Help Desk Price Calculator
Enter your team size, how many products you support and your AI volume. See the monthly bill on Intercom, Zendesk, Help Scout, Front, Crisp and Convot, side by side.
Prices checked by Tarang Agarwal, founder of Convot, on 1 and 2 October 2026. Re-checked monthly.
| Help desk | Plan used | Seats and plan | Extra products | AI | Total a month |
|---|
Convot bills monthly only. Each row uses the vendor's cheapest plan with email, live chat and a help center. Notes under each row say what the figure assumes.
Example bills, billed monthly
| Team | Convot | Crisp | Help Scout | Intercom | Front | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 people, 1 app, 100 AI resolutions | $69 | $95 | $165 | $216 | $260 | $377 |
| 3 people, 3 apps, 100 AI resolutions | $109 | $285 | $201 | $216 | $260 | $587 |
| 10 people, 1 app, no AI | $109 | $95 | $300 | $390 | $850 | $690 |
Convot is cheapest when a small team supports more than one product, because each extra app costs $20 rather than another workspace, inbox or plan tier. It is not cheapest everywhere: Crisp Essentials covers up to 10 seats for $95 a month on one product, and Help Scout's free plan costs nothing for up to 5 users and 100 contacts a month.
How this is calculated
- Plan: each vendor's cheapest plan with email, live chat and a help center. Front Starter allows one channel type, so Front uses Professional. Crisp uses Essentials, its cheapest plan with a knowledge base.
- Seats and plan: per-seat price times people answering, or the workspace price for Crisp and the plan price for Convot.
- Extra products: what each vendor charges for another product. Crisp adds a workspace, Help Scout an inbox and a Docs site beyond the 2 included, Zendesk moves to Suite Professional for 2 to 5 help centers, Convot adds $20 per app. Intercom and Front are not charged extra here, within Front Professional's 5 workspaces.
- AI: AI-resolved conversations times each vendor's unit price: Intercom Fin $0.99 per outcome, Help Scout AI Answers $0.75 per resolution, Zendesk about $2.00 per automated resolution (third-party figure) after 5 per agent (10 on Suite Professional), Front Autopilot from $0.05 per conversation, Convot Cove AI $0.20 per resolved conversation in which it replied. Crisp bundles AI credits into the plan, so no extra is added.
Each vendor defines an AI resolution differently, so read the AI column as a guide, not an exact match. Add-ons, taxes, discounts and promotions are left out.
Sources
Checked on each vendor's public pricing page on 1 and 2 October 2026. The full price list for 24 tools is in the help desk pricing index.
- Intercom: Essential $29 per seat billed annually, $39 monthly; Fin $0.99 per outcome. intercom.com/pricing. Intercom has run a $19 Essential promotion on and off.
- Zendesk: Suite Team $55 annually, $69 monthly, 1 help center; Suite Professional $115 annually, $149 monthly, up to 5 help centers; AI about $2.00 per automated resolution pay as you go, a third-party figure since Zendesk does not publish it. zendesk.com/pricing.
- Help Scout: Standard $30 per user billed monthly, $25 annually; 2 inboxes and 2 Docs sites included; extra inbox $12 monthly ($10 annual), extra Docs site $24 ($20); AI Answers $0.75 per resolution. helpscout.com/pricing.
- Front: Professional $65 per seat annually, $85 monthly, up to 5 workspaces and 50 seats; Autopilot from $0.05 per conversation. front.com/pricing.
- Crisp: Essentials $95 a month per workspace with 10 seats; Plus $295 with 20; AI credits bundled. crisp.chat/en/pricing.
- Convot: Starter $49 (1 app, 3 seats), Growth $79 (2 apps, 7 seats), Pro $149 (5 apps, 12 seats), Scale $299 (unlimited apps, 20 seats); $20 per extra app, $10 per extra seat; Cove AI $0.20. convot.io/pricing
Free to reuse: you may cite or embed these figures with a link to this page.
Questions
How much does a help desk cost for a small team?
For 3 people on one product with about 100 AI-resolved conversations a month, billed monthly, a help desk with email, live chat and a help center costs $69 on Convot, $95 on Crisp, $165 on Help Scout, $216 on Intercom, $260 on Front and $377 on Zendesk a month, using list prices checked 2 October 2026. Annual billing lowers the per-seat tools by about 16 to 25 percent.
Which help desk is cheapest for several products?
For 3 people running 3 products, billed monthly, Convot is $109 a month because each extra app is $20, against $201 on Help Scout (extra inboxes and Docs sites), $285 on Crisp (a workspace per product) and $587 on Zendesk, where more than one help center needs Suite Professional. Intercom's figure of $216 assumes one workspace and does not price extra brands.
When is Convot not the cheapest?
Convot is not the cheapest for a larger team on one product. For 10 people on one app without AI, Crisp Essentials is $95 a month for up to 10 seats, against $109 on Convot. Help Scout's free plan also costs nothing for up to 5 users and 100 contacts a month.
What does the calculator include?
Each vendor's cheapest plan with email, live chat and a help center, its seat or workspace price, the cost of each extra product where the vendor charges for it, and AI at each vendor's own unit price. It leaves out add-ons, taxes, discounts and promotions, and AI unit definitions differ between vendors.
How current are these prices?
The prices were checked on each vendor's public pricing page on 1 and 2 October 2026 and are re-checked monthly. Vendors change prices often, so confirm with the vendor before you buy.
Related: support stack cost calculator, AI support cost calculator, the best help desk software for small teams.