Gmail Shared Inbox: How to Set One Up, Free or Paid

You can set up a Gmail shared inbox for free in three ways: a shared email address created in the Google Workspace Admin console, a Google Group turned into a Collaborative Inbox, or delegation of one mailbox to several people. All three give a team one address to read and answer from. None of them shows who is already replying, and that is the point where teams move to a paid shared inbox tool.

Below are Google's own steps for each free setup, then the paid tools, split by whether they run inside the Gmail window you already use or pull your mail into a separate app. If the real problem is too much email rather than who answers it, InboxPilot (we make it) sorts and drafts replies inside Gmail from your own documents.

Everything below assumes you are staying in Gmail. If your team is on Microsoft, or split across both, read best shared inbox software for the cross-platform ranking instead, or best shared inbox for Outlook if you have already landed on Microsoft 365.

First, a word on "Gmail shared mailbox"

Plenty of people search for a Gmail shared mailbox, which is a slight mismatch of terms. "Shared mailbox" is Microsoft's product name, and there is no feature in Google Workspace called that. Google has three separate things that do the job, and they are not interchangeable:

If you came here for the Microsoft feature, the Outlook guide covers the real shared mailbox and its documented 25-user ceiling. Everything below is about the Google side.

How to set up a Gmail shared inbox for free

Rule out free before you buy anything. Three native options solve the "several of us need to see support@" problem without a purchase, and the newest of them is recent enough that most competing articles have not caught up.

Option 1: a shared inbox from the Admin console

This is Google's own shared inbox. A Google Workspace admin creates it, and the team opens it in real Gmail, including the Gmail mobile app. It is included on Business Starter, Standard, and Plus with no paid add-on. Google doesn't list Education editions, so colleges and universities should ask their admin first; our notes on shared inbox software for universities cover the other quirks.

1. Sign in to the Google Admin console with an administrator account.
2. On the Home page, in the Users section, select Set up a shared email address.
3. Enter the address, such as support@yourcompany.com.
4. Click Add new users and enter each teammate who should have access. They become the inbox's delegates.
5. Click Continue to send them sign-in instructions, then Next, Next again after reviewing the list, and Done.

An existing account can be converted into a shared inbox the same way. Delegates can read, send and delete messages, and delegates are added or removed later from the shared inbox's own Gmail settings, under Accounts, Grant access to your account. Google says the feature "is being released in phases", so it may not be in your Admin console yet; if it is missing, use Option 3. (Google Workspace admin docs, Create a shared inbox)

It gives you access and sending from the shared address, with a "sent by" line showing who replied. It gives you no collision detection, no automation, and no SLA reporting. It solves access, not coordination. But if that is your whole problem, it is free and it is enough.

Option 2: a Google Groups Collaborative Inbox

A Collaborative Inbox is a Google Group with assignment turned on. Mail to the group's address lands in a shared queue where members can take a conversation, assign it to someone, and mark it complete, duplicate, or needing no action. It is the closest thing Google has to a ticket queue, and it works on work and school accounts where the admin has turned on Groups for Business.

1. Create the group at Google Groups with the address you want, such as support@yourcompany.com. Our guide to creating a group email in Gmail has the full steps and settings.
2. In the group's settings, turn on conversation history. Collaborative Inbox does not work without it.
3. Open the group, click Group settings on the left, and under Enable additional Google Groups features, select Collaborative Inbox.
4. Give members the Who can moderate metadata permission so they can take, assign and complete conversations. Marking a conversation as a duplicate or as needing no action needs Who can moderate content.

Sources: Make a group a Collaborative Inbox and Use a group as a Collaborative Inbox.

The catch is where it lives. The queue runs in the Google Groups web interface, not in Gmail, and never appears in the Gmail app. Members reply from their own address unless an owner or manager adds the group as a send-as address in Gmail. For a team that lives in Gmail, it is the least familiar of the three.

Option 3: delegation

Delegation gives named people access to one real Gmail account. It is the fallback when the Admin console option is not available, and the only one of the three that also works on a personal @gmail.com account.

1. Sign in to the account you want to share, such as support@.
2. In Gmail, click Settings, then See all settings.
3. Open the Accounts and Import tab (Accounts on work accounts).
4. Under Grant access to your account, click Add another account and enter the teammate's address.
5. The teammate accepts the invitation, which expires after a week. Access can take up to 24 hours to start.

A personal account can have up to 10 delegates and a work or school account up to 1,000, but on work accounts the admin has to allow delegation, and delegates must be inside your organization. Delegates can read, send and delete mail, but they cannot chat, change the password, or use features such as Smart Compose and Gemini in Gmail from the delegated account. (Gmail Help, Delegate & collaborate on email)

Which free option to pick

Pick the Admin console shared inbox if you have it. Pick Collaborative Inbox if assignment matters more than staying in Gmail. Use delegation when neither is available.

Gmail's concurrency ceiling is worth knowing

Google's native shared inbox is built on Gmail delegation, and delegation has documented limits: up to 1,000 delegates on paper, but only around 40 can access the account simultaneously under typical use, and Google notes that "above-average use by one or more delegates might reduce this number." Browser extensions that poll Gmail frequently reduce it further. (Google Workspace admin docs)

That detail matters here, because Hiver and Gmelius are both Gmail extensions that poll the account.

A plain shared address is genuinely fine at two or three people and low volume. The real breaking point comes the first time two teammates answer the same thread without realizing the other already did. That is coordination, and free tools do not solve it.

When free stops working: native vs connected tools

Once you need collision detection, assignment or reporting, you are choosing a paid tool, and almost every regretted purchase in this category comes from missing one line. For assignment that happens automatically, see the email routing tools for teams.

Neither is automatically better. Native wins on adoption because your team never leaves the tool they already know. Connected apps usually win on analytics depth and, crucially, on Outlook support, so a mixed Gmail and Outlook team should think hard before going native. If you are all-Gmail and want your team to actually adopt the thing, native is the safer bet.

Gmail shared inbox tools compared

Prices checked on each vendor's pricing page on October 6, 2026.

The best shared inbox tools for Gmail, ranked

1. InboxPilot

This is the pick for Gmail teams whose real problem is volume, and for anyone who wants relief without leaving the Gmail they already use. InboxPilot takes the top spot for one reason: every other tool on this list helps your team split the Gmail workload faster. InboxPilot cuts how much of it reaches a person in the first place. It is an AI layer that lives in the Gmail inbox your team already shares, sorting every incoming email and drafting each reply from your team's own documents, while deciding who handles what stays with your existing setup.

Strengths

• Native in Gmail, and in Outlook too, which no other Gmail-native tool here manages (Gmelius is Gmail-only, Hiver needs a separate product for Outlook).
• AI drafts grounded in your own docs, help center, and connected tools like Shopify, Notion, and Pipedrive.
• Smart triage, auto-labeling, and plain-English email workflows.
• Priced per plan, with no per-seat fees, AI drafting included, and unlimited team members on every plan.
• No migration. It layers onto the Gmail you already have.
• Slack integration. Matching emails post to a channel with the reply already drafted, thread replies change that draft, and 👀 / ✅ track who has each one (how it works).

Tradeoff: who has which customer is tracked in Slack (take it, close it, chase what nobody took) rather than with assignments inside Gmail. If your team is not in Slack and two agents keep replying to the same customer, pair it with Hiver, Missive, or Help Scout.

Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial. Starter is $39 a month, Growth $99 with auto-replies, Business $249 with three inboxes, and Scale $499 with ten inboxes, all with unlimited team members. AI drafting is included on every plan, and yearly billing gives two months free. (InboxPilot pricing and plans)

It makes the most sense if your team answers one Gmail address and wants relief without a migration, or if you run Hiver and want the repetitive volume deflected before it reaches a human. It pairs with any shared inbox below, and for a lot of teams it removes the reason to buy one.

2. Hiver

Hiver is the classic Gmail-native shared inbox, for Google Workspace teams who will not leave Gmail and should not have to.

Strengths

• Genuinely native to Gmail, running as a sidebar. Onboarding is close to zero because there is no new app to learn.
• Collision detection, assignment, and SLA basics.
• Clean pricing ladder: $25, $55, $85, and Growth already includes AI Copilot, which drafts replies.

Tradeoffs

• Performance is the recurring complaint. Reviewers frequently report slow loading under volume and having to refresh the browser to bring Hiver back.
• Outlook is not supported in the Gmail product. Microsoft users need Hiver Omni, a separate standalone app rather than an Outlook add-in.
• Analytics are thinner than a full help desk.

No free plan: a 7-day trial of Elite, then Growth at $25 per user per month billed annually ($35 monthly), Pro $55, Elite $85, from a 2-seat minimum (hiverhq.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026).

3. Google's native shared inbox

This suits Google Workspace teams that want a shared address in real Gmail, for free, and do not yet need coordination features.

Strengths

• Free on Business Starter, Standard, and Plus, with no add-on.
• Lives in actual Gmail, unlike the old Collaborative Inbox, which lived in the Google Groups interface and never appeared in the Gmail mobile app.
• Sends from the shared address, with a "sent by" attribution you can hide.

Tradeoffs

• No collision detection, no automation, no SLA reporting. It solves access, not coordination.
• Inherits Gmail's delegation ceilings (roughly 40 concurrent delegates, reduced further by extensions).
• Rolling out in phases, so it may not be in your Admin console yet.

It costs $0, included with Workspace. (Google Workspace admin docs)

4. Gmelius

Gmelius is for small Google Workspace teams that want a shared inbox plus Kanban boards, at the lowest Gmail-native price.

Strengths

• Cheapest true Gmail-native entry at $19 per user per month.
• Kanban and Trello-style boards on top of email, an unusual and genuinely useful combination.
• Shared labels, internal notes, and sequences.

Tradeoffs

• Gmail only. No Outlook, at all. One Outlook user on your team disqualifies this tool entirely. Confirmed on Gmelius's own pricing page.
• Speed complaints are persistent. Users frequently report slow Gmail load times with the extension active, along with Chrome extension bugs.
• The mobile app is a frequently cited weak point.
• No free tier, and only a 7-day trial, which is not long enough to roll a shared inbox out to a team.

Shared inboxes start on Growth at $25 per user per month billed annually ($33 monthly), and Pro is $40. The AI Draft Assistant comes with every plan. The $19 Meli plan is a personal AI assistant without shared inboxes (gmelius.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026).

5. Missive

Missive is for teams that want to discuss and co-write replies inside the thread instead of copying them into Slack. It connects to Gmail rather than living inside it, but it earns its place because nothing here matches its collaborative drafting.

Strengths

• Cheapest serious entry point at $14 per user per month.
• Real-time collaborative drafting is genuinely differentiated. Two people can write one reply together, live.
• Broad channel support: Gmail, Outlook, IMAP, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, SMS via Twilio.
• Provider-agnostic, so it works the same whether you are on Google or Microsoft.

Tradeoffs

• Starter caps at 5 users and has no AI drafts. The realistic plan for a growing team is Productive at $24. AI usage is billed on top, through Missive credits or your own OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini key (Missive docs).
• The learning curve is the most common complaint. It is a genuinely new paradigm, and teams coming from plain Gmail need a few weeks to settle in.
• It is a separate app, so you lose the "never leave Gmail" advantage.

Starter is $14 per user per month for up to 5 users, Productive $24 for up to 50, Business $36 with no cap. A free plan is referenced but its limits are not published, so confirm before relying on it. (missiveapp.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026)

6. Help Scout

Help Scout suits customer support teams that want a shared inbox plus a knowledge base, without Zendesk's weight.

Strengths

• Free tier with 5 users, one inbox, and one Docs site.
• The cleanest, easiest interface of any support tool here.
• Built-in knowledge base, so you are not buying a second product.
• AI Answers is priced per resolution ($0.75) rather than per seat, which is buyer-friendly.

Tradeoffs

• Reporting is basic compared to Zendesk or Freshdesk, and custom report history is gated to higher tiers.
• It connects to Gmail as a separate app, not a sidebar.
• Extra inboxes cost $10 per month each, and Pro requires a 10-user minimum.

Free covers 5 users and one inbox. Standard is $25 per user per month billed yearly, Plus $45, Pro $75. AI Drafts start on Plus, since Standard has only AI Assist for editing what you write. (helpscout.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026)

7. Front

Front is the most complete classic shared inbox in this roundup, for mid-market and larger teams that want that and can pay for it. It ranks seventh for Gmail teams specifically only because it connects to Gmail as a separate app rather than living inside it, which undercuts the exact advantage a committed-Gmail team is optimizing for.

Strengths

• Mature collision detection and assignment, the two things you are actually buying.
• Deep integration catalog including Salesforce and HubSpot.
• Strong analytics, genuinely better than the rest of this list.

Tradeoffs

• The advertised price is not the real price. Starter at $25 per seat is limited to a single channel type. The plan most teams actually need is Professional at $65 per seat per month, and Enterprise is $105.
• Separate app, so no native-Gmail adoption advantage.
• AI is an add-on: Copilot, which drafts replies, is $20 per seat per month, so Starter with drafts is $45 and Professional $85. Autopilot runs from $0.05 per conversation.

Starter is $25 per seat per month billed annually and capped at 10 seats, Professional $65, Enterprise $105. No free tier, 14-day trial. (front.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026)

Teams moving off Front specifically will find Hiver, Missive and Help Scout priced for five seats in Front alternatives.

8. Other Gmail-native options worth a look

Two lighter Gmail-native tools come up often and are worth a trial if the above feel too heavy:

• Drag turns Gmail into a shared Kanban board and is one of the lightest-weight options. Gmail-only, no free plan (7-day trial). Starter $12, Plus $18, Pro $24 per user per month billed annually ($16, $22, $30 monthly). Automatic drafting starts on Plus, which includes 1,000 AI credits per seat a month. (dragapp.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026)
• Keeping adds help-desk-style shared inbox and ticketing inside Gmail, aimed at small support teams. Gmail-only, 2-user minimum, no free plan (14-day trial). Essentials $14, Advanced $24, HIPAA $49 per user per month billed annually, with no built-in AI reply drafting. (keeping.com/pricing, checked October 6, 2026)

Both are Gmail-only, so cross them off immediately if anyone on your team is on Outlook.

What a 5-person Gmail team actually pays in year one

Advertised entry prices mislead, so here is the real number for a five-person team, at list price, billed annually.

Front's real cost is closer to $3,900 than the $1,500 its entry tier implies, and $5,100 once Copilot drafts replies. Seat prices often leave AI drafting out, while InboxPilot's plan price includes it. And several capable options here cost nothing at five people, which is the point: rule out free before you spend.

How to choose a shared inbox for Gmail

1. Rule out free first

If you are two or three people, Google's native shared inbox or Help Scout's free plan may be enough. Paying $1,500 a year to solve a problem you do not have yet is the most common mistake in this category.

2. Decide how much you care about staying inside Gmail

If adoption is your risk, go native (Hiver, Gmelius) so nobody has to learn a new app. If analytics depth matters more, a connected app (Front, Help Scout) is worth the context switch.

3. Check whether anyone touches Outlook

Gmelius has no Outlook support at all, and Hiver's Gmail product does not either. If even one teammate is on Microsoft, that removes options before you compare a single feature. See the companion guide: best shared inbox for Outlook.

4. Separate the volume problem from the coordination problem

These are two different problems. Assignment and collision detection solve coordination and do nothing for sheer volume. AI drafting solves volume and does nothing for coordination. Work out which one is actually hurting before you shop.

How to choose, in one paragraph

Start with the diagnosis, not the tool. If the answer is that nobody is stepping on anyone's toes, there is just too much email, that is a volume problem and InboxPilot is our pick, on its own or alongside whichever shared inbox you land on. If you are two or three people on Workspace, turn on Google's native shared inbox and spend nothing. If you are a Gmail team that wants real coordination with the least friction, Hiver is the lowest-effort upgrade, from $25 a seat. If you want Kanban boards on top and nobody uses Outlook, Gmelius. If you want to co-write replies live, Missive. If you want a support tool with a knowledge base, Help Scout. And if you want the most complete classic shared inbox and can accept a separate app, Front at its real price.

Related reading

• Best shared inbox tools: the full category, both platforms, including help desks.
• How to create a group email in Gmail: contact labels and Google Groups, for when you need a list rather than a shared inbox.
• Gmail ticketing system: turning a Gmail address into a ticket queue, with and without extra tools.
• Best shared inbox for Outlook: the Microsoft-side companion to this guide.
• How to export emails from Gmail: backing up or handing over a shared Gmail inbox before you migrate anything.
• How to automate email support: what to automate once your inbox is organized.
• RFQ automation: how quote requests get read, priced, and answered from your own catalog.

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Prices checked against vendor pricing pages on October 6, 2026, and stated per user per month unless noted. Setup steps and platform limits are cited from Google's own help and administrator documentation, checked on 2026-09-23. Vendors change pricing frequently, so confirm current rates before purchasing.