# Chatwoot vs Help Scout

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Help Scout

| Attribute | Chatwoot | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 66.4 (74% (medium)) | 81.7 (70% (medium)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A self-hosted, open-source platform for managing customer conversations across multiple channels with AI-powered automation, giving businesses full control over their data while centralizing support operations in a single inbox. It is indexed under Customer Support.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com","question":"What is Chatwoot?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Chatwoot offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $49 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com/blog/how-to-decide-pricing-plans-for-your-opensource-product","question":"Is Chatwoot free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Chatwoot. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com","question":"What platforms does Chatwoot support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Chatwoot can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com","question":"Can Chatwoot be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 18 integrations for Chatwoot, including Slack, Webhooks, Dialogflow, Rasa, Twilio, WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger and Instagram, plus 10 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com","question":"What does Chatwoot integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and GDPR for Chatwoot. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Chatwoot not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com/de/security","question":"What security certifications does Chatwoot have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Chatwoot is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://www.chatwoot.com/blog/how-to-decide-pricing-plans-for-your-opensource-product","question":"Where is Chatwoot available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"Customer support software that enables team collaboration and messaging across multiple channels, with AI features to assist with responses and improve service speed and quality. It is indexed under Customer Support.","source":"https://www.helpscout.com","question":"What is Help Scout?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Help Scout offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $25 per user per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.helpscout.com","question":"Is Help Scout free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Help Scout. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.helpscout.com","question":"What platforms does Help Scout support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Help Scout, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.helpscout.com","question":"Can Help Scout be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Help Scout. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Help Scout not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.helpscout.com/security","question":"What security certifications does Help Scout have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Consolidates customer conversations from email, chat, social media, and phone into one dashboard, with AI-powered reply suggestions, automated workflows, and a self-service knowledge base to help teams respond faster. | A customer support service that uses artificial intelligence to help businesses manage customer interactions through chat and communication features. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","ai_agent":true,"sso_scim":true,"free_tier":true,"live_chat":true,"ticketing":true,"api_access":true,"omnichannel":true,"sla_routing":true,"shared_inbox":true,"knowledge_base":true,"voice_telephony":true,"automation_macros":true,"reporting_dashboards":true}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","ai_agent":true,"sso_scim":false,"free_tier":true,"live_chat":true,"ticketing":true,"api_access":false,"omnichannel":true,"sla_routing":false,"shared_inbox":true,"knowledge_base":true,"voice_telephony":false,"automation_macros":true,"reporting_dashboards":true}` |
| integrations.count | 18 | 1 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Slack"},{"name":"Webhooks"},{"name":"Dialogflow"},{"name":"Rasa"},{"name":"Twilio"},{"name":"WhatsApp Business"},{"name":"Facebook Messenger"},{"name":"Instagram"},{"name":"TikTok"},{"name":"Telegram"},{"name":"LINE"},{"name":"X/Twitter"},{"name":"Email (IMAP/SMTP)"},{"name":"WhatsApp","native":true,"category":"messaging","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"SMS","native":true,"category":"messaging","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Email","native":true,"category":"email","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Twitter","native":true,"category":"social","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Shopify","native":true,"category":"ecommerce"},{"name":"Linear","native":true,"category":"crm","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Google Translate","native":true},{"name":"Cloudflare RealtimeKit","native":true,"category":"communication"},{"name":"REST API","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Facebook","category":"social","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"X (Twitter)","native":true,"category":"chat","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Voice","native":true,"category":"communication","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Google NLP","native":false,"category":"ai"}]` | `[{"name":"Shopify"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Hacker","summary":"Free, up to 2 agents, 500 conversations/month","features":["Live chat","Voice","Email","WhatsApp","Facebook Messenger","Instagram","TikTok","Telegram","LINE","SMS"],"minSeats":2,"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"conversations":"500/month","data_retention":"30 days"}},{"free":false,"name":"Startups","summary":"$19/agent/month","features":["All channels","Captain AI","Automation rules","Teams","SSO/SAML","Audit logs","SLA Management","Knowledge base","Webhooks","API access"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"agent","amount":19,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"captain_ai_credits":"300/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Business","summary":"$39/agent/month, 2-year data retention","features":["All channels","Captain AI","Automation rules","Teams","SSO/SAML","Audit logs","SLA Management","Knowledge base","Custom branding","Webhooks","API access"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"agent","amount":39,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Most popular","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"data_retention":"2 years","captain_ai_credits":"500/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"$99/agent/month, 3-year data retention","features":["All channels","Captain AI","Automation rules","Teams","SSO/SAML","Audit logs","SLA Management","Knowledge base","Custom branding","Webhooks","API access","Dedicated support"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"agent","amount":99,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"data_retention":"3 years","captain_ai_credits":"800/month"}}],"addOns":[{"name":"Captain AI Credits","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"credit"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From free to $99/agent/month. 15-day free trial. Paid plans include Captain AI credits.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.chatwoot.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T12:40:38.939Z","freeTrialDays":15,"startingPrice":{"unit":"agent","amount":19,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free","features":["1 Inbox","1 Docs site","10 saved replies","10 tags","Snooze","Send later","Customer profiles & history","Custom fields (up to 10)"],"minSeats":5,"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"5","inboxes":"1","contacts":"100/mo","docs_sites":"1"}},{"free":false,"name":"Standard","summary":"$25/user/mo","features":["Multiple Inboxes","Live chat, Instagram, & Messenger","Multiple knowledge bases","One basic SLA policy","Basic workflows","Unlimited tags and saved replies","AI Inbox assistant","WhatsApp messaging","Saved replies","Views","Snooze","Send later"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"user","amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For growing teams looking to automate more tasks and move beyond email","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"25","inboxes":"2 (additional $10/mo)","contacts":"Unlimited"}},{"free":false,"name":"Plus","summary":"$45/user/mo","features":["Everything in Standard","Advanced workflows","Two advanced SLA policies","Unlimited AI Drafts","Round robin routing","Salesforce, Jira, and HubSpot integrations","Internal teams","Group conversations by company"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"user","amount":45,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For teams managing higher volume and complexity across multiple channels","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"users":"50","inboxes":"5 (additional $10/mo)","light_users":"25"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$75/user/mo","features":["Everything in Plus","Unlimited workflows","Unlimited SLA policies","Multiple routing types","SSO/SAML","HIPAA compliance","Dedicated onboarding specialist","Strategic account manager","Preferred pricing on Aircall"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"user","amount":75,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For teams that need the highest level of scale and security","contactSales":true,"includedLimits":{"users":"Unlimited (minimum 10)","inboxes":"10 (additional $10/mo)","light_users":"50"}}],"addOns":[{"name":"AI Answers","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"resolution"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.75,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From $25/user/mo (Standard). Free tier includes 5 users, 1 inbox. 3-month free trial for AI Answers add-on.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.helpscout.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-03T11:46:20.369Z","startingPrice":{"amount":25,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | mid | low |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":19,"currency":"USD"}` | - |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","level":"Type II","status":"active","evidenceUrl":"https://www.chatwoot.com/blog/soc-2-type-ii-compliance"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://www.chatwoot.com/security | https://www.helpscout.com/blog/trust-ai-and-customer-service/ |

## Capabilities (Customer Support)

| Capability | Chatwoot | Help Scout |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Ticket / case management | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Channels** |  |  |
| Live chat | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared inbox | ✓ | ✓ |
| Omnichannel (email+chat+social+voice) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voice / telephony | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Self-service** |  |  |
| Self-service knowledge base | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Automation** |  |  |
| SLAs, triggers & routing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Automation / macros | ✓ | ✓ |
| **AI** |  |  |
| AI agent / copilot | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Reporting & dashboards | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud only |
| **Enterprise** |  |  |
| SSO / SCIM | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Extensibility** |  |  |
| Public API | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Pricing** |  |  |
| Free tier | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:59:15.976Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*