Help Desk vs Shared Inbox: Choose by Workflow
Choose a shared inbox or help desk by ownership, escalation, SLA needs and reporting. Use a practical trial checklist before moving.
Start with Hiver when the team wants to stay inside Gmail. Compare Missive when it wants explicit tasks alongside customer conversations, and Help Scout when preventing a stale reply is the central problem. Front belongs on the shortlist when customer work crosses several internal teams.
Does collision detection actually stop a duplicate reply?
A typing indicator tells an agent that another person is present. Help Scout documents a send-time pause when the conversation has changed. These are different protections. Test with two agents composing a reply, then send one message before the second agent clicks Send.
Can a promised update have its own deadline?
Missive has assigned Tasks with due dates. Hiver documents follow-up date fields and date-driven workflows. Help Scout can snooze an assigned conversation until a chosen time; Front has dated tasks and overdue behavior. A next-response SLA is a separate clock and cannot replace a promise such as “I will update you tomorrow afternoon.”
Which plan covers five people and early warnings?
Hiver’s documented due-soon SLA warnings require Elite: five annual seats are $425 per month equivalent. Five Missive Productive seats are $120 per month equivalent annually. Those figures cover different workflows; compare each required reminder and permission rather than treating the lower total as a complete feature match.
Turn the requirements into a trial
- Two agents draft at once; provoke a stale reply.
- Send an acknowledgement, then leave a promised Friday update pending; response SLA and one-off promise must remain separate.
- Leave an urgent unassigned message and show owner/backup alerts.
Compare the products, plan qualifiers and sources · Customer support software