Gladly vs Help Scout
Gladly and Help Scout, side by side across AI, pricing, channels, security, and seven more categories. We pull every figure from public sources and don’t pick a winner.
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Gladly
The only AI built for LTV. People-centered AI support; no ticket model.
Best for Mid-market to enterprise retail, ecommerce, and hospitality (Ulta, Crate & Barrel, Nordstrom, TUMI).
2014 · San Francisco, CA.
Help Scout
The most intuitive customer support platform.
Best for SMB and mid-market across SaaS, ecommerce, education, and healthcare.
2011 · Boston, MA (fully remote).
Claimed: from the vendor, not independently verified.
3rd-party: sourced elsewhere, not on the vendor's site.
Everything else: from the vendor's own pages and verifiable.
Pricing
List prices, seat rules, trials, and pricing transparency.
- Pricing model
- GladlyPer agent/mo, annual; usage fees for voice, SMS, and AI; not published on site.
- Help ScoutPer seat monthly; AI Answers billed separately per resolution.
- Free trial / guarantee
- GladlyNo (enterprise); 30-day trial with 100 AI interactions via Shopify only.
- Help Scout15-day (Standard and Plus); 3-month unlimited AI Answers for new accounts.
- Price
- Gladly~$180/agent/mo (Hero, annual). · ~$210/agent/mo (Superhero, annual). · Not disclosed. Enterprise quote above Superhero.(3rd-party)source
- Help ScoutStandard $25/user/mo (monthly); about $21 annual. · Plus $45/user/mo; about $38 annual. · Pro $75/user/mo; about $63 annual.
- Seat minimum
- Gladly~10 agents (Hero); ~45 (Superhero).(3rd-party)source
- Help ScoutPro: 10 users minimum; others none beyond Free's 5.
- Implementation fee
- GladlyNot disclosed. Custom quote; Professional Services.(3rd-party)source
- Help ScoutNot disclosed; onboarding specialist is a paid add-on; Pro incl. account manager.
- Transparency
- GladlyOpaque. No pricing on site; requires a demo.
- Help ScoutHigh. All prices public.
Channels
Where each tool can talk to customers.
- GladlyNative
- Help ScoutNative
- Live chat
- GladlyNative
- Help ScoutNative (Beacon)
- In-app messenger
- GladlyNative
- Help ScoutNative (Beacon iOS and Android SDK)
- Voice
- GladlyNative. Built-in, enterprise-ready.
- Help ScoutVia integration (Aircall, CloudTalk, JustCall, Talkdesk, Ringover)
- SMS
- GladlyNative
- Help ScoutVia integration (Aircall)
- GladlyNative (via WhatsApp Business API).
- Help ScoutNative (added Mar 2026; Plus and Pro)
- Social
- GladlyNative. Facebook Messenger, Instagram.
- Help ScoutNative (Instagram confirmed; others implied)
- Unified inbox
- GladlyNative. Single people-centered timeline (no tickets).
- Help ScoutNative
Voice & Telephony
Native voice vs telephony integrations.
- Native vs via integration
- GladlyNative. Voice and IVR built-in, no third-party telephony needed.
- Help ScoutVia integration only. No native telephony.
- Voice AI / transcription
- GladlyYes. AI voice summaries and transcription (Deepgram).
- Help ScoutNot offered natively (depends on partner).
- Telephony billed separately
- GladlyYes. Per-minute on top of the seat fee (inbound local ~$0.0186/min).(3rd-party)source
- Help ScoutYes. Billed by the integration partner.
AI & Automation
Autonomous resolution, agentic actions, models, and how AI is priced.
- Autonomous AI agent
- GladlyYes. Gladly Sidekick resolves end-to-end on chat, SMS, and voice (email soon); human handoff.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutYes. AI Answers resolves in Beacon and escalates to a human.
- Copilot / Assist mode
- GladlyYes. Team Assist: AI-drafted responses, real-time translation, and summaries.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutYes. AI Assist (tone, grammar, translate), AI Drafts, and AI Summarize.
- Claimed automation rate
- Gladly76% of conversations fully resolved by AI (homepage); KUHL 59%.(claimed)source
- Help Scout73.19% average resolution with AI Answers.(claimed)source
- AI channel coverage
- GladlyChat, SMS, and voice (Sidekick Voice); email launching soon; social not confirmed.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutBeacon (web and mobile chat); AI Drafts and Assist in email, chat, and Docs.
- Agentic actions (API) vs answer-only
- GladlyBoth. Refunds, cancellations, and booking updates via connected commerce and logistics APIs.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutAnswer and resolution only. No external API actions.
- Knowledge sources
- GladlyBrand KB (Guides), conversation history, and integrated commerce, logistics, and order data.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutDocs sites, public URLs, PDF, Word, Excel, Google Docs and Sheets, and Improvements snippets.
- Underlying model
- GladlyNot publicly disclosed; uses Azure, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Deepgram (voice).
- Help ScoutOpenAI API (version undisclosed); does not train its own model.
- Trains on past tickets
- GladlyYes. Learns from every conversation, including human resolutions; not used to train its own models.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutNo. Never uses your data to train models.
- Pre-deploy simulation / sandbox
- GladlyNot disclosed
- Help ScoutYes. Run AI Answers through any scenario.(claimed)source
- Multilingual
- GladlyPartial. Platform translation in 70+ languages; Sidekick AI authoring English-only; IVR 30 languages.
- Help ScoutYes. AI Answers in 50+ languages; AI Assist translates 13.
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- GladlyNative only. Sidekick needs Gladly as the primary helpdesk.
- Help ScoutNative only.
- AI pricing model
- GladlyUsage-based (per conversation or resolution) on top of a per-agent fee.(3rd-party)source
- Help ScoutPay-per-resolution add-on ($0.75); Assist, Drafts, and Summarize on Plus and Pro; 3-month free trial.
- AI unit price
- Gladly~$0.60/conversation (enterprise); $1.50/AI Resolution + $0.25/AI Assist (Shopify tier).(3rd-party)source
- Help Scout$0.75 per AI resolution; prepay for up to 33% savings.
- Copilot / Assist price
- GladlyNot disclosed (Team Assist not broken out).
- Help ScoutIncluded on Plus and Pro (not Standard or Free).
How Open.cx compares
Open.cx runs on top of Gladly or Help Scoutas an AI layer, or works as its own helpdesk. Here's where it lands on the same questions.
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- Both. Add it on top of the helpdesk you already run, or use it as your own inbox. Works with Zendesk, Intercom, Front, Freshdesk, Gorgias, Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics 365, Twilio Flex, and Creatio.
- Autonomous AI agent
- Yes. Autopilot resolves tickets end to end on its own, across every channel.
- AI pricing model
- Per resolution, so you pay for outcomes. Escalations to a human are free.
- Claimed automation rate
- 77% average automation; up to 80% (Trunkrs)(claimed)source
Security & Compliance
Certifications, data residency, and access controls.
- SOC 2 Type II
- GladlySOC 2 Type II (and AI sub-processors).
- Help ScoutSOC 2 Type 2.
- GDPR
- GladlyYes. DPAs with AI vendors; VeraSafe EU/UK representative.
- Help ScoutYes. EU and UK GDPR, Swiss FADP; DPA; DPF participant.
- HIPAA / PCI
- GladlyNot disclosed. PCI-DSS and GDPR confirmed; HIPAA not referenced.
- Help ScoutYes. Pro plan; BAA required.
- SSO / SAML
- GladlyYes. SSO; SAML certificates.
- Help ScoutYes. SAML SSO (Pro).
- Data residency
- GladlyPartial. 9 global regions for voice; no explicit customer-selectable residency.
- Help ScoutNo. AWS US only; no EU or regional hosting.
Integrations
Marketplace breadth, APIs, and developer tooling.
- Marketplace / integrations (approx.)
- Gladly60+ integrations.
- Help Scout100+ apps.
- Shopify depth
- GladlyDeep native. Customer and purchase history, order management, returns (via Loop), and shipping; Shopify App Store trial.
- Help ScoutNative. Order status, refunds, and order management in the inbox; Shopify App Store.
- Open / public API
- GladlyYes. Open APIs; developer.gladly.com.
- Help ScoutYes. Inbox API, Docs API, Chat API, and Webhooks.
- Developer SDK / MCP
- GladlyYes. SDKs, sample apps, and testing; webhooks via Messaging Automation APIs.
- Help ScoutCustom Apps framework; Beacon iOS and Android SDK; no server-side SDK.
Automation & Workflows
Builders, triggers, routing, and SLAs.
- Workflow builder
- GladlyRouting and entry-point config; no named workflow builder.
- Help ScoutYes. If/then workflow builder.
- Triggers / automations
- GladlyYes. Automated routing, proactive outreach (voice, SMS, email), and entry-point rules.
- Help ScoutYes. Condition-triggered workflows (run once per conversation).
- Routing
- GladlyYes. People Match intelligent routing (history, skills, attributes).
- Help ScoutYes. Auto-assign via workflow rules.
- Macros / canned responses
- GladlyYes. Quick Reply (button responses) and macros.
- Help ScoutYes. Saved Replies.
- SLA management
- GladlyYes. SLA Business Hours and Entry Point SLA settings.
- Help ScoutYes. 1 policy on Standard, 2 on Plus, unlimited on Pro; NRT tracking.
Collaboration
How support teams work a queue together.
- Internal notes
- GladlyYes. Notes and @mentions.
- Help ScoutYes. @Mentions.
- Collision detection
- GladlyReferenced in comparisons; not confirmed on a Gladly page.(3rd-party)source
- Help ScoutYes. Built in on all plans (yellow and red indicators).
- Side conversations
- GladlyNot disclosed
- Help ScoutNot offered (notes and splits instead).
- Shared inbox
- GladlyYes. Unified inbox; task management tied to customer threads.
- Help ScoutYes. Core product.
Self-Service & Knowledge
Knowledge base, help center, and deflection.
- Knowledge base
- GladlyYes. Answers KB for agents and AI; configured via non-developer Guides.
- Help ScoutYes. Docs; 1 site on Free and Standard, extra at $20/mo.
- Help center
- GladlyYes. Customer-facing, 45+ languages.
- Help ScoutYes. Docs, embeddable in Beacon.
- Community forum
- GladlyNot offered
- Help ScoutNot offered.
- AI answers from knowledge base
- GladlyYes. Sidekick serves answers from the Answers KB autonomously.(claimed)source
- Help ScoutYes. AI Answers from Docs; tracks search gaps.
Reporting & Analytics
Dashboards, custom reports, and CSAT.
- Dashboards
- GladlyYes. Liveboards (real-time) and Insight Builder.
- Help ScoutYes. 7 built-in reports.
- Custom reports
- GladlyYes. Insight Builder custom reports.
- Help ScoutNo. Not native; raw data via Inbox API.
- Included in lowest tier
- GladlyReporting tier restrictions not published; appears standard.
- Help ScoutReporting on all paid plans, including Standard.
- CSAT surveys
- GladlyYes. Native CSAT; integrates Delighted, SimpleSat, Stella.
- Help ScoutYes. Happiness report (post-conversation surveys).
Onboarding & Support
Implementation, CSM tiers, and partners.
- Onboarding
- GladlyDedicated implementation team; Professional Services; guided docs.
- Help ScoutSelf-serve; onboarding specialist (paid add-on); Pro incl. dedicated onboarding.
- Support channels
- GladlyGladly Support team (bugs, how-tos, config); dedicated CSM post-implementation.
- Help ScoutEmail on all paid plans (priority); no customer phone support.
- Dedicated CSM
- GladlyYes. All customers get a dedicated CSM post-implementation.
- Help ScoutStrategic account manager on Pro.
- Implementation partners
- GladlyNot disclosed. No partner or SI page found.
- Help ScoutNot disclosed. No partner directory.