks say there is no live chat for customers and email replies take up to 48 hours
Comparison table
| Tool | Price | Free trial | Platforms | Rating | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout | Free + from $25 | Yes | Web, iOS, Android | VisitHelp Scout (opens in a new tab) | |
| Tidio | Free + from $24.17 | Yes | Web | VisitTidio (opens in a new tab) | |
| Gorgias | Free trial · from $10 | Yes | Web | VisitGorgias (opens in a new tab) |
Still unsure? Read the full review of Help Scout?