Front alternative

The calm Front alternative for SaaS support

Front is powerful for customer operations, shared inbox workflows, and cross-team coordination. Fernand is built for small SaaS teams that want support to stay simple: shared inbox, live chat, AI agents, custom data, unlimited conversations, unlimited history, and a Notion-like knowledge base.

Try for free for 14 days RBook a demo with a founder

Paste into Claude, Cursor, Codex, or any AI agent

I'm setting up Fernand (https://getfernand.com), a customer support platform for founders and small teams. Help me get my workspace running end-to-end.

Read the docs first so you know how Fernand works:
- Product & help docs: https://help.getfernand.com
- API & developer docs: https://developers.getfernand.com
- OpenAPI spec: https://api.getfernand.com/openapi.json

Start by asking me if I already have a Fernand account. If not, guide me to create one at https://app.getfernand.com/create. Once I have an account, ask me to create an API key under Settings → Integrations → API Keys so you can help me configure and automate things directly.

Then ask me about my business, my current support stack, and what I want to migrate or automate. Walk me through:
1. Connecting my support inbox(es) and any existing tools
2. Inviting my team
3. Setting up the automations and AI features that actually matter for my use case

Once the basics are covered, ask if I want to add the Fernand support widget to my app, my marketing site, or both. Use the setup guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/setting-up-the-support-widget. When installing:
- Ask me for my brand's accent color and set it in the widget config
- Ask me what links I want to surface in the widget (docs, changelog, status page, etc.) and pick the right icon for each one using the icon reference at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/custom-links-icon-reference
- Ask if my app has authenticated users — if yes, follow https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/authenticating-users to pre-identify them so conversations are tied to real accounts from the start

Once the widget is set up, ask if I want to surface more context inside customer conversations using Fernand's custom data feature. Read the full guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data, the endpoint structure at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/structuring-your-endpoint, and the display pattern library (including all subpages) at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data#customizing-your-display. Ask me what data I'd want to see when a customer writes in (account status, plan, recent activity, etc.), then check if I already have an existing endpoint or admin API that exposes this data and could be reused directly — only suggest building a new one if nothing suitable exists. Then write the Liquid template using the right display patterns for each piece of data.

Throughout the setup, as you learn about my business — what it does, who my customers are, what support questions are likely — proactively suggest and help create:
- Smart snippets: pre-written replies for common questions, based on what you know (or can infer from my codebase, product, or docs). Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/smart-snippets/smart-snippets and draft a useful starting set.
- Automation rules: triage, assignment, tagging, or auto-reply rules that make sense for my use case. Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/automation-rules and suggest rules you'd actually configure for a team like mine. If you have access to my code or product, use it — you can infer a lot about the kinds of requests I'll receive.

Be opinionated. If something in the docs is the right default, just do it — don't ask me to choose between five options.

Trusted by hundreds of
modern founders like you

Jack Friksfrom Post Bridge

Thomas Sanlisfrom Uneed

Tal Flanchraychfrom ApplyAll

Daniel Pianettifrom Are.na

Purposely built for small teams

Not a watered-down enterprise tool. Every decision in Fernand is made with small, fast-moving teams in mind.

Simple pricing

$29 per human per month. Predictable, transparent, and built for small teams.

Built for SaaS support

Inbox, live chat, AI agents, customer context, and docs in one calm workspace.

Consolidate all your support channels
into one shared inbox

Everything consolidates into one shared inbox you can access from your desktop or mobile. Collaborate on customer inquiries with your team, no matter what channel they started with.

Email

Add any email you'd like, like help@yourapp.com or sales@yourapp.com and handle customer inquiries from a shared inbox.

Learn more →

Live chat widget

Embed a live chat in your product and respond to customers in real time, right from your inbox.

Learn more →

Knowledge base

Publish a beautiful, SEO-friendly help center your customers can search through before reaching out.

Learn more →

Slack

Receive and reply to Slack messages from your customers directly from Fernand without switching tools.

Learn more →

𝕏 DMs

Receive and reply to direct messages from your customers directly from Fernand without switching tools.

Learn more →

Contact forms

Add headless contact forms to your product or website and funnel all submissions into your shared inbox.

Learn more →

Headless API

Build a fully custom support experience inside your product using our API. Your UI, your flow, Fernand's inbox behind the scenes.

Learn more →

Why teams switch from Front

A shared inbox is useful. But when your support tool turns into a customer operations platform, small SaaS teams can lose speed.

You start adding workspaces, rules, add-ons, routing, analytics, AI modules, and onboarding services. For a team of founders, developers, PMs, and early ops, that can be too much.

Fernand keeps the shared inbox focused on SaaS support. Answer fast. Let AI handle repetitive questions. Bring in product context. Escalate cleanly. Keep docs close.

Choose Front if…

You need a customer operations platform for many teams, many inboxes, omnichannel workflows, advanced automation, analytics, and AI add-ons.

Choose Fernand if…

You want one clean support tool for a small SaaS team, with no mandatory demo, no sales rep, and no add-on maze.

"Fernand is the bedrock of my solo business. It's the reason I'm able to stay solo and move quick while growing my SaaS and providing a human touch to all my thousands of paying customers. For the first time I'm not managing a mess of mailboxes but greeted every morning with a clear path to resolution."
Jack FriksFounder of Post Bridge

No more tab switching

Bring in custom data from your API endpoint

Point Fernand at any HTTP endpoint and it pulls the data that matters most right into the conversation sidebar. Use Liquid templating to control exactly what gets displayed. No extra tooling needed.

See how it works →

Support widget

A support widget for your product, not your operations org

Fernand's widget helps users get support where they already are: inside your product. Show docs, AI answers, live chat, contact forms, and custom behavior without building a customer ops workflow around it.

Integrates with your entire stack

Native integrations with your payment providers and dev tools. Connect anything else with the API, or orchestrate with n8n, Zapier, or Make.

Front is built for coordination.Fernand is built for focus.

Every detail of Fernand is intentionally designed using proven principles from cognitive psychology and behavioral science to make support feel calmer.

One thing at a time

One task at a time, so you never freeze wondering what to do next.

Ticket flowNormal

Unassigned7

Inbox zero±15 min

"Bonjour" welcome screen

Always know what your support queue looks like at a glance, instead of scanning through it manually.

70% done · 3 remaining

Progress to inbox zero

We communicate your progress transparently, to give you a sense of completion and fulfilment.

⌘

Unlock your new superpowers

Meet your new favourite shortcut. All the actions at the tip
of your fingers to clear your request queue 10x faster.

Press on

to assign

Keyboard shortcuts for everything

Optimized for efficiency. Reply, add a note, close a request and much more.

Loads under 100ms

No spinners, no loading. Everything is synced between all your screens at all times. It's like magic.

Front vs Fernand comparison

Built for founders, developers, PMs, and first customer ops hires who still touch support directly.

	Front	Fernand
Best for	Customer operations and shared inbox workflows	Small SaaS teams of 2 to 15 people
Pricing	Seat-based plans with AI and channel add-ons	$29 per human per month
Buying process	Try free on Starter, demo for higher plans	Try for free, no mandatory demo
Core workflow	Shared inbox plus ticketing and operations	Fast shared inbox for SaaS support
Conversations	Plan and channel dependent	Unlimited conversations
History	Available by plan	Unlimited history
Channels	Starter supports a single channel type, higher plans unlock omnichannel	Email, live chat, Slack, X DMs, contact forms, API
AI	AI add-ons for Autopilot, Copilot, QA, CSAT	AI agents ride free
API	API available, rate limit increases sold as add-ons	Free API access for AI agents to perform actions
Knowledge base	Basic to customizable by plan	Notion-like knowledge base
Custom data	Apps and integrations	Point to any HTTP endpoint, rendered live in the sidebar
Migration	Self-managed or service-led	Free, hands-on migration included
Product philosophy	Flexible customer operations platform	Calm, focused, opinionated support

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before switching from Front to Fernand.

Is Fernand a good Front alternative?

Yes. Fernand is a good Front alternative if your small SaaS team uses Front mainly for support and wants a simpler, more SaaS-native workflow.

Does Fernand support multiple emails and domains?

Yes. Fernand includes unlimited emails and domains.

Does Fernand include AI agents?

Yes. Fernand includes AI agents trained on your product context, docs, Q&As, URLs, files, and past replies.

Does Fernand require onboarding services?

No. Fernand is designed to work out of the box.

Who should stay on Front?

Teams that need customer operations workflows across many departments, advanced omnichannel routing, and heavy coordination may prefer Front.

We'll migrate you from Front for free.No demo. No surprise pricing.

Switching tools should not mean losing your history. Past conversations and knowledge base, all carried over for free. We'll manually review your migration and make sure everything is set up right before you go live.

Past conversations

Your full support history imported and searchable from day one, attachments included.

Knowledge base

Your help articles migrated and ready to publish. We set up 301 redirects from your old URLs so you keep every backlink and every rank.

Try for free for 14 days RBook a demo with a founder

Paste into Claude, Cursor, Codex, or any AI agent

I'm setting up Fernand (https://getfernand.com), a customer support platform for founders and small teams. Help me get my workspace running end-to-end.

Read the docs first so you know how Fernand works:
- Product & help docs: https://help.getfernand.com
- API & developer docs: https://developers.getfernand.com
- OpenAPI spec: https://api.getfernand.com/openapi.json

Start by asking me if I already have a Fernand account. If not, guide me to create one at https://app.getfernand.com/create. Once I have an account, ask me to create an API key under Settings → Integrations → API Keys so you can help me configure and automate things directly.

Then ask me about my business, my current support stack, and what I want to migrate or automate. Walk me through:
1. Connecting my support inbox(es) and any existing tools
2. Inviting my team
3. Setting up the automations and AI features that actually matter for my use case

Once the basics are covered, ask if I want to add the Fernand support widget to my app, my marketing site, or both. Use the setup guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/setting-up-the-support-widget. When installing:
- Ask me for my brand's accent color and set it in the widget config
- Ask me what links I want to surface in the widget (docs, changelog, status page, etc.) and pick the right icon for each one using the icon reference at https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/custom-links-icon-reference
- Ask if my app has authenticated users — if yes, follow https://help.getfernand.com/features/support-widget/authenticating-users to pre-identify them so conversations are tied to real accounts from the start

Once the widget is set up, ask if I want to surface more context inside customer conversations using Fernand's custom data feature. Read the full guide at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data, the endpoint structure at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/structuring-your-endpoint, and the display pattern library (including all subpages) at https://help.getfernand.com/features/custom-data/getting-started-with-custom-data#customizing-your-display. Ask me what data I'd want to see when a customer writes in (account status, plan, recent activity, etc.), then check if I already have an existing endpoint or admin API that exposes this data and could be reused directly — only suggest building a new one if nothing suitable exists. Then write the Liquid template using the right display patterns for each piece of data.

Throughout the setup, as you learn about my business — what it does, who my customers are, what support questions are likely — proactively suggest and help create:
- Smart snippets: pre-written replies for common questions, based on what you know (or can infer from my codebase, product, or docs). Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/smart-snippets/smart-snippets and draft a useful starting set.
- Automation rules: triage, assignment, tagging, or auto-reply rules that make sense for my use case. Read https://help.getfernand.com/features/automation-rules and suggest rules you'd actually configure for a team like mine. If you have access to my code or product, use it — you can infer a lot about the kinds of requests I'll receive.

Be opinionated. If something in the docs is the right default, just do it — don't ask me to choose between five options.

The calm Front alternative for SaaS support

Purposely built for small teams

Simple pricing

Built for SaaS support

Consolidate all your support channels into one shared inbox

Email

Live chat widget

Knowledge base

Slack

𝕏 DMs

Contact forms

Headless API

Why teams switch from Front

Choose Front if…

Choose Fernand if…

Bring in custom data from your API endpoint

A support widget for your product, not your operations org

Integrates with your entire stack

Front is built for coordination.Fernand is built for focus.

One thing at a time

"Bonjour" welcome screen

Progress to inbox zero

Unlock your new superpowers

Keyboard shortcuts for everything

Loads under 100ms

Front vs Fernand comparison

Frequently asked questions

We'll migrate you from Front for free.No demo. No surprise pricing.

Past conversations

Knowledge base

Consolidate all your support channels
into one shared inbox