Front
Collaborative inbox that brings together email, SMS and other channels for teams: shared inbox, tickets, automation rules, analytics. Starter at $25 per seat per month billed annually (up to 10 seats), Professional at $65 (up to 50), Enterprise at $105; Copilot assistant optional at $20 per seat. 14-day trial.
As with any shared inbox, the core (assigning an email, commenting on it privately, replying as a group) can be built for a small team. What gives the tool its value is the extra channels, the advanced automation rules and the analytics. If your team only handles email, a free support inbox is enough; the alternatives below avoid a per-seat price.
What you lose
- The extra channels (SMS, social messaging).
- Advanced automation rules and routing.
- Activity analytics and quality reports.
- Single sign-on (SSO) and custom roles.
Existing alternatives to Front
- FreeScoutOpen source
Team mailbox with assignment, notes and collision alerts; several add-on modules are paid.
- ChatwootOpen source
Shared support inbox with chat, email and help centre; free software to host yourself.
What a home-built tool costs once it exists
- Hosting and database: a server cost, and automatic backups you actually test.
- Security and GDPR: dependency updates, an HTTPS certificate, protection of your customers’ data.
- Upkeep time: who fixes the tool on a Saturday night in the middle of service if the server goes down?
The prompt to build it yourself
Build a shared email inbox for a small team, replacing a collaborative messaging subscription. Context: 4 people sharing contact@ and orders@. To do: - IMAP polling of several addresses and SMTP sending from each. - Assigning a message to a person, internal comments, resolved status. - Simple rules: assign automatically based on the receiving address or a word in the subject. - Canned replies and a signature per person. - A «my conversations» view and an «unassigned» view. Out of scope: SMS and social networks, advanced analytics, SSO. Stack: web app, PostgreSQL. README: how to run, backup, how long to keep messages (GDPR).
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Front cost, and what do you really pay for?
- Listed price: from €22.28/month/user (converted from $25, billed annually, rate of Oct 2, 2026). What the subscription covers and is hard to maintain yourself: The extra channels (SMS, social messaging).; Advanced automation rules and routing.; Activity analytics and quality reports.; Single sign-on (SSO) and custom roles..
- What free or open-source alternatives to Front exist?
- FreeScout (open source), Chatwoot (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.
- Where do you start to build an equivalent of Front?
- Copy this page’s prompt into Claude, Codex or Cursor to get a first prototype. Then plan for hosting, data backups and GDPR compliance: that is what costs the most to maintain over time.
How are our verdicts established? Read our detailed methodology ↗
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