Help Scout pricing starts with a free plan for 5 users. Paid plans cost $25 (Standard), $45 (Plus) and $75 (Pro) per user a month billed annually, or $30, $54 and $90 billed monthly (Help Scout pricing, checked October 3, 2026). AI Answers, Help Scout’s AI agent, costs $0.75 per resolution on top.
This guide covers what each plan includes, the user limits, how AI Answers is billed, the add-ons, the discounts and what three example teams pay. All prices are USD list prices from Help Scout’s own pages, as of October 2026. If you are comparing tools, the Gleap and Help Scout comparison and Gleap pricing cover the other side.
Help Scout plans and prices
| Plan | Per user per month, billed annually | Billed monthly | Users | Inboxes and Docs sites included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Up to 5 | 1 inbox, 1 Docs site |
| Standard | $25 | $30 | Up to 25 | 2 inboxes, 2 Docs sites |
| Plus | $45 | $54 | Up to 50 | 5 inboxes, 3 Docs sites |
| Pro | $75 | $90 | 10 minimum, no cap | 10 inboxes, 5 Docs sites |
Paid plans include unlimited contacts; Help Scout counts a contact as someone who received a reply from your team or had a question resolved by its AI. Plus includes 5 light users and Pro 15, for teammates who view conversations and collaborate without a full seat (up to 25 on Plus and 50 on Pro). Pro also includes preferred pricing for Aircall, the phone integration. Help Scout shows annual billing as 16% off.
What the free plan includes
The free plan is real but small: 5 users, one inbox, one Docs site, 100 contacts a month, 10 saved replies, 10 tags, 10 articles, one Beacon chat widget and 30 days of report history. No credit card is needed.
The 100 contacts a month is the limit most teams reach first. It suits a side project or a very early product, not a team with a steady stream of customers.
How Help Scout charges for AI Answers
AI Answers is Help Scout’s AI agent for customer questions. It costs $0.75 per resolution on every paid plan, with these rules:
- At most one charge per conversation. A conversation is never billed twice.
- No charge if the customer still needs help. When the customer says “I still need help”, the conversation is not billed.
- Spending cap. You can set a monthly cap on AI Answers spend.
- Free trial. New accounts get three months of unlimited AI Answers resolutions free, and prepaid discounts are available.
At list price, 1,000 resolutions a month cost $750. Help Scout publishes its price per resolution, which makes the AI line easier to forecast than vendors that quote it through sales.
Help Scout add-ons
| Add-on | Billed annually | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Extra inbox | $10 a month | $12 a month |
| Extra Docs site | $20 a month | $24 a month |
Teams that run several brands or products usually need extra inboxes or Docs sites before they need a bigger plan.
What a Help Scout team pays
These examples use annual list prices from October 3, 2026, before tax and discounts.
Monthly Help Scout total for three example teams
| Team | Plan and usage | Calculation | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 users, email first | Standard | 5 × $25 | $125 |
| 10 users with AI | Plus + 500 AI Answers resolutions | 10 × $45 + 500 × $0.75 | $825 |
| 25 users at scale | Pro + 1,000 AI Answers resolutions | 25 × $75 + 1,000 × $0.75 | $2,625 |
Two lines grow over time. Users grow with every hire, and Standard tops out at 25 users and Plus at 50. AI Answers grows with automation: every resolution costs $0.75.
Free trial and discounts
Paid plans come with a 15-day free trial on Standard or Plus, with no credit card; the Pro trial goes through Help Scout’s sales team. Non-profits and B Corporations get a 10% lifetime discount, and Help Scout’s for good program offers up to 100% for some missions. Eligible startups get six months free.
When Help Scout is worth the price
Help Scout fits small and mid-sized teams whose support runs through email, with a help center and a chat widget next to it. The interface feels close to email, the free plan lets a tiny team start without paying, and the AI price is published.
It fits less well when many people need occasional access, since every user is a paid seat, or when support questions turn into bug reports and feature requests that need technical context and a link to engineering.
How Help Scout pricing compares with Gleap
Gleap is AI-native customer support for software teams, priced per workspace. As of October 2026, Gleap Free costs $0 with one seat and 50 tickets a month, Team costs $149 a month billed annually ($179 monthly) and Pro $299 ($359 monthly), both with unlimited seats, and Enterprise starts at $999. New workspaces get a 7-day free trial, no credit card required.
| Help Scout | Gleap | |
|---|---|---|
| Price basis | Per user per month | Per workspace, unlimited seats on Team and Pro |
| 10 users, billed annually | $250 on Standard, $450 on Plus | $149 on Team |
| AI agent | AI Answers, $0.75 per resolution | Kai Support, $0.29 per resolution, charged once per conversation it resolves |
| Free AI allowance | Three-month free AI Answers trial | None; hand-offs to your team are free on every plan |
| Free plan | 5 users, 100 contacts a month | 1 seat, 50 tickets a month |
Team and Pro include all of Gleap’s agents. Kai Support answers customers, Kai Specialist investigates hard tickets with screen recordings, console and network logs, account data and your code, billed by the work it does (about $0.49 per investigation on average), Kai Code opens pull requests your team reviews, and Kai Copilot drafts replies at no charge.
The trade-offs are real. Help Scout’s free plan covers five users where Gleap’s covers one, and Help Scout’s email experience is its core strength. Where Gleap differs is product context: in-app bug reporting attaches a marked screenshot, console and network logs and a session replay to each report, and feature requests collect votes on a roadmap. Our list of Help Scout alternatives compares more tools, and Help Scout vs Zendesk covers the most common head-to-head.
