Customer support for solo founders
You are the founder, the developer and the support team. Roper gives you one inbox, a help center that answers the repeat questions, and a chat widget that hands off to you when it should, for $19 a month.
By the Roper team · Published
The short answer
A solo founder needs one place where customer questions arrive, a help center that answers the repeat ones, and a way to reach a person when it matters. Roper is hosted support software built for that: a chat widget (one script tag), a shared inbox for chat and email, a public help center, AI answers that cite your own articles and hand off when unsure, and a feedback board. It costs $19 a month flat for up to 3 seats.
Roper 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.
A support day, in fifteen focused minutes
- Open the inbox once or twice a day. Chat and email land in the same list, split into Open (waiting on you), Pending (waiting on the customer), Resolved and Bot-handled. When Open is empty you are done.
- Clear it from the keyboard.
jandkmove between conversations,rjumps to the reply box,/inserts a saved reply, Ctrl or ⌘ + Enter sends anderesolves. Internal notes stay yellow and are never shown to the customer. - Turn the second repeat question into an article. Anything you answer twice goes into the help center. The public help center and the bot read the same articles, so each one also answers the next customer without you.
- Let the bot take the easy ones and keep a human path. The bot answers from your published articles, links the ones it used, and says it is an AI. If it cannot answer, or the customer asks for a person or a refund, the chat becomes an open ticket in your inbox.
For the full method, including how to set reply expectations, read how to run customer support as a solo founder.
What the price covers
Pro is $19 a month (or $190 a year, 2 months free). It includes 3 seats and up to 3 workspaces, with no per-resolution fees.
- A chat widget for your app or site, installed with one script tag
- A shared inbox for chat and email, with saved replies, internal notes, tags and priority
- A public help center on your own workspace address
- AI answers from your published help articles, with the articles cited
- Hand-off to a human that creates a tracked ticket
- The email channel: customers email you and replies thread back
- A public feedback board for feature requests
What you will outgrow
Roper is deliberately small. Be honest about what it leaves out before you pay for it:
- Phone, voice and social channels. There is no WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram or phone support.
- Workflow and SLA engines. There are saved replies and tags, not routing rules or SLA timers.
- Actions in your product. The AI answers questions from your articles. It does not issue refunds, change plans or look up orders.
- Analytics on Pro. Support analytics (volume, response time, bot resolution) are on the Team plan.
- Custom domains. The help center lives on your Roper workspace address. Custom domains are not built yet.
- Single sign-on. Teammates sign in with Google or an emailed link.
If you need those today, a bigger suite is the better choice. If you need an inbox, a help center and a bot that tells the truth, you are who Roper is built for.
Set up in an afternoon
- Sign up, name your workspace and pick Pro.
- Paste the one-line script tag from Settings into your app.
- Write your first five help articles from the questions you answered this month.
- Check it as a customer on the live demo and the sample help center.
Questions
Common questions
- What is the best customer support tool for a solo founder?
- One that stays small: a single inbox for chat and email, a help center the bot can answer from, keyboard-first replies, and a flat price that does not grow with each seat or AI answer. Roper is built for that, at $19 a month on Pro. It is hosted only and has no free plan.
- How much does support software cost for one person?
- Roper Pro is $19 a month, or $190 a year (2 months free). That covers 3 seats, the widget, inbox, help center, AI answers, the email channel and the feedback board, with no per-resolution fees. Team is $49 a month for unlimited seats and analytics. See pricing for current plans.
- Can an AI chatbot handle support for me?
- It can take the repeat questions your help center already answers. Roper's bot answers only from your published articles, cites them, and is labelled as an AI. When it cannot answer, or a customer asks for a person or a refund, it hands the chat to you as an open ticket. Keep a human path: a bot that traps people costs you customers.
- How long does setup take?
- Create an account, name your workspace, choose a plan and paste one script tag into your app. Then write a few help articles so the bot has something to answer from. The widget works as soon as the tag is on the page.
- Is there a free plan or a free trial?
- No. Roper is a paid service and every workspace is on Pro or Team. The live demo lets you try the widget and the inbox on a sample app before you sign up.
- What happens when I hire my first support person?
- Pro includes 3 seats, so you can add two teammates by email at no extra cost. Past 3 people you move to Team ($49 a month), which has unlimited seats. Your conversations, articles and settings stay as they are.
Keep reading
Sources
Answer the repeat questions once, and keep the human path open.
One inbox, one help center, one flat price. $19 a month for Pro.