In most Greek cities there are significant differences between helots and slaves. In general, a slave was his master's possession. The helot on the contrary belonged to the Spartan state. That is, he had been ceded by the state to a citizen who did not have the right to use him according to his own will. Also, in other regions slaves could often gain their freedom. On the contrary, in Sparta a helot could not be freed, with very few exceptions. That way he was freer, but at the same time more restrained that slaves in the rest of Greece (Thucydides, Histories 1.101.7-9).

In non-Spartan sources, helots are referred to either as slaves, or as oiketai (when they were employed in household occupations), or as andrapoda. It is possible that they had been forced to abandon their ancestral land and live dispersed in their masters' land. Or maybe they had been allowed to own some sort of personal property and even to marry. They accompanied the Spartans to the war carrying their equipment, while their masters had the responsibility to sustain them.

In Archaic Sparta, only citizens who could contribute to the common syssitia by offering a certain amount of produce, could have political rights. The syssitia were groups in which citizens were accepted after a vote. To reject the admission of a candidate in the syssitio signified that the grant of political rights had also been refused. Each member had the obligation to give to the syssitio a certain percentage of their fields' produce. These pieces of land were called kleros. The kleroi, which were being tilled by the helots, were distributed to the citizens by the Spartan state after having defeated neighbouring peoples and annexed their territory. That meant that in reality, the helots cultivated their own land on behalf of others. The Spartans, since they did not have to worry about agricultural production, could devote themselves to the art of warfare, which contributed to their social recognition. Therefore, helots played a decisive role in the maintenance of the existing situation in Spartan society.

It is correct to compare the helots to the penestai of Thessaly, the aphamiotai, the mnoitai (those who had been dominated?) and the klarotai (those who were bound with land-the klaros?) of Crete, the korynephoroi of Sicyon, the gymnetai (those who were naked-gymnoi-, that is unarmed) of Argos and the oikiatai of Locris (those who belonged to the oikos). These groups were indigenous peoples who had been reduced to the level of owned slaves after the invasion and their conquest by the Doric tribes and were usually considered part of the family property.