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Customer Support

Intercom vs Help Scout

Which customer support tool is right for you? Compare features, pricing, and user reviews to make the best choice.

I

Intercom

4.53,300 reviews

SaaS and internet businesses that want a modern, chat-first support platform combining live chat, help center, automation, and AI—especially teams that need strong in-app support and deep integrations.

Starting at $39/seat/month
H

Help Scout

4.44,200 reviews

Customer support teams at SMBs and mid-market companies that want an email-first shared inbox with a clean UX, strong self-service (knowledge base), and lightweight automation—without the complexity of enterprise service-desk tools.

Starting at $20/user/month

Side-by-Side Comparison

FeatureIntercomHelp Scout
Pricing$39/seat/month$20/user/month
G2 Rating4.5 (3,300 reviews)4.4 (4,200 reviews)
Capterra Rating4.54.6
Best ForSaaS and internet businesses that want a modern, chat-first support platform combining live chat, help center, automation, and AI—especially teams that need strong in-app support and deep integrations.Customer support teams at SMBs and mid-market companies that want an email-first shared inbox with a clean UX, strong self-service (knowledge base), and lightweight automation—without the complexity of enterprise service-desk tools.

Pros & Cons

Intercom

Pros

  • + Strong real-time messaging experience with polished agent and customer UI
  • + Robust automation/routing and workflow customization for scaling support
  • + Good ecosystem of integrations plus APIs/webhooks for custom workflows
  • + Combines support, help center, and proactive messaging in one platform

Cons

  • Can become expensive as seats, channels, and add-ons (especially AI/usage-based items) increase
  • Some advanced capabilities require higher tiers or add-ons, complicating cost predictability
  • Setup and ongoing administration can be complex for smaller teams

Help Scout

Pros

  • + Intuitive, fast shared-inbox experience that’s easy to adopt
  • + Strong knowledge base and in-app help widget for deflection
  • + Good collaboration features (notes, assignments, collision detection)
  • + Solid integrations and API for connecting to CRM/product tools

Cons

  • Advanced workflows, analytics, and admin controls can be limited vs. larger suites
  • Pricing and packaging can be less flexible as teams scale
  • Not a full ITSM/service-desk platform (limited ticketing/asset/SLAs compared to ITSM tools)