Front alternatives: 6 shared inbox tools priced for a team of 3

By Julien CoulaudPublished October 22, 20264 min read

Short answer

Missive is the closest Front alternative: the same shared inbox on top of Gmail or Outlook for $14 per user a month instead of $25. Help Scout is free for up to 5 users, and Zendesk suits support teams that need tickets and SLAs. Shipmail is different: it hosts the email and includes the team inbox, so 3 people pay $9 a month in total, with no Google or Microsoft bill underneath.

Front charges $25 per seat a month on Starter, billed annually, and it does not host mail: you also pay Google or Microsoft for each mailbox. Most teams looking for a Front alternative want to cut that bill or drop a feature set they do not use. This guide prices six options for a team of 3, with US list prices checked on each vendor's page in October 2026. Shipmail is our product, and each section says when another tool fits better.

Julien Coulaud

Founder of Shipmail. Building business email hosting for solo founders and small teams.

Front
Shared inbox
Team inbox
Help desk

Front alternatives: what 3 people pay a month

Tool	3 people, per month	Hosts the email	Pick it when
Shipmail^{Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[2]Shipmail shared inbox documentation}	$9 in total (Pro), mail hosting included	Yes	Your shared inbox is email, and you want one bill
Front^{Sources[9]Front pricing[10]Google Workspace pricing}	$75 on Starter, $100.20 with Google Workspace	No	You run support across email, SMS, chat and social
Missive^{Sources[11]Missive pricing[12]Missive collaboration features[10]Google Workspace pricing}	$42 on Starter, $67.20 with Google Workspace	No	You want Front's way of working for less
Help Scout^{Sources[13]Help Scout pricing[14]Help Scout shared inbox}	$0 on Free (1 inbox), $75 on Standard	No	Customer support with a help center
Hiver^{Sources[15]Hiver pricing[10]Google Workspace pricing}	$75 on Growth, $100.20 with Google Workspace	No, runs inside Gmail	The team wants to stay in the Gmail tab
Zendesk^[16]	$57 on Support Team	No	You need tickets, SLAs and a large support team
Google collaborative inbox^{Sources[17]Google Groups Collaborative Inbox documentation[10]Google Workspace pricing}	Included in Google Workspace	Yes, through Google	You only need to assign and close emails

Why teams look for a Front alternative

Most teams leave Front over the total bill. Front is priced per seat, from $25 on Starter to $105 on Enterprise, and Copilot is a $20 add-on per seat. Front connects to Gmail, Microsoft 365 or another provider, so each person also needs a mailbox from one of them.^[9]

Starter covers one channel type and up to 10 seats. Email, SMS, social and WhatsApp together start on Professional at $65 a seat.
Three people on Front Starter and Google Workspace Business Starter pay $100.20 a month before taxes.
If your team answers email only, most of the price pays for channels you do not use.

^{Sources[9]Front pricing[10]Google Workspace pricing}

Shipmail: the mail host and the team inbox, $9 a month

Shipmail hosts the email on your domain and includes the shared inbox, so there is no second tool and no mail host to pay underneath. Pro is $9 a month for 4 mailboxes and 5 people, priced per plan, not per seat.^[1]

Assignment, with a notification to the person who gets the conversation.
Delivery routing: send new conversations on support@ to one mailbox, or rotate them, skipping people who are out of office.
Internal notes and @mentions that never reach the customer.
A warning when a teammate is already replying, and saved replies shared with the team or one mailbox.
Newsletters, booking pages, an AI assistant and an email API on the same plan.

^{Sources[2]Shipmail shared inbox documentation[3]Shipmail newsletter editor documentation[4]Shipmail booking pages documentation[5]Shipmail Assistant documentation[6]Shipmail transactional email documentation}

Shipmail is email only. It has no SMS, chat widget, social channels or SLA reports. Moving to it means moving your mail host too, which takes a DNS change and an import of the history.^{Sources[7]Shipmail provider-switch guide[8]Shipmail mailbox import documentation}

Missive: the closest match to Front, for less

Missive works like Front: it connects to Gmail, Microsoft 365 or IMAP accounts and adds shared inboxes, internal comments with @mentions, collaborative drafts and assignment. Starter is $14 per user a month billed yearly for up to 5 users, Productive is $24 and adds rules, integrations and the API, and Business is $36.^{Sources[11]Missive pricing[12]Missive collaboration features}

Starter already includes email, SMS and social accounts, which Front reserves for Professional. Pick Missive if you like Front's workflow and want to keep your mail host.^{Sources[11]Missive pricing[9]Front pricing}

Help Scout: free for a small support team

Help Scout is a help desk built around a shared inbox, with internal notes and mentions. The free plan covers up to 5 users, 1 inbox and 100 contacts a month. Standard is $25 per user a month billed annually, with 2 inboxes; round-robin routing starts on Plus at $45.^{Sources[13]Help Scout pricing[14]Help Scout shared inbox}

Pick Help Scout if the shared inbox is for customer support and you want a help center next to it. It is a support tool, not a place for the team's day-to-day email.^[13]

Hiver: a shared inbox inside Gmail

Hiver runs as a Chrome extension inside Gmail, so the team handles support@ without leaving the Gmail tab. Growth is $25 per user a month billed annually, or $35 monthly, and Pro is $55. The Gmail version has a 7-day trial.^[15]

Pick Hiver if the team is on Google Workspace and does not want to learn a new app.^[15]

Zendesk: tickets and SLAs for a support team

Zendesk turns each email into a ticket with a status, a priority and an agent. Support Team is $19 per agent a month billed annually, or $25 monthly; the Suite plans that add chat and messaging start at $55. The trial gives 14 days of Suite Professional.^[16]

Pick Zendesk if you measure response times against an SLA or run a support team of more than a handful of agents. For a small team sharing sales@ and info@, tickets add steps.^[16]

Google collaborative inbox: free if you are on Workspace

A Google Group set up as a collaborative inbox lets members take a conversation, assign it to someone else, who gets an email, and mark it complete. It comes with Google Workspace, so it costs nothing more.^[17]

Google documents assignment and resolution only: no internal notes, no warning when a teammate is replying, and no shared replies. The work happens in Google Groups, not in Gmail. Try it first if you only need to know who owns each email.^[17]

How to choose a Front alternative

Choose on two questions: which channels the team answers, and whether you want to keep your current mail host.

Email only, and you are open to a new host: Shipmail, one bill for the mailboxes and the team inbox.
Email only, keep Google: Hiver, or Google's collaborative inbox if assignment is enough.
Email plus SMS or social, keep your host: Missive.
Customer support with a help center: Help Scout. With SLAs and many agents: Zendesk.

^{Sources[1]Shipmail pricing[15]Hiver pricing[17]Google Groups Collaborative Inbox documentation[11]Missive pricing[13]Help Scout pricing[16]Zendesk pricing}

Next step

Start a 14-day trial

Connect your domain and set up support@ as a team inbox.

Start a 14-day trial See pricing

Sources17 sourcesVerified 2026-10-22

[1]
Shipmail pricing
Shipmail plan prices, mailbox limits, team access, and send limits.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[2]
Shipmail shared inbox documentation
Shared mailboxes in Shipmail: conversation assignment, internal notes that are never included in replies to the customer, and @mentions in notes that alert a teammate by email and in the app.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[3]
Shipmail newsletter editor documentation
Newsletters written in Shipmail with a rich text editor, design blocks, custom HTML or plain text, preview, test sends and pre-send review checks.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[4]
Shipmail booking pages documentation
Public booking links that offer slots from a mailbox calendar's real availability, with buffers, minimum notice, and a Zoom or Google Meet link on each booking.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[5]
Shipmail Assistant documentation
The AI assistant answers what needs a reply, finds conversations, files messages, sets up inbox rules for future mail and drafts replies. Its replies are normal drafts in the Drafts folder, Writing Style drafts from pasted examples, and organization admins can turn AI off for everyone.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[6]
Shipmail transactional email documentation
Shipmail transactional email: an app sends from its own sending subdomain, and replies go to a Shipmail mailbox. Sends count toward the plan's monthly quota, a sender costs nothing extra, Activity shows delivery status, and a retry with the same Idempotency-Key returns the first message. Every email from a sender carries its mailbox's address as Reply-To, so replies arrive in that mailbox's Transactional folder; the sending address itself cannot receive email.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[7]
Shipmail provider-switch guide
Shipmail guide to inventorying addresses, migrating mail, updating MX and authentication records, testing, and keeping a rollback path.
shipmail.to · 2026-07-27
[8]
Shipmail mailbox import documentation
Shipmail documentation for connected and file imports, selection options, storage checks, progress, skipped items, and repeat imports.
shipmail.to · 2026-10-15
[9]
Front pricing
Front, per seat a month billed annually: Starter $25 (up to 10 seats, one channel type, up to 10 automation rules, basic analytics, knowledge base), Professional $65 (up to 50 seats, omnichannel email, SMS, social and WhatsApp, macros and 20 rules, advanced analytics, SSO and SCIM), Enterprise $105 (unlimited rules, custom roles, Copilot included). Annual billing saves 24%. Assignments, internal comments, shared drafts and message templates in the feature table. Copilot is a $20 per seat add-on. 14-day trial of Professional, no free plan. Connects Gmail, Office 365 or other email accounts; Front does not host mail.
front.com · 2026-10-15
[10]
Google Workspace pricing
Google Workspace pricing page; it shows the visitor's local currency (USD figures are in the payment-plans table). Business Starter: 30 GB pooled per user, Meet for 100 without recordings saved to Drive, no appointment booking pages, Gemini in Gmail and the Gemini app at basic access. Business Standard: 2 TB pooled, Meet for 150 with recording, appointment booking pages, Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet, Chat and Vids. Business Plus: 5 TB, Meet for 500 with attendance tracking, Vault and eDiscovery. Business plans capped at 300 users. Enterprise: contact sales, no user minimum or maximum, Meet for 1,000 with in-domain live streaming, AI classification for Drive; AI Expanded Access sold as an add-on. Introductory discounts for new customers only, shown for October 28, 2026 to January 28, 2027, with amounts that varied between visits.
workspace.google.com · 2026-10-15
[11]
Missive pricing
Missive, per user a month billed yearly: Starter $14 (up to 5 users; email, SMS and social accounts, team spaces and inboxes), Productive $24 (up to 50 users; integrations, rules and automations up to 1,000 rules, basic analytics, API and MCP access), Business $36 (unlimited users, SAML SSO, IP restriction, advanced analytics). Assignment, internal comments, internal read statuses, collaborative drafting, canned responses, auto-assignment, tasks with due dates and multiple assignees in the feature list. AI on Missive AI credits or your own Anthropic, OpenAI or Gemini key. Integrations: Gmail and Google Workspace, Outlook, IMAP, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS via Twilio. 30-day trial of Productive, no card, no free plan. Monthly prices were not shown in the page text.
missiveapp.com · 2026-10-15
[12]
Missive collaboration features
Missive's collaboration page: shared inboxes and aliases, internal comments with @mentions, collaborative drafts, templated replies and emails turned into tasks. Its FAQ says Missive connects to existing email accounts (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, IMAP). The old /features/team-inbox URL returned 404 on 2026-10-15.
missiveapp.com · 2026-10-15
[13]
Help Scout pricing
Priced per user. Free: up to 5 users, 1 inbox, 100 contacts a month. Standard $25 per user a month billed annually, $30 monthly, up to 25 users, 2 inboxes. Plus $45 / $54, up to 50 users, 5 inboxes, round-robin routing. Pro $75 / $90, minimum 10 users. Extra inboxes $10 a month annually. 15-day trial.
helpscout.com · 2026-10-15
[14]
Help Scout shared inbox
Help Scout's shared inbox includes internal notes and mentions.
helpscout.com · 2026-10-15
[15]
Hiver pricing
Hiver per user a month: Growth $25 billed annually or $35 monthly, with team inboxes such as support@ and clear ownership of each request; Pro $55 annually or $65 monthly. No free plan listed. The home page describes Hiver in Gmail as a Chrome extension that turns Gmail into a helpdesk, with a 7-day free trial and no card.
hiverhq.com · 2026-10-22
[16]
Zendesk pricing
Zendesk per agent a month: Support Team $19 billed annually or $25 monthly; Suite Team $55 or $69; Suite Professional $115 or $149; Suite Enterprise through sales. The trial gives 14 days of Suite Professional.
zendesk.com · 2026-10-22
[17]
Google Groups Collaborative Inbox documentation
Google's documentation for a Collaborative Inbox group: members take a conversation, assign it to another member, mark it complete, duplicate or no action needed, and search by status or assignee. Conversation history must be on. The page mentions no internal notes.
support.google.com · 2026-10-15

FAQ

Questions worth answering

Common questions about front alternatives.

What is the cheapest alternative to Front?

Help Scout's free plan, for up to 5 users and 1 inbox. Among paid tools, Missive Starter is $14 per user a month billed yearly. Counting the mail host, Shipmail Pro is $9 a month in total for 3 people, because the mailboxes are included.^{Sources[13]Help Scout pricing[11]Missive pricing[1]Shipmail pricing}

Is there a free Front alternative?

Yes. Help Scout has a free plan for up to 5 users with 1 inbox, and a Google Group set up as a collaborative inbox is included with Google Workspace.^{Sources[13]Help Scout pricing[17]Google Groups Collaborative Inbox documentation}

Does Front host my email?

No. Front connects to Gmail, Microsoft 365 or another provider, so you pay that provider for each mailbox as well. Shipmail hosts the mailboxes and includes the shared inbox.^{Sources[9]Front pricing[1]Shipmail pricing}

What is the best Front alternative for Gmail users?

Hiver, which runs inside Gmail as a Chrome extension, or Missive, which connects Gmail accounts to its own app. If only assignment matters, try Google's collaborative inbox first.^{Sources[15]Hiver pricing[12]Missive collaboration features[17]Google Groups Collaborative Inbox documentation}

Related guides

More on Shipmail pricing, comparisons, and team workflows.