Help desk and customer support · Comparison
Freshdesk vs Help Scout vs Intercom
3 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 | Freshdesk | Help Scout | Intercom |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceEmail, live chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram in one inbox, with a knowledge base and SAML SSO, from $29 per agent on annual terms. | Worth the priceEmail, live chat, social messaging and a Docs knowledge base on one $25 seat, with SLA policies and CSAT surveys already included. | Saves engineering timeA help desk and an AI agent in one workspace: Fin answers first, your team takes over in the same inbox, and Fin is billed per outcome. |
| Overall score | 6.7Best | 6.2 | 6.6 |
| Free option | 14-day free trial | Free plan | 14-day free trial |
| Card to start | No card needed | No card needed | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $19/agent/mo | $25/user/mo | $29/seat/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Seat + usage |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per agent per month; AI agent sessions, WhatsApp messages and phone billed separately | Per user per month; AI Answers and Messages above 2,000 viewers billed by usage | Per seat per month; Fin outcomes, phone, SMS and bulk messages billed by usage |
| Free option | No free plan on the pricing page; 14-day trial, no card; 6-month Free Program for 2 agents in the help center | 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, no card |
| Reference scenario (5 agents, annual) | $145/mo on Freshdesk Omni Growth ($29 × 5), computed | $125/mo on Standard ($25 × 5), computed | $145/mo on Essential ($29 × 5), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $35 per agent on Omni Growth ($35 / $95 / $143 Omni; $23 / $66 / $107 Freshdesk) | $30 per user on Standard ($30 / $54 / $90 for the three paid plans) | $39 per seat on Essential ($39 / $99 / $139 for the three plans) |
| AI agent pricing | First 500 sessions included once per account; then $49 per 100 sessions | $0.75 per resolution (AI Answers) with a monthly spending limit; 3-month free trial for new accounts | Fin $0.99 per outcome on every plan; qualifications $9.99 |
| Phone | Through Freshcaller, a separately billed Freshworks product; own carrier on Omni Pro and up | Through integrations only, such as Aircall (add-on, price not listed) | Built in on every plan; numbers and minutes billed by usage |
| SLA policies and CSAT | Default SLA policies on Growth; multiple SLAs and CSAT surveys from Pro ($79 Omni) | Standard: one basic SLA policy and CSAT surveys; conditional SLAs from Plus | Conversation ratings on every plan; SLAs on Expert ($132) |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type 2 (report on request); ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | SOC 2 Type II (report by email request); ISO 27001 not stated | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 (Trust Center, on request) |
| HIPAA BAA | Mutually executed with Freshworks; the HIPAA guide lists Freshdesk Enterprise ($89), not the current Omni plans | Pro only per the help article (demo, 10-user minimum); plan table shows an unpriced Plus add-on | Expert plan only, requested through support |
| EU data hosting | EEA data center chosen at sign-up, every plan | No EU option described; hosted on AWS servers in the United States | New workspaces on a contract (Advanced or Expert), through sales |
| SSO | SAML on every plan of both editions | SAML on Pro per the help article; plan table shows an unpriced add-on on Standard and Plus | SAML on Expert only |
| Data export | Whole-account export (XML in the app, JSON through the API) | Inbox API only; report CSV/XLSX exports leave out conversation threads | All conversations to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage; REST API |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Freshdesk Omni offers chat, social messaging, a knowledge base, SAML SSO and EU hosting from $29 per agent, with every plan priced in public. CSAT, multiple SLAs and custom roles start on Pro, and a few pages disagree on payment and plan details. | 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, Intercom is a full help desk with an AI agent built in, priced per seat plus $0.99 per Fin outcome. SSO, SLAs and the HIPAA BAA need Expert, and a few prices differ between its pages. |
Evidence: Freshdesk: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Help Scout: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Intercom: 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 Freshdesk review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Freshdesk when
- You want SAML SSO, SLA policies and EU hosting chosen at sign-up on the entry plan.
- Pick Intercom when
- You want native phone, conversation ratings and activity logs on the entry plan, with Fin at $0.99 per outcome.
From our Freshdesk review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Freshdesk when
- You need SAML SSO, ISO 27001 or EU hosting without a sales call.
- Pick Help Scout when
- You want a permanent free plan for up to 5 users, or CSAT and two Docs sites on the entry paid plan ($25 per user, annual).
From our Help Scout review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Help Scout when
- You want CSAT surveys and several knowledge bases on the entry paid plan, or a free plan for up to 5 users.
- Pick Freshdesk when
- You want SAML SSO on every plan, EU hosting chosen at sign-up and a full account export, from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual).
From our Intercom review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Intercom when
- You want native phone, conversation ratings and an activity log in the same seat, for the same $145 a month for 5 agents.
- Pick Freshdesk when
- You want SAML SSO on every plan and an EEA data center chosen at sign-up, from $29 per agent (Omni Growth, annual).
From our Intercom review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Intercom when
- You need native phone, ISO 27001, an admin activity log or a full conversation export.
- 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).
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- FreshdeskFreshdesk Growth$19/agent/moBilled annually; $23 month to month
- Email and Facebook ticketing, shared inbox
- Customer portal and knowledge base
- SAML SSO
- Freddy AI Agent, first 500 sessions once per account
- No live chat
- 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
- IntercomEssential$29/seat/moBilled annually; $39 month to month. Some visitors see $19 on the pricing page (a price test)
- Messenger live chat, shared inbox and ticketing, inbound email
- Public Help Center and conversation ratings
- Phone, SMS and WhatsApp, billed by usage
- Fin AI Agent at $0.99 per outcome
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Freshdesk 2026-10-15, Help Scout 2026-10-15, Intercom 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- FreshdeskSelf-serve sign-up, no card needed; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (6.7/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Help ScoutFree plan, no card needed; scored 6.2/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Freshdesk$19/agent/mo for the Growth (Freshdesk, billed annually) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Freshdesk6.7/10 (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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