FrontPure ChatFront vs Pure Chat

Front vs Pure Chat: $325 or $52 for five people

A team inbox against a live chat software: Pure Chat is $273 a month cheaper for five people. Where Front and Pure Chat split, and a third option for small teams.

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

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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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 Pure Chat if you want cheap chat for a small team on one site with no AI. For five people, Pure Chat is $273 a month cheaper than Front ($325 a month on Front against $52 on Pure Chat), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45, comes in $7 below Pure Chat. Front and Pure Chat both include website chat in the price; only Front has email and Instagram. Neither Front nor Pure Chat includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Front against Pure Chat, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceFrontFrontPure ChatPure Chat
Built aroundShared email · comments and drafts on every threadA chat widget for small sites · operators in packs
Entry plan$25/seat/mo · Starter: one channel type$39/mo · Growth: 4 operators, 1 site
Chat in the price$65/seat/mo · Professional: omnichannel$39/mo · the whole product is chat
AI agentFrom $0.05 per conversation · AutopilotNone · no AI agent
Copilot for agents$20/seat/moNone
Free planNone · 14-day trialNone · 30-day trial of PRO

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. Pure Chat has no ticket queue either.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    As a chat in the widget, with the visitor's page and history in the operator dashboard. Front has no ticket queue either.

  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, against $52 on Pure Chat.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    $39 buys four operators on one site; PRO at $79 buys ten operators on unlimited sites, extras $8 to $13 each. $52 for five people, against $325 on Front.

  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. Pure Chat has no AI to bill (none) instead.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    No AI agent or copilot; canned responses and triggers only. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    FrontFront

    Email on Starter; chat, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on Professional and up. email and Instagram are here and not on Pure Chat.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    Website chat only; no email, WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram. Front adds email and Instagram, which Pure Chat lacks.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    FrontFront

    Sequences, calendar, account views and analytics for logistics, finance and account teams. Pure Chat is a live chat software instead.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    Visitor tracking, transcripts and mobile apps. 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. Pure Chat is minutes.

    Pure ChatPure Chat

    Minutes: paste the widget. Front is a day.

Sources: Front pricing · Pure Chat 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 Pure Chat dashboard: the visitor list and an open chat
Pure ChatPure Chat. The Pure Chat dashboard: the visitor list and an open chat

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

Front, Pure Chat 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.

FeatureFrontFrontPure ChatPure ChatSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per seat; channels tiered; AI add-ons per seat.
Per month with operator packs
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
14-day trial.
None; 30-day trial
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
Chat channel; Starter allows one channel type.
The whole product
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
The core of the product.
Not offered
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.
Not offered
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.
Not offered
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Autopilot.
None
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
From $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat.
No AI to bill
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to teammates.
No AI to hand off from
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

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

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Mac and Windows apps.
Browser and mobile
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 email and Instagram in the price, which Pure Chat does not include outright.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Pure Chat does not ship.

Pick Pure Chat if

  • You want cheap chat for a small team on one site with no AI.
  • Operator packs suit you better than per-agent pricing.
  • Five people cost $273 a month less than on Front ($52 against $325), before AI.
  • Time to the first reply is minutes here and a day on Front.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $325 a month on Front against $52 on Pure Chat for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats, Pure Chat has no AI to bill (none), and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and a free plan with no trial clock, which neither Front nor Pure Chat 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. Pure Chat: $52 a month for five ($39 for 4 operators plus $13 for the fifth); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $280 less than Front and $7 less than Pure Chat 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; Pure Chat is a live chat software built around a chat widget for small sites. Neither has a free plan: Front offers a 14-day trial of Professional, Pure Chat a 30-day trial of PRO. Front and Pure Chat both include website chat in the price; only Front has email and Instagram. Neither Front nor Pure Chat includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats; Pure Chat has no AI to bill (none). Neither Front nor Pure Chat has a ticket queue, and only Front ships desktop apps. Front is a day; Pure Chat is minutes.

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). Pure Chat: No AI agent. Beside Front's from $0.05 per conversation and Pure Chat's none, 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 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
    Pure ChatPure ChatSee 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
    Pure ChatPure Chat · 30-day trial of PRO
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Front vs Pure Chat: the questions people ask

Front is a team inbox built around shared email; Pure Chat is a live chat software built around a chat widget for small sites. Neither Front nor Pure Chat has a ticket queue, and only Front ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Front $25/seat/mo (Starter: one channel type); Pure Chat $39/mo (Growth: 4 operators, 1 site).
  • Chat in the price: Front $65/seat/mo (Professional: omnichannel); Pure Chat $39/mo (the whole product is chat).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Front nor Pure Chat has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Front and Pure Chat 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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