HiverFrontHiver vs Front

Hiver vs Front: Gmail-based shared inbox or team inbox

A Gmail-based shared inbox against a team inbox: Hiver is $200 a month cheaper for five people. 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

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick Hiver if your agents live in Gmail or Outlook and you do not want them to learn a new tool. Pick Front if email is the channel and you want shared drafts, comments and sequences on every thread. For five people, Hiver is $200 a month cheaper than Front ($125 a month on Hiver against $325 on Front), before AI. Sellio Mini, at $45 for the workspace, is $80 under Hiver. Hiver and Front both include email in the price; only Front has website chat and Instagram. Neither Hiver nor Front includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Below, a third option for a team of two to ten that wants what Hiver and Front sell here at one price.

At a glanceHiverHiverFrontFront
Built aroundGmail and Outlook · nothing new to learnShared email · comments and drafts on every thread
Entry plan$25/user/mo · Growth, yearly$25/seat/mo · Starter: one channel type
Chat in the price$45/user/mo · Pro adds live chat$65/seat/mo · Professional: omnichannel
AI agentHarvey AI · features by plan, no per-use priceFrom $0.05 per conversation · Autopilot
Copilot for agentsBy plan · Harvey$20/seat/mo
Free planYes · core shared inboxNone · 14-day trial

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    HiverHiver

    As an email in a Gmail or Outlook inbox with Hiver's assignment, status and notes layered on it. Front has no ticket queue either.

    FrontFront

    As a thread in a shared inbox that teammates comment on and draft together; it is email first. Hiver has no ticket queue either.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    HiverHiver

    $25 buys the shared inbox on Growth; seats come in packs of 2, 5 and 10, so a sixth user means buying ten. $125 for five people, against $325 on Front.

    FrontFront

    $25 buys one channel type and up to ten seats. Omnichannel and fifty seats start at Professional, $65. $325 for five people, against $125 on Hiver.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    HiverHiver

    Harvey AI features are tied to the plan you are on rather than metered per conversation. Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats instead.

    FrontFront

    Autopilot, the AI agent, from $0.05 a conversation; Copilot is $20 per seat and Smart QA $20 per seat. Hiver folds AI (Harvey AI) into the plan instead.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    HiverHiver

    Email first; live chat and WhatsApp on the higher plans, no Instagram or Telegram. Front adds website chat and Instagram, which Hiver lacks.

    FrontFront

    Email on Starter; chat, SMS, WhatsApp and voice on Professional and up. website chat and Instagram are here and not on Hiver.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    HiverHiver

    SLAs, CSAT and analytics on top of the mailbox; strong for finance and operations teams. Front is a team inbox instead.

    FrontFront

    Sequences, calendar, account views and analytics for logistics, finance and account teams. Hiver is a Gmail-based shared inbox instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    HiverHiver

    An hour: install the Gmail extension and share the inbox. Front is a day.

    FrontFront

    A day: connect the mailboxes, set rules and assignments, then add the chat widget. Hiver is an hour.

Sources: Hiver pricing · Front 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 Hiver sidebar inside Gmail: assignment, status and notes beside the email
HiverHiver. The Hiver sidebar inside Gmail: assignment, status and notes beside the email
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

What your team would pay

Move the sliders. Yearly-billing rates from each vendor’s pricing page, next to Sellio’s plan for the same number of seats.

5 people who answer customers

50

300 AI conversations on Hiver, Autopilot conversations on Front

3000+
HiverHiver

$125/mo

Shared inbox, assignment, notes.

5 × $25 seats
$125
300 AI conversations × $0
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. Hiver ties Harvey AI to the plan rather than metering it; no per-conversation rate is printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

FrontFront

$340/mo

Omnichannel, up to fifty seats.

5 × $65 seats
$325
300 Autopilot conversations × $0.05
$15
Copilot, 5 × $20
$0

Yearly billing; monthly costs more. From $0.05 per conversation handled by Autopilot, as printed. Rates recorded on 2026-09-06.

Sellio · Mini

$55/mo

One price for the workspace: 3 channels, 2 AI agents, $5 AI credit a month.

Workspace, 5 of 5 seats
$45
AI past 100 included conversations
$10
Copilot for agents
Included

About $0.05 per AI conversation past the credit, with a daily and monthly cap you set. Yearly billing takes 20% off. See every plan.

Pricing references: Hiver pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06; needs verification); Front pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06). Calculator uses yearly-billing rates. Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

5 people, website chat plus 2 more channels, 2 AI agents: $45 a month. Start free, no card.

Start freeSee every plan

Hiver, Front 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.

FeatureHiverHiverFrontFrontSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Per user, sold in seat packs.
Per seat; channels tiered; AI add-ons per seat.
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Core shared inbox features.
14-day trial.
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

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

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
Harvey AI assists agents; limited autonomous answering.
Autopilot.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
By plan.
From $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Not applicable to an assist model.
Routes to teammates.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

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

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Runs inside Gmail and Outlook.
Mac and Windows apps.
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Hiver if

  • Your agents live in Gmail or Outlook and you do not want them to learn a new tool.
  • Email is nearly the whole job and you need SLAs and analytics on it.
  • Five people cost $200 a month less than on Front ($125 against $325), before AI.
  • You want a free plan to start on; Front offers a 14-day trial of Professional.

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 website chat and Instagram in the price, which Hiver does not include outright.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Hiver does not ship.

The third option: Sellio

  • You are two to ten people on Hiver or Front who answer chat, messaging and email, and want to compare workspace pricing with $125 a month on Hiver against $325 on Front for five people.
  • You want the AI bill known before the month starts: Hiver folds AI (Harvey AI) into the plan, Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats; Sellio includes a credit and lets you cap it.
  • You need Telegram and tickets raised from a chat, which neither Hiver nor Front includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Hiver on Growth: $50, $125 and $250 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Front on Professional: $130, $325 and $650 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $80 less than Hiver and $280 less than Front for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $155 under Hiver and $555 under Front.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Hiver is a Gmail-based shared inbox built around Gmail and Outlook; Front is a team inbox built around shared email. Only Hiver has a free plan (core shared inbox); Front offers a 14-day trial of Professional. Hiver and Front both include email in the price; only Front has website chat and Instagram. Neither Hiver nor Front includes WhatsApp and Telegram outright. Hiver folds AI (Harvey AI) into the plan; Front meters AI (from $0.05 per conversation) above the seats. Neither Hiver nor Front has a ticket queue, and only Front ships desktop apps. Hiver is an hour; Front is a day.

What each price leaves out

Hiver: Harvey AI features by plan. Front: Autopilot AI agent from $0.05 per conversation; Copilot $20 per seat per month and Smart QA $20 per seat (included on Enterprise). Beside Hiver's Harvey AI and Front's from $0.05 per conversation, 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

Hiver does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Per user per month with yearly and monthly rates and seat packs (2, 5, 10 and so on). Hiver renders its table in the browser; figures confirmed from published summaries.), so they are marked unverified here beside Front's, and Hiver'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
    HiverHiverAssumed $0$0
    FrontFront$0.05$24
    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.

    HiverHiver · Free trial offered
    FrontFront · 14-day trial of Professional
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Hiver vs Front: the questions people ask

Hiver is a Gmail-based shared inbox built around Gmail and Outlook; Front is a team inbox built around shared email. Neither Hiver nor Front has a ticket queue, and only Front ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Hiver $25/user/mo (Growth, yearly); Front $25/seat/mo (Starter: one channel type).
  • Chat in the price: Hiver $45/user/mo (Pro adds live chat); Front $65/seat/mo (Professional: omnichannel).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: WhatsApp and Telegram, which neither Hiver nor Front has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Hiver and Front 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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