Front
Gladly
| Feature | Front | Gladly |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $19/mo | From $180/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | customer-facing-teams, operations-teams, logistics-companies, professional-services | ecommerce-brands, luxury-retail, enterprise-support, customer-obsessed-teams |
| Founded | 2013 | 2014 |
| Shared Inboxes | ✓ | ✗ |
| Workflow Automation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Sla Management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Internal Comments | ✓ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel | ✓ | ✗ |
| Unified Conversation | ✗ | ✓ |
| Omnichannel Inbox | ✗ | ✓ |
| Voice Support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Service | ✗ | ✓ |
| Customer Timeline | ✗ | ✓ |
| Task Management | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Front Pros
- Unified inbox combining email, chat, SMS, social
- Excellent team collaboration with internal comments
- Powerful automation rules and SLA management
- Familiar email-like interface (low learning curve)
✗ Front Cons
- Expensive per-seat pricing especially at scale
- No free plan for small teams to try
- Can be overwhelming with high email volumes
✓ Gladly Pros
- Single conversation thread per customer
- Excellent omnichannel support
- Built-in voice and messaging
- Customer-first approach
✗ Gladly Cons
- Very expensive per agent
- Enterprise-focused
- Smaller marketplace of integrations
The Verdict
Front is built for customer facing teams and operations teams, with a focus on shared-inboxes and workflow-automation. Gladly targets ecommerce brands and luxury retail and leads with unified-conversation and omnichannel-inbox.
On pricing, Front is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $19/mo compared to $180/mo for Gladly. That $161/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Neither tool offers a free plan, so factor the subscription cost into your decision from the start.
Feature-wise, Front offers broader built-in capabilities (7 features vs 6), while Gladly takes a more focused approach — which can mean a simpler, faster onboarding experience.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.