Pylon vs Unthread
A side-by-side comparison of Pylon and Unthread on what each one charges, what it meters, and which plan every capability actually sits on.
Capability by capability
Nothing we track differs between them.
Channels
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| IncludedAny address, plus Gmail and Outlook Mail connectors. | IncludedEmail inboxes feed the same conversation model, and a Slack thread reply with /unthread send appended is delivered to the customer by email. | |
| Live chat | IncludedChat widget with mobile SDKs. | IncludedIn-app chat widget that routes into Slack, plus an embedded customer portal. |
| Voice | IncludedListed as a Phone and SMS channel. No voice pricing or minute rate is published. | Not published |
| SMS | IncludedListed as a Phone and SMS channel. | Not published |
| Included | Not published | |
| Slack Connect | IncludedUnknown. No plan table is published, so no channel can be shown as gated or ungated. | IncludedThe core motion. A shared Slack Connect channel maps to a Customer record; anyone outside your email domain posting in it is classified a customer and opens a tracked conversation, anyone in your Slack workspace is an agent. Role overrides per channel are available. Threads are one conversation each; top-level messages group by a configurable time gap defaulting to one hour; conversations can be merged and split afterwards. |
| Microsoft Teams | IncludedUnknown. No plan table is published. | IncludedNot stated on the pricing page. The vendor labels the integration beta: "This feature is currently in beta and actively being developed." |
Ticketing
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| Shared inbox | Not published | IncludedA Slack inbox and a web inbox with a Kanban board over the same conversations. |
| SLA policies | Not published | IncludedSLA policies and instances have full CRUD in the API, unlike automations. Policy writes need a workspace owner or admin service account. |
| Macros / saved replies | IncludedProduct feature with a dedicated API endpoint, so saved replies are extractable. | IncludedTemplates under Outbound, inserted with a slash command, supporting rich formatting, images, buttons and embedded surveys. No API endpoint, so they do not export. |
| Merge & split | Not published | IncludedConversations can be merged or split after tracking, which is what makes grouped top-level Slack messages recoverable when the grouping guesses wrong. |
| Custom fields | Included | IncludedTicket types carry custom fields, and both have API endpoints. |
| Custom objects | Included | Not published |
| Ticket forms | Included | IncludedTicket types with checklists and input fields, which AI can pre-fill when the intake setting is "Engage AI Agent". |
Routing & automation
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| Triggers | IncludedDocumented product feature. Absent from the API reference index, so trigger logic cannot be exported. | Not published |
| Workflow builder | Not published | Included"AI automation builder" is listed only on Enterprise. The docs add that automations must be enabled for trial accounts and that custom actions must be enabled for the tenant. |
AI assist
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-tagging | Not published | IncludedAI applies tags at conversation creation only, and manual changes override. AI also sets ticket type, generates titles and posts a two to three sentence summary into the triage channel on close. |
| Sentiment analysis | Not published | IncludedNumerical sentiment score per conversation. |
Knowledge base
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| Public help center | Not published | IncludedUnthread's own documentation site runs on it and carries a "This site is powered by Unthread. Get your own support portal" footer. |
| AI answers over KB | Not published | IncludedNo AI feature is named on the Basic card. Pro is described as having "AI automation at the core"; the "AI automation builder" and "Self-learning documentation" lines appear only on Enterprise. |
Reporting
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| Raw data export | Not published | API onlyCursor-paginated JSON over the API for conversations, messages, attachments, customers, users, tags, ticket types, surveys and knowledge base articles, plus a CSV download from the analytics dashboard. No single-click account export and no archive file. |
| Data warehouse sync | IncludedUnknown. No plan table is published. | IncludedA Snowflake integration exists and connects with a dedicated service user, scopable read-only or read-write per table or schema. The documentation covers authentication and RBAC scoping and does not enumerate which Unthread objects are written, on what cadence, so this is not a documented full egress path the way a published warehouse schema would be. |
| CSAT / NPS | Not published | Included"NPS & CSAT surveys" is listed on Pro, not Basic. |
Collaboration
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| Approvals | Not published | IncludedApproval requests are a first-class object with create and list endpoints, assignable to a user or a group. |
Enterprise
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| SAML SSO | Not publishedRoles and User Management documentation exists, but SSO is not named on the trust page or in the docs security overview. | Included"Single sign-on (SSO)" is listed only on the Enterprise card. |
| SCIM provisioning | Not publishedNot named anywhere on the trust page or in the security documentation. | Included"HRIS integration & directory sync" is listed only on Enterprise. |
| Role-based access control | Not published | IncludedRole-based access control is described on the security page with no gate; "Custom RBAC permissions" is an Enterprise line on the pricing card. |
| Custom roles | IncludedUnknown. No plan table is published. | Not published |
| Audit logs | IncludedUnknown. No plan table is published. | IncludedEnterprise only. Verbatim: "Note: this feature is only available on the Enterprise plan." |
| HIPAA / BAA | IncludedEnterprise tier only. Verbatim: "We're happy to sign a BAA in the enterprise plan". | Included"HIPAA & BAAs" appears only on the Enterprise card. The security page states BAAs are available without naming a tier, so the pricing page is the stricter and more specific source. |
| SOC 2 | IncludedNo gate stated. SOC 2 Type 2, monitored via Vanta. | IncludedNo gate stated. SOC 2 Type II, report available under NDA through the trust centre. |
| ISO 27001 | IncludedNo gate stated. ISO 27001 plus ISO 42001 for AI management systems. | Not publishedAbsent from the security page's certification list, which does name SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA. Absence from a closed enumeration is the finding. |
| GDPR | IncludedNo gate stated. DPA available on request. | IncludedNo gate stated. |
| Data residency | Not publishedNo region choice is stated on the trust page, in the docs security overview, or on the trust center at trust.usepylon.com. | IncludedNot stated. "Dedicated hosting" is an Enterprise line on the pricing card and the security page describes residency as "isolated, dedicated database instances", which reads like the same product, but the vendor does not join them. |
| Right-to-erasure tooling | Not published | IncludedBy email request: "In order to request a copy or deletion of your personal data, please contact support+data@unthread.io". No self-serve deletion control is documented. |
Developer
| Capability | Pylon | Unthread |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | Included | Included"Basic integrations & API" is listed on Basic, the cheapest paid plan. |
| Webhooks | Included | IncludedHMAC-SHA256 signed, four event types: conversation_created, conversation_updated, conversation_deleted and message_created. Retried up to four times, auto-disabled after 100 consecutive failures or a 410. |
Both entries last checked Sep 9, 2026.
What Pylon costs
- Billing unit
No price is published anywhere - Free tier
Not published - AI pricing
Not published - Vendor calls it
Not published - Human handoff
Not published - Reopened chat
Not published - AI billing window
Not published - Data export
Self-serve - Automation export
Partial
6 of 9 not published by Pylon, checked
What Unthread costs
$50/seat/month
2 published plans, billed annually- Billing unit
$50 per agent / month on the annual toggle - Free tier
No, 14-day trial - AI pricing
Not published - Vendor calls it
conversations/month - Human handoff
Not published - Reopened chat
Not published - AI billing window
Not published - Data export
Self-serve - Automation export
Not offered
4 of 9 not published by Unthread, checked