Customer Service Tools

Missive vs Front: Pros and Cons of Two Popular Platforms

In today’s digital era, 96% of consumers place immense value on customer service when demonstrating loyalty to a brand. This statistic underscores the undeniable need for efficient, reliable communication with your customers. 

Consequently, your choice of customer service platform becomes crucial. But with countless options out there, how do you make the right decision?

Today, we are doing a comparison of Missive vs Front. These platforms bring a host of features to the table, aimed at helping businesses streamline their customer interactions. 

This review will introduce both platforms, compare their respective features, shed light on the advantages and potential drawbacks of each, and walk you through their pricing and integration options.

Let’s dive in; shall we?

What is Missive?

Etienne Lemay, Rafael Masson, and CEO Philippe Lehoux are the founders of Missive, also known as Missive App. Launched on October 15, 2015, this Quebec, Canada-based application serves as a shared inbox and team chat platform, fostering heightened levels of teamwork and collaboration through email.

Living by the mantra “work smarter together,” Missive aspires to redefine how teams manage emails. They aim to dismantle the constraints of traditional email systems, striving to make the process more streamlined and less burdensome. They recognize the obstacles that current email systems present to team collaboration and are devoted to addressing and changing these challenges.

What is Front?

Front App is the brainchild of Mathilde Collin and Laurent Perrin. As the CEO and CTO respectively, they initiated the platform on October 1, 2013, and since then, it has undergone multiple funding rounds, including a noteworthy Series D.

At its core, Front’s mission is to create happier workplaces by nurturing superior, more expansive relationships. The platform has proven successful, drawing a substantial number of businesses to use it for their customer conversations.

Feature comparison: Missive vs Front

Here’s a comparison of the major customer service features between Missive App and Front App:

Inbox management

Missive:

  • Compatible with any email provider of any email setup
  • Allows for inbox organization with labels
  • Supports various communication channels such as email, SMS, WhatsApp, Twitter, and more
  • Offers team inboxes and assignments & tasks

Front:

  • Designed as a help desk fueled by emails
  • Centralizes all communication channels into one inbox
  • Allows for the assignment of clear ownership of messages
  • Offers shared inbox, team collaboration, customer data, omnichannel, insights & analytics, automated workflows, live chat, and integrations

Team collaboration

Missive:

  • Offers internal chat for requesting help, discussing ideas, and sharing opinions
  • Supports collaborative writing
  • Text formatting support
  • Allows draft scheduling and conversation reminders

Front:

  • Supports team collaboration on customer messages
  • Allows for real-time editing
  • Offers agenda organization with time tracking and snooze

Task management

Missive:

  • Enables task assignment within the platform

Front:

  • The platform’s centralized nature facilitates task management

Customer support

Missive:

  • Provides canned responses for quick replies
  • Offers extensive guides, FAQs, and tutorials in their Help Center

Front:

  • Offers macros/templated responses for efficient customer communication
  • Comprehensive Help Center with articles and guides

Automation

Missive:

  • Provides developer tools for automating tasks and enriching conversations with content from the web

Front:

  • Allows for automatic routing of messages

Additional features

Missive:

  • Offers customizable user interface with three themes: light, mixed, and dark
  • Provides managed signatures

Front:

  • Supports multi-channel messaging including email, social media, SMS, and voice messages
  • Offers service level agreement (SLA) management.

Direct comparison: Missive vs Front

FeaturesFrontMissive
Shared Inbox
Team Chat
Email Client
IntegrationsSupports any email setup and has developer toolsSupports multi-channel communication and integrates with all your apps

Shared Inbox

Missive and Front both offer a shared inbox feature. This allows multiple team members to access and manage the same email accounts, making it ideal for customer service, sales, or any team dealing with a high volume of incoming messages.

Team Chat

Both platforms also provide a team chat feature, enabling direct communication and collaboration within the app. This feature streamlines workflows and reduces the need to switch between different applications.

Email Client

Missive and Front function as email clients, allowing users to send, receive, and manage emails directly within the app.

Integrations

Missive supports any email setup from any provider and offers developer tools to automate tasks and enhance conversations with web content. 

Front, on the other hand, supports multi-channel communication and integrates with various apps and software, providing access to all your tools in one place.

Front vs Missive: Pros and Cons

Like any software, Front and Missive have their unique strengths and weaknesses. Based on user reviews, here are a few pros and cons of each platform:

  • Front pros: User-friendly interface, exemplary customer support, powerful features, customizable workflows
  • Front cons: Pricier, restrictions with templates and rules, occasional technical hiccups
  • Missive pros: Cost-effective, fully-featured email client, clean and efficient user interface, fast and reliable service
  • Missive cons: Offers fewer integrations compared to Front, less visually striking design, lacks phone support

Missive vs Front: Pricing Structure

PlanMissiveFront
Free/Starter0$/month (up to 3 users)$19 per user (minimum 2 seats)
Starter/Growth$14/month per user (up to 5 users)$59/month per user (minimum 5 seats)
Productive/Scale$18/month per user (up to 50 users)$99/month per user (minimum 20 seats)
Enterprise/Premier$26/month per user (unlimited users)$229/month per user (minimum 50 seats)
Pricing Table – Missive vs Front

Missive offers a free plan for up to 3 users, while Front does not have a free plan but offers a free trial. For paid plans, Missive’s pricing is lower across all tiers compared to Front. 

The Starter/Growth plan for Missive is $14 per user per month. Front’s equivalent plan is $59 per user per month. The Productive/Scale plan for Missive is $18 per user per month, whereas Front’s is $99 per user per month. 

Finally, the Enterprise/Premier plan for Missive is $26 per user per month. Here, Front’s plan similar to this is $229 per user per month.

In terms of pricing alone, Missive is more affordable across all tiers compared to Front. Safe to say Front is quite expensive.

Missive vs Front: Which one is right for you?

Choosing between Missive App and Front App boils down to the specific needs of your business – from pricing and features to the size of your team. Let’s consider small businesses, medium-sized businesses, large enterprises, and startups:

Business SizeMissiveFront
Small Business Suitable Less Suitable
Medium Business SuitableSuitable
Large EnterpriseLess Suitable Suitable
Startups SuitableLess Suitable

Small businesses

As a small business, your needs likely center around affordability, ease of use, and reliability in a shared inbox and team chat solution. Furthermore, the ability to manage both personal and work emails within one platform without sacrificing functionality or security is also vital.

In this context, Missive tends to be more suitable due to its cost-effectiveness and the availability of a free plan for up to 3 users. Key features like shared accounts, integrations, and rules cater well to small teams.

On the contrary, Front lacks a free plan, and its higher price point may not align well with the budget constraints often faced by small businesses.

Medium businesses

For medium-sized businesses, both Missive and Front present viable options. The Productive plan of Missive supports up to 50 users, providing features such as unlimited history and API access.

Front’s Growth plan, on the other hand, includes omnichannel communications, rule templates, and a wealth of integrations. These features can be particularly advantageous for medium-sized businesses.

Large enterprises

If you are a large enterprise, you will be on the lookout for a robust, scalable, and customizable shared inbox and team chat solution. The ability to integrate with various apps and services used in your workflows is equally important.

In this situation, Front might hold the edge over Missive, given its more powerful feature set and a higher number of integrations. This can help to streamline workflows and automate tasks. 

Front’s Scale and Premier plans offer enterprise-grade security and compliance, enhanced team management, and additional success services. All these features cater well to the intricate needs of large teams.

While Missive’s Enterprise plan does offer unlimited users, it may not match the advanced features provided by Front. 

Startups

Startup founders are all about shared inboxes and team chat solutions that are flexible, innovative, and supportive. They want a solution that meets the scalability of their businesses.

Missive is more suitable for startups due to its affordability and the availability of a free plan. Startups often need to minimize costs while still having access to essential features, which Missive can provide. 

Front’s higher pricing might not be ideal for startups with a limited budget as it’s expensive.

Why Helpwise is a better alternative

If you’re currently using or planning to use services such as Missive or Front, allow us to give you a few compelling reasons why you should consider making the switch to Helpwise:

Firstly, Helpwise offers a unified customer experience across multiple channels. It takes all of your customer inquiries from different channels and places them in a single location. This means less time juggling between different apps and more time addressing your customer needs. The beauty of it is in its simplicity and efficiency.

But that’s not all. Helpwise is packed with automation features designed to take the mundane tasks off your hands, freeing you up to focus on more critical aspects of your work. Collaboration amongst team members has never been easier, too, leading to quicker and more accurate resolution of customer queries.

Have you ever wished you could engage with your customers on a more personal level? With Helpwise, you can. Our platform facilitates hyper-personalized service, enabling you to connect with your customers in a more meaningful way. It’s automated customer engagement at its best.

Last, but certainly not least, is our commitment to data-driven decision making. Helpwise equips you with customer analytics, team reports, and customer satisfaction data. This valuable information can guide your decisions and help improve your query resolution rate. 

Here’s how Helpwise stands out

  • Affordable, scalable pricing: Ranges from $12 to $40.
  • User-friendly interface: Provides easy navigation and setup.
  • Native dialer: Manages calls and SMS effectively
  • Outstanding customer support: Helpwise’s support team goes the extra mile
  • 24/7 Support: Via chatbots and chat pop-ups
  • AI-focused product roadmap: Frequent feature updates, aiming at constant improvement.
  • Real-time notifications: No delays to keep you always informed.
  • Dedicated support for all: Unlike larger platforms like Front and Hubspot, Helpwise doesn’t overlook smaller users.

So if you’re considering a switch, Helpwise presents a powerful, cost-effective option packed with features designed to enhance your customer service experience.

What customers are saying about us

But don’t just take our word for it. We have a rating of 4.6 out of 5 based on 157 reviews. These are real customers who have experienced firsthand the service and commitment that Helpwise delivers. 

We invite you to read their experiences on G2, and hopefully, soon, you’ll be sharing your own positive experience with us 🙂

  • A great all-round email platform for our small team: “The biggest plus for me (using Helpwise) is sharing an inbox for our small team. We need everyone to be able to chip in and help out. It’s also much more cost-effective than paying for separate Google/MS email accounts we don’t need.” – Catherine E., small-business owner.
  • Best support ticketing system with tons of great features: “Helpwise has a solid system to add and manage shared email addresses and social media accounts. This way I and my team members can provide support easily for our multiple businesses. This is a game-changer thing for our business. Also they have chat beacons as well and Knowledgebase too. A complete package for providing great support to customers.” – Masuk Sarker, iOS Developer.
  • Helpwise is the new best thing for customer service teams: “Helpwise is the new best thing for customer service teams. We not only get replies to queries quickly and efficiently, but we also never have to field questions across different channels like email, phone and chat again. The whole team loves it!” – Ari Eko, Group Educational Product Distributor.

Here’s how to get started with Helpwise

Getting started with Helpwise is as simple as visiting our website and signing up for plan that suits your business needs. We offer a range of plans to cater to businesses of all sizes, and our pricing starts at just $12 per user/per month. 

So why wait? Join thousands of users who have switched to Helpwise and never looked back. Click here to start your free trial.

FAQs

Q. What is the difference between Front and Missive?

Front and Missive are both communication and collaboration platforms, but there’s a difference between them. Front is generally more suitable for larger businesses due to its advanced features, while Missive is more affordable and may be a better fit for smaller businesses and startups due to its free plan and lower cost for paid plans.

Q. Which is better for communication, Front or Missive?

Depends on your preferences and needs. Both tools offer features such as shared inboxes, notes, assignments, integrations, notifications, and mobile applications. However, some reviewers found that Missive is easier to set up and do business with overall, while Front is better for ongoing product support and updates.

Q. How do Front and Missive differ in terms of features?

Front offers features such as omnichannel communications, a large number of integrations, detailed insights, enterprise-grade security and compliance, and superior team management, making it suitable for larger businesses with complex workflows. On the other hand, Missive provides features like shared accounts, integrations, rules, unlimited history, and API access, making it a good fit for smaller to medium-sized teams.

Q. Is Front or Missive more user-friendly?

According to user reviews on G2, both tools are equally easy to use, with a rating of 9.2 out of 10. However, some users mentioned that Front has a steeper learning curve and can be overwhelming at first, while Missive has a simpler and cleaner interface.

Q. Can Front and Missive be integrated with other tools?

Of course, yes. You can integrate both with tools like Slack, Trello, Shopify, Zapier, Asana, Pipedrive, Todoist, FullContact, and more.

Bani Kaur

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