Front is a customer support tool for Small businesses and Enterprise, offered as paid ($35/mo). Founded in France in 2013. Popular alternatives include Hiver.
About Front
Front is a customer operations platform founded in 2013 by Mathilde Collin and Laurent Perrin, with roots in Paris and headquarters in San Francisco. It looks like an email client but works like a help desk: shared inboxes for email, chat, SMS, WhatsApp and social messages sit next to each person's own inbox, so teams can collaborate on customer conversations without switching to a ticketing mindset.
Teammates assign conversations, mention colleagues in internal comments, see when someone else is replying and co-draft responses. Rules route messages, enforce SLAs and balance workload; analytics track response times and team performance; a knowledge base and chat widget handle self-service. Front AI drafts and summarizes replies, tags conversations and answers routine questions. Integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira and many other tools show customer context in a sidebar. Plans are priced per seat: Starter for teams of up to 10, Professional for up to 50 with omnichannel support, and an annual-only Enterprise plan with advanced AI, analytics and security features.
Front fits B2B support, account management, logistics, financial services and agencies, where relationships live in email and several people touch one thread. It is expensive per seat, and its ticket-style reporting is weaker than Zendesk's. Help Scout is cheaper and simpler, Zendesk and Freshdesk are better for high-volume consumer support, and Hiver keeps a shared inbox inside Gmail.
Front has been expanding AI features across routing, drafting and autonomous answers, sold alongside its seat-based plans.
Key features of Front
- Shared and personal inboxes in one email-like interface
- Internal comments, assignments and collision detection
- Rules, SLAs and workload balancing
- Front AI for drafts, summaries and tagging
- Knowledge base, chat widget and customer profiles
- Analytics and CRM integrations
Pros and cons
Pros
- Natural for teams living in email
- Excellent collaboration features
- Omnichannel without a ticket mindset
- Strong analytics on Professional and above
Cons
- Expensive per seat
- Starter plan limited to 10 seats
- Ticket-style reporting is weaker than Zendesk
- Setup of rules takes effort
Front pricing
Front uses a paid model. A 14-day free trial is available.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $35 / seat/mo | $25 billed annually; up to 10 seats |
| Professional | $85 / seat/mo | $65 billed annually; up to 50 seats, omnichannel |
| Enterprise | $105 / seat/mo | Annual billing only; advanced AI tools |
Source: front.com · checked on Oct 20, 2026
How Front compares in Customer support
- Rank by votes
- #1 / 25
- Starting price
- $35
- Free alternatives
- 2
0 votes from members
21% above the category median ($29/mo)
Free or open-source tools in Customer support
Front ranks #1 of 25 customer support tools by community votes and is priced above most tools in the category.
Common use cases
- 1Logistics company managing customer email across teams
- 2B2B support with account managers and support in one inbox
- 3Agency handling client communication collaboratively
- 4Finance team coordinating customer requests
Best for
Email-heavy, collaborative customer teams in B2B and services.
Not ideal for
High-volume consumer support (Zendesk, Freshdesk) or small teams on a budget (Help Scout).
Integrations
- Gmail
- Office 365
- Slack
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Pipedrive
- Shopify
- Aircall
- Dialpad
- Zapier
Our take
Front is the best shared inbox for teams whose customer relationships live in email. Pay for it if collaboration is the bottleneck; otherwise Help Scout.
FAQ
- What is Front?
- Front is a Customer support tool: Shared inbox for customer-facing teams.
- How much does Front cost?
- Front uses a Paid model; paid plans start at $35 per month.
- What are the best alternatives to Front?
- Community-listed alternatives to Front include Hiver.
- Does Front have a free trial?
- Yes, Front offers a 14-day free trial.
- What does Front integrate with?
- Front integrates with Gmail, Office 365, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive and more.
- Which platforms does Front support?
- Front is available on web, macos, windows, ios, android.
- Who is Front for?
- Email-heavy, collaborative customer teams in B2B and services.
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