Which helpdesk software did your agency use? Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, or any other popular one? For customer support, Help Scout is a reliable ...

Which helpdesk software did your agency use? ThriveDesk, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Help Scout, or any other popular one?

For customer support, Help Scout is a reliable helpdesk software. However, there are plenty of Help Scout alternatives and competitors in the market now, and choosing the right one is quite difficult as every one of them offers a vast number of features also functionalities.

With Help Scout being more expensive than ever these days, the market is rife with helpdesk software that can offer the same or similar features. Each product has its own strengths and weaknesses.

So, analyzing over 40+ different helpdesk software here, we bring out the 8 best alternatives to Help Scout for you. We will talk about individual alternatives, their features, and most importantly, the pricing.

Let's dig in then. 

What is Help Scout?

Help Scout is an all-in-one platform that proved itself trustworthy and useful helpdesk software among so many competitors. With simple design Help Scout have all the important features that a good ticket management software needs. Except for using a conventional UI, the tool is straightforward to use and super fast at the same time and stands out as a strong Zendesk alternatives.

Features of Help Scout

The ease of use and quality support of Help Scout gives it a unique identity in the helpdesk solution industry as well as stands strong from the other Help Scout alternatives.

However, let's see some of the best Help Scout features.

  • Outstanding support, no matter plan
  • Integrated knowledge base
  • Deliver instant answers with Beacon
  • Looks like a normal email
  • Easy to use, no training manual required
  • Optimized for search
  • Send better replies in less time
  • Collaborate with teammates
  • Keep customers in the flow with Messages
  • Live chat software but more helpful
  • 40+ integrations with 3rd party apps

Pricing of Help Scout

Standard: $20 per User per Month
Plus: $35 per User per Month
Company: On contact

What was Our Selection Criteria for Help Scout Alternatives?

To bring out the best Help Scout Alternative we have tried as well as studying plenty of Help Scout competitors. Here are our selection criteria to identify the best alternatives.

  • Customer service features: The product must offer core customer service features: ticketing, knowledge base, and multi-channel support.
  • Reviews on Capterra and Getapp: Real-time user review helps to analyze the pros and cons of the products and make decisions rapidly.
  • User recommendation: Each product should have a minimum average recommendation rating of 8 out of 10 on Capterra and Getapp's site.
  • Rating over features & functionality: The products should have a minimum functionality rating of 4 out of 5 on Capterra and Getapp.

Now, let's see the actual list of Help Scout alternatives, their features, pricing, and how they differ from Help Scout.

ThriveDesk

ThriveDesk is a simple, affordable live chat software for exemplary customer service. It is the best solution for Bootstrap-based SAAS startups, WordPress theme or plugin businesses, and eCommerce businesses. You can easily track conversations and improve responsiveness with easy-to-use, built-in functionalities like shared inbox, CRM, Live chat, Reporting, Knowledge base, Email Signature Generator, and a lot more integration.

Features of ThriveDesk

  • Shared Inbox
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Live Chat & Chat Bot
  • Knowledge Base
  • Email with unlimited addresses
  • Email Signatures
  • Contact form
  • Ticket file attachment size
  • Customizable chat form
  • Offline messaging
  • Ticket file attachment size
  • Incoming email authentication
  • Automated replies from the knowledgebase
  • Proactive messaging
  • Conversations reporting
  • Help Desk Integration

and many more...

ThriveDesk Pricing

Free: Free
Basic: $6.67 per month per user
Pro: $12 per month per user

Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer service software and one of the prior Help Scout alternatives that offer a customizable front-end portal, live chat features, integration with applications like Salesforce and Google Analytics, and customer self-service features. With a centralized system for answering customer requests, customers can go through existing tickets to find answers from Zendesk. Also, Zendesk offers a better live chat feature if you consider Help Scout vs Zendesk or other live chat software. 

Features of Zendesk

  • Flexible ticket management with automated workflow
  • Multi-channel support: email, web, phone, chat, social media
  • Mobile support with native iPhone, iPad, and Android apps
  • Robust reporting and advanced analytics
  • Customer-facing web interface that you can easily brand
  • AI-powered chatbot that directs customers to self-service options
  • Customer support report cards to track team/agent performance
  • Knowledge base portal and community forums included
  • Over 100 out-of-the-box integrations with 3rd party apps
  • Open API enabling seamless integration into your business
  • Strong security and compliance measures such as TLS encryption, HTTPS

Zendesk Pricing

Essential: $5 per agent, per month
Team: $19 per agent, per month
Professional: $49 per agent, per month
Elite: $199 per agent, per month
Enterprise: $99 per month

HubSpot Service Hub

Sales Software for Small to Enterprise Companies Start for Free

Just like Help Scout, HubSpot Service Hub is an all-in-one customer service software. It comes with free help desk and ticketing software to help you better serve your customers and keep track of customer service inquiries long term. HubSpot also allows you to create a knowledge base so your customers can find answers to their questions more quickly.

Features of HubSpot

  • Help desk software and advanced ticketing
  • Knowledge base builder
  • Live chat and bots
  • Secure customer portals
  • VoIP system
  • Automation workflows to solve customer problems faster
  • 1:1 video messaging
  • Shared inbox connected to your team emails, live chat, Facebook Messenger, and more so that everyone has visibility to manage customer conversations
  • Free, fully-integrated CRM
  • Customer feedback surveys
  • Contact scoring to track the health of your customers and prioritize outreach

HubSpot Pricing

Free: Free plan (includes help desk, ticketing, live chat, CRM, and more)
Starter: $45 per month
Professional: $360 per agent, per month
Enterprise: $1,200 per month

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is the other best alternative to Help Scout to be considered with a 7.84% market share. From the agent standpoint, Freshdesk is highly optimized with features like automation, automatic delivery of help desk tickets to the correct department, reports, and knowledge base construction. Making the customer success workflow more collaboration-driven Freshdesk can be adapted to just about any business model.

Features of Freshdesk

  • Ticketing made easy
  • Resolve issues together
  • Support across channels
  • Manage your field workforce
  • Increase your team's productivity
  • Chatbot powered by Freddy AI
  • Measure and improve efficiency
  • Complete customization capabilities
  • State-of-the-art data security

Pricing of Freshdesk

Sprout: Free
Blossom: $15 per month, billed annually
Garden: $35 per month, billed annually
Estate: $49 per month, billed annually
Forest: $99 per month, billed annually

Groove

Groove is another excellent Help Scout alternative with simple design and ease of use. The process of collecting customer inquiries, providing support as needed, and converting support tickets into amazing customer experiences of Groove is impressive. The most exciting feature of Groove is its integration with an email like Gmail and Outlook. Besides, Groove also allows users to create a support widget that can be displayed on their website.

Features of Groove

  • Email Integration
  • Customer DataBase
  • Self Service Portal
  • Live chat system
  • Alerts/Escalation
  • Knowledge Base Management
  • Multi-Channel Communication
  • Third Party Integration
  • Response Automation
  • Attachments/Screencasts
  • Ticket Collaboration
  • Automated Routing
  • Customizable Branding
  • Tickets and Tagging
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management

Pricing of of Groove

Starter: $9 per User per Month
Plus: $19 per User per Month
Pro: $29 per User per Month
Company: On contact

AzureDesk

AzureDesk focuses mainly on what's essential to support via email rather than other extensive so-called features. Users can quickly prioritize and categorize tickets as they come in and create a knowledge management for the customers to check out before contacting support staff. With a simple user interface, its agents and other team members can also attach private messages to tickets to communicate.

Features of AzureDesk

  • Support portal with JIRA integration
  • Activity management with client portal
  • Email integration
  • Help desk management
  • Multi-channel communication
  • Twitter integration
  • Trouble ticketing
  • Feedback management
  • Question library
  • Email templates
  • Knowledge base
  • Ticket management
  • Help desk integration

Pricing of AzureDesk

Free Trial: free
Plus: $33 per user per month

HappyFox

HappyFox is a multi-channel help scout alternative that provides information to the clients via email, live chat, social media, and even by phone. With incredibly helpful and knowledgeable support, HappyFox offers one of the most well-thought-out interfaces available. The self-service portal provides information regarding the content of every customer's inquiries and allows organizations to easily update their knowledge management software.

Features of HappyFox

  • Live Chat Integration
  • Group Contacts
  • Intuitive user interface
  • In-depth reporting
  • Over 35 languages supported
  • Convert emails into tickets
  • Smart rules for automation
  • Social media integration with Facebook
  • Supports voice, email, chat, social media, and mobile channels
  • Works on iOS, Android, and Windows mobile devices

Pricing HappyFox

Mighty: $29 per month
Fantastic: $49 per month
Enterprise: $69 per month
Enterprise Plus: $89 per month
Unlimited Agents: $1499 per month

Kayako

Kayako is the oldest Help Scout alternative and one of the prior Zendesk as well as Help Scout competitors from the very beginning. However, with limited functionality it's an all-in-one tool. Customers will enjoy collaboration features like private notes, collision prevention, assignment rules, and real-time visitor monitoring. Also, integrate the live chat with your website and mobile apps through mobile SDKs.

Features of Kayako

  • Unified conversations across multiple channels
  • Real-time messaging for your help center and website
  • Real-time visitor monitoring
  • Beautiful Help Center so customers can help themselves
  • Advanced ticket workflows and automations
  • Custom fields to collect all the information you need
  • Rich customer and organization profiles
  • Set SLAs to keep on top of your customer conversations
  • Define business hours for accurate performance tracking
  • Automatic escalations ensure nothing gets forgotten
  • Native mobile apps for iOS and Android
  • Simple Insights into your team's performance
  • Advanced Insights - coming soon
  • Multilingual customer support and localizations
  • Manage and offer unique experiences for multiple brands
  • Full control over the look-and-feel of your Help Center
  • Zapier integration to connect with over 500 business apps
  • Simple webhook integration to push customer data into Kayako
  • Slack integration

Pricing of of Kayako

Inbox: $15 per agent per month
Growth: $30 per agent per month
Scale: $60 per agent per month

Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is an AI-based context-aware tool to increase agent productivity and great Help Scout alternatives to consider. For the managing capabilities, Zoho Desk dedicated asset management system is the best. You can easily customize the layout, design, and color of the tool to match your brand and connect it to popular third-party platforms like JIRA and Slack. With ticketing service, live chat, and multi-channel customer support.

Features of Zoho Desk

  • Accounts and Contacts
  • Alerts and Notifications
  • CRM integration
  • Contracts and SLA
  • Customizable reports
  • Customization
  • Scheduled reports
  • Self service portal
  • Service escalations
  • Social Media Support
  • Third Party Integration
  • Ticket assignment and management

Pricing of Zoho Desk

Free: 3 Free Agents
Standard: $12 per month billed annually
Professional: $20 per month billed annually
Enterprise: $35 per month billed annually

Crisp

Crisp is a strong Help Scout alternative and an all-in-one multi-channel help desk software available in the market. All over 100 000 businesses use Crisp at crisp.chat now. With Live Assist, users can grant agents temporary control to resolve issues directly and see what visitors are typing in real-time. It's included automation system powered the ticketing system just like Zendesk does.

Features of Crisp

  • Alerts / Escalation
  • Automated Routing
  • Customizable Branding
  • Document Storage
  • Email Integration
  • IT Asset Management
  • Interaction Tracking
  • Knowledge Base Management
  • Multi-Channel Communication
  • Network Monitoring
  • Real-time Chat
  • Self Service Portal
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management
  • Ticket Management
  • REST API and Frontend API
  • Mobile SDK

Pricing of Crisp

Basic: Free
Pro: $25 per month per website
Ultimate: $95 per month per website

Wrapping Up

This was the list, guys. Here, we are trying to cover almost every popular Help Scout alternatives, as well as top Freshdesk alternatives. Each of this Helpdesk software is well trusted, useful, and proved themselves worth using by millions of companies. 

Which one did you use or decide to use after reading this article? Let me know in the comment sections below. Also, share your user experiences after using them too. Till then, enjoy the article.