A Missive alternative that ships AI drafts and a contact form out of the box.
Missive is the cleanest shared-inbox UX on the market. AcornReply trades some of that polish for two things Missive does not ship in the base product: AI drafts grounded in your FAQ, and a hosted contact form for customers who are not already in your inbox.
What Missive does well.
Missive's collaboration model is best-in-class: in-thread comments, shared drafts with cursor presence, rules without a steep learning curve, and a UI that feels like email. For teams whose support workflow is already 'we all live in one inbox together,' Missive is hard to beat. If that is you, stay with Missive.
Where AcornReply differs.
AI drafts are built in, not bolted on.
Missive markets 'not another AI sidebar' — and it is true: the AI is light-touch. AcornReply takes the opposite trade. AI drafts are the primary surface: every inbound message arrives with a draft already written, citing the FAQ articles it used. You read, edit, send.
A hosted contact form, ready to embed.
AcornReply ships a hosted contact form at your-slug.acornreply.com/contact, an inline iframe embed, and a JS chat snippet for the bottom-right of your site. Missive is inbound-channels-only; you bring your own contact form.
Per-workspace pricing instead of per-seat.
Missive's Starter tier is generous but caps at five users; the Productive and Business tiers are per-seat. AcornReply is flat per workspace at every paid tier.
Voice profile, not just inbox rules.
Pick a voice profile at onboarding; every reply you send quietly tunes it toward how your team actually writes. Missive will draft, but it does not learn your voice the same way.
Feature comparison.
| Feature | Missive | AcornReply |
|---|---|---|
Pricing model | Per seat (above 5) | Flat per workspace |
AI drafts | Light-touch sidebar | Built-in, FAQ-grounded |
Hosted contact form | Not included | Included on all paid tiers |
JS chat snippet | Not included | Included |
In-thread comments If team comments are your daily driver, Missive wins on this. | Yes | Not yet |
Mobile | Native + web | PWA only |
Pricing comparison.
Missive publishes plans on missiveapp.com/pricing. The Starter tier covers up to five users at a low monthly rate; Productive and Business tiers move to per-seat pricing. AcornReply Pro is $20 per workspace per month flat, no seat cap on the team size we are built for. At nine teammates, AcornReply is materially cheaper. At three teammates on Missive Starter, the math is closer — pick on features, not price.
Who should stay with Missive.
Missive is the better tool if your team collaborates in-thread (real-time comments, shared cursor drafts) more than they reply to customers, if you need rich inbound channel breadth (SMS, social, IM apps), or if you prefer Missive's lighter-touch AI to AcornReply's draft-first approach. If you live inside the inbox with your team, Missive is built for that. AcornReply is built around the draft.
Frequently asked questions
Why does AcornReply lean harder on AI drafts than Missive?
Different product opinions. Missive treats AI as an optional sidebar so the inbox stays unobtrusive. AcornReply treats AI as the primary draft layer so a solo founder or a small team can answer ten messages in the time it would otherwise take to write three. Both are valid; pick the one that matches how your team actually replies.
Does AcornReply support real-time collaboration on a draft?
No. Each draft has one editor (the assignee). Missive ships shared-cursor draft editing; AcornReply does not. Assignment is the source of truth — sending a reply claims any unassigned conversation, and only the assignee gets notified about new messages on it.
Can I use AcornReply for personal email like Missive?
No. AcornReply is a customer support inbox; the workspace model assumes your inbound traffic is customers, not personal mail. If you want a single tool that handles both, Missive is the right choice.
Is Missive cheaper than AcornReply for tiny teams?
At one or two users it can be. Missive Starter is free for small usage; AcornReply Free covers your first AI drafts and a monthly outbound cap. At three to nine teammates, AcornReply Pro is typically the lower number because it does not scale per seat.