The ways to get a shared inbox into Slack, compared (2026)

There are three different jobs hiding behind "put support@ in Slack": reading email in Slack, answering it from Slack, and running a full help desk. Slack itself does the first for nothing extra. Several tools do the second. Help desks do the third and send notifications to Slack.

Below are the options we checked, with prices taken from each vendor's own site on the date at the bottom. RelayMail is one of the options and we make it, so where another option fits better, we say so.

Option	Price (vendor's site)	Reply to the sender from the Slack thread	Priced per
Slack channel email address	Included with paid Slack plans	Not described in Slack's help article	Workspace
Personal forwarding address	Included on every Slack plan	Not described in Slack's help article	Workspace
Slack case management (Salesforce Email-to-Case)	Needs Salesforce and the Business+ plan	Yes, with Send Email on the case	Salesforce and Slack seats
SharedInbox	$15/month (1 connected account, 1,000 inbound messages); $35/month for 5 accounts	Yes, the Reply button in the thread	Connected account
RelayMail	From $15/month, 14-day trial	Yes, reply in the thread	Inbox (no seats)
Zapier	Free plan (100 tasks, two-step zaps, one way only); Professional (750 tasks): $19.99/month billed yearly, $29.99 billed monthly	With a second zap and your own thread mapping	Tasks
Unthread	Pro from $85 per agent per month, minimum 5 seats	Yes, from Slack threads	Agent
ClearFeed	Starter $24 per agent per month	Yes	Agent
Suptask	Starter $15 per agent per month billed annually, $18 billed monthly	Yes, from the Slack thread	Agent
Front	$25 per seat per month billed annually, $35 monthly (Starter)	No, replies are written in Front	Seat
Help Scout	Free plan for 5 users; Standard $25 per user per month	No, its Slack integration sends notifications only	User

If you only need to read email in Slack

Use Slack's own channel email address (paid Slack plans): create it in the channel's settings and forward support@ to it. Each email shows up in the channel. Slack notes that anyone who has the address can send to it. On the free plan you can still get a personal forwarding address, which brings emails into Slack for you rather than a shared channel.

Slack's help article doesn't describe a way to answer the sender from Slack, so replies still happen in Gmail or Outlook.

If you want to answer customers from the Slack thread

SharedInbox, RelayMail, Unthread and ClearFeed all reply to email from Slack. The differences are how email gets in and how you pay.

SharedInbox connects the mailbox itself: Gmail and Google Workspace through a Google app password, Outlook and Microsoft 365 through a Microsoft sign-in. It starts at $15 a month for one connected account and 1,000 inbound messages, with unlimited team members, and $35 a month covers five accounts.

RelayMail never connects to the mailbox. You add a forwarding rule, so it also works for addresses with no mailbox to sign in to: Google Groups, Microsoft 365 shared mailboxes, Cloudflare Email Routing and ImprovMX aliases. Pricing is per inbox with no seats, from $15 a month.

Unthread (from $85 per agent per month, five seats minimum) and ClearFeed (from $24 per agent per month) are priced per agent and built around support teams working in Slack.

If you need a full help desk

Front and Help Scout are help desks with their own inbox. Front reports on SLAs and assignees and can push conversations into Slack, but replies are written in Front. Help Scout's Slack integration only sends notifications. Both are priced per seat or user.

Slack case management is the native route for teams on Salesforce: it relies on Salesforce Email-to-Case and the Business+ plan, and replies go out with Send Email from the case.

When something else is the better pick

×You only need to see email in Slack: the channel email address on a paid Slack plan does that at no extra cost.
×You need assignment, SLAs and reporting: a help desk like Front or Help Scout.
×You run support out of Salesforce: Slack case management.
×You want several mailboxes connected for one price: SharedInbox covers five accounts for $35 a month.

When RelayMail is the better pick

✓You want to answer from the Slack thread without giving any app your mailbox password or sign-in.
✓support@ is a group, alias or shared mailbox with no mailbox to sign in to.
✓You want one price per inbox, however many people reply.

Questions

Can Slack be a shared inbox?

Slack can show email in a channel with a channel email address (paid plans). To answer customers from the channel, you need a tool that sends replies as email: SharedInbox, RelayMail, Unthread or ClearFeed, or Salesforce Email-to-Case with Slack case management.

What is the cheapest way to reply to email from Slack?

From the vendors' own pricing pages, SharedInbox and RelayMail both start at $15 a month; SharedInbox prices per connected account, RelayMail per inbox. ClearFeed starts at $24 per agent and Unthread at $85 per agent.

Do I need to connect my mailbox?

SharedInbox connects through a Google app password or a Microsoft sign-in. RelayMail only needs a forwarding rule, so it never has access to the mailbox.

Try RelayMail on your real inbox for 14 days

$0 today, then from $15/month per inbox. Cancel in Billing before day 14 and you pay nothing.

See plans and start the trial

Updated 2026-11-08. How we check these pages. Sources: