Featurebase vs Plain (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Featurebase grades higher than Plain: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Featurebase grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Featurebase
Help desk, chat and feedback boards with a per-resolution AI agent
Plain
Support platform for B2B teams, built around Slack and AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Featurebase if
- Fits if you want support and feedback in one product
- Works for small teams starting on a single free seat
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: one seat, and the email channel starts at Growth
- Watch out: the AI agent costs $0.49 per resolution on top of seats
- Watch out: Slack and workflows need Professional at $59, and SSO needs Enterprise at $99
- Watch out: unlimited Copilot is $19 a seat beyond 10 free conversations
Pick Plain if
- Fits if your customers are software companies that talk to you in Slack
- Works for a team of 5 or fewer on Foundation
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you grow: Foundation caps at 5 seats and Horizon needs 3 to 10 at $99 each
- Skip it if you need SLAs or Microsoft Teams without Horizon
- Tight if you lean on AI: 1,000 credits a month on Foundation, with extra at $10 per 1,000
- Watch out: SSO, SCIM and HIPAA need the sales-only Frontier plan
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFeaturebaseFair | 2.0GPAPlainFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$29 a seat a month billed yearly on Growth, in the category's middle, plus $0.49 per AI resolution. | D$45 per user a month billed annually is above the dearer quarter ($39), Foundation stops at 5 seats, and SLAs and escalation paths need Horizon at $99, past the dearest tenth ($89). |
| Free plan and trial | BA free plan with 1 seat, live chat, inbox, ticketing, unlimited conversations and a help centre, plus a 10-day trial with no card. | CA 7-day trial with no credit card. There is no free plan. |
| Features | CInbox, tickets, chat, help centre, feedback boards and workflows. Discord, WhatsApp and Teams are listed as coming soon. | CSlack, email and in-app channels, customer cards, workflows, a help center and AI agents. The listing's gap: SLAs, Teams and CRM links are Horizon only. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Channels, workflows and an AI agent to set up. | CNo store rating on record, and workflows, channels and AI agents need setting up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Linear, Jira and Azure DevOps, plus an API and MCP. | BWeb only, with 8 listed integrations including Linear, Jira and Slack. No phone or desktop app on record. |
| Best for | support and feedback boards in one product | B2B support that lives in Slack |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Featurebase and Plain. How we grade
Price against what you get
Featurebase starts at $29 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Plain starts at $45 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Featurebase starts $16 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 16 score higher than Featurebase for less, and 19 score higher than Plain for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Plain also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Featurebase | Plain | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29 per seat / month, billed yearly ($37 billed monthly) | $45 per user / month, billed annually ($55 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 1 seat with live chat, inbox and ticketing, unlimited conversations, a help center and the mobile app. | None |
| Free trial | 10-day free trial of the paid plans, no credit card required | 7-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Featurebase | Not Just Tickets Ltd |
| Price read from | featurebase.app | plain.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Featurebase
- The free plan has one seat; the AI agent and the email channel start at Growth.
- Fibi is billed at $0.49 per resolution on top of seat prices, so cost follows ticket volume.
- Slack and workflows need Professional; SSO needs Enterprise. Discord, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams are listed as coming soon.
- Unlimited AI Copilot use costs $19 per seat a month beyond 10 free conversations.
Plain
- Foundation is capped at 5 member seats and Horizon needs at least 3, up to 10; larger teams go to the sales-only Frontier plan.
- AI credits are limited per month (1,000 on Foundation, 2,500 on Horizon); extra credits are $10 per 1,000 up to $100 per 10,000.
- SLAs, escalation paths and Microsoft Teams need Horizon at $99 per user / month; SSO, SCIM and HIPAA need Frontier.
- Plain lists a startup program with a $6,000 flat fee for Horizon, 10 seats and 12 months, for early-stage teams of ten or fewer.
Key features
Featurebase
- Inbox, tickets and live chat
- One inbox for conversations with assigning, snoozing and internal notes; live chat and ticketing are on every plan including the free one.
- Fibi AI agent
- Answers customers in live chat and email on paid plans. It costs $0.49 per resolution, counted once per conversation, and human handovers are free.
- AI Copilot and macros
- Drafts replies for human agents. Each seat gets 10 free Copilot conversations a month; unlimited use is $19 a seat.
- Help center
- A public help center is on every plan; the Professional plan adds a private, multilingual one with AI translations.
- Feedback boards
- Collects and prioritizes customer feedback, and syncs posts with Linear and Jira so users hear when an issue ships.
- Workflows and SLAs
- Professional adds workflows, SLA timers and round-robin assignment for teams that share a queue.
Plain
- Customer Agent
- An AI agent that answers customers directly. It uses 100 credits per resolution on every plan.
- Sidekick Agent
- An AI agent for the support team that uses 15 to 300 or more credits a task depending on effort.
- Slack and email channels
- Support threads come in from Slack channels, email addresses, in-app forms and live chat, with Microsoft Teams and Discord on higher plans.
- Customer cards
- Unlimited customer cards show account data next to a thread, with a stated data freshness of 15 seconds.
- Workflows
- Unlimited workflows, auto-labelling, urgency detection and thread summaries are on every plan.
- Developer platform
- The comparison table lists an API, webhooks, events, MCP and custom channels.
Plans
Featurebase
Free$0
1 seat with live chat, inbox and ticketing, unlimited conversations, a help center and the mobile app.
Growth$29
per seat / month, billed yearly ($37 billed monthly)
Adds the Fibi AI agent, email channel, AI Copilot and macros, reports, API, MCP, webhooks and integrations.
Professional$59
per seat / month, billed yearly ($75 billed monthly)
Adds Slack, workflows and SLAs, round-robin assignment, a multilingual help center, CRM links and 20 free Lite seats.
Enterprise$99
per seat / month, billed yearly ($129 billed monthly)
Adds multi-brand workspaces, SAML SSO and SCIM, custom admin roles and 50 free Lite seats.
Plain
Foundation$45
per user / month, billed annually ($55 billed monthly)
Up to 5 member seats, unlimited viewers, 1,000 AI credits a month, Slack, email and in-app channels, Linear, Jira and a help center. 7 days of reporting.
Horizon$99
per user / month, billed annually
3 to 10 member seats, 2,500 AI credits a month, Microsoft Teams, SLAs, business hours, escalation paths, CRM integrations and all-time reporting history.
FrontierCustom
Custom credits and seats, multiple workspaces, SSO and SCIM, HIPAA, custom contracting and a dedicated customer success manager. Billed annually.
Ways to pay less
Featurebase
- Annual discount
20% off with yearly billing
The pricing page lists a 20% saving when seats are billed yearly; Growth is $29 yearly against $37 monthly.
- Startups
Startups get 86% off
The pricing page says startups get 86% off; eligibility terms are not shown there.
Plain
- Startups
50% off Horizon for early-stage startups
A $6,000 flat fee covers 12 months and 10 seats of Horizon. Eligibility is VC-backed up to $5 million in funding, 10 or fewer on the support team, and not already a customer.
- Annual discount
20% off Foundation with annual billing
The pricing page shows Foundation at $45 per user a month billed annually against $55 billed monthly, labelled a 20% saving.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Featurebase or Plain?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Featurebase is cheaper to start with: $29 a month for each person, against $45 a month for each person for Plain. Featurebase starts at $29 per seat / month, billed yearly ($37 billed monthly), and Plain starts at $45 per user / month, billed annually ($55 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Featurebase or Plain?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Featurebase has a free plan. Plain does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.