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Fernand vs Plain

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

Plain logo

Plain

AI-powered support platform for B2B teams, unifying Slack, email and chat in one workspace

Free trial
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Verdict

Fernand is listed under Customer Support and Plain under Help Desk Software. Fernand scores higher in FinderAtlas's editorial review (8.5 vs 7.9 out of 10), led by ease of use and value for money. Only Fernand has a free plan or trial.

Best overall

Fernand

  • SaaS founders
  • Indie developers
  • Product managers
  • Small software teams

Choose Fernand if

  • You want a tool built for Founder-led customer support.
  • Free plan with unlimited seats, a knowledge base and AI features.
  • No per-resolution charge for AI replies.

Choose Plain if

  • You want a tool built for Teams that support business customers through shared Slack or Teams channels and want AI triage, routing and an API-first setup.
  • Built around B2B support, with Slack, Teams and Discord channels alongside email and chat.
  • Ari and Sidekick AI agents are included from the entry plan.
Best value
Fernand
Best for beginners
Plain
Best for business
Plain

Features

17 features compared.

  • Keyboard-first shared inbox
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • AI drafts and chat agent
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Custom customer data
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Billing integrations
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Slack Connect
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Knowledge base
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Support widget
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Rules and snippets
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Developer API
    Fernand
    Available
    Plain
    Not available
  • Multichannel Inbox
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • Ari AI Agent
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • Sidekick
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • Workflows
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • Insights
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • Bring Your Own Agents
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • API
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available
  • Help Center and Knowledge Base
    Fernand
    Not available
    Plain
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    Fernand
    Freemium
    Plain
    Free trial
  • Free plan
    Fernand
    Yes
    Plain
    No
  • Starting price
    Fernand
    $0
    Plain
    $45
  • Plans
    Fernand
    2 plans
    Plain
    3 plans

Fernand plans

  • Free

    $0

    Core support tools with unlimited seats and 100 sent messages per month

    • Email
    • Live chat
    • Knowledge base
    • API
    • Unlimited seats
    • AI replies and chat agent
    • 10 MB AI training data
    • 5 inboxes

  • Paid

    Most popular

    $29/user/month

    Per active human who can reply to customers; other team members view for free

    • Unlimited messages
    • No Fernand branding
    • Slack Connect
    • Data import from other helpdesks
    • 50 MB AI training data
    • Unlimited seats

Plain plans

  • Foundation

    Most popular

    $45/user/mo

    Small teams getting started with support

    • 1,000 credits/month
    • Sidekick
    • Ari
    • AI workflows
    • Slack
    • email and in-app channels
    • Linear and Jira integrations
    • Help Center
    • Knowledge Base

  • Horizon

    $99/user/mo

    Growing teams with more complex workflows

    • 2,500 credits/month
    • Microsoft Teams
    • SLAs and business hours
    • escalation paths
    • CRM integrations
    • reporting themes
    • AI suggested responses

  • Frontier

    Custom/custom

    Larger organizations needing governance and control

    • Custom credits
    • multiple workspaces
    • custom contracting
    • advanced security
    • SSO and SCIM
    • HIPAA
    • white glove onboarding
    • dedicated customer success manager

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed November 2026.

Fernand
8.5overall
Plain
7.9overall

Fernand leads in 3 categories and Plain in 1, with 1 tied.

  • Ease of Use

    Fernand leads by 1.0
    Fernand
    9.0
    Plain
    8.0

  • Feature Depth

    Plain leads by 0.4
    Fernand
    7.8
    Plain
    8.2

  • Value for Money

    Fernand leads by 1.7
    Fernand
    9.0
    Plain
    7.3

  • Performance & Speed

    Fernand leads by 1.0
    Fernand
    8.8
    Plain
    7.8

  • Documentation & Support

    Tied
    Fernand
    8.0
    Plain
    8.0

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

Fernand

Pros

  • Free plan with unlimited seats, a knowledge base and AI features
  • No per-resolution charge for AI replies
  • Only people who reply to customers count as paid seats
  • Customer data from Stripe and other billing tools or any HTTP endpoint shows in the sidebar
  • Keyboard shortcuts and a command palette for fast triage

Cons

  • Free plan is limited to 100 sent messages per month and adds "Sent via Fernand" to outgoing email
  • Slack Connect and helpdesk data import require the paid plan
  • No dedicated iOS or Android app; the inbox is used in the browser
  • No phone or call center routing

Plain

Pros

  • Built around B2B support, with Slack, Teams and Discord channels alongside email and chat.
  • Ari and Sidekick AI agents are included from the entry plan.
  • API-first design allows custom workflows and embedding.
  • 7-day trial without a credit card, plus a 50% startup discount.
  • Enterprise options include SSO, SCIM and HIPAA on the Frontier plan.

Cons

  • No permanently free plan; paid plans start at $45 per user per month.
  • AI usage is metered in credits (1,000 per month on Foundation), which makes costs harder to predict.
  • Microsoft Teams and CRM integrations require the $99 Horizon plan.
  • No iOS or Android app was found.

Platforms

  • Web
    Fernand
    Supported
    Plain
    Supported
  • Windows
    Fernand
    Not supported
    Plain
    Not supported
  • macOS
    Fernand
    Not supported
    Plain
    Not supported
  • iOS
    Fernand
    Not supported
    Plain
    Not supported
  • Android
    Fernand
    Not supported
    Plain
    Not supported
  • API
    Fernand
    Supported
    Plain
    Supported
  • Browser Extension
    Fernand
    Not supported
    Plain
    Not supported

Integrations

Fernand

12 integrations
  • Stripe
  • Paddle
  • Polar
  • Lemon Squeezy
  • Dodo Payments
  • Slack
  • GitHub
  • Linear
  • Zapier
  • Make
  • n8n
  • Webhooks

Plain

6 integrations
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Discord
  • Linear
  • Jira
  • PagerDuty

Company

  • Company
    Fernand
    Fernand SAS
    Plain
    Plain
  • Founded
    Fernand
    Not listed
    Plain
    2020
  • Headquarters
    Fernand
    Not listed
    Plain
    London, United Kingdom
  • Listing
    Fernand
    Claimed
    Plain
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is Fernand better than Plain?

It depends on your workflow. Fernand is built for Founder-led customer support. Plain is built for Teams that support business customers through shared Slack or Teams channels and want AI triage, routing and an API-first setup.

What are the key feature differences between Fernand and Plain?

Fernand: Shared inbox with AI replies and Stripe context for small SaaS support teams. Plain: AI-powered support platform for B2B teams, unifying Slack, email and chat in one workspace.

Does Fernand or Plain have a free plan?

Fernand has a free plan or trial; Plain is paid only.

Which is cheaper, Fernand or Plain?

Fernand starts at $0 and Plain starts at $45. See the pricing table above for what each tier includes.