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A Teams-native helpdesk whose changelog is mostly a marketing blog.
Comparison · Support
LiveAgent vs Hiver
A side-by-side editorial comparison of LiveAgent and Hiver — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
LiveAgent vs Hiver: at a glance
What is LiveAgent?
AI Agents get a run log and a details view — the AI layer becomes something operators inspect
LiveAgent runs two parallel release trains at a near-daily cadence: 5.66.x carries maintenance backports, 5.67.x carries the feature work, and both are dominated by fixes. The AI surface has moved past assistance into operations — there is now an AI Agent Runs report, a run-details dialog, and named work states (Running renamed to Submitted). Underneath that sit MCP knowledge-base tools, AI credit-pool provisioning, and an AI-Budgets screen, so the AI layer has both metering and tooling.
What is Hiver?
Gmail-based support tooling wiring internal docs into its AI and unifying search across channels
Hiver's April releases center on grounding its AI in a company's own material. Confluence pages, Google Docs and Google Sheets can be added as knowledge sources, and Ask AI can query an uploaded Sheet directly — answering questions like top customers by revenue without manual analysis. Alongside that, Omnichannel Search spans email, chat and Slack with unified results and channel attribution, and automations gained a trigger for conversations moved into a shared inbox. Each release appears twice in the feed.
LiveAgent vs Hiver: editorial side-by-side
LiveAgent
5.0SUPPORT
AI Agents get a run log and a details view — the AI layer becomes something operators inspect
◆ Current state
LiveAgent runs two parallel release trains at a near-daily cadence: 5.66.x carries maintenance backports, 5.67.x carries the feature work, and both are dominated by fixes. The AI surface has moved past assistance into operations — there is now an AI Agent Runs report, a run-details dialog, and named work states (Running renamed to Submitted). Underneath that sit MCP knowledge-base tools, AI credit-pool provisioning, and an AI-Budgets screen, so the AI layer has both metering and tooling.
◆ Where it's heading
The July entries show the AI agent turning from a feature into a managed system: runs acquire states, reports, and inspection surfaces, which is the groundwork operators need before handing tickets to automation. The 5.67 train is where this lands, alongside the MCP get_kb_article extension and the API v4 datetime unification; 5.66 absorbs the backported fixes. The split cadence lets the stable line stay quiet while the AI and API work churns.
◆ Prediction
The next 5.67 releases will most likely deepen AI Agent Runs — filters, per-agent breakdowns, or a link between run records and the AI-Budgets credit pool, since the metering and reporting halves both exist but are not yet visibly joined.
Hiver
0.0SUPPORT
Gmail-based support tooling wiring internal docs into its AI and unifying search across channels
◆ Current state
Hiver's April releases center on grounding its AI in a company's own material. Confluence pages, Google Docs and Google Sheets can be added as knowledge sources, and Ask AI can query an uploaded Sheet directly — answering questions like top customers by revenue without manual analysis. Alongside that, Omnichannel Search spans email, chat and Slack with unified results and channel attribution, and automations gained a trigger for conversations moved into a shared inbox. Each release appears twice in the feed.
◆ Where it's heading
The product is extending past the shared-inbox job into being the place a support agent finds any answer. Knowledge sources make the AI useful on internal SOPs rather than generic replies; omnichannel search makes prior context findable regardless of where the conversation happened. Both reduce the reasons an agent leaves Gmail, which is the whole premise Hiver sells on.
◆ Prediction
Expect more knowledge source connectors on the pattern set by Drive and Confluence, since the Sheets query capability shows the ingestion path already handles structured as well as prose content.
Alternatives to LiveAgent and Hiver
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 LiveAgent or Hiver.
Richpanel
Every merchant tool Richpanel absorbs is one more thing its AI agent can answer alone
Hatz AI
Hatz adds every frontier model within days, and just dropped the license gate on its Phone Agent
Canny
Canny is wiring product feedback to revenue, and letting Autopilot collect it without anyone asking
Comm100
Comm100 publishes buyer-guide content, not releases — this feed is a marketing blog.
Bird
Monthly digests showing AI chat latency cut hard, in a feed that repeats itself
See all LiveAgent alternatives → · See all Hiver alternatives →
Recent activity from LiveAgent and Hiver
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoLiveAgentAI Agent Run Details dialog and runs-report cleanup
- 1d agoLiveAgentMaintenance backport: AppSumo agent and chat-count fixes
- 8d agoLiveAgentMCP KB tool gains URL-code lookup; API v4 goes UTC
- 8d agoLiveAgentBug fixes: report filters, chat counts, purge scan
- 15d agoLiveAgentAnswer Assistant adds cancel/retry; tag and agent fixes
- 22d agoLiveAgentQuery performance fixes; MCP KB image-attachment fix
- 3mo agoHiverRun queries on Google Sheets with Ask AI
- 3mo agoHiverGoogle Drive and Confluence as AI Knowledge Sources
- 3mo agoHiverNew Automation trigger and condition
- 3mo agoHiverGoogle Drive and Confluence as AI Knowledge Sources
- 3mo agoHiverRun queries on Google Sheets with Ask AI
- 3mo agoHiverIntroducing Omnichannel Search
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between LiveAgent and Hiver?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. LiveAgent is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 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 LiveAgent better than Hiver?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. LiveAgent is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to Hiver?
Top Hiver alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Hiver alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hiver for the full list with editorial commentary on each.