Crisp vs Help Scout
Side-by-side plans, pricing, and feature gates for Crisp and Help Scout, verified . Crisp is primarily live chat; Help Scout is primarily help desk.
Plans side by side
Every published plan from each vendor, with the headline monthly anchor price. Some prices scale with subscriber count or seats; full detail lives on each tool's page.
Crisp
- Free
2 agents, unlimited conversations, forever free
Free - Mini
Per-workspace flat $45/mo
$45/mo - Essentials
Omnichannel inbox, AI chatbot, knowledge base
$95/mo - Plus
Best Value
$295/mo
Help Scout
- Free
Up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site
Free - Standard
Entry paid tier with live chat and AI Inbox assistant
$25/mo - Plus
Advanced workflows, unlimited AI Drafts, WhatsApp
$45/mo - Pro
Unlimited users, SSO/SAML, HIPAA, dedicated onboarding
$75/mo
Limits at the entry paid tier
Compares Mini (Crisp) against Standard (Help Scout). Both are the lowest-priced non-free, non-custom plan on each side.
| Limit | Crisp | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Team seats | 4 agents | 25 users (max) |
When Crisp wins
- SaaS startups and small teams that want chat and email in one tool
- E-commerce stores that want WhatsApp and Instagram DM unified with web chat
- Companies migrating off Intercom for cost reasons
Where Crisp is the wrong fit
- Solo operators (the Free plan already covers them)
- Enterprises with strict procurement and SSO requirements (HIPAA and SAML are not headline features)
- Teams that need deep ticket-form customization
When Help Scout wins
- SaaS support teams of 5 to 50 with email and chat as the main channels
- Healthcare-adjacent companies that need HIPAA on the help desk
- Teams that prefer a calm conversational inbox over the ticket-grid model
Where Help Scout is the wrong fit
- Enterprises with thousands of agents (Zendesk or Freshdesk fit better)
- Companies whose primary support channel is voice (no built-in voice)
- Teams that need deeply customizable ticket fields beyond what Help Scout exposes
Migrating between these tools 1 guide
Long-form migration guide for this exact pair. Each covers the cost math, what you lose, what you gain, and the pair-specific gotchas that bite during cutover.
Common questions
- Is Crisp cheaper than Help Scout?
- Both Crisp and Help Scout have free or custom entry pricing, so a direct entry-tier price comparison is not meaningful.
- Does Crisp or Help Scout have a free plan?
- Both have free plans. Crisp: 2 agents, unlimited conversations, forever free. Help Scout: Up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site.
- Are Crisp and Help Scout in the same category?
- No. Crisp is primarily a live chat tool; Help Scout is primarily a help desk tool. They overlap on use case but sit in different primary categories, so the comparison is between adjacent tools rather than direct competitors.
- Which has more plans, Crisp or Help Scout?
- Both Crisp and Help Scout ship 4 plans. Tier counts match; the differentiation is in features and pricing structure rather than tier ladder depth.
- Where can I see alternatives to Crisp or Help Scout?
- Each tool has a dedicated alternatives page on TierGauge with ranked options and verified pricing: /alternatives/crisp for Crisp and /alternatives/help-scout for Help Scout. Alternatives are derived from each tool's editor-flagged competitors plus same-category tools we track.
Crisp: https://crisp.chat/en/pricing/ · Help Scout: https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Last verified . Pricing changes between refreshes; confirm at the vendor before purchasing.