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Comparison · Support
Ivanti vs Plain
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Ivanti and Plain — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Ivanti vs Plain: at a glance
What is Ivanti?
Ivanti's Secure Access Client ships weekly mobile point releases — 22.7.4 through 22.8.7 — with documentation as the only visible signal.
The visible Ivanti feed is dominated by weekly Supported Platforms Guides for the Ivanti Secure Access Client (formerly Pulse Secure) on iOS, Android, and ChromeOS, spanning versions 22.7.4 through 22.8.7. A cumulative Android release notes index for 22.2.1–22.8.6 and accompanying admin and MDM deployment guides confirm steady mobile-client cadence. The captured content is documentation landing pages, not detailed change descriptions.
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.
Ivanti vs Plain: editorial side-by-side
Ivanti
3.8SUPPORT
Ivanti's Secure Access Client ships weekly mobile point releases — 22.7.4 through 22.8.7 — with documentation as the only visible signal.
◆ Current state
The visible Ivanti feed is dominated by weekly Supported Platforms Guides for the Ivanti Secure Access Client (formerly Pulse Secure) on iOS, Android, and ChromeOS, spanning versions 22.7.4 through 22.8.7. A cumulative Android release notes index for 22.2.1–22.8.6 and accompanying admin and MDM deployment guides confirm steady mobile-client cadence. The captured content is documentation landing pages, not detailed change descriptions.
◆ Where it's heading
With only documentation pages observable, product trajectory is hard to read concretely. The frequent point releases suggest active maintenance of the mobile security client; the historical Pulse Secure → Ivanti rebrand and the Classic UI / New-UI dual maintenance both indicate gradual consolidation rather than a fresh directional move.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued weekly point releases on 22.8.x and a likely transition to 22.9.x or a 23.x line later in 2026. Substantive product moves probably exist in detailed release notes the crawler isn't reaching — a different ingestion path (the per-version release notes endpoints, not the SPG landing pages) would surface more useful signal.
Plain
8.8SUPPORT
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 Ivanti 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 Ivanti or Plain.
Service Fusion
An SEO blog with one real launch buried in it: AI cleans up field notes
Respond.io
respond.io is widening what a conversation can hold - more channels, and now more than one owner.
Live Helper Chat
Live Helper Chat keeps adding the oversight surfaces a supervised support floor needs.
LiveAgent
Two maintained branches, a build-stamp version scheme, and a steady diet of defect fixes.
Sleekplan
Post-rebuild Sleekplan is adding the objects a feedback board never had: docs and components.
See all Ivanti alternatives → · See all Plain alternatives →
Recent activity from Ivanti and Plain
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2d agoPlainTest Ari before customers see it, with per-answer proof ⚡
- 16d agoPlainImport past conversations from any tool, no built-in importer
- 22d agoPlainSidekick connects to any MCP server ⚡
- 24d agoPlainSidekick gains reusable, workspace-shared skills ⚡
- 29d agoPlainShare published workflows by link
- 1mo agoPlainSidekick gets its own full-page home and tool controls
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Mobile 22.8.7 Supported Platforms Guide
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Android 22.2.1–22.8.6 cumulative release notes index
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Android Administration Guide
- 4mo agoIvantiISAC Mobile 22.8.6 Supported Platforms Guide
- 4mo agoIvantiHTML – ISAC Mobile Client Deployment and Configuration Guide
- 5mo agoIvantiISAC Mobile 22.8.5 Supported Platforms Guide
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ivanti and Plain?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Plain is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 8.8 vs 3.8), 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 Ivanti 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 3.8), 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 Ivanti?
Top Ivanti alternatives in Support are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ivanti alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ivanti 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.