Helpwise vs LiveAgent
An independent, review-free comparison compiled by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Both products are profiled in full, and neither can pay for placement here.
The short answer
Both sides assessedHelpwise compared with LiveAgent
LiveAgent is the cheap all-in-one, and its native call centre is more serious than anything in this bracket, with a ticketing model and a large feature checklist to match. Helpwise is a shared inbox first, cleaner to run and easier for a non-technical owner to configure, but with a shorter feature list. Take LiveAgent if you need real inbound telephony and want maximum features per dollar; take Helpwise if you want a tool a small team will actually adopt without a rollout project.
LiveAgent compared with Helpwise
Both are cheap flat-per-seat shared inboxes with no per-resolution AI meter, and both are aimed at small teams that want email to stop being chaotic. Helpwise is the tidier, more modern interface and covers WhatsApp, SMS, and Instagram from its Premium tier. LiveAgent is the wider and more utilitarian product, and it is the only one of the two with a genuinely native call centre rather than a bolted-on calling feature. Choose Helpwise for a clean shared inbox on a budget; choose LiveAgent when the phone is a real channel or you want SLAs, forums, and time tracking included.
Choose Helpwise if
Small businesses and lean operations teams (roughly 2 to 25 users) running several shared addresses across support, sales, billing, and HR, who want predictable flat per-seat pricing, broad channel coverage including WhatsApp and SMS, and no per-conversation or per-AI-resolution meter on the invoice.
Choose LiveAgent if
Small and mid-sized teams that want one flat, forecastable invoice covering email, chat, and phone, especially any business where inbound calls are a real channel rather than an afterthought: local service businesses, travel and hospitality, ecommerce with returns lines, and B2B teams whose customers still pick up the phone. It suits buyers who would rather pay a fixed seat price than model an AI meter.
Side by side
13 attributes| Attribute | Helpwise | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Support | Support |
| Starting price | $12 per user per month (Standard, annual billing; $15 monthly) (7 days trial) | $15 per agent per month (Small Business, billed annually; $10 under the current new-customer discount) (free plan available) |
| Pricing model | Flat per-user-per-month subscription across three tiers, with seat minimums and a user cap on the entry plan. No per-conversation, per-ticket, or per-AI-resolution metering. | Flat per-agent subscription across four tiers, quoted per agent per month with an annual and a monthly rate. AI agents are included on every paid plan with no per-resolution or per-session meter. Social channels, extra knowledge bases, custom domain, branding removal, and time tracking are separate monthly add-ons. |
| Free plan | No | None currently advertised. The pricing page lists four paid tiers and a 30-day trial; the limited free plan LiveAgent previously offered is no longer shown, so do not plan around it. |
| Free trial | 7 days, no credit card required | 30 days, no credit card required |
| Best for | Small businesses and lean operations teams (roughly 2 to 25 users) running several shared addresses across support, sales, billing, and HR, who want predictable flat per-seat pricing, broad channel coverage including WhatsApp and SMS, and no per-conversation or per-AI-resolution meter on the invoice. | Small and mid-sized teams that want one flat, forecastable invoice covering email, chat, and phone, especially any business where inbound calls are a real channel rather than an afterthought: local service businesses, travel and hospitality, ecommerce with returns lines, and B2B teams whose customers still pick up the phone. It suits buyers who would rather pay a fixed seat price than model an AI meter. |
| Setup time | An afternoon for a single inbox. Connect Gmail or Microsoft 365, invite the team, import saved replies, and you are working. Adding channels, rules, and a help center is another day or two of configuration. | A working email and chat queue in under an hour: connect your support addresses, paste the chat button, invite agents. The call centre takes longer, typically a day or two, because you have to configure a SIP trunk with your carrier, build IVR menus, record prompts, and test routing before you point a published phone number at it. |
| Learning curve | Low. This is a shared inbox that looks like a shared inbox, and agents who have used Gmail need almost no training. The person configuring automation rules and Smart Assign needs an hour with the documentation, and should note that several features they expect to find (SLA rules, custom views) only exist on the Advanced plan. | Moderate. Individual features are straightforward but the interface is dense, and the settings area is large enough that finding a specific option is the main early frustration. Agents pick up the queue quickly; the admin needs a focused afternoon with departments, rules, SLA policies, and portal configuration. |
| Platforms | Web app, Embeddable live chat widget, Gmail and Microsoft 365 connections, Webhooks | Web app, iOS, Android, Embeddable chat widget, Customer portal (custom domain available as an add-on) |
| Compliance | GDPR compliance stated by the vendor with a dedicated policy page, Periodic third-party penetration testing, No SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA attestation published | GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA (available), 2-step verification and HTTPS encryption throughout |
| Founded | 2016 | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California, United States | Bratislava, Slovakia (with offices in Kyiv and New York City) |
| Ownership | Venture-backed, part of SaaS Labs, Inc. | Privately held and bootstrapped (Quality Unit, s.r.o.) |
Strengths and limitations
Helpwise
Strengths
- Flat per-seat pricing with no per-conversation or per-resolution meter, which in 2026 is a genuine differentiator rather than a lack of ambition.
- Channel coverage at the Premium tier is unusually broad for the price: WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram, Facebook, live chat, voice, and email in one queue.
- Sized by shared inbox rather than by ticket volume, which suits operations-heavy small businesses running several departmental addresses rather than one support queue.
- The collaboration basics are all present and correct: collision detection, internal notes, mentions, shared drafts, and activity logs.
Limitations
- No autonomous AI agent. The AI here assists agents and prioritises the queue; it does not resolve conversations without a human, so deflection is not on the table.
- The Standard plan's ten-user ceiling and fifteen-saved-reply cap make it a starter tier rather than a viable long-term home for a growing team.
- SLA rules, custom views, unlimited automation, and SSO are all locked to the $39 Advanced tier, which more than triples the entry price.
- Compliance documentation is thin: GDPR, AWS hosting, encryption, and penetration testing are stated, but no SOC 2 report, ISO 27001, or HIPAA attestation is published.
LiveAgent
Strengths
- A genuinely native call centre with IVR, automatic call distribution, attended and consultative transfer, and unlimited call recording, on a $29 seat. Nothing else in this price band ships real voice.
- AI agents included in every paid plan with no per-resolution or per-session meter, which makes the invoice forecastable in a category that has spent two years making invoices unforecastable.
- Bring-your-own SIP trunk across 60-plus VoIP providers means you pay carrier rates for minutes and you keep ownership of your numbers, rather than renting telephony from your help desk vendor.
- SSO and custom roles arrive at the $29 Medium tier, which is unusually early; most competitors reserve single sign-on for their top plan.
Limitations
- The interface is dense and dated. Twenty-two years of feature accretion shows, and teams coming from Help Scout, Intercom, or Plain will find it visually and ergonomically behind.
- Social channels are per-channel add-ons at $39 a month each, and Instagram requires the Facebook integration on top of its own $19, so a socially active brand can pay more in channel fees than in seats.
- No free plan is currently listed on the pricing page, and no light-agent or day-pass mechanism exists, so part-timers and contractors cost a full seat each.
- Per-tier caps on email accounts, chat buttons, contact forms, and knowledge bases mean the Small tier at $15 is genuinely small: three email addresses and two chat buttons.
Pricing compared
Helpwise
Flat per-user-per-month subscription across three tiers, with seat minimums and a user cap on the entry plan. No per-conversation, per-ticket, or per-AI-resolution metering.
- Standard$12
- Premium$23
- Advanced$39
Judged as capability per dollar, Premium at $23 a seat is strong: ten shared inboxes, WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram, voice, CSAT, and a help center for roughly what Help Scout charges for its Standard plan without any of the extra channels, and with no AI meter attached. Judged as capability in absolute terms, you are paying less because you are getting less: the interface is plainer, the knowledge base is thinner, the reporting is shallower, and there is no autonomous agent taking work off the queue. The honest framing is that Helpwise is the sensible purchase when your support problem is coordination rather than volume. If your problem is volume, a flat per-seat price is not a saving, it is a decision to keep paying humans to answer the same question.
LiveAgent
Flat per-agent subscription across four tiers, quoted per agent per month with an annual and a monthly rate. AI agents are included on every paid plan with no per-resolution or per-session meter. Social channels, extra knowledge bases, custom domain, branding removal, and time tracking are separate monthly add-ons.
- Small Business$15
- Medium Business$29
- Large Business$49
- Enterprise$69
Judged on capability per dollar, Medium at $29 a seat is one of the strongest offers in customer support software, because it is the only tier at that price anywhere that includes a functioning call centre with IVR, ACD, transfers, and unlimited recording alongside SLA policies, reporting, agent ratings, and SSO. Add unmetered AI on top and a phone-heavy small business will struggle to build a cheaper stack from parts. The value erodes in two specific directions: social channels at $39 apiece can double a small bill, and there is no light-agent or day-pass concept, so irregular cover is expensive. If your support is phone plus email plus chat, this is the best price in the category. If it is Instagram and WhatsApp with three part-time agents, do the arithmetic carefully first.
Editorial verdict on each
Helpwise
Helpwise is the unfashionable choice, and in 2026 that is close to a recommendation. While the rest of the category moved to charging per AI resolution, it kept a flat per-seat price of $12, $23, or $39 and shipped AI that helps agents rather than replacing them. For a small operations-heavy business running several departmental inboxes, that combination of broad channel coverage at Premium, real collaboration features, and a bill that does not move with traffic is genuinely good value, and cheaper than Help Scout or Front for the same core job. Be clear-eyed about what you are not getting: no autonomous deflection, a thin knowledge base, shallow reporting, no SOC 2, and a top-tier gate on SLAs, custom views, and SSO that triples the entry price. Buy it if your support problem is coordination and predictability. Look elsewhere if your problem is volume, because a flat seat price does not reduce a queue, it just makes the cost of answering it easier to forecast.
Read the full Helpwise profileLiveAgent
LiveAgent is the flat-rate option in a category that has spent two years converting itself to meters, and for a phone-heavy small business it is the best value on the board. Medium at $29 a seat is the only price anywhere that includes a working call centre with IVR, ACD, transfers, and unlimited recording alongside SLA policies, reporting, agent ratings, and SSO, and the AI agents come with it rather than on a separate invoice line that grows as they succeed. The counterweights are real: the interface is dense and dated, social channels are $39 a month each, custom domain and branding removal cost $38 more, and there is no light agent or day pass for part-timers. Buy it if your support includes a phone number, if you want to forecast next year's invoice without modelling a containment rate, and if you would rather have a bootstrapped vendor of twenty-two years than a venture timeline. Look elsewhere if your support is Instagram and WhatsApp with three part-time agents, or if the way the product looks matters to you as much as what it does.
Read the full LiveAgent profileHelpwise profile last reviewed 2026-08-22; LiveAgent last reviewed 2026-08-22. Pricing is compiled from public sources and can change without notice. See our methodology.