Desk365
Desk365 leans into IT asset management and Teams-native ticketing on a monthly release cadence
Comparison · Support
Plain vs Frill
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Plain and Frill — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Plain vs Frill: at a glance
What is Plain?
Plain is turning Sidekick from an assist tool into an agent that acts across your stack.
Plain is a customer-support platform whose changelog is now largely the story of Sidekick, its AI agent. This window gives Sidekick a dedicated home page, puts it inside workflows so it starts working the moment a thread matches, and lets it take actions across connected tools and inside Plain. Around it are supporting workflow and integration updates: scheduled workflows, chat-widget thread fields, and Linear issue linking.
What is Frill?
Frill opens a developer surface — public SDK, Chrome extension, and an MCP beta
Frill is a customer-feedback platform: feedback boards, roadmaps, announcements, and surveys. Over the past two years it has layered on enterprise plumbing — EU data residency, Okta and Entra SSO, a content security policy. The June 2026 release adds a programmatic surface: a public @frillco/script npm SDK, a Chrome extension, multiple API keys, and an MCP release in public beta.
Plain vs Frill: editorial side-by-side
Plain
7.5SUPPORT
Plain is turning Sidekick from an assist tool into an agent that acts across your stack.
◆ Current state
Plain is a customer-support platform whose changelog is now largely the story of Sidekick, its AI agent. This window gives Sidekick a dedicated home page, puts it inside workflows so it starts working the moment a thread matches, and lets it take actions across connected tools and inside Plain. Around it are supporting workflow and integration updates: scheduled workflows, chat-widget thread fields, and Linear issue linking.
◆ Where it's heading
Sidekick is moving from suggesting to doing: proactive triage via workflows, action-taking across connected tools, and presence in Slack all point at Plain building an autonomous support teammate rather than a reply-drafting assistant. The workflow and API plumbing shipping alongside (scheduling, thread-field passthrough) is the connective tissue that lets Sidekick act on richer context automatically.
◆ Prediction
Expect deeper Sidekick autonomy next, with more action types across integrations and tighter workflow triggers, while Plain keeps hardening the surrounding automation and API surface that feeds it.
Frill
3.8SUPPORT
Frill opens a developer surface — public SDK, Chrome extension, and an MCP beta
◆ Current state
Frill is a customer-feedback platform: feedback boards, roadmaps, announcements, and surveys. Over the past two years it has layered on enterprise plumbing — EU data residency, Okta and Entra SSO, a content security policy. The June 2026 release adds a programmatic surface: a public @frillco/script npm SDK, a Chrome extension, multiple API keys, and an MCP release in public beta.
◆ Where it's heading
The path runs from a hosted feedback widget toward an integrable platform. Enterprise enablement — hosting, SSO, security — came first; the developer surface now makes Frill's feedback and roadmap data addressable by external code and AI agents. Cadence is a steady monthly release, most of it incremental, with the occasional platform-level move standing out.
◆ Prediction
Expect the MCP beta and public SDK to graduate toward general availability, with deeper API coverage — write access and webhooks — following to support programmatic and agent-driven use.
Alternatives to Plain and Frill
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 Plain or Frill.
Formbricks
Formbricks grinds through 5.1→5.2 RCs, hardening an agent-writable survey API
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
ServiceDesk Plus threads Zoho's Zia AI deeper into ITSM workflow authoring
Hatz AI
Hatz AI pairs a new artifacts surface with full audit logging, doubling down on governed AI for MSPs.
Twilio
Twilio grinds through platform-maturity work: RCS error hygiene, WhatsApp usernames, org-level identity APIs
Respond.io
Respond.io absorbs WhatsApp's phone-free identity shift while thickening its AI agent.
Recent activity from Plain and Frill
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoFrillFrill ships MCP beta, public npm SDK, and Chrome extension ⚡
- 2d agoPlainSidekick gets a dedicated home page in the sidebar
- 7d agoPlainWorkflows can now run on a recurring schedule
- 8d agoPlainSidekick auto-starts on threads matching a workflow
- 11d agoPlain'Create customer' now always shows in search
- 13d agoPlainPass thread fields through the chat widget
- 14d agoPlainSidekick can now take actions across connected tools ⚡
- 2mo agoFrillBoosted Announcements get Boost Until and custom previews
- 8mo agoFrillEU hosting launches; API gains markdown and attachments
- 10mo agoFrillMicrosoft EntraID SSO, CSP security, more languages
- 1y agoFrillSubscribe to Updates
- 1y agoFrillJust Launched: Idea Polls
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Plain and Frill?
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 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Plain better than Frill?
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 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 1. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Support products to evaluate alongside.
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.
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.