Help Scout is a shared inbox that keeps support personal: customers get replies that look like normal email, while your team gets assignments, collision detection, saved replies, a Docs knowledge base and Beacon live chat. AI drafts and summaries have arrived without turning it into a platform.
It suits small support teams that care how support feels. Its move to contacts-based pricing with a free tier made it friendlier to small teams; enterprise-grade routing, SLAs and reporting remain Zendesk territory.