# Help Scout vs SupportWire

> Help Scout $25/$45/$75 seats; integrations and SSO gated; AI $0.75/resolution. SupportWire $19/seat + $0.49 AI after 50 free. Neither has native phone.

## The short version

Help Scout is a genuinely well-liked shared inbox (G2 ~4.4, Capterra ~4.6) that pioneered human-first support. The differences that matter for a 10–200-person team are **price per seat**, **what’s included vs gated**, and **AI cost**. (Verified against helpscout.com in July 2026.)

## How Help Scout is priced

Per **user/seat**: Free (up to 5 users, capped at 100 contacts/mo), **Standard $25**, **Plus $45**, **Pro $75** per user per month. Salesforce, HubSpot and Jira integrations start on **Plus**; **SSO/SAML** is free-included on **Pro** and a paid add-on on Standard/Plus, and **HIPAA** is **Pro-only**. Extra inboxes are $10/mo and extra Docs sites $20/mo (annual billing; $12 / $24 monthly). Note: the "contacts you help" model applies to the Free tier and to legacy accounts migrated in 2025, new plans are per-seat.

## How SupportWire is priced

**$19 per seat per month, everything included**: live chat, ticketing, knowledge base, native integrations, SSO and AI are not gated. Lite seats are free and unlimited. One plan, one number.

## AI pricing

Help Scout’s **AI Answers** resolves from your public Docs and is billed **$0.75 per resolution** on top of your plan (AI Drafts for agents are unlimited on Plus/Pro). SupportWire’s **Kal** is **$0.49 per resolution after 50 free each month**, about a third less, charged only when it closes a ticket, and it cites its sources.

## What’s included vs gated

Help Scout gates Salesforce, HubSpot and Jira integrations to **Plus ($45/seat)** and includes SSO/SAML free only on **Pro ($75/seat)** (a paid add-on on Standard and Plus), and bills AI Answers separately. SupportWire includes native two-way integrations (Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot) and SSO on **every plan** at $19/seat.

## Migrating from Help Scout

Export your conversations and Docs, point your Beacon/chat snippet at SupportWire, and your team can be live the same afternoon. Migration help is on us; no annual lock-in.

See also: [Pricing](/pricing.md), [Kal](/ai.md), [Switch](/switch.md)

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Source: https://supportwire.ai/helpscout-vs-supportwire
SupportWire. The live chat platform for startups.
Sign up: https://app.supportwire.ai/signup