10 Best Hiver Alternatives & Competitors in 2026 (by Use Case)

Key takeaways

Hiver turns a shared mailbox into a support desk, either inside Gmail or, as Hiver Omni, as a standalone platform for email, live chat, Slack, voice, WhatsApp and social. G2 rates it 4.6. The tension is the price ladder. Hiver’s plans run from $25 to $55 to $85 per user a month, and SLAs, CSAT surveys, the customer portal and the API all start at the middle tier. We compared 10 tools that replace Hiver’s core job, a team inbox with assignment, notes and AI, and checked every pricing page and G2 profile in October 2026. Tidio sits first because it fits chat-first small and mid-sized teams, and Hiver is the better pick if your whole team lives in Gmail. Each entry names where that tool falls short of Hiver too.

Why teams look for a Hiver alternative

Hiver does several things well. Its AI Agents and AI Copilot come with every plan, it alerts agents in real time so two people don’t answer the same email, and its pricing page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA compliance, plus free migration help. If your support runs on email inside Google Workspace and your team is small, you should probably stay.

Older guides, including the previous edition of this one, call Hiver a Gmail-only tool with no knowledge base. That is out of date. Hiver now sells two products: Hiver in Gmail, which lives inside your mailbox, and Hiver Omni, a standalone platform that works with Gmail, Outlook and other providers and adds live chat, Slack, voice, WhatsApp and social channels. Most teams that leave do so for one of four reasons, all visible on Hiver’s pricing page (checked October 2026):

1. The price steps up by tier. Growth is $25 per user a month billed annually ($35 monthly), Pro is $55 ($65) and Elite is $85 ($95). SLAs, CSAT surveys, the customer portal, a Slack channel, API access and integrations such as Shopify and CRMs start at Pro. Skill-based routing, AI QA and SSO start at Elite.
2. Seats move in steps. Every plan starts at 2 seats, then goes to 5, then grows in increments of 5. The page shows a 7-day trial of Elite, and we found no free plan on the visible page, so a small team pays from the first seat.
3. Voice costs extra. The voice add-on is $30 per voice seat a month with 1,000 pooled minutes per seat, then $0.03 a minute.
4. AI has no usage price on the page. AI Agents are listed on all plans, but we could not find what they cost per resolution or per conversation. Ask sales before you plan around them.

Your reason decides where to look. Staying inside Gmail points to Drag or Gmelius, a chat-first desk to Tidio, a collaboration-first inbox to Front or Missive, and ticketing depth to Freshdesk, Zendesk, HubSpot or Zoho Desk.

Hiver alternatives at a glance

Short answer: Tidio for chat-first small and mid-sized teams, Drag or Gmelius to keep working inside Gmail, Front or Missive for a collaboration-first inbox, Help Scout for a simple email-first help desk, and Freshdesk, Zendesk, HubSpot Service Hub or Zoho Desk for ticketing depth.

Tool	Best for	Starting price (billing basis)	Free plan / trial	G2 rating
Tidio	Chat-first small and mid-sized teams, including online stores	$24.17/mo billed annually ($29 monthly), flat for up to 10 seats	Free plan · 7-day trial	4.6
Help Scout	Small, email-first teams that want a simple help desk	$25/user/mo billed annually, plus $0.75 per AI resolution	Free for 5 users · 15-day trial	4.4
Front	Teams that run support from shared inboxes across channels	Starter $25/seat/mo billed annually ($35 monthly), up to 10 seats	14-day trial	4.7
Missive	Inbox plus team chat and tasks on a budget	Starter $14/user/mo billed yearly ($18 monthly), up to 5 users	30-day trial	4.7
Drag	Teams that want a kanban-style inbox inside Gmail	Starter $12/user/mo billed yearly ($16 monthly)	7-day trial	4.5
Gmelius	Google Workspace teams that want AI assistants in Gmail	Growth $25/user/mo billed yearly ($33 monthly) for shared inboxes	7-day trial	4.4
Freshdesk	A help desk with public per-agent prices	Growth $19/agent/mo billed annually	Free trial	4.4
Zendesk	Larger teams with SLAs, routing and many channels	Support Team $19/agent/mo billed annually (email and tickets)	Free trial	4.3
HubSpot Service Hub	Support tied to CRM records	Starter $7/seat/mo billed annually ($20 monthly)	Free for 2 users	4.4
Zoho Desk	Low per-agent prices and a free email plan	Express $7/user/mo billed annually	Free plan, 3 users · free trial	4.4

How we evaluated these alternatives

We started from the tools that rank for this search, the ones AI answers name when people ask about Hiver, and the previous edition of this article. We kept 10 that replace a team inbox with assignment, notes and AI, and left out chatbot builders, sunset products and anything we couldn’t price from the vendor’s own page. Four criteria map to why teams leave Hiver:

1. Price ladder. What the entry plan buys, and which plan adds SLAs, reports and integrations.
2. AI billing. What triggers a charge for the AI agent, and what is included.
3. Channels and home. Email, chat, social and phone, and whether the tool lives inside Gmail.
4. Fit. Team size, e-commerce or SaaS, and how much setup you do yourself.

Sources are pricing pages and G2 listings, and we label vendor claims as claims. No trial accounts were opened, so screenshots come from public product pages and Tidio’s media library. Tidio goes first as the pick for chat-first teams; the rest run roughly from closest to Hiver to furthest.

The 10 best Hiver alternatives in 2026

1. Tidio

Best for: chat-first small and mid-sized teams, including e-commerce stores, whose customers write on the website and in social apps as much as by email.

Tidio puts website chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox, and tickets cover anything that needs follow-up. The Lyro AI agent takes the repeat questions, such as order status and shipping times, and can resolve up to 75% of support requests. Plans follow billable conversations, so a new teammate adds no seat fee, and self-serve plans include up to 10 agents. Shopify stores see cart preview and order history beside the chat.

Pros

• Chat, email, social messages and AI share one inbox, so context follows the customer.
• A free plan to test, and flat plan prices up to 10 seats.
• Native Shopify integration with cart and order data.

Cons

• Tidio is its own inbox, so email is handled in Tidio’s panel rather than inside Gmail.
• Conversations, Lyro and Flows are priced separately, so you pay only for what you use, with a few quotas to track.

Pricing: on Tidio’s pricing page, billed annually (monthly in brackets): Free $0 (50 billable conversations a month); Starter $24.17 ($29) for 100; Growth from $49.17 ($59) for 250 up to 2,000; Plus from $300 plus usage; Premium by quote. Lyro alone starts at $32.50 ($39) for 50 conversations; the first 50 are free.

Rating: G2 4.6/5

Versus Hiver: you gain live chat on your site, Lyro and social channels on flat plans. You give up working inside Gmail and Hiver’s email-first workflow. See the full Tidio alternatives guide.

2. Help Scout

Best for: small, email-first teams that want a simple help desk in its own app.

Help Scout is the closest like-for-like swap when you want to leave Gmail but keep the shared-inbox feel. It pairs a shared inbox with notes, mentions and workflows, plus a Docs knowledge base. Standard adds live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger.

Pros

• A free plan for 5 users with 1 inbox and 1 Docs site.
• Notes, mentions and workflows in a quick-to-learn inbox.

Cons

• AI Answers costs $0.75 per resolution on top of seats, with a 3-month free trial.
• Extra inboxes cost $10 a month billed annually, and round robin starts at Plus.

Pricing: per user a month, annual rate shown on the page: Free for 5 users; Standard $25; Plus $45; Pro $75, sold with a demo. 15-day trial. Per Help Scout’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.4/5

Versus Hiver: you gain a free tier and a built-in knowledge base. You give up the Gmail-native workflow. More in our Help Scout alternatives guide.

3. Front

Best for: teams that run support from shared inboxes across email, SMS, social and WhatsApp.

Front treats every channel as a thread in one shared inbox, with comments, shared drafts and assignments. It works with Gmail and Office 365 mailboxes. Starter matches Hiver Growth at $25 but covers a single channel type and 10 rules; omnichannel starts on Professional at $65.

Pros

• Professional supports up to 50 seats across email, SMS, social and WhatsApp.
• Internal comments and shared drafts keep teamwork in the thread.

Cons

• Starter is limited to one channel type; Professional is $65 per seat.
• Copilot is a $20 per seat add-on, and the Autopilot AI agent starts at $0.05 per conversation.

Pricing: per seat a month billed annually (monthly in brackets): Starter $25 ($35), up to 10 seats; Professional $65 ($85), up to 50 seats; Enterprise $105, annual only. 14-day trial, no free plan. Per Front’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.7/5

Versus Hiver: you gain more channels and a larger seat ceiling. You give up Hiver’s lower mid-tier price. See our Front alternatives guide.

4. Missive

Best for: small teams that want a shared inbox plus team chat and tasks on a budget.

Missive blends shared email with internal chat, collaborative drafting and tasks, so a team can discuss a message without leaving the thread. It connects Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and IMAP mailboxes and adds WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and SMS. Entry is $14, little more than half of Hiver Growth.

Pros

• A $14 entry price and a 30-day trial.
• Internal threads, shared drafts and tasks in one app.

Cons

• Starter is capped at 5 users, and rules and the AI assistant start at Productive.
• AI runs on credits or your own API key, and the extra cost isn’t listed.

Pricing: per user a month billed yearly (monthly in brackets): Starter $14 ($18); Productive $24 ($30), up to 50 users; Business $36 ($45), with SAML SSO. 30-day trial, no free plan. Per Missive’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.7/5

Versus Hiver: you gain a lower price and built-in team chat. You give up Hiver’s customer portal and CSAT surveys: we found neither on Missive’s pricing page, and no collision alerts either.

5. Drag

Best for: teams that want a kanban-style shared inbox inside Gmail at the lowest price.

Drag adds boards to Gmail: emails become cards with assignees, tags, notes and subtasks, in kanban, list or preview views. Every plan has unlimited users, no seat minimum and collision detection. Varley, Drag’s AI, comes with Plus and Pro.

Pros

• No seat minimum, unlimited users, and collision detection on every plan.
• The cheapest entry in this list for a Gmail team, with a Chrome extension and mobile apps.

Cons

• Gmail only, so it doesn’t help if some of your team uses Outlook.
• WhatsApp, SLA rules and round robin start at Pro; Starter keeps 3 months of reports.

Pricing: per user a month billed yearly (monthly in brackets): Starter $12 ($16); Plus $18 ($22); Pro $24 ($30). Varley runs on AI credits you can top up. 7-day trial. Per Drag’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.5/5

Versus Hiver: you gain a lower price and no seat steps. You give up Hiver Omni’s chat, voice and Slack channels.

6. Gmelius

Best for: Google Workspace teams that want AI assistants and shared inboxes in Gmail.

Gmelius runs shared inboxes, labels, assignments and rules inside Gmail, with Meli, an AI assistant that drafts replies, sorts email and follows up. Growth adds auto-assignment, SLA and email analytics, and API access.

Pros

• Unlimited shared inboxes and labels on Growth, plus auto-assignment and rules.
• Pro adds AI dispatching, CRM integrations and webhooks.

Cons

• Google accounts only, with all team members on the same plan.
• Growth caps email conversations at 10,000 a month, and Enterprise starts at 50 users.

Pricing: per user a month billed yearly (monthly in brackets): Meli $19 ($21), a personal assistant; Growth $25 ($33); Pro $40 ($50), with a trial on request; Enterprise by quote. 7-day trial of Growth. Per Gmelius’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.4/5

Versus Hiver: at $25 it matches Hiver Growth and puts AI assistants first. You give up Hiver Omni’s chat and voice channels. We couldn’t capture a clean product screen for this edition.

7. Freshdesk

Best for: teams that want a help desk with prices on the page.

Freshdesk moves you from a shared inbox to ticketing. Growth includes a shared inbox, a customer portal and knowledge base, analytics and tasks; Pro adds intelligent routing, multiple SLA policies and external collaborators.

Pros

• Public per-agent prices and a portal and knowledge base on Growth.
• 500 AI Agent sessions included before any AI fee.

Cons

• Extra AI sessions cost $49 per 100; Copilot is $29 per agent.
• Routing and SLA policies start at Pro, $55 per agent.

Pricing: per agent a month billed annually: Growth $19; Pro $55; Enterprise $89. Free trial. Per Freshdesk’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.4/5

Versus Hiver: you gain a lower entry price, a portal and a knowledge base on the first plan. You give up Gmail-native work. See our Freshdesk alternatives guide.

8. Zendesk

Best for: larger teams that need deep ticketing, routing and SLAs across many channels.

Zendesk is the step up when a shared inbox no longer scales. Support Team covers email and ticketing with routing, automations and triggers. Chat and AI come with Suite Team: AI agents, messaging and live chat, telephony and omnichannel routing.

Pros

• Deep ticketing, routing, triggers and automations.
• Chat, email, phone and social in one suite on Suite Team.

Cons

• Chat and AI need Suite Team, almost three times the Support Team price.
• Skills-based routing starts at Suite Professional, $115 per agent.

Pricing: per agent a month billed annually (monthly in brackets): Support Team $19 ($25); Suite Team $55 ($69); Suite Professional $115; Enterprise by quote. Free trial. Per Zendesk’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.3/5

Versus Hiver: you gain mature ticketing and routing at scale. You give up the lighter, inbox-first feel. More in our Zendesk alternatives guide.

9. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for: teams whose customer records already live in HubSpot CRM.

Service Hub ties tickets to the contact and company records your sales team already uses. The free plan covers 2 users, and Starter is $7 per seat billed annually.

Pros

• Tickets sit on CRM records, so support sees the full customer history.
• A free plan for 2 users.

Cons

• Professional is $90 per seat plus $1,500 onboarding.
• Value drops quickly if your CRM is not HubSpot.

Pricing: per seat a month billed annually (monthly in brackets): Free for 2 users; Starter $7 ($20); Professional $90 ($100), plus $1,500 one-time onboarding; Enterprise $150, plus $3,500. Per HubSpot’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.4/5

Versus Hiver: you gain CRM-linked tickets and a free plan. You give up the simple inbox and a flat tier price once onboarding is added.

10. Zoho Desk

Best for: budget-conscious teams that want a full help desk with low per-agent prices.

Zoho Desk starts with a free plan for 3 users that handles email ticketing. Express adds social channels and AI Agents; Standard adds a live chat widget, messaging on WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, an answer bot and a knowledge base.

Pros

• A free plan for 3 users and the lowest paid entry here at $7.
• Standard includes messaging channels and a knowledge base.

Cons

• Setup is heavier than an inbox tool, and each tier unlocks different channels.
• Telephony starts at Professional, and the SalesIQ live chat at Enterprise.

Pricing: per user a month billed annually: Free for 3 users; Express $7; Standard $14 ($20 monthly); Professional $23 ($35); Enterprise $40. Free trial. Per Zoho’s pricing page.

Rating: G2 4.4/5

Versus Hiver: you gain a free plan and channel depth at a lower price. You give up Hiver’s Gmail-first feel and its single, simple ladder.

What 5 agents cost on each tool

Seat prices and AI prices don’t compare directly, so here is one team on every tool: 5 agents, the cheapest paid plan that covers a shared inbox with tickets, billed annually, before AI usage. Prices come from the pages above.

Tool	Plan	Math	Per month
Tidio	Starter	flat, up to 10 seats	$24.17
HubSpot Service Hub	Starter	5 × $7	$35
Drag	Starter	5 × $12	$60
Missive	Starter	5 × $14	$70
Zoho Desk	Standard (chat widget and messaging)	5 × $14	$70
Freshdesk	Growth	5 × $19	$95
Zendesk	Support Team (email and tickets only)	5 × $19	$95
Hiver	Growth	5 × $25	$125
Gmelius	Growth	5 × $25	$125
Help Scout	Standard	5 × $25	$125
Front	Starter (single channel type)	5 × $25	$125

Then the AI line. Help Scout charges $0.75 per AI resolution, so 1,000 resolutions a month add about $750. Freshdesk includes 500 AI Agent sessions and sells more at $49 per 100, and Front’s Autopilot starts at $0.05 per conversation. Drag, Missive and Zoho Desk run AI on credits or an API key. Tidio sells Lyro by conversation tier, from $32.50 a month billed annually for 50 conversations, so check your volume on its pricing page. Hiver lists AI Agents on all plans but no usage price. Price your busiest month, not your average one.

Tidio vs Hiver

	Tidio	Hiver
Best for	Chat-first small and mid-sized teams, including Shopify stores	Support and ops teams that work from email, in Gmail or standalone
Pricing unit	Billable conversations, flat per plan	Per user, in steps of seats
Entry price	Free plan; Starter $24.17/mo billed annually	Growth $25/user/mo billed annually
Live chat	Included, with Lyro in the same inbox	In Hiver Omni
AI agent	Lyro, from $32.50/mo billed annually for 50 conversations; can resolve up to 75% of requests	AI Agents and Copilot on all plans; usage price not listed
E-commerce	Cart preview and order history for Shopify in the inbox	Shopify integration on Pro and up
Channels	Live chat, email, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp in one inbox	Email, live chat, Slack, voice, WhatsApp and social in Hiver Omni
Analytics and SLAs	Growth adds advanced analytics, permissions and auto assignment	Pre-built analytics on Growth; advanced analytics, SLAs and CSAT on Pro, $55/user/mo
Works inside Gmail	No, Tidio is its own inbox	Yes, with Hiver in Gmail

Hiver is stronger if your team works from email inside Gmail, wants voice as an add-on, or needs SLAs and CSAT on one tier. If your customers reach you through website chat and social apps, and you want AI and flat team pricing, look at Tidio’s help desk.

How to switch from Hiver

Plan for a week of parallel running, not a weekend:

1. Export what you need. Pull conversations, labels, templates and Help Center articles before you cancel.
2. List your automations. Check which plan of the new tool holds each rule, SLA and routing setup you rely on.
3. Check your integrations. Note which apps feed Slack alerts, Shopify orders and CRM data into your inbox.
4. Check your contract dates. Line the cancellation up with your renewal.
5. Run both for a week. Forward the support address to both, rebuild your daily rules, then switch over.

Hiver offers migration help into Hiver, but we found no one-click export advertised for leaving it, so expect to rebuild rules by hand.

How to choose

• Your customers chat on your site and in social apps. Choose Tidio.
• You want to stay inside Gmail for less. Choose Drag, or Gmelius if you want AI assistants first.
• You want a collaboration-first inbox. Choose Front, or Missive for a lower price and team chat.
• You want a simple email-first help desk. Choose Help Scout.
• You want a help desk with prices on the page. Choose Freshdesk, or Zendesk if you need chat and AI agents in one suite.
• Your team already uses HubSpot CRM. Choose HubSpot Service Hub, and budget for onboarding.
• You want the lowest paid per-agent price. Choose Zoho Desk.

Bottom line

Hiver stays a fair choice if your support runs on email inside Gmail and you can budget for the Pro tier. Move when tier prices outgrow the team, when you want website chat and social channels in one inbox, or when you want a home other than Gmail. Chat-first small and mid-sized teams should start with Tidio. To stay in Gmail, look at Drag or Gmelius; for a collaboration-first inbox, Front or Missive; for ticketing depth, Freshdesk or Zendesk.

Related guides

• Shared inbox tools
• Help Scout alternatives
• Front alternatives
• Zendesk alternatives

Frequently asked questions