Help Scout vs Dispatch Tickets
Two different takes on simple helpdesk software. Relationship-focused vs API-first—which fits your team?
Help Scout and Dispatch Tickets both reject enterprise complexity. But they take different paths to simplicity.
Help Scout is relationship-focused—support should feel human, not robotic. Dispatch Tickets is API-focused—support should integrate deeply into your product. Same goal (simple, effective support), different philosophies.
Philosophy Comparison
Help Scout: “Support is about relationships. Software should feel like email, not enterprise software. Keep it human.”
Dispatch Tickets: “Support is infrastructure. Software should be API-first and integrate into your product. Keep it programmable.”
Both are valid. The question is which resonates with how you think about support.
Pricing
| Help Scout | Dispatch Tickets | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Per-user | Per-ticket |
| Starting price | $20/user/mo | $29/mo (1k tickets) |
| 5-user team | $100/mo | $29/mo |
| 10-user team | $200/mo | $29/mo |
| Multi-brand | Plus ($40/user) | All plans |
| Engineers reading tickets? | Extra seats | Included |
Help Scout’s per-user pricing is straightforward but adds up. Dispatch Tickets’ per-ticket model includes unlimited users.
For a 10-person team with multi-brand needs: Help Scout Plus is $400/month. Dispatch Tickets is $29-99/month.
What Help Scout Does Better
The interface. Help Scout is genuinely pleasant to use. Clean, fast, thoughtfully designed. Your support team will enjoy working in it.
Knowledge base (Docs). Help Scout’s Docs is excellent—clean, searchable, easy to maintain. Best-in-class self-service.
Beacon widget. Help in context without full live chat complexity. Docs suggestions, contact form, targeted messages.
Human feel. Conversations feel like email, not tickets. Customers don’t feel processed through a system.
Established simplicity. Years of deliberate simplicity. They’ve resisted feature bloat better than most.
What Dispatch Tickets Does Better
Pricing for teams. Everyone can access support—engineers, founders, PMs—without adding seats. Per-ticket means usage, not headcount.
API-first architecture. Build on top, integrate deeply, create custom experiences. The API isn’t an afterthought.
Multi-brand included. No Plus tier required. Multiple workspaces from day one.
Technical team fit. Built by developers for developers. The architecture and API feel right if you’re technical.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Help Scout | Dispatch Tickets |
|---|---|---|
| Email support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Knowledge base | ✓ (Docs) | Roadmap |
| Help widget | ✓ (Beacon) | Roadmap |
| Live chat | Beacon (limited) | No |
| Saved replies | ✓ | ✓ |
| Collision detection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-brand | Plus tier | All plans |
| API quality | Basic | Excellent |
| Unlimited users | No | Yes |
Help Scout has more customer-facing features (Docs, Beacon). Dispatch Tickets has better infrastructure (API, pricing model).
When to Choose Help Scout
You value interface quality. Your team lives in this tool daily. Help Scout’s UX is genuinely better than most.
Knowledge base is important. Docs is one of the best knowledge base products available. If self-service matters, this tips the scales.
The “human” positioning resonates. Support as conversation, not ticket processing. If this philosophy matches yours, Help Scout embodies it.
You don’t need engineers in tickets. If support is a dedicated team and cross-functional access doesn’t matter, per-user works fine.
When to Choose Dispatch Tickets
Your whole team should see support. Engineers need bug context. Founders want customer signal. Per-seat pricing makes this expensive.
You’re running multiple brands. Help Scout charges $40/user for multi-brand. Dispatch Tickets includes it at $29/month total.
You want to build custom experiences. Embed support in your product, create custom dashboards, integrate deeply. API-first matters.
Budget is tight. Same team, same volume: significantly lower cost on Dispatch Tickets.
The Trade-off
Help Scout optimizes for the humans doing support—beautiful interface, thoughtful features, relationship focus.
Dispatch Tickets optimizes for the organization—unlimited access, API flexibility, multi-brand simplicity.
If you have a dedicated support team that values their tools, Help Scout’s premium is worth it. If you’re a technical team where everyone touches support, Dispatch Tickets’ model makes more sense.
Related
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Get Early AccessFrequently Asked Questions
Help Scout if you value beautiful interface and have a dedicated support team. Dispatch Tickets if your whole team should see tickets (founders, engineers) and you run multiple brands. Different philosophies for different needs.
Help Scout is $20-40/user/month (Plus for multi-brand). Dispatch Tickets is $29-99/month flat with unlimited users. For a 10-person team with multi-brand: Help Scout Plus is $400/month, Dispatch Tickets is $29-99/month.
Yes, but it's not API-first. Help Scout's strength is its interface and human-feel, not programmatic access. If deep API integration matters, Dispatch Tickets is designed for that use case.
Yes—Docs is genuinely excellent. Clean, fast, easy to maintain. If self-service is important to you, Help Scout's KB is one of the best. Dispatch Tickets doesn't have KB yet. This alone might tip the decision.