Help Scout vs Zoho Desk
A side-by-side comparison of Help Scout and Zoho Desk on what each one charges, what it meters, and which plan every capability actually sits on.
The short answer
10 of the 53 capabilities tracked on both differ, mostly in AI assist and AI resolution. Help Scout starts at Free, then $25/seat/mo, Zoho Desk at Free, then $7/seat/mo.
| Measure | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Free, then $25/seat/mo | Free, then $7/seat/mo |
| Charged per | Each agent seat | Each agent seat |
| AI billed at | $0.75 per AI resolution | API credit allowance, no rate published |
| Included, where the other says no | 2 capabilities | 5 capabilities |
Capability by capability
10 of the 53 capabilities tracked on both products differ.
Channels
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| IncludedAll plans, including Free | IncludedAll editions, including the three-user free plan | |
| Live chat | IncludedStandard and above. Not on Free. | IncludedBusiness messaging widget from Standard. Zoho SalesIQ live chat is an Enterprise bullet. |
| Voice | Paid add-onAircall add-on on Standard and Plus; preferred Aircall pricing on Pro. Help Scout publishes no price for it. | IncludedTelephony from Professional. Multi-level IVR is Enterprise. |
| SMS | IncludedStandard and above, listed alongside live chat. | Not published |
| IncludedStandard and above. | IncludedStandard and above, in the instant messaging module | |
| Instagram / Facebook | IncludedStandard and above. Instagram and Messenger. | IncludedSocial module from Express; Instagram and Messenger as instant messaging channels from Standard |
| X / Twitter | Not published | IncludedExpress and above. |
| Slack Connect | Not published | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Microsoft Teams | Not published | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Community forum | Not published | IncludedStandard and above. |
| Video | Not published | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Co-browsing | Not published | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
Ticketing
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | IncludedStandard and above. |
| 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. | Not published |
| Merge & split | Not publishedNot in the matrix either way. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Side conversations | NoNot on any plan. The matrix has no row for a conversation held beside the customer thread. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Custom fields | IncludedPlus and Pro. | IncludedProfessional and above. |
| Custom objects | NoNot on any plan. Custom fields cap at 10 a conversation and customer properties at 50, which are fields rather than objects. | IncludedEnterprise only. |
| Ticket forms | IncludedEvery plan including Free. | IncludedExpress and above. |
Routing & automation
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | IncludedEnterprise only. |
| Round-robin assignment | IncludedPlus and Pro. | IncludedProfessional and above. |
| Load balancing | IncludedPro only, listed as multiple routing types. | Not published |
| Triggers | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | Not published |
| Workflow builder | Included150 basic workflows on Standard, 500 advanced on Plus, unlimited on Pro. None on Free. | IncludedExpress and above. |
| Escalation rules | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | IncludedExpress and above. |
AI resolution
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | IncludedExpress and above. Bring your own key or use Zoho's LLM, with up to 30M tokens a month free. |
| 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. | IncludedStandard and above. |
| Action-taking (API calls) | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers is described as answering, never as doing. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| 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 publishedThe Answer bot and AI Agents are described by what they answer, not by what they do when they cannot. |
| Multilingual AI | Not publishedAI Assist translates agent text; the page does not say whether AI Answers replies in the customer's language. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
AI assist
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Reply drafting | IncludedPlus $45 a user and above. | IncludedExpress and above, but you bring the model: connect your own OpenAI or DeepSeek key. Zoho meters no per-use AI price because the inference is billed by whoever holds the key. |
| Tone rewrite | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Summarization | IncludedPlus $45 a user and above. | IncludedExpress and above, but you bring the model: connect your own OpenAI or DeepSeek key. Zoho meters no per-use AI price because the inference is billed by whoever holds the key. |
| Translation | IncludedStandard $25 a user and above. Not on Free. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Next-best-action | NoNot on any plan. The four AI rows are Assist, Drafts, Summarize and Answers. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Auto-tagging | NoNot on any plan. Tags are unlimited on paid tiers and applied by hand or by a workflow. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Sentiment analysis | NoNot on any plan. Not among the four AI rows. | IncludedExpress and above, but you bring the model: connect your own OpenAI or DeepSeek key. Zoho meters no per-use AI price because the inference is billed by whoever holds the key. |
AI voice
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. Telephony arrives on Professional and a multi-level IVR on Enterprise, both of them conventional, with no AI layer over the call. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. Telephony arrives on Professional and a multi-level IVR on Enterprise, both of them conventional, with no AI layer over the call. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. Telephony arrives on Professional and a multi-level IVR on Enterprise, both of them conventional, with no AI layer over the call. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. Telephony arrives on Professional and a multi-level IVR on Enterprise, both of them conventional, with no AI layer over the call. |
Knowledge base
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Public help center | IncludedAll plans. Free 1 Docs site; Standard 2, Plus 3, Pro 5 included, extras at $20/mo annual. | IncludedKnowledge base and ASAP self-service widget from Standard |
| Custom domain | Not published | IncludedExpress and above |
| 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. | IncludedEnterprise only. |
| 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. | IncludedProfessional and above. |
| In-product widget | IncludedThe embeddable support hub: 1 on Free, 5 on Standard $25, unlimited on Plus $45 and Pro $75. | IncludedStandard and above. |
| 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. | IncludedStandard and above. |
Self-service
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Chatbot flows | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers is a retrieval agent, not a flow anyone builds. | IncludedEnterprise only. |
| Order lookup | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers replies from content; the matrix describes no transactional actions. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Returns / RMA | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers replies from content; the matrix describes no transactional actions. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Account actions | NoNot on any plan. AI Answers replies from content; the matrix describes no transactional actions. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
QA & workforce
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
| 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. | NoNot on any edition. None of the five tiers lists quality assurance or workforce management. |
Reporting
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | IncludedStandard and above. |
| Raw data export | IncludedPaid plans. Reporting data only, delivered to CSV or Excel "with the exception of conversation thread contents". | IncludedModule export is self-serve on all editions, capped at 50,000 records per export. Attachment-inclusive Data Backup is Standard and above, one full backup per month. |
| 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. | IncludedStandard and above. |
| Real-time reporting | NoNot on any plan. Reporting is described by history window, not as a live dashboard. | Not published |
Collaboration
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| @mentions | Not published | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Assignment | IncludedEvery plan including Free. | IncludedExpress and above. |
| Collision detection | Not published | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
| Approvals | NoNot on any plan. Nothing in the matrix reviews a reply or an article before it goes out. | NoNot on any edition. The five tiers each enumerate what they add and this is in none of them. |
Enterprise
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| SAML SSO | Paid add-onAdd-on on Plus and Pro, at a price Help Scout does not publish. Unavailable on Free and Standard. | Not publishedThe matrix publishes SAML single sign-on for the help center (end users, Standard and above) and federated login, but has no row for agent-side SAML. Zoho handles agent identity at the Zoho Directory layer, outside this page. |
| 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. | IncludedFree and Express get default non-editable profiles. Standard 5 profiles and roles, Professional 25 and 25, Enterprise 50 profiles and 250 roles. |
| Audit logs | Not publishedNot listed in the published plan matrix or the security page. | IncludedEnterprise only. Unavailable on all four cheaper editions. |
| IP allowlist | Paid add-onAdd-on on Plus and Pro, at a price Help Scout does not publish. | Not published |
| Sandbox environment | Not published | IncludedEnterprise only. |
| Multi-brand | Not published | IncludedEnterprise only. |
| HIPAA / BAA | Paid add-onPro only, and an add-on even there. Requires a signed BAA. Price not published. | Not publishedHIPAA appears as a datacenter certification for the US and Canada, and Desk gates ePHI field labeling to Professional and field encryption to Enterprise. Whether Zoho executes a BAA is not stated on either page. |
| SOC 2 | IncludedNot plan-gated. SOC 2 Type 2 for Security and Availability, report on request. | IncludedNot plan-gated. SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II attested at datacenter level for the US, Canada, Japan, UAE and Singapore facilities. |
| ISO 27001 | Not publishedNot claimed anywhere on the security page, which names only SOC 2 Type 2 and penetration testing. | IncludedNot plan-gated. Listed for every datacenter region. |
| 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. Desk publishes anonymisation of agent and customer records as outlined in the GDPR. |
| 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 plan-gated, but fixed at signup: "Based on the country chosen there, the corresponding datacenter is chosen for your account." Nine regions (US, Europe, India, Australia, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore) plus China on a separate datacenter. |
Developer
| Capability | Help Scout | Zoho Desk |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | IncludedAll paid plans. Inbox API for customers, users and conversations; Docs API for articles. | IncludedAll editions, budgeted in daily credits rather than a call rate. Free 5,000 credits per 24 hours. |
| GraphQL API | NoNot on any plan. The matrix lists API access with per-tier rate limits and nothing else. | Not published |
| Webhooks | Not published | IncludedProfessional and above. |
| 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. | IncludedPer-edition daily credit budgets are published, along with a 50-record cap per request. The separate per-edition concurrency limit is acknowledged but its value is not published. |
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 Zoho Desk costs
$7/seat/month
5 published plans, billed annually- Billing unit
Per agent seat - Free tier
Yes - AI pricing
Not published - Vendor calls it
API credit - Human handoff
Not published - Reopened chat
Not published - AI billing window
Not published - Data export
Self-serve - Automation export
Not offered
4 of 9 not published by Zoho Desk, checked