Help Scout vs Intercom
Help Scout and Intercom, 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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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).
Intercom
AI-first helpdesk built around an autonomous AI agent (Fin).
Best for Mid-market and enterprise SaaS/tech teams wanting a unified AI agent plus human helpdesk.
2011 · San Francisco, CA.
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
- Help ScoutPer seat monthly; AI Answers billed separately per resolution.
- IntercomPer-seat (Full seats) plus per-outcome Fin AI. Lite seats free on Advanced/Expert.
- Free plan
- Help ScoutYes. Up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 1 Docs site.
- IntercomNo
- Free trial / guarantee
- Help Scout15-day (Standard and Plus); 3-month unlimited AI Answers for new accounts.
- Intercom14 days, no credit card.
- Price
- Help ScoutStandard $25/user/mo (monthly); about $21 annual. · Plus $45/user/mo; about $38 annual. · Pro $75/user/mo; about $63 annual.
- IntercomEssential: $29/seat/mo (annual); $39 monthly. · Advanced: $85/seat/mo (annual); incl. 20 free Lite seats. · Expert: $132/seat/mo (annual); incl. 50 free Lite seats.
- Seat minimum
- Help ScoutPro: 10 users minimum; others none beyond Free's 5.
- Intercom1 Full seat.
- Unlimited agents
- Help ScoutYes. Pro (10-seat minimum).
- IntercomNo. Per-seat (Lite seats limited-function, free on higher tiers).
- Implementation fee
- Help ScoutNot disclosed; onboarding specialist is a paid add-on; Pro incl. account manager.
- IntercomNot disclosed. Premier Onboarding is a paid add-on (contact sales).
- Transparency
- Help ScoutHigh. All prices public.
- IntercomSeat and Fin per-outcome prices public; Premier/services require sales.
- Pricing last verified
- Help Scout2026-06-02
- Intercom2026-06-02
Channels
Where each tool can talk to customers.
- Help ScoutNative
- IntercomNative
- Live chat
- Help ScoutNative (Beacon)
- IntercomNative
- In-app messenger
- Help ScoutNative (Beacon iOS and Android SDK)
- IntercomNative (web, Android, iOS Messenger).
- Voice
- Help ScoutVia integration (Aircall, CloudTalk, JustCall, Talkdesk, Ringover)
- IntercomNative (Intercom Phone; also AWS Connect, Talkdesk, Twilio Flex, Zoom Phone via SIP).
- SMS
- Help ScoutVia integration (Aircall)
- IntercomNative (2-way; per-message charges).
- Help ScoutNative (added Mar 2026; Plus and Pro)
- IntercomNative
- Social
- Help ScoutNative (Instagram confirmed; others implied)
- IntercomNative Instagram and Facebook DMs; X no longer supported.
- Unified inbox
- Help ScoutNative
- IntercomNative
Voice & Telephony
Native voice vs telephony integrations.
- Native vs via integration
- Help ScoutVia integration only. No native telephony.
- IntercomBoth. Native Intercom Phone plus 3rd-party (AWS Connect, Talkdesk, Twilio Flex, Zoom Phone).
- Voice AI / transcription
- Help ScoutNot offered natively (depends on partner).
- IntercomYes. Full transcription, AI call summaries, recordings.
- Telephony billed separately
- Help ScoutYes. Billed by the integration partner.
- IntercomYes. Voice priced in Order Form, not in seat price.
AI & Automation
Autonomous resolution, agentic actions, models, and how AI is priced.
- Autonomous AI agent
- Help ScoutYes. AI Answers resolves in Beacon and escalates to a human.
- IntercomYes. Fin AI Agent resolves conversations end to end.
- Copilot / Assist mode
- Help ScoutYes. AI Assist (tone, grammar, translate), AI Drafts, and AI Summarize.
- IntercomYes. Copilot add-on, $29/agent/mo.
- Claimed automation rate
- Help Scout73.19% average resolution with AI Answers.(claimed)source
- IntercomUp to 65% end to end. Fin 2 averaged 66% across 6,000+ customers.(claimed)source
- AI channel coverage
- Help ScoutBeacon (web and mobile chat); AI Drafts and Assist in email, chat, and Docs.
- IntercomChat, email, voice/phone, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Slack, Discord.
- Agentic actions (API) vs answer-only
- Help ScoutAnswer and resolution only. No external API actions.
- IntercomBoth. Fin Tasks, Procedures (NL plus data connectors and conditional logic), and 3rd-party actions (refunds, cancellations).
- Knowledge sources
- Help ScoutDocs sites, public URLs, PDF, Word, Excel, Google Docs and Sheets, and Improvements snippets.
- IntercomHelp Center, internal content, PDFs, external URLs, past conversations, Zendesk imports, Google Docs/Notion SOPs.
- Underlying model
- Help ScoutOpenAI API (version undisclosed); does not train its own model.
- IntercomFin Apex 1.0. Proprietary post-trained model (replaced GPT/Claude Sonnet 4.0 as of Mar 2026).
- Trains on past tickets
- Help ScoutNo. Never uses your data to train models.
- IntercomPast conversations are a knowledge source. Fin Guidance uses human instructions; no disclosed active retraining.
- Pre-deploy simulation / sandbox
- Help ScoutYes. Run AI Answers through any scenario.(claimed)source
- IntercomYes. Fin Flywheel Test phase: fully simulated conversations plus batch test before go-live.
- Multilingual
- Help ScoutYes. AI Answers in 50+ languages; AI Assist translates 13.
- IntercomYes. 43+ languages (AI Answers); Fin Voice 28 languages; real-time translation.
- Runs on your existing helpdesk vs native-only
- Help ScoutNative only.
- IntercomBoth. Native on Intercom or standalone on Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Freshdesk, Dixa, Front, Zoho Desk, Sprinklr.
- AI pricing model
- Help ScoutPay-per-resolution add-on ($0.75); Assist, Drafts, and Summarize on Plus and Pro; 3-month free trial.
- IntercomPer-outcome (resolution). $0.99 per resolved conversation; 50 outcome/mo minimum when standalone.
- AI unit price
- Help Scout$0.75 per AI resolution; prepay for up to 33% savings.
- Intercom$0.99 per outcome (all plans).
- Copilot / Assist price
- Help ScoutIncluded on Plus and Pro (not Standard or Free).
- Intercom$29/agent/mo (unlimited usage).
How Open.cx compares
Open.cx runs on top of Help Scout or Intercomas 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
- Help ScoutSOC 2 Type 2.
- IntercomSOC 2 Type II (via Trust Center on request).
- GDPR
- Help ScoutYes. EU and UK GDPR, Swiss FADP; DPA; DPF participant.
- IntercomYes. DPA available.
- HIPAA / PCI
- Help ScoutYes. Pro plan; BAA required.
- IntercomYes. Annual attestation; BAA available.
- SSO / SAML
- Help ScoutYes. SAML SSO (Pro).
- IntercomYes. SAML SSO (Expert plan); new SP cert required by Dec 2026.
- Data residency
- Help ScoutNo. AWS US only; no EU or regional hosting.
- IntercomUS, EU, or Australia. Advanced/Expert annual only; new workspace required.
Integrations
Marketplace breadth, APIs, and developer tooling.
- Marketplace / integrations (approx.)
- Help Scout100+ apps.
- Intercom~250–450 apps (one aggregator lists 565).(3rd-party)source
- Shopify depth
- Help ScoutNative. Order status, refunds, and order management in the inbox; Shopify App Store.
- IntercomDeep native. Bidirectional order/customer sync, order events, and agent actions (refund, edit shipping, draft orders). Shopify Plus partner.
- Open / public API
- Help ScoutYes. Inbox API, Docs API, Chat API, and Webhooks.
- IntercomYes. REST API with OpenAPI spec on GitHub; webhooks.
- Developer SDK / MCP
- Help ScoutCustom Apps framework; Beacon iOS and Android SDK; no server-side SDK.
- IntercomYes. Developer Platform; Messenger and Inbox app framework.
Automation & Workflows
Builders, triggers, routing, and SLAs.
- Workflow builder
- Help ScoutYes. If/then workflow builder.
- IntercomYes. Visual no-code Workflows builder.
- Triggers / automations
- Help ScoutYes. Condition-triggered workflows (run once per conversation).
- IntercomYes. Event/condition triggers across chat, email, WhatsApp, IG, FB, SMS, Slack.
- Routing
- Help ScoutYes. Auto-assign via workflow rules.
- IntercomYes. Assignment rules, team prioritization, workload mgmt, auto-unassign.
- Macros / canned responses
- Help ScoutYes. Saved Replies.
- IntercomYes. Macros supported.
- SLA management
- Help ScoutYes. 1 policy on Standard, 2 on Plus, unlimited on Pro; NRT tracking.
- IntercomYes. SLA rules via workflows/settings.
Collaboration
How support teams work a queue together.
- Internal notes
- Help ScoutYes. @Mentions.
- IntercomYes. Editable, timestamped.
- Collision detection
- Help ScoutYes. Built in on all plans (yellow and red indicators).
- IntercomYes. Teammates presence prevents simultaneous editing.(3rd-party)source
- Side conversations
- Help ScoutNot offered (notes and splits instead).
- IntercomYes. Email or Slack side conversations on parent threads.
- Shared inbox
- Help ScoutYes. Core product.
- IntercomYes. Central shared workspace plus team inboxes.
Self-Service & Knowledge
Knowledge base, help center, and deflection.
- Knowledge base
- Help ScoutYes. Docs; 1 site on Free and Standard, extra at $20/mo.
- IntercomYes. Knowledge Hub: articles, snippets, folders, bulk mgmt, audience targeting.
- Help center
- Help ScoutYes. Docs, embeddable in Beacon.
- IntercomYes. Native, multiple Help Centers, customizable branding.
- Community forum
- Help ScoutNot offered.
- IntercomIntercom runs its own user forum; not a deployable end-user forum feature.
- AI answers from knowledge base
- Help ScoutYes. AI Answers from Docs; tracks search gaps.
- IntercomYes. Fin and Copilot resolve from Knowledge Hub content.
Reporting & Analytics
Dashboards, custom reports, and CSAT.
- Dashboards
- Help ScoutYes. 7 built-in reports.
- IntercomYes. 12 pre-built reports; real-time dashboards.
- Custom reports
- Help ScoutNo. Not native; raw data via Inbox API.
- IntercomYes. Drag-and-drop (9 chart types); Advanced and Expert only.
- Included in lowest tier
- Help ScoutReporting on all paid plans, including Standard.
- IntercomEssential: pre-built only; custom plus advanced CSAT on Advanced/Expert.
- CSAT surveys
- Help ScoutYes. Happiness report (post-conversation surveys).
- IntercomYes. On close (all plans); Fin CSAT; advanced attrs Advanced/Expert only.
Onboarding & Support
Implementation, CSM tiers, and partners.
- Onboarding
- Help ScoutSelf-serve; onboarding specialist (paid add-on); Pro incl. dedicated onboarding.
- IntercomSelf-serve (14-day trial); Premier Onboarding (paid add-on, contact sales).
- Support channels
- Help ScoutEmail on all paid plans (priority); no customer phone support.
- IntercomMessenger/email; Premier Support (<1hr urgent); Rapid Response (~10 min, dedicated POC).
- Dedicated CSM
- Help ScoutStrategic account manager on Pro.
- IntercomPremier Rapid Response includes a dedicated point of contact; a named ongoing CSM is not documented.
- Implementation partners
- Help ScoutNot disclosed. No partner directory.
- IntercomYes. Solution Partner Program (certified implementation partners).