# A helpdesk whose AI acts on Shopify orders.

Help Scout's AI answers from your help content, and your team handles the order. In Aide Helpdesk, the AI cancels, refunds and changes addresses for verified shoppers, and seats are not billed.

Aide is a Help Scout alternative for Shopify stores that want the helpdesk's AI to act on orders, not only answer from help articles. Aide Helpdesk charges per AI reply with no per-seat fee; Help Scout charges per user plus $0.75 for each conversation its AI resolves.

Source: https://aide.app/compare/help-scout · Updated 2026-11-03 · By Ziyad Basheer

| | |
|---|---|
| Helpdesk pricing | Help Scout: $25 to $75 per user a month. Aide: no seat fees. |
| AI pricing | Help Scout: $0.75 per AI resolution. Aide: per AI reply, from $39. |
| Free plan | Help Scout: 5 users, 100 contacts a month. Aide: 2 members, 150 AI replies. |
| AI and orders | Help Scout's agent answers from knowledge. Aide's AI cancels, refunds and edits Shopify orders. |
| App Store reviews | Help Scout: 3.7 from 19 reviews. Aide: 5.0 from 3. |
| Checked | November 3, 2026, using Help Scout's pricing, Envoy and Shopify pages. |

## One item off, before it ships.

In Help Scout, a teammate can refund, cancel or edit the order from the Shopify sidebar. Its AI agent, Scout, answers from your Docs and websites, and order-aware answers are listed as coming soon.

Aide's AI handles the change itself once the shopper is verified, and logs what it did on the conversation.

> Customer: Can you take the travel mug off #1092? I only need the tumbler.
>
> Aide: Sure, Ana. Order #1092 hasn't shipped, so I've removed the travel mug. The tumbler ships as planned.
>
> Order #1092 verified · Item removed in Shopify

## Side by side

| | Aide Helpdesk | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Seats | Unlimited from Starter; 2 on Free | Billed per user; 5 on Free |
| AI answers | Every plan, from knowledge and live orders | Scout, from knowledge sources |
| AI order actions | Cancel, refund, address, remove item | None; a teammate uses the sidebar |
| Refund approval | Waits for a teammate by default | Done by a teammate |
| Drafts for the team | Copilot on every plan | AI Drafts on Plus and Pro |
| Channels | Chat and email; social pending Meta review | Email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger |

*Checked November 3, 2026 against Help Scout's public pages. Sources below.*

## A five-person team, priced

Take 5 teammates and 1,000 conversations a month, with the AI on all of them. Assume Scout fully resolves 400.

- Help Scout Plus, billed yearly: 5 × $45 = $225 in seats, plus 400 × $0.75 = $300 in resolutions, so $525 a month after the 3 free months.
- Aide at 2 AI replies per conversation: 2,000 replies. Pro at $149 includes 4,000 and every teammate.

Aide counts every reply and draft, resolved or not. Help Scout counts only resolved conversations, so a lower [resolution rate](https://aide.app/glossary/what-is-resolution-rate) lowers its bill.

## Sources

Help Scout facts were checked on November 3, 2026 against its [pricing page](https://www.helpscout.com/pricing/), its [Envoy and Scout page](https://www.helpscout.com/agent/), its [Scout setup guide](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/1795-set-up-scout), its [Shopify integration page](https://www.helpscout.com/help-desk-integration/shopify/) and [docs](https://docs.helpscout.com/article/294-shopify), and its [Shopify App Store listing](https://apps.shopify.com/help-scout). Aide's facts come from the shipped product, its [pricing](https://aide.app/pricing) and its [App Store listing](https://apps.shopify.com/aide). Aide wrote this page; send corrections to support@aide.app.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can Help Scout's AI take actions on Shopify orders?

Not on its own, as of November 3, 2026. Scout, the agent in Help Scout's Envoy suite, answers from your help center, websites and documents, and its page lists app connections as coming soon. Teammates can refund, cancel, edit and duplicate orders from the Shopify sidebar.

### How much does Help Scout cost?

Standard is $25 per user a month and Plus is $45, billed yearly, or $30 and $54 month to month. Pro is $75 with a 10-user minimum. Envoy adds $0.75 per AI resolution, free for your first 3 months, with an optional monthly cap.

### When is Help Scout the better fit?

When you also support a software product or B2B accounts, want help center sites built into the helpdesk, or need WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in one inbox today, with phone through Aircall. Help Scout only bills AI when a conversation is resolved, and its sidebar puts order actions in your team's hands.

### When is Aide not the right fit?

When you take phone calls, which Aide does not do, or you run WooCommerce and want the AI to change orders there. Aide reads WooCommerce stores, but its order actions are Shopify only. Aide also does not host public help center sites.

### Can I move my Help Scout Docs into Aide?

Yes. Aide imports a Help Scout help center into its knowledge, and can also import up to 300 pages of your website. Shopify products sync in as product pages.

### Does Aide Helpdesk cover the basics a team needs?

Yes. Shared inbox with statuses, snooze, SLA timers, routing with round robin, macros, sender rules for automated mail, CSAT for Aide and your team, and an audit log. Email comes in by forwarding or a connected Gmail inbox, and chat through Aide Chat.

## Related
- [How to choose an ecommerce helpdesk in 2026.](https://aide.app/guides/choosing-a-helpdesk-for-ecommerce)
- [Aide vs Richpanel](https://aide.app/compare/richpanel)
- [Aide vs Re:amaze](https://aide.app/compare/reamaze)

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