Help Scout vs Plain
Help Scout and Plain are both customer support tools. Help Scout is aimed at small businesses, while Plain is aimed at developers and small businesses. Help Scout costs less, from $25/mo versus $45/mo for Plain. Both have a free plan.
Email-centric helpdesk with a human touch
Support tool built for B2B and technical teams
| Pricing | Freemium · $25 | Freemium · $45 |
| Starting price | $25/mo | $45/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 15 days | 14 days |
| Built for | Small businesses | Developers, Small businesses |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | web |
| Country | US · 2011 | GB · 2020 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Help Scout if
Small and mid-size companies that want personal email-based support with a knowledge base.
- Free plan for up to 5 users
- Simple, email-like experience agents like
- Fast to set up; good docs product
Look elsewhere if: Call centers or enterprises needing WFM, QA and voice.
Choose Plain if
B2B and developer-focused SaaS.
- Built for B2B support in Slack
- Developer-friendly API
- Modern, fast UI
Look elsewhere if: High-volume consumer support (Zendesk, Gorgias).
Help Scout vs Plain pricing
Help Scout
- Free$05 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts/mo
- Standard$25/user/mo25 users, 2 inboxes, unlimited contacts; 16% off annually
- Plus$45/user/mo50 users, 5 inboxes, Salesforce/Jira/HubSpot
- Pro$75/user/moMin 10 users; 10 inboxes, SSO/SAML, HIPAA
Plain
- Foundation$45/user/moBilled annually; up to 5 seats, 1,000 AI credits/mo
- Horizon$99/user/moBilled annually; 3-10 seats, 2,500 AI credits, SLAs, Teams
- FrontierCustomMultiple workspaces, SSO/SCIM, HIPAA
Help Scout · Key features
- Shared inboxes with assignments, tags and workflows
- Docs knowledge base with multiple sites
- Beacon widget for chat, contact forms and article suggestions
- AI drafts, summaries and AI Answers for customers
- Customer profiles with app data via integrations
- Reports on volume, happiness and productivity
Cons
- No phone support channel
- Routing and automation less deep than Zendesk
- Per-user pricing adds up as the team grows
Plain · Key features
- Unified inbox for Slack, Teams, email, Discord, chat
- Customer context via API
- Tiers, SLAs and routing
- AI triage and drafting
- Linear and Jira integration
- API-first architecture
Cons
- Per-seat pricing
- Less suited for B2C volume
- Younger product
Help Scout vs Plain: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Help Scout or Plain?
Help Scout starts at $25/mo and Plain at $45/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Help Scout and Plain have a free plan?
Yes, both Help Scout and Plain have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.