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LeavingHelp Scout? We buy out your contract

Helpdesk + AI agents.
Resolves, not just answers.

Help Scout's AI answers questions from your docs. Richpanel's AI team also does the work: refunds, cancellations, subscription edits, order tracking. Half your tickets resolved in 30 days, or every dollar back.

Click here to book a demo See the price math ↓
★★★★★ 4.7 on G2 · 4.8 on Shopify SOC 2 · HIPAA · GDPR audited 3,000+ brands

3,000+ brands run their support on Richpanel

Ridge Jones Road Pela Lomi Aloha Shinesty Wildgrain Kimberly-Clark
// from Help Scout's own pricing page and docs

The simple inbox grew a second meter.

LayerList termWhat it means
Helpdesk seats$25 to $75 / userPer user per month on annual billing; monthly runs about 16% higher
AI Answers+$0.75 eachEvery AI-resolved session, on top of the seats
Spending capAI switches offCap hit: AI Answers is disabled until the next cycle
Pricing modelChanged twiceContacts-based in 2024, back to seats after the backlash

Prices and terms from helpscout.com/pricing and docs.helpscout.com (AI resolutions pricing), July 2026. The cap behavior is Help Scout's own wording: AI Answers "will be disabled" until the next cycle or a raised limit. The 2024 contacts-based change and its rollback are public record; per-user pricing is what new signups see today.

// your team, your numbers

Put in your team. See the gap.

Two sliders. One live estimate.

Estimated monthly software billLive estimate
Per monthRichpanelHelp Scoutlist
Seats$495$225
AI resolutions$300$1,125
Agent drafting AIIncludedIncluded on Plus
Total per month$795$1,350
Estimated annual savings$6,660
41% lower
Click here to book a demo

List prices, July 2026. Help Scout modeled on the Plus plan at $45 per user per month, annual billing, plus AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution. Richpanel: $99 per seat plus about $0.20 per AI conversation, $200 minimum, copilot included. Assumes 50% AI resolution. Bring your bill for exact math.

// answers vs resolutions

Help Scout's AI answers from your docs. Ours closes the ticket.

AI Answers replies from your website and Docs content. The Richpanel loop does the work end to end.

01 / AI Manager Configure

Writes playbooks and wires tools.

02 / Frontline AI Resolve

Handles repeat work end to end.

03 / QA AI Review

Checks every closed conversation.

04 / Your team Improve

Owns every eval and policy change.

// named operators, real numbers

Real outcomes, from operators you can call.

−70%
Cost per ticket That is about $500K back every year, and CSAT climbed from 88% to 96%.
Sean FrankCEO, Ridge
18 → 10
Agents, volume flat or up The implementation was pretty immediate, which actually shocked me.
Cody PlofkerCEO, Jones Road
63%
Resolved end to end by AI Higher CSAT than the team: 4.39 vs 4.33.
AeonsPremium supplements brand
// the switching story

On an annual Help Scout plan? We buy out the contract.

Up to 100% of the remaining term when you switch. You never pay twice.

1

We move your data

Conversations, tags, saved replies, and Docs articles imported for you.

2

Help Scout stays live until we're verified

Keep serving customers. Cut over once.

3

The guarantee starts

50% in 30 days, or every dollar back.

See how the switch works The buyout and the guarantee both go in the contract.
// honest answers

What Help Scout switchers ask us.

How is Richpanel different from Help Scout?
Help Scout is a shared inbox helpdesk loved for its simplicity, with AI that answers questions from your website and Docs knowledge base. Richpanel is the AI-native helpdesk: the AI team and the helpdesk are one product. An AI Manager reads your business and configures the agents, Tier 1 AI resolves tickets end to end (refunds, cancellations, subscription edits, order tracking), and your people handle the exceptions with an AI copilot included in the seat. In Help Scout, the Shopify sidebar helps your human agents take actions. In Richpanel, the AI takes those actions itself and escalates when unsure. The 50% resolution in 30 days money-back guarantee is attached to the AI.
What does Help Scout cost in 2026?
Help Scout publishes its pricing: Standard $25, Plus $45, and Pro $75 per user per month on annual billing (monthly billing runs about 16% higher), with a free plan for up to 5 users and a 10-user minimum on Pro. AI Answers, the customer-facing AI, is an extra $0.75 per AI-resolved session on top of the plan. Help Scout switched to a contacts-based pricing model in late 2024 and rolled it back after customer pushback; new signups see per-user pricing today, while some existing accounts remain on legacy contact-based billing. Verified on helpscout.com in July 2026.
How is Help Scout's AI billed?
AI Answers costs $0.75 per AI-resolved session, billed in arrears on top of your per-user plan. You can set a monthly spending cap, but Help Scout's docs state that when the cap is reached AI Answers is disabled until the next cycle or until you raise the limit. AI Drafts for agents is included on Plus and Pro. Richpanel has one AI meter: about $0.20 per AI-resolved conversation with a $200 per month minimum, and the copilot for human agents is included in the seat. Per AI resolution that is nearly 4x less.
When is Help Scout the better fit?
If you are a small team with low volume that wants a clean shared inbox for email and chat, Help Scout is genuinely good: famously easy to learn, a free plan for up to 5 users, and a well-liked support team. If your AI ambition is answering common questions from a solid knowledge base, AI Answers can carry some of that. Richpanel wins when ticket volume has outgrown the team and you want the AI to finish the work: taking real actions like refunds and subscription edits, resolving half the queue in 30 days with money back if we miss, and scaling support without scaling your team.
Can Richpanel take over mid-contract?
Yes. We buy out up to 100% of the remaining term of your existing helpdesk contract when you switch. Your Help Scout stays live until the Richpanel setup is verified, then you cut over once. You never pay twice.
What does the rollout look like?
Demo call (30 min): the AI builds a proof of concept live on your help center and a sample of recent tickets while you watch. Week 1 to 2: a bounded pilot with the eval framework exposed to your team. Week 3 to 4: full deployment across the action surface: refunds, exchanges, subscription and account edits. The 50% in 30 days money-back guarantee starts when you go live.
// bring your bill

Bring your Help Scout bill. We price against it, in writing.

See the AI resolve your real tickets on the demo call, and your price next to your current bill.

Click here to book a demo
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