Front vs Help Scout

What Front is

Front is a shared inbox that keeps email, SMS and chat in one place, with internal comments on customer threads. It suits teams where support and account management blur: the customer sees email, the team sees assignment, comments and SLAs behind it. It is priced above shared inboxes, which is the objection when the workflow is purely reactive support.

What Help Scout is

Help Scout is a shared inbox that keeps customer conversations looking like plain email rather than ticket threads. Customers never see a ticket number, which keeps support feeling like a conversation rather than a queue. That deliberate simplicity is also its ceiling once you need complex routing and reporting.

What Front is built to do

Shared channels

Manages email, SMS and chat addresses as team inboxes.

Internal comments

Discusses a customer thread without forwarding it.

Rules and SLAs

Routes conversations and tracks response commitments.

What Help Scout is built to do

Shared inbox

Handles customer mail as normal email threads across a team.

Saved replies and workflows

Automates common answers and assignment rules.

Docs knowledge base

Publishes help articles and suggests them in chat.

Choose Front if

• Small support teams on a single channel: Starter is $25 per seat/month for up to 10 seats with a shared inbox, ticketing, AI Topics, up to 10 automation rules and a no-code public knowledge base
• Omnichannel teams — Professional at $65 per seat/month for up to 50 seats adds email, SMS and social, macros, 20 automation rules, advanced analytics, multiple workspaces, SSO and SCIM
• Teams that want AI included rather than bolted on: Enterprise at $105 per seat/month bundles AI Copilot, QA and CSAT plus unlimited rules and macros

Skip Front if

• You are over the seat ceiling of your tier — Starter caps at 10 seats and Professional at 50, so growth forces a tier change rather than just more seats
• You need more than one channel type: Starter is single-channel, and omnichannel starts at Professional
• You want AI Copilot without paying the top tier — below Enterprise it is a paid add-on

Choose Help Scout if

• Very small support teams: the free tier covers up to 5 users with 1 shared inbox and 100 contacts a month
• Teams that outgrow one inbox — Standard allows up to 25 users and 2 inboxes with unlimited contacts, and Plus raises it to 50 users, 5 inboxes and 25 light users
• Companies that want collaborators without paying for seats: light users can view conversations and collaborate without taking a full user seat, 15 included on Pro

Skip Help Scout if

• You need many shared inboxes — they are capped per plan (1 on Free, 20 on Standard, 50 on Plus, unlimited on Pro) and extra inboxes are $10/month each
• Your contact volume is high and you wanted to stay free: the free tier caps contacts at 100 per month
• You want Pro for a small team — Pro is unlimited users but carries a minimum of 10

Front: pros & cons

• Internal discussion attached to real emails
• Multiple channels in one inbox
• Good automation rules
• Per-seat pricing is high
• Setup takes planning
• Overlaps with tools you may already pay for

Help Scout: pros & cons

• Customers never see ticket numbers
• Clean, quick interface for agents
• Knowledge base included
• Fewer automation options than heavier helpdesks
• Per-user pricing only
• Limited for complex routing