FrontKayakoFront vs Kayako

Front vs Kayako: team inbox or help desk for a small team

A team inbox against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. The six differences, what five people pay on each, and a third option.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

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The short answer

Pick Front if email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread. Pick Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $325 a month on Front, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Front and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price; only Front has Instagram. Neither Front nor Kayako includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Front and Kayako sell here at one price.

At a glanceFrontFrontKayakoKayako
Built aroundShared email · comments and drafts on every threadTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry plan$25/seat/mo · Starter: one channel typeQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the price$65/seat/mo · Professional: omnichannelQuote · widget included
AI agentFrom $0.05 per conversation · Autopilot$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agents$20/seat/moIn Kay
Free planNone · 14-day trialNone · talk to a pricing expert

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    FrontFront

    As a thread in a shared inbox that teammates comment on and draft together; it is email first. Kayako raises a ticket where Front keeps a conversation.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. Front has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    FrontFront

    $25 buys one channel type and up to ten seats. Omnichannel and fifty seats start at Professional, $65. $325 for five people; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; Front prints $325.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    FrontFront

    Autopilot, the AI agent, from $0.05 a conversation; Copilot is $20 per seat and Smart QA $20 per seat. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FrontFront

    Email on Starter; chat, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on Professional and up. Instagram is here and not on Kayako.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. Front adds Instagram, which Kayako lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FrontFront

    Sequences, calendar, account views and analytics for logistics, finance and account teams. Kayako is a help desk instead.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. Front is a team inbox instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    FrontFront

    A day: connect the mailboxes, set rules and assignments, then add the chat widget. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Front is a day.

Sources: Front pricing · Kayako pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Front inbox: the thread with internal comments beside it and the assignment bar on top
FrontFront. The Front inbox: the thread with internal comments beside it and the assignment bar on top
The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

Pricing references: Front pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06); Kayako pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Front, Kayako and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureFrontFrontKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; channels tiered; AI add-ons per seat.
Quote; AI per resolution
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
14-day trial.
None
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Chat channel; Starter allows one channel type.
Widget included
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Included
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Professional and up, via add-on.
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Professional and up.
Messenger and X only
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack and Teams integrations.
Slack integration
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Autopilot.
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
From $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat.
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to teammates.
Escalates free of charge
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
Conversations with tags and status.
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Rules engine; visual on higher plans.
Automation rules
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Analytics on Professional and up.
Reporting
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Mac and Windows apps.
Browser only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Front if

  • Email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread.
  • You run logistics, finance or account management where a thread is a piece of work.
  • You need Instagram in the price, which Kayako does not include outright.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Kayako does not ship.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Front does not have.
  • Time to the first reply is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding here and a day on Front.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Front or Kayako who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $325 a month on Front, and a quote on Kayako for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats, Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and a free plan with no trial clock, which neither Front nor Kayako includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Front on Professional: $130, $325 and $650 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $280 less than Front and against a quote on Kayako for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $555 under Front.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Neither has a free plan: Front offers a 14-day trial of Professional, Kayako no trial. Front and Kayako both include website chat and email in the price; only Front has Instagram. Neither Front nor Kayako includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Front (from $0.05 per conversation) and Kayako ($1 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Kayako has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps. Front is a day; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

Front: Autopilot AI agent from $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat per month and Smart QA $20 per seat (included on Enterprise). Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Front's from $0.05 per conversation and Kayako's $1 per resolution, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How these figures were read

Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Front's, and Kayako's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    FrontFront$0.05$24
    KayakoKayakoSee vendorNot quoted
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    FrontFront · 14-day trial of Professional
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

Front vs Kayako: the questions people ask

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Kayako has tickets and Front does not, and only Front ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Front $25/seat/mo (Starter: one channel type); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Front $65/seat/mo (Professional: omnichannel); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio's inbox: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Front nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Front and Kayako on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

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