Help Scout and Intercom at a glance
| Help Scout | Intercom | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan (yearly) | Standard, $25 per user a month | Essential, $29 per seat a month |
| Paid plans | Standard, Plus, Pro | Essential, Advanced, Expert |
| Free plan | Free for up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts helped a month, with no AI tools. | None |
| Free trial | 15 days on Standard or Plus, no card needed. | 14 days, no card needed. No free plan. |
| Your email address | Forwards your address into their inbox | Chat-first. Email is a secondary channel routed through them |
| Mac app | Web only. The mobile apps are iPhone and Android. | Web only. Intercom has no desktop app. |
Two rows decide more than they look. Help Scout has a free plan and Intercom does not. And neither ships a desktop app: on a Mac, both live in a browser tab.
What each costs per year
| Plan, per year | 1 person | 3 people | 10 people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help Scout Standard | $300 | $900 | $3,000 |
| Intercom Essential | $348 | $1,044 | $3,480 |
| Help Scout Plus | $540 | $1,620 | $5,400 |
| Help Scout Pro | Not offered | Not offered | $9,000 |
| Intercom Advanced | $1,020 | $3,060 | $10,200 |
| Intercom Expert | $1,584 | $4,752 | $15,840 |
Read the rows in pairs. Help Scout Standard and Intercom Essential are the ways in, and at 3 people that is $900 against $1,044 a year. Help Scout Plus and Intercom Advanced are where round robin and fuller workflows arrive on each side, and there the gap widens: $1,620 against $3,060. Help Scout Pro is sold with a minimum of 10 users, which is why it shows as not offered below that.
One caveat on Intercom’s entry price. In September 2026 Intercom was testing a lower Essential price ($19 on annual billing) with some visitors, so the price you see may differ from the list price here.
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. |
Intercom
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $29 | $39 | Shared inbox, Fin AI agent, messenger, basic help centre. |
| Advanced | $85 | $99 | Workflow builder, multiple team inboxes, round robin, multilingual help centre, 20 free lite seats. |
| Expert | $132 | Yearly only | SSO, HIPAA, SLAs, multibrand, 50 free lite seats. Monthly self-serve is listed for Essential and Advanced only. |
Prices are in US dollars per seat per month, read from Help Scout’s and Intercom’s pricing pages on 27 September 2026.
AI charges
This is where the two differ most. Both bill their AI agent by use, so the bill grows with your volume, but they do not count the same event.
- 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. The free plan has no AI tools.
- Intercom: Fin AI agent: $0.99 per outcome, which counts a resolution, a completed procedure or a handoff. Fin comes with every plan, from Essential up. Copilot: $29 per seat a month on annual billing, $35 monthly.
What is counted matters as much as the unit price. Intercom bills a handoff, where Fin passes the conversation to a person, as an outcome in its own right; Help Scout prices AI Answers per resolution. Intercom’s other channels are metered as well: WhatsApp, SMS, bulk email and phone are charged by usage.
Which one fits which team
- Choose Help Scout if support is mostly email, you want replies that read as ordinary email from a person, and you would like a free plan to start on. A shared inbox for support teams who want their replies to look like ordinary email rather than tickets.
- Choose Intercom if your customers reach you from inside your product, you want an AI agent answering first, and you can forecast the per-outcome bill at your real volume. A messaging-first support platform built around an in-app chat widget and the Fin AI agent.
- Choose neither if the support team is you. Both are priced per seat to coordinate people, Intercom adds a charge for each AI outcome on top, and one person pays for all of it with nobody to coordinate.
That last case is the one Moorline is built for, and the page on an Intercom alternative without per-resolution pricing sets it out without the sales voice.
Questions people ask
Is Help Scout cheaper than Intercom?
On list seat prices, yes. Help Scout Standard is $25 per user a month on yearly billing against $29 for Intercom Essential, and Help Scout Plus is $45 against $85 for Intercom Advanced. Help Scout also has a free plan and Intercom does not. In September 2026 Intercom was testing a lower Essential price ($19 on annual billing) with some visitors, so the price you see may differ from the list price here.
What is the main difference between Help Scout and Intercom?
Help Scout is an email-first shared inbox, built so replies look like ordinary email rather than tickets, and you forward your support address into it. Intercom is a messaging-first platform built around an in-app chat widget and the Fin AI agent, with email as a secondary channel. Help Scout fits customers who write in; Intercom fits customers who talk to you inside your product.
Does Help Scout or Intercom have a free plan?
Help Scout does. Free for up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site and 100 contacts helped a month, with no AI tools. Intercom has no free plan; it offers a free trial with no card needed instead.
How do Help Scout and Intercom charge for AI?
Both by use, but they count different things. On Help Scout, AI Answers is billed separately. AI Answers: $0.75 per resolution, with a monthly spending cap available. AI drafts and summaries are included from the Plus plan. On Intercom, Fin comes with every plan and is billed per outcome. Fin AI agent: $0.99 per outcome, which counts a resolution, a completed procedure or a handoff. Copilot: $29 per seat a month on annual billing, $35 monthly.
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 a software business whose customers need help inside the product, Intercom is built for exactly that, and the messenger and Fin are what you are paying for. For one person answering their own customers, neither is priced for you.