Plain vs Thena (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Plain grades higher than Thena: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Plain grades higher on the free plan. Thena grades higher on value for money. 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.
Plain
Support platform for B2B teams, built around Slack and AI agents
Which one is for you
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
Pick Thena if
- Fits if your customers talk to you in Slack and you sell to other businesses
- Works for a team of up to 5 on Starter
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you grow: Starter has 5 seats and 1,000 tickets a month, and the home page says 10 seats
- Pricey if you want AI chat, as Standard is $79 a user
- Skip it if you need Microsoft Teams, which is listed under Enterprise at $119
- Watch out: the home page mentions a free plan with no card, but the pricing page lists none
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAPlainFair | 1.8GPAThenaWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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). | C$29 per user a month billed annually is the category's middle ($29). Starter stops at 5 seats and 1,000 tickets, and AI web chat needs Standard at $79. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 7-day trial with no credit card. There is no free plan. | FThe pricing page lists no free plan or trial, though the home page mentions one with no card. |
| Features | 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. | CSlack, Teams, email and web chat become tickets by account, with SLAs, a knowledge base and AI. The listing's gaps: AI web chat and the agent studio start on Standard, and Teams on Enterprise. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and workflows, channels and AI agents need setting up. | CNo store rating on record, and much of it lives in Slack or Teams with a separate login for the workspace. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with 8 listed integrations including Linear, Jira and Slack. No phone or desktop app on record. | BWeb only, with 8 listed integrations and an API on Standard. No phone or desktop app on record. |
| Best for | B2B support that lives in Slack | B2B support in Slack, tracked by account |
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: Plain and Thena. How we grade
Price against what you get
Plain starts at $45 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Thena starts at $29 a month for each person and scores 2.3.
They score the same, and Thena starts $16 a month lower. Of the other help desk and live chat tools on the chart, 19 score higher than Plain for less, and 16 score higher than Thena 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
| Plain | Thena | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $45 per user / month, billed annually ($55 billed monthly) | $29 per user / month, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial, no credit card required | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Not Just Tickets Ltd | Thena |
| Price read from | plain.com | thena.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Thena
- Starter is limited to 5 user seats and 1,000 tickets a month; the homepage lists 10 seats, so the vendor's two pages disagree.
- The homepage mentions "no credit card for free plan" but the pricing page lists no free plan or trial.
- AI web chat and AI agent studio need Standard at $79, and Microsoft Teams needs Enterprise at $119.
- Much of the product lives inside Slack, Microsoft Teams and email, with a separate login for the Thena workspace.
Key features
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.
Thena
- Slack-native ticketing
- Tickets are detected and managed in Slack with account context. Email, web chat and Microsoft Teams messages also become tickets.
- Account-based tracking
- Tickets, tasks, notes and views are organized by customer company or account, with team boards, groups and routing.
- AI agents
- AI agents answer customers, apply fields, create tickets and escalate. Auto-responses start on Standard and custom deployments on Enterprise.
- SLAs and CSAT
- Service-level policies, auto-responders, internal threads and customer satisfaction collection are part of the ticketing platform.
- Broadcasts and knowledge base
- Product updates can go to Slack, Teams and email audiences, and help center articles support live collaboration.
Plans
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.
Thena
Starter$29
per user / month, billed annually
Up to 5 user seats and 1,000 tickets a month, with Slack and email channels and AI ticket detection, summaries and tagging.
Standard$79
per user / month, billed annually
Adds AI web chat, AI agent studio, AI auto-responses and co-pilot, AI workflows, MCP and APIs.
Enterprise$119
per user / month, billed annually
Adds custom AI agent deployments, Microsoft Teams, Enterprise APIs, unlimited MCP and enterprise security features.
Ways to pay less
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.
Thena
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Plain or Thena?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Thena is cheaper to start with: $29 a month for each person, against $45 a month for each person for Plain. Plain starts at $45 per user / month, billed annually ($55 billed monthly), and Thena starts at $29 per user / month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Plain or Thena?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Plain nor Thena has a free plan. Plain 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.