If you want a clean, efficient core email experience, Gmail is the better pick. Its interface is cluttered and not built for deep work, but it's still the most reliable and widely supported choice for teams who need email as their main support channel. It works seamlessly with Google Workspace, connects with almost every app, and has strong mobile support.

Front only makes sense if your team is fully committed to handling support across email, social, and chat as your main workflow. Unless those extra channels are truly central, you end up with more fragmentation and complexity than you need, especially for smaller teams who could just use a single email inbox.

Bottom line: for most teams, stick with Gmail as your main email backbone. Only go with Front if you absolutely need to unify a bunch of non-email channels into one inbox and are willing to accept the messiness that comes with it. Otherwise, Front adds overhead without real benefit.

Front Editor's Verdict

What is Front?

My main question here is, are you planning on having your social channels and chat apps as your main source of support?

I mean really, think about that question deeply. I understand that the gut reaction is "yes, that would be great!"—but maybe those 5 customers of yours that prefer to message you via Facebook Messenger or Twitter DM's shouldn't be the sole cause of fragmentation across support channels, requiring you to then use a tool like Front to rope it all back in. So ask yourself, just because you "can" open up your support channels, "should you"?

If the answer is "yes", then that's where I can vouch for Front, but again, you're accepting support fragmentation, and good luck roping that back in in the future.

Again, if you're a small team, you should probably have a primary and centralized support channel, usually "support@yourcompany.com"—that way you can better control routing and tracking feedback.

Also, if you're like us and you love using Superhuman Mail for your direct emails, you're not going to benefit from the other features of Front, like "shared inboxes" and such across the team.

You really need to use Front as your main email inbox to get the most use out of it.

Gmail Editor's Verdict

What is Gmail?

Gmail is one of the most widely used email providers in the world and the default choice for most individuals and businesses. We've used it for over a decade. In fact, we solely recommend teams use Google Workspace as the core foundation for their entire business software stack.

There is a fundamental issue with Gmail though. The actual email client that businesses use is the exact same one that was built for personal accounts (I'm sure you have one). So Gmail optimizes for the average user out of billions, not for focused teams who are running businesses.

So why use Gmail? Because it connects to almost everything (how often do you see "login with Google"?), and has one of the largest ecosystems of third-party tools available. That combination actually makes it the best email and calendar foundation for your business.

And note the word "foundation", because from there you can layer a better email client on top, like Superhuman email. That's what we do, because Gmail alone will never be what someone who gets more than 30 emails per week actually needs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Incredible email and calendar foundation
Extensive third-party integrations
Reliable and widely supported
Strong mobile app experience

Cons

Visually cluttered interface (chat, meet, sidebars, colors, pop-ups)
Slower load times compared to modern email clients
Built for the masses, not optimized for deep work
Labels and triage system clutter the sidebar

Key Features

Google Workspace Integration

Since Gmail is a part of Google, it works seamlessly with their entire ecosystem. You can jump from an email into a Google Doc, attach files from Drive instantly, launch a Meet call, or collaborate in Sheets without leaving the platform.

For teams already using Google Workspace, this integration is extremely powerful.

Gemini AI Responses & Search

Gmail now has Gemini fully embedded into helping you write emails. You can now use their "Help Me Write" feature, and it will analyze previous emails to draft a reply in your tone.

Gmail also uses Gemini to help you search your inbox. Instead of typing keywords and hoping you remember the exact phrase from an email, you can ask it a normal question like, "When did I last speak to Sarah about the proposal?" or "Did the client ever approve the contract?" It will scan your inbox, give you a direct answer, and show you the emails it pulled that information from. That part is genuinely helpful, especially if you handle a lot of conversations and forget details.

Mobile App

The Gmail mobile app has a significantly better experience than even the web app in many ways. It's easy to navigate, loads relatively quickly, and is an overall good experience. They let you set swipe actions (Archive/Snooze/Delete) and get quite granular on the notification settings as well.

Although you'll run into some limitations using the Gmail app that will slow down your workflow. For instance, you cannot create hyperlink when composing an email within the app.

Pricing

Google Workspace includes Gmail and the full suite of collaboration tools, and pricing varies by plan and billing cycle. Most business plans start around:

Business Starter: ~$7/user/month
Business Standard: ~$14/user/month
Business Plus: ~$22/user/month