Hiver is a help desk software that can be added to Gmail allowing you and your team to provide customer support directly from Google’s email client. It is built to help customer support teams stay organized and work more efficiently together by offering features such as shared inboxes, task and email assignments, and some degree of real-time collaboration.

If you are looking for a better Hiver alternative, you’ve come to the right place.

Missive is a shared inbox and communication tool that can be tailored to meet your needs, making it the perfect solution for your business and team.

Let's explore how Missive is a great Hiver alternative, allowing you to collaborate with your team more effectively and reach a higher level of productivity.

Missive vs. Hiver: What’s Right for You?

Missive is a standalone shared inbox and team communication app that works across all email providers and devices. Hiver is a Gmail add-on that only works within Google's ecosystem. This fundamental difference shapes everything else—from collaboration features to flexibility.

Hiver, like Gmelius, layers collaboration on top of Gmail. Missive is purpose-built email management software with native team chat, calendar, and multi-channel support.

Both tools share some basics: website live chat, assignments, contacts, shared drafts, SLA rules, and email tags. But Hiver's shared drafts lack real-time collaboration—something Missive handles natively.

Key differences where Missive pulls ahead:

• Built-in calendar: Syncs with Office 365 and Google Calendar, shareable with colleagues
• Native team chat: Full conversations alongside emails, not just sidebar notes
• Email merging: Combine related conversations into one thread
• Real-time draft collaboration: Multiple teammates can edit the same reply simultaneously

Hiver does include a basic knowledge base out of the box. However, its customization falls short of dedicated help desk platforms like Help Scout, Freshdesk, or Zendesk.

Hiver limits inbox sharing to your own team within a single domain. Missive lets you collaborate with anyone—external contractors, assistants, or partners—regardless of their organization or email provider. It's a practical way to delegate emails without workarounds.

Missive also offers capabilities Hiver lacks:

• API access: Integrate Missive into your existing workflow and build custom connections
• Presence indicators: See who's viewing a conversation in real-time to avoid duplicate replies
• OpenAI integration: Draft emails, translate messages, and fix grammar directly in the app

Both Hiver and Missive offer analytics.

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Pricing

Both Missive and Hiver have a range of plans to better suits you need and budget. It's also important that both platforms also offer free trials. Missive offers a 30-day trial while Hiver offers a 7-day trial. Missive also offers a free plan which is something Hiver doesn't have.

Here's a breakdown of both shared inbox solutions' pricing:

Hiver Doesn't Offer a Built-In Calendar

One key difference is that Missive offers a built-in calendar that you can sync with Office 365 and Google Calendar and share with your colleagues. Hiver, on the other hand, does not have this feature. This can be especially useful for teams that need to coordinate meetings and appointments.

Hiver Doesn't Have a Built-In Chat

Another difference is that Hiver does not have a built-in team chat, only notes on the right side of emails. With Missive, you can chat with your team directly inside a conversation, making it easier to have more details and the context around the comments and chats.

Hiver Isn't Great at Managing Emails

Hiver duplicates every shared inbox email into each user's personal inbox. This creates clutter and makes it harder to track what's been handled. Missive keeps shared emails centralized—no copies flooding individual mailboxes.

Missive also lets you share individual emails, not just entire inboxes. You can merge related conversations into a single thread, keeping context intact when customers reply across multiple messages.

Choose Missive if you need team chat, calendar, multi-channel support, and flexibility across email providers. Hiver works if your team is fully committed to Gmail and only needs basic shared inbox features.

Hiver Doesn't Support All Email Providers

If you're in the market for an email management and collaboration tool, it's important to consider the level of integration with different email providers. After all, you'll want to make sure that the tool you choose is compatible with the email provider your team uses.

In this regard, Missive has an advantage over Hiver. While you can use the Google feature to forward your emails from another email provider, only Gmail accounts are supported in Hiver.

Missive supports a wider range of providers, including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and all other services. This means that if your team uses an email provider other than Google, Missive is more likely to be a good fit for you.

Hiver Doesn't Offer a Unified Experience on All Devices

It might be important for you and your team that the shared inbox tool you're using is available on all devices that you use. It's another place where Missive takes the edge.

Missive offers a unified experience across all devices, let it be web browsers, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. You can use the same app on your computer, smartphone, and tablet, and get the same fast, and intuitive experience.

On the other hand, Hiver's Gmail add-on is only available on Chrome which limits the use of the tool a lot. All your team will need to switch to Google's browser to use Hiver. Additionally, Hiver's mobile app is limited to shared inboxes and does not provide access to your personal emails, making it less convenient since you'll have to switch between two apps to access all your emails.

With all that in mind, Missive may be the better option with its consistent and seamless experience across all devices and browsers.

Collaborate on More Than Just Emails with Missive

Hiver supports email and WhatsApp. That's it. Missive handles a broader range of channels your team actually needs:

• Email
• SMS
• WhatsApp
• Live chat
• Social media (Facebook, Instagram)
• Phone calls

If your customer support spans multiple channels, Missive consolidates everything in one workspace.

Missive Offers More Integrations than Hiver

Being able to integrate the tools you already use with your shared inbox software is a big advantage that can help you improve your team workflow.

Missive offers a range of integrations, including:

• Asana
• ClickUp
• Dropbox
• Google Drive
• Grammarly
• Hubspot
• OpenAI
• Retool
• Shopify
• Todoist
• Trello
• Zapier
• Zoom
• And more

On the other hand, Hiver's integration options are more limited and may not offer the same level of seamless integration and flexibility for your team.

Hiver offers the following integrations:

• Asana
• JIRA
• Salesforce
• Slack
• Zapier

As you can see, Missive offers way more integrations and the ability to create yours if a tool you need isn't supported.

Conclusion

Hiver is a Gmail add-on for basic shared inbox management. Missive is a full collaboration platform—shared inboxes, team chat, calendar, and multi-channel support—that works across all email providers and devices.

If you want to see how Missive fits your team, book a demo call today.