CliqDesk vs Help Scout
Help Scout is a shared inbox, priced per user across three paid plans. CliqDesk is one flat fee whatever the size of your team. The question that decides between them is which plan lets your customers see their own history.
What each one costs
Monthly prices with no annual commitment, on both sides, so neither is shown on terms the other is not. The last row is the one that matters.
| Users | Standard $30/user | Plus $54/user | Pro $90/user | CliqDesk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30 | $54 | $90 | $29 |
| 4 | $120 | $216 | $360 | $29 |
| 10 | $300 | $540 | $900 | $29 |
| 25 | $750 | $1,350 | $2,250 | $29 |
| Customers can track their own history | No | Yes | Yes | Yeson every plan |
On annual billing Help Scout charges, per user per month, $25 on Standard, $45 on Plus and $75 on Pro. Help Scout also sells AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution, extra Inboxes at $10 a month on annual billing, and extra Docs sites at $20 a month. Help Scout also has a free plan with 5 users, 1 Inbox and 1 Docs site; it does not include the customer portal.
What actually differs
Four things worth knowing before you choose. One of them goes to Help Scout.
Customers seeing their own history
- Help Scout
- Help Scout's documentation says "Customer Portal is available on Plus and Pro plans." They describe it as a place where "your customers get a secure, authenticated web experience to view and manage their support history". On Standard and on the free plan there is no portal, and your customers work entirely by email.
- CliqDesk
- Every plan. A requestor signs in to your branded portal and sees their own tickets and the replies on them, and nothing else.
The cheapest Help Scout plan that does this is Plus, at $54 per user per month.
Where the work lives
- Help Scout
- ClickUp publishes an official Help Scout integration: "Convert any HelpScout message into a ClickUp task instantly with complete context and details included." That leaves you a conversation in Help Scout and a task in ClickUp — two records of the same piece of work.
- CliqDesk
- One record. The ticket is the ClickUp task, and its custom task ID is the ticket reference your customer sees. There is nothing to keep in step.
Both connect to ClickUp. The difference is whether you end up maintaining one record or two.
What happens as you hire
- Help Scout
- Every user adds to the bill, on every plan.
- CliqDesk
- The bill does not move. Unlimited agents on every plan, because your team works in ClickUp and we never see them.
Per user against flat. This is the gap that widens.
Channels
- Help Scout
- Live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, alongside email.
- CliqDesk
- Email and the portal. That is the entire surface.
Help Scout wins this one outright. If you need any of those channels, this is the end of the comparison.
What Help Scout does better
Help Scout has been doing this for a long time and is well liked for good reason. Things it has that we do not:
- A free plan with 5 users, one Inbox and one Docs site
- A shared inbox that support teams genuinely like working in
- Live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, none of which we have
- AI Answers, which resolves requests without a person, at $0.75 per resolution
Which one you want
Go with Help Scout if
- You need live chat, SMS or social channels. We have none of them.
- You want a shared inbox your team lives in all day.
- Their free plan covers you and your customers are happy working entirely by email.
Come to CliqDesk if
- Your team already works in ClickUp and you do not want support living elsewhere.
- You want customers to track their own requests without reaching Plus.
- You would rather not keep two records of the same piece of work.
Help Scout's published prices and plan contents, checked on 17 September 2026 from helpscout.com. The customer portal plan requirement is quoted from their documentation. They change their pricing from time to time; check the source before making a decision on ours.