--- title: "Freshdesk vs Help Scout - 2026 Comparison - Software Advice" description: "Freshdesk vs Help Scout - See how these products stack up against each other with real user reviews, product feature comparisons and screenshots. Find out which one is best for your organization." source_url: "https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/vs/help-scout/" page_type: "comparison" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-11-09" --- [Home](https://www.softwareadvice.com/) / [Customer Communications Management Software](https://www.softwareadvice.com/customer-communications-mngt/) / Freshdesk vs Help Scout Software Advice offers objective insights based on verified user reviews and independent product and market research. When our advisors match you to a software provider, we may earn a referral fee. Updated November 9, 2026 # Freshdesk vs. Help Scout: 2026 Comparison Skip hours of research. Get your top 5 matches from an expert in 15 minutes, 100% free. Free Expert Guidance Real Human Advice 1M + Businesses Helped Updated November 9, 2026 # Freshdesk vs. Help Scout: 2026 Comparison Skip hours of research. Get your top 5 matches from an expert in 15 minutes, 100% free. Free Expert Guidance Real Human Advice 1M + Businesses Helped Product comparison Compare up to 3 products side-by-side + Add product [](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/) [Freshdesk](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/) 4.5 [(3494)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/reviews/) Starting Price $19.00per month Free trial: Available Free version: Available Pros: - Customer Support - Ease of Use Cons: - Email Management - Reporting Who uses Freshdesk Based on 3494 reviews - Popular among: Small businesses - Most common industries: IT & Software Development (33%), Retail, Consumer Goods & Services (9%) and Professional Services (8%) - Top use cases: Help Desk (19%), Customer Service (11%) and Live Chat (8%) 81% of users recommend this product [](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/help-scout-profile/) [Help Scout](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/help-scout-profile/) 4.6 [(226)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/help-scout-profile/reviews/) Starting Price $30.00per month Free trial: Available Free version: Available Pros: Not enough reviews Cons: Not enough reviews Who uses Help Scout Based on 226 reviews - Popular among: Small businesses - Most common industries: IT & Software Development (28%), Professional Services (13%) and Retail, Consumer Goods & Services (8%) - Top use cases: Help Desk (17%), Customer Service (16%) and Email Management (12%) 80% of users recommend this product [](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/) Freshdesk 4.5 [(3494)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/reviews/) [](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/help-scout-profile/) Help Scout 4.6 [(226)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/help-scout-profile/reviews/) + Add product Add product ## Freshdesk vs Help Scout: At a glance * * * Product ratings at a glance | | Freshdesk | Help Scout | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall rating | 4.5
3,494 reviews | 4.6
226 reviews | | Ease of use | 4.5 | 4.7 | | Value for money | 4.4 | 4.4 | | Functionality | 4.3 | 4.3 | | Customer support | 4.5 | 4.6 | | Ease of deployment | 4.4 | 4.6 | Best in comparison ## User interface * * * ## Key features Features selected based on 3,720 reviews from Customer Communications Management * * * Activity Dashboard 4.9 Alerts/Escalation N/A Automated Routing N/A Knowledge Base Management N/A Queue Management N/A Reporting & Statistics N/A - Activity Dashboard: 4.9 - Chat/Messaging: 4.6 - Live Chat: 4.4 - Customer Database: 4.4 - Real-Time Chat: 4.3 - Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management: 4.3 - Self Service Portal: 4.3 - Customizable Branding: 4.2 - Third-Party Integrations: 4.1 - Social Media Integration: 3.7 - Personalization: 3.6 Activity Dashboard N/A Alerts/Escalation 4.1 Automated Routing 4.0 Knowledge Base Management 4.3 Queue Management 4.1 Reporting & Statistics 4.0 - Real-time Consumer-facing Chat: 5.0 - Chat/Messaging: 4.9 - Inbox Management: 4.6 - Email Management: 4.5 - Live Chat: 4.5 - Support Ticket Management: 4.5 - Access Controls/Permissions: 4.4 - Ticket Management: 4.4 - Email Monitoring: 4.3 - Real-Time Notifications: 4.3 - Interaction Tracking: 4.3 - Knowledge Base Management: 4.3 - Mobile Access: 4.2 - Alerts/Escalation: 4.1 - Queue Management: 4.1 - Customer Database: 4.1 - Search/Filter: 4.0 - Automated Routing: 4.0 - Reporting/Analytics: 3.9 - Full Text Search: 3.7 ### Wondering if these products fit your needs? Skip the manual research. Talk to a real advisor like Lexi to get a 100% free, personalized shortlist in 15 minutes. LexiAdvisor for 8 years ### Wondering if these products fit your needs? Skip the manual research. Talk to a real advisor like Lexi to get a 100% free, personalized shortlist in 15 minutes. LexiAdvisor for 8 years ## Integrations * * * [ ShopifyNot enough reviews ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/retail/shopify-profile/)[ ZapierNot enough reviews ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cloud-management/zapier-profile/)[ Microsoft TeamsNot enough reviews ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/voip/microsoft-teams-profile/) - Harvest - Jira - WordPress - Zoho CRM - Freshchat - Claris FileMaker - Okta - Chargebee - Zoho Mail - Calendly - STORIS - Linear - ClickUp - Microsoft Outlook - CloudTalk - Jotform - monday CRM - SurveySparrow - Asana - MightyCall - Freshcaller - Bitrix24 - Planhat - Airtable - Unicommerce - Trustpilot - Textline - PDQ Deploy & Inventory - SparkTG VCC - Twilio - Intuit Mailchimp Email Marketing - Trello - Slack - Salesforce Service Cloud - Zoom Workplace - GitHub [ FreshBooksNot enough reviews ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/accounting/freshbooks-profile/)[ OnePageCRMNot enough reviews ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/onepagecrm-profile/)[ XTM TransifexNot enough reviews ](https://www.softwareadvice.com/marketing/transifex-profile/) - Google Workspace - elevio - Highrise - Olark - Twilio Segment - Trello - Nicereply - Capsule - Jira - Shopify - Zapier - Kissmetrics - Slack - Talkdesk - Klaviyo - Campaign Monitor by Marigold - Mixpanel - Aircall - WordPress - HubSpot CRM - Lime Connect - Constant Contact - Pipedrive - WooCommerce - Hively - iorad - MySQL - Zendesk Contact Center - AppFollow - CloudTalk - Process Street - SurveyMonkey - Tempo Portfolio Manager - Wufoo - Fullstory - Plecto - Paperform - Heymarket - Fivetran - Textline - Clockify - CircleLoop - Weglot - Gravity Forms - ChannelReply - Help Desk Migration - ActiveCampaign - Asana - Chatra - JustCall - Cyfe - Fleep - Databox - Geckoboard - Supademo - Make - Smith.ai AI Receptionist - Linear - unitQ - ChurnZero - Close - Everhour - Instagram - WhatsApp ## Reviews * * * Positive review: TB Tsvetelina B. Customer Support Manager Banking, 51-200 employees "It strikes a great balance between robust functionality and user-friendliness. While the reporting features and occasional support delays can be frustrating, its automation capabilities and seamless multichannel integration make it an excellent choice for growing customer support teams." May 21, 2026 Negative review: AF Avery F. Artist and Tour Manager Arts and Crafts, 10000+ employees "Moreover, I've noticed that the mobile application is significantly less powerful than the desktop version; it sometimes lacks responsiveness, and viewing long thread discussions is less fluid, making on-the-go tracking quite laborious at times." Jun 8, 2026 Positive review: PR Patrick Joshua R. Business Process Excellence Analyst Logistics and Supply Chain, 201-500 employees "We appreciate how Freshdesk enables us to manage stakeholder inquiries more efficiently, making ticket handling faster and more manageable for the team." May 21, 2026 Negative review: TB Tsvetelina B. Customer Support Manager Banking, 51-200 employees "Ironically, Freshdesk’s own customer support can sometimes be slow to respond or provide generic answers when troubleshooting complex, tier-3 API integration issues. While the base plans are reasonably priced, the cost can escalate quickly once you start adding advanced features, extra marketplace apps, or collaborator licenses." May 21, 2026 Positive review: JR Jay R. Project Manager Insurance, 1001-5000 employees "The smart AI tools have assisted our agents with drafting emails, analysing customer sentiment, & to summarize long ticket threads." May 18, 2026 Negative review: AW Atiradh W. Chief Technology Officer Marketing and Advertising, 2-10 employees "The main challenges are the limited integrations and the lack of feature variety needed to effectively scale the platform across different internal teams and workflows." May 16, 2026 [Read all reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/freshdesk-profile/reviews/) Positive review: VR Verified Reviewer People Operations Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees "We use Help Scout for managing our shared inbox and handling customer support tickets, and it's been a solid addition to our workflow." Apr 19, 2026 Negative review: VR Verified Reviewer People Operations Information Technology and Services, 51-200 employees "Reporting and analytics are fairly basic compared to some alternatives, and there's limited flexibility when it comes to customising workflows or automations." Apr 19, 2026 Positive review: CB CJ B. Director of Customer Advocacy Health, Wellness and Fitness, 11-50 employees "The new AI features takes a lot of the anxiety out of how to respond in a respectful and professional manner." Apr 8, 2025 Negative review: ZM Zofia M. Customer Success Lead Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees "When the internet connection is intermittent or weak, I find it difficult to use the system effectively, and I sometimes lose email drafts as well." Mar 24, 2025 Positive review: VR Verified Reviewer Technical Support Specialist Computer Software, 11-50 employees "They build great features that directly benefit our support team, and when any issues arise they are responsive and open to changes to help improve the experience for everyone." Mar 25, 2025 Negative review: MO Meghann O. Customer Success Manager Computer Software, 51-200 employees "It's often hard to follow threads and be able to see the initial conversation." Dec 4, 2024 [Read all reviews](https://www.softwareadvice.com/crm/help-scout-profile/reviews/) ## Customer support * * * Freshdesk Email/Help Desk: Available FAQs/Forum: Available Knowledge Base: Available Phone Support: Available 24/7: Available Chat: Available Help Scout Email/Help Desk: Available FAQs/Forum: Available Knowledge Base: Available Phone Support: Not available 24/7: Available Chat: Available ## Training options * * * Freshdesk In Person: Available Live Online: Available Webinars: Available Documentation: Available Videos: Available Help Scout In Person: Not available Live Online: Available Webinars: Available Documentation: Available Videos: Available ## Send this comparison chart to my inbox ## Popular Comparisons * * * [Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Freshdesk](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/2764-Salesforce/vs/110247-freshdesk/)[Salesforce Sales Cloud vs Help Scout](https://www.softwareadvice.com/compare/2280-help-scout/vs/2764-Salesforce/)