Help Scout vs Plain

See how their public offers line up before you choose your own position. Prices stay in the currency, billing schedule, and charged unit each vendor publishes.

Help Scout

See full pricing history

USD · US · source: www.helpscout.com

Plan	Pricing	Charged by	Offer type
Free	Free The Free plan includes 5 users, 1 Inbox, and 1 Docs site.	Seat	Standalone · Free
Standard	USD 25 monthly $ 25 per user/mo	Seat · per user/mo	Standalone · Fixed
Plus Highlighted	USD 45 monthly $ 45 per user/mo	Seat · per user/mo	Standalone · Fixed
Pro	USD 75 monthly $ 75 per user/mo	Seat · per user/mo	Standalone · Fixed

Plain

See full pricing history

USD · US · source: www.plain.com

Plan	Pricing	Charged by	Offer type
Foundation	USD 35 / month with annual commitment $35 /month 1 seat + $35/additional seats. $35/month, billed yearly	Seat · 1 seat + $35/additional seats	Standalone · Fixed
Horizon	USD 299 / month with annual commitment $299 /month 3 seats + $99/additional seats. $299/month, billed yearly	Seat · 3 seats + $99/additional seats	Standalone · Fixed
Frontier	Contact sales Custom Flexible pricing suited for you	Other	Standalone · Contact sales

What each plan includes

Feature names follow each vendor’s own pricing page, so verify the wording before treating them as exact equivalents.

Help Scout

Free

Team management Users: Up to 5

Included
Shared Inbox Inboxes: 1

Included
Shared Inbox Contacts: 100/mo

Limited
Shared Inbox Saved replies: 10

Limited
Shared Inbox Tags: 10

Limited
Knowledge base Docs sites: 1

Included
Knowledge base Articles: 10

Limited
Knowledge base Beacon: 1

Included

Standard

Team management Users: Up to 25

Included
Shared Inbox Multiple Inboxes: 2 (additional Inboxes $10/mo)

Included
Channels Live chat and SMS: Included
Channels WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger: Included
Knowledge base Multiple knowledge bases: 2 (additional sites $20/mo)

Included
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) One basic SLA policy: 1 basic policy

Included
Automation Basic workflows: 150 basic workflows

Included
Shared Inbox Unlimited tags and saved replies: Unlimited

Included
AI AI Inbox assistant: Included
Shared Inbox Contacts: Unlimited

Included
Reporting Reporting history: 30-day history

Limited

Plus

Team management Users: Up to 50

Included
Team management Light users: 5 included

Included
Shared Inbox Inboxes: 5 (additional Inboxes $10/mo)

Included
Automation Advanced workflows: 500 advanced workflows

Included
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Two advanced SLA policies: 2 advanced policies

Included
Highlights Secure customer portal: Included
AI Unlimited AI Drafts: Unlimited

Included
Routing Round robin routing: Round robin

Included
Integrations Salesforce, Jira, and HubSpot: Included
Team management Internal teams: Included
Company management Group conversations by company: Included
Knowledge base Docs sites: 3 (additional sites $20/mo)

Included
Reporting Reporting history: 2-year history

Included

Pro

Team management Users: Unlimited (minimum 10)

Included
Team management Light users: Up to 50 light users

Included
Shared Inbox Inboxes: 10 (additional Inboxes $10/mo)

Included
Automation Unlimited workflows: Unlimited advanced workflows

Included
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Unlimited SLA policies: Unlimited

Included
Routing Multiple routing types: Round robin + load balanced

Included
Security SSO/SAML: Included
Security HIPAA compliance: Included
Support Dedicated onboarding specialist: Included
Support Strategic account manager: Included
Integrations Preferred pricing on Aircall: Preferred pricing

Included
Knowledge base Docs sites: 5 (additional sites $20/mo)

Included
Reporting Reporting history: All-time

Included

Plain

Foundation

AI features Credits included: 2,000/mo

Included
Users User seats: Up to 5

Included
Channels Slack: 25 channels

Limited
Channels Email: 2 addresses

Limited
Channels In-app channels: Included
Channels Microsoft Teams: Excluded
Channels Discord: Excluded
AI features Ari AI agent: included

Included
AI features Sidekick AI assistant: Included
Extensibility Linear, Jira integrations: Included
Help Center Help Center, Knowledge Base: 1

Limited
Help Center Ask AI: 1

Limited
Help Center Customer inbox: 1

Limited
Data-driven support Customer cards: Included
Data-driven support Customer card realtime: 12h cache

Limited
Extensibility AI workflows: Up to 5

Limited
Onboarding Onboarding process: Self-serve

Included
Onboarding Plain support: Email + chat

Included
Extensibility SLAs and Business hours: Excluded
Extensibility Escalation paths: Excluded
Extensibility CRM integrations: Excluded
AI features Reporting themes: Excluded
AI features AI suggested responses: Excluded
Data-driven support Reporting: 7 days

Limited
AI features Lookup with Cursor: Excluded
Services and compliance SSO and SCIM: Excluded
Onboarding Dedicated CSM: Excluded

Horizon

AI features Credits included: 15,000/mo

Included
Users User seats: Up to 10

Included
Channels Slack: Unlimited

Included
Channels Email: 10 addresses

Limited
Channels Microsoft Teams: Included
Channels Discord: Excluded
Highlights Everything in Foundation: Included
Extensibility SLAs and Business hours: Included
Extensibility Escalation paths: Included
Extensibility CRM integrations: Included
AI features Reporting themes: Included
AI features AI suggested responses: Included
Onboarding Priority support via Slack: Included
Help Center Help Center, Knowledge Base: Unlimited

Included
Help Center Ask AI: Unlimited

Included
Help Center Customer inbox: Unlimited

Included
Extensibility Workflows: Unlimited

Included
Data-driven support Customer card realtime: 15s

Included
Data-driven support Reporting: All time

Included
Onboarding Onboarding process: Self-serve

Included
Onboarding Plain support: Slack, email + chat

Included
AI features Lookup with Cursor: Excluded
Services and compliance SSO and SCIM: Excluded
Onboarding Dedicated CSM: Excluded
Onboarding White glove onboarding: Excluded

Frontier

AI features Credits included: Custom

Included
Users User seats: Custom

Included
Channels Slack: Unlimited

Included
Channels Email: 25 addresses

Limited
Channels Discord channels: Included
Highlights Everything in Horizon: Included
AI features Lookup with Cursor: Included
Extensibility Custom workspaces: Included
Services and compliance Custom contracting: Included
Services and compliance Advanced security: Included
Services and compliance SSO and SCIM: Included
AI features Custom AI + bring your own agent: Included
Onboarding Dedicated CSM + white glove onboarding: Included
Onboarding Onboarding process: White glove

Included
Onboarding Plain support: Dedicated CSM

Included
Help Center Help Center, Knowledge Base: Unlimited

Included
Help Center Ask AI: Unlimited

Included
Help Center Customer inbox: Unlimited

Included
Extensibility Workflows: Unlimited

Included
Data-driven support Customer card realtime: 15s

Included
Data-driven support Reporting: All time

Included

How their prices changed

Each date shows when a public price was observed, not when it took effect. An archived region or currency can differ, so a currency change is not necessarily a price increase.

Help Scout

September 21, 2026
Official pricing page
- Free: Free
- Standard: USD 25 monthly
- Plus: USD 45 monthly
- Pro: USD 75 monthly
August 27, 2026
Official pricing page
- Free: Free

Plain

September 21, 2026
Official pricing page
- Foundation: USD 35 / month with annual commitment
- Horizon: USD 299 / month with annual commitment
- Frontier: Contact sales
August 27, 2026
Official pricing page
- Foundation — default: USD 35 monthly · USD 35 / month with annual commitment