A straight-talking Helply and Groove alternative.
Groove is now Helply, and helply.com leads with a free-forever plan and an AI agent priced per outcome. That is a strong starting point. This page is honest about where Helply wins and where an email-first, UK-first Solves desk is the better fit, so you can pick the right tool rather than the loudest one.
Competitor details verified on 13 June 2026 and re-checked before publishing. Figures move, so confirm current Helply pricing on helply.com before you decide.
The short answer
Helply and Solves are not really the same product
Helply, the rebrand of Groove, is a multi-channel support tool with live chat, a knowledge base and an AI agent, offered on a free-forever plan and then priced by AI outcomes. Solves is a focused email desk for UK small teams that turns shared inboxes into owned, timed tickets across one or several brands. Both answer customers; they answer them differently.
If your support is a mix of chat and email and you want an AI agent deflecting tickets, Helply is a sensible, low-cost place to start, and its free-forever tier with unlimited seats is genuinely generous. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
If your support really is email, and what you need is ownership, assignment, private notes that can never leak to a customer, brand-correct sending and first-response and resolution SLA timers, then a narrow email-first desk is usually calmer to run than a broader omnichannel suite. That is the gap Solves is built for.
Context
Groove became Helply: what changed
Groove rebranded to Helply, and groovehq.com now redirects to helply.com. The new Helply leads with outcome-based pricing: a free-forever Fully Featured Support Platform tier at zero dollars a month with unlimited seats and no card, covering basic ticketing, email, live chat and a knowledge base; an AI-First Support tier at roughly fifty cents per outcome; and a custom Enterprise option.
Existing Groove customers move to a product called Groove Classic, which is still supported and serves a large base of long-standing accounts. The older seat-based pricing and thirty-day trial that some review sites still quote now describe Groove Classic, not the new Helply line. If you read an aggregator claiming a Groove free plan capped at two users, that is legacy Groove Classic detail, not current Helply.
The practical takeaway: when you compare against Helply today, you are comparing against a free-forever, AI-led, multi-channel product, not a per-seat legacy helpdesk. We compare against that, honestly.
Why teams look at Solves
What an email-first desk does differently
These are the parts of Solves that are live today, nothing aspirational.
Owned email tickets
Shared inboxes become owned, assigned tickets with states, priority and tags, so nothing falls between two people who both thought the other had it.
Hard notes and replies split
Public replies and private notes are kept strictly apart, with a stale-reply guard, so an internal comment can never reach a customer by accident.
Multi-brand, done right
Run several brands from one queue with per-brand mailboxes, brand-locked sending and contact history grouped by brand. The composer is locked to the ticket brand.
First-response and resolution SLAs
First-response and resolution SLA timers run against per-brand or organisation targets, with a breaching view that surfaces overdue tickets.
Saved replies per brand
Saved replies can be scoped to a brand or shared across the organisation, with no placeholder gimmicks, just the wording your team actually sends.
Encrypted at rest
Customer content is encrypted at rest with per-organisation keys, access is authorised-only, and logs hold metadata only, never message bodies or addresses.
Be fair
Where Helply is the better choice
No tool wins for everyone, and Helply genuinely beats Solves in a few places. Here is where we would point you at Helply rather than try to keep you.
- You want live chat and email in one tool. Helply includes live chat on its free tier; Solves is email-first and runs no chat widget at all.
- You want an AI agent resolving tickets, and you would rather pay per outcome than per seat. Helply prices its AI-First tier at roughly fifty cents per outcome; Solves has no AI drafting or AI agent today.
- You want a free-forever plan with unlimited seats to start, not a paid beta. Helply offers exactly that; Solves runs a paid Starter and paid GBP plans.
- You are an existing Groove customer happy on Groove Classic and do not want to move at all. Staying put is a perfectly good answer.
If two or more of those describe you, Helply is likely the better starting point, and we would rather tell you that now than after you have set everything up.
Be fair the other way
Where a Solves desk tends to fit better
- Your support is overwhelmingly email and a chat widget would mostly add noise and a channel to staff.
- You run more than one brand and need brand-correct sending, per-brand mailboxes and a single unified queue without a separate login per brand.
- You want UK-shaped operations: GBP pricing ex VAT, VAT-visible invoices, and first-response and resolution SLA timers with a breaching view.
- You want predictable team-band pricing rather than a bill that scales with AI outcomes or per-seat counts as helpers pitch in.
- You care about a tight data posture: encryption at rest with per-organisation keys, authorised-only access and metadata-only logs.
Solves is not trying to be a contact-centre suite, and it does not claim feature parity with Helply across channels. Its bet is that a focused, well-built email desk is calmer to run for a small UK team than a broad platform with surfaces you will not use.
Honest comparison
Solves vs Helply (Groove) at a glance
A like-for-like view of what each tool is for. Helply figures are from a dated snapshot; re-check helply.com before deciding.
| Solves | Helply (formerly Groove) | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary model | Email-first support desk | Multi-channel, AI-led support platform |
| Live chat | Not included, by design | Included, even on the free tier |
| Knowledge base | Not shipped; not part of the pilot | Included |
| AI agent / outcome pricing | No AI agent today | AI-First tier at roughly USD 0.50 per outcome |
| Free entry | Paid Starter, not forever-free | Free-forever tier, unlimited seats, no card |
| Multi-brand sending | Per-brand mailboxes, brand-locked composer | Not the core focus |
| First-response and resolution SLA timers | Per-brand targets with a breaching view | Not a stated focus |
| Paid pricing | GBP team bands from Starter 29 to Agency/MSP 299, ex VAT | Per-outcome AI tier plus custom Enterprise |
Competitor facts last verified 13 June 2026. Re-check the vendor's current plans before deciding.
Solves does not claim feature parity with Helply and does not claim to win for every team. Helply spans more channels and offers a free-forever entry; Solves is email-first, UK-first and multi-brand. Re-verify Helply pricing on helply.com the same day before relying on these figures.
On switching today
A guided migration from Helply or Groove is in pilot, not a finished one-click transfer. What is live now is moving off a shared inbox: forwarding-first mailbox setup points your support address at Solves so new email becomes owned tickets straight away. Ask us about historic ticket migration and we will be plain about what the pilot can move and when.
FAQ
Helply and Groove alternative questions
Is Helply the same as Groove?
Yes. Groove rebranded to Helply, and groovehq.com now redirects to helply.com. New sign-ups land on the Helply product, which leads with outcome-based pricing and an AI agent. Existing Groove accounts continue on a product called Groove Classic, which is still supported, so if you are an older Groove customer your plan and tools have not vanished, they have simply been renamed and split from the new Helply line.
Does Helply have a free plan?
It does. Helply lists a free-forever tier at zero dollars a month with unlimited seats and billing is founder-led during the pilot, covering basic ticketing, email, live chat and a knowledge base. There is also an AI-First tier priced at roughly fifty cents per outcome and a custom Enterprise option. So Helply is a genuinely free-to-start option with a wide channel set. Solves runs a paid Starter rather than a forever-free plan, which we say plainly on the pricing page.
How is Solves different from Helply?
Solves is deliberately narrower. It is an email-first, UK-first support desk built for small teams running one or several brands, with no live chat, social or voice. Helply spans more channels and leans on an AI agent for resolutions. If you want chat and AI-driven deflection on a free entry plan, Helply fits well. If you want owned email tickets, multi-brand sending, first-response and resolution SLA timers and GBP pricing without the omnichannel surface area, Solves fits well.
Can I move my Groove or Helply data into Solves today?
Not as a finished one-click import yet. A guided migration is in pilot, and the practical first step that is live today is moving off a shared inbox: you point your support address at Solves with forwarding-first mailbox setup, verify the domain, and start owning new email as tickets straight away. For historic Groove or Helply tickets, talk to us and we will set expectations honestly about what the guided migration can move and when.
Does Solves do live chat like Helply?
No, and that is by design. Helply includes live chat even on its free tier. Solves is email-first: it turns shared inboxes into owned, assigned, timed tickets with public replies and private notes, and it does not run a chat widget, social inboxes or phone. If live chat is a must-have, Helply or another chat-capable tool is the better fit. If email is where your support actually happens, a focused email desk is usually calmer to run.
Pick the desk that matches how you actually support
If your support is email and you run one or several brands, try an email-first desk. If you need chat and AI on a free plan, Helply may suit you better, and we will say so.