Plain
Plain built an autonomous support agent, and has now built the controls to trust it.
Comparison · Support
Canny vs Kayako
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Canny and Kayako — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Canny vs Kayako: at a glance
| Feature | Canny | Kayako |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Support | Support |
| Velocity score | 7.5 | 0.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 2 | 0 |
| Top themes | feedback-capture, autopilot, slack, conversational-agent | customer-support, legacy-product, stalled-changelog, communication-silence |
| Last editorial update | 5d ago | 3mo ago |
| Website | — | Visit → |
What is Canny?
Canny keeps moving feedback capture out of Canny — now it answers to a mention in Slack
Canny's releases converge on one thing: getting feedback into the system without anyone opening the product. Autopilot now ingests external calls through Fireflies, Fathom and Grain, links them to Salesforce and HubSpot opportunities, and dedupes into existing ideas. The August 13 release replaces the Slack slash commands with an @Canny mention that captures feedback from any thread in plain language, creates ideas, insights, users and companies, and edits fields. Alongside that, the platform work is administrative: view sharing with access levels, Linear project links, and the reporting rebuild that ties ideas to revenue.
What is Kayako?
Kayako's public changelog has been silent since mid-2022 — the radar is showing a stalled product.
Kayako has not posted a public changelog entry since June 2022. The most recent communication was a CEO apology over a performance incident and a series of link-only release-notes posts pointing to a Help Center article. The visible operational picture is an established customer-support product no longer broadcasting product motion.
Canny vs Kayako: editorial side-by-side
Canny
7.5SUPPORT
Canny keeps moving feedback capture out of Canny — now it answers to a mention in Slack
◆ Current state
Canny's releases converge on one thing: getting feedback into the system without anyone opening the product. Autopilot now ingests external calls through Fireflies, Fathom and Grain, links them to Salesforce and HubSpot opportunities, and dedupes into existing ideas. The August 13 release replaces the Slack slash commands with an @Canny mention that captures feedback from any thread in plain language, creates ideas, insights, users and companies, and edits fields. Alongside that, the platform work is administrative: view sharing with access levels, Linear project links, and the reporting rebuild that ties ideas to revenue.
◆ Where it's heading
The product is separating capture from the tool. Every recent release either adds a place feedback can arrive from or removes a step between hearing something and it being recorded, with Autopilot doing the deduping in the middle. The reporting rebuild is the other half of the same argument — capture everything, then price it in renewal and pipeline revenue rather than votes. What is left thin is anything that changes how teams decide once the data is in.
◆ Prediction
Expect more capture surfaces on the same pattern — additional meeting and support tools feeding Autopilot, and the Slack agent gaining the read and reporting actions it currently lacks.
Kayako
0.0SUPPORT
Kayako's public changelog has been silent since mid-2022 — the radar is showing a stalled product.
◆ Current state
Kayako has not posted a public changelog entry since June 2022. The most recent communication was a CEO apology over a performance incident and a series of link-only release-notes posts pointing to a Help Center article. The visible operational picture is an established customer-support product no longer broadcasting product motion.
◆ Where it's heading
Direction is hard to read from public changelog activity alone, but the trajectory implied by the silence is unmistakable: either the product moved its release communication elsewhere, or development pace slowed enough to stop justifying a regular changelog. Either way, prospects watching only the public surface see no momentum.
◆ Prediction
Without renewed public activity, Kayako will continue to be perceived as legacy in a category where Zendesk, Intercom, and HelpScout are publishing prominently. A customer-facing changelog refresh would be the lowest-effort signal to send, and is the most likely next move if the product is in fact still under active development.
Alternatives to Canny and Kayako
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 Canny or Kayako.
Sleekplan
Sleekplan rebuilt itself around AI triage, then put the feedback board inside ChatGPT.
Comm100
Comm100 publishes steadily about AI support — none of it is Comm100 shipping anything.
Respond.io
respond.io is layering an agent-authoring copilot and consumption billing on top of its omnichannel inbox.
Hatz AI
Hatz sells through MSPs, and its roadmap has started to serve the partner more than the end user
Knowmax
A teaser-only content feed making one argument: AI in the contact center fails on knowledge, not models.
See all Canny alternatives → · See all Kayako alternatives →
Recent activity from Canny and Kayako
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5d agoCanny@Canny in Slack ⚡
- 7d agoCannyFireflies.ai for Autopilot
- 19d agoCannyFathom and Grain for Autopilot
- 27d agoCannyView sharing
- 29d agoCannyUpgraded reporting tab ⚡
- 1mo agoCannyLink Canny Ideas to Linear Projects
- 4y agoKayakoKayako Engineering Update
- 4y agoKayakoKayako Release Notes - April 2022
- 4y agoKayakoKayako Release Notes - February 2022
- 4y agoKayakoRecent performance issues
- 4y agoKayakoKayako Release Notes - January 2022
- 4y agoKayakoPlanned Maintenance Outage
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Canny and Kayako?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Canny is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 0.0), 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 Canny better than Kayako?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Canny is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 0.0), 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 Canny?
Top Canny alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Canny alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/canny for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Kayako?
Top Kayako alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Kayako alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/kayako for the full list with editorial commentary on each.