Front vs Thena (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Front grades higher than Thena: 2.4 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 4, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Front grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. Thena grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Front
Shared inbox and customer operations platform with AI and ticketing
Which one is for you
Pick Front if
- Fits if a support team works shared addresses all day and needs to see who has what
- Works for teams whose customers write in by email, chat, SMS and WhatsApp, on Professional at $65 a seat
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're one person with one inbox, because this is built and priced for teams
- Tight if you're on Starter, with 10 seats, one channel type and 10 automation rules
- Pricey if you want the AI, as Copilot and the QA and CSAT add-ons cost $20, $20 and $10 a seat below Enterprise
- Watch out: there's no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and Enterprise is annual billing only
- Watch out: contracts over $25k must include a paid onboarding package
Pick Thena if
- Fits if your customers talk to you in Slack and you sell to other businesses
- Works for a team of up to 5 on Starter
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you grow: Starter has 5 seats and 1,000 tickets a month, and the home page says 10 seats
- Pricey if you want AI chat, as Standard is $79 a user
- Skip it if you need Microsoft Teams, which is listed under Enterprise at $119
- Watch out: the home page mentions a free plan with no card, but the pricing page lists none
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFrontFair | 1.8GPAThenaWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DStarter is $25 a seat a month billed annually, which is where the dearest tenth of this category begins, and it stops at 10 seats, one channel type and 10 rules. All your channels in one inbox means Professional at $65, and Copilot is another $20 a seat until Enterprise at $105. | C$29 per user a month billed annually is the category's middle ($29). Starter stops at 5 seats and 1,000 tickets, and AI web chat needs Standard at $79. |
| Free plan and trial | CNo free plan. The trial is 14 days with all the Professional plan features and no credit card. After that it's a paid plan or nothing. | FThe pricing page lists no free plan or trial, though the home page mentions one with no card. |
| Features | BShared inboxes with assignment, ticketing, multi-step rules, analytics, a no-code knowledge base and live chat, with email, SMS, Front Chat and WhatsApp in one place from Professional up. The team-inbox job is covered; Autopilot charges from $0.05 per resolved conversation. | CSlack, Teams, email and web chat become tickets by account, with SLAs, a knowledge base and AI. The listing's gaps: AI web chat and the agent studio start on Standard, and Teams on Enterprise. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record, and this is a platform rather than an app: channels, workspaces, rules, macros and analytics to set up. Front says itself that contracts over $25k must include a paid onboarding package. | CNo store rating on record, and much of it lives in Slack or Teams with a separate login for the workspace. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android. It connects to HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Asana, Aircall and WhatsApp, works with ChatGPT and Claude, and has a public API. | BWeb only, with 8 listed integrations and an API on Standard. No phone or desktop app on record. |
| Best for | support teams running shared inboxes at volume | B2B support in Slack, tracked by account |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Front and Thena. How we grade
Where they differ
- Front also covers workflow automation.
- Thena also covers help desk, live chat, help center and AI support agent.
At a glance
| Front | Thena | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $25 per seat / month, billed annually | $29 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial with all Professional plan features, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | FrontApp, Inc. | Thena |
| Price read from | front.com | thena.ai |
| Checked | Oct 4, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Front
- There is no free plan; the 14-day trial is the only way to use Front without paying.
- Starter is capped at 10 seats and one channel type, and Professional at 50 seats.
- Copilot, Smart QA and Smart CSAT cost extra per seat on Starter and Professional.
- Enterprise is sold on annual billing only, and contracts over $25k must include a paid onboarding package.
Thena
- Starter is limited to 5 user seats and 1,000 tickets a month; the homepage lists 10 seats, so the vendor's two pages disagree.
- The homepage mentions "no credit card for free plan" but the pricing page lists no free plan or trial.
- AI web chat and AI agent studio need Standard at $79, and Microsoft Teams needs Enterprise at $119.
- Much of the product lives inside Slack, Microsoft Teams and email, with a separate login for the Thena workspace.
Key features
Front
- Shared inboxes
- Team inboxes where incoming messages can be assigned and handled together, so everyone can see who is working on which conversation.
- Omnichannel inbox
- Professional and Enterprise combine email, SMS, Front Chat, WhatsApp and other channels in one place. Starter is limited to a single channel type.
- Ticketing and automation rules
- Ticketing for complex requests plus multi-step rules: up to 10 rules on Starter, 20 on Professional and unlimited on Enterprise.
- Front AI
- Autopilot resolves conversations from $0.05 each. Copilot ($20 per seat a month), Smart QA ($20) and Smart CSAT ($10) are add-ons that Enterprise includes.
- Analytics
- Reporting on team workload and support quality: basic analytics on Starter and advanced analytics from Professional.
- Knowledge base and live chat
- A no-code knowledge base and Front Chat let customers help themselves. Multi-language knowledge bases need Enterprise.
Thena
- Slack-native ticketing
- Tickets are detected and managed in Slack with account context. Email, web chat and Microsoft Teams messages also become tickets.
- Account-based tracking
- Tickets, tasks, notes and views are organized by customer company or account, with team boards, groups and routing.
- AI agents
- AI agents answer customers, apply fields, create tickets and escalate. Auto-responses start on Standard and custom deployments on Enterprise.
- SLAs and CSAT
- Service-level policies, auto-responders, internal threads and customer satisfaction collection are part of the ticketing platform.
- Broadcasts and knowledge base
- Product updates can go to Slack, Teams and email audiences, and help center articles support live collaboration.
Plans
Front
Starter$25
per seat / month, billed annually
Up to 10 seats. One channel type (email, Front Chat or SMS), shared inbox, ticketing, up to 10 automation rules and basic analytics.
Professional$65
per seat / month, billed annually
Up to 50 seats. Adds omnichannel support, macros, up to 20 rules, advanced analytics, up to 5 workspaces, SSO and SCIM.
Enterprise$105
per seat / month, annual billing only
Unlimited seats, rules and macros, smart rules, custom roles, and Copilot, Smart QA and Smart CSAT included.
Thena
Starter$29
per user / month, billed annually
Up to 5 user seats and 1,000 tickets a month, with Slack and email channels and AI ticket detection, summaries and tagging.
Standard$79
per user / month, billed annually
Adds AI web chat, AI agent studio, AI auto-responses and co-pilot, AI workflows, MCP and APIs.
Enterprise$119
per user / month, billed annually
Adds custom AI agent deployments, Microsoft Teams, Enterprise APIs, unlimited MCP and enterprise security features.
Ways to pay less
Front
- Annual discount
Save 24% with annual billing
Front's pricing page states a 24% saving for annual billing. The prices it lists for Starter ($25) and Professional ($65) are the annually billed rates per seat a month.
Thena
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Front or Thena?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Front is cheaper to start with: $25 a month for each person, against $29 a month for each person for Thena. Front starts at $25 per seat / month, billed annually, and Thena starts at $29 per user / month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Front or Thena?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Front nor Thena has a free plan. Front has a free trial.
Which platforms do Front and Thena run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Front lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.