Missive vs Zoho TeamInbox

Missive

• Small teams sharing addresses such as support@ or sales@
• Teams that want to discuss emails internally instead of forwarding them
• Businesses that also talk to customers over SMS, WhatsApp or live chat

Zoho TeamInbox

• Small teams sharing group addresses such as support or sales
• Businesses that also answer customers on WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook
• Organizations already using Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk or Zoho One

Missive

• There is no free plan; once the 30-day trial ends a paid plan is required.
• Starter is limited to 5 users and leaves out integrations, rules, API access, the AI assistant and analytics.
• SAML single sign-on and IP restriction are only available on Business.
• Missive says it offers no discounts for students, nonprofits or schools, and yearly plans are not refundable.

Zoho TeamInbox

• There is no free plan: a paid plan is needed after the 14-day trial, and local taxes are added to the listed prices.
• Starter is limited to 3 shared incoming channels and 25 rules; analytics and personal inboxes need Professional.
• Channels beyond a plan's allowance are an add-on at $4 a month each, or $3.17 billed annually.
• The Solo, Team and Team Plus plans work on phones only and cap the number of users and new conversations.

Missive

Shared inboxes and team spaces

Team inboxes sit next to personal accounts, grouped into team spaces. Conversations can be assigned to a person or a team, with controls over who sees what.

Internal discussion in threads

Teammates talk about an email in an internal conversation attached to the thread, so nothing has to be forwarded or CC'd.

Collaborative drafting

Several people can write the same reply together in real time before it is sent.

Rules and automations

Automate repetitive handling such as assigning or tagging with up to 1,000 rules. Rules are available from the Productive plan.

Multi-channel inbox

Email from Gmail, Microsoft 365, iCloud or any IMAP account appears alongside SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and live chat conversations.

AI assistant and integrations

An AI assistant drafts and translates replies and can pull context from connected tools over MCP. It comes with Productive, along with 25+ app integrations and the API.

Zoho TeamInbox

Multichannel shared inboxes

Group email addresses, WhatsApp Business numbers, Telegram, a Facebook Page and an Instagram professional account can all feed one shared inbox. Email is added by forwarding or over POP/IMAP.

Assign, follow, snooze and archive

Threads can be assigned to an owner, followed for notifications, snoozed until later and archived when finished, with views for what is assigned to or shared with you.

Internal discussions and shared drafts

Teammates comment and @mention each other beside a thread instead of forwarding it, and can co-author a reply by sharing the draft and editing it in real time.

Rules, templates and signatures

Rules carry out actions when a condition is met, such as assigning incoming mail by subject or content. Response templates and team signatures keep replies consistent.

Personal inboxes

On Professional each user can add a personal incoming channel next to the shared inboxes. It stays private, and single emails can be shared by @mentioning a teammate.

Extensions and integrations

eWidgets bring Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk, Asana and Trello into the thread view, and integrations cover Zapier, Make, n8n and Microsoft Power Automate.

Missive

• Starter$14

  per user / month, billed yearly ($18 billed monthly)

  Up to 5 users. Email, SMS and social accounts, team spaces and inboxes, conversations and tasks. No rules or integrations.

• Productive$24

  per user / month, billed yearly ($30 billed monthly)

  Up to 50 users. Adds integrations, rules and automations, the AI assistant, basic analytics, and API and MCP access.

• Business$36

  per user / month, billed yearly ($45 billed monthly)

  Unlimited users. Adds SAML single sign-on, IP restriction, advanced analytics and personalized team onboarding.

Zoho TeamInbox

• Solo (mobile-only)$0.99

  per month

  Phone-only plan for 1 user: 1 channel each for email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram DM, up to 500 new conversations and 5 GB of storage.

• Team (mobile-only)$4.99

  per month

  Phone-only plan for up to 3 users with the same four channels, up to 1,000 new conversations, comments and tags.

• Starter$5

  per user / month, billed annually; $6 billed monthly

  3 shared incoming channels, 10 shared outgoing email channels, 25 rules, assignments, internal discussions, draft sharing, templates and extensions.

• Professional$7.50

  per user / month, billed annually; $9 billed monthly

  5 shared incoming channels, 1 personal incoming channel per user, unlimited rules, 25 shared outgoing email channels and analytics.

• Team Plus (mobile-only)$7.99

  per month

  Phone-only plan for up to 5 users with the same four channels and up to 2,000 new conversations.

Missive

• Annual discount

  20% off with yearly billing

  Billed yearly, Starter is $14 per user a month instead of $18, Productive $24 instead of $30 and Business $36 instead of $45. Missive states the yearly saving as 20%.

Zoho TeamInbox

• Annual discount

  About 17% off with annual billing

  Billed annually, Starter is $5 per user a month instead of $6 and Professional is $7.50 instead of $9, a saving of about 17% on each plan.

• Other savings

  Included with Zoho One

  The pricing FAQ says Zoho TeamInbox is part of Zoho One, so organizations that subscribe to that suite can use it from their Zoho One account.