Front is a shared inbox and ticketing tool built for teams that live in email, such as logistics, travel and B2B services. Plans cost US$25, US$65 and US$105 per seat per month on annual billing. Copilot adds US$20 per seat below Enterprise, and the Autopilot AI agent is charged per conversation by what it achieved: US$0.05 to triage, US$0.39 to hand off and US$0.89 to resolve.
Bottom line
- Best for: Small and mid-size operations and account teams that work mainly in email
- Not for: Teams that need a phone channel, a non-English agent interface, or refunds if plans change
- Price from: US$25 per agent per month
- The catch: Seat caps push growing teams up a tier: Starter stops at 10 seats and Professional at 50, beyond which Enterprise is the only option at US$105 per seat, annual only. Payments are non-refundable and removed seats keep being billed until the next term.
Score breakdown
Front scores 6.8 out of 10 on rubric v1.0. The rubric rates list prices and public documentation, not hands-on performance.
From US$100 to under US$150 per agent per month. Computed: US$130 per agent per month at 10 agents.
Plan prices are public, but the AI or usage prices, or a material fee, are not.
Everything in level 4, plus a published statement on whether customer data trains AI models and which AI sub-processors are used.
Self-serve trial with no mandatory fees; no free plan and no documented import tool.
Email, live chat and a help centre, plus native phone or native messaging (WhatsApp, SMS or social).
A data processing agreement, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and EU data hosting that is limited to higher plans, a paid add-on or a sales request.
Strengths
- A clean shared-inbox model that suits email-heavy teams, with a 14-day trial that needs no credit card.
- Autopilot is priced by outcome and a full resolution costs US$0.89; there is no charge when a teammate cancels it, the customer asks for a person, or Front has a technical failure.
- Enterprise includes Copilot, Smart QA and Smart CSAT in the seat price.
- EEA data hosting is available with no plan restriction or surcharge documented.
- The pricing page names the AI providers (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI and AWS) and says they may not train foundation models on your data.
Weaknesses
- Starter supports only one channel type (email, chat or SMS) and is capped at 10 seats.
- No native phone channel; voice and SMS need Aircall, Dialpad or Twilio.
- The agent interface is officially English only, and Autopilot officially supports English only.
- Payments are non-refundable, and removing a seat takes effect only at the next contract term with no credit.
- An onboarding package is required on contracts over US$25,000, and its price is not published.
Pricing
Front sells three plans per seat: Starter at US$25, Professional at US$65 and Enterprise at US$105 per seat per month on annual billing. Monthly billing costs US$35 and US$85, and Enterprise is annual only. Plans apply to the whole company, so you cannot mix them. AI costs extra below Enterprise: Copilot is US$20 per seat, Smart QA US$20 and Smart CSAT US$10, or US$25 for both. Autopilot is billed monthly on actual use on every plan, with no documented minimum. Native WhatsApp adds a 20% admin fee on top of Meta's charges. Contracts over US$25,000 must include a paid onboarding package whose price is not public, and Front sells only in US dollars.
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Key limits and included AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | US$25 per agent per month | US$35 per agent per month | Up to 10 seats, one channel type, 10 automation rules, one workspace and a basic knowledge base. AI compose, translate and summarise up to 200 times per teammate a day; Copilot and Autopilot are add-ons. |
| Professional | US$65 per agent per month | US$85 per agent per month | Up to 50 seats, all channels including social and WhatsApp, 20 rules, 5 workspaces, advanced analytics and SSO. Same built-in AI as Starter; Copilot and Autopilot are add-ons. |
| Enterprise | US$105 per agent per month | — | Annual billing only, sold through sales. Unlimited rules and workspaces, custom roles, a multi-language knowledge base and custom reports. Copilot, Smart QA and Smart CSAT included; Autopilot is billed on use. |
AI and paid add-ons
| Add-on | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot (Starter and Professional; included in Enterprise) | US$20 per agent per month | Source |
| Autopilot: resolution | US$0.89 per conversation | Source |
| Autopilot: handoff | US$0.39 per conversation | Source |
| Autopilot: triage | US$0.05 per conversation | Source |
| Smart QA (included in Enterprise) | US$20 per agent per month | Source |
| Smart CSAT (included in Enterprise) | US$10 per agent per month | Source |
| Smart QA + Smart CSAT bundle | US$25 per agent per month | Source |
| API rate limit increase (per extra 100 requests a minute) | US$200 per month | Source |
True cost at 3, 10 and 50 agents
| Plan | Seats and plan | Agent-assist add-on | AI resolutions | Monthly total | per agent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 agents · Entry tier | Starter | US$75 | US$60 | US$134 | US$269 | US$90 |
| 10 agents · Mid tier | Professional | US$650 | US$200 | US$445 | US$1,295 | US$130 |
| 50 agents · Mid tier | Professional | US$3,250 | US$1,000 | US$2,225 | US$6,475 | US$130 |
Front: entry tier is Starter (up to 10 seats), mid tier is Professional (up to 50 seats), top tier is Enterprise, annual only with Copilot included. Copilot costs US$20 per seat on Starter and Professional. AI resolutions are billed at US$0.89 each; triage and handoff conversations are not counted. Front pricing explained · Help desk true-cost calculator
AI features and how they are billed
Front has three layers of AI. Compose, translate, summarise and topic tagging come with every plan, capped at 200 uses per teammate a day. Copilot, which drafts replies from past conversations and help content, costs US$20 per seat on Starter and Professional and is included in Enterprise; Front does not say whether it must be bought for every seat. Autopilot, the AI agent, is charged per conversation at the highest level it reaches: US$0.05 for triage (tagging and routing), US$0.39 for a planned handoff to a person and US$0.89 for a full resolution. The pricing page shows only the triage rate as the "starting at" price. A conversation counts as resolved when no teammate replies within 24 hours on chat or 72 hours on email, so a customer who gives up quietly still counts as a resolution. Autopilot has its own 30-day trial covering up to 1,000 resolutions. It replaced AI Answers, which cost US$0.70 per resolution and is no longer sold.
Key facts
- Vendor
- FrontApp
- Founded
- 2013
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, United States
- Pricing model
- Per seat, plus AI usage
- Price from
- US$25 per agent per month
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- Yes
- Mandatory extra fees
- No
- Channels
- Email, Live chat, WhatsApp, Social messaging
- Agent interface languages
- 1 languages · German: No · Spanish: No
- EU data hosting
- Yes
- UK data hosting
- No
- HIPAA (BAA available)
- No
- Certifications
- SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001
- Integrations
- Aircall, Dialpad, Twilio, Slack, Intercom
- Named customers
- Uber Freight, Echo Global Logistics, GLT Logistics, Gattinoni, Mixam, Essentialist, Boundless
Data hosting and compliance
Front hosts data on AWS in the US or the EEA; you choose the region by contacting your account representative or support, and its policy allows some processing outside the chosen region. There is no UK region, and Front's data processing addendum states that the service is not designed to comply with HIPAA. Front states SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certification, names OpenAI, Azure OpenAI and AWS as AI providers, and says your data may train a model specific to your account but not the providers' foundation models. Front publishes a data processing addendum with standard contractual clauses for EU and UK transfers, and a list of sub-processors.
Vendor claims vs named-customer figures
| Figure | What it measures | Who says so | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 428% | Average return on investment claimed on Front's pricing page | Front — Vendor claim | Source |
| 60% | How much faster Mixam replies "with Front AI", from a tile on Front's pricing page | Mixam — Named customer, published by the vendor | Source |
| 50% | How much faster Uber Freight replies to emails, from Front's customer index | Uber Freight — Named customer, published by the vendor | Source |
| 83% | Improvement in GLT Logistics' response times, from Front's customer index | GLT Logistics — Named customer, published by the vendor | Source |
| 1,000 | Hours Echo Global Logistics says it saved, from Front's customer index | Echo Global Logistics — Named customer, published by the vendor | Source |
| US$31,740 | Median yearly contract value across Vendr's Front purchases | Vendr — Independent third party | Source |
| 14.3% | Average saving off list price Vendr reports for Front purchases | Vendr — Independent third party | Source |
| 3–7% | Yearly price escalators Vendr flags as common in Front contracts | Vendr — Independent third party | Source |
Front's customer figures are headlines from its own site, with no full case study or named spokesperson behind them, and none of them measures Autopilot's resolution rate. The Vendr data is the most useful for buyers: it shows a median contract well above a small team's list price and flags yearly escalators, though its commentary still refers to Front's older plan names.
Verdict
Front suits an operations or account team of up to 50 people that handles most of its work in email and wants AI priced by outcome. Its weak points are commercial rather than technical: hard seat caps, no refunds, no mid-term seat reductions, an English-only interface and required onboarding on larger contracts. Teams that need phone support or a help desk in German or Spanish should look elsewhere; compare it with Help Scout and read help desk vs shared inbox.
Related pages
- Front pricing explainedpricing
- Help Scout vs Frontvs
- Best help desk softwarebest list
- Best help desk software for small businessbest list
- Best help desk for ecommercebest list
Frequently asked questions
How much does Front cost?
Front costs US$25 (Starter), US$65 (Professional) and US$105 (Enterprise) per seat per month on annual billing. Monthly billing costs US$35 and US$85; Enterprise is annual only. Copilot adds US$20 per seat below Enterprise. See Front pricing.
How is Front's Autopilot AI agent billed?
Per conversation, at the highest level Autopilot reached: US$0.05 for triage, US$0.39 for a handoff and US$0.89 for a resolution. A resolution means no teammate followed up within 24 hours on chat or 72 hours on email. There is no charge if a teammate cancels the automation or the customer asks for a person. See per-seat vs per-resolution pricing.
Can I reduce seats or get a refund on Front?
No. Payments are non-refundable, including on early termination. You can add seats at any time at a pro-rated charge, but a removed seat stays billed until the next contract term, with no credit.
Is Front available in German or Spanish?
No. Front says its interface is officially available in English only, and Autopilot officially supports English only. AI Translate can translate messages, and Enterprise adds a multi-language knowledge base.
Is Front a help desk or a shared inbox?
Both, leaning towards shared inbox: it is built around team email, with chat, a knowledge base and ticket-style workflows added on. It has no native phone channel. If you are unsure which you need, read help desk vs shared inbox or compare the best help desk software.
Sources
- Front pricing — Front · 18 September 2026
- Front plans and pricing — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Adding and removing licenses — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Guests in Front — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Channel limits per license — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Autopilot pricing and billing — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- AI Answers (legacy) — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Meet Autopilot, the AI agent built for control, not chaos — Front Community · 18 September 2026
- Switch to French? (staff answer on interface languages) — Front Community · 18 September 2026
- Data location — Front Help Center · 18 September 2026
- Data Processing Addendum — Front · 18 September 2026
- List of subprocessors — Front · 18 September 2026
- Security at Front — Front · 18 September 2026
- Rate limiting — Front Developers · 18 September 2026
- About Front — Front · 18 September 2026
- Front customers — Front · 18 September 2026
- Front pricing and buyer data — Vendr · 18 September 2026
This page was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed on it. We have not run hands-on tests of these products. Method: How we review