Top 10 Front Alternatives for 2023

Front is a popular customer communication solution that was founded in 2013. After almost a decade, today, the tool is used by thousands of businesses across the globe. 

But despite its promising features and simplistic design, why are people searching for the best Front alternatives? 

Front might be a great shared inbox tool, but it doesn’t qualify to be a full-fledged help desk solution. The software is quite expensive, and on top of that, it misses out on some must-have features, such as chatbots and a knowledge base. 

Have you outgrown Front like most people? Don’t worry,  there are plenty of fish in the sea. 

If you are looking for a long-term solution for your team, we have great options in store for you. In this blog, we will discuss some of the major cons of this tool and explore 10 alternatives to Front that will help you breathe a sigh of relief. 

Here we go! 

Software	Key Features	Price
ProProfs Help Desk	Categorize tickets with Labels Create canned responses Track performance metrics CSAT and NPS surveys Parent-child ticketing	Essentials: $10/user/month Premium: $15/user/month Enterprise: Available on request
Zendesk	Assist customers in real-time Provide support on WhatsApp Reward community members Create knowledge base articles Deliver personalized interactions	Suite Team: $49/agent/month Suite Growth: $79/agent/month Suite Professional: $99/agent/month
Freshdesk	Track SLA violations Capture tickets from your website Share ticket ownership Engage prospects over WhatsApp Track time spent by agents	Sprout: Forever free plan Blossom: $15/user/month Garden: $35/user/month Estate: $49/user/month Forest: $99/user/month
Intercom	Multichannel support Automated ticket assignment Share relevant help articles Leverage custom bots Targeted messages	Not Available
HubSpot Service Hub	Create a library of help articles Automated ticket assignment HubSpot mobile app Share NPS surveys Analyze performance with custom reports	Starter: $45/month (2 users) Professional: $450/month (5 users) Enterprise: $1200/month (10 users)
Hiver	Turn Gmail into help desk Automate email routing Collaborate via notes Live chat for website Track CSAT ratings	Lite: $15/user/month Pro: $39/user/month Elite: $59/user/month
Drag	Create email templates Customizable reports Integrate with Calendar Send automated email follow-ups View customer actions	Free: Forever free plan Starter: $5/user/month Plus: $10user/month Pro: $115/user/month
Missive	Collision detection Multiple integration options Track WhatsApp conversations Assign tasks to members Compose emails together	Free: Forever free plan Starter: $14/user/month Productive: $18/user/month Enterprise: $26/user/month
Gorgias	Monitor social media inquiries Track chat conversions Multiple integration options Fast-loading chat widget Create canned responses	Basic: $50/month Pro: $300/month Advanced: $750/month Enterprise: Available on request
Help Scout	Create custom fields Receive desktop notifications Create mobile-friendly help articles See key metrics for specific agents View chat support history	Standard: $20/user/month Plus: $35/user/month Company: Available on request

What Is Front? 

Front is a customer communication platform that helps you interact with customers on a variety of channels such as email, SMS, social media, live chat, etc. Your customer service agents can collaborate in real-time on complex customer issues to provide the best response possible. 

With a simple Gmail-like interface, you can easily onboard new agents and let them take control in minutes. Moreover, agents can view important customer details and their past conversations in one place, making it easier for them to share personalized responses. 

How much does Front cost? The tool offers 3 plans: Starter ($19/user/month), Growth ($49/user/month), and Scale ($99/user/month). 

Why Look For Front Alternatives? 

Let’s be honest, Front isn’t a perfect tool. There are some major drawbacks of this tool that you should be aware of. 

• Expensive Plans: Front is quite an expensive tool for the features it offers. While most sophisticated help desk systems start anywhere at $12-$15/user/month, Front starts at $19 and goes up to $99/user/month. So if you are a small or upcoming business, you might want to consider more affordable options. 

• The Starter Plan Lacks Basic Features: Front’s starter plan misses out on basic help desk features. For instance, users will not get features such as CRM integration, analytics, smart rules, advanced workflows, agent permissions, and more. 

• Chatbot Feature Isn’t Available: A chatbot is a must-have feature that can help you automate routine customer interactions, generate leads, and grow your sales. While most customer service tools offer this feature, there is no provision to create chatbots using Front. 

• Conversations Are Not Always Synced Properly: Many users have complained online that their conversations are not well synced between Gmail and Front. Emails sent, archived, and deleted natively in Gmail do not always sync with the Front inbox.

The Features Front Alternatives Must Have

If you are searching for the best alternative to Front, you need to know which features are in great demand, especially those that your team can’t do without. 

To make your search easier, we have jotted down some must-have features that every Front competitor should have. Let’s take a look at them right away. 

• Simple interface that agents can navigate through easily and find all conversations in one place
• Shared inbox to get control over multiple team inboxes such as support@, contact@, info@, etc.
• Ticket tracking and prioritization to ensure not a single customer message can slip through the cracks
• Automation features to avoid repetitive tasks and enhance team productivity
• Reports & analytics to monitor performance and make data-driven decisions

Read More: Top Help Desk Software Features

Our Selection Criteria For Front Alternatives

There are hundreds of customer service solutions in the market, that offer more or less similar features. How do you decide which tool deserves your attention? 

We wanted to ensure only the best tools make it to our list. Here are some criteria that every alternative should meet.  

Email Ticketing Features: All Front tool alternatives should offer powerful email ticketing features such as shared inbox, statuses, filters, tags (or Labels), email signatures, templates, etc. 

Listed on Top Software Review Platforms: The alternative tools must be listed on leading software review websites such as Getapp, Capterra, and Trustradius. 

Genuine User Reviews: For a proper comparison of alternatives, reviews submitted by genuine users can be quite helpful. For this reason, every tool should have a minimum of 10 user reviews on the leading software comparison platforms. 

10 Best Front Alternatives You Should Consider

Now that we have explored Front’s various advantages and disadvantages, let’s explore the top alternatives you can consider for your team this year. 

1. ProProfs Help Desk 

ProProfs Help Desk is the best alternative to Front tool due to several reasons. Your support heroes can interact with visitors and customers existing on multiple channels such as live chat, email, web forms, chatbots, help center, and more. 

Unlike Front, this tool allows you to develop powerful chatbots to automate your customer service process. Even when your team isn’t available to take chats, bots can engage with customers with human-like conversations. 

Top Features of ProProfs Help Desk: 

• Leverage a shared inbox to manage all team email accounts 
• Bookmark important tickets to never lose track of them
• Collaborate with team members using private notes
• View past conversations with the ticket history
• Allow customers to raise tickets via web forms or customer portal

Why We Picked It:

• Export ticket conversations in PDF 
• Monitor the CX with automated surveys

Pricing: 

Starts at $20/agent/month (billed annually).

2. Zendesk

Zendesk is a leading Front competitor that is used by some of the biggest brands in the world. The tool can help your team automate mundane tasks, empower customers to find solutions at their own pace, and add a personal touch to every service interaction. 

Zendesk can help you publish a vast community forum for prospects and customers to interact with each other, raise questions, and share solutions. You can even improve collaboration b integrating Zendesk with hundreds of third-party tools. 

Top Features of Zendesk: 

• Encourage self-help with an integrated help center
• Reduce agent’s workload with AI-powered bots
• Monitor customer conversations across messaging and live chat
• Leverage intelligent routing to ensure better distribution of work
• Access in-depth customer information with CRM integration

Why We Picked It:

• Collaborate to publish the best help articles
• Multiple integration options

Pricing: 

Starts at $49/user/month

3. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a free Front alternative that deserves to be on your list. You can provide intuitive customer service across all channels, such as email, live chat, phone, social media, and more. 

The tool helps you automatically assign help desk tickets to available agents based on their availability, skillset, and proximity. You can easily share the ownership of tickets with other teams so that different departments can work on the issue in parallel. 

Top Features of Freshdesk: 

• Develop AI-powered chatbots to guide customers with suitable answers
• Save time by linking related issues together
• Create custom ticket statuses for better organization
• Share consistent replies with customers using canned responses
• Track the time spent on tickets to calculate billable hours

Why We Picked It:

• Offer omnichannel customer service
• Assist customers on Facebook and Twitter

Pricing: 

Starts at $15/user/month

4. Intercom 

Intercom offers multiple automation and messaging features to help you connect with website visitors and existing customers. 

Intercom helps you lower your team’s workload by allowing you to share help center articles and FAQs in the messenger. In addition to this, you can even deploy a chatbot to handle up to 33% of routine customer questions. 

Top Features of Intercom: 

• Give customers the choice of self-serve or live support
• Track multiple metrics to improve customer service performance
• Support your customers on Instagram and WhatsApp
• Introduce customers to your products with product tours
• Send customers in-context surveys to capture valuable feedback

Why We Picked It:

• Offer social media support
• Save time with keyboard shortcuts

Pricing: 

Get in touch with the company for a quote. 

5. HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub is another popular alternative to Front that can help you offer delightful customer service experiences. With the team inbox feature, support reps can easily switch between different channels and respond to customers faster. 

The tool allows you to encourage self-service by creating a customer portal and a knowledge base. Customers can access the portal to track the progress of their tickets or register new ones. 

Top Features of HubSpot Service Hub: 

• Manage all conversations in a shared inbox
• Deploy CSAT, NPS, and CES surveys to capture customer feedback
• Integrate with the HubSpot CRM to give agents more context
• Set agent roles and permissions to control their access to the help desk platform
• Convert frequently asked questions into a collection of help articles

Why We Picked It:

• Manage customer service SLAs
• Offer support on the move with dedicated mobile apps

Pricing: 

Starts at $45/month

6. Hiver 

Hiver is another software like Front that offers a Gmail-based help desk platform. What this means is that you can simply convert your Gmail account into a full-fledged help desk system. 

You can manage all your shared email accounts, such as support@ and info@, in one place. At a single glance, agents can see which emails are open, closed, or pending, and categorize incoming emails using Tags. 

Top Features of Hiver: 

• Manage email and chat support right inside Gmail
• Automatically assign emails to team members based on specific conditions 
• Add context by sharing notes with team members
• Add a live chat widget on your website for instant customer support
• Track customer satisfaction ratings and overall team performance

Why We Picked It:

• User-friendly interface
• Zero learning curve for Gmail users

Pricing: 

Starts at $15/user/month

7. Drag

The Drag app offers a robust set of productivity, collaboration, and workflow features. The tool helps your agents manage customer service operations right inside Gmail. 

Drag allows you to create Kanban boards in Gmail. These boards are made up of cards that represent different elements of your work – email, tasks, subtasks, links, notes, or files. The use of boards can offer greater visibility into daily tasks and increase team productivity. 

Top Features of Drag: 

• Add internal notes on top of email conversations 
• Automate email followups with customers and save time 
• Assign emails and tasks to relevant team members
• Receive alerts when someone else is working on a ticket
• Turn common responses into email templates

Why We Picked It:

• Simple interface
• Offers a forever free plan

Pricing: 

Starts at $5/user/month

8. Missive 

Missive offers shared inbox capabilities for your team to collaborate around email. For instance, your business can manage all your team inboxes, such as sales@ and support@, from a single dashboard. 

You can control access to your inbox by organizing your teammates into active members or observers. Instead of forwarding long email threads, you can use Missive’s internal chat feature to discuss ideas. 

Top Features of Missive: 

• Easily view who is working on what 
• Integrate with Google Drive, Aircall, Grammarly, and other tools
• Track WhatsApp and Instagram conversations
• Assign tasks to specific people or whole teams
• Collaborate with team members while composing emails

Why We Picked It:

• Customize your interface with light and dark themes
• Multiple integration options

Pricing: 

Starts at $14/user/month

9. Gorgias 

Gorgias is another help desk software like Front that is designed for e-commerce businesses. Your team can easily manage common requests related to cancellations, returns, or defective items through self-service. 

Your customer service agents can access all crucial customer information while they are talking to them. For example, they can view past conversations, edit orders, initiate refunds, upgrade subscriptions, and much more. 

Top Features of Gorgias: 

• Monitor inquiries on social media advertisements and posts
• Track sales generated via live chat and text messages
• Integrate with Aircall, Pipedream, Omnisend, and other tools
• Add a fast-loading chat widget to your online website
• Create pre-made responses that include your brand’s unique tone 

Why We Picked It:

• 150+ active integrations
• Assist customers via SMS

Pricing: 

Starts at $50/month

10. Help Scout

Help Scout helps your get on top of all customer communications. No matter whether customers contact you via email, live chat, or knowledge base, you can interact with them 24×7. 

The tool allows you to create a knowledge base in simple steps. Without any coding skills, agents can easily add text, images, videos, tables, and hyperlinks to help center articles. You can even organize your content across different categories and improve SEO performance. 

Top Features of Help Scout: 

• Easily switch between chat and email conversations 
• Categorize requests and issues with the help of ticket tags
• Support customers from anywhere using  Android and iOS apps
• Identify which help center articles need improvement
• Track total conversations, happiness score, and other help desk metrics

Why We Picked It:

• Speed up work with 75+ easy-to-use keyboard shortcuts
• Create a library of saved replies 

Pricing: 

Starts at $20/user/month

Comparison of Best Alternatives of Front 

Software	Price	Ticket Management	Shared Inbox	Multi-channel Communication	Alerts & Escalations	Live Chat	Knowledge Base	IT Help Desk
ProProfs Help Desk	$10/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Zendesk	$49/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Freshdesk	$15/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
Intercom	Not available	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
Hubspot Service Hub	$45/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
Hiver	$12/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N
Drag	$5/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N
Missive	$14/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N
Gorgias	$10/month	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
Help Scout	$20/month	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N

Final Verdict: Which Alternative to Front Should You Go For? 

Front is a popular shared inbox tool that can help your team: 

• Manage multiple team inboxes in place
• Interact with customers on popular channels
• Get a 360-degree view of all customer information
• Monitor response times and other metrics

However, despite these promising features, there are some serious disadvantages such as expensive pricing, lack of chatbot and knowledge base features, etc. All the tools listed in this Front comparison blog are trusted by thousands of businesses across the globe and have been a popular choice among customer service teams. 

If you want an affordable shared inbox tool that isn’t limited to just email, you can go for ProProfs Help Desk. The tool allows you to manage communications via email, live chat, chatbots, web forms, help center, and more. Intercom can be a good option if you want marketing features such as proactive messaging. On the other hand, if you want a Gmail-based help desk, you can opt for Hiver or Drag.