5 Best Front Alternatives for B2B Support Teams in 2024
Front is excellent for shared email inboxes, but B2B companies often need a more direct way to support entire customer teams.
Fogbender Team
Founder, Fogbender
Front changed how teams manage shared email addresses like support@ or sales@. It brought internal collaboration to the inbox. However, as B2B companies scale, they often find that email-based collaboration creates silos. When you sell to teams rather than individuals, a shared inbox can sometimes feel like a barrier rather than a bridge. This list explores alternatives that range from team-to-team messaging to traditional enterprise ticketing.
First, what is Front?
Best for: Teams that primarily manage high volumes of shared email and need internal collaboration before replying.
Strengths
- Consolidates email, SMS, and social media into one view
- Strong internal commenting features on top of email threads
- Robust automation rules and workflow triggers
Where it falls short
- Fundamentally built on individual-to-individual email architecture
- Pricing can become expensive for large teams
- Does not provide a native way for customer teams to see each other's history
The top alternatives
- #1Top pick
Fogbender: The Team-to-Team Messaging Alternative
Fogbender is designed specifically for B2B vendors who support other teams. While Front focuses on the inbox, Fogbender focuses on the account. It provides an embedded widget where everyone on the customer's team can see active issues, search historical discussions, and collaborate with the vendor in real-time without needing to manage a messy web of CC'd emails or shared Slack channels.
- Embedded team-to-team messaging widget for your customer dashboard
- No-authentication access for customers via secure JWT
- Account-wide visibility so any customer employee can see their team's history
- Eliminates the need for 'unofficial' shared Slack channels
- Centralized search for all historical discussions within a specific account
Side-by-side comparison
| Category | Fogbender | Front | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Interface | Embedded Team Widget | Shared Email Inbox | Neck-and-neck |
| Customer Access | Team-wide (No login required) | Individual (Email-based) | Stronger |
| B2B Account Context | Native Account-to-Account | Contact-to-Contact | Stronger |
| Internal Collaboration | Built-in Chat |
Frequently asked questions
Is Fogbender a direct replacement for Front?
It depends on your workflow. If you primarily manage support via email, Front is better. If you want to move support inside your product and support customer teams as a whole, Fogbender is the better fit.
Can I use Fogbender alongside my existing help desk?
Yes, many B2B companies use Fogbender for high-touch customer teams while keeping a traditional help desk for general inquiries.
Stop managing customer teams through individual emails.
Give your B2B customers a shared space to get help and see their history.
Explore Fogbender