Sleekplan
Sleekplan is making the public feedback board safe to run with real customers on it
Comparison · Support
Frill vs LiveAgent
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Frill and LiveAgent — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:mcp
Frill vs LiveAgent: at a glance
What is Frill?
Frill is turning its feedback board from a destination into something machines read on demand.
The MCP server is the centrepiece: ten tools, one API key, no configuration, callable from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Intercom Fin, and included on every plan rather than gated. The Chrome extension follows the same instinct from the capture side — grab an idea wherever you spot it, and collapse a long help desk thread into a clean idea with an AI summary in one click. Behind both sits the June groundwork: a public npm SDK, multiple API keys, webhook handling, and MCP in public beta.
What is LiveAgent?
Voice calls become text, giving LiveAgent's AI layer a channel it could never read
LiveAgent ships a continuous train of dated builds off two branches — 5.67/5.68 for current work, 5.66 for backports — and most entries are fix lists. The 5.68.8 build breaks that pattern with the largest feature block in this feed for months: speech-to-text for voice call recordings, Gemini and Anthropic added as AI providers for AI Agents and Answer Suggestion, a Svelte 5 umbrella that begins replacing the GWT agent panel, an option to hide AI summaries in tickets, and automatic replies on the WhatsApp channel. The builds between it and the last feature release are almost entirely WhatsApp handling, chat lookup and language-sync repairs.
Frill vs LiveAgent: editorial side-by-side
Frill
6.3SUPPORT
Frill is turning its feedback board from a destination into something machines read on demand.
◆ Current state
The MCP server is the centrepiece: ten tools, one API key, no configuration, callable from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Intercom Fin, and included on every plan rather than gated. The Chrome extension follows the same instinct from the capture side — grab an idea wherever you spot it, and collapse a long help desk thread into a clean idea with an AI summary in one click. Behind both sits the June groundwork: a public npm SDK, multiple API keys, webhook handling, and MCP in public beta.
◆ Where it's heading
Frill is systematically removing the requirement to be in Frill. Capture moves to wherever the conversation already happens; retrieval moves to whatever assistant the team already uses. That reframes the product as the feedback store rather than the feedback interface, and the pricing decision reinforces it — putting MCP on every plan optimises for the corpus being queried, not for upsell. The earlier enterprise work (EU hosting, EntraID SSO, CSP) is what makes that store trustworthy enough to hold the data.
◆ Prediction
Expect write paths to follow the read paths — an assistant that can already ask what users want will next be expected to file, merge and status ideas — and expect more capture surfaces beyond the browser extension.
LiveAgent
6.3SUPPORT
Voice calls become text, giving LiveAgent's AI layer a channel it could never read
◆ Current state
LiveAgent ships a continuous train of dated builds off two branches — 5.67/5.68 for current work, 5.66 for backports — and most entries are fix lists. The 5.68.8 build breaks that pattern with the largest feature block in this feed for months: speech-to-text for voice call recordings, Gemini and Anthropic added as AI providers for AI Agents and Answer Suggestion, a Svelte 5 umbrella that begins replacing the GWT agent panel, an option to hide AI summaries in tickets, and automatic replies on the WhatsApp channel. The builds between it and the last feature release are almost entirely WhatsApp handling, chat lookup and language-sync repairs.
◆ Where it's heading
AI has been the product's centre of gravity since AI Agents sparked in May and the MCP server in June, and this release shows the pattern that follows an origin: the platform keeps hanging providers and tools off a layer whose shape is already settled, with Gemini and Anthropic filling a provider slot OpenAI defined. The more consequential move is that voice is being pulled into that layer at all — recordings become text, which is the precondition for AI features reaching a channel they previously could not see. Underneath, the GWT-to-Svelte migration commits the product to a multi-release frontend rewrite that this changelog will likely surface only as incidental agent-panel fixes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the AI features that already operate on tickets — answer suggestion, summaries, agent runs — to begin consuming call transcripts, since the transcription work has no other obvious consumer in the product. The notes describe the frontend replacement as progressive and give no schedule, so how long the GWT panel stays cannot be read from this entry.
Alternatives to Frill and LiveAgent
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 Frill or LiveAgent.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ServiceDesk Plus moved upstream of the ticket, then spent the week tidying the sidebar
Chatway
Chatway's bot learned to read the store; now the store can listen back
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Cloud
ManageEngine's cloud service desk drips small fixes; its AI arrives data center by data center
Desk365
Asset management is the real build; the feed is mostly an interview series.
Formbricks
Formbricks spends a whole RC train on making enterprise SSO stop breaking.
See all Frill alternatives → · See all LiveAgent alternatives →
Recent activity from Frill and LiveAgent
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6d agoLiveAgentVoice call transcription, plus Gemini and Anthropic AI providers ⚡
- 7d agoLiveAgentAgent panel stops writing user status on every request
- 15d agoLiveAgentLanguage sync fixes backported to the 5.66 branch
- 15d agoLiveAgentChats overview polling and language write loops fixed
- 20d agoLiveAgentShared-mailbox OAuth timeout and chat completion fixes
- 20d agoFrillFrill Chrome Extension is here!
- 22d agoLiveAgentChat lookup, pop-out, and ringing-agent fixes
- 1mo agoFrillIntroducing the new Frill MCP! ⚡
- 1mo agoFrillPublic npm SDK, Chrome extension, and MCP beta
- 4mo agoFrillBoost Until scheduling and announcement preview controls
- 9mo agoFrillEU hosting region, Cloudflare domains, richer idea API
- 1y agoFrillEntraID SSO, nine default languages, CSP hardening
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Frill and LiveAgent?
Both compete on the same themes — mcp — within Support. Frill and LiveAgent are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Frill better than LiveAgent?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Frill and LiveAgent are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Support products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Frill?
Top Frill alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Frill alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/frill for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to LiveAgent?
Top LiveAgent alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "LiveAgent alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/liveagent for the full list with editorial commentary on each.