Help Scout vs Smooch (Sunshine Conversations)
Converge Team
Side-by-side comparison for 2026
| Feature | Help Scout | Smooch (Sunshine Conversations) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | From $45/seat/mo | From $115/seat/mo |
| Best For | Small-medium businesses wanting simple, email-focused support | Existing Zendesk customers needing omnichannel messaging |
| Standout Feature | Clean, intuitive interface with excellent knowledge base | Deep integration with Zendesk ecosystem |
| Free Plan | ✓ | ✗ |
| G2 Rating | 4.4/5 | 4.2 |
Help Scout and Smooch (now Sunshine Conversations by Zendesk) target different aspects of customer communication. Help Scout provides a traditional help desk experience, while Smooch specializes in conversational messaging across multiple channels with strong automation capabilities.
Help Scout works best for email-heavy support teams, whereas Smooch excels at unified messaging across social media, SMS, and chat platforms.
Feature Comparison
Help Scout delivers core help desk functionality: shared inboxes, customer profiles, knowledge base, and collision detection. It's designed for support agents who primarily handle email tickets with some live chat integration.
Smooch provides conversational messaging across WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, and web chat. Its strength lies in chatbot integration, conversation routing, and maintaining context across different messaging platforms.
The key difference: Help Scout manages traditional support workflows, while Smooch orchestrates modern conversational experiences with AI assistance.
Pricing Comparison
Help Scout pricing ranges from free (limited) to $75/user/month. Most teams use the Standard plan at $20/user/month, which includes basic automation and reporting features.
Smooch starts at $19/agent/month for basic messaging, scaling to $99/agent/month for advanced features like AI routing and analytics. Enterprise plans with custom integrations cost significantly more.
For traditional support teams under 10 agents, Help Scout often costs less. For messaging-heavy operations requiring AI automation, Smooch's per-agent pricing can add up quickly.
Help Scout
Pros
- ✓ Clean, intuitive interface
- ✓ Excellent for email-based support
- ✓ Strong knowledge base features
Cons
- ✗ No native WhatsApp or Telegram
- ✗ Live chat (Beacon) is basic
- ✗ Limited automation capabilities
Smooch (Sunshine Conversations)
Pros
- ✓ Strong Zendesk integration
- ✓ Good channel coverage
- ✓ Mature platform
Cons
- ✗ Per-agent pricing gets expensive
- ✗ Complex setup process
- ✗ Limited customization options
Verdict
Choose Help Scout for straightforward help desk management with excellent email handling. Choose Smooch for advanced conversational AI and multi-channel messaging automation.
Choose Help Scout if: You need reliable email-based support with knowledge base management, staying under $75/user/month for full features.
Choose Smooch if: You require sophisticated conversational AI across multiple messaging platforms, with budget for $19-99/agent/month plus integration costs.
For teams seeking effective customer communication without per-agent complexity, Converge provides comprehensive support features at a flat $49/month, eliminating the guesswork of scaling costs.
Looking for more options? Browse all 750+ platform comparisons, or see all Help Scout comparisons and all Smooch (Sunshine Conversations) comparisons.