Front alternatives: where to go and how to take your conversations with you
Seven destinations, one for each reason to leave, and a seven-step migration plan.
This page is about Front, the shared inbox (front.com), not a front-end framework. The short answer: Missive if you want the same workflow for a lot less, Help Scout if your team mostly does customer support over email, Hiver or Gmelius if everyone already lives in Gmail, Zendesk or Freshdesk if you're ready for a real ticketing tool, Crisp if you want live chat and email at a flat team price. One thing to know before you pick: Front has no self-serve export. You ask support for your data, and the export leaves out contacts, tags, message templates and individual inboxes. We compared the seven destinations in this guide and checked their prices for 2026.
Some links are affiliate links. The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why teams leave Front, and why it takes planning
Day-to-day users still rate Front highly: shared inboxes, internal comments and assignment just work. People leave for other reasons. The bill jumps as the team grows, AI is sold on top of the seat, a redesign was pushed on everyone, and getting your data out takes preparation. Six reasons, all checked for 2026.
Starter stops at 10 seats and one channel
Starter is $25 per seat per month, billed annually. It caps you at 10 seats, one workspace, 10 rules and one channel type: email, or chat, or SMS, not all three. Hire person number eleven, or add website chat, and you move to Professional at $65 a seat. That's a 2.6x jump per person overnight. A team of 12 pays $780 a month.
AI is an add-on to every seat
Copilot, the drafting and summarizing assistant, is a $20 per seat per month add-on on Starter and Professional, so a Professional seat with Copilot costs $85. Autopilot, the agent that triages and answers on its own, is usage-based from $0.05 per conversation. Only Enterprise ($105 per seat) includes Copilot. For a team of 8, Copilot alone adds $160 a month.
A redesign not everyone wanted
In 2025 Front rebuilt its inbox and retired the old one. The threads about it on Front's own community forum are full of unhappy customers: the search bar moved, the same actions take more clicks, the trash button disappeared. Several say they're actively looking for other options, and some say they moved to Missive. For a team handling hundreds of emails a day, extra clicks add up to hours.
Annual contracts that are hard to shrink
Listed prices are annual prices. On consumer review sites Front scores poorly, and the same complaints keep coming back: auto-renewal discovered too late, refunds refused, no phone support even on large contracts. What that means for you: read your order form, find the renewal date and the notice period, and decide before then. Don't assume you can cut seats mid-term unless your contract says so.
No self-serve export
There's no export button in Front. An admin writes to support to request a data export. Front acknowledges within 72 hours and gives no total turnaround. You get one CSV per inbox (up to about 700 MB each) and EML files if you ask. The export covers shared inboxes with their conversations, comments and attachments. It does not include individual inboxes, contacts, message templates or tags.
Setup that takes real time
Front's power is in rules and routing, and that's also where the hours go. Teams describe a long setup, and Outlook sync complaints come up in reviews. If your team never used more than a shared inbox and a few templates, you're paying for routing you don't need.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right Front alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually only one line applies. Each card links to the full profile below.
Closest to Front, $14 to $36 per user, and the only one that imports a Front export itself.
Your team mostly does email supportHelp ScoutFree for up to 5 users on one inbox, then $25 per user.
Everyone already works in GmailHiver or GmeliusBoth run inside Gmail. Hiver starts at $25, Gmelius at $19.
You need SLAs and several support teamsZendeskThe most complete at scale, but pricier and slower to set up.
You want ticketing at a lower per-agent priceFreshdeskGrowth at $19 per agent per month, billed annually.
You want live chat and email at a flat priceCrispMini at $45 a month for 4 agents.
Front alternatives, tool by tool
For each tool: why move to it, who it's for, its limit, how to migrate from Front, and what it costs. Prices are what each vendor lists for 2026. Three options get a line instead of a card: Google Groups' Collaborative Inbox, included in Google Workspace, works for a tiny team with low volume; Chatwoot and FreeScout are free if you self-host and have someone to maintain them; and if Intercom is on your list, read our guide to switching from Intercom first.
Missive: closest to Front, at a fraction of the price
Closest to FrontWhy move to Missive. Missive does what Front does: a shared email inbox where you assign, comment internally and see who's handling what, plus built-in team chat, SMS and WhatsApp. On Front's own forum, it's the name that comes up among customers who left after the redesign. Price is the other reason: Starter is $14 per user per month (up to 5 users), Productive $24 (up to 50), Business $36 with no cap, billed annually. For 12 people, Missive Productive is $288 a month against $780 on Front Professional.
Who it's for. Teams of 3 to 50 that use Front as a better shared inbox: agencies, firms, ops teams, small support teams.
Who it's not for. Support orgs that need SLAs, deep reporting and a public help center. Missive is an inbox, not a ticketing system.
Its limit. No free plan. Each user can connect up to 10 personal and 5 shared accounts. If you stop paying, your content goes read-only.
How to migrate from Front. It's the only tool here with an official Front import, and its team runs it for you. You need a paid annual plan. First connect your Gmail or Microsoft 365 accounts directly in Missive with full history. Then request a Front export that includes attachments and EML files, and send the ZIP links to Missive support. Work starts within 2 business days, plus one day per 50,000 Front-only emails; there may be a fee once they see the volume. Shared inboxes, comments and SMS come across. Users, tags, rules and templates are rebuilt, contacts go in by CSV.
- Paid
- Starter $14/user/month
- Trial
- 30 days, no card
- Migration
- official Front import
- Limit
- annual plan required to migrate
Help Scout: when your shared inbox is really a support desk
Simplest for supportWhy move to Help Scout. A lot of teams bought Front to answer customers together. Help Scout is built for exactly that: a clean shared inbox, a knowledge base (Docs), and a widget that suggests an article before the customer writes in. The free plan covers 5 users on one inbox. Standard is $25, Plus $45, Pro $75 per user per month. AI is billed per resolution at $0.75, with three months free.
Who it's for. Teams of 2 to 30 whose support runs mostly through email and who want a tool everyone gets in a morning.
Who it's not for. Teams using Front for sales, account management or purchasing, or running several departments with tight SLAs.
Its limit. The free plan is one inbox, so it's mostly for trying things out. Annual billing saves 16%.
How to migrate from Front. Help Scout has an official email and ticket import tool but no Front-specific guide. Plan on the Front export (CSV and EML) and that import tool, or move only open conversations. Your knowledge base goes through the Docs API. The trial is 15 days, no card.
- Free
- 5 users, 1 inbox
- Paid
- Standard $25/user/month
- Our score
- 4.0/5
- Limit
- no Front import guide
Hiver: a shared inbox inside Gmail, AI included
Gmail, AI includedWhy move to Hiver. Hiver adds to Gmail what Front does in its own app: assign an email, comment on it, track its status, measure response times. Growth is $25 per user per month billed annually ($35 monthly), Pro $55 ($65). Where Front charges $20 extra per seat for Copilot, Hiver bundles writing help into its plans.
Who it's for. Support, finance or ops teams that live in Gmail and want response metrics without switching apps.
Who it's not for. Teams that want to move away from email as the center of their work, or need lots of chat channels.
Its limit. The plan lineup changes often, and plans quoted elsewhere don't always match the official page. Check exactly what your plan includes before you sign.
How to migrate from Front. Hiver doesn't publish a Front-specific process. If your shared addresses are Google accounts, their history is already in Gmail: reconnect, rebuild assignment rules and templates, and keep the Front export as an archive for internal comments.
- Paid
- Growth $25/user/month
- Monthly
- $35, no commitment
- Best for
- Gmail teams
- Limit
- no Front import guide
Gmelius: Gmail-native, with conversation quotas
Cheapest in GmailWhy move to Gmelius. Gmelius turns Gmail into a shared inbox with assignment, internal notes and boards, without leaving the interface your team knows. Meli is $19 per user per month billed annually ($21 monthly, up to 5 users), Growth $25 ($33, up to 50), Pro $40 ($50, no cap).
Who it's for. Google Workspace teams that bought Front to share a support@ or sales@ address and would rather not change apps.
Who it's not for. Teams on Outlook or Microsoft 365: Gmelius only works with Gmail.
Its limit. Each plan has a monthly conversation quota: 5,000 on Meli, 10,000 on Growth, 100,000 on Pro. Everyone on the team must be on the same plan. The trial lasts 7 days, then the account is suspended until you pay. Tip: nonprofits get 30% off from 5 to 19 users, 50% off above that.
How to migrate from Front. Gmelius publishes a guide for Front customers and offers a free onboarding coach. Since your email is already in Gmail, most of it carries over. Front history over 1,000 conversations is handled outside the trial, case by case.
- Paid
- Meli $19/user/month
- Quota
- 5,000 conversations/month
- Best for
- Gmail teams
- Limit
- Gmail only
Zendesk: a real ticketing system at scale
Most complete at scaleWhy move to Zendesk. When support becomes its own department (several teams, SLAs, multiple languages, reporting for leadership), a shared inbox stops being enough. That's what Zendesk is built for. Support Team is $19 per agent per month billed annually ($25 monthly), Suite Team $55 ($69), Suite Professional $115 ($149).
Who it's for. Support teams of 15 or more with volume, response commitments and several channels.
Who it's not for. A team of 5 that mostly shares an email address: Suite Team will cost more than Front Starter ($275 against $125 a month) and need more setup.
Its limit. The bill climbs fast: Copilot is $50 more per agent, and AI resolutions beyond the 5 or 10 included cost $1.50 with a commitment, $2.00 without. Our Zendesk review covers its strengths and limits.
How to migrate from Front. Zendesk imports users and organizations natively. Front conversations become tickets through the API or a migration vendor: budget for it, or move only open conversations and archive the Front export. The trial is 14 days.
- Paid
- Suite Team $55/agent/month (annual)
- AI
- Copilot $50 per agent
- Our score
- 3.6/5
- Limit
- tickets via API or vendor
Freshdesk: ticketing for less per agent
Cheapest ticketingWhy move to Freshdesk. Freshdesk gives you full ticketing (rules, SLAs, knowledge base, customer portal) for less than Zendesk or Front Professional. Growth is $19 per agent per month billed annually, Pro $55, Enterprise $89. For 12 agents, Growth comes to $228 a month.
Who it's for. Small businesses moving from a shared inbox to structured support without a Zendesk budget.
Who it's not for. Teams using Front for sales or internal threads: ticketing turns every email into a case, which is heavy for a three-way conversation.
Its limit. Its free program only lasts 6 months, for 2 agents. Freshdesk AI is reserved for Pro and up. And if you ever want out, read our guide to switching from Freshdesk: know the exit before you go in.
How to migrate from Front. There's no Front-specific path. Contacts go in by CSV, conversations through the API or a vendor. Most teams move only open conversations and archive the rest.
- Paid
- Growth $19/agent/month (annual)
- Free
- 2 agents, 6 months
- Our score
- 4.3/5
- Limit
- AI on Pro only
Crisp: live chat and email at a flat team price
Cheapest for a small teamWhy move to Crisp. Front charges per seat. Crisp charges per workspace: Mini is $45 a month for 4 agents, Essentials $95, Plus $295, and $10 per extra seat. For 5 people, Crisp Mini plus one seat is $55 a month, against $125 on Front Starter, which only allows one channel.
Who it's for. Startups and small online stores whose customers mostly write through website chat, with some email on the side.
Who it's not for. Teams whose work is mainly collaborative email (long threads, attachments, internal comments on every message). There, Crisp's shared inbox is less developed than Front's.
Its limit. The free plan stops at 2 seats and 100 contact profiles. The jump from Essentials to Plus is steep for 12 to 15 agents.
How to migrate from Front. No dedicated guide: contacts go in by CSV, templates become message shortcuts, and you start with an empty history. Keep the Front export to look up old conversations. Our Crisp review goes further.
- Free
- 2 seats
- Paid
- Mini $45/month for 4 agents
- Our score
- 4.2/5
- Limit
- history not imported
The 7 alternatives side by side
The question that really separates these tools: what happens to your Front conversations? For scale, take a team of 5 on annual billing. Front Starter is $125 a month with one channel; Professional $325, or $425 with Copilot. Missive Starter is $70, Help Scout and Hiver $125, Gmelius Meli $95, Crisp $55, Zendesk Suite Team $275. At 12 people Starter is off the table: Front Professional is $780 a month, Missive Productive $288, Help Scout Standard $300.
| Starting price | Migrating from Front | |
|---|---|---|
| FrontWhere you start | Starter $25, Professional $65, Enterprise $105 per seat per month (annual) | Export on request via support; no contacts, tags, templates or individual inboxes |
| MissiveClosest match | Starter $14 per user per month (annual) | Official import of a Front export, done by their team |
| Help ScoutEmail support | Free for 5 users; Standard $25 per user | Email and ticket import tool, no Front guide |
| HiverGmail, AI included | Growth $25 per user per month (annual) | History already in Gmail; rules and templates to rebuild |
| GmeliusGmail, quotas | Meli $19 per user per month (annual) | Front guide and free coach; large history case by case |
| ZendeskVolume and SLAs | Suite Team $55 per agent per month (annual) | Users natively, conversations via API or vendor |
| FreshdeskTicketing on a budget | Growth $19 per agent per month (annual) | Contacts by CSV, conversations via API or vendor |
| CrispChat and email, small team | Free for 2 seats; Mini $45 a month for 4 agents | Contacts by CSV, no history import |
Starting prices before tax, billed annually unless noted, subject to change. Always run the numbers on your real team size.
Switching from Front in seven steps
Order matters. Most problems come from a step done too late: canceling before the export, an export without attachments, forgotten templates. Here's the order that avoids them.
Read your contract and note the renewal date
FirstPull up your Front order form: renewal date, committed seats, notice period. An admin cancels from the billing settings. On an annual plan, the right window to decide opens 45 to 60 days before renewal: early enough to trial a replacement, late enough not to pay for two tools for long.
Tip: cut the bill in the meantime. Remove Copilot from people who don't use it ($20 a seat), and deactivate teammates who've left: their history stays in Front.
- Time
- one hour
- Risk if rushed
- another year paid
Inventory everything running in Front
Day 1List every shared inbox and the address feeding it, every channel (email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp), every assignment rule, template, tag and integration (CRM, Slack, automation tools). One screenshot per rule is enough.
Front rules don't move to any other tool. This list is your checklist for rebuilding them, and for confirming nothing is missing on cutover day.
- Time
- half a day
- Risk if rushed
- a rule forgotten, emails unanswered
Save what the Front export leaves out
Days 1 to 2The official export has no contacts, no message templates, no tags and no individual inboxes. Export contacts separately, copy templates into a shared doc, and list your tags with what they're for.
Individual inboxes: if they're Gmail or Microsoft 365 accounts, their history already lives with Google or Microsoft. Just tell each person that their internal comments won't come along.
- To save
- contacts, templates, tags
- Format
- CSV and a shared doc
Prepare, then request the export from support
Day 2Before you ask, unsnooze every snoozed conversation: Missive imports them as archived and your team would never see them again. Then an admin writes to Front support to request the account export. Ask explicitly for attachments and EML files: without them Missive can't import, and other tools only get text.
Front acknowledges within 72 hours. Files arrive as one CSV per inbox, up to about 700 MB each. If you have a knowledge base in Front, ask for it by name: it isn't in the default export.
- Acknowledgment
- within 72 hours
- Ask for
- attachments and EML
Trial the destination on one inbox
Week 1Start the trial (30 days at Missive, 15 at Help Scout, 14 at Zendesk) and run a single low-risk inbox there for a few days. You'll see right away whether the team finds its way and what's missing.
Also decide how much history to bring. At Missive, importing the last 12 months instead of everything shortens the timeline and can lower the cost. With ticketing tools, open conversations are often enough.
- Time
- 3 to 5 days
- Decision
- how much history
Rebuild rules, templates and channels
Weeks 1 to 2Work through your inventory and recreate each assignment rule, template and tag. Clean house while you're at it: rules written three years ago for a team that has changed are dead weight. Connect email accounts directly in the new tool rather than through forwarding, then chat, SMS and integrations.
If you automated around Front, our Front integration guide for Make shows what was connected: rebuild each scenario with the new tool's module.
- Time
- 2 to 5 days
- Risk if rushed
- unassigned emails
Cut over, keep Front read-only, then cancel
Week 2Switch every inbox on the same day, ideally early in the week. Keep Front open until your renewal date so the team can look up old conversations while the new inbox takes over.
After the subscription ends, Front keeps your data for 30 days: you can still read and search, not send. Then it's deleted. Before that date, make sure your export is complete and readable, and store it where the team will find it.
- After the end
- 30 days read-only
- Then
- data deleted
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes a Front migration go wrong
Leaving Front isn't technically hard. What hurts is what gets forgotten: a date, a format, a setting. Each takes minutes to fix before and days to fix after.
Canceling before you have the export
The export goes through support, with 72 hours just for the acknowledgment. Request it as soon as you've decided, not in renewal week. And remember: 30 days after the subscription ends, it's all gone.
Forgetting attachments and EML
A CSV-only export gives you text. Missive needs attachments and EML files to import your conversations. For other tools, it's the only way to find a quote or contract sent as an attachment.
Leaving conversations snoozed
A snoozed conversation is waiting for a follow-up. On import it lands archived and the follow-up never happens. Unsnooze everything before the export, then handle or log each one.
Assuming rules come along
No destination imports Front rules. One forgotten assignment rule means an inbox nobody answers. Rebuild from your inventory and check each rule during the trial.
Comparing prices that don't compare
Front, Missive, Hiver and Help Scout bill per user. Crisp bills per team. Zendesk and Freshdesk bill per agent and add usage-based AI. Run the numbers on your real team, with AI if you plan to use it, annual and monthly.
Changing how you work by accident
Going from Front to ticketing changes the job: every email becomes a case with a status. Great for a support team, clunky for sales. If Front served both, keep a shared inbox for one and ticketing for the other.
- Renewal date and notice period noted
- Copilot removed from seats that don't use it
- Inboxes, channels, rules, templates, tags and integrations inventoried
- Contacts exported separately, templates copied
- Snoozed conversations unsnoozed
- Export requested with attachments and EML
- History depth decided
- Rules rebuilt and checked during the trial
- Email accounts reconnected directly
- Full export stored before the 30 days run out
Front alternatives: common questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to Front?
Yes. Missive does the same shared-inbox job for $14 per user on Starter (up to 5 users) and $24 on Productive, against $25 and $65 at Front. Gmelius starts at $19 if you're on Gmail, and Help Scout is free for 5 users on one inbox. For 12 people, Missive costs $288 a month versus $780 on Front Professional.
Does Front have a free plan?
No. Front only offers a 14-day trial of Professional features, no card required. The cheapest plan, Starter, is $25 per seat per month billed annually and caps you at 10 seats and one channel type.
How do I export my data from Front?
You request it from support; there's no button in the app. An admin sends the request, Front acknowledges it within 72 hours, and you get one CSV per shared inbox plus EML files if you ask. Contacts, templates, tags and individual inboxes aren't included, so save them separately first.
What happens to my data after I cancel Front?
It stays for 30 days after the subscription ends, read-only: you can search and read but not send. Then Front deletes it. Request the export before your contract ends, not during those 30 days, since support can take 72 hours just to acknowledge the request.
Front vs Missive: which is better for small teams?
Missive, in most cases. It covers the same shared-inbox workflow, adds team chat, and costs $14 a user on Starter (up to 5 people) against $25 at Front. Past 5, Productive at $24 is still far below Front Professional at $65. Front keeps the edge on advanced routing and Enterprise AI, which matter when several teams share thousands of conversations.
Can I keep working in Gmail and still get a shared inbox?
Yes, with Hiver or Gmelius, which run inside Gmail. Hiver starts at $25 per user, Gmelius at $19 with monthly conversation quotas. For 2 or 3 people and light volume, Google Groups' Collaborative Inbox may be enough, and it's already in Google Workspace.
Is Front Copilot worth $20 a seat?
Only if the whole team uses it daily. On 8 seats it's $160 a month. Check who actually uses it before renewal and remove it from everyone else. Hiver bundles writing help into its plans, and Help Scout bills its AI per resolution at $0.75.
Which Front alternative works best for customer support?
Help Scout for a small email-first team, Zendesk once you need SLAs and several teams, Freshdesk if you want ticketing on a tighter budget. Our help desk software for small business roundup compares more options.
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