Help Scout vs Freshdesk
Two customer support tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.
Short version
Freshdesk costs less for a six-person team.
Help Scout: Simple for the team.
| Compare | Help ScoutHelp Scout | FreshdeskFreshworks |
|---|---|---|
| In one line | Shared inbox that feels like email, plus a help center | Ticketing, a help center, and automations for small support teams |
| Starting price | From $25/person | From $19/person |
| Six-person team | $150/mo | $114/mo |
| Plans | Free (5 users, 100 contacts/mo); Standard $25/user/mo; Plus $45/user/mo; Pro $75/user/mo; 16% off annual | Growth $19/agent/mo; Pro $55/agent/mo; Enterprise $89/agent/mo, billed annually |
| Pricing model | Free tier | Free trial |
| Free trial | 15 days | 14 days |
| Users | Per user; 5 on free | Per agent |
| Integrations | Shopify, HubSpot, Slack, Jira, 100+ | Shopify, Slack, Jira, WhatsApp, 1,000+ marketplace apps |
| Team size | 2–10 people · 11–50 people | 2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people |
| Available in | US · UK · CA · AU | US · UK · CA · AU |
| Phone support | None listed | Plans not stated |
| Live chat | None listed | Every paid plan |
| Support hours | Not published | Live chat: 24/7 for urgent inquiries; real-time chat 24/5 |
| Incidents posted | 6 incidents posted on Help Scout's status page in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by Help Scout. Status page | Freshworks has a public status page. Status page |
| Capterra score | 4.6 / 5 from 226 reviews | 4.5 / 5 from 3,491 reviews |
| Trustpilot score | 3.0 / 5 from 40 reviews | Not listed |
| Fit: Retail shop | 60 | 60 |
| Fit: Restaurant or café | 40 | 35 |
| Fit: Service business | 80 | 80 |
| Fit: Agency or studio | 75 | 70 |
| Fit: Trades or contractor | 55 | 55 |
| Fit: Online store | 90 | 85 |
| Why people pick it |
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| Where it falls short |
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| Visit Help Scout | Visit Freshdesk |
Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices
Help Scout and Freshdesk: partner links. We may earn a commission; it never affects rankings.
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