Palby AI Agent

Front alternative

A Front alternative that answers your WhatsApp enquiries on the number you already use

Keep the WhatsApp number your leads already have. The agent answers from your FAQs and past chats, and hands the hot ones to you.

Book a walkthrough

30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.

The short version

Stay with Front if your team works email first and wants WhatsApp beside it as a paid add-on, with AI agents in a shared inbox. Pick Palby AI Agent if nearly all your enquiries arrive on WhatsApp, and you want an agent that answers them in your words, books the good ones and hands the hot ones to you.

Who should pick which

Stay with Front if

  • Your team works email first, and WhatsApp is one channel among several
  • Your team is large enough to need seats and ticketing
  • You want to try it first: a 14-day trial with no credit card

Pick Palby AI Agent if

  • Nearly all your enquiries arrive on the WhatsApp number on your phone
  • You want an agent that answers from your price list, your FAQs and your past chats
  • You'd rather it checked in once with a quiet lead than kept on messaging

Side by side

Compared onPalby AI AgentFrontSource
How it connectsYour own WhatsApp, linked as a device the way WhatsApp Web is, through Green APIA WhatsApp add-on on Professional and Enterprise: Meta's WhatsApp costs plus a 20% admin feeFront pricing
Who it's forSmall businesses whose enquiries arrive on WhatsAppTeams that work customer email togetherFront site
The AI agentAnswers from your files, your website and your past chats, books onto your booking page and hands over to a WhatsApp alert number or a Lark groupAI agents work beside your team in the shared inboxFront site
ChannelsWhatsApp onlyEmail, chat, SMS and WhatsApp. Starter is one channelFront siteFront pricing
PriceNo public price yet. You get one on the walkthroughPer seat a month, billed annually. Enterprise is US$105 a seatFront pricing
To startBook a 30-minute walkthroughA 14-day trial with no credit cardFront pricing
As of November 2026. Front's details are from its own pages, read on 1 November 2026. Plans and prices change, so check them before you pay.

Where Front is strong

Front is a shared inbox built for teams that work customer email together. Teams and AI agents take each request from first reply to resolution across email, chat, SMS and WhatsApp. WhatsApp connects as a native add-on on Professional and Enterprise, billed at Meta's costs plus a 20% admin fee. It offers a 14-day trial with no credit card and says 9,300+ businesses use it. If your team lives in email, Front is the safer pick.

The three differences that matter

Link the number you already use

Open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Linked devices and scan the code, the way you'd link WhatsApp Web. There's no Business API to apply for and no template to get approved. Your phone keeps working, and messages you send from it show up in the inbox too.

Let the agent write like you

The agent reads your inbox's own past chats, so it sounds like you from the first message. It answers from the files you upload and your website pages, which it re-reads on a schedule. When a lead wants a time, it books it on your booking page.

Check in once, at least a day later

When a chat goes quiet, the agent checks in once at most, at least 24 hours later and never at night. By default, someone who never wrote back isn't chased. Quiet hours run from 11pm to 9am unless you change them.

Switching in three steps

  1. Book a 30-minute walkthrough, and bring your price list and FAQs.
  2. Link your number from your phone: Settings, Linked devices, Link a device.
  3. Try the agent in a test chat, then publish it when the answers look right.

Before you switch

Questions people ask about leaving Front

Try the agent on your own FAQs

Bring your price list and your FAQs to the walkthrough.

Book a walkthrough

30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.

Sources

Every page read on 1 November 2026. Nothing about a competitor on these pages comes from anywhere else.