Per-seat vs flat-rate help desk pricing: what a small team really pays
By The Relay team · Published · 5 min read
The short answer
For a team of three, per-seat help desks cost $57 to $87 a month at list price before any AI fees. Relay Pro is $19 a month flat, and Crisp's per-workspace Mini plan is $45. Per-seat pricing is fine for one or two people, especially on free plans. Flat pricing wins once a team shares an inbox, and most of all when AI answers are billed per resolution.
Three ways support tools charge
Most support tools use one of three models, and many add a fourth charge for AI on top.
- Per seat or per agent. Every person who can reply pays. Intercom, Help Scout, Featurebase and Chatwoot Cloud work this way.
- Per workspace or per plan. One price covers a set number of seats. Crisp and Relay work this way.
- Per conversation. The limit is volume, not people. Tidio's Starter plan is $24.17 a month for 100 billable conversations.
- Per AI resolution, on top. The AI agent is billed for each conversation it resolves. Intercom, Help Scout and Featurebase do this.
What each costs at 1, 3, 5 and 10 seats
This is the lowest paid plan that covers the number of seats, billed monthly, before any AI fees. It is a list-price comparison of the entry plans, not of what each tool can do. Tidio is left out because it isn't priced by seat.
| Tool | 1 seat | 3 seats | 5 seats | 10 seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relay ($19 Pro for 3 seats, $49 Team unlimited) | $19 | $19 | $49 | $49 |
| Crisp (Mini 4 seats, Essentials 10 seats, per workspace) | $45 | $45 | $95 | $95 |
| Intercom (Essential) | $29 | $87 | $145 | $290 |
| Help Scout (Standard) | $25 | $75 | $125 | $250 |
| Featurebase (Growth, billed yearly) | $29 | $87 | $145 | $290 |
| Chatwoot Cloud (Startups) | $19 | $57 | $95 | $190 |
Three things stand out. A flat plan is already the cheaper option at three seats: $19 for Relay against $57 for Chatwoot Cloud, $75 for Help Scout and $87 for Intercom or Featurebase. The gap widens with every hire, because per-seat prices rise in a straight line while a flat plan steps up once. And Relay's own price has a step: Pro includes 3 seats, so a fourth person means Team at $49.
When per-seat pricing is the better deal
- You are one or two people. Several tools have free plans: Help Scout Free covers up to 5 users, Chatwoot's Hacker plan covers 2 agents (500 conversations a month, live chat only), Featurebase Free covers 1 seat without the AI agent, and Crisp Free covers 2 seats without AI. Relay has no free plan or trial.
- You need a feature that only a higher plan has. Workflows, round-robin assignment, multilingual support, SSO and SLAs sit on the higher plans of tools such as Intercom and Featurebase, and Help Scout adds advanced workflows on Plus. Relay doesn't have them yet, so flat pricing buys you less here.
- You want to self-host. Chatwoot is open source and free to run yourself. Relay is hosted only.
- Most of your team rarely replies. If only one person answers customers, you pay for one seat.
When flat pricing is the better deal
- Three or more people share the inbox. The gap above opens at three seats and keeps growing.
- Your team size changes. Adding a contractor for a busy month shouldn't change the bill, and with a flat plan it doesn't until you pass the seat limit.
- You want to predict the bill. Finance can approve one number a month.
- You want AI without a meter. See the next section.
The AI fee is the other half of the bill
Per-seat tools often charge for AI separately, per resolution. At 300 AI-resolved conversations a month, the AI line alone would be about $297 on Intercom's Fin (from $0.99 per outcome), $225 on Help Scout ($0.75 per resolution) and $147 on Featurebase ($0.49 per resolution). That is a scenario, not a prediction, and each vendor defines what counts as a resolution or outcome in its own way, so check before you rely on it.
The others work differently. Chatwoot's Startups plan includes 300 Captain AI credits a month and charges $20 per 1,000 extra. Crisp includes AI credits in paid plans; Mini's $5 of credits covers about 90 automated conversations. Relay includes AI answers in both plans, and they come only from your own help center articles, with citations. That makes Relay's AI narrower than a general AI agent, and it is not billed per resolution.
How to choose
- Count the people who will actually reply to customers in the next 12 months. One or two: a free plan may be enough. Three or more: compare flat and per-seat at that number using the table above.
- Estimate your AI-handled conversations. If the tool bills per resolution, multiply it out at 100, 300 and 1,000 a month before you commit.
- List the features you can't live without. If workflows, multilingual support, SSO or phone are on it, start with tools that have them and see what they cost.
- Check what happens at the limit. Find out what the next plan costs when you add the seat or the volume that tips you over.
Questions
Common questions
- Is flat-rate help desk pricing cheaper than per-seat?
- Usually, from about three seats. At three seats the entry plans on per-seat tools cost $57 to $87 a month at list price, against $19 for Relay Pro and $45 for Crisp Mini. For one or two people, a free plan from a per-seat vendor is often cheaper than any paid flat plan.
- Does Relay charge per AI resolution?
- No. AI answers are included in both Relay plans, and they are drawn from your own help center articles, with citations to the articles used.
- What happens when I add a fourth seat on Relay?
- Pro includes 3 seats. For more, choose Team at $49 a month, which has unlimited seats and adds support analytics and priority support.
- Are these prices current?
- They were checked on 2026-10-02 against each vendor's public pricing page, and are list prices in US dollars. Vendors change prices, so confirm on their pages before you decide. If you spot something out of date, tell us on the feedback board.
Sources and how we wrote this
Relay is made by the team that wrote this post. Figures for other tools come from their own public pages, listed under Sources, and are list prices in US dollars that can change. If something here is out of date, tell us on the feedback board and we'll correct it.