Small business▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 18 → 9 of 51
3 categories · RankedPlain
33Judge labels
7First choices
2Negative labels
9 / 14Models named it
3Categories
October 2026 Edition. Every number here is derived from the raw labels under vendor table v2026-10-05.2, every buyer segment counted.
Best standing
3% in Helpdesk for mid-market buyers
Rank 6 of 55 in the mid-market standing
1 of 14 models made it the first choice on the direct prompt; 0% of its 9 labels there were negative.
By buyer segmentRead the same way at every buyer size.
Small business7 of 51
3%4 labels
under the label threshold
Mid-market6 of 55
3%9 labels
under the label threshold
Enterprise9 of 61
2%5 labels
under the label threshold
In helpdesk · each standing computed within its segment · bars are 0 to 100 · the accent bar is the product's own best reading
Standing by category
Every category where a model named Plain for a mid-market B2B company. Share is first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts; rank is within every product named in that category.
| Category | Function | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Quadrant | Since September 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer support and helpdesk | Customer | 3% | 6 of 55 | 0% | 9 | under 10 labels · led by Zendesk Support Suite at 31% | =heldSince September 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. |
| In-app messaging and customer communications | Customer | 2% | 17 of 105 | 0% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by Intercom at 21% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 2% now. |
| Knowledge base and self-service | Customer | 0% | 29 of 88 | 0% | 2 | under 10 labels · led by Notion at 21% | goneNot named this edition; 4% in September 2026. |
Movement
Since September 2026, Plain held within the floor in all three categories: no change cleared 11 points.
Best category · Helpdesk · by segment
Mid-market=heldSince September 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 2% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 11 pointsRank 7 → 8 of 55
Enterprise▲+2Since September 2026: 0% → 2%, +2 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked.
2%from 0% in September 2026
Inside the floor by 9 pointsRank 14 → 7 of 56
All categories · Mid-market
| Category | September 2026 | Now | Change | Reading | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knowledge base | 4% | 0% | ▼−4Since September 2026: 4% → 0%, −4 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 10 → 29 of 88 |
| In-app messaging | 0% | 2% | newNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 2% now. | New this edition | Rank 17 of 105, unchanged |
| Helpdesk | 2% | 2% | =heldSince September 2026: 2% → 2%, ±0 points. Inside the 11-point floor: within noise. Read over the models both editions asked. | Within noise | Rank 7 → 6 of 55 |
Shares here are read over the models both editions asked, so they can differ by a point or two from the standing above, which counts every model in this edition.
The floor is 11 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one is noise, and both are shown. Movement is read over the twelve models both editions asked; GPT-6 Luna, Muse Glimmer 30B joined this edition and are in the standing but not yet in the comparison. How the floor is measured · The editions
By model
How each model treated Plain across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.ShowHide
By model
How each model treated Plain across every prompt where it was named for a mid-market B2B company. Fourteen models, six prompts per category.
ShowHide| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Negative | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
By framing
Which of the six questions produced the naming. By model says how often; this says asked what. The first-choice count on the right carries the marks of the models that produced it.
FramingLabels by classFirst choices
Direct15 labels2
Paraphrase13 labels4
Comparative3 labels1not counted in share
Budget-constrained2 labels1
Scale-constrained0 labelsNone
Negative0 labelsNone
First choiceAlternativeMentionNegative33 labels in all, every segment counted; 7 of the 8 first choices count toward share, since the comparative and negative framings do not. The bar is one segment per label class, to scale within the framing.
What the models said for it
Verbatim evidence the judge attached to positive labels.
“Choose TeamSupport or Plain if you want a B2B-native experience with account-centric workflows and faster implementation.” Muse Glimmer 30B · Helpdesk · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“Plain - known for its speed and extensibility, making it a good choice for mid-market teams.” Llama 4 Maverick · Helpdesk · direct prompt · first choice
“the most balanced recommendation is Plain for product messaging” Perplexity Sonar · In-app messaging · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“described as the best overall knowledge and support platform” Muse Glimmer 30B · Knowledge base · comparative prompt · first choice
And against it
Verbatim evidence attached to negative labels. A warning on a product with few labels is a warning; on a product with many, it is one voice among them.
No model argued against it.
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Plain, over the 33 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Plain was named but was not.ShowHide
Named alongside
The products named in the same answers as Plain, over the 33 answers that named it. Took the first choice instead counts the answers where the other product was the first choice and Plain was named but was not.
ShowHideProductSame answerTook the first choice insteadHead to head
A head-to-head page exists where both products are among a category's top eight. The other rows are the same fact without a page behind them, so they link to the product instead.
What carried it into the answer
The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Plain. A fact about retrieval, not a lever on the model.
Citations exist only for the models that return a source list, five of the fourteen in this edition, so these counts come from 33 of the 33 answers that named Plain and are not a share of its labels.
Domains cited
plain.comYour site33
intercom.com17
usepylon.com17
freshworks.com13
kayako.com13
helpdesk.com12
learn.g2.com12
capterra.com9
helply.com9
zendesk.com9
111 of the 144 domain citations in answers naming Plain came from somebody else's page.
Pages cited
Pages are listed as the models cited them.
Search and answers
plain.com is not in Google's top ten for any of the category's searches. In the answers, Plain takes 3% of first choices and Zendesk Support Suite takes 31%.ShowHide
Search and answers
plain.com is not in Google's top ten for any of the category's searches. In the answers, Plain takes 3% of first choices and Zendesk Support Suite takes 31%.
ShowHideIn search
Google, US estimatesPosition for “customer support and helpdesk platform”
–
not in the top ten
Position for “best customer support and helpdesk platform”
–
not in the top ten
- Searches for its name, Google
- 90,500 a month (“plain”)
- AI search demand for its name, est.
- 83,095 a month
- Organic visits to its site
- about 1,314 a month
- Searches its site ranks for
- 873 · 17 in the top three
- Sites linking to it
- 859
- Paid Google search
- No ads found in the estimate; that does not mean it runs none
In answers
This editionShare of first choices
3%
rank 6 of 55 in helpdesk
Segment leader
31%
Zendesk Support Suite
- First choices
- 7 across its categories
- Named in
- 33 answers
- Its own site cited
- in 33 of the answers that named it
Search figures are US estimates from DataForSEO, read September 28, 2026; AI search demand is its modeled, directional estimate, not a count of queries to any assistant. The answers are this edition's. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
What it publishes
ShowHide
What it publishes
ShowHideAddresses on plain.com
575
subdomains included
Content
202
counted in the table below
Documentation
260
Product · Integration
5 · 0
| Kind | Pages | Last 90 days | 2025-10 to 2026-09 | Latest | Categories named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 127 | 14 | 2026-09-22 | ||
| Case study | 36 | 36 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Conference or event | 18 | 10 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Comparison | 17 | 9 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Template or tool | 2 | 1 | 2026-09-29 | ||
| Glossary or explainer | 2 | 0 | 2026-06-13 |
Most recent
- 2026-09-29Plain - Slack Support Cost Calculator template or tool
- 2026-09-29Pylon comparison
- 2026-09-29Zendesk comparison
- 2026-09-29Fin comparison
- 2026-09-29Intercom comparison
- 2026-09-29Plain — How n8n built AI-first support that handles 60% of tickets automatically case study
Events in person
Last twelve months
- September 29, 2026Meet Plain @ The AI ConferenceSan Francisco, USA · spoke
- September 2, 2026Vercel x Plain: Fireside ChatSan Francisco, USA · hosted
- June 24, 2026World Cup Watch PartySan Francisco, USA · hosted
As the event pages on plain.com state them, read September 28, 2026.
How it is countedHide how it is counted
Every page plain.com exposes, subdomains included. Kind is read from the address and title. The last 90 days, the latest date and the twelve months count pages by when they were published, from the site's feeds, a date in the address, or the page's own publication date, read from up to a hundred of its most recently changed pages; a page that says only when it last changed is counted in its kind but not in when, so the recent counts are a floor, and a kind none of whose pages gives a publication date reads undated. An event counts as online when its address or title says so (webinar, on demand, virtual or online summit); a conference, summit, trade show, expo or roadshow that does not say so is counted as a conference or event, which on a vendor's site is mostly in person. Read September 29, 2026.
Follow Plain
An email the morning each edition publishes: where this product moved, where it held, and by how much against the noise floor. One address, confirmed by a click; a stop link in every email.
Already following? Everything you follow, with a stop for each.
The company
Plain is its own company.ShowHide
The company
Plain is its own company.
ShowHideIn its own words
Stated by the vendor, not checked- Positioning
- Plain is the AI support stack built for B2B teams.
- For
- B2B teams
- Price stated
- Foundation at $35/month, Horizon at $299/month, and custom Frontier. plain.com/pricing
- Starting price
- 35 plain.com/pricing
- Free plan or trial
- Start for free plain.com
- Certifications
- SOC2 Type II Report
- Customers named
- GranolaRaycastStytchSanityTinybirdBuildkiteVercelCursor
- Not stated on the pages read
- Integrations, hosting
What Plain's own pages state, read September 28, 2026: plain.com, plain.com/pricing, trust.plain.com, plain.com/solutions/ai-support, plain.com/customers. A claimed page can correct any of them.
Is this your product?
Claim this page
Claiming is free and changes nothing in the data. A claimed page shows a verified contact who is told when each edition publishes and when Plain's standing changes by more than the noise floor; the right to propose corrections to the vendor table, meaning names the judge wrote that should or should not read as Plain, applied by version and listed in the change log; and a one-line description supplied by the vendor and marked as such.
What a new claim receivesHide what a new claim receives
A new claim receives the current edition's vendor brief for Plain by email, built from the raw record of the edition. It shows:
- where Plain is named, by buyer and by framing, and which cells hold its first choices;
- the claims the models make when they name it, ranked, with the strongest and the weakest quoted;
- its vocabulary against the segment leader's, and the pages the models cited;
- who was chosen in the answers that did not name Plain, and every reason the record gives;
- a battlecard for each top rival: the head-to-head split, why they win, and the reservation quoted against them;
- one page of published figures cleared to show a buyer.