Front vs Hiver

Front Professional costs $65/seat/month for a standalone collaborative inbox, while Hiver Pro costs $55/user/month for Gmail-native shared inbox — both solve the "shared email" problem but Front builds its own interface while Hiver lives inside Gmail. Front (G2: 4.7/5) is a standalone platform with its own UI, supporting email, SMS, social media, Front Chat, and Telegram. Hiver (G2: 4.6/5) adds shared inbox features directly inside Gmail — agents never leave their inbox, and the learning curve is near zero for Google Workspace teams.

The core tradeoff: Front provides a broader feature set and more channels but requires learning a new platform. Hiver provides zero adoption friction for Gmail teams but is locked to the Gmail ecosystem and has fewer channels. Both use per-seat pricing.

Front provides a standalone inbox that handles multiple channels with sophisticated automation; Hiver provides a Gmail add-on that makes shared email effortless — they trade channel breadth for adoption simplicity. Front's interface displays conversations from email, SMS, social media, Front Chat, and Telegram in a unified view. Up to 20 automation rules (Professional) or unlimited (Enterprise) route, tag, and escalate conversations based on conditions. Macros execute multi-step agent actions. The API and 100+ integrations connect to CRMs, project management, and internal tools.

Hiver adds a sidebar and shared labels to Gmail: @mentions for internal collaboration, collision detection preventing duplicate replies, email notes visible only to teammates, and automation rules that route based on conditions. AI Compose drafts replies; AI Summarizer condenses long threads. The interface is entirely Gmail — no new application to learn, no context switching between tools.

Channel gap: Front handles email, SMS, social, Front Chat, Telegram, and WhatsApp (via Meta with 20% admin fee). Hiver handles email, live chat, and adds WhatsApp + voice on Pro tier only. Front has broader channel coverage; Hiver is email-first with recent channel additions. Neither supports Discord or Zalo.

A 10-person team on Front Professional costs $650/month versus $550/month on Hiver Pro — a $100/month gap ($1,200/year) that reflects Front's broader feature set and channel coverage. Front Starter ($25/seat, single channel only, 10-seat cap) = $250/month; Hiver Growth ($25/user) = $250/month. At the entry level, pricing matches but Hiver includes email + live chat while Front Starter limits to one channel type.

At 15 agents: Front Professional = $975/month; Hiver Pro = $825/month. Add Front AI Copilot ($20/seat) and the total reaches $1,275/month. Hiver Pro already includes AI Agents and Copilot at $55/user — no add-on needed. With AI included, Hiver saves $450/month ($5,400/year) for a 15-person team.

Front Enterprise ($105/seat) includes AI Copilot, Smart QA, and CSAT for $1,575/month (15 agents). Hiver Pro at $825/month provides AI, SLAs, and CSAT — $750/month cheaper. However, Front Enterprise adds unlimited automation rules, custom roles, and multi-language knowledge base that Hiver cannot match.

Choose Front if your team needs multi-channel support beyond email and values sophisticated automation rules. Front Professional handles email, SMS, social media, Front Chat, and Telegram in one inbox. Assignment rules route conversations based on content, sender, or channel. Internal comments, @mentions, shared drafts, and collision detection enable real-time collaboration. Advanced analytics export message-level data for performance analysis. AI Copilot ($20/seat add-on or included in Enterprise) drafts replies using conversation context.

Choose Hiver if your team uses Google Workspace and primarily handles email-based support. Hiver works inside Gmail — agents use the same interface they already know with zero training overhead. Shared inboxes, round-robin assignment, collision detection, email notes, and CSAT surveys all operate within Gmail. Pro tier ($55/user) adds WhatsApp, voice, AI Agents and Copilot, and SLA management. The free tier covers basic shared inboxes for teams testing the concept.

Front is the right tool for teams that need multi-channel collaboration with sophisticated automation and are willing to learn a new platform. Hiver is the right tool for Gmail-native teams that want shared inbox functionality without changing their workflow — zero adoption friction at a lower price point.

For teams that need messaging-first support across WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, and Zalo without per-seat pricing, Converge offers all channels at $49/month flat for up to 15 agents.