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Comparison · Support
Ivanti vs Plain
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Ivanti and Plain — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Ivanti vs Plain: at a glance
What is Ivanti?
Ivanti's Secure Access Client ships weekly mobile point releases — 22.7.4 through 22.8.7 — with documentation as the only visible signal.
The visible Ivanti feed is dominated by weekly Supported Platforms Guides for the Ivanti Secure Access Client (formerly Pulse Secure) on iOS, Android, and ChromeOS, spanning versions 22.7.4 through 22.8.7. A cumulative Android release notes index for 22.2.1–22.8.6 and accompanying admin and MDM deployment guides confirm steady mobile-client cadence. The captured content is documentation landing pages, not detailed change descriptions.
What is Plain?
Sidekick got skills and MCP; now Plain is clearing the path to move your history in.
Plain's recent releases built Sidekick from an in-thread helper into an operator that uses workspace skills and connects to any MCP server, with workflows becoming the trigger layer for that agent work. The newest entry moves to the other end of the funnel: custom importers pull past conversations in from any tool, including in-house systems, with no built-in importer required.
Ivanti vs Plain: editorial side-by-side
Ivanti
3.8SUPPORT
Ivanti's Secure Access Client ships weekly mobile point releases — 22.7.4 through 22.8.7 — with documentation as the only visible signal.
◆ Current state
The visible Ivanti feed is dominated by weekly Supported Platforms Guides for the Ivanti Secure Access Client (formerly Pulse Secure) on iOS, Android, and ChromeOS, spanning versions 22.7.4 through 22.8.7. A cumulative Android release notes index for 22.2.1–22.8.6 and accompanying admin and MDM deployment guides confirm steady mobile-client cadence. The captured content is documentation landing pages, not detailed change descriptions.
◆ Where it's heading
With only documentation pages observable, product trajectory is hard to read concretely. The frequent point releases suggest active maintenance of the mobile security client; the historical Pulse Secure → Ivanti rebrand and the Classic UI / New-UI dual maintenance both indicate gradual consolidation rather than a fresh directional move.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued weekly point releases on 22.8.x and a likely transition to 22.9.x or a 23.x line later in 2026. Substantive product moves probably exist in detailed release notes the crawler isn't reaching — a different ingestion path (the per-version release notes endpoints, not the SPG landing pages) would surface more useful signal.
Plain
7.5SUPPORT
Sidekick got skills and MCP; now Plain is clearing the path to move your history in.
◆ Current state
Plain's recent releases built Sidekick from an in-thread helper into an operator that uses workspace skills and connects to any MCP server, with workflows becoming the trigger layer for that agent work. The newest entry moves to the other end of the funnel: custom importers pull past conversations in from any tool, including in-house systems, with no built-in importer required.
◆ Where it's heading
Capability, then autonomy, then extensibility, and now onboarding. Removing the importer dependency means adoption stops being capped by Plain's connector roadmap, the same way the agent's ceiling stopped being its integration roadmap. The pattern across both is Plain declining to sit as the bottleneck between a customer's existing systems and its own product.
◆ Prediction
Expect the importer work to be followed by tooling that puts migrated history to use - Sidekick reading imported conversations for context is the obvious next step given the skills and MCP groundwork already shipped.
Alternatives to Ivanti and Plain
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 Ivanti or Plain.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
A near-daily fix stream, with Slack and Teams becoming where help desk work happens.
Canny
Canny is quietly turning customer conversations into a feedback pipeline nobody has to maintain.
LiveAgent
A mature help desk in pure maintenance, shipping the same fixes twice across two support branches.
Knowmax
A content-marketing feed arguing that AI in the contact center fails on knowledge, not models
Respond.io
respond.io is monetizing AI usage directly while putting an assistant that builds agents in every workspace.
See all Ivanti alternatives → · See all Plain alternatives →
Recent activity from Ivanti and Plain
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 8d agoPlainImport past conversations from any tool, no built-in importer
- 14d agoPlainSidekick connects to any MCP server ⚡
- 16d agoPlainSidekick gains reusable, workspace-shared skills ⚡
- 21d agoPlainShare published workflows by link
- 1mo agoPlainSidekick gets its own full-page home and tool controls
- 1mo agoPlainWorkflows run on a recurring schedule
- 3mo agoIvantiISAC Mobile 22.8.7 Supported Platforms Guide
- 3mo agoIvantiISAC Android 22.2.1–22.8.6 cumulative release notes index
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Android Administration Guide
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Mobile 22.8.6 Supported Platforms Guide
- 4mo agoIvantiHTML – ISAC Mobile Client Deployment and Configuration Guide
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Mobile 22.8.5 Supported Platforms Guide
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ivanti and Plain?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 3.8), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Ivanti better than Plain?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 3.8), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Support products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Ivanti?
Top Ivanti alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ivanti alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ivanti for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Plain?
Top Plain alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Plain alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/plain for the full list with editorial commentary on each.