# FreeScout vs Front API + MCP (slim)

> Front scores 68.2 (B) to FreeScout's 27.9 (F) for support tickets. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freescout-vs-front.md (~4,500 tokens) · this version ~2,330 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freescout-vs-front.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freescout-vs-front
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Front API + MCP scores 68.2 (B) on agent readiness against FreeScout's 27.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. FreeScout leads on maintenance & community. Both do support tickets.

- FreeScout: F 27.9, rank #1407 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freescout.min.md
- Front API + MCP: B 68.2, rank #292 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/front.min.md
- FreeScout, good for Small teams that want a free, self-hosted Help Scout alternative and can run PHP. Ahead on Maintenance & community, 70 against 60. Also Open source.
- Front API + MCP, good for Teams on Front who want an agent to draft, tag and route mail as a teammate while a person sends. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 81 against 35; Agent ergonomics, 67 against 50; Security & auth, 73 against 30; Payments & pricing, 30 against 0; Transparency & trust, 80 against 36. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; Free to start without a card; No incidents deducted, where FreeScout loses 15 points for them.

| Category | FreeScout | Front API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 73 | 77 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 35 | 81 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 50 | 67 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 30 | 73 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 70 | 60 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 36 | 80 |

| Fact (where they differ) | FreeScout | Front API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | FreeScout | Front |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api2.frontapp.com` |
| Transports |  | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 27 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-31 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-07-01 |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Front API + MCP +46: FreeScout 35 (No OpenAPI, Postman collection or other machine-readable contract found (0). No llms.txt (404) or Markdown docs (0). Each endpoint has a short description and parameter notes such as what `imported` and `embed` do (10 of 20). Parameters are marked required or optional with types, and few enums (8 of 15). curl, JavaScript and PHP examples for each endpoint, and a status-code table with an `errorCode` and `errors` body (12 of 15). Module versions and core releases are tagged, with no dated API changelog (5 of 15). 0 + 0 + 10 + 8 + 12 + 5 = 35.); Front API + MCP 81 (OpenAPI 3.0 for the Core API in a public repo, 246 operations on 147 paths, plus Postman collections (25). llms.txt with about 440 lines of links and Markdown copies of pages (10). Every operation has a description, and the MCP page explains each tool and when to request the `send` scope (16). 51 enums and typed parameters in the spec (12). 414 examples, but only 11 error responses across 246 operations and no 429 in the spec (8). No API versioning scheme or policy (the spec says 1.0.0), but the developer community's API news category carries dated posts (14 and 13 October and 24 September 2026 among them), and the spec repository changed on 9 days since 4 August (10). 25+10+16+12+8+10 = 81.)
- Transparency & trust, Front API + MCP +44: FreeScout 36 (AGPL-3.0 core, and the module page says the module is AGPL-3.0 too (30). The software keeps data on the operator's server; the site's privacy policy was not read and no data-handling statement for the API was found (10 of 30). No deprecation policy or dated notices (0). No telemetry statement or opt-out found (5 of 20, since self-hosted data stays with the operator). 30 + 10 + 0 + 5 = 45.); Front API + MCP 80 (Closed service under a SaaS services agreement (15). The privacy notice (effective 1 July 2026), the data processing addendum (updated 1 July 2026, return or deletion at termination, 30 days' notice of a new subprocessor) and the subprocessor list (effective 13 July 2026) agree, but no retention periods are stated and nothing on AI training was found (18). Some reference pages mark endpoints deprecated with no date, and the 14 October API news post deprecates the two burst headers with removal on 1 February 2027. No written deprecation policy (10). The subprocessor list names each entity, its processing activity and the countries where it processes, with US or EU hosting by account region (20). 15+18+10+20 = 63.)
- Security & auth, Front API + MCP +43: FreeScout 30 (A global API key and personal keys that act with a user's permissions, sent in a header or Basic auth, with no scopes. The docs list an `api_key` query parameter as a way to authenticate, so 10 off (20 less 10, 10). Personal keys follow user roles, with no read-only key and no confirmation step for deletes (5 of 20). Conversations carry customer email, the security policy notes that external images in received email load by default, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0). No API audit log found (0). SECURITY.md routes core reports through GitHub security advisories, CVEs are requested after fixes, and advisories are published, with no bug bounty or certification (15 of 20). 10 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 15 = 30.); Front API + MCP 73 (The MCP server is OAuth 2.1 with PKCE and `read`, `write` and `send` scopes. Core API tokens are scoped to shared or private resources, and partner apps use per-resource OAuth scopes. No Dynamic Client Registration, so you register a confidential client yourself (28). Sending needs its own scope, permissions are checked at call time against the teammate's role, and destructiveHint asks clients to confirm each user-visible write (18). Email bodies are customer-written and we found no injection guidance (0). Every MCP call is attributed to the authorising teammate, but we didn't find an API audit log (7). SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, a public HackerOne bug bounty and a security.txt without an Expires field (20).)
- Payments & pricing, Front API + MCP +30: FreeScout 0 (Self-hosted rule, with pricing scored on the paid module the API needs. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The module's price is drawn by the store's script and could not be read, so it scores as not found (0). The core is free, but no free route to the API exists (0). A person buys the module in a browser and installs it (0). 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0.); Front API + MCP 30 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Seat prices public ($25, $65 and $105 a month billed yearly), Autopilot from $0.05 a conversation and $200 a month per 100 extra API requests a minute, but nothing per API call (10). 14-day trial of Professional with no card (20). A person signs up and registers an OAuth app before the MCP server will connect (0).)
- Agent ergonomics, Front API + MCP +17: FreeScout 50 (Responses can be sized with `embed` (threads, timelogs, tags) and `pageSize` (12 of 25). Page and pageSize paging, with conversation filters by mailbox, folder, status, state, type, assignee, customer email and phone (16 of 20). Errors return a status code, an `errorCode` and a list of messages, with each code explained (14 of 20). The docs say a timed-out call is safe to retry; no idempotency keys for creates (3 of 20). No official SDK; few required parameters on most calls (5 of 15). 12 + 16 + 14 + 3 + 5 = 50.); Front API + MCP 67 (27 MCP tools, 16 read, 10 write and `send_message` (15), plus 3 because the `read`, `write` and `send` scopes let an operator cut what a token can do (18). Core API lists page with a token and `limit`, with search queries for conversations and contacts (18). Errors are thinly documented in the spec (12). MCP write tools that change what users see carry destructiveHint, and `update_draft` and `delete_draft` fail if the draft changed since it was read. No idempotency key on REST writes (14). No official SDK for the Core API (5).)
- Maintenance & community, FreeScout +10: FreeScout 70 (Core v1.8.249 tagged on 31 October 2026 (30). Twelve tags from 30 August to 31 October (20). Issue responsiveness was not read because the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (10 of 25, unchecked). No official SDK, and no MCP server from the project (0). CI with tests on MySQL and PostgreSQL, and a Laravel dependency advisory taken on 31 October (10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 70.); Front API + MCP 60 (The Core API spec was last updated on 30 October 2026 and the rate-limit page on 29 October (30). Three dated API news posts since 4 August (24 September, 13 and 14 October) and spec changes on 9 separate days (20). Closed service with a dated API news category and a developer Q&A forum in the same community, and support through the product. Response times weren't measured (10). No official Core API SDK (0). No package to assess (0). 30+20+10+0+0 = 60.)