Back in 2010, handling customer support at Piwigo was simple: one inbox, one operator (Pierrick), and fully manual management. In 2014, we adopted HelpScout, a SaaS ticketing solution that did the job well at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But over the years, we saw HelpScout raise its prices, degrade its user experience, and pile on \u201csexy\u201d but unnecessary features\u2014without addressing users\u2019 real needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we decided to switch to FreeScout<\/a>, an open source alternative that we now host ourselves. And this transition reinforced one of our core beliefs: reversibility isn\u2019t a detail. It\u2019s a fundamental issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n HelpScout originally charged $15\/month\/agent, then bumped that up to $20. With three agents (Damien, Hannah, and Pierrick), our bill was $60\/month. But adding more agents\u2014even for occasional needs\u2014would have pushed costs through the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then came their new ticket-based pricing model. The result? We would have landed in the $150 to $250\/month range. That\u2019s a ridiculous price for\u2026 a shared inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Piwigo.com<\/a>, we take a different approach. Yes, our prices evolve over time, but we respect our long-time customers: they keep their original rates, and we never force them to switch to new plans. In 15 years, we\u2019ve only raised prices once on our legacy \u201cIndividual\u201d plan (+10% in 2023 to account for inflation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the beginning, HelpScout was smooth and efficient. But when they tried to modernize the UI, everything started to fall apart:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most frustrating part? During all this, they rolled out AI-powered reply suggestions\u2026 while their core interface became painful to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It reminded us of Piwigo: we\u2019ve steadily improved our interface over the years (from version 2.10 to 15), always prioritizing user experience. A good-looking UI is nice. But a stable, intuitive, and smooth one is better. Before adding anything flashy, we make sure the foundation is rock solid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re very familiar with the concept of vendor lock-in\u2014when a SaaS tool makes it hard for you to switch to something else. It\u2019s always been against our values. But this migration has made us realize just how rare and valuable our approach at Piwigo is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we tried to leave HelpScout, we hit roadblock after roadblock:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, HelpScout locks your data in, and FreeScout (despite claiming to be an alternative) doesn\u2019t make switching easy. It\u2019s a perfect case study on why reversibility matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Piwigo.com<\/a>, we\u2019ve chosen the exact opposite path:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s what real reversibility looks like. The user owns their data, free to stay or leave\u2014and that changes everything.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After some testing, FreeScout turned out to be more performant than HelpScout. We host it on an OVH server for less than \u20ac5\/month, with unlimited agents and no extra fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And surprise: some basic features that HelpScout had long refused to implement\u2014like the ability to reply without including the full message history\u2014were already there by default. Proof that it was<\/em> possible all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our migration highlights three worrying trends in the SaaS world:<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Piwigo, we\u2019re betting on the opposite approach:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This experience has only reinforced our convictions. Reversibility isn\u2019t optional. It\u2019s a commitment.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn why Piwigo migrated its customer support from HelpScout to FreeScout, and what this reveals about the importance of reversibility in SaaS tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Why We Moved Our Support from HelpScout to FreeScout","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn why Piwigo migrated its customer support from HelpScout to FreeScout, and what this reveals about the importance of reversibility in SaaS tools.","_seopress_robots_index":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[78,77,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-1781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-ecosystem","8":"tag-opensource","9":"tag-reversibility","10":"tag-saas","12":"with-featured-image"},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Claire Michard","author_link":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/author\/claire\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/migration-helpscout-freescout-300x190.png","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/migration-helpscout-freescout.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/migration-helpscout-freescout.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Claire Michard","author_link":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/author\/claire\/"},"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Ecosystem<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Ecosystem<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["opensource<\/a>","reversibility<\/a>","saas<\/a>"],"unlinked":["opensource<\/span>","reversibility<\/span>","saas<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"3","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on April 8, 2025","modified":"Updated on April 8, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on April 8, 2025 1:52 pm","modified":"Updated on April 8, 2025 1:52 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1784,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/1784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piwigo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When Software Becomes Too Expensive for What It Offers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When the Interface Evolves\u2026 in the Wrong Direction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Reversibility: A Core Principle in Software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
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Moving to FreeScout: More Stable, Faster, Cheaper<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What This Story Tells Us About SaaS software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n