InboxAgent VS Groundbase

InboxAgent's answer

.NET on Microsoft Azure App Service. Microsoft Graph, the Gmail API, the Zoho Mail API and IMAP for mailbox access, all with read-only permissions. OpenAI for classification.

Groundbase's answer:

The API and the MCP server run on Cloudflare Workers, in TypeScript with no backend framework. The database is Turso (libSQL), and billing goes through Stripe. Texts and calls go through Twilio and email through Resend, both on the customer's own accounts, not mine.

The web app is React on Vite, the Windows desktop app is Electron, and the Android app is React Native. All three work from the same cloud data. The MCP server uses Streamable HTTP, and the marketing site is Next.js.

Most of it runs on Cloudflare because of how costs grow. At a flat $19 a month, I can't have a hosting bill that rises with bandwidth on several fronts at once.

Groundbase's answer:

• Groundbase is new and deliberately small: it's used by people running a business of one, like realtors, freelancers and consultants. None of them are "big customers", and I don't list anyone without their permission.

InboxAgent's answer

It is read-only. InboxAgent reads the mailboxes you already have and never sends mail from them, never moves a message, and never files or deletes anything. Most tools in this category work by forwarding your mail into their own system, after which your own mailbox stops being the record of what arrived. Nothing here changes your mailbox.

For Microsoft 365, Gmail and Zoho Mail that is enforced by those providers rather than promised by us. The permissions we request are read-only, so you can check it on the consent screen before you click Allow.

Groundbase's answer:

Two things.

First, it sends things itself, through accounts you own. Texts and calls go through your own Twilio number, campaign email through your own Resend account, card payments through your own Stripe account. You pay those companies directly, on invoices with your name on them, and nothing is marked up.

Second, it has an MCP server. Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and your assistant can actually do the work in your CRM: "text the three people I quoted last week" ends with three texts sent, not a draft for you to copy.

And it's $19 a month, flat. One plan, one person, every feature included. Nothing is held back for a higher tier.

InboxAgent's answer

• Nothing to migrate and no new app for your team to adopt. They keep working in Outlook or Gmail exactly as before.
• Priced per organization, not per seat. $20 a month including your first mailbox, $5 for each additional mailbox, unlimited users.
• It covers shared addresses like info@ and sales@ as well as everyone's own inbox, on Microsoft 365, Gmail, Zoho Mail or any IMAP mailbox.
• A salesperson can act on a lead without being given the mailbox, which usually also holds bank correspondence and password resets.
• It works with or without a CRM. If you use Zoho CRM, Zoho Desk or HubSpot, leads flow there as well.

Groundbase's answer:

Groundbase is built for a business of one, not a sales team scaled down. Most CRMs charge per seat and split the useful parts across tiers and add-ons. Groundbase is one flat price ($19/month or $199/year) with everything included: contacts and deals, tasks and a calendar, invoices and quotes with time tracking, booking links, email and text campaigns, and workflows.

Texting and calling run through your own Twilio account, and campaigns through your own Resend account. You pay those providers directly at their rates, with no markup, and the phone numbers stay yours if you ever leave.

It also works with the AI assistant you already use. Groundbase runs an MCP server with 134 tools, so Claude or ChatGPT can look things up, update records, and draft or send messages in your real account.

It runs on the web, Windows and Android. There's no iOS app yet.

InboxAgent's answer

Businesses whose sales inquiries arrive by email, at shared addresses like info@ and sales@ as well as in individual inboxes. Typically service businesses that sell by email: agencies, professional services, trades and field service, suppliers and distributors.

It fits particularly well where email is the main source of leads and there is no proper place to manage them. Every lead lands on a board with an owner and the original email attached, moves through stages you name yourself, carries up to ten fields of your own, and can be exported to CSV at any time.

Groundbase's answer:

People running a business of one. A realtor working their sphere, a freelancer, a consultant, a tradesperson, a coach: someone who does their own follow-up and wants the CRM to send the text, the email or the invoice, not just remind them to.

Two things tend to be true of them. They don't want to pay per-seat or team prices for features built for teams, and they're willing to spend fifteen minutes connecting their own Twilio and Resend accounts so they never pay a markup on messages.

It isn't for teams, or for anyone who needs lead routing, permissions or manager reporting. There are better tools for that, and I'd rather say so up front.

InboxAgent's answer

Sales inquiries arrive in the same mailbox as invoices, supplier mail and noise. Everyone can see them and nobody owns them, so on a busy day some are never answered, and the business often finds out only when a customer goes elsewhere.

InboxAgent exists to answer one question about that mailbox: who owns this email, and has anyone actually dealt with it.

Groundbase's answer:

I built the CRM I wanted and couldn't find. Everything out there either assumed a sales team I didn't have, or was the cheap entry tier of someone else's upsell funnel.

The part worth telling is what I removed. Groundbase originally had a credits system: customers topped up a wallet, sent texts through my Twilio account, and I marked up the rate. That was supposed to be platform revenue.

I killed it. Texting compliance for many businesses on one account is brutal for one person to manage, every credits system generates "where did my $10 go" emails, and refunding partial balances is miserable. But the real reason was simpler: I built this to get away from platforms that mark up Twilio, and there I was marking up Twilio. So customers connect their own account now. I lost the markup revenue and got back a product I'd actually buy.