Front is a very good shared inbox. It is also priced like one: $25 per seat per month on Starter and $65 on Professional, billed annually, at the time of writing, which is why most searches for a Front alternative start with the invoice. But price is only half the story. Before you shop, answer one question: is the problem that your team shares a queue, or that you keep opening the wrong message first? Those need different products, and buying the wrong one is how teams end up paying for seats nobody logs into.
How we ranked these Front alternatives
We weighted four things: collaboration depth (assignment, comments, rules), channels beyond email, how much the AI actually decides rather than just writes, and real cost per seat. Prices are list prices at the time of writing and are worth re-checking before you buy.
The 9 best Front alternatives in 2026
1. Nolario
Our pickOne AI-prioritized inbox across email, Slack, Teams and calendar.
- Best for
- Founders and executives whose urgent work is spread across channels
- Price
- €29/mo (waitlist)
Nolario is our product, so weigh this pick accordingly. Nolario is the answer when the queue is not the problem. It pulls Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams and calendar into one feed, scores every item for importance, and puts the few that need you at the top. It then drafts replies in your voice, learned from what you have actually sent.
What it is not: a shared support inbox. There is no ticket assignment and no SLA reporting. If your team runs support@ together, pick Missive or Hiver below. If every one of your seats is really a person drowning in their own channels, this is the cheaper and more honest fix.
2. Missive
The closest like-for-like swap, at a little over half the price.
- Best for
- Small teams that want Front's collaboration without Front's bill
- Price
- From ~$14/user/mo (annual)
Missive does the core Front job well: shared inboxes, internal chat next to the thread, assignment and rules, plus social and SMS channels. Starter covers up to five users; the $24 tier opens it up to fifty, and there is a 30-day trial rather than a free plan. The UI is denser than Front and onboarding takes a little longer, but the feature gap is far smaller than the price gap.
3. Hiver
A shared inbox that lives inside Gmail.
- Best for
- Google Workspace teams that do not want a second app
- Price
- From ~$25/user/mo (annual)
Hiver layers assignment, notes, SLAs and analytics directly on Gmail, so adoption is close to free: your team keeps the inbox it already knows. Growth starts at $25 per user per month billed annually, level with Front's entry tier, so this is a fit-and-adoption swap rather than a cost-cutting one.
4. Help Scout
Shared inbox that leans help desk.
- Best for
- Teams whose shared inbox is really customer support
- Price
- Free up to 5 users; from ~$25/user/mo
If support@ is the mailbox in question, Help Scout gives you saved replies, a knowledge base and customer history rather than generic collaboration. The free plan for up to five users makes it the easiest way to leave Front without a migration budget.
5. Drag
Turns Gmail into a shared board.
- Best for
- Very small teams that want boards and low cost
- Price
- From ~$12/user/mo
Drag adds kanban boards, assignment and shared drafts inside Gmail for about half of Front's entry price. Fewer channels and lighter reporting, but for a three-person team handling a single shared address it is often enough.
6. Gmelius
Shared inboxes plus automation for Gmail.
- Best for
- Teams that want sequences and workflow rules alongside a shared inbox
- Price
- From ~$19/user/mo (annual)
Gmelius mixes shared inboxes with automation and email sequences, which makes it attractive when the same mailbox handles both support and outbound. Watch the conversation caps on the lower tiers; they are the part that quietly forces an upgrade.
7. Zoho TeamInbox
The budget option.
- Best for
- Teams already on Zoho, or anyone optimising purely for price
- Price
- Low per-user price; 14-day trial
Shared inboxes, assignment and internal discussions, usually for well under Front's seat price. The experience is plainer and the integrations are mostly Zoho's own. Zoho shows prices by region, so check its pricing page for the current figure; the 14-day trial covers Professional features for up to five users.
8. Shortwave
AI-native email for Gmail.
- Best for
- Individuals who want AI search and summaries, not a team queue
- Price
- From ~$30/user/mo
Shortwave is the strongest pure AI email experience on Gmail: thread summaries, AI search and drafting. It is not a shared inbox and it is Gmail-only, so it replaces Front only if you were using Front as a nicer personal mail client.
9. Superhuman
The fastest single-user email client.
- Best for
- One person who wants speed and polish above everything
- Price
- From ~$30/mo
Keyboard-first, beautifully fast, with AI drafting and summaries. No shared queue, no channels beyond email. Worth naming here because a surprising number of Front seats are bought for one person who simply wanted a better inbox.
Quick comparison
| Feature | Nolario | Front | Missive | Hiver | Zoho TeamInbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared queue and assignment | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email + Slack + Teams in one feed | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| AI importance scoring | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Drafts in your voice | Yes | AI compose | AI compose | AI compose | No |
| Starting price | €29/mo (waitlist) | ~$25/seat/mo | ~$14/user/mo | ~$25/user/mo | Low, by region |
The bottom line
For a true team queue at a lower price, Missive is the best swap, with Hiver for Gmail-native teams and Help Scout when the mailbox is really support. For the founder who bought Front hoping it would make the noise stop, Nolario is the better shape of tool: one ranked feed of everything, so the thing that needs you is the thing you see first.
