Pricing guide · Last verified September 2026

Help Scout Pricing (2026): Plans, AI Answers & the Free Plan

Help Scout charges per user, per month. On annual billing, Standard is $25, Plus is $45 and Pro is $75 per user, and there is a Free plan for up to 5 users and 100 contacts a month. AI Answers, the customer-facing AI, is a $0.75 add-on per resolution. Contact-based pricing is now only for legacy customers.

Free plan
5 users, 100 contacts
Paid from
$25 / user / mo
AI Answers
$0.75 / resolution
Trial
15 days
Plan by plan

Help Scout plans and prices

Per user per month. Annual billing is shown first and saves about 16%; the monthly price is underneath. Paid plans include unlimited contacts.

Free

$0
up to 5 users, 100 contacts / month

Very small teams that answer a few customers a day.

  • 1 inbox and 1 Docs site
  • 10 saved replies, 10 tags
  • No AI Answers

Standard

$25
per user / month, billed annually
$30 billed monthly

Small teams that outgrow the free limits.

  • Up to 25 users
  • Unlimited contacts
  • AI Assist included

Plus

$45
per user / month, billed annually
$54 billed monthly

Help Scout's most popular plan, for teams that want AI drafts and more control.

  • Up to 50 users plus 25 light users
  • AI Drafts and Summarize
  • Unlimited contacts

Pro

$75
per user / month, billed annually
$90 billed monthly

Larger teams; 10-user minimum and sold via a sales demo.

  • Unlimited users plus 50 light users
  • 10-user minimum
  • Sold through a sales demo

Last verified: September 2026. Vendors change prices without notice, so confirm on the official page before you buy. Source: helpscout.com/pricing

How you're billed

Per user, plus per resolution for AI Answers

New Help Scout accounts pay per user. Help Scout previously sold plans by "contacts helped" per month; that model now applies only to existing legacy customers. On today's paid plans, contacts are unlimited.

AI Answers, the AI that replies to customers in the Beacon widget, is billed per resolution at $0.75, charged at most once per conversation, with a monthly spending cap you control. A resolution counts when the customer gets an AI reply and doesn't escalate or ask for more help.

Help Scout gives new accounts three months of AI Answers free, so the true AI cost shows up from month four.

AI costs

What Help Scout AI costs

Help Scout splits AI into agent-assist features, which are included, and AI Answers, which is metered.

AI Answers: $0.75 per resolution

Billed monthly with a spending cap you set. Free and unlimited for the first 3 months of a new account. Help Scout mentions prepaid discounts through sales.

AI Assist: included

Rewrites and tone changes for your team's replies, on every paid plan.

AI Drafts and Summarize: Plus and Pro

Suggested reply drafts and thread summaries, not available on Standard.

Worked examples

What Help Scout costs a real team

Annual billing, list prices from helpscout.com, after the 3-month AI Answers free period. Resolution counts are assumptions.

3-agent team

Standard plan, AI Answers resolving 300 conversations a month.

3 × Standard users at $25$75
300 AI Answers resolutions at $0.75$225
Help Scout total$300 / mo

Choosing Plus for AI Drafts raises seats to $135 and the total to $360.

Bund AI Starter$49 / month

3 team seats and 1,000 AI replies a month, flat, with actions like refunds and bookings included.

10-agent team

Plus plan, AI Answers resolving 1,500 conversations a month.

10 × Plus users at $45$450
1,500 AI Answers resolutions at $0.75$1,125
Help Scout total$1,575 / mo
Bund AI Growth$99 / month

10 team seats and 5,000 AI replies a month at one flat price.

Watch for

Hidden costs

AI Answers after month three

The free AI period ends three months after account creation. From then on every resolution is $0.75.

Extra inboxes and Docs sites

An additional inbox is $10 a month (annual) and an additional Docs site is $20 a month (annual).

Security add-ons

HIPAA, SSO/SAML and higher API rate limits are $100 a month each.

Pro has a 10-user minimum

At $75 per user, Pro starts at $750 a month even for a smaller team.

Phone via integrations

Help Scout has no native voice. Phone support means a separate tool, such as Aircall, with its own bill.

Free plan

Is Help Scout free?

Yes. Help Scout has a Free plan for up to 5 users and 100 contacts a month, with one inbox and one Docs site. It doesn't include AI Answers. Paid plans have a 15-day free trial, no card required.

  • Free: 5 users, 100 contacts / month, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site
  • 15-day free trial on Standard and Plus
  • AI Answers free for the first 3 months of a new account
The flat-rate option

Help Scout pricing vs. Bund AI

Help Scout is a clean, email-first help desk with a genuinely useful free plan. Its customer-facing AI is billed per resolution on top of per-user seats. Bund AI charges one flat price with the AI agent, actions and team seats included.

Bund AI planPriceAI repliesTeam seats
Basic$0.99 / month50 AI replies / month1 team seat
Starter$49 / month1,000 AI replies / month3 team seats
Growth$99 / month5,000 AI replies / month10 team seats
Scale$199 / month10,000 AI replies / month25 team seats
EnterpriseCustomUnlimited AI repliesUnlimited team seats

One price per plan, with AI replies and team seats included. No per-seat add-ons and no per-resolution fees. An AI reply is any message the agent sends a customer on web chat or email.

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FAQ

Questions people ask

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Predictable pricing, AI included.

Start on the Basic plan for $0.99 a month, or book a demo to see the agent on your own conversations first.

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