Front alternatives: a shared inbox that knows the job
Short answer: If you are looking at Front alternatives, ask what your team does after reading a message. Front is a polished shared inbox for teams that handle a lot of customer email and messages, with assignment, comments, rules and analytics. Alori is the all-in-one app for service businesses: its shared inbox holds every text, email, call and website chat with a customer, right next to that customer's quotes, jobs and invoices.
Who Front fits well
Front is a strong fit when:
- A support, operations or account team handles a high volume of email and messages every day.
- You need advanced routing rules, workload balancing and inbox analytics.
- Your CRM, help desk and billing already live in other tools, and Front ties them together through integrations.
For teams whose main job is answering messages, Front is built for the work.
Why service owners look for alternatives
A service business answers customers too, but every message leads to work:
- The answer needs the job. "When is my technician coming?" or "Can you send the quote again?" means opening the schedule and the quote tool next to the inbox.
- Texts and calls matter as much as email. Customers text the office and call from the driveway, and those often sit on someone's phone.
- Another seat per person. Inbox tools are usually priced per seat, so owners only give access to the office, and the field team stays outside.
- Glue between tools. Every integration is one more thing to set up and keep working.
Side by side
| Front | Alori | |
|---|---|---|
| Main idea | A shared inbox for high-volume teams | An all-in-one app for a service business |
| Yes | Yes, with Gmail connected or from your business name | |
| Texts and calls | Through channels and integrations | Built in, with your business number |
| Website chat | Yes | Yes, with a bot that answers first and hands off |
| Assign and internal comments | Yes | Followed by a teammate, internal notes with @mentions |
| Advanced rules and analytics | Yes, a strength | Automations in plain words; response times for website chat and support email |
| Quotes, jobs, invoices | Through integrations | In the same app |
| Users | Per-seat plans | Unlimited users on every plan |
What Alori replaces, and what it does not
For a service business, Alori replaces the shared inbox and the tools it connects to:
- Conversations. Every text, email and website chat lands in one thread per customer, with calls and notes in order. Tabs show All, Needs you, Unread, Mine, Unassigned and Closed. A closed conversation comes back when the customer writes again.
- Who follows it. Pick the teammate in charge of each customer. It also sets the owner on the customer record.
- Internal notes. Pick Internal note, type @ and a name, and the teammate is told. The customer never sees it.
- Your private email stays private. Each person's Email page is their own. Share a thread with the team in one click, or turn on automatic sharing for emails with people already in your CRM.
- Faster replies. Email templates with the customer's name filled in, a signature for each person, and AI drafted replies in your voice that you check before sending.
- Calls and texts from your business number, with a phone menu, ring groups, recordings and voicemail written out.
- The work behind the message: customers, quotes, schedule, jobs and invoices, and Ask Alori to answer "who wrote this morning?".
- Tickets for team work. File a ticket from a customer's conversation, move it through your team's steps, and set response times per priority: a customer's ticket past its time turns red. The customer gets an email as it moves.
What it does not replace: Front's advanced routing rules, its full inbox analytics and its large integration catalog. Alori shows response times for website chat and support email, not every metric Front reports. If you run a large support team, Front is likely the better fit.
How to switch
- Describe your business. Alori builds the app with customers and Conversations.
- Connect Gmail. Each teammate connects their own Google account. Customer emails then leave from their address, and replies come back to Conversations.
- Set up texts and calls. Get a business number or bring your current one. Coming from Aircall? The Aircall import brings your phone setup and recordings.
- Bring your customers. Paste a list into Ask Alori, or use the HubSpot move. Turn on the website chat bubble in Front desk.
Start on the free plan, no card needed. See pricing.
FAQ
Is Alori a good Front alternative? Yes for service businesses that want texts, email, calls and website chat in one inbox tied to customers and jobs. For large support teams that need advanced routing and deep analytics, Front fits better.
Can my teammates keep their email private? Yes. Each person's Email page is private. Only replies to emails sent from Alori, and threads someone adds to a conversation, reach the team.
Who answers website chats? You choose: the bot answers first and hands off when it needs a person, you answer first with the bot as backup after 2 minutes, or only you, with the bot suggesting answers.
Who is Alori for? Service businesses such as plumbing, HVAC and cleaning companies.