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Comparison · Support

DoneDone vs Plain

A side-by-side editorial comparison of DoneDone and Plain — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:workflow-automation

DoneDone vs Plain: at a glance

FeatureDoneDonePlain
SectorSupportSupport
Velocity score5.08.8
Sparks · 30d03
Top themesworkflow-automation, checklist-templates, kanban, customer-requestscustomer-support, ai-agents, mcp, agent-governance
Last editorial update11d ago12h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is DoneDone?

Small, customer-requested fixes all summer — then the first automation engine.

DoneDone ships in a tight loop with users: reorderable checklist items, tags in CSV exports, collapsible Kanban columns, more board sort fields, and activity feeds that hide status noise by default. Several entries name the customer request that prompted them. On August 7 the pattern broke with Workflow Automations, the first release in this window that adds behavior rather than tidying existing behavior.

Read the full DoneDone trajectory →

What is Plain?

Plain built an autonomous support agent, and has now built the controls to trust it.

Plain's changelog is dated entries with no titles, and nearly all of it concerns two AI surfaces: Ari, the customer-facing responder, and Sidekick, the internal agent. Sidekick spent July gaining reach — its own full-page home, reusable workspace skills, and connection to arbitrary MCP servers. The newest release turns to Ari and adds what was missing around it: a way to test it before customers see it, provenance behind each answer, configurable tone, and explicit escalation rules.

Read the full Plain trajectory →

DoneDone vs Plain: editorial side-by-side

D
DoneDone
SUPPORT
5.0

Small, customer-requested fixes all summer — then the first automation engine.

◆ Current state

DoneDone ships in a tight loop with users: reorderable checklist items, tags in CSV exports, collapsible Kanban columns, more board sort fields, and activity feeds that hide status noise by default. Several entries name the customer request that prompted them. On August 7 the pattern broke with Workflow Automations, the first release in this window that adds behavior rather than tidying existing behavior.

◆ Where it's heading

The through-line is reducing friction in a board people already live in, and Workflow Automations extends that logic one step: instead of a cleaner view of manual work, the status change itself now sets due dates and attaches checklist templates. Checklist Templates got management improvements in July and are the object of the new automation in August, which suggests templates are being built up as the standardization primitive the product organizes around.

◆ Prediction

The automation surface starts narrow — two actions on one trigger — so the obvious next steps are more triggers than status change and more actions such as assignment or notification. The customer-request cadence in these entries suggests those will arrive in the same incremental way.

P
Plain
SUPPORT
8.8

Plain built an autonomous support agent, and has now built the controls to trust it.

◆ Current state

Plain's changelog is dated entries with no titles, and nearly all of it concerns two AI surfaces: Ari, the customer-facing responder, and Sidekick, the internal agent. Sidekick spent July gaining reach — its own full-page home, reusable workspace skills, and connection to arbitrary MCP servers. The newest release turns to Ari and adds what was missing around it: a way to test it before customers see it, provenance behind each answer, configurable tone, and explicit escalation rules.

◆ Where it's heading

The sequence reads as capability first, then governance. Plain rebuilt Ari into an agentic first responder, opened Sidekick to any MCP server, and let teams write skills the whole workspace shares — all of which widen what the agents can do and reach. The current release closes the loop the other way, making that autonomy inspectable and bounded before it is switched on. That is the order support-AI vendors have to complete in: teams will not put an agent in front of customers on capability claims alone.

◆ Prediction

With testing and provenance in place, the next step is likely measurement — resolution and escalation rates per skill, or per-answer quality review feeding back into the skills teams write. The entries are short summaries linking off-site, so per-release depth is limited.

Alternatives to DoneDone and Plain

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 DoneDone or Plain.

See all DoneDone alternatives → · See all Plain alternatives →

Recent activity from DoneDone and Plain

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoPlainTest Ari before customers see it, with per-answer proof
  2. 11d agoDoneDoneNew: Workflow Automations!
  3. 15d agoPlainImport past conversations from any tool, no built-in importer
  4. 15d agoDoneDoneInclude tags in CSV exports!
  5. 21d agoPlainSidekick connects to any MCP server
  6. 23d agoPlainSidekick gains reusable, workspace-shared skills
  7. 28d agoPlainShare published workflows by link
  8. 28d agoDoneDoneChecklist Templates just got a little easier to manage.
  9. 1mo agoPlainSidekick gets its own full-page home and tool controls
  10. 2mo agoDoneDoneKanban Collapse Columns
  11. 2mo agoDoneDoneActions Are Now Hidden by Default
  12. 2mo agoDoneDoneNew Kanban Sort Options are Here ✔️

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between DoneDone and Plain?

Both compete on the same themes — workflow-automation — within Support. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 5.0), with 3 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 DoneDone better than Plain?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 5.0), with 3 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 DoneDone?

Top DoneDone alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "DoneDone alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/donedone for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

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.