10 Best Gmelius Alternatives for Seamless Multichannel Support

As a customer-facing business, managing a packed and chaotic email inbox is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face. There’s categorizing emails into different query types, typing stock responses to common questions, dealing with email threads that threaten to never end — all of which add up to your customer support staff reaching for the nearest headache pills.

This is why platforms like Gmelius exist. If you use Gmail for customer comms, this tool promises to cut email admin by up to an hour a day by enabling you to automate the stuff that takes up the most time — sorting emails, forwarding queries, drafting replies, and so on. It’s a pretty powerful tool if email is your primary communication channel.

Nowadays, however, 7 in 10 consumers prefer brands that provide service across multiple channels. Email is just one such channel, but increasingly customers expect to be able to reach your company via several means — including phone, live chat, chatbot, and even social media.

If you want to offer multichannel support, you likely need a more versatile tool than Gmelius — so here are 10 powerful Gmelius alternatives.

1. Crisp

If you’re looking for an alternative to Gmelius that does more than streamline your email inbox, Crisp is arguably the best option. This multichannel powerhouse is designed to help you connect with customers across email, chat, Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, and more — all in one beautifully organized inbox. 

What makes Crisp shine is its robust shared inbox and collaborative features like real-time co-browsing, shared notes, and a built-in knowledge base. Their chatbot builder is intuitive, letting you automate repetitive conversations without coding. 

Plus, Crisp’s pricing is highly competitive, especially considering the sheer breadth of integrations and features included. The only downside? If you need native telephony (voice calls), you’ll have to rely on third-party integrations. But if your main goal is seamless, real-time multichannel messaging, Crisp is hard to beat.

Crisp pros:

• Excellent shared inbox for multichannel conversations.
• Intuitive chatbot builder with rich automation.
• Competitive pricing with generous features.

Crisp cons:

• No native voice call solution.

2. Front

Front combines the familiarity of email with modern collaboration tools, letting teams manage shared inboxes, SMS, social media, and more — all in one platform. 

It stands out with features like internal comments, SLA-based workflows, analytics, and CRM integrations, making it a great fit for teams handling high volumes of customer interactions. 

Front’s pricing can be steep for smaller businesses, and advanced features are mostly reserved for premium plans — which might be overkill for teams with simpler needs — but this platform is particularly loved by sales and customer success teams for its ability to streamline communications without losing the personal touch. .

Front pros:

• Unified inbox for email, SMS, and social media.
• Internal collaboration tools like comments and assignments.
• Advanced analytics for team performance.

Front cons:

• Premium features require expensive plans.
• Can be feature-overkill for small teams.

3. Help Scout

Help Scout is an email-first help desk that seamlessly expands into live chat and a self-service knowledge base. Unlike traditional ticketing systems, it keeps conversations human by avoiding ticket numbers, making interactions feel more personal. 

Help Scout’s mailbox lets multiple agents collaborate on conversations, and its Docs feature helps reduce repetitive questions. Its customer management tools give you a quick view of each customer’s history, which is perfect for support teams that want context-rich replies. 

On the downside, Help Scout’s live chat is more basic compared to dedicated chat platforms — it’s great for simple needs but lacks advanced chatbot capabilities — but that’s a fairly small price to pay for a generally very powerful platform.

Help Scout pros:

• Human-centric conversations without ticket numbers.
• Integrated knowledge base (Docs) for self-service.
• Excellent customer profiles for context-rich replies.

Help Scout cons:

• Live chat is basic and lacks advanced bot functionality.

4. Zendesk

One of the most established customer service suites in the arena, Zendesk lets you seamlessly unify email, live chat, phone, and social media channels. Its strength lies in its mature ticketing system, powerful automation rules, reporting tools, and vast integration ecosystem. 

Zendesk’s robust knowledge base and community forum features are particularly ideal for scaling support. But while Zendesk offers nearly every feature you could want, it can be overwhelming to set up, and its pricing quickly climbs as you add features or channels — a drawback for lean teams that need simplicity.

Zendesk pros:

• Comprehensive multichannel ticketing.
• Strong automation and SLA tools.
• Massive app marketplace for integrations.

Zendesk cons:

• Steep learning curve for new users.
• Costs increase sharply with added features.

5. Freshdesk

Part of the Freshworks product suite, Freshdesk offers a user-friendly platform that combines email ticketing with live chat, phone, and social support. Its Team Inbox makes it easy for agents to stay on top of tickets, and the platform provides AI-powered suggestions to boost productivity. 

Freshdesk’s automation capabilities — from auto-assigning tickets to sending SLA reminders — are impressive, helping busy teams keep response times down. 

One caveat: the platform’s UI can feel cluttered with features you might not need, which could overwhelm new users looking for a straightforward solution. But if your needs are quite complex, you’ll find a powerful partner in Freshdesk.

Freshdesk pros:

• Intuitive ticketing with AI-powered suggestions.
• Supports phone, chat, email, and social channels.
• Strong automation for workflows and SLAs.

Freshdesk cons:

• Interface can feel cluttered with unused features.

6. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is one of the more affordable help desk software tools. It’s an arm of the popular Zoho suite, and it provides multichannel support across email, social, and live chat. 

Zoho Desk is surprisingly customizable given its affordability, with features like workflow automation, advanced reporting, and a self-service portal. If you’re already using other Zoho products, Zoho Desk integrates seamlessly with CRM, analytics, and more. 

However, those customization options can be a double-edged sword — setting up workflows and layouts can require a steeper learning curve for businesses without technical resources, which may alienate small, non-technical teams.

Zoho Desk pros:

• Highly customizable workflows and layouts.
• Affordable pricing, especially for small businesses.
• Seamless integration with other Zoho apps.

Zoho Desk cons:

• Setup complexity can overwhelm non-technical teams.

7. Intercom

Intercom made its name by redefining live chat, but it has evolved into a full customer messaging platform with bots, email campaigns, and product tours. It supports multichannel conversations across chat, social, and email, and is characterized by its AI-powered support assistant, Fin by Intercom.

Intercom’s modern design and proactive messaging make it a favorite for SaaS companies aiming to engage users inside their apps. However, Intercom’s pricing is notoriously opaque and can balloon quickly as you grow or add features, which might be a dealbreaker for budget-conscious teams.

Intercom pros:

• Modern, proactive chat and messaging tools.
• Powerful bots for lead capture and support automation.
• Versatile customer engagement features like product tours.

Intercom cons:

• Pricing is not very transparent and can escalate quickly.

8. LiveAgent

A feature-rich help desk solution offering email ticketing, live chat, social integrations, and even built-in call center functionality, LiveAgent also includes advanced features like gamification, a customer portal, and performance analytics — all wrapped in a single, affordable package. 

While the interface can feel dated compared to newer tools, and the sheer number of settings can make onboarding slower for teams without technical staff, LiveAgent’s strength lies in its breadth: it’s rare to find voice, chat, and ticketing so well integrated.

LiveAgent pros:

• All-in-one tool with ticketing, chat, and call center.
• Advanced gamification features to motivate teams.
• Affordable compared to many competitors.

LiveAgent cons:

• User interface feels a bit outdated.
• Too many features can slow onboarding.

9. Hiver

An excellent choice if you want to keep using Gmail as your primary workspace but still need shared inbox features, Hiver turns your Gmail into a collaborative help desk, adding features like email assignments, shared drafts, templates, and SLA tracking. 

Hiver’s strength is that, like Gmelius, it doesn’t force you to leave your familiar Gmail interface, which cuts training time for teams. 

However, while it’s slightly more comprehensive than Gmelius, it’s a similarly email-focused tool — which can be a drawback if you want true multichannel support. That said, it does include live chat, an AI chatbot, and a self-service customer portal, so it covers a lot of bases.

Hiver pros:

• Turns Gmail into a shared help desk with minimal training.
• Adds SLA tracking, shared drafts, and assignments to email.
• Keeps teams in their familiar Gmail environment.

Hiver cons:

• Only supports email — no live chat or social integrations.

10. Kayako

Kayako is a multichannel help desk platform known for its unified conversations feature, which lets agents see the entire history of a customer across email, chat, and social media. 

It supports automation rules, self-service portals, and robust reporting, while Kayako’s single-view timeline is particularly powerful for keeping context during long-running support conversations. 

It would seem Kayako’s pace of innovation has slowed somewhat in recent years, and some users report that integrations with modern SaaS tools can feel limited or outdated, but it’s certainly still worth considering if you’re looking to manage multiple communication channels in one place.

Kayako pros:

• Unified timeline view of customer conversations.
• Good automation and self-service capabilities.
• Multichannel support including social media and chat.

Kayako cons:

• Integrations can feel limited or outdated.
• Innovation pace has slowed, with fewer new features.