# Alternatives to Decagon > Source: https://theagentsindex.com/decagon/alternatives (current datasheets, evidence-ranked) Candidates share the baseline category or are previously researched peers. Requirements, preserved strengths, explicit trade-offs and research coverage decide the order; paid tier does not. ## Shortlist ### 1. Ada Enterprise customer-service AI agent platform spanning voice, messaging and email with tool-based actions. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Decagon:** - [Claude: yes — Anthropic is named in Ada's curated model portfolio, and Ada benchmarks and selects which versions run rather than exposing a model picker.](https://www.ada.cx/platform/trust/) - [GPT: yes — OpenAI models are part of the curated portfolio Ada benchmarks and rolls out, with instant rollback on new versions.](https://www.ada.cx/platform/trust/) - [Open source: partial — Only the client-side chat UI library is distributed publicly on npm as @ada-cx/lovelace; the platform and Reasoning Engine are hosted with no published source.](https://docs.ada.cx/lovelace/overview) **Trade-offs against Decagon:** - [Self-hosted: no — Ada is sold as a service and runs on Ada's own AWS and Azure hosting; the only infrastructure choice a buyer gets is enrolling in the Europe data storage option.](https://www.ada.cx/legal/customer-terms-of-use/) [View Ada](https://theagentsindex.com/ada) ### 2. Sierra Enterprise platform for customer-service AI agents across voice, chat, email and messaging, priced by outcome. **Research coverage:** 32/35 criteria **Where it improves on Decagon:** - [API access: yes — A headless API is one of the published deployment surfaces; the reference is behind the docs sign-in, so endpoints, auth and limits are not public.](https://sierra.ai/blog/agent-data-platform) **Trade-offs against Decagon:** - [Self-hosted: no — Sierra runs the platform in its own cloud on AWS, offering regional localization rather than deployment onto customer infrastructure.](https://trust.sierra.ai/subprocessors) [View Sierra](https://theagentsindex.com/sierra) ### 3. Fin Intercom's customer agent that resolves support conversations across chat, email, voice and social channels. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Decagon:** - [Free tier: partial — You can start without a sales call, but only on a 14-day cardless trial: there is no standing free plan, though eligible early-stage startups get a year of Fin free under a separate programme.](https://fin.ai/pricing) - [MCP server: yes — MCP runs both ways: Fin reaches business tools through MCP connectors, and an Intercom MCP server lets outside AI systems read the conversation data Fin produces.](https://fin.ai/integrations) - [Seat model: partial — Fin itself carries no seat cost and the vendor states teammates are unlimited, but the floor is a 50-outcome monthly minimum, and pairing Fin with the Intercom helpdesk adds a per-seat charge for Full seats.](https://fin.ai/pricing) **Trade-offs against Decagon:** - [Self-hosted: no — Fin runs in Intercom's cloud; the only placement control published is which of three regions holds your data, and none of the pricing, security or integration pages offer a self-hosted or bring-your-own-infrastructure deployment.](https://www.intercom.com/security) - [Single sign-on: partial — SSO works through Okta, Azure AD and OneLogin with SCIM and IP restrictions, but the plan comparison lists SSO and identity management only on the top Expert plan, and no page names SAML or OIDC explicitly.](https://www.intercom.com/security) [View Fin](https://theagentsindex.com/intercom-fin) ### 4. Zendesk AI agents Customer-service AI agents for messaging, email and voice, billed per automated resolution. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Decagon:** - [GPT: yes — Generative features run on OpenAI via zero-data-retention endpoints; Zendesk names the provider, not a model version.](https://www.zendesk.com/trust-center/) - [Free tier: partial — 14-day self-serve trial with no card; there is no permanent free tier, and startups can apply for a longer free program.](https://www.zendesk.com/service/ai/ai-agents/) - [API access: yes — API access is a checkmark on every self-serve plan in the comparison table; extra API volume is a paid add-on on Suite Professional.](https://www.zendesk.com/pricing/) **Trade-offs against Decagon:** - [Self-hosted: no — Hosted SaaS on AWS; the only locality control is choosing a Zendesk region.](https://www.zendesk.com/trust-center/) - [Opt out of training: partial — Third-party LLMs never train on customer data, but Zendesk does train its own generic cross-account classification models on Service Data and publishes no opt-out.](https://www.zendesk.com/trust-center/) [View Zendesk AI agents](https://theagentsindex.com/zendesk-ai-agents) ### 5. IrisAgent AI support agents that resolve chat, email, voice and text inside your existing helpdesk. **Research coverage:** 33/35 criteria **Where it improves on Decagon:** - [Claude: yes — Anthropic models are scored inside the production IrisAgent stack on its own leaderboard, and the vendor says production routing follows that board.](https://irisagent.com/support-model-arena/) - [GPT: yes — OpenAI models appear in the same in-stack leaderboard, and the security FAQ names OpenAI-based models as one of the two GenAI options offered to customers.](https://irisagent.com/security/) - [Model choice: partial — The vendor calls itself model-agnostic but picks the defaults from its own leaderboard and routes on the buyer's behalf, so model selection is a vendor-configured choice rather than a self-serve setting.](https://irisagent.com/support-model-arena/) **Trade-offs against Decagon:** - [Agent permissions: partial — Autonomy is configurable per trigger: the same AI answer can be sent straight to the customer or posted as an internal note an agent approves, and enabling deflection everywhere is restricted to admins.](https://docs.irisagent.com/deploying-irisagent/Tickets) - [Admin controls: partial — Admins control whether AI answers reach customers at all and scope them with trigger conditions, and role-based access is described for the private deployment; no general policy-engine documentation was found.](https://docs.irisagent.com/deploying-irisagent/Tickets) - [Single sign-on: partial — Sign-in is always federated through Google, Microsoft, Salesforce or Okta OIDC, but the plan table puts the SSO / SAML row on Enterprise only, so the two vendor pages disagree on tiering.](https://docs.irisagent.com/security-and-compliance/Single-Sign-On-Options) [View IrisAgent](https://theagentsindex.com/irisagent) ### 6. Maven AGI Enterprise AI agent platform that resolves customer conversations across chat, email, voice and internal tools. **Research coverage:** 33/35 criteria **Where it improves on Decagon:** - [Claude: yes — The Master Services Agreement names Anthropic, alongside OpenAI, as one of exactly two LLM providers generating output today, and lists it as a contracted sub-processor rather than an optional integration.](https://www.mavenagi.com/legal/msa) - [GPT: yes — OpenAI models are named as engines Maven runs on, and the vendor publishes its own enterprise phone-call evaluation of OpenAI's newest realtime voice model, so GPT-family support is asserted rather than implied.](https://www.mavenagi.com/product/maven-voice) - [Model choice: partial — Maven claims its own architecture is LLM-portable on the platform page, but the contract shows the vendor picks the models and may change them on notice; no buyer-facing model selector is published anywhere.](https://www.mavenagi.com/product/agent-platform) **Trade-offs against Decagon:** - [In your pipeline: no — The GitHub connector reads documentation and re-indexes on push; the vendor states outright that it never writes to a repository, so acting on a pull request or in CI is ruled out.](https://www.mavenagi.com/integrations/github) - [Self-hosted: no — The vendor's own marketplace listing classes delivery as SaaS and states the software is not deployed in the buyer's AWS account; no on-premise, VPC or single-tenant option is published on any tier.](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-l2djyrnxnfffq) - [How it meters: partial — The vendor names resolution volume as what the price scales with, but publishes no per-resolution rate; the contract meters against a subscription usage allowance with overage priced privately in the order form.](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-l2djyrnxnfffq) [View Maven AGI](https://theagentsindex.com/maven-agi) ## Method Unknown data is never treated as a benefit or a trade-off. Featured placement is labelled but cannot alter recommendation order.