Head to head
Pendo vs Help Scout
Both platforms are scored with the same methodology and the same category rubric. Nothing on this page is influenced by advertising.
48/100 | 51/100Higher score | |
|---|---|---|
| Category rank | #8 | #9 |
| Confidence | High confidence | High confidence |
| External Reputation | 82 | 80 |
| AI Authority | 10 | 19 |
| Web Authority | 39 | 32 |
| Expert Assessment | 59 | 72 |
| TOP10 User Score | — | — |
| Pricing | Not published — Base tier is "Custom pricing" · free tier: Free forever, capped at 500 monthly active users; includes product analytics, in-app guides, Pendo-branded roadmaps and Pendo-branded NPS, unlimited web and mobile app keys. Novus is also free during open beta with no MAU limit. A 30-day full-platform trial exists but is routed through sales. | $25/user/month billed annually (Standard); vendor-supplied monthly figure on G2 is $30/user/month · free tier: Free plan: 5 users, 1 Inbox, 1 Docs site, 100 contacts/mo, 10 saved replies, 10 tags, 10 articles, 1 Beacon, 30-day report history, integrations limited to 1; 15-day free trial of Standard or Plus with no credit card |
| Pricing model | Custom (MAU-based subscription with a free tier) | Subscription (per user/month) plus usage-based AI add-on |
| Best for | Mid-market to enterprise software teams (roughly 50–5,000 employees) running several applications, where product management, customer success and onboarding need shared behavioural data and there is budget authority for a negotiated, unpublished annual price. | Small-to-midsize support teams of roughly 5-50 agents with email- and chat-led volume who want a shared inbox and help centre live in days, and who value writing quality and ease of use over analytics depth — especially ecommerce, SaaS and services teams, plus non-profits and B Corps eligible for the Help Scout for Good discount. |
| Avoid if | You need a published price before speaking to sales, you are a small team just above 500 MAUs with no procurement budget, you run a high-volume low-engagement freemium product, you want warehouse-native SQL-first analysis, or you are buying primarily for advanced survey research. | Your priority is reporting depth, custom dashboards or per-agent productivity analytics; you need native voice/telephony rather than an Aircall integration; you need SSO/SAML, IP restrictions or HIPAA on a budget; you need complex routing, heavy automation, ITSM or a CRM in the same tool; or your team is mobile-first or works on unreliable connectivity. |
| Markets | Mid-Market, Enterprise, SMB | SMB, Mid-Market, Ecommerce, SaaS, Non-profits |
| Founded | — | — |
| Headquarters | — | — |
A higher TOP SCORE means more of the evidence favours that platform on this methodology — it is not a recommendation, and it does not account for your specific requirements. Advertisers are never declared the winner of a comparison.