Help Scout vs Missive
A side-by-side comparison of Help Scout and Missive on what each one charges, what it meters, and which plan every capability actually sits on.
The short answer
4 of the 23 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in Enterprise. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, Missive at $14/seat/mo.
| Measure | Help Scout | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Free, then $25/seat/mo | $14/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 | 1 capability | 0 capabilities |
Capability by capability
4 of the 23 capabilities tracked on both products differ.
Channels
| Capability | Help Scout | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| IncludedAll plans, including Free | IncludedAll plans. Gmail and Google Workspace, Outlook, and generic IMAP. Personal and shared accounts coexist in the same app and coworkers do not see personal email by default. | |
| Live chat | IncludedStandard and above. Not on Free. | IncludedAll plans. |
| Voice | Paid add-onAircall add-on on Standard and Plus; preferred Aircall pricing on Pro. Help Scout publishes no price for it. | Not published |
| SMS | IncludedStandard and above, listed alongside live chat. | IncludedAll plans, delivered through Twilio. |
| IncludedStandard and above. | IncludedAll plans. | |
| Instagram / Facebook | IncludedStandard and above. Instagram and Messenger. | IncludedAll plans. Messenger and Instagram. |
| Video | Not published | IncludedAll plans. Video calls through Twilio. |
Ticketing
| Capability | Help Scout | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| Shared inbox | IncludedAll plans. Free 1 Inbox; Standard 2, Plus 5, Pro 10 included, extras at $10/mo annual. | IncludedAll plans. 5 shared accounts and 10 personal accounts per user, poolable across the organisation. |
| 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. | Not published |
| 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. | IncludedAll plans. Missive calls these Responses, and they export as HTML. |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | IncludedProductive and above. Up to 1,000 rules. Starter has no rules or automations at all. |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | NoMissive ships no autonomous customer-facing agent. AI is assistive only, so nothing is billed per resolution. |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| Reply drafting | IncludedPlus $45 a user and above. | IncludedRequires an AI key or Missive AI credits. Instant drafts and custom prompts. |
| Tone rewrite | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Summarization | IncludedPlus $45 a user and above. | IncludedRequires an AI key or Missive AI credits. |
| Translation | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | IncludedRequires an AI key or Missive AI credits. "Translate to any language". |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| Public help center | IncludedAll plans. Free 1 Docs site; Standard 2, Plus 3, Pro 5 included, extras at $20/mo annual. | NoMissive is not a ticketing system and ships no knowledge base or help centre. |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | IncludedProductive and above. Starter has no analytics. |
| Custom reports | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | IncludedBusiness only. Advanced analytics compares users and teams, filters and exports. |
| Raw data export | IncludedPaid plans. Reporting data only, delivered to CSV or Excel "with the exception of conversation thread contents". | IncludedNo plan gate published. Self-serve from Settings > Login & Security across seven categories. |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| Internal notes | Not published | IncludedAll plans. Comments sit inside the conversation and export as CSV. |
| Assignment | IncludedEvery plan including Free. | IncludedAll plans. |
| 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 | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| SAML SSO | Paid add-onAdd-on on Plus and Pro, at a price Help Scout does not publish. Unavailable on Free and Standard. | IncludedBusiness only. Okta, Azure AD and Google. This is also the only way to enforce an authentication policy, because 2FA cannot be mandated on Starter or Productive. |
| 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. | IncludedUnknown. "Roles and permissions" is listed as a feature with no plan gate stated. |
| Audit logs | Not publishedNot listed in the published plan matrix or the security page. | IncludedUnknown. "Audit trail" appears in the all-plan feature list but no plan gate is stated. It is also absent from the seven export categories. |
| IP allowlist | Paid add-onAdd-on on Plus and Pro, at a price Help Scout does not publish. | IncludedBusiness only. |
| HIPAA / BAA | Paid add-onPro only, and an add-on even there. Requires a signed BAA. Price not published. | Not publishedNot mentioned on the security page or in the security FAQ. |
| SOC 2 | IncludedNot plan-gated. SOC 2 Type 2 for Security and Availability, report on request. | IncludedAll plans. SOC 2 Type II, audited by an independent California CPA, report on request. Listed on the Starter plan card, so it applies to everyone. |
| 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. | IncludedAll plans. Dedicated GDPR page. |
| 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. | NoUnited States only. "all our servers currently originate from the US East 1 (N. Virginia) region." No EU option is published. |
Developer
| Capability | Help Scout | Missive |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | IncludedAll paid plans. Inbox API for customers, users and conversations; Docs API for articles. | IncludedProductive and above. Starter has no API access. |
| 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. | IncludedAll plans with API access. 5 concurrent requests, 300 per minute, 900 per 15 minutes, with 429 and Retry-After documented. |
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 Missive costs
$14/seat/month
3 published plans, billed annually- Billing unit
Per active user per month - Free tier
No, 30-day trial - AI pricing
Not published - Vendor calls it
Missive AI credits - Human handoff
Not published - Reopened chat
Not published - AI billing window
Not published - Data export
Self-serve - Automation export
Full
4 of 9 not published by Missive, checked