Blog ComparisonsTop 10 Hiver Alternatives for Modern Customer Support (2026)
Top 10 Hiver Alternatives for Modern Customer Support (2026)
Drowning in messy Gmail threads and hitting Hiver’s limits as you scale? This guide spotlights the best 2025 alternatives that keep the shared-inbox simplicity while adding automation, multi-channel support, and scalability.
Managing customer support inside Gmail might seem convenient at first - until you start drowning in long threads, missed emails, and clunky collaboration.
Hiver helps organize shared inboxes, but it’s limited to Gmail and lacks modern support essentials like AI automation, live chat, and omnichannel communication. As your team grows, those limits start to hurt, and the costs climb quickly.
The good news? There are plenty of powerful and affordable Hiver alternatives that combine the same simplicity with more automation, better collaboration, and stronger scalability. Let’s break down the best ones in 2025. 👇
TL;DR – The best Hiver alternatives for 2025
- ✨ Featurebase – Best modern Hiver alternative for omnichannel AI support
- Front – Best for teams managing multi-channel support from one shared inbox
- Drag – Best simple Gmail-based tool for small teams
- Help Scout – Best email-first helpdesk with live chat & docs
- BoldDesk – Best AI-powered ticketing & automation platform
- Zendesk – Best for large teams needing enterprise-grade ticketing
- Gmelius – Best lightweight Gmail helpdesk alternative to Hiver
- Intercom – Best for conversational, AI-powered customer engagement
- Freshdesk – Best affordable omnichannel helpdesk with strong automations
- Crisp – Best for startups needing affordable chat, automation & shared inbox
What is Hiver?
Hiver is a customer service platform that turns your regular email inbox (like support@ or sales@) into a shared workspace for your support team. It adds features such as email assignments, internal notes, and automation rules, letting you manage customer conversations without ever leaving your email inbox.
The tool is especially popular among teams already using Google Workspace or Outlook who want to improve collaboration and visibility without switching to a full help desk software.
It’s simple to adopt, especially for teams already using Google Workspace, but that simplicity comes at a cost.
Why look for a Hiver alternative?
While Hiver can be great for email-based teams, it quickly shows its limits when your support expands to live chat, slack, and other channels. Here are the main reasons companies look for alternatives:
- Limited to email – Hiver doesn’t support live chat, Slack, WhatsApp, or social channels, which makes it hard to manage modern multichannel support
- No AI automation – Manual tagging, triaging, and routing waste time that could be saved with AI
- Expensive at scale – Pricing jumps fast as you add users or mailboxes
- Basic analytics – Lacks deeper reporting and customer insights that other tools offer
- Limited customization – You can’t easily tailor workflows, ticket statuses, or automations
If those pain points sound familiar, here are the top 10 Hiver alternatives that help you scale support without losing simplicity. 👇
Top 10 Hiver Alternatives for Customer Support in 2025
1. Featurebase ✨
Featurebase is a modern Hiver alternative that combines AI-powered support, help center, feedback collection, surveys, and product updates into a single platform for SaaS and B2B teams. It’s built for startups that want all their customer-facing tools in one place and is loved by thousands of support teams from companies like Lovable, Raycast, and n8n. 💫
Top features:
- Unified inbox – Manage email, live chat, and Slack conversations from one AI-enhanced view
- AI agent & automations – Automate tasks like extending trials, processing refunds, and qualifying leads
- Messenger widget – Deliver AI and human support in-app or on your website
- AI-powered Help Center – Provide multilingual self-serve answers, powered by your own content
- Mobile app – Respond to customers and manage support on the go
- Feedback portal & roadmaps – Collect user requests and close the loop with automatic emails
- Product updates – Share release notes via in-app widgets and automatic emails
- Embedded surveys – Run NPS, CSAT, or custom surveys based on user behavior
- Integrations – Connects seamlessly with Slack, Jira, HubSpot, Linear, and more
How it’s better than Hiver: Unlike Hiver, which is limited to Gmail and email workflows, Featurebase replaces multiple tools by combining live chat, email, feedback, and documentation into one unified platform. It also brings in AI-powered automation, a mobile app, and a full help center - none of which Hiver offers.
Pricing: Featurebase offers a Free plan. Paid plans start at a $29/user/month + $0.29 per AI resolution. The onboarding is super fast, and doesn't require a credit card, so there's no downside to trying it. 👇
✨ Automate your support with the fastest AI-enhanced inbox today →
2. Front
Front transforms the shared inbox experience by combining email, chat, and SMS into one collaborative customer support platform. It feels like Gmail but adds powerful automation and visibility across your entire support team, making it a popular upgrade for companies outgrowing Hiver.
Top features:
- Unified inbox for email, chat, and social messages
- Internal notes, tagging, and shared drafts for team collaboration
- Automated routing and automation rules for smart routing
- Detailed analytics for response times and team productivity
- Integrations with CRMs, project management, and collaboration tools like Slack
How it’s better than Hiver: While Hiver locks you into Google Workspace, Front offers true multi-channel support with seamless customer communication across multiple platforms. It’s ideal for customer support teams that collaborate heavily and need more visibility across all customer conversations.
Pricing: Starts at $25/user/month for the Starter plan, with a free trial available.
3. Drag
Drag is one of the simplest Hiver alternatives, designed for teams that want to manage shared inboxes directly inside Gmail - but with a cleaner, more visual approach. It turns your Gmail accounts into Kanban-style boards so you can assign, tag, and track support tickets like tasks.
Top features:
- Gmail integration with Kanban-style task boards
- Shared inboxes and automation rules
- Email assignments, statuses, and internal notes
- Analytics dashboard for team workflow insights
How it’s better than Hiver: Drag focuses on visual organization and cost effective simplicity. While it doesn’t add multiple channels, it’s easier to set up and cheaper than Hiver, making it a perfect fit for small businesses that manage most customer interactions via Gmail.
Pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $12/agent/month.
4. Help Scout
Help Scout is a modern shared inbox built for teams that want a lightweight tool with a human touch. It combines email, live chat, and a knowledge base into one clean interface that feels like Gmail - but adds the advanced features of a real help desk.
Top features:
- Shared inbox with collision detection and internal notes
- Beacon live chat widget connected to your knowledge base
- Branded docs with self-service options
- Automation workflows and CSAT reporting
- Performance dashboards and reporting tools
How it’s better than Hiver: Help Scout expands beyond Gmail with a built-in knowledge base, live chat, and stronger automation rules. It’s ideal for support teams that want seamless collaboration and a simple learning curve without expensive higher tier plans.
Pricing: Starts at $25/user/month with a 15-day free trial.
5. BoldDesk
BoldDesk is a full-featured customer support platform that helps teams manage support tickets across multiple communication channels - not just email. It offers a ticketing system, AI capabilities, and advanced automation to help support agents deliver faster, more efficient resolutions.
Top features:
- Omnichannel inbox for email, chat, WhatsApp, and social media
- AI Copilot for faster replies and ticket summaries
- AI Agents to automate repetitive tasks
- Built-in knowledge base and self-service options
- SLA tracking and workflow automation
- Advanced analytics and multilingual support
How it’s better than Hiver:
While Hiver focuses solely on Gmail, BoldDesk handles multi-channel support and deeper automation. It’s great for teams that need advanced tools and a transparent pricing structure to scale efficiently.
Pricing: Starts at $12/agent/month for the Scale plan. AI features start at $25/agent/month. Free trials available.
6. Zendesk
Zendesk is one of the most established help desk solutions for larger teams handling high-volume customer conversations. It’s known for its advanced analytics, automation, and omnichannel support across email, chat, voice, and social.
Top features:
- Omnichannel ticketing with some social media integrations
- SLAs, workflows, and smart routing
- AI Answer Bot for quick resolutions
- Reporting dashboards and CSAT tracking
- Knowledge base with multi-brand support
- Massive ecosystem of productivity tools and integrations
How it’s better than Hiver: Zendesk offers a full help desk experience instead of an email add-on. It’s ideal for support teams that handle complex customer service operations and want multi brand support or advanced automation capabilities.
Pricing: Starts at $55/agent/month for Suite Team.
7. Gmelius
Gmelius is a Gmail-based shared inbox that turns your inbox into a collaborative workspace for managing customer communication. It’s one of the most popular Hiver alternatives among teams using Google Workspace.
Top features:
- Shared inbox and assign emails for better team collaboration
- Workflow automation and templates
- Email tracking and analytics
- Real-time collaboration with private notes and shared tags
- Integrations with Slack, Trello, and Asana
How it’s better than Hiver:
Gmelius gives Gmail users more flexibility to manage shared inboxes and tag tickets at a granular level. It also supports seamless collaboration and offers a smoother learning curve compared to other collaboration tools.
Pricing: Starts at $24/agent/month with a 7-day free trial.
8. Intercom
Intercom combines human and AI-driven customer communication to help support teams engage users in real time. It’s one of the best Hiver alternatives for conversational, AI-first support.
Top features:
- Fin AI bot for instant, automated replies
- AI Copilot to help human agents respond faster
- Proactive messaging and in-app tours
- Unified inbox for chat, email, and social
- Help Center with privacy controls
- Workflow builder and CRM integrations
How it’s better than Hiver:
Intercom focuses on customer engagement rather than static email workflows. Its AI capabilities and omnichannel support make it ideal for scaling customer conversations beyond Gmail.
Pricing: Starts at $39/user/month, plus AI usage fees. Free trials available.
9. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a modern help desk designed for small businesses and support teams looking for automation and scalability. It combines essential features like ticketing and SLAs with AI capabilities and multi-channel support.
Top features:
- Omnichannel ticketing for email, chat, phone calls, and social
- Freddy AI for triage, sentiment analysis, and automation
- Scenario automations and SLA tracking
- Multilingual knowledge base and self-service options
- 700+ integrations for CRMs and messaging apps
How it’s better than Hiver: Freshdesk offers a full help desk software experience with advanced automation that saves time on repetitive tasks. It’s a flexible, cost-effective solution with free plans and predictable pricing tiers.
Pricing: Freshdesk's pricing comes with a Free plan. Paid plans start at $15/agent/month.
10. Crisp
Crisp is a modern, startup-friendly help desk alternative that combines live chat, chatbots, and a shared inbox into one simple platform. It’s designed for support teams that value instant, human-like customer interaction and seamless integration with multiple channels.
Top features:
- Shared inbox for chat, email, and social
- Built-in chatbot automation
- Multilingual knowledge base
- Contact timeline with conversation history and past interactions
- Video calls and screen sharing
How it’s better than Hiver: Crisp brings multi-channel support and real-time communication that Hiver lacks. It’s easy to use, affordable, and perfect for small businesses that want to scale customer conversations quickly.
Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $45/month per workspace.
Final verdict
Hiver works well for email-based teams, but it’s limited once you need multiple channels, automation, or AI support. Today, customer support is all about speed, context, and automation - and Hiver’s email-only setup can’t keep up.
Featurebase is the best overall Hiver alternative for modern AI-powered support. It combines AI automation, omnichannel ticketing, help center, and feedback tools in one platform - all at a flat, transparent price. Unlike Hiver, Featurebase includes a mobile app, AI automations, and more.
What’s best is that it comes with a Free plan and 1-click import from other tools, so there’s no downside to trying it out. 👇
✨ Automate your customer support with the fastest AI omnichannel inbox today →
