Switch from Hiver
Leaving Hiver? Bring the inbox and the history. Leave the labels.
Hiver turns Gmail into a shared inbox by stacking labels and a browser extension on top of it. MyGorilla is a real help desk that connects to the same mailbox, reads the labels Hiver left behind, and imports your open conversations as tickets. Nothing to export, nothing to install.
What wears thin with Hiver
The shared-inbox model is a clever trick on Gmail. The trick is also the problem.
Owners, status and tags are just labels
Assignment, status and tags live as labels on Gmail threads. Anyone in the mailbox can drag one off, a filter can rewrite one, and there is no ticket number to quote. MyGorilla keeps a numbered ticket with a status that only changes on purpose and a history of who changed what.
The help desk is a browser extension
The shared inbox exists inside Gmail with Hiver's extension loaded. A Gmail redesign, a different browser or a phone without the add-on, and it is gone. MyGorilla is a web app that works wherever a browser does, with nothing to install.
Shared mail lands in everyone's own Gmail
Hiver puts the shared conversations into each teammate's own mailbox under labels, so support@ mixes with personal mail, search and notifications. MyGorilla keeps the queue in its own place and leaves each person's Gmail alone.
Priced by seat, gated by tier
Reports, automations, extra shared inboxes and the knowledge base tend to sit on the higher tiers, with AI sold on top. MyGorilla has two paid plans, $15 and $29 an agent, and one agent is free for as long as you like.
A label does not know who the customer is
Nothing in a labelled thread says which company wrote in. MyGorilla groups every requester by email domain under a company with its own default priority, tags and assignee, and gives each customer a profile with their ticket history.
Their AI, on their terms
Hiver sells its own AI features by plan. MyGorilla is an MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code or Cursor can summarize, draft and work the queue with the AI subscription you already have, on every plan, at no extra charge.
How the switch works
Four steps, all from Settings → Mailboxes. Most teams finish in an afternoon.
- 1
Connect the same Gmail mailbox
Sign in with the support@ account Hiver uses and approve access. Nothing changes in Gmail, and Hiver keeps running.
- 2
Map Hiver's labels
Click Read Hiver labels. MyGorilla finds the Hiver labels, lists the assignees, statuses and tags it uses, and suggests which teammate each name is. Fix any guesses and save.
- 3
Import the open conversations
One click brings in every open, pending and unassigned thread with its full conversation, owner, status and tags, and closed ones from the last few months if you want them. Running it again updates rather than duplicates.
- 4
Run both, then cancel Hiver
While people move over, labels Hiver sets on new mail keep being applied to the matching tickets, so nothing falls between the two tools. When the last person has switched, cancel Hiver. Your labels stay in Gmail.
Side by side
| MyGorilla | Hiver | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Web app in any browser; nothing to install | Inside Gmail, through a browser extension |
| What a conversation is | A numbered ticket with status, priority, type, tags, notes and a change history | A Gmail thread with labels for owner, status and tags |
| Mailboxes | Gmail, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Outlook.com | Built around Gmail |
| Price | Free for one agent; Team $15 or Pro $29 per agent per month (less annually) | Per user per month, in tiers; AI features priced on top |
| AI | Bring your own: MCP server and REST API on every plan, including Free | Hiver's own AI features, by tier |
| Customers and companies | Customer profiles and companies by email domain, with per-company defaults | Contacts |
| Multiple inboxes and teams | Included on Pro; $50/month add-on on Team | Shared inbox limits vary by tier |
| Help center | Included on Pro, on your workspace address or your own domain | On higher tiers |
| Reports | Included on Pro | By tier |
| Phone and texting | Included on Pro; $25/month add-on on Team | Through integrations |
| Moving in | Reads Hiver's labels and imports open conversations; no export needed | Moving out: your data is already in Gmail |
| Contract | Monthly or annual, your choice; cancel any time | Monthly or annual |
Hiver details describe how Hiver works as a Gmail-based shared inbox at the time of writing. Check Hiver’s current plans for specifics.
Who switches, and why
Teams that have outgrown labels
Once there are more than a few people in the inbox, you want to know who changed what and when, and quote a ticket number instead of a subject line.
Anyone who has lost a thread to a stray label
A conversation that was open yesterday and is nowhere today usually means a label went missing. A ticket cannot go missing.
Teams that also use Microsoft 365
One queue for the Gmail support address and the Outlook sales alias, with the same views, macros and reports across both.
Honest answers
- Does the import need an export from Hiver, or Hiver's API?
- Neither. Hiver stores everything it knows about a conversation as Gmail labels on the thread, and MyGorilla reads those through the Gmail API from the mailbox you connect. Hiver is not involved and does not need to know.
- Can we run Hiver and MyGorilla at the same time?
- Yes, and most teams do for a week or two. Both read the same mailbox. While the mapping is on, labels Hiver puts on new mail are applied to the matching tickets, so a conversation assigned in Hiver shows up assigned in MyGorilla. Cancel Hiver when the last person has moved.
- What happens to closed conversations?
- The import brings in every open, pending and unassigned conversation. Tick a box to also import closed ones from the last 7 to 365 days. Older mail stays in Gmail, where it is still searchable, and nothing is deleted or moved there.
- Some of our Hiver users have not joined MyGorilla yet.
- Their conversations are imported with a hiver:name tag and no assignee, so nothing is lost. When that person accepts the invitation, their tag is matched to them and those tickets are assigned to them automatically.
- Does MyGorilla change our Gmail labels?
- No. It reads Hiver's labels and never writes, renames or removes them. If you decide to go back, everything Hiver needs is exactly where it was.
- We also have a Microsoft 365 mailbox.
- Connect it too. MyGorilla syncs Gmail, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com mailboxes into one queue. The Hiver mapping applies to the Gmail mailboxes that carry Hiver labels; the rest need nothing special.
Try it against your real inbox this afternoon.
Connect the mailbox, read the labels, import. One agent is free, and Hiver keeps working until you cancel it.