Clearcisive.

Help Scout vs Zendesk Suite: plans, prices and documented features

Each feature is checked separately. Plans follow each vendor's pricing-page order. Missing documentation does not mean a feature is unavailable.

Coverage and checked dates

Help Scout

Last checked:

Zendesk Suite

Evidence checked from to

Covers Zendesk Suite plans; the email-only Support Team plan isn't included.

Plans and listed prices

Help Scout

  • Free: $0
  • Standard: $25 per user/month billed annually · $30 per user/month billed monthly
  • Plus: $45 per user/month billed annually · $54 per user/month billed monthly
  • Pro: $75 per user/month billed annually · $90 per user/month billed monthly
Price source · checked 6 Oct 2026

Help Scout pricing page · Help Scout

Zendesk Suite

  • Suite Team: $55 per agent/month billed annually · $69 per agent/month billed monthly
  • Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month billed annually · $149 per agent/month billed monthly
  • Suite Enterprise: contact sales
Price source · checked 6 Oct 2026

Zendesk pricing page · Zendesk

Documented features by plan

Plan-by-plan feature status
FeatureHelp ScoutZendesk Suite
SLA policies

Free: not listed. Standard, Plus, Pro: included

Limits:

  • Standard: one basic SLA policy
  • Plus: two advanced SLA policies
  • Pro: unlimited SLA policies
  • Not available on legacy contact-based billing plans (not canonical).

Suite Team: not listed. Suite Professional, Suite Enterprise: included

Limits:

  • Pricing-page comparison table ticks only Suite Professional (Suite Team shows a dash); the table has no Suite Enterprise column.
  • Suite Enterprise is named by the documentation banner ("Enterprise") and by the pricing card "Suite Professional features, plus:"; the table does not tick it.
  • Documentation also names Suite Growth and Enterprise Plus, which are not canonical plans.
Automatic assignment

Free, Standard: not listed. Plus, Pro: included

Limits:

  • Balanced (fewest active assignments) is Pro only; Plus has round robin only.
  • Setup note: Enabled per inbox; assigns only to Active teammates below their assignment limit.

Suite Team, Suite Professional, Suite Enterprise: included

Limits:

  • Suite Team routes by agent status and capacity; skills- and priority-based routing is Suite Professional and above.
  • Pricing table lists the routing capability for Suite Team and Suite Professional; Suite Enterprise rests on the documentation banner ("Enterprise") and the cumulative card statement.
  • Setup note: Requires omnichannel routing to be turned on and configured (documentation notes activation requirements).
Custom agent roles

Free, Standard, Plus, Pro: not listed

Suite Team, Suite Professional: not included. Suite Enterprise: included

Limits:

  • Pricing comparison table shows a dash for Custom agent roles on Support Team, Suite Team and Suite Professional.
  • Documentation also names Enterprise Plus (not canonical).
SAML single sign-on

Free: not listed. Standard, Plus: add-on only. Pro: included

Limits:

  • The documentation says "This feature is available on the Pro plan" and does not mention the Standard/Plus add-on; the pricing page shows the add-on. Add-on is a condition, not plan inclusion.

Suite Team, Suite Professional, Suite Enterprise: included

Limits:

  • Pricing row is a bundle ("Native, SSO, and 2FA"); the SAML bullet sits inside that row and its single tick covers the whole row.
  • Suite Enterprise rests on the documentation banner; the pricing table has no Suite Enterprise column.
  • Documentation also names Growth and Enterprise Plus (not canonical).
Public knowledge base

Free, Standard, Plus, Pro: included

Limits:

  • Free is limited to 1 Docs site and 10 articles.
  • Private (Users-only) content is also supported; public content is the default.

Suite Team, Suite Professional, Suite Enterprise: included

Limits:

  • Documentation says the customer portal ticket-management feature is not available on Suite Team (the portal, not the knowledge base).
  • Help center content can also be restricted to agents or segments; the help center is documented as a customer-facing site.
  • Suite Enterprise rests on the documentation banner.
Custom reports

Free, Standard, Plus, Pro: not listed

Suite Team: not included. Suite Professional, Suite Enterprise: included

Limits:

  • Suite Team gets Explore Lite, which the documentation says cannot create custom reports or dashboards (prebuilt only).
  • Suite Enterprise rests on the Explore plan table (Explore Enterprise is included in Suite Enterprise) plus the cumulative card statement; the captured sources do not contain a sentence saying Explore Enterprise builds custom reports.
Included:
the vendor's own page names this plan for the feature.
Not included:
the vendor's own page says this plan doesn't have it.
Not listed:
the vendor's pricing and help pages we checked don't mention it for this plan. That doesn't mean it's missing.
Add-on only:
the vendor documents it on this plan only with a paid add-on or extra condition.

Entry plan that documents it

This is the first plan in pricing-page order confirmed to include the feature. Features are checked separately; these rows do not confirm a shared plan for your whole list.

Entry plan that documents each feature
FeatureHelp ScoutZendesk Suite
SLA policiesStandard: $25 per user/month billed annually · $30 per user/month billed monthlySuite Professional: $115 per agent/month billed annually · $149 per agent/month billed monthly
Automatic assignmentPlus: $45 per user/month billed annually · $54 per user/month billed monthlySuite Team: $55 per agent/month billed annually · $69 per agent/month billed monthly
Custom agent rolesNot documented on any planSuite Enterprise: contact sales
SAML single sign-onPro: $75 per user/month billed annually · $90 per user/month billed monthly (add-on on Standard, Plus)Suite Team: $55 per agent/month billed annually · $69 per agent/month billed monthly
Public knowledge baseFree: $0Suite Team: $55 per agent/month billed annually · $69 per agent/month billed monthly
Custom reportsNot documented on any planSuite Professional: $115 per agent/month billed annually · $149 per agent/month billed monthly

Notes on features and prices

Help Scout

  • Standard includes one basic SLA policy; Plus two; Pro unlimited.
  • Plus routes by round robin; Pro adds load-balanced routing.
  • Pro includes SSO/SAML; on Standard and Plus it is an add-on.
  • Docs sites: Free 1, Standard 2, Plus 3, Pro 5; Standard, Plus and Pro add sites at $20/mo.
  • Free includes 5 users, 1 Inbox and 1 Docs site.
  • Standard supports up to 25 users.
  • Plus supports up to 50 users.
  • Pro requires at least 10 users.

Zendesk Suite

  • Suite Team routes by agent status and capacity; Suite Professional adds skill and ticket priority.

Cost notes

Help Scout

Last checked:

Account-wide notes

  • AI Answers is an add-on billed at $0.75 per resolution.

Light users

  • Free, Standard: Light users are only available on Plus and Pro.
  • Plus: 5 light users included; more cost extra (price not stated), up to 25 in total.
  • Pro: 15 light users included; more cost extra (price not stated), up to 50 in total.
  • Plus, Pro: Can view conversations and collaborate, but can't reply to customers.

Plan-specific notes

  • Standard, Plus, Pro: The Account Owner counts as a billed user.

Zendesk Suite

Last checked:

Account-wide notes

  • App Builder, Action Builder and Voice are billed by usage beyond plan allowances.
  • The light agent help article also lists Suite Growth and Enterprise Plus, which are not on the current pricing page.

Light agents

  • Suite Team: Light agents are a paid add-on on Suite Team; the add-on price is not stated.
  • Suite Professional: Includes up to 100 light agents; more are a paid add-on (price not stated).
  • Suite Enterprise: Includes up to 1,000 light agents, according to the help article.
  • Suite Team, Suite Professional, Suite Enterprise: Can read tickets and add private comments.

Sources

Help Scout

Zendesk Suite

Check your own feature list

Help Scout

Visit Help Scout's pricing page

Direct link. We earn no commission.

Zendesk Suite

Visit Zendesk's pricing page

Direct link. We earn no commission.