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Live Helper Chat ships MCP support, making self-hosted customer chat an AI-queryable endpoint
Comparison · Support
Plain vs Hatz AI
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Plain and Hatz AI — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Plain vs Hatz AI: at a glance
| Feature | Plain | Hatz AI |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Support | Support |
| Velocity score | 8.8 | 6.3 |
| Sparks · 30d | 1 | 1 |
| Top themes | customer-support, ai-agents, mcp, agent-governance | msp, ai-platform, phone-agents, shadow-ai |
| Last editorial update | 28d ago | 12d ago |
| Website | Visit → | — |
What is Plain?
Plain built an autonomous support agent, and has now built the controls to trust it.
Plain's changelog is dated entries with no titles, and nearly all of it concerns two AI surfaces: Ari, the customer-facing responder, and Sidekick, the internal agent. Sidekick spent July gaining reach — its own full-page home, reusable workspace skills, and connection to arbitrary MCP servers. The newest release turns to Ari and adds what was missing around it: a way to test it before customers see it, provenance behind each answer, configurable tone, and explicit escalation rules.
What is Hatz AI?
Hatz AI launched Activate for MSP AI deployments and made phone agents self-service in back-to-back releases
Hatz AI is shipping at a high rate across three threads: model additions (Claude Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash, GLM 5.3, DeepSeek variants), phone agent capabilities (pause/duplicate/reassign/silence controls/live look-ups), and MSP-specific tooling (Hatz Activate for Shadow AI scanning and AI rollouts, Hatz Learn moved in-house, PSA sync improvements). The product is positioning as the AI-as-a-service layer for MSPs managing client AI adoption.
Plain vs Hatz AI: editorial side-by-side
Plain
8.8SUPPORT
Plain built an autonomous support agent, and has now built the controls to trust it.
◆ Current state
Plain's changelog is dated entries with no titles, and nearly all of it concerns two AI surfaces: Ari, the customer-facing responder, and Sidekick, the internal agent. Sidekick spent July gaining reach — its own full-page home, reusable workspace skills, and connection to arbitrary MCP servers. The newest release turns to Ari and adds what was missing around it: a way to test it before customers see it, provenance behind each answer, configurable tone, and explicit escalation rules.
◆ Where it's heading
The sequence reads as capability first, then governance. Plain rebuilt Ari into an agentic first responder, opened Sidekick to any MCP server, and let teams write skills the whole workspace shares — all of which widen what the agents can do and reach. The current release closes the loop the other way, making that autonomy inspectable and bounded before it is switched on. That is the order support-AI vendors have to complete in: teams will not put an agent in front of customers on capability claims alone.
◆ Prediction
With testing and provenance in place, the next step is likely measurement — resolution and escalation rates per skill, or per-answer quality review feeding back into the skills teams write. The entries are short summaries linking off-site, so per-release depth is limited.
Hatz AI
6.3SUPPORT
Hatz AI launched Activate for MSP AI deployments and made phone agents self-service in back-to-back releases
◆ Current state
Hatz AI is shipping at a high rate across three threads: model additions (Claude Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash, GLM 5.3, DeepSeek variants), phone agent capabilities (pause/duplicate/reassign/silence controls/live look-ups), and MSP-specific tooling (Hatz Activate for Shadow AI scanning and AI rollouts, Hatz Learn moved in-house, PSA sync improvements). The product is positioning as the AI-as-a-service layer for MSPs managing client AI adoption.
◆ Where it's heading
Hatz Activate is the strategic move: a Shadow AI scanning and customer activation workflow built into the admin dashboard turns Hatz from an AI chat platform into a managed AI deployment product for MSPs. Phone agents are becoming a first-class product with their own life cycle — self-service requests, drafts, silence controls, per-minute billing — suggesting Hatz is building toward a full voice AI service layer for MSP clients.
◆ Prediction
Phone agent features will reach parity with the core chat/workflow surface within two or three releases — approval workflows, templates, and call analytics are the remaining gaps — while Activate will get deeper PSA integrations as MSPs begin using it for active client management rather than just prospecting.
Alternatives to Plain and Hatz AI
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 Plain or Hatz AI.
Formbricks
Formbricks 6.0 RC cycle reveals commercial hardening: lower self-hosted cap, MCP OAuth, and Act as Beta
SolarWinds Service Desk
SolarWinds Service Desk is loading its Labs pipeline with native Entra ID automation, IT asset tracking, and compliance-ready task management.
Freshchat
Freshchat keeps product moves off the public record — changelog offers nothing to track.
Freshdesk
Freshdesk's changelog feed contains only marketing copy — no substantive release data available.
TeamViewer
TeamViewer's scraped feed contains only community marketing fragments—no actual release data.
See all Plain alternatives → · See all Hatz AI alternatives →
Recent activity from Plain and Hatz AI
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 12d agoHatz AIHatz Learn Resources, Claude Fable 5.1, GLM 5.3, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Activate Shadow AI and PSA Sync Improvements
- 19d agoHatz AIHatz AI: Phone agents become self-service for tenants; Hatz Learn moves in-house ⚡
- 26d agoHatz AIShared Integration Credentials, Gemini 3.7 Flash, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813, Phone Agent Tools and Approved Callers
- 29d agoPlainTest Ari before customers see it, with per-answer proof ⚡
- 1mo agoHatz AIAttachment-Only Messages, Tenant Renaming, Invoices Over the API, Phone Agent Drafts and Silence Controls
- 1mo agoHatz AIDeepSeek V4 Flash 0731, Self-Reporting Credit Usage, Phone Agent Pause/Reassign/Duplicate, Artifact Presentation Mode, Auto-Tool Selection Notice
- 1mo agoHatz AIHatz Activate: MSP AI deployment command center with Shadow AI scanning and PSA sync ⚡
- 1mo agoPlainImport past conversations from any tool, no built-in importer
- 1mo agoPlainSidekick connects to any MCP server ⚡
- 1mo agoPlainSidekick gains reusable, workspace-shared skills ⚡
- 1mo agoPlainShare published workflows by link
- 2mo agoPlainSidekick gets its own full-page home and tool controls
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Plain and Hatz AI?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 6.3), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Plain better than Hatz AI?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 6.3), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Support products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Plain?
Top Plain alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Plain alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/plain for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Hatz AI?
Top Hatz AI alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Hatz AI alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hatz-ai for the full list with editorial commentary on each.