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Help Scout alternatives — ranked for your stack

Leaving Help Scout? The other support tool options ranked at your usage, budget and constraints with verified dated pricing — plus when Help Scout is still the right call.

Prices verified 2026-07-17 against official pricing pages · fit weights are our estimates (see methodology) · share the URL to share your configuration

As of Jul 2026, with 3 support seats, a $50 budget for this slot, Crisp ranks first for these inputs at 82% fit and a StackSays-estimated $45.00/month (Tawk.to: 81% fit, $0/month). Fit weights are our estimates; prices trace to official pages. Change any input below and the verdict recomputes.

Your situation

The verdict updates as you move these.

Toss-up — your priorities decide, not the tools

Crispfit 82% · est $45.00/mo

Per-workspace flat pricing with bundled seats — the indie-friendly cost model

vs Tawk.to: fit 82% against 81%, est $45.00 against $0 per month — genuinely close; read both risk lists below

Crispfit 82%
$45.00/mo
Tawk.tofit 81%
$0/mo
Chatwootfit 60%
$57.00/mo
Zendeskfit 57%
$57.00/mo
Frontfit 53%
$75.00/mo
Intercomfit 37%
$117.00/mo
Plainfit 34%
$105.00/mo

Comparing 7 tools head-to-head. Open the full field (8 options) →

The decision, in plain words

For a solo builder at 3 support seats and a $50.00/mo budget for the support tool slot, Crisp leads at 82% fit and $45.00/mo. The two rules doing the work: budget fit (~$45/mo is 90% of your $50/mo budget); batteries included (Bundles knowledge base, AI answers, omnichannel (WhatsApp/social) — fewer services to glue at team size 1).

Tawk.to is a genuine coin-flip here (81% fit, $0/mo, $45.00 cheaper) — read both risk lists and pick the failure mode you prefer.

Honest weak spot of the pick: proprietary saas — conversation history export is usually partial.

Generated from the calculation above — every number traces to the sourced data; nothing here is written by an AI making things up.

Why Crisp scores 82%

Budget fit (weight 30, our estimate) — ~$45/mo is 90% of your $50/mo budget+18
Batteries included (weight 12, our estimate) — Bundles knowledge base, AI answers, omnichannel (WhatsApp/social) — fewer services to glue at team size 1+12
Exit cost (weight 4, our estimate) — Proprietary SaaS — conversation history export is usually partial-0.8
Ecosystem maturity (weight 8, our estimate) — established — our estimate from ecosystem age, docs and hiring pool+8
Free-tier runway (weight 10, our estimate) — Free tier exists (2 seats free forever: chat widget, shared inbox, mobile/desktop apps, 100 profiles) — a cheap staging/dev lane even after you outgrow it+4
Total (lines sum exactly)41.2
Possible range −64…+64 (sum of active rule weights) · fit % = (total + max) / (2 × max)(41.2 + 64) / 128 = 82%

How the $45.00/mo estimate is calculated

Mini base — includes 4 support seats$45.00
Note — $45/mo flat per workspace (monthly billing) with 4 seats; extra agents $10/mo each$0
Monthly total (lines sum exactly)$45.00

What could change this verdict

Cost risk

Estimated now (StackSays estimate, not your final bill)$45.00/mo · Mini
Free-tier statusFree tier exceeded (support seats 3 > 2 cap)
Next known billing thresholdat 4 support seats, overage starts ($10/unit)

Official prices verified 2026-07-17; calculation is deterministic code over those prices.

At a glance

ToolFree tierPaid entryVerified
Crisp2 seats free forever: chat widget, shared inbox, mobile/desktop apps, 100 profilesMini $45/mo2026-07-17
IntercomNo free tierPay-as-you-go — $39/seat/month (monthly billing; $29 annual); Fin AI answers billed separately at $0.99 per resolution2026-07-17
PlainNo free tierHorizon $299/mo2026-07-17
Chatwoot2 agents, 500 conversations/month, live-chat channel only, 30-day retentionPay-as-you-go — $19/agent/month BILLED ANNUALLY (monthly price not published); all channels, help center, unlimited conversations (fair use)2026-07-17
ZendeskNo free tierPay-as-you-go — $19/agent/month BILLED YEARLY; email/ticketing only — no messaging or live chat at this tier2026-07-17
Tawk.toNo free tierFree + Remove Branding $39/mo2026-07-17
FrontNo free tierPay-as-you-go — $25/seat/month BILLED ANNUALLY (monthly price not published); ONE channel type only; max 10 seats2026-07-17
Where did you land?anonymous, one click

Data sources

ToolSourceVerified
CrispCrisp pricing2026-07-17
IntercomIntercom pricing2026-07-17
PlainPlain pricing2026-07-17
ChatwootChatwoot pricing2026-07-17
ZendeskZendesk pricing2026-07-17
Tawk.totawk.to pricing2026-07-17
FrontFront pricing2026-07-17

A monitor re-checks these pages for changes; when a vendor moves a price, the date updates and every verdict recomputes.

Keep deciding

Compare head-to-head

Intercom vs Zendesk — for your app, not in general →Chatwoot vs Intercom — for your app, not in general →Help Scout vs Zendesk — for your app, not in general →Help Scout vs Intercom — for your app, not in general →Tawk.to vs Crisp — for your app, not in general →Tawk.to vs Zendesk — for your app, not in general →

Alternatives

Cheap Intercom alternatives — priced at your team size →Crisp alternatives — ranked for your stack →Intercom alternatives — ranked for your stack →Plain alternatives — ranked for your stack →Chatwoot alternatives — ranked for your stack →Zendesk alternatives — ranked for your stack →
← All Which support tool should I use?Email & Communication channel →