Help Scout vs LiveAgent
A side-by-side comparison of Help Scout and LiveAgent on what each one charges, what it meters, and which plan every capability actually sits on.
The short answer
3 of the 11 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Channels. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, LiveAgent at Free, then $15/seat/mo.
| Measure | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Free, then $25/seat/mo | Free, then $15/seat/mo |
| Charged per | Each agent seat | Each agent seat |
| AI billed at | $0.75 per AI resolution | Not published |
| Included, where the other says no | 0 capabilities | 0 capabilities |
Capability by capability
3 of the 11 capabilities tracked on both products differ.
Channels
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| IncludedAll plans, including Free | Included1 email channel on Free. 3 in/outbound email accounts on Small business, 10 on Medium business, 150 on Large business, 500 on Enterprise. | |
| Live chat | IncludedStandard and above. Not on Free. | Included2 chat buttons on Small business, 5 on Medium business, 50 on Large business, 100 on Enterprise. Not on the Free plan. |
| Voice | Paid add-onAircall add-on on Standard and Plus; preferred Aircall pricing on Pro. Help Scout publishes no price for it. | IncludedUnknown as a plan gate. The call centre is built into the product rather than sold as a separate SKU, but the per-plan values in the matrix are icons that did not survive text extraction. The FAQ places the call centre among the features that higher tiers add. |
| SMS | IncludedStandard and above, listed alongside live chat. | Not published |
| IncludedStandard and above. | Paid add-on$39/mo per account on Small business and Medium business. 5 numbers included on Large business, 20 on Enterprise. | |
| Instagram / Facebook | IncludedStandard and above. Instagram and Messenger. | Paid add-onFacebook $39/mo per account. Instagram is a further $19/mo and requires the Facebook channel. Both included on Large business and Enterprise. |
| X / Twitter | Not published | Paid add-on$39/mo per account on Small business and Medium business; included on Large business and Enterprise. |
Ticketing
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Shared inbox | IncludedAll plans. Free 1 Inbox; Standard 2, Plus 5, Pro 10 included, extras at $10/mo annual. | Not published |
| Ticket queues | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| SLA policies | IncludedOne basic SLA on Standard, two advanced on Plus, unlimited on Pro. None on Free. | IncludedMedium business and above. 5 SLA rules and 5 SLA levels on Medium business, 50 rules on Large business, 100 on Enterprise. Absent from Small business. |
| Business hours | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Macros / saved replies | IncludedSaved replies on all plans. Free caps at 10, paid plans unlimited. | IncludedCanned messages: 20 on Small business, 100 on Medium business, 500 on Large business, 1000 on Enterprise. |
| Side conversations | NoNot on any plan. The matrix has no row for a conversation held beside the customer thread. | Not published |
| Custom fields | IncludedPlus and Pro. | Not published |
| Custom objects | NoNot on any plan. Custom fields cap at 10 a conversation and customer properties at 50, which are fields rather than objects. | Not published |
| Ticket forms | IncludedEvery plan including Free. | Not published |
Routing & automation
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Skills-based routing | NoNot on any plan. Routing is round robin on Plus $45 and load balanced on Pro $75, neither of which reads a skill. | Not published |
| Round-robin assignment | IncludedPlus and Pro. | Not published |
| Load balancing | IncludedPro only, listed as multiple routing types. | Not published |
| Triggers | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | IncludedEvent rules: 50 on Small business, 150 on Medium business, 500 on Large business, 1000 on Enterprise. Time rules start at Medium business (30), rising to 200 on Enterprise. |
| Workflow builder | Included150 basic workflows on Standard, 500 advanced on Plus, unlimited on Pro. None on Free. | Not published |
| Escalation rules | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
AI resolution
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Autonomous resolution agent | Paid add-onAI Answers add-on at $0.75 a resolution, on Standard $25 and above. Three months free from signup and a monthly spend cap that switches it off rather than overrunning. | Not published |
| Resolution over knowledge base | Paid add-onAI Answers add-on at $0.75 a resolution, on Standard $25 and above. Three months free from signup and a monthly spend cap that switches it off rather than overrunning. | Not published |
| Action-taking (API calls) | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers is described as answering, never as doing. | Not published |
| Handoff to human | Paid add-onAI Answers add-on at $0.75 a resolution, on Standard $25 and above. Three months free from signup and a monthly spend cap that switches it off rather than overrunning. | Not published |
AI assist
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Reply drafting | IncludedPlus $45 a user and above. | Not published |
| Tone rewrite | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Summarization | IncludedPlus $45 a user and above. | Not published |
| Translation | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Next-best-action | NoNot on any plan. The four AI rows are Assist, Drafts, Summarize and Answers. | Not published |
| Auto-tagging | NoNot on any plan. Tags are unlimited on paid tiers and applied by hand or by a workflow. | Not published |
| Sentiment analysis | NoNot on any plan. Not among the four AI rows. | Not published |
AI voice
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Voice agent | NoNot on any plan. The matrix lists phone and voice as "via integration" on every tier, which is Aircall billed separately, so there is no voice layer to put AI on. | Not published |
| IVR replacement | NoNot on any plan. The matrix lists phone and voice as "via integration" on every tier, which is Aircall billed separately, so there is no voice layer to put AI on. | Not published |
| Real-time transcription | NoNot on any plan. The matrix lists phone and voice as "via integration" on every tier, which is Aircall billed separately, so there is no voice layer to put AI on. | Not published |
| Call summarization | NoNot on any plan. The matrix lists phone and voice as "via integration" on every tier, which is Aircall billed separately, so there is no voice layer to put AI on. | Not published |
Knowledge base
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Public help center | IncludedAll plans. Free 1 Docs site; Standard 2, Plus 3, Pro 5 included, extras at $20/mo annual. | Included1 knowledge base on Small business and Medium business, 2 on Large business, 10 on Enterprise. Extra knowledge bases are $19/mo each on every plan. |
| Multi-brand | IncludedDocs sites by tier: 1 on Free, 2 on Standard $25, 3 on Plus $45, 5 on Pro $75, and $20 a month for each one beyond that. | Not published |
| Versioning | NoNot on any plan. The Docs rows cover sites, branding, articles, contact forms and access control. | Not published |
| Localization | NoNot on any plan. AI Assist translates agent text, not articles. | Not published |
| In-product widget | IncludedThe embeddable support hub: 1 on Free, 5 on Standard $25, unlimited on Plus $45 and Pro $75. | Not published |
| AI answers over KB | IncludedAll paid plans, metered at $0.75 per resolution with no included allowance. Delivered through Help Scout's own Beacon widget over Docs content; there is no bring-your-own-helpdesk version. | Not published |
Self-service
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Chatbot flows | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers is a retrieval agent, not a flow anyone builds. | Not published |
| Order lookup | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers replies from content; the matrix describes no transactional actions. | Not published |
| Returns / RMA | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers replies from content; the matrix describes no transactional actions. | Not published |
| Account actions | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers replies from content; the matrix describes no transactional actions. | Not published |
QA & workforce
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation QA scoring | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
| Automated QA coverage | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
| Calibration | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
| Agent scorecards | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
| Forecasting | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
| Scheduling | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
| Adherence tracking | NoNot on any plan. The plan matrix runs to roughly sixty rows across ten sections and none of them is quality assurance or workforce management. | Not published |
Reporting
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Prebuilt dashboards | IncludedEvery plan, but the history is the gate: 30 days on Free, two years on Standard $25, all-time on Plus $45 and Pro $75. | Not published |
| Custom reports | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Raw data export | IncludedPaid plans. Reporting data only, delivered to CSV or Excel "with the exception of conversation thread contents". | Not published |
| Data warehouse sync | NoNot on any plan. The export row goes to CSV or Excel and no further. | Not published |
| CSAT / NPS | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Real-time reporting | NoNot on any plan. Reporting is described by history window, not as a live dashboard. | Not published |
Collaboration
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | IncludedEvery plan including Free. | Not published |
| Approvals | NoNot on any plan. Nothing in the matrix reviews a reply or an article before it goes out. | Not published |
Enterprise
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| SAML SSO | Paid add-onAdd-on on Plus and Pro, at a price Help Scout does not publish. Unavailable on Free and Standard. | Not publishedSSO exists as a plan-matrix row ('Use single sign-on (SSO) to make logins easier for your agents') but the per-plan values are icons that did not survive text extraction, so the minimum plan is Unknown. |
| Custom roles | Not publishedAdvanced permissions and Teams appear as rows in the plan matrix, but the matrix is icon-only and Help Scout publishes no text describing which plans carry them. | IncludedMedium business (2), Large business (5), Enterprise (40). Blank on Small business. |
| Audit logs | Not publishedNot listed in the published plan matrix or the security page. | IncludedUnknown. The audit log is a plan-matrix row but its per-plan values are icons that did not survive text extraction. |
| IP allowlist | Paid add-onAdd-on on Plus and Pro, at a price Help Scout does not publish. | Not published |
| HIPAA / BAA | Paid add-onPro only, and an add-on even there. Requires a signed BAA. Price not published. | Not publishedNot claimed anywhere on the site. |
| SOC 2 | IncludedNot plan-gated. SOC 2 Type 2 for Security and Availability, report on request. | Not publishedNot claimed. liveagent.com/security returns 404, and neither the footer Security policy page nor the Awards & Certificates page surfaced a SOC 2 claim. |
| GDPR | IncludedNot plan-gated. A DPA is published, though the security page says only that Help Scout adheres to relevant privacy regulations without naming GDPR. | IncludedNot plan-gated. A dedicated GDPR page is linked in the site footer, the legal entity is Slovak (Quality Unit, s.r.o., Bratislava) and an EU data centre is selectable. |
| Data residency | Not publishedThe security page says only that Help Scout is hosted in AWS. No region choice is offered on the pricing page or the security page, and no data-residency product is published. | IncludedNot an add-on and not plan-gated. Americas (US), Europe & Africa (EU) or Asia & Pacific (SG), chosen at account creation. |
Developer
| Capability | Help Scout | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | IncludedAll paid plans. Inbox API for customers, users and conversations; Docs API for articles. | IncludedAPI keys are capped per plan: 1 on Small business, 5 on Medium business, 10 on Large business, 100 on Enterprise. The Free plan has no integrations at all. |
| GraphQL API | NoNot on any plan. The matrix lists API access with per-tier rate limits and nothing else. | Not published |
| App framework | IncludedEvery plan including Free. | Not published |
| Published rate limits | IncludedPublished per plan in the pricing matrix: Standard 200 calls/min, Plus 400, Pro 800. | Not publishedNo req/min or req/hour figure was found. LiveAgent publishes a per-plan cap on the number of API keys instead, which is a different control. |
Both entries last checked Sep 9, 2026.
What Help Scout costs
$25/seat/month
4 published plans, billed annually- Billing unit
Per user per month - Free tier
Yes - AI pricing
$0.75 per AI resolution - Vendor calls it
AI Answers resolution - Human handoff
Not billed - Reopened chat
Not published - AI billing window
Not published - Data export
None published - Automation export
Not offered
2 of 9 not published by Help Scout, checked
What LiveAgent costs
$15/seat/month
5 published plans, billed annually- Billing unit
Seat (agent) per month - Free tier
Yes - AI pricing
Not published - Vendor calls it
Not published - Human handoff
Not published - Reopened chat
Not published - AI billing window
Not published - Data export
Self-serve - Automation export
Not published
6 of 9 not published by LiveAgent, checked