Comparison
Help Scout is a polished, email-first help desk — priced per user, with SLAs, CSAT and workflows spread across Plus and Pro tiers, and AI billed per resolution. DeskPine ships the whole feature set on one flat plan.
14-day free trial — no credit card.
Help Scout
A mature shared inbox with Docs and a refined agent experience, backed by a large integration marketplace. Per-user pricing across Standard / Plus / Pro (~$25–75/user/mo), with SLAs, advanced workflows and the audit trail reserved for higher tiers, and AI Answers billed per resolution.
Best for: teams that rely on a specific Help Scout integration and can budget per-seat tiers.
DeskPine
Shared inbox, live chat, multi-language knowledge base, workflows with round-robin assignment, SLAs + business hours, CSAT, reports, audit log, customer portal and AI reply drafts — every feature included at $9.99 per agent, with read-only agents free.
Best for: support teams that want the Pro-tier feature set without per-seat tier pricing or AI meters.
| Feature | Help Scout | DeskPine |
|---|---|---|
| Shared team inbox (assignment, notes, collision) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live chat widget | Beacon | ✓ |
| Knowledge base / help center | Docs | Multi-language |
| SLA targets + business hours | Pro plan | ✓ |
| CSAT ratings | Plus and up | ✓ |
| Workflows / automation | Plus and up | ✓ |
| Round-robin auto-assignment | Plus and up | ✓ |
| Reports + scheduled email + CSV | Tiered | ✓ |
| AI reply drafts + summaries | AI add-on, per-resolution | Included |
| Custom fields + tags | ✓ | ✓ |
| Saved replies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spam, trash, snooze, merge, bulk actions | ✓ | ✓ |
| REST API + webhooks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audit log + roles/permissions | Pro plan | ✓ |
| Customer portal | ✕ | ✓ |
| Read-only (light) agents | Paid seats | Free |
| Dark mode | ✕ | ✓ |
| Every feature on every plan | ✕ | ✓ |
Help Scout tier names refer to where a feature unlocks on its plans. DeskPine has one plan — everything is included.
Help Scout
$25–75
per user / month by tier
SLAs and advanced workflows on higher tiers; AI Answers ~$0.75 per resolution on top.
DeskPine
$9.99
per agent / month — flat
Every feature included. AI drafts included. Light (read-only) agents free.
Yes — DeskPine covers the same core: a shared inbox for email support, live chat, a knowledge base, workflows, SLAs, CSAT and reporting. The difference is packaging: Help Scout spreads features across Standard/Plus/Pro tiers, while DeskPine ships every feature on the one flat plan.
Help Scout is per-user with feature tiers — roughly $25 (Standard), $45 (Plus) and $75 (Pro) per user per month, and AI Answers is a usage add-on around $0.75 per resolution. DeskPine is a flat $9.99 per agent per month with every feature included, AI drafts included, and light (read-only) agents free.
Help Scout is a mature product with a large integration marketplace and a long track record — if you depend on a specific Help Scout integration, check for it first. DeskPine counters with a REST API and webhooks, and ships the operational features (SLAs, audit log, portal) that Help Scout reserves for its higher tiers.
DeskPine connects your existing mailboxes over SMTP/IMAP or OAuth with DKIM and full threading, so new mail flows in immediately. You can export your Help Scout history for reference; going forward every conversation, customer profile and CSAT score lives in DeskPine with full-text search.
No. The 14-day free trial includes the full product with no credit card. After that it's a flat $9.99 per agent per month.
Want the long-form take? Read our Help Scout alternative guide or the Zendesk comparison.
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