Help desk and customer support · Comparison
Help Scout vs Zendesk
2 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Help Scout | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceEmail, live chat, social messaging and a Docs knowledge base on one $25 seat, with SLA policies and CSAT surveys already included. | Built-in reachEmail tickets, live chat, a help center, social messaging and voice in one agent seat, with AI agents on every plan and a broad compliance file. |
| Overall score | 6.2Best | 6.1 |
| Free option | Free plan | 14-day free trial |
| Card to start | No card needed | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $25/user/mo | $19/agent/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month; AI Answers and Messages above 2,000 viewers billed by usage | Per agent per month; AI resolutions and voice billed by usage |
| Free option | Free plan for 5 users (1 Inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts/mo, no live chat); 15-day trial, no card | No free plan; 14-day trial of Suite Professional, no card |
| Reference scenario (5 agents, annual) | $125/mo on Standard ($25 × 5), computed | $275/mo on Suite Team ($55 × 5), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $30 per user on Standard ($30 / $54 / $90 for the three paid plans) | $69 per agent on Suite Team ($25 / $69 / $149 for the three listed plans) |
| AI agent pricing | $0.75 per resolution (AI Answers) with a monthly spending limit; 3-month free trial for new accounts | 5 resolutions per agent/mo included; then $1.50 committed or $2.00 pay-as-you-go |
| Phone | Through integrations only, such as Aircall (add-on, price not listed) | Built in from Suite Team; numbers and minutes billed by usage |
| SLA policies and CSAT | Standard: one basic SLA policy and CSAT surveys; conditional SLAs from Plus | Suite Professional ($115); chat conversation rating on Suite Team |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II (report by email request); ISO 27001 not stated | SOC 2 Type II (on request, under NDA); ISO 27001:2022 |
| HIPAA BAA | Pro only per the help article (demo, 10-user minimum); plan table shows an unpriced Plus add-on | Suite Professional and up (Advanced Compliance) |
| EU data hosting | No EU option described; hosted on AWS servers in the United States | Suite Professional and up, activated by Zendesk on request |
| SSO | SAML on Pro per the help article; plan table shows an unpriced add-on on Standard and Plus | SAML, OIDC or JWT on every plan |
| Data export | Inbox API only; report CSV/XLSX exports leave out conversation threads | REST API on every plan; file export from Suite Growth, enabled by support |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Help Scout is the lowest-priced of these five for email, chat, social messaging and a knowledge base for 5 agents, with SLAs, CSAT and a free plan. Phone, EU hosting and a file export of conversations are outside it, and SSO and HIPAA sit on Pro. | From its public pages, Zendesk is a broad help desk suite: every main channel on Suite Team, AI agents on every plan and a deep compliance file. SLAs, CSAT and data region start on Suite Professional, and some plan names and AI tiers differ between pages. |
Evidence: Help Scout: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Zendesk: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Help Scout review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Help Scout when
- You want SLAs, CSAT and two knowledge bases at $25 per user (Standard, annual), or a permanent free plan.
- Pick Zendesk when
- You need native phone, ISO 27001, or a HIPAA BAA and EU data hosting on a plan bought online.
From our Zendesk review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Zendesk when
- You need native phone, ISO 27001 or EU data hosting.
- Pick Help Scout when
- You want a free plan for up to 5 users, or a lower 5-agent cost ($125 a month on Standard, annual) with SLAs and CSAT included.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Help ScoutStandard$25/user/moBilled annually; $30 month to month; up to 25 users
- Live chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger
- 2 Inboxes and 2 Docs sites
- One basic SLA policy; CSAT and NPS surveys
- API (200 calls a minute) and webhooks
- ZendeskSupport Team$19/agent/moBilled annually; $25 month to month
- Email ticketing, routing, macros and automations
- AI agents for email, 5 automated resolutions per agent/mo
- API access and single sign-on
- No help center, live chat or social channels
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Help Scout 2026-10-15, Zendesk 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Help ScoutSelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (6.2/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Help ScoutFree plan, no card needed; scored 6.2/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Zendesk$19/agent/mo for the Support Team (billed annually) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Help Scout6.2/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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