The 11 best Help Scout alternatives for 2027

Comparing the top Help Scout alternatives for 2027: 1. Computer, by DevRev, 2. Front, 3. Freshdesk, 4. Zendesk, 5. Intercom (now Fin), 6. Zoho Desk, 7. Gorgias, 8. Hiver, 9. Kayako, 10. LiveAgent, 11. HubSpot Service Hub.

Help Scout has a 4.4 rating out of 5 across 431 reviews on G2. But Help Scout bills AI Answers per resolution on top of seats, and plan limits and data export lead some teams to compare options. If the goal is AI that resolves customer issues, beyond a clean shared inbox, which Help Scout alternative fits?

This guide compares 11 Help Scout alternatives and competitors on AI resolution, AI billing, seat price, and G2 rating, with each ranked by the use case it fits. It also sets out seven criteria to weigh in 2027: AI resolution versus assist, how well a tool connects to product and engineering data, and what it costs when volume grows.

TL;DR

• The 11 alternatives: Computer, by DevRev; Front; Freshdesk; Zendesk; Intercom (now Fin); Zoho Desk; Gorgias; Hiver; Kayako; LiveAgent; and HubSpot Service Hub.
• Help Scout pairs a shared inbox with AI Answers, which resolves customer questions on its own, and AI Assist and AI Summarize for agents.
• Gartner’s survey found that customers use GenAI to complete tasks and take action, not only to get answers, so judge tools on resolution.
• Our top pick is Computer, by DevRev, for teams whose inbox work ends in product and engineering.
• Plan your exit before you pick a tool. Help Scout provides conversation data through its API, and customer lists by request.

Why do teams look for Help Scout alternatives?

Help Scout lists a free plan for five seats and paid Standard, Plus, and Pro plans at $25, $45, and $75 per user per month. Four reasons come up most often: AI billing, plan limits, the link to engineering, and getting your data out.

• Help Scout bills AI Answers per resolution: Help Scout charges $0.75 per resolution for AI Answers, free for the first three months, and counts a resolution only when the customer doesn’t escalate or ask for more help. AI Assist and AI Summarize carry no per-use charge. Teams comparing customer service automation software should model per-resolution fees against their own volume.
• Plan limits steer you to higher tiers: Standard supports up to 25 seats, Plus up to 50, and Pro starts at a minimum of 10. Docs sites are capped at one, two, three, and five across the plans, and the Jira integration is included with Plus and Pro only.
• Support, product, and engineering stay in separate systems: Help Scout’s Jira app creates or links a Jira issue from a conversation, and an optional setting reopens the conversation when the issue is done. Account and product data still sit elsewhere. Zendesk’s CX Trends 2026 report found 74% of consumers are frustrated when they must repeat information.
• Getting your history out takes the API: Help Scout’s documentation says its data export options cover a customer list, sent as a CSV to Account Owners on request without conversation history, and in-app report exports that leave out thread contents. Conversation and customer data come through the Inbox API, and Docs articles through the Docs API.

The question isn’t whether Help Scout works – G2 reviewers rate it highly, and many small teams run it well. It’s whether its AI billing, plan limits, and link to engineering fit how you want to run support. The criteria below start from that question.

Help Scout alternatives comparison for 2027

Prices and ratings reflect vendor pages and G2; check each vendor before you buy.

How should you evaluate these Help Scout alternatives?

Changing tools takes effort, so judge each option on the same few points. The table puts each tool side by side on AI resolution, AI billing, seat price, and G2 rating. The seven criteria below are what to weigh when you check each vendor, listed from most to least important for a team that wants resolution on top of a shared inbox.

• AI resolution versus AI assist: Does the AI draft replies for agents, or resolve the question from start to finish? Have each vendor resolve a real ticket from your queue; scripted demos don’t count.
• Product and engineering data: Can the AI see account records, product usage, and engineering state, or only a knowledge base? Teams need customer support software that connects customer pain to product action.
• Knowledge base and self-service quality: Can the AI reason over your articles, or just match keywords? A good knowledge base trims ticket volume before the AI gets involved.
• Omnichannel coverage: Can email, chat, social, phone, and in-app all run from one workspace? Look for per-channel fees.
• Pricing and scalability: Can you predict the bill if volume triples? For teams assessing automated ticketing systems, seat minimums, per-resolution AI fees, and tier changes all move the total.
• Migration and onboarding: Can you export conversations, map custom fields, and move knowledge base articles, and can you run both platforms in parallel?
• Reporting and analytics: Does reporting show resolution rate and AI performance, or will you end up exporting to a BI tool?

Check the AI unit first: each vendor counts AI differently, whether per resolution, session, outcome, or credit, so look at what a unit includes before you compare seats. Help Scout’s AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution and counts one only when the customer doesn’t escalate or ask for more help.

If you’re weighing the wider customer service software category, the same criteria apply. Feature lists go stale within months, while these seven criteria track decisions that shape your team’s results for years.

What are the 11 best Help Scout alternatives?

1. Computer, by DevRev

Best for: AI-native support resolution, embedded in your full business context.

G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5 across 210 reviews.

Computer, by DevRev, resolves customer issues by connecting company data and acting across support and CRM tools. Teams can deploy it for customer self-service through Customer Agent and Voice AI, for employee support through service desk automation, or for enterprise search over company systems.

BILL ran a pre-launch test on 200,000 real customer queries and reached a 70% resolution rate, against a 30% approval threshold.

A shared inbox shows who owns a conversation; a resolution engine acts on it. Through Computer Memory, support, product, and engineering draw on the same context, so a bug an agent keeps seeing reaches the product team as a linked signal, with no re-explaining and no lost thread.

Key features

• Harder tickets go past FAQs: Computer, by DevRev, reads Datadog error logs, pulls the Shopify order, replays the customer’s session, and checks console output before it resolves, in a configured deployment.
• DevRev’s Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2022, plus an AI penetration testing assessment.
• Customer Agent deployments can cover chat, email, WhatsApp, and voice, including Voice AI, depending on configuration.
• Slack and Jira connect in one click.
• Agent Studio is where teams build their own agents.
• Agents can be tested in a sandbox on real data before they go live.
• Computer, by DevRev, works in Slack and Teams, and on desktop, mobile, and web.

Pricing: Computer, by DevRev, is quoted per deployment; see DevRev’s pricing page and contact DevRev for scope.

Pros

• Shared context in Computer Memory ties a bug raised in support to the work that fixes it.
• It takes on harder tickets as well as first-line questions.
• The product builds in permissions and approval steps.

Cons

• Pricing depends on the deployment, including Customer Agent and Voice AI.
• G2 holds 210 reviews for Computer, by DevRev, against 431 for Help Scout.
• A team that only needs a simple shared inbox may not need this much.

Computer, by DevRev, vs. Help Scout: Help Scout’s Jira app links a Jira issue to a conversation and can reopen it when the issue is done, where Computer, by DevRev, works from Computer Memory, a permission-aware layer of your tickets, docs, product specs, and customer history that persists between conversations. Customer Agent can work alongside Help Scout, and the Computer+ Support App is the option for teams that want to replace it.

What reviewers say

• Love: Customization and workflows. A growth support member at a mid-market financial services company writes that DevRev is “offering what feels like an insane amount of customizations, snap-ins, and workflows” (G2, June 29, 2025).
• Complain: Setup needs technical skill. The same reviewer writes that it “needs someone technically savvy or with developer knowledge to set it up completely to realize its full potential” (same review, June 29, 2025).

2. Front

Best for: Teams that want a collaborative shared inbox across email, SMS, social, and chat, closest to Help Scout’s model.

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5 across 2,518 reviews.

Front sells Starter, Professional, and Enterprise at $25, $65, and $105 per seat per month on annual billing, with a 14-day Professional trial and no credit card. AI is an add-on: Autopilot is the agent, and Copilot is the assistant.

Key features

• Autopilot collects context, takes action in your systems, and pushes handoffs along, inside rules you set for when it acts and when it passes to a person.
• Copilot highlights account signals, suggests next steps, and drafts replies; Enterprise includes it.
• Front’s Jira connector creates and links issues from a conversation, syncs comments in both directions, and displays Jira status live.
• Front holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications.

Pricing: Per month on annual billing, Starter is $25 per seat (up to 10 seats), Professional $65 (up to 50), and Enterprise $105. Autopilot begins at $0.05 per conversation, and Copilot adds $20 per seat on Starter and Professional and comes with Enterprise.

Pros

• Seat prices and a per-conversation AI rate are both published.
• The Jira connector syncs comments in both directions.

Cons

• AI costs extra on Starter and Professional.
• Starter stops at 10 seats and Professional at 50.

Front vs. Help Scout: Front’s Starter is $25 per seat for up to 10 seats, where Help Scout’s Standard is $25 per user for up to 25. Front’s Autopilot starts at $0.05 per conversation and Help Scout’s AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, so compare the units on your own volume.

What reviewers say

• Love: Easy search. A reviewer at a mid-market company writes, “I like that Front is easy to use and makes searching through old emails simple” (G2, April 27, 2026).
• Complain: Reply-to button. The same reviewer writes, “We have issues with the ‘reply to’ button in certain mailboxes not populating the sender’s information” (same review, April 27, 2026).

3. Freshdesk

Best for: Budget-conscious teams that want a complete help desk with ticketing and automation.

G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5 across 3,794 reviews.

Freshdesk is Freshworks’ ticketing product. Its Freddy AI Agent sits inside the help desk and aims to automate and personalize support from a verified knowledge base. Growth, Pro, and Enterprise cost $19, $55, and $89 per agent per month on annual billing, with a 14-day trial and no permanent free plan. The Freshdesk alternatives guide goes deeper on the vendor.

Key features

• Freddy AI Copilot summarizes tickets, drafts and rewords replies, and translates.
• The first 500 Freddy AI Agent sessions are free, once per account.
• Tickets flow in from service channels, with workflow automation and customer context.
• A documented Jira sync carries status, priority, comments, and attachments.

Pricing: On annual billing, $19, $55, and $89 per agent per month. Freddy AI Copilot adds $29 per agent per month, and Freddy AI Agent costs $49 per 100 sessions after the first 500.

Pros

• Freshdesk publishes plan prices and a trial.
• A complete help desk with a customer-facing AI agent.

Cons

• Freshdesk charges for Copilot and AI Agent on top of seats.
• There is no permanent free plan.

Freshdesk vs. Help Scout: Freshdesk lists no permanent free plan and $49 per 100 Freddy AI Agent sessions after 500 free, where Help Scout lists a free plan for five seats and $0.75 per AI Answers resolution after three free months.

What reviewers say

• Love: Simple interface. A reviewer at a mid-market computer and network security company writes, “I really like its simple UI and user-friendly interface” (G2, May 19, 2026; incentivized review).
• Complain: AI costs extra. The same reviewer writes, “for their AI, we need to pay extra, and because of that, we are not able to use it” (same review, May 19, 2026).

4. Zendesk

Best for: Larger support operations that need deep omnichannel ticketing, SLAs, and reporting.

G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5 across 7,100 reviews.

Zendesk says its AI agents handle multi-step, multi-intent requests and act across systems. Plans cost $19, $55, and $115 per agent per month on annual billing. The Zendesk alternatives guide goes deeper on the vendor.

Key features

• AI agents arrive with Suite Team, alongside omnichannel routing, messaging, and telephony.
• Bundled automated resolutions: five per agent per month on Support Team and Suite Team, and ten on Suite Professional.
• Copilot is a $50-per-agent-per-month add-on from Professional up.
• Enterprise brings intelligent triage, approval workflows, and a sandbox.

Pricing: On annual billing, $19, $55, and $115 per agent per month ($25, $69, and $149 billed monthly). Past the allowance, pay-as-you-go automated resolutions cost $2.00 each.

Pros

• A mature platform with a deep bench of G2 reviews.
• Zendesk bills only for requests the AI resolves.

Cons

• AI agents begin at Suite Team, and add-ons such as Copilot cost extra.
• Zendesk bills resolutions past the allowance on top of seats.

Zendesk vs. Help Scout: Zendesk lists a $2.00 pay-as-you-go automated resolution beyond an allowance, where Help Scout’s AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution with three free months. Zendesk’s Support Team is $19 per agent, and Help Scout’s Standard is $25 per user.

What reviewers say

• Love: Consistent replies. A reviewer at an enterprise consulting firm writes that “reply quality across the team evened out noticeably” with Copilot (G2, August 30, 2026; incentivized review).
• Complain: Sarcasm in triage. The same reviewer writes, “Intelligent triage occasionally misreads sentiment on sarcastic messages” (same review, August 30, 2026).

5. Intercom (now Fin)

Best for: Product-led SaaS teams whose support runs mostly through chat.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 across 3,922 reviews, listed under G2’s Fin page.

Fin is Intercom’s AI agent, and the company now goes by Fin too. Salesforce completed its acquisition of Fin, formerly Intercom, on September 10, 2026. When Fin runs on an existing helpdesk, no seat costs apply, and there are no setup, integration, or platform fees. The Intercom alternatives guide goes deeper on the vendor.

Key features

• One workspace to train, test, deploy, and analyze.
• Support in more than 45 languages.
• Channels include email, voice, live chat, and social.
• A 14-day free trial, no credit card.

Pricing: Fin is $0.99 per outcome. Helpdesk seats are $29 (Essential), $85 (Advanced), and $132 (Expert) per seat per month, with a minimum monthly commitment.

Pros

• Fin publishes its per-outcome rate and charges no seat cost next to an existing helpdesk.
• Fin hands off to a person when its safety parameters aren’t met.

Cons

• An “outcome” includes customer-confirmed resolutions, customers who stop asking for help, and completed workflows such as handoffs, so it is a wider unit than a strict resolution.
• Cost climbs with outcome volume, and a minimum commitment applies.

Intercom (now Fin) vs. Help Scout: Fin is $0.99 per outcome, where Help Scout’s AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution, so check how each unit is counted. Fin can run on top of an existing helpdesk, so a team can try Fin’s AI agent without leaving Help Scout, if it’s a supported helpdesk.

What reviewers say

• Love: Flexibility. A customer support manager at a mid-market computer software company writes, “Flexibility is the big win here” (G2, August 25, 2026; incentivized review).
• Complain: Stiff workflow builder. The same reviewer writes, “Right now, their workflow builder feels very stiff” (same review, August 25, 2026).

6. Zoho Desk

Best for: Teams already on the Zoho suite that want to keep costs low.

G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5 across 7,996 reviews.

Zoho Desk is the ticketing product in the Zoho suite. Professional adds Zia AI, and Express includes pre-built AI agents with up to 30M free tokens a month. A free edition covers three licenses.

Key features

• The free edition covers three licenses.
• Express, Standard, Professional, and Enterprise are all billed annually.
• On Express, AI agents run on your own LLM key or Zoho’s.
• Zia AI on Professional brings generative, predictive, and analytical capabilities.

Pricing: Express is $7, Standard $14, Professional $23, and Enterprise $40 per user per month, billed annually. A free edition covers three licenses.

Pros

• The free edition gives small teams a way in.
• Express AI agents include a free token allowance.

Cons

• The free edition tops out at three licenses.
• Prices appear in rupees.

Zoho Desk vs. Help Scout: Zoho Desk lists a free edition for three licenses, where Help Scout lists a free plan for five seats. Zoho’s AI agents come with a free token allowance on Express, where Help Scout bills AI Answers per resolution after three free months.

What reviewers say

• Love: One easy platform. A software engineer at a small business writes that “it centralizes customer support in one easy-to-use platform” (G2, September 28, 2026).
• Complain: Features in higher tiers. The same reviewer writes that “some of the more useful features are locked behind higher-tier plans” (same review, September 28, 2026).

7. Gorgias

Best for: E-commerce brands that field a high volume of order-related support questions.

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5 across 582 reviews.

Gorgias includes its AI Agent on every plan and bills only when it resolves, and it prices the helpdesk by ticket volume, never per agent.

Key features

• Every plan includes the AI Agent, billed per automated interaction.
• Plans run from 50 to 5,000 tickets a month.
• Voice and SMS are add-ons that scale with call and text volume.

Pricing: Pricing follows ticket volume, never agents. On annual billing, Basic is $50 a month for 300 tickets, Pro $300 for 2,000, and Advanced $750 for 5,000; Starter is $10 for 50 tickets, billed monthly only. The AI Agent costs $0.90 per automated interaction on annual contracts and $1.00 on monthly ones. It is a separate monthly line: $27, $171, or $477 on annual Basic, Pro, or Advanced, for 30, 190, or 530 interactions.

Pros

• There is no per-agent pricing.
• Every plan includes the AI Agent, and Gorgias bills it on resolution.

Cons

• Voice and SMS cost extra.
• The AI Agent sits on top of the helpdesk price, with overage at $1.50 per interaction past the plan’s allowance.

Gorgias vs. Help Scout: Gorgias prices by ticket volume and bills its AI Agent at $0.90 per automated interaction on annual contracts, where Help Scout prices by user and bills AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution.

What reviewers say

• Love: Instant first replies. A CEO and COO at a small business writes, “Gorgias responds instantly, asks the right follow up questions, and resolves common issues without escalation” (G2, December 16, 2025).
• Complain: Setup learning curve. The same reviewer writes, “There is a learning curve during setup” (same review, December 16, 2025).

8. Hiver

Best for: Teams that want to run shared support from inside Gmail.

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5 from 1,296 reviews of Hiver in Gmail. G2 lists Hiver Omni separately.

Hiver sells two products at the same prices: Hiver in Gmail works inside Gmail, and Hiver Omni is a standalone omnichannel platform. Hiver lists AI Agents, an AI Copilot, and an AI Knowledge Builder on every plan, with a 7-day free trial.

Key features

• AI agents triage and resolve requests and act across your systems, and they pause for approval on actions you mark sensitive.
• Pro adds a customer portal, SLAs, CSAT surveys, advanced analytics, and API access.
• Elite adds AI QA, AI Insights, skill-based routing, custom objects, SSO, and HIPAA.
• Omni adds omnichannel and a Voice add-on at $30 per voice seat per month, with 1,000 minutes included.

Pricing: Growth $25, Pro $55, and Elite $85 per user per month. Hiver doesn’t state a billing cycle beside the prices, and it doesn’t list a separate AI price.

Pros

• A shared inbox that lives inside Gmail.
• AI agents on every plan, with approval steps for sensitive actions.

Cons

• Hiver lists no AI price.
• Hiver in Gmail and Hiver Omni are separate products, so check which one you’re pricing.

Hiver vs. Help Scout: Hiver’s Growth, Pro, and Elite are $25, $55, and $85 per user per month, where Help Scout’s Standard, Plus, and Pro are $25, $45, and $75. Hiver lists AI agents on every plan, where Help Scout’s AI Answers is a per-resolution add-on.

What reviewers say

• Love: Fast adoption in Gmail. A sales executive at a small business writes, “Because it works directly inside Gmail, adoption is fast and requires minimal training” (G2, December 12, 2025).
• Complain: AI feels basic. The same reviewer writes that “some of its more advanced automation and AI capabilities still feel fairly basic compared with dedicated helpdesk platforms” (same review, December 12, 2025).

9. Kayako

Best for: Teams that want to pay for AI by the resolved ticket.

G2 rating: 4.0 out of 5 across 226 reviews.

Kayako One is a full helpdesk with a unified inbox, ticketing, a knowledge base, a live chat widget, automation rules, and reporting, and it includes the Kay AI agent. Kay is also sold as an add-on for a helpdesk you already run.

Key features

• Kay costs $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat or setup fees.
• Kay counts a ticket as resolved only when it solves the issue without a human agent, and it excludes escalations and simple deflections.
• Customers reach Kay through chat, email, or voice.
• Onboarding and setup come with Kayako One.

Pricing: Kay is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat or setup fees. Kayako’s pricing page doesn’t list helpdesk seat prices or a trial, and it points buyers to a strategy session or a demo.

Pros

• A published per-resolution rate, with no seat fees for Kay.
• Kay can run alongside a helpdesk you already have.

Cons

• Helpdesk seat prices aren’t listed.
• 226 reviews on G2, against 431 for Help Scout.

Kayako vs. Help Scout: Kayako lists Kay at $1 per resolved ticket and no seat fees, where Help Scout lists AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution and seats at $25, $45, and $75 per user, so check how each one counts a resolution.

What reviewers say

• Love: Quality of Kay’s replies. A solutions support AI architect at a mid-market company writes, “The quality of responses from Kay (Kayako’s AI support agent) surprised me” (G2, May 29, 2026).
• Complain: Feedback on a response. The same reviewer writes, “Wish there was an easier way to give Kay quick feedback on a specific response without going into the full admin panel” (same review, May 29, 2026).

10. LiveAgent

Best for: Budget-conscious teams that need phone and chat alongside tickets.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 across 1,537 reviews.

LiveAgent’s Starter, Team, and Business plans cost $15, $29, and $49 per agent per month on annual billing, with a 30-day trial and no permanent free plan. AI is on every plan, with 1 AI agent on Starter, 5 on Team, and 50 on Business, and LiveAgent says no plan carries an AI fee: teams connect their own AI provider, which bills them directly. It lists an AI Answer Assistant, an AI Chatbot, and ticket summaries.

Key features

• Email ticketing and live chat come on every plan.
• The call center starts on Team.
• Facebook, Instagram, X, Viber, Telegram, and WhatsApp start on Team.
• The 30-day trial needs no credit card.

Pricing: Starter, Team, and Business are $15, $29, and $49 per agent per month on annual billing, or $19, $35, and $59 billed monthly. Enterprise is $3,199 a month on annual billing with 80 agents included. LiveAgent says no plan carries an AI fee: teams connect their own AI provider, which bills them directly.

Pros

• Seat prices start at $15, with a 30-day trial.
• Phone, chat, email, and social sit in one help desk.

Cons

• Social channels and the call center need the Team plan or higher.
• There is no permanent free plan.

LiveAgent vs. Help Scout: LiveAgent lists plans from $15 per agent per month on annual billing, where Help Scout lists $25, $45, and $75 per user and a free plan for five seats. LiveAgent lists no AI price, where Help Scout’s AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution.

What reviewers say

• Love: Ease of use. A helpdesk manager at a small business writes, “I like the ease of use and navigation” (G2, April 20, 2026).
• Complain: Report exports. The same reviewer writes, “I would improve data extraction from reports, for example it is not possible to extract the companies associated with the tickets” (same review, April 20, 2026).

11. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for: Teams that already run sales and marketing in HubSpot and want service on the same platform.

G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5 across 3,018 reviews.

HubSpot’s catalog lists Service Hub seats in two types: a Core Seat at $20, $50, or $75 a month, and a Service Seat at $100 (Professional) or $150 (Enterprise). Its Customer Agent resolves a text conversation for 50 credits. The HubSpot alternatives guide goes deeper on the vendor.

Key features

• A Service Seat includes Core Seat access, and Service Seats aren’t available on Starter.
• Pay-as-you-go credits are $0.010 each, so one resolved text conversation costs about $0.50.
• A free tier covers up to two seats.
• Service sits beside HubSpot’s CRM, marketing, and sales products.

Pricing: Core Seats are $20, $50, or $75 per month. Service Seats are $100 ($90 on annual billing) or $150.

Pros

• Service and CRM data live on one platform.
• HubSpot offers a free tier and publishes a per-credit AI rate.

Cons

• Full service features start at the $100 Service Seat.
• HubSpot bills the Customer Agent in credits on top of seats.

HubSpot Service Hub vs. Help Scout: HubSpot’s free tier covers two seats, where Help Scout’s free plan covers five. HubSpot’s Customer Agent costs 50 credits, about $0.50, per resolved text conversation, where Help Scout’s AI Answers is $0.75 per resolution.

What reviewers say

• Love: Help desk gains. A reviewer at a mid-market company writes, “Help Desk has really been helping our team” (G2, September 16, 2026; incentivized review).
• Complain: Sequences. The same reviewer writes, “I really wish that sequences were more integrated with Service Hub” (same review, September 16, 2026).

One more option worth a look

One more platform suits specific teams, and it sits outside the scored list.

• Missive has a G2 rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 861 reviews. It is a collaborative inbox: each team gets a shared inbox with shared tasks and a space to discuss work inside the thread, rules for repetitive manual work, an AI assistant that can pull context from connected tools through MCP, and more than 25 app integrations. Plans run $14, $24, and $36 per user per month billed yearly, with a 30-day trial.

How do you migrate from Help Scout?

Moving off Help Scout starts with getting your history out, and what carries over varies by vendor. Help Scout’s own export options shape the plan.

What migrates cleanly

Help Scout’s export options describe three routes. Account Owners can request a CSV of customer names and email addresses, without conversation history. Customer and conversation data come through the Inbox API, and Docs articles through the Docs API. Ask each alternative whether it offers a Help Scout importer and which objects it brings across.

What needs manual attention

You can download in-app report exports as CSV or XLSX, but they leave out conversation thread contents. The export article doesn’t say whether thread contents come through the Inbox API, so confirm that with Help Scout and the new vendor before you cut over. Workflows, saved replies, Docs sites, and inbox settings also need recreating, so document your current setup first.

Agent training is the other variable. Leave time for agents to learn the new interface.

The migration decision test

Ask three questions before committing:

1. Can you export your full conversation history, customer records, and Docs articles from Help Scout?
2. Will the new vendor’s team guide you through the move with a dedicated migration path?
3. Can both platforms run in parallel for a few weeks before you cut over?

Three yeses put the migration risk within reach.

How do you choose a Help Scout alternative?

Start with team size, budget, and primary channels. If you need AI that resolves issues across support, product, and engineering, our pick is Computer, by DevRev. Eleven alternatives is a lot, so narrow the list on those three first, then on what you need the AI to do.

• By team size: Computer, by DevRev, fits support teams of any size that need resolution, from small teams to large organizations. Front and Hiver fit teams that live in a shared inbox, Zoho Desk suits small teams with its free edition, and Zendesk suits larger operations.
• By budget: Zoho Desk lists a free edition for three licenses, LiveAgent lists plans from $15 per agent per month on annual billing, and Freshdesk lists plans from $19. For a published AI rate, Front’s Autopilot starts at $0.05 per conversation, Kayako lists $1 per resolved ticket, Gorgias lists $0.90 per automated interaction on annual contracts, and Fin lists $0.99 per outcome. Pricing for Computer, by DevRev, depends on the deployment, and it takes on harder tickets as well as first-line answers, so compare cost per resolved ticket on your own volume and ask DevRev for a quote.
• By primary channel: Computer, by DevRev, can cover chat, email, WhatsApp, and voice, depending on configuration, with the same support, product, and engineering context behind each channel. Front suits shared inboxes, Hiver suits Gmail, Intercom (now Fin) suits chat-first support, and Gorgias suits e-commerce support.
• If you want AI that resolves issues, beyond assisting agents: either Computer, by DevRev, or Intercom (now Fin). Fin can also run on top of an existing helpdesk, so check whether yours is supported.
• If your team already lives in a suite: Zoho Desk for Zoho teams, or HubSpot Service Hub for HubSpot teams.

Which tool is right turns on team size, budget, channel mix, and one basic question: do you need a shared inbox, or a resolution platform? Deflection versus resolution is the first thing to decide.

Computer, by DevRev resolves customer issues across support, product, and engineering as a resolution-first platform for work that starts in a shared inbox and ends in product and engineering. For a small team, Work Softer means fewer repeat replies and clearer outcomes.