How much does Help Scout cost, and what do you really pay for?

Listed price: from €22.28/month/user (converted from $25, rate of Oct 2, 2026). What the subscription covers and is hard to maintain yourself: Messaging channels (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger) and live chat.; The built-in help centre and its statistics.; Workflows and the AI assistant.; Integrations with sales and development tools..

What free or open-source alternatives to Help Scout exist?

FreeScout (open source), Chatwoot (open source), Zammad (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.

Where do you start to build an equivalent of Help Scout?

Copy this page’s prompt into Claude, Codex or Cursor to get a first prototype. Then plan for hosting, data backups and GDPR compliance: that is what costs the most to maintain over time.

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Help Scout

Official website · helpscout.com ↗Are you the publisher? Suggest a correction

Partly replaceableOur view: worth studying depending on your use.from €22.28/month/user (converted from $25, rate of Oct 2, 2026)casevibecode verdict · 0 votesPage updated on October 23, 2026 · Published by North Studio

Shared inbox and help centre for support teams: several inboxes, live chat and SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, knowledge bases, workflows and an AI assistant. Free plan (5 users, 1 inbox, 1 help site); Standard at $25 per user per month (annual billing, 16% discount advertised), Plus at $45, Pro at $75. 15-day trial.

The core is a shared email inbox: each message becomes an assignable ticket, with internal notes and canned replies. It is a realistic project for a small team receiving fewer than a hundred messages a day. What costs: reliable email reception (deliverability, attachments, spam filtering), social messaging channels and response-time statistics. The free alternatives below already cover this core without a per-agent subscription.

What you lose

Messaging channels (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger) and live chat.
The built-in help centre and its statistics.
Workflows and the AI assistant.
Integrations with sales and development tools.

Existing alternatives to Help Scout

FreeScoutOpen source
Team mailbox with assignment, notes and collision alerts; several add-on modules are paid.
ChatwootOpen source
Shared support inbox with chat, email and help centre; free software to host yourself.
ZammadOpen source
Serious ticketing with email, chat, SLAs and knowledge base; more technical installation.

See all 3 alternatives

What a home-built tool costs once it exists

Hosting and database: a server cost, and automatic backups you actually test.
Security and GDPR: dependency updates, an HTTPS certificate, protection of your customers’ data.
Upkeep time: who fixes the tool on a Saturday night in the middle of service if the server goes down?

The prompt to build it yourself

Open in ClaudeOpen in Codex Open in Cursor

Build a shared support inbox for my team, replacing a customer support subscription.

Context: a small business, 3 people, a support@ address receiving about 30 messages a day.

To do:
- Fetch emails over IMAP and send replies over SMTP from the same address.
- One ticket per conversation, with a status (open, pending, resolved), an assignee and internal notes the customer cannot see.
- Saved replies with variables (first name, order number).
- A collision alert when two people open the same ticket.
- A simple table: open tickets, average first-response time, per week.

Out of scope: live chat, social networks, public knowledge base.

Stack: web app, PostgreSQL, a scheduled job for IMAP polling. README: how to run, backup, how long to keep messages (GDPR).

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Frequently asked questions

How much does Help Scout cost, and what do you really pay for?: Listed price: from €22.28/month/user (converted from $25, rate of Oct 2, 2026). What the subscription covers and is hard to maintain yourself: Messaging channels (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger) and live chat.; The built-in help centre and its statistics.; Workflows and the AI assistant.; Integrations with sales and development tools..
What free or open-source alternatives to Help Scout exist?: FreeScout (open source), Chatwoot (open source), Zammad (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.
Where do you start to build an equivalent of Help Scout?: Copy this page’s prompt into Claude, Codex or Cursor to get a first prototype. Then plan for hosting, data backups and GDPR compliance: that is what costs the most to maintain over time.

How are our verdicts established? Read our detailed methodology ↗

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