Keeping vs. Help Scout
A Help Scout alternative that works inside Gmail
Help Scout is a powerful tool built for large dedicated customer support teams. If you have a small growing business, it may be way more than you need.
- Assign every email to one owner, inside Gmail
- Nothing to migrate: your email is already in Gmail
- Set up in two minutes with Google sign-in
Rated 4.5 /5 on G2
14 days free. No credit card required. Works with the Gmail you already use.
2,000+ companies run their shared inbox in Gmail with Keeping
“We've been able to cut our customer response time down to mere minutes for the vast majority of requests. Vacation and illness coverage has been nearly completely solved.”
Why choose Keeping over Help Scout
Help Scout is a powerful tool built for large, dedicated customer support teams; for a small growing business it may be more than you need. Pick Keeping for the customer support features you need right inside Gmail, with no complicated onboarding and no new tool to learn.
Easy set up
Create a Keeping mailbox, forward your shared email address or connect with Google, and invite your team.
Learn More about Easy set up
Communicate status
Know where every support email stands by marking them as Open, Closed or Pending. No more requests slipping.
Learn More about Communicate status
Shared notes
Easily share notes with your whole team to communicate what needs to be done or how to follow up.
Learn More about Shared notes
Multiple mailboxes
Add as many shared inboxes as you like - respond from your personal inbox without having to manage multiple logins.
Learn More about Multiple mailboxes
Advanced reporting
Advanced reporting gives you the data you need to know to measure your team’s performance.
Learn More about Advanced reporting
Response templates
Getting the same questions over and over again? Easily save and share canned answers across your team.
Learn More about Response templates
Collision detection
Keeping prevents multiple team members from working on the same support request at the same time.
Learn More about Collision detection
Confirmation receipts
Let your customers know you're listening with an automatic reply when you receive a new message.
Learn More about Confirmation receipts
Keeping works inside Google Workspace
Unlike Help Scout, Keeping creates a new section inside your Gmail. This allows you to continue to use Gmail for your day-to-day work while having easy access to your customer support inbox. No extra browser tabs to manage!
Help Scout is a powerful tool, but it's not for everyone. It's a complex system that requires training and ongoing support. If your team isn't willing to put in the effort to learn it, you're wasting your money.
Only Keeping lets you share your mailbox from right inside Gmail.
Keeping is more affordable
Help Scout's bare-bones Standard plan ($25/user) costs about the same as Keeping's fully-featured Advanced plan. It includes 2 shared mailboxes, and each extra one is an add-on; the Plus plan ($45/mo per user) includes 5.
Keeping Advanced is nearly half the price of Help Scout Plus. And you still get all of the critical features to manage a shared mailbox.
For a 5 person team with 3 mailboxes, you can expect to save about $1,260/year with Keeping Advanced compared with Help Scout Plus, both billed annually.
Help Scout vs Keeping, feature by feature
See how Keeping and Help Scout compare across every feature and why Keeping is the best Help Scout alternative for most small business.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Shared mailboxes | Unlimited | 2 |
| Maximum agents | Unlimited | 25 |
| The most popular ready-made plan | $24per user/month | $45per user/month |
| Works inside Gmail | Yes | No |
| Advanced Reports + Export | Yes | Yes |
| HubSpot integration | Yes | +$25per user/month |
| Easy-to-learn | Yes | No |
| Shopify integration | Yes | No |
Help Scout prices from helpscout.com, as of October 2026. | ||
The Help Scout alternative your team will love
No compromises. All the features you need to manage customer support from inside Gmail.
Collaborate in Gmail
Adding customer support to your operation no longer means opening an extra browser tab. Manage your shared inbox from your own Gmail account. No external app!
- Add collaboration to email
- Stop duplicated work
- Share the workload
Simple & Streamlined
Our instant setup and Gmail integration are designed for the busiest teams. There’s no complex software to configure. You’re up and running and supporting customers in minutes.
- Get started in minutes
- One home for multiple mailboxes
- Save time with shared templates
Best-in-Class Analytics
Advanced reporting gives you the data you need to know how your team responds to customers. Track first response time, resolution time, busiest times, and much more.
- Reports by agent, tag, and mailbox
- Understand how your team can improve
- Visualize the data over time
Automate Everything
Focus on what’s essential and let workflows handle repetitive tasks. Automatically assign tickets, set priority and tags, or change the status based on the content of your email.
- Improve team efficiency
- Respond to customers faster
- Nothing slips through the cracks
Connect the Tools You Use
Keeping is a powerful tool that can help you to stay organized and productive. But it can be even more powerful when you connect it to your other tools, such as Shopify, Zapier, or HubSpot.
Learn More about Connect the Tools You Use
Collaborate on customer support, inside Gmail
Made for busy teams
Collaborate with team members in real-time — no more forwarding emails and confusion around who is doing what.
Try Keeping for free
Sign in with Google and you're set up in two minutes. The trial is the full product, so your team can run real email through it before you decide.
Secure and safe
Security and safety are at the core of everything we do. We publish our security policies and procedures so that you can see how we protect your data.
Advanced
$24
per user per month
billed annually
Our most comprehensive plan at a price you can afford.
Our customers love us for a reason
Don’t just take our word for it, see what our customers are saying about us.
Rated 4.5 /5 on G2
“Keeping helps our customer service team stay on top of inquiries & recognize when an issue has been handled.”
“It's a great tool for tracking and sharing support emails with colleagues. I love how Keeping email has its own inbox inside Gmail.”
“Keeping seamlessly integrates with Gmail, so we don't have to work with another tool. It allows everyone to see responses from the team.”
“Seeing our shared mailbox right in GSuite, the automatic setup, and the ability to keep track of issues are my favorite features.”
“At our university, Keeping gives us control over the responses of all our agents, as well as ensuring that all emails are being responded to.”
“Our HR department uses Keeping, and it works amazingly well for us to keep organized. It's a simple but robust ticketing system.”
“I like that we can use it right inside our Gmail. I also like that we can assign and prioritize incoming requests.”
“Keeping makes it simple to stay on top of our work orders, and I love that it is integrated with Gmail.”
“Tried them all - Keeping is perfect for our startup. Exactly the features we needed, like Gmail integration and collision detection.”