Does Help Scout or Intercom have a free plan?

Help Scout has a free plan. Intercom does not, though it offers a free trial.

How long is the Help Scout and Intercom free trial?

Help Scout offers a 15-day free trial, and Intercom offers a 14-day free trial.

Which is easier to use, Help Scout or Intercom?

In VERILO's editorial assessment Help Scout is the easier of the two, scoring 5 out of 5 against 3 for Intercom. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

Help Scout vs Intercom

A side-by-side look at Help Scout and Intercom: what each costs to start, whether there is a free plan, how easy they are to pick up, and which features and integrations they cover.

Which should you choose?

Choose Help Scout if

Small businesses and ecommerce brands with a handful of support staff
Teams that want a warm, email-like support experience
Companies that want many staff to have inbox access without paying per seat

Visit Help Scout

Choose Intercom if

SaaS and online businesses that want chat and AI-first support
Teams with enough help center content for an AI agent to deflect volume
Product-led companies combining support with in-app messaging

Visit Intercom

Cheapest to start

Not confirmed

Free plan

Help Scout

Highest editor rating

Intercom · 4.4

Comparison of Help Scout and Intercom
Compare	Help Scout Visit site	Intercom Visit site
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Starting price	From $50/mo	From $29/mo
Editor rating	4.3	4.4
Ease of use	Very easy (5/5)	Moderate (3/5)
Category	Customer Support	Customer Support
Pricing model	Pricing is based on contacts helped per month with unlimited users: a free plan covers up to 50 contacts, Standard starts at approximately $50 per month and Plus at approximately $75 per month (each including 100 contacts, with extra contact bundles priced on top), and Pro is custom for high-volume teams.	Essential starts at $29 per seat per month billed annually, Advanced at $85 and Expert at $132 per seat per month annually. The Fin AI agent is charged at $0.99 per outcome on top, and proactive messaging and copilot features are paid add-ons.
Plans	Free — Free Standard — $50/mo Plus — $75/mo Pro — Custom	Essential — $29/user/mo Advanced — $85/user/mo Expert — $132/user/mo
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, API	Web, iOS, Android, API
Integrations	Facebook & Instagram, HubSpot, Jira, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, Trello, WooCommerce, Zapier	Facebook & Instagram, GitHub, HubSpot, Jira, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, Stripe, WhatsApp, Zapier
Best for	Small businesses and ecommerce brands with a handful of support staff Teams that want a warm, email-like support experience Companies that want many staff to have inbox access without paying per seat	SaaS and online businesses that want chat and AI-first support Teams with enough help center content for an AI agent to deflect volume Product-led companies combining support with in-app messaging
Pros	Shared inbox that non-technical staff learn in minutes Unlimited users on every plan, including the free tier Docs knowledge base and Beacon chat widget included rather than sold separately AI summaries, drafts and AI Answers included on paid plans Customer-facing replies look like normal emails, not ticket notifications	Fin AI agent resolves a meaningful share of routine questions from help center content Polished, fast shared inbox with strong keyboard-driven workflows Messenger, help center, tickets and outbound messages live in one product Good developer tooling, API and app ecosystem
Cons	Contact-based pricing can cost more than per-seat plans for teams with many customers No formal SLA management or skills-based routing No native voice or phone channel Reporting is adequate but not as deep as Zendesk or Intercom	Per-seat fees plus $0.99 per Fin outcome plus add-ons make costs hard to forecast Advanced routing, SLAs and multi-brand features require the higher tiers Product tours, surveys and proactive messaging are extra-cost add-ons Overkill for teams that mainly handle email tickets
AI agents	No	Yes
AI assistant	Yes	No
API access	Yes	Yes
Chatbot	Yes	Yes
Custom fields	Yes	No
Knowledge base / help centre	Yes	Yes
Live chat	Yes	Yes
Mobile app	Yes	No
Multichannel inbox (email, chat, social)	Yes	Yes
Reporting & dashboards	Yes	Yes
Shared inbox	Yes	Yes
Ticketing	No	Yes
Webhooks	Yes	Yes
WhatsApp channel	No	Yes
Workflow automation	Yes	Yes

Common questions

Does Help Scout or Intercom have a free plan?: Help Scout has a free plan. Intercom does not, though it offers a free trial.
How long is the Help Scout and Intercom free trial?: Help Scout offers a 15-day free trial, and Intercom offers a 14-day free trial.
Which is easier to use, Help Scout or Intercom?: In VERILO's editorial assessment Help Scout is the easier of the two, scoring 5 out of 5 against 3 for Intercom. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

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