Spiceworks
Spiceworks covers the Microsoft 365 outage from the help desk's side.
Comparison · Support
Olark vs Xurrent
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Olark and Xurrent — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Olark vs Xurrent: at a glance
| Feature | Olark | Xurrent |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Support | Support |
| Velocity score | 0.0 | 5.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Top themes | customer support, ai assistants, ui rebuild, knowledge ingestion | itsm, ai-agents, email security, incident management |
| Last editorial update | 6mo ago | 13h ago |
| Website | — | Visit → |
What is Olark?
Olark rebuilds around v2 — new layout, AI Assistants surface, in-product bot evaluation.
Olark is mid-rollout of v2, a full interface rebuild that landed in mid-2025. The AI Assistants area is now structured around Knowledge / Persona / Evaluation tabs, with bot review and feedback (thumbs up/down on individual answers) happening directly in-product. Knowledge ingestion has expanded to JSON and ZIP files plus much larger website crawls. Smaller v2 quality-of-life touches keep landing — collapsed agent menus, static offline messages, Group ID exposure for API users.
What is Xurrent?
Xurrent's November update blocks unverified email senders from changing records.
Xurrent ITSM publishes a monthly update page that grows week by week. The November 12 revision stops unverified email senders from updating records, creates the major incident request group when a major incident is accepted, brings Sera AI summaries to problems and adds iPaaS Lookup Tables. It builds on the first November revision, which put Closure Agent sign-off drafts and reopen suggestions in the Inbox.
Olark vs Xurrent: editorial side-by-side
Olark
0.0SUPPORT
Olark rebuilds around v2 — new layout, AI Assistants surface, in-product bot evaluation.
◆ Current state
Olark is mid-rollout of v2, a full interface rebuild that landed in mid-2025. The AI Assistants area is now structured around Knowledge / Persona / Evaluation tabs, with bot review and feedback (thumbs up/down on individual answers) happening directly in-product. Knowledge ingestion has expanded to JSON and ZIP files plus much larger website crawls. Smaller v2 quality-of-life touches keep landing — collapsed agent menus, static offline messages, Group ID exposure for API users.
◆ Where it's heading
The product is being rebuilt around AI-assisted chat support, not bolted on. The Evaluation tab in particular signals a closed-loop training direction — agents tune the bot from real conversations rather than configuring it abstractly. v2 is also shedding classic settings page by page; expect that migration to keep producing visible incremental wins.
◆ Prediction
Next moves likely deepen the bot evaluation loop — automatic quality scoring, suggested knowledge updates from low-rated answers — and continue retiring classic surfaces. A pricing/tiering revisit around AI usage is plausible once the v2 migration has run its course.
Xurrent
5.0SUPPORT
Xurrent's November update blocks unverified email senders from changing records.
◆ Current state
Xurrent ITSM publishes a monthly update page that grows week by week. The November 12 revision stops unverified email senders from updating records, creates the major incident request group when a major incident is accepted, brings Sera AI summaries to problems and adds iPaaS Lookup Tables. It builds on the first November revision, which put Closure Agent sign-off drafts and reopen suggestions in the Inbox.
◆ Where it's heading
After September's Sera agent launch, each revision spreads AI summaries and agents into another record type while tightening controls around them. This month adds a security fix for email-driven updates alongside more integration plumbing.
◆ Prediction
Expect later November revisions to bring Sera summaries or agents to more record types, such as changes, and more iPaaS building blocks.
Alternatives to Olark and Xurrent
Other Support products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Olark or Xurrent.
DoneDone
DoneDone's editor gets tables, spreadsheet paste and text colors.
Twilio
Twilio's voice AI stops cutting callers off mid-sentence, using its own turn-taking model.
LiveAgent
LiveAgent 5.71 starts letting bots work chats over MCP and answer the phones.
Chatway
Chatway adds a Ticket Center, moving from live chat toward a full helpdesk.
Faveo Helpdesk
Faveo Helpdesk's free edition has shipped mostly security patches and stack upgrades since 2019.
See all Olark alternatives → · See all Xurrent alternatives →
Recent activity from Olark and Xurrent
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2d agoXurrentXurrent blocks unverified email senders, adds Sera problem summaries
- 9d agoXurrentXurrent ITSM - November 2026 Product Updates
- 16d agoXurrentXurrent adds Outlook, Jira Cloud connectors and agent time reports
- 1mo agoXurrentXurrent adds task approvals in Sera chat, Self Service library
- 1mo agoXurrentXurrent ITSM - October 2026 Product Updates
- 1mo agoXurrentXurrent ITSM - October 2026 Product Updates
- 1y agoOlarkAi Assistant Updates
- 1y agoOlarkChat interface updates
- 1y agoOlarkAi Knowledge upload improvements
- 1y agoOlarkV2 Offline and Groups setting updates
- 1y agoOlarkBig Updates: A New Layout! ⚡
- 2y agoOlarkFix implemented for disappearing contacts
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Olark and Xurrent?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Xurrent is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Olark better than Xurrent?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Xurrent is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Support products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Olark?
Top Olark alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Olark alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/olark for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Xurrent?
Top Xurrent alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Xurrent alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/xurrent for the full list with editorial commentary on each.