Front vs Missive

AI that answers customers, or AI that drafts for agents

Front handles this better if you want automation facing the customer, because Missive doesn't offer it.

• Autopilot is Front's AI agent for customers. Front says it takes action in your systems through Playbooks you describe in plain language, with rules for when it acts and when it hands over to a person
• Copilot works on the agent side: it surfaces account context, suggests next steps and drafts replies. Enterprise includes it; on Starter and Professional it is the $20 add-on above
• Missive's AI Assistant reads threads and attachments, drafts replies in your team's tone, translates and summarizes. Missive states that nothing is sent until you approve it
• Missive's AI rules run on incoming messages to create tasks, escalate or alert. Rules, and so AI rules, need Productive

In our view, a team that writes its own replies loses little with Missive's approach. A team that wants a share of order-status questions answered without a person should be pricing Front, or another desk with a customer-facing agent.

Channels on the cheaper plans

Missive gives more channels for less, and Front's entry plan takes twice as many people.

• Front Starter is $25 a seat billed annually, up to 10 seats, and limited to one channel type. Social channels (Facebook, Instagram, X) and native WhatsApp start on Professional
• Missive Starter is $14 a seat billed annually and includes email, SMS and social accounts, but stops at 5 users and has no rules or integrations
• SMS on both runs through a provider you bring: Twilio or Dialpad on Front, and Twilio, Quo or Dialpad on Missive
• Neither has its own phone system. Both connect Aircall and Dialpad, on Front Professional and on Missive Productive
• Shopify: both show a customer's orders beside the conversation. Missive's integration needs Productive and asks only for read access to customers and orders; Front's page describes order, refund and address data displayed in Front. Neither page describes editing or refunding an order from the inbox

Help center, reporting and quality

Front handles this better, and it is the main thing the extra $41 a seat buys.

• Front includes a basic public knowledge base on Starter, a customizable one on Professional and a multi-language one on Enterprise. Missive has no customer-facing knowledge base or portal
• Front's analytics go from basic on Starter to advanced on Professional and custom reports on Enterprise. Smart CSAT infers satisfaction without surveys, and Smart QA scores conversations with AI scorecards; Enterprise includes both
• Missive's analytics need Productive and cover first reply time, reply time, handle time, volume and labels across five reports. Filtering by user, team or label is Business only, and there are no CSAT surveys or QA scoring

If your support lead reports CSAT upward every month, Missive leaves you building that outside the help desk.

Getting your data out

Missive handles this better.

• In Missive, you go to Settings, then Login & Security, and export conversations, comments, contacts, email addresses, phone numbers, responses or rules. Conversations come as JSON with attachments beside each message, one export per type per day
• In Front, you ask its support team for an export, including the line "Account data export request for" and your company name. You need company admin permission, Front acknowledges within 72 hours, and files arrive once the export is done
• Front's export covers shared inboxes, with their comments and attachments. It leaves out individual inboxes, contact data, message templates and tags

This won't come up in the first month. It decides how hard switching is later, and Missive publishes a migration guide for teams moving off Front.

How we checked this

• Checked 2026-10-29. Prices are the plan figures on file from each vendor's pricing page; Missive's billed-monthly prices and 5-user Starter limit come from its billing and plans page, and Front's Autopilot rates from its help center.