Help Scout vs Textline
Two customer support tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.
Short version
Help Scout fits agency or studio, online store.
Textline fits trades or contractor.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| In one line | Shared inbox that feels like email, plus a help center | Shared inbox for business texting, priced by quote |
| Starting price | From $25/person | Price by quote |
| Six-person team | $150/mo | Price by quote |
| Plans | Free (5 users, 100 contacts/mo); Standard $25/user/mo; Plus $45/user/mo; Pro $75/user/mo; 16% off annual | No prices published; quoted by plan, agents and message credits. Essentials: 3 agents, at least 600 message credits/mo. Pro: 5 agents, at least 2,000 credits, Salesforce integration, priority support, customer success manager. Enterprise: custom. Add-on credits 3¢ each, bought ahead once per billing cycle; backup credits 4¢ each, auto-bought in blocks of at least 250; an MMS uses 3 credits. Local 10DLC numbers add a $15/mo campaign fee; toll-free numbers have none. Monthly or annual billing. Free account to start, no card |
| Pricing model | Free tier | Paid |
| Free trial | 15 days | — |
| Users | Per user; 5 on free | 3 agents on Essentials; 5 on Pro |
| Integrations | Shopify, HubSpot, Slack, Jira, 100+ | Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Help Scout, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Aircall, Slack, Zapier |
| Team size | 2–10 people · 11–50 people | 2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people |
| Available in | US · UK · CA · AU | US · CA |
| Phone support | None listed | Plans not stated |
| Live chat | None listed | None listed |
| Support hours | Not published | Not published |
| 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 | 2 incidents posted on Textline's status page in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by Textline. Status page |
| Capterra score | 4.6 / 5 from 226 reviews | Not listed |
| Trustpilot score | 3.0 / 5 from 40 reviews | Not listed |
| Fit: Retail shop | 60 | 55 |
| Fit: Restaurant or café | 40 | 40 |
| Fit: Service business | 80 | 80 |
| Fit: Agency or studio | 75 | 50 |
| Fit: Trades or contractor | 55 | 75 |
| Fit: Online store | 90 | 65 |
| Why people pick it |
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| Where it falls short |
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| Visit Help Scout | Visit Textline |
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 Textline: partner links. We may earn a commission; it never affects rankings.
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