How much does customer support software cost for a small team?

At list price for three people, before AI usage fees: Roper Pro is $39 a month flat, Tidio Starter $24.17 for 100 conversations, Crisp Mini $45 per workspace, Chatwoot Startups $57, Help Scout Standard $75, Intercom Essential $87 and Featurebase Growth $87. Prices checked 2026-10-02.

Is there an Intercom cost calculator?

Yes, this one includes Intercom. Intercom Essential is $29 per seat per month, and its Fin AI agent adds from $0.99 per outcome. Enter your seats and the share of conversations you want AI to resolve, and it adds both and compares the total with six other tools.

Why is Roper the same price for one person and for three?

Roper prices by plan, not by seat. Pro is $39 a month for up to 3 seats, and Team is $129 a month for unlimited seats. AI answers are included in both, so there is no per-resolution fee.

Does the calculator include free plans?

Yes, when you set the AI share to 0%. Chatwoot, Featurebase, Crisp, Help Scout and Tidio each have a free plan with limits on seats or conversations, and none of them includes AI answers. If you want AI, those plans are skipped and the paid plan is priced instead.

How accurate are the prices?

They are each vendor's published list prices, checked on 2026-10-02, and vendors change them. Every price links to its source below. Check the vendor's own page before you decide, and tell us on the feedback board if something is out of date.

Does Roper have a free plan?

No. Roper is a paid, hosted service: Pro at $39 a month and Team at $129 a month. There is no free plan or trial, but you can try the live demo without signing up.

Customer support software cost calculator

Enter your team size, your conversations a month and how much you want AI to resolve. See what seven support tools cost at list price, with the working shown.

By the Roper team · Published 5 November 2026

People who reply to customers

Conversations a month

Only Tidio prices by volume.

Share AI should resolve30%

90 AI resolutions a month.

Roper costs $39 a month for this team (pro, 3 seats, flat). That is the lowest of the seven at list price, $72 a year less than the next, Crisp.

Paid yearly, Roper Pro is $390 a year, or $32.50 a month. See Roper's plans.

Monthly cost of seven customer support tools for 3 people, 300 conversations a month and 30% resolved by AI, cheapest first
#	Tool and plan	A month	A year	How it is worked out
1	Roperour productPro	$39	$468	Pro, 3 seats, flat. Included in the plan. Answers come only from your help center. Website chat only, one shared inbox, no workflows. No free plan or trial.
2	CrispMiniRoper vs Crisp	$45	$540	Mini, per workspace: 4 seats. Includes about 90 automated conversations a month. Twelve channels, including WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS and phone.
3	TidioGrowthRoper vs Tidio	from $49.17	from $590.04	Growth, from: up to 2,000 conversations a month. Lyro AI usage is billed beyond what the plan includes and is not added here. Priced by billable conversations, not seats.
4	ChatwootStartupsRoper vs Chatwoot	$57	$684	3 × $19 per agent. 300 Captain credits a month included; extra credits are $20 per 1,000 and are not added here. You can also self-host Chatwoot for free and pay for servers and your own time instead.
5	FeaturebaseGrowthRoper vs Featurebase	$131.10	$1573.20	3 × $29 per seat, billed yearly + $44.10 AI fees. AI resolutions at $0.49 each. The $29 rate is the yearly-billing price. Monthly billing is not listed on the pricing page we checked.
6	Help ScoutStandardRoper vs Help Scout	$142.50	$1710	3 × $25 per user + $67.50 AI fees. AI Answers at $0.75 per resolution. New accounts get a 3-month free trial of AI Answers, which this figure ignores.
7	IntercomEssentialRoper vs Intercom	from $176.10	from $2113.20	3 × $29 per seat + $89.10 AI fees. Fin AI at $0.99 per outcome, from. Essential has no workflows, round-robin assignment or multilingual support; Advanced is $85 per seat.

List prices in US dollars, billed monthly, before tax, checked 2 October 2026. Sources are listed below. A “from” figure is a minimum: the real bill could be higher.

The short answer

For three people at list price, before any AI usage fees, a month of support software costs about $39 on Roper Pro (flat, 3 seats), $24.17 on Tidio Starter (100 conversations), $45 on Crisp Mini, $57 on Chatwoot Startups, $75 on Help Scout Standard, and $87 on Intercom Essential or Featurebase Growth. Per-seat tools grow with every person you add, and Intercom, Featurebase and Help Scout add a fee per AI resolution. Use the calculator for your own numbers.

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.

An example

What a month costs, by team size

The same support load at five team sizes: 300 conversations a month, with AI resolving 30% of them (90 a month). Per-seat tools rise with every person you add. Roper's Pro plan is flat up to 3 seats and its Team plan is flat for any number.

Monthly cost of seven support tools at 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 people, for 300 conversations a month with 90 resolved by AI
Tool	1 person	2 people	3 people	5 people	10 people
Roper	$39	$39	$39	$129	$129
Chatwoot	$19	$38	$57	$95	$190
Crisp	$45	$45	$45	$95	$95
Featurebase	$73.10	$102.10	$131.10	$189.10	$334.10
Help Scout	$92.50	$117.50	$142.50	$192.50	$317.50
Intercom	from $118.10	from $147.10	from $176.10	from $234.10	from $379.10
Tidio	from $49.17	from $49.17	from $49.17	from $49.17	from $49.17

List prices, billed monthly, before tax. Intercom, Featurebase and Help Scout include per-resolution AI fees. Crisp, Chatwoot and Tidio include AI up to an allowance; a “from” figure is a minimum. Tidio is priced by conversations, so its figure does not change with team size.

How the calculator works

It prices the cheapest plan of each tool that covers your team, using only what each vendor publishes on its own pricing page. Nothing is estimated from industry averages.

You enter three things: the people who reply to customers, your conversations a month, and the share of conversations you want AI to resolve.
Each tool bills a different way. Intercom, Featurebase, Chatwoot Cloud and Help Scout charge per seat or user. Crisp charges per workspace with a seat allowance. Tidio charges by billable conversations. Roper charges a flat price per plan.
Per-resolution AI fees are added. Intercom charges from $0.99 per outcome, Featurebase $0.49 and Help Scout $0.75. Where AI comes with an allowance instead (Crisp, Chatwoot, Tidio), the allowance is shown, and anything above it is flagged rather than guessed.
Set the AI share to 0% to include free plans. Chatwoot, Featurebase, Crisp, Help Scout and Tidio each have a free plan with limits, and none of them includes AI answers. With AI switched on, those plans are skipped.
All figures are list prices in US dollars, billed monthly, before tax. Prices were checked on 2026-10-02.

What the numbers leave out

A cost calculator is only fair if it says what it doesn't compare. These are the gaps.

Features are not matched. The calculator prices a plan that covers your seat count, not every feature you might need. Intercom's Essential seat has no workflows, round-robin assignment or multilingual support. Crisp reaches WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS and phone, and Roper reaches website chat and email only. See Roper vs Intercom and Roper vs Crisp for the full lists.
Discounts are not applied. Annual billing, startup programmes and negotiated discounts are left out. Featurebase's figure is its yearly-billing rate.
Some AI usage can't be priced. Chatwoot's extra Captain credits, Crisp's credits above its allowance and Tidio's Lyro usage beyond its included conversations aren't published as a per-resolution price, so they are flagged, not added.
Self-hosting is free to license. Chatwoot can be self-hosted at no software cost; you pay for servers and your own time instead.
Roper is one of the seven. It is made by the team that built this calculator, and it has no free plan, so for one person who wants no AI, a free plan elsewhere costs less. The result says so when that is true.

Questions

Common questions

How much does customer support software cost for a small team?: At list price for three people, before AI usage fees: Roper Pro is $39 a month flat, Tidio Starter $24.17 for 100 conversations, Crisp Mini $45 per workspace, Chatwoot Startups $57, Help Scout Standard $75, Intercom Essential $87 and Featurebase Growth $87. Prices checked 2026-10-02.
Is there an Intercom cost calculator?: Yes, this one includes Intercom. Intercom Essential is $29 per seat per month, and its Fin AI agent adds from $0.99 per outcome. Enter your seats and the share of conversations you want AI to resolve, and it adds both and compares the total with six other tools.
Why is Roper the same price for one person and for three?: Roper prices by plan, not by seat. Pro is $39 a month for up to 3 seats, and Team is $129 a month for unlimited seats. AI answers are included in both, so there is no per-resolution fee.
Does the calculator include free plans?: Yes, when you set the AI share to 0%. Chatwoot, Featurebase, Crisp, Help Scout and Tidio each have a free plan with limits on seats or conversations, and none of them includes AI answers. If you want AI, those plans are skipped and the paid plan is priced instead.
How accurate are the prices?: They are each vendor's published list prices, checked on 2026-10-02, and vendors change them. Every price links to its source below. Check the vendor's own page before you decide, and tell us on the feedback board if something is out of date.
Does Roper have a free plan?: No. Roper is a paid, hosted service: Pro at $39 a month and Team at $129 a month. There is no free plan or trial, but you can try the live demo without signing up.

Sources

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