--- title: "ReplyPen vs Hiver for customer email" canonical: https://replypen.com/compare/replypen-vs-hiver description: "Hiver is a helpdesk for shared inboxes, inside Gmail or as a web app, priced per user. ReplyPen puts a Draft in every customer thread, per conversation. Sourced, dated comparison." question: "Do I need Hiver, or just better drafts in my inbox?" author: "ReplyPen team" published: 2026-09-30 operator: ProBackup BV (Hasselt, Belgium) --- # ReplyPen vs Hiver for customer email Hiver is a helpdesk for shared inboxes, inside Gmail or as a separate web app, with assignment, collision detection and AI that drafts a reply when you ask. ReplyPen is not a helpdesk: it puts a Draft in the thread of every customer email in your own Gmail or Outlook, with a Check note showing what it used. Hiver charges per user per month from two seats; ReplyPen charges €0.25 per conversation at launch. [Join the waitlist](https://replypen.com/waitlist). We're opening to new teams soon. We'll email you when your spot is ready. ## ReplyPen and Hiver side by side Checked against Hiver's own pages on 2026-09-30. Numbers in brackets point to the sources below. ### What it is - ReplyPen: Drafts in your own Gmail or Outlook. No helpdesk to adopt. - Hiver: A helpdesk. Hiver in Gmail is a Chrome extension inside Gmail; Hiver Omni is a separate web app for other providers and channels. [1, 2] ### Outlook - ReplyPen: Inside Outlook itself, on desktop and on your phone - Hiver: Through Hiver Omni, which runs as a standalone web app rather than inside Outlook [2] ### Team inbox features - ReplyPen: Drafts sit in the shared mailbox, visible to everyone who works from it - Hiver: Collision detection, shared drafts, notes and approvals, with SLAs and satisfaction surveys on higher plans [1] ### How the AI writes a reply - ReplyPen: A Draft is already in the thread before you open the email - Hiver: You ask Copilot to draft a reply, then review and edit it before sending [3] ### AI that acts on its own - ReplyPen: Draft-only today. You send every Draft. Auto-send for kinds of email you choose is planned for a later version. - Hiver: Its AI can resolve routine requests on its own and take actions in other tools, such as a refund in Stripe [4] ### Where the facts come from - ReplyPen: Your help center, your website and the replies you sent before - Hiver: Your website, internal docs, FAQs and files, plus Notion, Google Drive and Confluence [5] ### Price - ReplyPen: €0.25 per conversation at launch. No seats, no tiers. - Hiver: Growth listed at $25 per user per month billed annually or $35 monthly, with a two-seat minimum. Pro at $55 or $65. [1] ## Who should choose which ### Choose Hiver if - Several people work one shared inbox and need assignment, collision detection and approvals. - You want a full helpdesk with SLAs, satisfaction surveys and reporting. - You want AI that carries out procedures across tools such as Salesforce or Stripe. - You want chat, Slack, WhatsApp or voice next to email in one tool. ### Choose ReplyPen if - You want a Draft ready in every customer thread without asking for one. - Your team works in Outlook and wants to stay in Outlook. - You do not need a helpdesk, just good replies in the inbox you already use. - You want the price to follow your volume, not your headcount. ## What does Hiver do well? Hiver turns a shared inbox into a proper helpdesk. In Gmail it runs as an extension, so a team keeps its familiar mailbox while gaining assignment, collision detection, shared drafts, approvals and, on higher plans, SLAs and satisfaction surveys. Its AI Copilot drafts replies on request from your website, docs and connected tools, and its AI can carry out procedures across systems such as Salesforce and Stripe. Hiver Omni adds chat, Slack, WhatsApp and voice. ## How do Hiver and ReplyPen prices compare? Hiver charges per user per month: its pricing page lists Growth at $25 billed annually or $35 monthly, and every plan starts at two seats. ReplyPen charges €0.25 for each conversation in which you use its Draft, and nothing for the rest. Two Hiver Growth seats billed annually cost $50 a month, about the same as 200 ReplyPen conversations before currency conversion. A per-seat price grows with your team; a per-conversation price grows with your customer email. See [ReplyPen pricing](https://replypen.com/pricing.md). ## Do you need a helpdesk to use ReplyPen? No. ReplyPen connects to the Gmail or Outlook mailbox you already answer from, including a shared address like support@, and puts a Draft in the thread of each customer email. The [Check note](https://replypen.com/product/inbox#what-is-in-a-check-note) under the Draft lists what it used, and you send the reply from your own inbox, on your computer or your phone. ## Questions **Does Hiver work inside Outlook?** Hiver's security page says Hiver Omni works with Gmail, Outlook and other providers and runs as a standalone web application; Hiver in Gmail is a Chrome extension for Gmail and Google Workspace. ReplyPen puts its Drafts inside Outlook and Gmail themselves. **Can ReplyPen replace a helpdesk?** Not if you need assignment, SLAs or satisfaction surveys; that is what a helpdesk like Hiver is for. ReplyPen does one job, a checked Draft for every customer email, in the inbox you already use. ## Sources 1. [Hiver in Gmail pricing](https://hiverhq.com/pricing/hiver-in-gmail): Lists Growth at $25 per user per month billed annually or $35 monthly, Pro at $55 or $65 and Elite at $85 or $95, all plans from 2 seats, Hiver in Gmail as a Chrome extension, and features such as collision detection, shared drafts, approvals and SLAs. Checked 2026-09-30. 2. [Hiver security center (updated 11 September 2026)](https://hiverhq.com/security-center): Says Hiver Omni works with Gmail, Outlook and other providers as a standalone web application. Checked 2026-09-30. 3. [Hiver Help: Introducing Hiver Copilot](https://help.hiverhq.com/ai-copilot/introducing-hiver-copilot): Says you ask Copilot to draft a reply and can review and edit it before sending, and that Copilot is enabled per shared inbox. Checked 2026-09-30. 4. [Hiver: AI that resolves requests](https://hiverhq.com/features/ai-agents): Describes AI that follows written procedures, resolves routine requests and act in tools such as Salesforce, NetSuite and Stripe. Checked 2026-09-30. 5. [Hiver Help: Knowledge hub](https://help.hiverhq.com/knowledge-hub/knowledge-hub): Says you can add your website, internal docs and FAQs, upload files, and sync Notion, Google Drive and Confluence for AI Copilot, its request-resolving AI or both. Checked 2026-09-30. Something out of date? Email info@replypen.com and we correct it. ## Related - [ReplyPen vs eesel for customer email](https://replypen.com/compare/replypen-vs-eesel.md): eesel puts AI inside your helpdesk to draft or answer tickets, priced in monthly credit bundles. ReplyPen drafts replies in your own Gmail or Outlook, per conversation. Sourced, dated comparison. - [ReplyPen vs Fin (formerly Intercom) for customer email](https://replypen.com/compare/replypen-vs-fin.md): Fin answers customers on its own inside a helpdesk, per outcome. ReplyPen drafts replies in your own Gmail or Outlook for you to send, per conversation. Sourced, dated comparison.