Help Desk Software

Help Scout vs Intercom

Compare Help Scout and Intercom side-by-side. See feature differences and pricing in the Help Desk Software category.

by Help Scout

No reviews yet

Pricing: Free plan for up to 5 users; Standard $30, Plus $54 and Pro $90 per user a month billed monthly, $25, $45 and $75 billed annually; checked September 2026

Help Scout is help desk software with a shared inbox, Docs knowledge base and Beacon widget for small and growing support teams; a Free tier covers 5 users.

13 /18 features Full profile

Most Features

Intercom

by Fin

No reviews yet

Pricing: Seats from $29 a month billed annually on Essential, $85 Advanced, $132 Expert, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome; add-ons from $99 a month. Checked September 2026.

Intercom is an AI first help desk and live chat platform for support teams, with Fin AI Agent answering conversations before an agent sees them.

16 /18 features Full profile

Feature Comparison

Help Desk Software features side-by-side

Feature	Help Scout 13/18 features	Intercom 16/18 features
Shared inbox with ticket conversion Email sent to support addresses becomes a ticket in a shared queue with an assignable conversation thread.	Yes	Yes
Multichannel ticket intake Tickets created from email, web forms, chat, phone and social messages land in one queue.	Yes	Yes
Rule-based ticket automation Triggers and workflows assign, tag, prioritise or reply to tickets when set conditions are met.	Yes	Yes
SLA policies with breach alerts Response and resolution targets per priority or customer, with escalation when a deadline is at risk.	No	Yes
Skills-based ticket routing Tickets assigned automatically by agent skill, language, workload or round-robin rules.	Yes	Yes
Macros and canned responses Saved replies and multi-action macros that update fields and insert text in one click.	No	Yes
Agent collision detection Agents see when a colleague is viewing or replying to the same ticket, to avoid double replies.	Yes	No
Internal notes and side conversations Private notes on a ticket and threads with other teams that the requester never sees.	Yes	Yes
Parent-child and merged tickets Link related tickets under a parent, merge duplicates and split a ticket into tasks.	No	No
Requester portal for open tickets Signed-in page where requesters see their tickets, reply and check status without emailing.	Yes	Yes
CSAT survey on ticket close Satisfaction rating requested automatically when a ticket is solved, reported per agent.	Yes	Yes
Ticket volume and resolution reports Dashboards on volume, first response time, resolution time and backlog by agent, team or channel.	Yes	Yes
Agent mobile app for tickets Native iOS and Android app where agents reply to, assign and update tickets.	Yes	Yes
Custom ticket fields and forms Admin-defined fields and per-form layouts that capture different data by request type.	Yes	Yes
Multibrand help desk Separate brands, portals and email identities managed from one agent workspace.	No	Yes
AI-drafted ticket replies Generative assistant that drafts, expands or rewrites an agent response from the ticket context.	Yes	Yes
Help desk sandbox environment Test copy of the instance for trying automations and configuration before production.	No	Yes
Help desk app marketplace Installable apps that bring CRM, e-commerce and collaboration tools into the agent view.	Yes	Yes
Overall Rating	No reviews yet	No reviews yet

Help Scout 13/18 features

Shared inbox with ticket conversion: Yes
Multichannel ticket intake: Yes
Rule-based ticket automation: Yes
SLA policies with breach alerts: No
Skills-based ticket routing: Yes
Macros and canned responses: No
Agent collision detection: Yes
Internal notes and side conversations: Yes
Parent-child and merged tickets: No
Requester portal for open tickets: Yes
CSAT survey on ticket close: Yes
Ticket volume and resolution reports: Yes
Agent mobile app for tickets: Yes
Custom ticket fields and forms: Yes
Multibrand help desk: No
AI-drafted ticket replies: Yes
Help desk sandbox environment: No
Help desk app marketplace: Yes

No reviews yet

Intercom 16/18 features

Shared inbox with ticket conversion: Yes
Multichannel ticket intake: Yes
Rule-based ticket automation: Yes
SLA policies with breach alerts: Yes
Skills-based ticket routing: Yes
Macros and canned responses: Yes
Agent collision detection: No
Internal notes and side conversations: Yes
Parent-child and merged tickets: No
Requester portal for open tickets: Yes
CSAT survey on ticket close: Yes
Ticket volume and resolution reports: Yes
Agent mobile app for tickets: Yes
Custom ticket fields and forms: Yes
Multibrand help desk: Yes
AI-drafted ticket replies: Yes
Help desk sandbox environment: Yes
Help desk app marketplace: Yes

No reviews yet

Pricing

Help Scout

Free plan for up to 5 users; Standard $30, Plus $54 and Pro $90 per user a month billed monthly, $25, $45 and $75 billed annually; checked September 2026

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Intercom

Seats from $29 a month billed annually on Essential, $85 Advanced, $132 Expert, plus $0.99 per Fin outcome; add-ons from $99 a month. Checked September 2026.

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