Alternatives to Front
Shared inbox and customer communication hub for teams
Front ranks #2 of 8 in Shared inbox software, with an Alt Score of 96. It is proprietary, sold by subscription from $25 USD/seat/month (Starter, billed annually, up to 10 seats) and available on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. 13 of 13 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Front is a customer communication platform built around shared inboxes, letting teams manage email, chat, and social messages together with assignments, comments, and workflows.
Customer-facing teams (support, sales, and operations) at growing companies who need everyone to work out of the same email, chat, SMS, and social inboxes instead of forwarding messages or sharing logins.
A standalone shared-inbox and omnichannel helpdesk that syncs Gmail, Outlook/Office 365, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and social channels into one workspace, with assignment, internal comments/@mentions, collision detection, shared drafts, message templates, snoozing, automation rules, analytics, and Salesforce/HubSpot CRM integrations, priced per seat starting at $25/seat/month (Starter, annual billing).
You connect existing email accounts and other channels to Front, which pulls messages into shared team inboxes; rules and macros route and tag conversations, teammates collaborate via internal comments and shared drafts before a single owner sends the reply, and dashboards report on response times, CSAT, and team workload.
Why people leave Front
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Drag turns Gmail into a shared inbox with kanban boards, letting teams manage shared mailboxes, assign emails, and track tasks without leaving Gmail.
Helpwise is a shared-inbox platform for managing team email plus SMS, WhatsApp, and social messages, with assignment, collision detection, and automation.
Hiver turns Gmail into a shared inbox, letting teams assign, track, and collaborate on emails with notes, tags, and automations without leaving Google Workspace.
Gmelius adds shared inboxes, shared labels, email notes, and kanban boards to Gmail, turning Google Workspace into a team collaboration hub.
Zoho TeamInbox is a shared-inbox tool for managing group email addresses collaboratively, with assignments, internal threads, and shared visibility across the team.
Loop Email is a shared-inbox and internal-chat app that lets teams manage shared mailboxes, assign messages, and chat alongside emails.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Shared inbox software checklist (17 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Shared inbox software checklist | Front | Drag | Helpwise | Hiver | Gmelius | Zoho TeamInbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Shared email inboxes | ||||||
| Email assignment / ownership | ||||||
| Internal comments & @mentions | ||||||
| Collision detection | ||||||
| Shared drafts | ||||||
| Canned responses / templates | ||||||
| Snooze & follow-up reminders | ||||||
| Works on top of Gmail/Outlook | ||||||
| Multi-channel (SMS/WhatsApp/social) | ||||||
| Automation rules | ||||||
| Analytics & reporting | ||||||
| CRM integrations | ||||||
| Free trial |
Every fact and feature listed for Front is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Status active verified 2026-07-17
Front's blog and product sitemaps show near-daily content and product-page updates through the research date (2026-07-17).
17 July 2026
https://front.com/blog/customer-service-policies -
License Proprietary verified 2026-07-17
Commercial SaaS platform; no open-source licensing model documented for the core product.
Starter $25/seat/mo, up to 10 seats
https://front.com/pricing -
Pricing model Subscription verified 2026-07-17
:"$$25","monthlyPrice":"$$35","monthlyPriceSubtitle":"/seat/mo, up to 10 seats" — Per-seat monthly/annual subscription tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise); no permanently free plan.
annualPrice
https://front.com/pricing -
Starts at $25 USD/seat/month (Starter, billed annually, up to 10 seats) verified 2026-07-17
Monthly (non-annual) billing lists Starter at $35/seat/mo per the page's raw pricing data.
$25 /seat/mo, up to 10 seats
https://front.com/pricing -
Platforms Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android verified 2026-07-17
Download page lists native Windows/macOS desktop apps and iOS/Android mobile apps, plus web access via app.frontapp.com.
Front for Android ... Front for iOS ... Front for macOS ... Front for Windows
https://front.com/download -
Shared email inboxes Yes verified 2026-07-17
With everyone working in a shared space, there's more clarity on the status of customer conversations.
https://front.com/product/collaboration -
Email assignment / ownership Yes verified 2026-07-17
Take the guesswork out of who's following up with a clear owner for every conversation.
https://front.com/product/collaboration -
Internal comments & @mentions Yes verified 2026-07-17
Quickly tag in teammates. In-thread comments replace the extra internal emails or DMs with real-time, behind-the-scenes chat.
https://front.com/product/collaboration -
Collision detection Yes verified 2026-07-17
Collision detection. Embarrassed over duplicate replies? See when a teammate is actively responding in real time.
https://front.com/product/collaboration -
Shared drafts Yes verified 2026-07-17
Respond to customers faster with auto-shared drafts for speedy review and approvals.
https://front.com/product/collaboration -
Canned responses / templates Yes verified 2026-07-17
Message templates are your saved responses to common questions.
https://help.front.com/en/categories/227 -
Snooze & follow-up reminders Yes verified 2026-07-17
With snooze, you can set a time for conversations to reopen in your inbox exactly when you want them to.
https://help.front.com/en/articles/2088 -
Works on top of Gmail/Outlook Partial verified 2026-07-17
Front is a standalone app that connects to and imports/syncs Gmail and Office 365 (Outlook) accounts as inboxes; it does not run inside Gmail's or Outlook's own UI.
When you connect a Gmail or Office 365 account as a shared inbox or individual inbox in Front, you can choose to import the most recent 50,000 messages.
https://help.front.com/en/articles/2042 -
Multi-channel (SMS/WhatsApp/social) Yes verified 2026-07-17
Front offers email, voice, chat, SMS, social media (including Facebook and Instagram), WhatsApp, Slack, and more.
https://front.com/product/omnichannel-support-inbox -
Automation rules Yes verified 2026-07-17
up to 10 automation rules
https://front.com/pricing -
Analytics & reporting Yes verified 2026-07-17
Measure response times, resolution times, CSAT scores, and review customer feedback all in one place.
https://front.com/product/analytics -
CRM integrations Yes verified 2026-07-17
The Salesforce plugin lets you access and manage Salesforce records directly from your inbox in Front.
https://help.front.com/en/articles/2305 -
Free trial Yes verified 2026-07-17
Our free 14-day trial offers all the features available in our Professional plan.
https://front.com/pricing
FAQ
Yes. Hiver has a free tier or is fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.