Help Scout is the best AI help desk for customer support: its AI agent costs $0.75 per resolution, nothing when a customer still needs a person, and AI Drafts for agents is included from Plus. Intercom has the most AI-centered product in Fin, at $0.99 per outcome, and Jira Service Management ranks highest overall for internal IT desks.
This list includes only products whose AI is priced in public with a defined billing unit. Zendesk and Zoho Desk are left out because the price of their AI-agent usage is not published. Before buying, check what the vendor counts as a billable event: a resolution, an outcome that includes handoffs, or a session charged whether or not it helps. See what is an AI help desk? and our rubric.
Quick picks
- Pay only when AI resolves: Help Scout — $0.75 per resolution, handoffs free.
- AI agent at the center: Intercom — Fin at $0.99 per outcome, Copilot $29 per agent.
- Internal IT with AI included: Jira Service Management — Rovo credits per user and 1,000 virtual-agent conversations a month on Premium.
- Lowest AI resolution rate: HubSpot Service Hub — Customer Agent at $0.50 per resolution.
The ranking
Jira Service Management
Internal IT, HR and operations service desks, especially at companies whose engineers already work in Jira8.7- Price from
- $20 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Jira Service Management is Atlassian's service desk for IT, HR and operations teams, built on Jira. In the cloud it is now sold only inside Atlassian Service Collection, which bundles it with Customer Service Management, Assets and Rovo AI. Atlassian headlines $20 (Standard) and $51.42 (Premium) per agent per month, but those are averages for a team of 75 agents: prices are banded, so the first 15 agents cost $25 and $57.30 each. Customers who raise requests are free and unlimited, and list prices rise on October 13, 2026.
The catch: The advertised per-agent price is an average at 75 agents, so a small team pays more: on monthly billing each of the first 15 agents costs $25 on Standard, not $20. You also cannot buy Jira Service Management on its own any more, and prices rise again on October 13, 2026.
Help Scout
Small teams that work mainly in email8.3- Price from
- $25 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes
- EU data hosting
- No
Help Scout is a shared inbox, live chat widget and knowledge base for small and mid-size support teams. Paid plans start at $25 per user per month on annual billing, there is a free plan for up to 5 users, and its customer-facing AI agent costs $0.75 per resolution with no charge when the customer still needs a person.
The catch: Data is hosted in the United States only, and the prices on the pricing page are annual-billing prices: paying monthly costs $30 instead of $25 on Standard.
Freshdesk
Budget-conscious teams that want EU hosting and a cheap per-agent entry price8.0- Price from
- $19 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Freshdesk is Freshworks' help desk, sold in two versions: standalone Freshdesk for email ticketing, and Freshdesk Omni, which adds chat, phone and messaging. Freshdesk starts at $19 per agent per month on annual billing and Omni at $29. The Freddy AI Agent is sold in packs of 100 sessions for $49, and a session is charged whether or not the AI solves the customer's problem.
The catch: Freddy AI Agent sessions are used up whether or not the issue gets resolved, and the price per session is now several times what Freshworks' own June 2025 price list showed: $49 per 100 sessions, against $100 per 1,000 then.
HubSpot Service Hub
Teams already on HubSpot's CRM that want support tickets on the same customer records as sales and marketing7.5- Price from
- $7 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- Yes
- EU data hosting
- Yes
HubSpot Service Hub is the customer service part of HubSpot's CRM: ticketing, shared inboxes, live chat, calling, a knowledge base and a customer portal, all on the same contact records as HubSpot's marketing and sales tools. Seats cost $7 (Starter), $90 (Professional) and $150 (Enterprise) per seat per month on an annual commitment. Professional and Enterprise also require one-time onboarding at $1,500 and $3,500. The Breeze Customer Agent costs $0.50 per resolved conversation, paid in HubSpot Credits.
The catch: The advertised prices leave things out. Professional and Enterprise need one-time onboarding ($1,500 and $3,500), the Starter price of $7 assumes an annual commitment against $20 month to month, and the included credits cover only about 60 AI resolutions a month on Professional. If you hold other HubSpot hubs at a higher tier, every Core Seat is priced at that tier.
Intercom
Software and online businesses that want a customer-facing AI agent at the center of support6.9- Price from
- $29 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Intercom is a help desk with a shared inbox, ticketing, live chat Messenger, help center, native phone, SMS and WhatsApp, built around its Fin AI agent. Seats start at $29 per agent per month on annual billing, Fin costs $0.99 per outcome with no included allowance, and unlimited Copilot for agents is $29 per agent. The company behind it renamed itself Fin on May 12, 2026, while the help desk keeps the Intercom name, and Salesforce has signed an agreement to acquire it that had not closed when we last checked.
The catch: Fin charges $0.99 per outcome, and since March 2026 an outcome includes a configured handoff to a human, not only a resolution. A conversation Fin passes to your team through a Procedure you set up is billed even though a person still has to answer it.
Front
Small and mid-size operations and account teams that work mainly in email6.8- Price from
- $25 per agent per month
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Free plan
- No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
Front is a shared inbox and ticketing tool built for teams that live in email, such as logistics, travel and B2B services. Plans cost $25, $65 and $105 per seat per month on annual billing. Copilot adds $20 per seat below Enterprise, and the Autopilot AI agent is charged per conversation by what it achieved: $0.05 to triage, $0.39 to hand off and $0.89 to resolve.
The catch: Seat caps push growing teams up a tier: Starter stops at 10 seats and Professional at 50, beyond which Enterprise is the only option at $105 per seat, annual only. Payments are non-refundable and removed seats keep being billed until the next term.
Comparison table
| Product | Score | Pricing model | Price from | Free plan | EU data hosting | German | Spanish | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jira Service Management | 8.7 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $20 per agent per month | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Internal IT, HR and operations service desks, especially at companies whose engineers already work in Jira |
| Help Scout | 8.3 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $25 per agent per month | Yes | No | Not documented | Not documented | Small teams that work mainly in email |
| Freshdesk | 8.0 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $19 per agent per month | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Budget-conscious teams that want EU hosting and a cheap per-agent entry price |
| HubSpot Service Hub | 7.5 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $7 per agent per month | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Teams already on HubSpot's CRM that want support tickets on the same customer records as sales and marketing |
| Intercom | 6.9 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $29 per agent per month | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Software and online businesses that want a customer-facing AI agent at the center of support |
| Front | 6.8 | Per seat, plus AI usage | $25 per agent per month | No | Yes | No | No | Small and mid-size operations and account teams that work mainly in email |
True cost at 3, 10 and 50 agents
seats only with AI on
3 agents · Entry tier
3 agents: 750 tickets a month, 150 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent.
10 agents · Mid tier
10 agents: 2,500 tickets a month, 500 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent.
50 agents · Mid tier
50 agents: 12,500 tickets a month, 2,500 of them resolved by AI, agent-assist add-on on for every agent.
Estimates from vendors' published USD list prices with annual billing, verified on the date shown on this page. Taxes, discounts, onboarding fees and telephony usage are not included.
Help desk true-cost calculator
How to choose
If you want to pay only for conversations the AI actually closes, pick Help Scout at $0.75 per resolution or HubSpot Service Hub at $0.50. Read per-seat vs per-resolution pricing for how the units differ.
If you want the AI agent to handle most first contacts and will build workflows around it, pick Intercom, and model handoffs as billable outcomes when you forecast the bill.
If your team works in shared email and wants AI triage as well as answers, pick Front; its tiered Autopilot rates make routing-only use cheap.
If you need AI for internal IT requests, pick Jira Service Management Premium, which includes a monthly allowance of virtual-agent conversations before the $0.30 overage applies.
If you want low seat prices and can live with less predictable AI costs, Freshdesk is the cheapest entry here, but its sessions are billed resolved or not. Run your volumes in the true-cost calculator.
Verdict
Help Scout is our default AI help desk: you pay $0.75 only when AI resolves a conversation, and the rest of the product is priced in public. Ignore it if you need EU data hosting or want an AI agent at the center of every channel, in which case look at Intercom or Freshdesk.
For buyers in the United States
A help desk holds your customers' personal information, so the vendor's contract has to meet state privacy law: California and about twenty other states require written limits on what a vendor may do with that data. Healthcare teams also need a signed business associate agreement before any patient information reaches a ticket.
Every vendor we cover publishes a US dollar price list, so the prices on this site are the prices you will be quoted before discounts. If you also serve customers in Europe or the United Kingdom, check where the product can host data; each review lists EU and UK data hosting and whether a HIPAA business associate agreement is available.
Help desk software and data protection law in the United States
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI help desk?
For customer support, Help Scout, because its AI agent costs $0.75 per resolution and nothing when a person must still answer. Intercom's Fin is the most AI-centered product, at $0.99 per outcome. For IT service desks, Jira Service Management includes Rovo agent assist on paid plans.
What does an AI resolution cost in a help desk?
Public rates include $0.50 at HubSpot, $0.75 at Help Scout, $0.89 at Front, $0.99 per outcome at Intercom and $1 for Atlassian's CSM AI agent. Definitions differ, so compare what each vendor counts, not just the rate.
Why are Zendesk and Zoho Desk not on this list?
Both document AI agents, but neither publishes the price of AI-agent usage under its current billing: Zendesk moved to a resolution allowance in May 2026 without a public per-resolution rate, and Zoho does not price the credits beyond its free token allowance. Our rule requires a public price and a defined unit.
Do I need an AI add-on at all?
Not always. A small team with low volume may spend more on AI than it saves in agent time. Our guide do you need the AI add-on? sets out when it pays for itself.
Keep reading
- Best help desk softwarebest list
- Best help desk software for small businessbest list
- Best help desk for ecommercebest list
- Best enterprise help desk softwarebest list
- Best free help desk softwarebest list
- Best help desk software with EU data residencybest list
- Help desk vs shared inboxguide
- Do you need the AI add-on?guide
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This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: How we review