Shared inbox software
Shared inbox software gives a team one email address with assignment, status and collision detection, which a plain Google or Microsoft shared mailbox does not: Front for mid-market operations, Help Scout and Missive for small teams, Hiver to stay inside Gmail, and AcornReply if you also want every reply drafted for you.
A shared inbox is where most teams put support before they put it anywhere else. These tools differ less in what they store than in how much they do with it. All of them hold support@ for the whole team; the interesting questions are whether you leave your email client, and how much help you get writing the reply.
One thing to settle first, because it is usually what people actually mean by the phrase: a Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 shared mailbox is not the same product. It is on the list below, honestly, as the zero-cost option with its real limits.
What is shared inbox software?
Shared inbox software is a tool where several people work one email address together, with the coordination a mailbox alone does not provide: each conversation can be assigned an owner, carries a status such as open, waiting or done, shows when a colleague is already replying, and keeps internal notes beside the thread instead of in a separate chat. The distinction people trip on is against a native shared mailbox in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Those give several people access to one address and stop there. No assignment, no status, no collision warning, and no way to answer who is handling this without asking out loud. That gap is why two people reply to the same customer, and closing it is the entire job of shared inbox software.
Shared inbox tools, and who each is for
Ordered from the heaviest to the lightest, with the free option in its honest place rather than left off.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|
Front The most capable rules engine here, with email, SMS and social in one place. Built and priced for teams past the small-team stage. | Mid-market customer operations across several channels | Per seat, tiered |
Help Scout Email that still looks like email, plus docs and mobile apps. Per-seat pricing is usually what decides against it below ten people. | Small to mid teams wanting a mature inbox and knowledge base | Per seat, tiered |
Missive Strong real-time collaboration, with internal chat threaded onto each conversation. A denser interface than the rest of this list. | Teams that want team chat and email in the same window | Per user, tiered |
Hiver Layers assignment and status onto the Gmail interface itself, so there is nothing new to learn. You inherit Gmail limits along with Gmail. | Teams that will not leave Gmail | Per user, tiered |
Google Workspace shared mailbox The zero-cost option, and the right one for a while. No assignment, no status, no collision detection: the coordination lives in your heads. | Two or three people who genuinely never collide | Included with Workspace |
AcornReply Assignment, status, and a reply already drafted in your voice on every message. Not built for multi-channel operations teams. | A team under about ten answering its own customer support email | Flat per workspace |
When you do not need any of this yet
A two-person team that never double-replies genuinely does not need shared inbox software. If support is a handful of emails a day and one person owns them, a plain Workspace or Microsoft 365 shared mailbox is free, already provisioned, and enough. The moment to buy is when the coordination costs you something real: a customer got two different answers, a message sat for a week because each of you assumed the other had it, or somebody has to ask in chat who is handling what. And if you are past about fifteen people or running several channels at once, look at Front rather than any of the lighter tools here, ours included.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a distribution list instead?
A distribution list copies a message to everybody, which is the opposite of shared ownership: five inboxes, five people each assuming somebody else replied, and no shared record of what was sent. It is fine for announcements. For anything a customer expects an answer to, use a shared mailbox at minimum, and shared inbox software once you start colliding.