Front alternative
Odly, a Front alternative for agencies & MSPs
Front is a collaborative shared inbox billed per seat. Odly is a flat-priced request hub for agencies and MSPs, with a workspace per client and replies drafted from your resolved conversations. Here is where each one fits.
Start here
When Front is the better choice
Your team works email together, collaboratively. Front's shared inbox — internal comments, @mentions, shared drafts and assignments — is one of the best collaboration experiences in the category. If that team workflow is the heart of what you do, Front is hard to beat.
You are email- and channel-centric, not client-centric. If you run one shared queue across email, SMS, chat and social rather than a book of separate clients, Front's model fits naturally and its rules and analytics are mature.
You want a large integration and automation ecosystem. Front's integrations, rules engine and reporting are extensive and well-established — a real advantage if your workflow leans on them.
The other side
When Odly is the better choice
A workspace per client, not one shared queue
Odly is built around managing many clients — each gets its own workspace and a transparency link end clients can follow without a login — rather than one collaborative inbox for the whole team.
Flat pricing, not per seat
Flat per workspace: 5 agents on Starter (€150/mo), 20 on Pro (€500/mo), 50 on Enterprise Cloud (€1,000/mo), €3,000/mo self-hosted. No per-seat fee inside the allowance, so the cost stays predictable as the team grows.
Replies drafted from your resolved conversations
Odly learns from your best resolved threads and drafts in your team's voice, per client, with three autonomy levels and an approval gate. Nothing sends without approval until you allow it.
Telegram run like a support channel
Direct messages, group chats, photos and documents come in through your own bot — each one routed, owned and ticketed, with instant acknowledgement. Here is how shared Telegram accounts leak leads.
Hosting on your terms
Fully managed, or self-host on your own infrastructure — in your region, with your own AI model and S3-compatible storage. No cloud-only lock-in.
Side by side
Odly and Front, feature by feature
| Feature | Odly | Front |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | Email, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack and website chat in one hub, with one workspace per client. | A strong shared inbox across email, SMS, chat and social, with deep team-collaboration tooling. |
| Telegram | A core channel run through your own bot — direct messages and group chats, photos and documents, instant acknowledgement, routing and ownership. | A native Telegram bot channel (1:1 and group chats); per Front's docs it replies to inbound messages only and does not import history. |
| Pricing model | Flat per workspace with an agent allowance — 2 agents on Free, 5 agents on Starter (€150/mo), 20 on Pro (€500/mo), 50 on Enterprise Cloud (€1,000/mo). Never per resolution, no per-seat fee inside the allowance. | Per seat, billed annually: Starter $25 (up to 10 seats), Professional $65, Enterprise $105 per seat/mo. Copilot $20 per seat/mo; Autopilot from $0.05 per conversation. |
| Cost for a 5-person team | €150/mo flat on Starter — one workspace, 5 agents, managed AI included. Growing past 5 agents means Pro at €500/mo (20 agents); there is no per-seat fee inside a plan's allowance. Free (€0) covers 2 agents on your own AI key; self-hosted is €3,000/mo. | $125/mo on Starter (5 × $25, annual) or $325/mo on Professional — before AI add-ons. |
| AI / drafting approach | Drafts replies from your best resolved conversations, in your voice. Three autonomy levels; nothing sends without approval until you allow it (autonomous sending on Pro and above). | Copilot for drafting and Autopilot, an autonomous AI agent from $0.05 per conversation. Odly grounds drafts in your team's resolved conversations, per client, behind an approval gate. |
| Setup effort | Self-serve setup wizard on every cloud plan — channels live in an afternoon, with nothing to host or patch. Enterprise Cloud adds an onboarding session where we import your KB and tune routing with you. | Quick to start; teams typically build their own rules, workflows and routing. |
| Hosting options | Fully managed, or self-host on your own infrastructure in your region. Bring your own AI model and storage. | Cloud SaaS; self-hosting is not part of its model. |
| SSO & user provisioning | Single sign-on via OpenID Connect (Google, Microsoft Entra, Okta, Auth0 or any OIDC provider) with just-in-time user creation, plus SCIM 2.0 for automated user and group provisioning — on Enterprise Cloud and self-hosted. | SSO and SCIM from the Professional plan ($65 per seat/mo). |
| Data isolation | Per-organization isolation, encrypted in transit, with credentials encrypted at rest, TOTP 2FA, with a self-host option for full control. | Mature cloud security on a shared multi-tenant cloud. |
| Onboarding support | Self-serve on every cloud plan with a 14-day free trial (no card); a hands-on onboarding session on Enterprise Cloud. | Guided onboarding and support, generally weighted toward higher plans. |
Competitor prices and features verified on 23 September 2026 from their own pages (list prices in USD, before tax): Front pricing · Front: Telegram bot channel
Switching
What migrating from Front involves
- Map your shared inbox to client workspaces. Front organizes around one collaborative inbox; Odly organizes around clients. The first step is deciding which clients get which workspaces.
- Connect your channels. Reconnect email, Telegram, Slack and website chat to Odly. Plan for roughly an afternoon.
- Seed the drafting engine. Odly learns from your resolved conversations, so the more history your connected mailbox brings in, the better the first drafts. Front conversations, tags and rules do not transfer — history comes from the mailbox itself. Drafts sharpen over the first couple of weeks.
- Set autonomy per client. Everything starts in draft-only mode; raise the autonomy level only where you are comfortable.
Realistic estimate: channels live in a day; reshaping a shared inbox into per-client workspaces is the part that takes thought, not time. On Enterprise Cloud we run an onboarding session with you — see pricing.
Questions
Odly vs Front — FAQ
Is Odly cheaper than Front?
It depends on team size. Front bills per seat, so the cost rises with every person you add. Odly is a flat fee per workspace with an agent allowance — 5 agents on Starter at €150/mo, 20 on Pro at €500/mo. At a very small, stable headcount per-seat may be lower (Front Starter lists at $25 per seat per month billed annually). Compare against your own roster.
Front already has a great shared inbox — why switch?
Front is genuinely strong at collaborative email. The difference is the model: Odly is built around a workspace per client with a client-visible tracking link, and it drafts replies from your team's resolved conversations. If you manage many clients rather than one shared queue, that per-client structure is the reason to look.
How does Telegram compare?
Both connect a Telegram bot for direct and group chats. In Odly each Telegram message lands in the right client workspace, gets an owner and a ticket, and can be acknowledged instantly; Front's docs note its Telegram channel replies to inbound messages only and does not import history.
Can I self-host or bring my own AI model?
Yes to both with Odly: self-host on your own infrastructure at €3,000/mo, with your own AI model and S3-compatible storage, or start free and go fully managed from €150/mo. Front is a cloud SaaS only.
See it on your own conversations
Start free — no card — and watch Odly draft from your real resolved threads. Prefer a walkthrough first? Book a demo. Pricing is flat and public.
Want the technical detail first? Read how Odly handles security.
Front and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Odly is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by them. This comparison reflects publicly available information and our own product as of 23 September 2026; features and pricing change, so verify current details on each vendor's own site. If you believe something here is inaccurate, let us know and we'll correct it.