A Front alternative for small support teams

Front can put support, sales, success, and operations around the same customer conversation. What if your team mainly needs to answer the support email? We’re building Pipp for that smaller job: a shared email inbox with thoughtful design, clear writing, and AI assistance. The non-AI core is free forever; AI is free during beta and paid afterward.

If that focus sounds right, reserve your spot on our waitlist for the email-first beta. Front’s wider customer operations scope remains a better fit when several departments and workflows depend on one platform.

The short answer

We’re building for founders and small teams who want to stay close to their customers. Shared email support and the everyday work of replying together sit at the center of Pipp.

Front is for teams that want customer conversations and operational workflows in the same platform. Front describes itself as a customer operations platform and markets the product to customer support, operations, inbound sales, account management, and customer success teams. That wider remit is useful when several teams, channels, and systems take part in the customer relationship.

Pipp and Front at a glance

Front facts and prices were checked against its official pages on September 23, 2026. See the sources below for current terms.

When Pipp is the useful alternative

We’re a fit when customer support is the whole job you need the tool to do. Your team shares a support address, wants to stay close to the people using the product, and would rather start with a focused inbox than configure a platform for several departments.

That is especially relevant for a founder, developer, or small support team that wants useful essentials and care in the details. A clear conversation, a considered reply, and a little less admin can matter more to that team than coordinating work across departments. Especially when all those departments are you.

Our non-AI core stays free forever. AI is free during beta and paid afterward. We haven’t set our post-beta AI price yet, so we can’t quote a total including paid AI.

When Front is the better fit

Keep Front, or put it first on your shortlist, if any of these describe your team:

• Support shares customer conversations with operations, sales, success, or account management.
• You need ticketing, rules, macros, analytics, a knowledge base, or structured assignments today.
• You need more than one channel type in the same plan. Front’s Professional and Enterprise plans cover omnichannel work.
• You rely on multiple workspaces, SSO, SCIM, custom roles, integrations, or enterprise controls.
• You already use Front’s AI, cross-team workflows, or personal and shared inbox model.

If a customer email regularly moves between support, logistics, account management, and sales, Front’s broader scope can earn its place.

What Front costs for a small team

Front lists three plans in US dollars at rates billed annually:

• Starter costs $25 per seat per month and supports up to 10 seats. It covers one channel type, with shared inboxes and basic reporting.
• Professional costs $65 per seat per month and supports up to 50 seats. It adds multiple channels, deeper reporting, and more workspace controls.
• Enterprise costs $105 per seat per month. It includes AI Copilot, Smart QA, and Smart CSAT.

Front says Starter and Professional have a one-license minimum. Its general trial lasts 14 days, uses the Professional plan with documented limits, and does not require a credit card. A trial is not a permanent free plan.

For a three-person team, the base subscription works out to:

These examples use Front’s displayed annual per-seat rates. They exclude taxes, AI add-ons, channel charges, onboarding, and any negotiated terms. Enterprise is omitted because Front asks teams to contact sales about its license minimum.

Front also lists AI Autopilot from $0.05 per conversation. Copilot and Smart QA each cost $20 per seat per month as add-ons below Enterprise. Smart CSAT costs $10 per seat per month below Enterprise. Your total depends on the plan and the AI or channel products you use.

Our non-AI core is free forever. We haven’t set our post-beta AI price or billing model yet, so we can’t quote a like-for-like total. Front also covers much more than our planned email-first release.

How the AI offers differ

Front sells several named AI products now. Its pricing page lists Autopilot, Copilot, Smart QA, and Smart CSAT, with a mix of per-conversation and per-seat charges. Some basic AI functions also appear in its plan comparison, while Enterprise includes several AI products in the base plan.

We’re building AI assistance into Pipp. The first beta may open before AI is enabled. Any AI offered during beta is free. AI becomes paid after beta, while the non-AI core remains free forever.

If Front’s named AI tools are part of your workflow, keep them in your comparison. If our focused direction appeals to you, reserve a spot and judge the assistance actually available when you try the beta.

What we plan next

We’re starting with email. Chat is one of the first features we plan to add after launch, alongside more AI assistance.

We want that same thoughtful experience to grow with the ways you support customers. We haven’t set release dates for those additions; v1 remains focused on email.

Can you migrate from Front to Pipp?

Not yet through a verified path. We don’t yet offer a verified Front importer, migration service, field mapping or cutover process.

Front says its support team can prepare an account export with shared-inbox conversations, messages, discussions, comments, and EML attachments. The export excludes individual-inbox history, contacts, templates, and tags. We haven’t verified that we can import that export.

Keep Front running while you evaluate Pipp’s beta. Conversation history, attachments, team context, and open requests all need a tested transfer path before a switch. We still need to test and document that coverage.

Questions about Pipp as a Front alternative

Is Pipp a full replacement for Front?

No. We’re building focused email support for small teams. We don’t offer Front’s current ticketing, channel, automation, analytics, knowledge, integration, AI, or cross-team operations breadth.

Is Pipp free forever?

Our core, non-AI inbox is free forever. AI features are free during beta and paid afterward. We haven’t set our post-beta AI price yet, and free doesn’t mean unlimited usage.

Does Front have a free plan?

Front does not list a general free plan. It offers a 14-day Professional trial with documented limits. Its displayed annual rates begin at $25 per seat per month for Starter.

Which channels will Pipp support?

We’re focusing v1 on email. Front Starter lets a team choose one channel type. Front Professional and Enterprise support multiple channel types. We plan to add chat after launch, but haven’t set a date.

When can I use Pipp?

We’re at the waitlist stage. We’ll test Pipp internally before inviting beta users. We haven’t set an invitation date. The first beta may open before AI is enabled.

Should I cancel Front before trying Pipp?

No. Keep your current support system running while you evaluate Pipp. We haven’t verified a Front-to-Pipp migration path or set an invitation date yet.

Want support software to stay about support?

Customer support can stay close to the people you help. If a dedicated email inbox is what your team needs, reserve your spot on the Pipp waitlist.

Core inbox: free forever. AI: free during beta, paid afterward.

Join the waitlist ↗

We do not have a confirmed invitation date to share yet.

Sources

We publish this comparison. Pipp is a product of Telesoft AG. Claims were checked on September 23, 2026. Front pricing and packaging may change.

• Front pricing and plan comparison
• Front plans, trial terms, currency, and license minimums
• Front account export contents and exclusions
• Front product scope and team use cases