Help Scout and Freshdesk at a glance
| Help Scout | Freshdesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (yearly) | Standard, $25 per user a month | Growth, $19 per agent a month |
| Paid plans | Standard, Plus, Pro | Growth, Pro, Enterprise |
| Free plan | Free for up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts helped a month, with no AI tools. | A free program for up to 2 agents for the first 6 months. It is not on the pricing page; you switch to it from inside an account, under plans and billing. |
| Free trial | 15 days on Standard or Plus, no card needed. | 14 days of Enterprise. |
| Your email address | Forwards your address into their inbox | Forwards your address into their inbox |
| Mac app | Web only. The mobile apps are iPhone and Android. | Web only. The mobile apps are iPhone and Android. |
The free plan row is the one that has moved. The permanent free plan ended on 9 June 2025, replaced by the 6-month free program. Help Scout’s free plan has no end date; volume limits it instead, through the cap on contacts helped each month, and it has no AI tools. Both products are web only, and both ask you to forward your support address into their inbox.
What each costs per year
| Plan, per year | 1 person | 3 people | 10 people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk Growth | $228 | $684 | $2,280 |
| Help Scout Standard | $300 | $900 | $3,000 |
| Help Scout Plus | $540 | $1,620 | $5,400 |
| Freshdesk Pro | $660 | $1,980 | $6,600 |
| Help Scout Pro | Not offered | Not offered | $9,000 |
| Freshdesk Enterprise | $1,068 | $3,204 | $10,680 |
Read the rows in pairs. Freshdesk Growth and Help Scout Standard are the ways in, and Freshdesk is cheaper there: at 3 people, $684 against $900 a year. Help Scout Plus and Freshdesk Pro are the middle tiers, and there Help Scout is cheaper: $1,620 against $1,980. Help Scout Pro is sold with a minimum of 10 users, which is why it shows as not offered below that.
If another page quotes lower Freshdesk prices, this is why. Prices rose in 2026: Growth from $15 to $19, Pro from $49 to $55 and Enterprise from $79 to $89 on annual billing. Freshworks’ own page description still says "starts at $15". Help Scout’s pricing has moved too. Help Scout moved to billing by contacts helped in late 2024, then returned to per-user pricing for new accounts. Some older accounts are still on contact-based plans.
Every plan, side by side
Help Scout
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $25 | $30 | Up to 25 users, 2 inboxes, basic workflows. |
| Plus | $45 | $54 | Up to 50 users, 5 inboxes, AI drafts and summaries, advanced workflows, round robin, Salesforce, Jira and HubSpot. |
| Pro | $75 | $90 | Unlimited users with a minimum of 10, sold through a demo. |
Freshdesk
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | $19 | $23 | Ticketing, automations, 500 AI Agent sessions included once per account. |
| Pro | $55 | $66 | Multilingual help desk, custom dashboards, intelligent routing, multiple SLA policies, Copilot available. |
| Enterprise | $89 | $107 | Skill-based routing, sandbox, audit logs and AI insights. |
Prices are in US dollars per seat per month, read from Help Scout’s and Freshdesk’s pricing pages on 27 September 2026.
AI charges
Both charge for AI by use, so the bill grows with your volume. They meter different things.
- Help Scout: AI Answers: $0.75 per resolution, with a monthly spending cap available. AI drafts and summaries for your own replies are included from Plus.
- Freshdesk: Growth includes a one-off allowance of AI Agent sessions for the account, shown in the plan table above. Extra AI Agent sessions: $49 per 100. An email session is a 72-hour window. Freddy AI Copilot: $29 per agent a month on annual billing, $35 monthly, Pro and Enterprise only.
The units are not interchangeable. Help Scout counts resolutions; Freshdesk counts sessions, which for email is a window of time rather than an outcome. Estimate each at your own volume rather than comparing the two unit prices directly.
Which one fits which team
- Choose Help Scout if support is mostly email, you want customers to feel they are writing to a person rather than opening a ticket, and you want a free plan that lasts while you are small. A shared inbox for support teams who want their replies to look like ordinary email rather than tickets.
- Choose Freshdesk if you think in tickets, want the lower entry seat price of the two, or need the multiple SLA policies and intelligent routing that start on Pro. A conventional ticketing help desk with a generous entry price and a deep feature list above it.
- Choose neither if the support team is you. Both are priced per agent for coordinating a team, and a team of one pays for that coordination without using it.
That last case is the one Moorline is built for, and the page on a Freshdesk alternative for one support person sets it out without the sales voice.
Questions people ask
Is Help Scout cheaper than Freshdesk?
Not at the entry tier. Freshdesk Growth is $19 per agent a month on yearly billing against $25 for Help Scout Standard. One tier up it reverses: Help Scout Plus is $45 and Freshdesk Pro is $55. Help Scout's free plan does not expire, while Freshdesk's free program is time-limited.
What is the main difference between Help Scout and Freshdesk?
Help Scout is a shared inbox built so replies look like ordinary email rather than tickets. Freshdesk is a conventional ticketing help desk with a low entry price and a deep feature list above it. Help Scout suits teams who want support to read as a conversation; Freshdesk suits teams who work a queue of tickets against SLAs.
Does Freshdesk still have a free plan?
Not a permanent one. The permanent free plan ended on 9 June 2025, replaced by the 6-month free program. A free program for up to 2 agents for the first 6 months. It is not on the pricing page; you switch to it from inside an account, under plans and billing. Help Scout's free plan does not expire. Free for up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts helped a month, with no AI tools.
How do Help Scout and Freshdesk charge for AI?
Both by use. AI Answers: $0.75 per resolution, with a monthly spending cap available. Help Scout includes AI drafts and summaries from the Plus plan. Freshdesk includes a one-off allowance of AI Agent sessions per account on Growth, then charges for more. Extra AI Agent sessions: $49 per 100. An email session is a 72-hour window. Freddy AI Copilot: $29 per agent a month on annual billing, $35 monthly, Pro and Enterprise only.
Which is better for a small business?
For a small team answering mostly email, Help Scout is usually the easier fit, and its free plan covers the smallest ones for as long as they stay within it. For a team that wants a ticket queue at the lowest entry price, Freshdesk Growth is the cheaper way in. For one person answering their own customers, neither is priced for you.