Front vs Missive: why Helium switched our collaborative email tool

We used to use an app called Front for our shared email inboxes. In fact, we used it for nearly 10 years. And to be fair, it was revolutionary for us at the time.

Back when we first started using Front, the idea of a shared inbox was totally foreign to us. We didn't know email could be anything but a relic of the early internet age.

The ability to comment on email threads, assign emails to teammates, and have full visibility into customer communication was a game changer. It helped our team move faster, collaborate more naturally, and stay on top of conversations without stepping on each other’s toes.

But over time, something started to feel… off.

Pricing That Never Fit

Front always felt like it was built for someone else.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a polished product with thoughtful features. But as a small, bootstrapped team, we constantly felt like we were stretching to justify the price. Plans kept getting more expensive, and the structure of their pricing tiers seemed more aligned with VC-backed companies with 50+ seats than with lean, intentional teams like ours.

We paid for features we didn’t need, had to upgrade just to get access to basic tools, and often found ourselves asking, “Why are we still paying this much?”

Discovering Missive

That question led us to look for alternatives, and we’re glad we did.

We landed on Missive—and it was almost immediately obvious that it checked all the right boxes.

☝ Yes, that's a referral link. We'll receive a credit on our bill if you sign up using our link.

Missive offered everything we needed:
✅ Shared inboxes
✅ Chat-style commenting on emails
✅ Assignments
✅ Rules/Automations
✅ Integrations
✅ Multi-account management
✅ Fast, clean UI

And it came at a fraction of the cost.

Even better? After digging into their company story, we learned they were a bootstrapped team, just like us. That matters. You can feel the difference when a team builds a product they themselves use and pay attention to the people actually using it.

Why this matters

If you're a bootstrapped team like us— not a VC-backed powerhouse with cash to burn— then Missive just makes sense.

You get the same powerful collaboration tools Front pioneered, but without the pricing model that assumes you’re burning investor money.

We’ve been using Missive for over two years now, and it’s been a seamless transition. The support is excellent. The pace of development is solid. And we’ve saved thousands.

If you're in a similar boat, we highly recommend trying Missive.

Feature and Pricing Comparison

Final Thoughts

We’re not trying to throw shade at Front. It was genuinely a fantastic product for us for a long time. But sometimes, outgrowing a tool isn’t about the tool getting worse—it’s about your needs becoming more defined.

Missive respects those needs.
Missive gets bootstrappers.
Missive is what we wish Front had been all along.

👉 Try Missive here and get started with collaborative inboxes.