5 tools to manage a shared team inbox in 2025

Which tool should you choose to manage a shared inbox?

Once a team starts receiving a lot of email, an ordinary shared inbox is no longer enough.

Emails go missing, forwards multiply, and nobody can say clearly who is handling what.

Fortunately, several solutions exist to organise a shared inbox. Here is a comparison of the main options in 2025.

1. Gmail and Outlook: the simplest solution

Gmail and Outlook already let you create a shared inbox, add rules, or file messages into folders.

Strengths

• free
• nothing to install
• immediately familiar

Limits

• no visibility on who is handling what
• hard to manage beyond 2 people
• very little automation

This suits very small teams above all.

2. Hiver: a shared inbox built into Gmail

Hiver adds collaborative features directly inside Gmail or Outlook.

The tool lets you assign emails, add internal notes and follow statuses.

Strengths

• familiar interface
• email assignment
• response-time tracking

Limits

• works mainly with Gmail
• the advanced features quickly become paid ones
• the price climbs fast as the team grows

Hiver can suit teams that want to stay inside Gmail while adding a little more structure.

3. Front: a collaborative platform for email

Front goes further than a simple shared inbox.

The platform brings email, SMS and other channels together in a single interface.

Strengths

• strong internal collaboration
• shared comments and drafts
• modern interface

Limits

• expensive
• plenty of features a small company will never use
• a significant cost for a team of several people

Front usually suits companies with a larger budget.

4. Freshdesk: a complete helpdesk

Freshdesk turns emails into tickets and offers advanced workflows.

Strengths

• very complete
• a great many integrations
• ideal for a high volume of support

Limits

• longer to set up
• oversized for many small companies
• often needs training

Freshdesk suits large support teams above all.

5. Klaro Cards: organising email without the complexity

Klaro Cards takes a simpler and more flexible approach.

Every incoming email becomes a structured card. You can then create your own categories, your own queues and your own distribution rules.

For instance:

• quote requests go to sales
• invoices to administration
• urgent emails to managers

Strengths

• works with Outlook, Gmail and Office 365
• set up in a few days
• fully customisable categories
• a clear view of who is handling what
• hosted in Europe, GDPR compliant
• transparent pricing: €10 per user per month

Limits

• Klaro Cards does not replace your email client
• replies go on being sent from Outlook or Gmail

A quick comparison

So which is best?

It all depends on your email volume and the size of your team.

If you are a small company looking for a simple way to organise a shared inbox, Klaro Cards is often the best compromise.

You keep the inbox you have, but every email is sorted, distributed and tracked automatically.

Try Klarify your Inbox

Want to stop handling your email by hand?

Klaro Cards turns your shared inbox into a structured workflow, with no migration and no complicated project.

Try Klarify your Inbox free for 7 days.