What it does
Front is a shared inbox for teams. Instead of forwarding, CC-ing, or logging into a shared Gmail account with saved responses, Front puts one collaborative view over multiple channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp, chat, social) and lets teammates assign conversations, comment internally (invisible to the customer), share drafts, tag, and route via rules. The "customer conversation" is a first-class object, not a message thread. This is the correct product category for teams handling client email at volume (logistics, real estate transaction coordination, agency account management, financial services client teams) where you need email context + accountability + response quality without moving to a ticket system.
Free tier
No
Starts at
$19/mo
Setup
easy
Key features
Integrates with
Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Asana, Zapier
Who this fits
- Client-services teams managing shared inbox (info@, orders@, support@)
- Logistics, freight, and 3PL ops teams coordinating shipments over email
- Real estate transaction coordinators handling many deals via email
- Agencies with dedicated account managers per client, all cc'd on a shared alias
- Financial services teams handling client requests
- Any team where email is the primary customer channel and accountability is a problem
Who it does NOT fit
- Solo operators and freelancers (native email plus a good client is enough)
- Product-led SaaS needing in-app messenger (Intercom, Crisp win)
- High-volume ticket-based support (Zendesk, Freshdesk win)
- Cost-sensitive small teams (Front is expensive per-seat vs Google Groups or Missive)
- Consumer support use cases where phone/voice is primary
Pricing
Real gotchas
- Per-user pricing scales quickly, a 15-person team on Professional is ~$975/mo before any add-ons
- Starter is a trap for growing teams, single-channel + 10-seat cap forces upgrade
- Front owns your inbox at the SMTP level, migrating off later means either accepting some data loss or manually exporting
- Email deliverability requires proper DKIM/SPF/DMARC on your domain, which Front will guide but is your responsibility
- Custom fields and analytics that most users want are Professional+
- AI features (draft assist, summarization) are gated to Enterprise/AI add-on tiers
- Integrations with CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot) are Professional+, Starter is genuinely limited
- SLA management (which is a differentiator vs Missive or Hiver) is Enterprise-only
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Recommend Front when: business_size is 10+ users, industry has heavy shared-email workflow (agency, real-estate transaction ops, logistics, financial services, professional services), and pain_points include "email accountability," "duplicate responses," or "who's handling this client?". Highest fit for agencies, logistics/freight teams, and real-estate transaction coordinators. Do NOT recommend for solo operators, product-led SaaS (Intercom wins), or high-volume ticket-based support (Zendesk wins). If the user is comparing Front to Missive or Hiver, Front wins on polish, integrations, and workflow depth, Missive wins on price for small teams, Hiver wins if the team is fully Google Workspace-centric.
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