Comparison

    Volty vs Front.

    Front is a shared inbox your team works, priced per seat, with Autopilot billed per conversation. Volty is an AI helpdesk builder whose AI agent interviews your team and configures itself.

    Start your free trialTalk to Volty

    Updated

    Serving customers globally across 10+ markets

    • NTUC Health
    • Raffles Hotels & Resorts
    • EtonHouse International School

    What you're really deciding

    Why teams choose Volty over Front

    Front and Volty both put customer conversations in a shared inbox and answer some of them with AI. Front suits a team that works mostly in email, wants Salesforce, HubSpot or Jira beside each conversation, and has an admin to write its rules and set up its AI agent. Volty suits a business whose customers write in on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat: Volty interviews your team, configures itself, answers customers and writes the automations your team asks for.

    01 · Price

    More for what you pay than Front

    Tools like Volty and Front are priced on a few measures: how many people you talk to, how much the AI does, how often it reaches your other systems, and what each plan unlocks. On each one, Volty includes more or charges less. Prices change, so each company's current figures are on its own pricing page.

    How you payVolty: One monthly plan, with seats, active contacts and AI credits included.Front: Every plan is priced per seat, and Starter stops at 10 seats.
    AI answersVolty: AI replies come out of a monthly allowance of AI credits, 20,000 on Plus.Front: Autopilot bills each conversation by its outcome: triage, handoff or resolution.
    Drafts for your teamVolty: Volty drafts replies for your team to send on every plan.Front: Copilot is an add-on, priced per seat, below Enterprise.
    ChannelsVolty: WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat on every plan.Front: Starter covers one channel type, and native WhatsApp is an add-on on Professional and above.

    02 · Customize

    Build what your business needs, not only a helpdesk

    A helpdesk answers messages. Your business also runs reminders, follow-ups, reports, bookings and the odd spreadsheet nobody owns. In Volty you describe the job in chat, or hand it to Claude Code, and it becomes an automation or a mini app that runs on your conversations, your contacts and the systems you connect.

    • AutomationsCode that runs on a schedule, when something happens in Volty, when another system calls a webhook, or when an email arrives. Each one runs in a sandbox and picks up where it stopped if anything fails.
    • Mini appsDashboards and internal tools your team opens inside Volty: a lead board, a report on where this month's customers came from, a front desk view. They read and update your Tables.
    • Tables and DrivePrice lists, schedules and records live in Tables your automations and Volty itself read from. Handbooks and files in Drive become what Volty knows.

    No more drag and drop

    Most messaging tools build automations in a visual builder: you place each trigger, condition and step on a canvas or in a form, connect them by hand, and change them the same way. With Volty you describe what you want, and Claude Code plans, builds and tests it with you.

    1. 01 · PlanClaude Code reads what Volty can do, asks what it needs to know and lays out the steps before it writes anything.
    2. 02 · BuildIt writes the automation or mini app as code and files it in Volty with one command.
    3. 03 · TestA dry run against your real data shows exactly what would happen, and Claude Code fixes anything that fails.
    4. 04 · ApproveAn admin reads what it does, what it can touch and what it costs, then approves it in Volty.

    Why Claude Code works so well with Volty

    Every feature in Volty is written once and reaches you four ways at the same time: the screen your team clicks, the volty command line, the API, and the AI inside Volty. There is no second, smaller API for developers. So anything your team can do in Volty, Claude Code or any other coding agent can do too, under the same rules and the same approvals.

    • The volty command line reads Volty's live list of operations, so a coding agent always sees what exists today, never an outdated reference.
    • One command installs the Volty skill for Claude Code, which teaches it to build, test and read back what Volty did.
    • Keys for coding agents can be read-only, limited to some features, and expire within 14 days.
    • Before anything goes live it is tested: automations run a dry run, mini apps check every data route, and a real conversation can be replayed against the change.
    • Anything a coding agent writes waits for an admin, on a page that answers four questions: what it does, what changed, what it can touch and what it costs.

    03 · Integrations

    Connect any system with an open API, with no other tool to manage

    Volty reaches your other systems directly, so it can look up an order, book a slot or update a record in the middle of a conversation. Every connection lives inside Volty, so there is no Zapier or Make account to set up, keep in sync and troubleshoot when a step fails.

    HubSpot, Google Calendar, Shopify, Slack, Notion, Google Drive, Plato, any MCP server and any API

    Ready-made connectors

    Hundreds of apps connect in a few clicks, among them Google Calendar and Google Drive, HubSpot, Notion, Slack and Shopify.

    Any MCP server

    Paste the address of any system that offers an MCP server, sign in, and its tools appear in Volty.

    Anything with an API

    For a system with no connector, Volty writes the connection itself as code. An admin approves it once, and Volty can call it in the middle of a conversation.

    • One place to manage every connection: no second automation tool, no second login, no second bill.
    • API keys go into a secure card, are encrypted, and are never typed into a chat.
    • Each tool has its own switch. Tools that change data start off until an admin turns them on.
    Front logo

    Salesforce, HubSpot and Jira records open inside Front. Prebuilt connectors and custom application objects need Professional, custom application requests need Enterprise or Autopilot, and MCP connectors need Copilot or Autopilot.

    Volty

    Ready-made connectors, any MCP server, and a connection Volty writes for anything else with an API, all inside Volty. There is no second automation tool to sign up for, connect and keep working.

    04 · AI

    An AI that works like a person on your team

    Most helpdesks add an AI agent to software built for people clicking buttons. Volty was built the other way round. We wrote our own agentic harness, the engine that decides what the AI reads, what it may do, when it must ask a person and what it keeps from each conversation, and built the helpdesk around it.

    What happens when a customer writes in

    1. 1Waits for the whole messageCustomers send three short messages in a row. Volty waits a few seconds and answers all three at once, and folds in anything that arrives while it is writing.
    2. 2Reads everything they sentVoice notes are transcribed. Photos, PDFs, documents and short videos are read.
    3. 3Checks what it knowsYour instructions, the lessons your team taught it, your knowledge files and what it remembers about this customer.
    4. 4Acts in your systemsLooks up the order, books the slot, updates the record, using only the tools you switched on.
    5. 5Asks before anything bigSpending money, messaging many people or anything that cannot be undone waits for a person. Volty carries on from the same point once someone approves.
    6. 6Replies like a person textingShort, answer first, in your customer's language, with buttons when there are only a few choices.

    It learns on its own

    Learns from every correction

    When a teammate replies instead of Volty, Volty compares the two and keeps the lesson: a fact about the business, a rule for every customer or a note about one. Each lesson shows who taught it, and anyone can undo it.

    Keeps its promises

    When Volty tells a customer it will get back to them, it schedules the follow-up and returns at that time. A promise with nothing scheduled behind it is flagged.

    Steps back for your team

    When a teammate replies, Volty waits, then picks up whatever the customer sent in the meantime. Replies sent from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone count too.

    Reviews its own day

    Each night Volty reads the day's replies from your team, merges rules that say the same thing, retires ones that no longer apply and suggests one change to its instructions for an admin to approve.

    Remembers each customer

    Volty keeps what it learns about each customer and a short recap of every closed case, so a returning customer never has to start over.

    Front logo

    Autopilot answers from instructions, knowledge, playbooks and Front knowledge base articles, and reaches systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify and Stripe through MCP connectors. Each conversation it handles is billed by outcome.

    Volty

    An agentic harness we built for this job: it waits, reads everything, acts only with the tools you allow, asks before anything big, and learns from every correction your team makes.

    See how it works in more depth on the AI agent page.

    More ways Volty is different

    It comes back when it said it would

    When Volty tells a customer it will get back to them, it records a follow-up and returns at the time it set.

    Side by side

    Channels

    Volty

    WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat, in one inbox

    Front logo

    Starter covers one channel type, such as email or SMS. Professional and Enterprise add social channels and WhatsApp, with native WhatsApp as an add-on.

    Setting it up

    Volty

    Volty interviews your team, drafts its own instructions and tests itself before it talks to a single customer.

    Front logo

    An admin creates an agent in Company settings, chooses Autopilot as its AI engine, picks its workspaces, writes its instructions, then chooses its knowledge, playbooks and tone.

    Reaching your systems

    Volty

    Volty connects to hundreds of business apps through ready-made connectors, to any MCP server, and to any other system with an API through a connection Volty writes. Tools that change data start Off until an admin turns them on.

    Front logo

    Integrations such as Salesforce, HubSpot and Jira in the inbox, connectors from Professional, and MCP connectors with Copilot or Autopilot. Custom application requests need Enterprise or Autopilot.

    Building automations

    Volty

    Describe a workflow in chat, and Volty builds the automation for it. An admin approves each automation before it runs.

    Front logo

    An admin builds each rule from triggers, conditions and actions, such as Inbound message is received, Message body contains and Assign to teammates. Starter holds 10 workspace rules and Professional 20.

    When a person is needed

    Volty

    WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat land in one shared inbox. Volty escalates the conversations that need someone from your team, and when a teammate replies, Volty steps back. Your number can stay in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, so your team can reply from there too.

    Front logo

    Assignment rules decide whether a person or the AI handles each conversation. Front's native WhatsApp channel does not connect a number on the WhatsApp Business app; a third-party integration keeps the app.

    Messaging customers first

    Volty

    Volty follows up with an approved template once the window has closed, and sends broadcasts.

    Front logo

    New WhatsApp messages go out as approved templates. For marketing sends, Front recommends a dedicated mail-merge platform.

    What it costs

    Volty

    A monthly plan after a free 7-day trial, with active contacts, AI credits and every integration included. Plan prices are on the Volty pricing page. Meta bills you for its messages separately.

    Front logo

    Per seat, after a free 14-day trial. As of November 2026, Starter is US$25, Professional US$65 and Enterprise US$105 per seat a month, billed annually. Autopilot is billed per conversation, from US$0.05 for triage to US$0.89 for a resolution, and native WhatsApp adds 20% to Meta's charges.

    The honest take

    Front logoChoose Front when

    Your team works mostly in a shared email inbox, you want Salesforce, HubSpot or Jira beside each conversation, and you want AI agents paid per outcome on top of a mature rules engine.

    VoltyChoose Volty when

    Your customers write in on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email and web chat, you want every channel on every plan, and you want the AI to set itself up and answer rather than route.

    Bottom line

    Front is a shared inbox your team works, with AI billed per conversation on top of each seat. Volty is an AI helpdesk builder whose AI agent configures itself and works alongside your team in one inbox, on one monthly plan.

    Customer stories

    Sign up for our 7-day trial. No credit card needed.

    Not convinced? Hear more from our CEO and Volty

    The Leonard and Volty Show · October 8, 2026

    Meta now charges for WhatsApp replies

    Meta now charges for WhatsApp replies. Here's what it means for your business, October 8, 2026