Help Scout Pricing 2026: Free, Standard, Plus, Pro & AI

Help Scout pricing starts with a permanent Free plan for five users, then moves to Standard at $25, Plus at $45 and Pro at $75 per user/month on annual billing.

Free: $0

Help Scout's Free plan is permanent and supports up to five users.

It includes one Inbox, one Docs site, one Beacon, 100 contacts per month, 10 saved replies, 10 tags and limited reporting history.

Free plan economics

The Free plan can work well for a small founder-led or early support team.

The 100-contact monthly limit is the most important capacity constraint, so a company can outgrow Free even when it has fewer than five users.

Standard: $25

Standard is $25 per user/month on the current annual-billing view and supports up to 25 users.

It adds multiple Inboxes, live chat and messaging channels, multiple knowledge bases, one basic SLA, workflows, unlimited tags/saved replies and broader integrations.

Plus: $45

Plus costs $45 per user/month annually and supports up to 50 users.

It adds advanced workflows, advanced SLA policies, secure customer portal, unlimited AI Drafts, round-robin routing and deeper Salesforce, Jira and HubSpot integrations.

Pro: $75

Pro costs $75 per user/month annually and requires at least 10 users.

It adds unlimited workflows and SLA policies, multiple routing types, SSO/SAML, HIPAA compliance, more light users, dedicated onboarding and strategic account support.

Pro minimum-cost implication

Because Pro requires at least ten users, the minimum annual-equivalent seat spend is $9,000 before taxes and add-ons.

A seven-person team that needs one Pro-only security feature therefore cannot model only seven Pro seats.

15-day software trial

Standard and Plus currently offer a 15-day free trial with no credit card required.

The trial should be used to test real Inbox structure, workflows, reports, SLAs and integrations before annual commitment.

AI Answers: $0.75

AI Answers is currently priced at $0.75 for each conversation that is resolved autonomously without human assistance.

Help Scout charges only one resolution per conversation even when AI Answers replies to multiple questions inside that conversation.

3-month AI Answers trial

New accounts receive three months of free unlimited AI Answers resolutions.

This is a strong measurement period for estimating resolution rate, knowledge gaps and long-term AI spend.

AI resolution spending caps

Help Scout lets administrators set a monthly cap on AI Answers resolutions.

Once the cap is reached, AI Answers can be disabled for the rest of the billing cycle, providing predictable spend control.

Pre-paid AI discounts

Help Scout says pre-paid AI Answers discounts are available.

High-volume customers should compare committed pricing with pay-as-you-go $0.75 resolution economics after they have measured real production volume.

Extra Inboxes: $10 annual billing

Additional Inboxes cost $10 per month when paid annually or $12 per month under monthly billing.

Multi-brand and departmental support teams should include Inbox count in TCO because Standard, Plus and Pro have different included Inbox allowances.

Extra Docs sites: $20 annual billing

Additional Docs sites cost $20 per site/month when paid annually or $24 monthly.

Organizations maintaining separate product, brand or restricted help centers should model this as a recurring cost.

Light users

Plus and Pro support light users for teammates who need visibility and collaboration without full agent capability.

Using light users appropriately can reduce paid-seat growth when engineering, product or leadership only needs occasional access.

Standard 10-user example

Ten Standard users at $25 equal $250 per month equivalent or $3,000 per year before add-ons.

The same team should add expected extra Inboxes, Docs sites and AI resolutions to estimate real support-platform cost.

Plus 10-user example

Ten Plus users at $45 equal $450 per month equivalent or $5,400 per year.

Unlimited AI Drafts are included, but autonomous AI Answers remains separately usage-priced.

Pro 10-user minimum example

Ten Pro users at $75 equal $750 per month equivalent or $9,000 per year.

This is the minimum Pro seat commitment before extra Inboxes, Docs sites, AI Answers or other add-ons.

Standard 25-user example

Twenty-five Standard users equal $7,500 per year at the current annual-billing rate.

Standard reaches its full-user ceiling at 25, so additional growth can make Plus or plan redesign necessary.

Plus 25-user example

Twenty-five Plus users cost $13,500 per year.

This should be compared with the value of advanced routing, workflows, integrations, customer portal and AI Drafts rather than Standard's lower seat rate.

Plus 50-user example

Fifty Plus users cost $27,000 per year at $45 per user/month annual-equivalent.

At this scale, Pro's unlimited user ceiling and added security/governance may become more relevant despite the higher $75 rate.

AI Answers 1,000-resolution example

One thousand paid AI-resolved conversations cost $750 at the standard $0.75 per-resolution rate.

Organizations should compare that cost with the human handling time avoided, not simply with the seat subscription.

AI Answers 5,000-resolution example

Five thousand paid AI resolutions cost $3,750 at the standard usage rate before any negotiated pre-paid discount.

A successful AI program can therefore create meaningful variable cost even while reducing human ticket volume.

Reporting tier tradeoff

Reporting history and custom-reporting capability increase by plan.

Teams that need advanced operational analytics should test whether Standard is sufficient before selecting it solely on price.

Routing tier tradeoff

Plus adds round-robin routing and Pro offers broader routing options.

Complex queues can make routing capability the feature that determines plan choice rather than channel count.

Security tier tradeoff

Pro includes SSO/SAML and HIPAA capabilities, while some security functions can be add-ons on lower plans.

Regulated buyers should price the exact identity, healthcare and network-access requirements rather than assume Standard or Plus will be sufficient.

Integration tier tradeoff

Help Scout advertises 100+ apps, but plan access varies and deeper Salesforce/Jira/HubSpot integrations sit higher in the plan ladder.

Third-party subscriptions can also create separate costs.

API limits

Paid-plan API limits currently rise by tier, with Standard, Plus and Pro offering progressively higher call rates.

Integration-heavy businesses should include API capacity in the plan decision, particularly for real-time CRM or data-pipeline workflows.

30-day first-payment guarantee

Help Scout offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on the customer's first payment.

The policy applies to both monthly and annual subscriptions and provides meaningful protection for the initial paid commitment.

Refunds after first-payment window

Outside the first-payment guarantee, Help Scout's Terms say there are no refunds or credits for partial months, annual payments or unused months with an open account.

The refund guarantee should therefore not be interpreted as an ongoing cancel-anytime refund policy.

Cancellation

The Account Owner can cancel the account from plan settings, and access ends at cancellation.

Teams should export required data before closing the account and review the retention/deletion schedule.

Annual versus monthly billing

The current pricing page highlights annual savings and shows Standard, Plus and Pro at $25, $45 and $75 on the annual view.

Monthly billing is useful when flexibility matters more than the annual discount, while add-ons such as extra Inboxes and Docs sites also have higher monthly rates.

Three-year TCO

A three-year Help Scout model should include full users, light-user strategy, plan changes, AI Answers volume, Inboxes, Docs sites and third-party integrations.

The permanent Free plan makes entry inexpensive, but mature support operations should budget using the paid configuration they expect to reach.

Pricing transparency assessment

Help Scout has unusually understandable public pricing for a mature support product.

The main complexities are user ceilings, the Pro minimum, per-resolution AI Answers, extra Inboxes/Docs sites and higher-tier security/integration requirements.

Procurement checklist

Forecast users, contacts, Inboxes, Docs sites, SLA/routing complexity, AI-resolution volume, security and CRM integrations.

Then compare Standard, Plus and Pro using the same three-year operating assumptions rather than the lowest visible seat price.

Pricing methodology

Toollers rechecked Help Scout's official pricing page, billing guide and Terms of Service on October 9, 2026.

Continue reading about Help Scout

• Help Scout tool profile
• Help Scout Review: Features, Pricing, Pros and Cons
• Help Scout Alternatives 2026: Freshdesk, Zendesk, Zoho Desk & JSM

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 1

The Free plan is a genuine long-term option only when the team remains within both the five-user and 100-contact monthly limits.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 2

The Pro 10-user minimum can make a single security or routing requirement expensive for a small team, so Plus plus add-ons should be compared carefully.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 3

AI Answers pricing is outcome-based, which can align spend with automation value but also creates a variable bill that should be capped and monitored.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 4

Additional Inbox and Docs-site fees are small individually but can become material for multi-brand or multi-product support organizations.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 5

The Free plan is a genuine long-term option only when the team remains within both the five-user and 100-contact monthly limits.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 6

The Pro 10-user minimum can make a single security or routing requirement expensive for a small team, so Plus plus add-ons should be compared carefully.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.

Help Scout pricing practical consideration 7

AI Answers pricing is outcome-based, which can align spend with automation value but also creates a variable bill that should be capped and monitored.

A fair help-desk decision should validate this point against the actual user count, inboxes, channels, SLA complexity, reporting needs, AI-resolution volume, integrations, security requirements and expected support-team growth.