Help Scout vs Freshdesk

by Gralio Feb 03, 2025

Help Scout and Freshdesk are both customer service platforms, but they cater to different needs. Help Scout prioritizes simplicity and ease of use, making it a good choice for smaller teams with basic email-focused support. Freshdesk offers more advanced automation, omnichannel support, and reporting features, making it suitable for larger teams or those with more complex support requirements.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 5576 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 7 hours, 28 minutes of reading.

Logo of Help Scout
Help Scout
Logo of Freshdesk
Freshdesk

About

Help Scout is a customer service platform designed for growing businesses. It provides a shared inbox to manage customer emails, live chat, and self-service tools like a knowledge base. Help Scout helps teams stay organized, respond faster, and track performance. It's known for being user-friendly and easy to set up, unlike more complex help desk software.
Freshdesk is a customer service software designed for businesses of all sizes. It brings together all customer interactions - like emails, chats, and social media - into a single platform. Freshdesk helps automate tasks such as assigning tickets and offers helpful insights through reporting and analytics. Its focus on automation and user-friendly design aims to make customer service smoother and more efficient.

Summary

Main difference
Help Scout is better for you if you prioritize simplicity and user-friendliness, especially if your team is small and primarily uses email for customer support. Freshdesk is better for you if you need more robust automation features, omnichannel support (including social media and chat), and advanced reporting and analytics, particularly if you handle a high volume of support requests.

Relative strengths of Help Scout (compared to Freshdesk)

  • Simpler and more intuitive interface, making it easier to learn and use, especially for non-technical users.

  • Strong focus on email management, making it ideal for businesses that primarily use email for customer support.

  • Generally perceived as more affordable for small teams with basic support needs, due to its pricing structure.

Relative weaknesses of Help Scout (compared to Freshdesk)

  • Limited automation features compared to Freshdesk, which offers more advanced workflows and AI-powered capabilities.

  • Omnichannel support is less robust than Freshdesk, lacking the same level of integration for social media and chat channels.

  • Reporting and analytics features are less comprehensive than Freshdesk, providing fewer options for tracking key metrics and generating insights.

Who is using Help Scout and Freshdesk?

Who should use Help Scout VS. Freshdesk

Help Scout is a user-friendly customer service platform ideal for growing businesses. It offers a shared inbox, live chat, and self-service tools. Users praise its clean interface and ease of use, while some find the mobile app lacking. Help Scout is known for excellent customer support and streamlined workflows.

Freshdesk is a user-friendly customer service software praised for its efficient ticket management and automation capabilities. It's ideal for small to medium businesses looking for an affordable, easy-to-implement cloud-based solution. While some users find the mobile app lacking and desire more robust analytics, many appreciate the responsive customer support and streamlined workflows.

  • Best for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

  • Suitable for various sectors, including e-commerce, retail, and software.

  • Best for small to medium-sized businesses seeking streamlined customer service solutions.

  • Ideal for software, IT, telecommunications, and various other industries.

Help Scout and Freshdesk features

Supported
Partially supported
Not supported
Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need
  • Shared Inbox
    Supported

    Help Scout offers a shared inbox for emails, social messages, and team collaboration.

    Supported

    Freshdesk offers a team inbox and ticketing system, which centralizes communications.

  • Automated Email Organization
    Supported

    Help Scout supports automatic sorting, labeling, and assigning of emails.

    Supported

    Freshdesk automatically converts emails into tickets and assigns them to agents, preventing lost emails and duplicate replies.

  • Omnichannel Ticketing System
    Partially supported

    Help Scout supports omnichannel ticketing via email, chat, and social media, with automation and integrations for phone and SLA management.

    Supported

    Freshdesk offers omnichannel ticketing, smart automations, and SLA management.

  • Real-time dashboards
    Partially supported

    Help Scout does not natively support real-time dashboards but can be integrated with third-party tools like Plecto, Geckoboard, and Numerics to achieve this functionality.

    Partially supported

    Freshdesk partially supports real-time dashboards for monitoring key performance indicators such as current ticket volume, agent availability, and chat activity, but full customization and real-time capabilities may require integration with third-party tools.

  • Internal chat
    Not supported

    Help Scout does not support internal chat for users to chat with each other within the software.

    Partially supported

    Freshdesk does not natively support internal chat, but it can be achieved via integration with Freshchat.

  • Agent performance reporting
    Supported

    Help Scout supports generating reports on individual agent performance, including metrics such as number of tickets handled, response times, and customer satisfaction ratings.

    Partially supported

    Freshdesk supports generating reports on individual agent performance, including metrics such as the number of tickets handled and response times, but it does not explicitly include customer satisfaction ratings in the described reports.

Qualities

  • Value and Pricing Transparency
    No data
    +0
    Neutral sentiment
  • Customer Service
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.62
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Ease of Use
    +0.71
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.92
    Strongly positive sentiment
  • Reliability and Performance
    +0.2
    Neutral sentiment
    +0.28
    Neutral sentiment
  • Ease of Implementation
    +1
    Strongly positive sentiment
    +0.56
    Rather positive sentiment
  • Scalability
    No data
    +0.39
    Rather positive sentiment
Help Scout and Freshdesk Pricing
Help Scout offers a Free, Standard, and Plus plan for their customer service software. All plans include unlimited users, and pricing is based on the number of conversations per month. They offer a fair billing policy, prorating unused conversations when upgrading or downgrading plans.
Plans

See full Pricing page

Freshdesk offers four pricing plans: Free, Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. Each plan offers a different set of features and support options. The Free plan is suitable for up to 2 agents, while the paid plans are priced per agent/month, billed annually. All plans include access to a shared inbox, team collaboration tools, and a knowledge base.
Plans

See full Pricing page

Help Scout and Freshdesk review insights

5556 reviews analysed from and

Users love

  • Clean and simple user interface.
  • Easy to set up and use.
  • Excellent customer support.
  • Useful saved replies and workflows.
  • User-friendly interface praised for ease of use
  • Efficient ticket management system
  • Good automation and workflow capabilities
  • Excellent and responsive customer support

Users dislike

  • The mobile app is underwhelming with limited functionality.
  • The "previous conversation" on the right side isn\'t always accurate.
  • Saved replies are crippled: all images are stripped from the reply.
  • The integration with our CRM could be improved.
  • The "auto-assign" feature has proven unreliable
  • The mobile app is lacking in functionality
  • Analytics could be more robust and user-friendly
  • Pricing for additional agents and some features is high

Help Scout and Freshdesk Ratings

  • G2
    4.4/5
    (404)
  • Capterra
    4.7/5
    (214)
  • TrustPilot
    3.8/5
    (20)
  • Glassdoor
    3.2/5
    (40)
  • G2
    4.4/5
    (2538)
  • Capterra
    4.5/5
    (2400)
  • Glassdoor
    3.8/5
    (2301)

Company health

Employee growth

14% increase in the last year
11% increase in the last year

Web traffic

35% decrease in the last quarter
No change in the last quarter

Financing

No data
September 2019 - $484M

How do Help Scout's and Freshdesk's reporting features compare for analyzing customer service trends?

Both Help Scout and Freshdesk offer reporting features to analyze customer service trends. Help Scout's reporting focuses on team performance metrics like response times and conversation volume, allowing for analysis of trends related to efficiency and workload. Freshdesk provides more robust reporting capabilities, including customizable reports and dashboards that cover a wider range of metrics, such as customer satisfaction, channel performance, and agent performance. This allows for deeper analysis of trends impacting customer experience and agent effectiveness.

Which product offers better integration with other business tools for a streamlined workflow?

Freshdesk offers better integration capabilities. Its description explicitly mentions bringing together various communication channels (email, chat, social media) into a single platform and using AI for automation. While Help Scout is praised for its user-friendliness, its user reviews highlight a desire for improved CRM integration, suggesting its current integration capabilities are less robust than Freshdesk's.

What are the advantages of Help Scout?

Help Scout is known for its user-friendly interface and ease of setup, making it quicker to implement and onboard teams. It offers a simpler, more focused approach to customer service, primarily centered around email, which can be an advantage for businesses that rely heavily on email communication. Help Scout's pricing model, based on conversations rather than agents, can also be more cost-effective for smaller teams or those with lower support volumes. Users consistently praise Help Scout's excellent customer support.

What are the disadvantages of Help Scout?

Help Scout's mobile app has limited functionality, which can hinder support agents working remotely. Some users find that the "previous conversation" feature isn't always accurate, potentially leading to confusion. Also, stripping images from saved replies can limit their effectiveness for visually rich communication. Finally, integrations with other crucial business tools, like CRM systems, could be improved, potentially creating workflow disruptions.

Is Help Scout cheaper than Freshdesk?

Help Scout's pricing is based on conversations per month, regardless of the number of users. Freshdesk's pricing is per agent, per month. This makes a direct price comparison difficult without knowing the number of agents required. For a small team with few agents and a high volume of conversations, Help Scout might be cheaper. For larger teams with many agents and a lower volume of conversations per agent, Freshdesk could be more affordable. Both offer free plans for limited usage.

Alternatives to Help Scout and Freshdesk

Logo of Zendesk Support Suite
Zendesk Support Suite
Zendesk Support Suite is a customer service software solution designed to help businesses of all sizes provide excellent customer support. It offers a range of tools, including messaging, live chat, AI-powered automation, and a self-service help center. It aims to improve agent productivity, personalize customer interactions across various channels (like social media and email), and streamline workflows to increase efficiency. Zendesk emphasizes data-driven decision-making and boasts a user-friendly interface that integrates with numerous other business applications.
Logo of HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service platform designed to help businesses manage customer interactions and improve satisfaction. It offers tools like a shared inbox, live chat, and automation to streamline support processes. The platform focuses on providing a unified view of the customer journey and uses AI to automate tasks and provide insights. HubSpot Service Hub aims to help businesses scale their customer service operations efficiently, leading to improved customer retention and business growth.
Logo of Front
Front
Front is a customer service platform designed to help businesses manage customer interactions efficiently. It offers a shared inbox that combines email, chat, social media, and other channels into one place. This allows teams to collaborate, automate tasks, and access customer information easily. Front also provides analytics and insights to help businesses improve their customer service operations and measure performance. It's suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline customer support and enhance team collaboration.
Logo of Dixa
Dixa
Dixa is a customer service software platform designed to help businesses manage customer interactions across various channels like phone, email, and social media. It provides a unified view of all conversations, customer history, and order information, enabling agents to deliver personalized support. Dixa offers automation features, real-time analytics, and quality assurance tools to streamline workflows and improve team performance. It's suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to enhance customer satisfaction and build stronger customer relationships.
Logo of Enchant
Enchant is a customer service software that aims to improve how businesses communicate with their customers. It brings together email, live chat, and knowledge base tools into a single platform. Enchant offers features like a shared inbox, AI-powered assistance for drafting responses, and a built-in call center function. It is designed for teams of all sizes and integrates with popular business tools.
Logo of SysAid
SysAid
SysAid is an IT management platform designed for mid-sized companies. It helps you manage internal IT requests from employees. Their software uses AI to automate tasks like answering simple questions, routing requests to the right person, and suggesting solutions. SysAid aims to make IT support faster and more efficient for both employees and IT staff. They offer different plans, including ones focused on help desk features and more comprehensive IT service management.

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