Migration guide
Crisp → Help Scout
Inverse of iteration 154's help-scout-to-crisp path. Closes the help-desk-vertical migration triangle (intercom-to-help-scout + intercom-to-crisp + help-scout-to-crisp + this guide). Crisp prices flat per-workspace ($45 Mini / $95 Essentials / $295 Plus) and is chat-widget-first; Help Scout prices per-user ($25 Standard / $45 Plus / $75 Pro) and is email-first / shared-inbox-centric. Move from Crisp to Help Scout when (a) email is or will become your primary support channel and Crisp's chat-first UX is now friction, (b) HIPAA compliance is a real requirement, or (c) you need SSO/SAML on a self-serve plan. The migration is RARELY cost-driven (Help Scout per-user is more expensive than Crisp per-workspace past 4 agents); the bad-fit section is intentionally substantive because most teams should stay on Crisp.
Published · By the TierGauge editorial team
When this migration makes sense
- Email is or is becoming your primary support channel and Crisp's chat-widget-centric UX feels like friction. Help Scout's conversational shared inbox is the canonical email-first support UX; the visual register, keyboard shortcuts, and saved-replies flow are calibrated for email-shaped support work.
- You need HIPAA compliance. Help Scout Pro at $75/user ships HIPAA with a real BAA; Crisp doesn't headline HIPAA in its pricing. For healthcare and digital-health verticals, this is a hard requirement.
- You need SSO/SAML on a self-serve plan. Help Scout Pro includes SSO/SAML at $75/user; Crisp's SSO/SAML story isn't clear in the public pricing surface. Security-org-required SSO means Help Scout Pro is the more straightforward path.
- You depend on per-customer SLA policies for support-tier differentiation. Help Scout has explicit SLA primitives on Plus and Pro (response-time guarantees, escalation paths per customer segment); Crisp can approximate via workflow automation but the SLA shape isn't first-class.
- Your team's AI usage pattern is draft-shaped rather than chatbot-shaped. Help Scout AI Drafts are bundled (unlimited on Pro) for agent-side reply suggestion; Crisp's AI is chatbot-shaped with metered AI credits. If your agents want AI to write drafts they edit (rather than auto-resolve customer chats), Help Scout's framing fits.
When it doesn't
- Cost is a real constraint at 4+ agents. Crisp Mini at $45/mo flat (4 agents) vs Help Scout Standard at $25/agent ($100/mo for 4 agents). Crisp Essentials $95/mo (10 agents) vs Help Scout Standard $250/mo (10 agents). The per-workspace flat model is structurally cheaper at most team sizes; the migration only pencils when the per-user model's UX or compliance benefits outweigh the cost gap.
- You depend on Crisp's omnichannel inbox (WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, SMS unified with web chat). Help Scout has WhatsApp on Plus and Instagram / Messenger on Standard but the omnichannel framing is less central; the unified-inbox UX feels different.
- Your support flow is genuinely chat-first. If most customer interactions start with the website widget rather than email, Crisp's product is shaped around that flow; Help Scout's chat is functional but the Inbox view is built around email threads.
- You use Crisp's AI chatbot for autoresolve at meaningful volume. Crisp's bundled AI credits cover automated conversations; Help Scout's AI Answers is a separate $0.75-per-resolution add-on stacking on top of the seat price. At high autoresolve volume, the math reverses.
- You depend on Crisp's white-labeling on Plus tier ($295/mo). Help Scout doesn't headline white-labeling at a comparable price point.
- Your team is in growth mode and will be 20+ agents within 12 months. Crisp Plus tops out at '20+ agents' but the pricing stays at $295/mo flat; Help Scout Pro at 20 users (10-user minimum) is $1,500/mo. The gap widens at scale.
What you lose by leaving Crisp
- Per-workspace flat pricing. The single most-cited reason teams pick Crisp; Help Scout's per-user model scales with team headcount.
- Omnichannel inbox shape. WhatsApp + Instagram DMs + SMS unified with web chat in one view; Help Scout supports the channels but the omnichannel framing is less central.
- Built-in AI chatbot with bundled AI credits. Help Scout's AI is draft-shaped, not chatbot-shaped.
- Modern chat-widget-first product UX. Help Scout is structurally email-first; the visual register feels different.
- White labeling on Plus tier. Help Scout doesn't headline white-labeling at a comparable price point.
- 100+ integrations on Plus tier. Help Scout's integration ecosystem is smaller, calibrated for email/CRM workflows rather than chat/messenger ones.
- Generous Crisp Free tier (2 agents, unlimited conversations). Help Scout Free covers 5 users with 1 inbox but no live chat.
What you gain with Help Scout
- Conversation-centric email-first UX. Help Scout's signature; calmer than ticket-form-heavy competitors and structurally suited to email-shaped support flows.
- HIPAA compliance on Pro tier. Real BAA, healthcare and digital-health vertical eligibility.
- SSO/SAML on a self-serve plan. Help Scout Pro at $75/user includes both; security-org procurement reviews go through cleanly.
- Per-customer SLA policies as a first-class primitive. Plus and Pro tiers ship explicit SLA features for response-time guarantees and escalation-path management.
- AI Drafts (unlimited on Pro) for agent-side reply suggestion. Different shape from Crisp's chatbot-shaped AI; if your team's AI usage is draft-edit-send, Help Scout fits.
- 16% annual-billing discount across every paid tier. Crisp's pricing is monthly-flat; an equivalent annual discount isn't headlined.
- Mature email-first integration ecosystem (Salesforce, Jira, HubSpot, Asana on Plus and above) tuned for support-CRM workflows.
Plan mapping at the entry paid tier
The lowest non-free, non-custom tier on each side. Use this for the "if I'm on $X with Crisp, what's the equivalent on Help Scout?" gut check.
| Limit | Crisp (Mini) | Help Scout (Standard) |
|---|---|---|
| Team seats | 4 agents | 25 users (max) |
Step-by-step migration
- 01
Export your list from Crisp
Pull a fresh CSV of every active subscriber. Capture the fields you actually use downstream: email is required, name is standard, signup date and tier (free/paid) are useful when Crisp provides them.
- 02
Provision Help Scout
Sign up, set sender identity, and verify your sending domain (DKIM, SPF, DMARC). Do this before importing the list; sending from an unverified domain is the single fastest way to land in spam at the moment of cutover.
- 03
Import the list and map fields
Upload the CSV. Map email + name + any custom fields. Decide whether to import as one list or split into segments/tags. Crisp-style organization rarely maps 1:1, so plan the split before the upload, not after.
- 04
Rebuild automations and templates
Help Scout's automation builder is structurally similar but won't import Crisp's flows directly. Rebuild only what you actively use; the move is a chance to delete the unused ones rather than lift-and-shift dead infrastructure.
- 05
Send a test broadcast
Pick a small segment and send a real broadcast (not just a preview). Verify deliverability, link clicks, and unsubscribe flow. If anything's off, you find it before the announcement, not after.
- 06
Announce the move and cut over
Send your last broadcast from Crisp announcing the new sender domain and what to expect. Cut over DNS and sending from Help Scout on the same day, not staggered. A dual-send week creates more confusion than it prevents.
Crisp-to-Help Scout specific gotchas
Universal steps cover most of the work. These are the failure modes unique to this exact pair.
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#1
Channel-emphasis swap: Crisp's product centers on the chat widget plus omnichannel inbox; Help Scout's centers on email shared inboxes with chat as a secondary channel. The migration is also a channel-prioritization swap. If your existing flow is chat-heavy, plan to either keep chat primary on Help Scout (it works, but the UX rewards email) or use the migration as the trigger to move customers toward email-shaped support.
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#2
Conversation history export: Crisp exports conversations via API or CSV; Help Scout imports support conversation data but rich Crisp features (chatbot transcripts with bot-handoff context, omnichannel-thread continuity across web/SMS/WhatsApp) don't fully transfer. Plan a 30-90 day overlap where both inboxes are live for historical lookups.
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#3
Knowledge-base migration: Crisp's knowledge base structure doesn't 1:1 map to Help Scout Docs (collections + categories + articles). Re-author the load-bearing 20% of articles in Help Scout's editor; don't try to port everything via API import.
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#4
Shortcuts vs Saved Replies: Crisp uses Shortcuts (keyboard-triggered text snippets); Help Scout uses Saved Replies (tag-grouped, searchable in compose). Re-create the most-used 5-10 in Help Scout. Don't try to port the full Shortcuts library.
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#5
Workflow automation rebuild: Crisp's workflow automation handles routing, tagging, and follow-up cadences; Help Scout has Workflows on Standard+ with similar primitives. Audit which automations are load-bearing; rebuild only those. Crisp's chatbot-driven automations may not have direct Help Scout equivalents (Help Scout doesn't ship a chatbot).
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#6
AI economics flip: Crisp's bundled AI credits (~$5 / $25 / $75 per tier) cover automated conversations. Help Scout's AI Drafts are unlimited on Plus and Pro for agent-side draft suggestion; AI Answers is a separate $0.75-per-resolution add-on. Forecast your monthly automated-conversation volume vs your draft-suggestion usage; the cost calculation differs.
Common questions
- Is Help Scout cheaper than Crisp?
- Both start at the same headline price (Free). The reason to migrate is the pricing model and feature scope, not the entry-tier number.
- Will my data transfer cleanly?
- Most live chat data transfers, but rarely 1:1. The "Pair-specific gotchas" section above is hand-curated for this exact migration: it covers what exports from Crisp, how it imports into Help Scout, and which structural pieces (workflows, integrations, custom domains) require rebuild rather than direct port. The constraint usually isn't the data export; it's the rebuild work for anything Help Scout models differently.
- How long does the migration take?
- A clean migration for this pair is typically 1-2 weeks of focused work: data export, integration reconnection (CRMs, webhooks, payment processors), feature rebuild for whatever doesn't port directly, test run, cutover. The constraint is rarely the export itself; it's the integration reconnection and the rebuild work for any feature that Help Scout models differently from Crisp.
- 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. The migration involves changing both your tooling AND part of your workflow shape; the "Why migrate" and "Bad fit" sections above are honest about whether that's the right move for your team.
- Where can I see Crisp vs Help Scout side-by-side?
- The /compare/crisp-vs-help-scout page on TierGauge shows side-by-side plans, headline pricing, included features, and limit comparison at the entry paid tier. This migration guide is the long-form decision narrative; the compare page is the data-only dashboard.
Sources
- Crisp: https://crisp.chat/en/pricing/
- Help Scout: https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/
Pricing verified . Migration mechanics are based on the public pricing pages and standard ESP migration patterns; verify destructive steps (DNS cutover, paid subscription transfer) against the vendor's current docs before executing.