# Gladly vs Plain API + MCP (slim)

> Plain API + MCP scores 65.5 (B) on agent readiness against Gladly's 53.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do support conversations. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladly-vs-plain.md (~2,300 tokens) · this version ~630 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladly-vs-plain.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gladly-vs-plain
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

Plain API + MCP scores 65.5 (B) on agent readiness against Gladly's 53.1 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do support conversations.

- Gladly: D 53.1, rank #552 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gladly.min.md
- Plain API + MCP: B 65.5, rank #256 of 722 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/plain.min.md
- Gladly, good for Consumer brands already on Gladly that want an agent to read a customer's whole timeline, add notes and tasks, reply and close conversations. Also No incidents deducted, where Plain API + MCP loses 3 points for them.
- Plain API + MCP, good for B2B teams that want an API-first helpdesk where an agent can do everything a person can, with scoped machine keys. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 92 against 84; Agent ergonomics, 68 against 42; Security & auth, 65 against 43; Payments & pricing, 30 against 0; Maintenance & community, 84 against 68; Transparency & trust, 69 against 59. Also Free to start without a card.

| Category | Gladly | Plain API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 70 | 70 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 84 | 92 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 42 | 68 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 43 | 65 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 68 | 84 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 59 | 69 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Gladly | Plain API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Gladly Software, Inc. | Plain |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://{org}.gladly.com/api/v1` | `https://core-api.uk.plain.com/graphql/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Gladly's terms of service. The example repositories on GitHub are ISC | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 32 |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-24 |
| Terms last updated | 2016-06-21 | 2026-02-24 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-12-01 | 2025-08-01 |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 191k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4.5/5 (2) |