Stept

Stept combines customer support, AI assistance and in-product guidance for teams that want to shape how automation behaves. It is most compelling for operators comfortable managing a self-hosted service or choosing their own AI model. Its breadth is a strength; the cloud offering is still in early access, so buyers seeking settled cloud pricing should compare alternatives.

Overview

Stept brings a shared inbox, help center, AI agent, product tours and workflow automation into one support platform. The agent can answer from company documents, guide visitors through an interface and, with the visitor’s explicit opt-in, act on a page. That combination suits teams trying to connect self-service and human support rather than treat them as separate systems.

Control over the agent is unusually central to the proposition: teams select a model, set its persona and decide tool by tool whether an action runs automatically, requires approval or stays disabled. Sensitive tools can be gated by a human, password fields are off-limits, and actions are capped per run. Those are meaningful safeguards, but they do not remove the need to configure and supervise the workflow.

Key features

Support and knowledge

The inbox handles assignment, snoozing, tags, notes, resolution, SLAs, saved views, macros and real-time collaboration. This is a substantial operational toolkit for teams coordinating across agents, not merely a landing place for bot escalations. Human handoff is supported, while knowledge sources can be crawled, uploaded or synced, then periodically re-indexed with disappeared pages pruned. That maintenance loop helps keep answers tied to changing documentation.

Channels include email, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, LINE, a web widget and API. Knowledge integrations include Notion, Confluence, Google Drive, Zendesk, GitHub and Microsoft 365. Teams can choose among OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama and OpenAI-compatible endpoints, making Stept a stronger fit for organizations that value model choice than for those wanting a fixed, turnkey AI stack.

Guidance and operations

A Chrome extension records product flows for tours, and the steps are described as self-healing when page markup changes. That may reduce upkeep for teams whose interface evolves, though it does not make tours maintenance-free. Rules, macros, campaigns, webhooks and analytics for volume, resolution rate, CSAT and AI deflection extend the product beyond conversational support into operational reporting.

Security features include role-based access with custom roles, audit logs, scoped API keys and encrypted provider secrets. Stept says self-hosted data remains in the customer’s database, Cloud workspaces run on EU infrastructure, and conversations are not used to train anything. These controls and data-location choices matter to teams with governance requirements; self-hosters still own their deployment environment.

Pricing

Self-hosted is free forever under the MIT license, with unlimited seats, every channel, an AI agent using the team’s own model key, knowledge base, RAG and help center, tours, checklists and surveys. Docker Compose supports Postgres or SQLite, and offline operation is possible with a mock AI provider. This is the clearest low-cost route for technically equipped teams, but it trades managed hosting for operational responsibility.

Cloud is $19 per seat / month and includes everything in self-hosted, 500 AI resolutions / month, managed Postgres with nightly backups, automatic updates and email support. That per-seat price and monthly resolution allowance suit teams wanting a managed service with a defined usage ceiling; it is free during early access, with the displayed Cloud pricing identified as upcoming.

Business is $49 per seat / month, adding 2,000 AI resolutions / month, custom roles and audit log, SLA management and working hours, plus priority support. It is the more appropriate tier for teams that need those access controls and service-management features, but the higher seat cost and quota should be weighed against actual support volume. Cloud and Business prices are upcoming, so neither is yet a settled paid-cloud commitment.

Platforms

Stept supports web, API, browser extension, Linux, macOS, Windows and self-hosted deployment. The range gives teams a choice between running the service themselves and using it across desktop and browser environments; the self-hosted option is the one with explicit unlimited seats and the strongest deployment control.

Who it's for

Stept is best for support teams that want AI answers and visitor guidance alongside a capable human inbox, especially when they need model choice, self-hosting or explicit automation controls. It is less suitable for buyers who want a fully priced managed service today or who cannot take on self-hosting operations and do not want to wait for Cloud pricing to settle.

Pros and cons

Pros: A single platform spans AI support, knowledge, tours and shared-inbox workflows, reducing the need to split those functions across separate tools.

Pros: Model selection and per-tool approval controls let teams determine how far the agent can act, with password fields excluded and actions capped per run.

Pros: The MIT self-hosted plan has unlimited seats and supports Postgres or SQLite, including offline operation with a mock AI provider.

Cons: Self-hosting shifts deployment and ongoing operations to the customer, making the free plan a poor fit for teams seeking managed infrastructure.

Cons: Cloud and Business prices are upcoming, leaving teams without a firm basis for budgeting a paid managed rollout.

Cons: Cloud and Business include monthly AI resolution quotas, so teams must account for usage as well as per-seat costs.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison of support agents, browse AI Customer Service Agents; for tools focused on creating bots, see Chatbot Builders. Choose Webex App instead if meetings are the priority: its free plan offers meetings up to 40 minutes for as many as 100 attendees. Voiceflow is the alternative to consider for agencies seeking a multi-client workspace and white-labeling, with a free trial and usage-based billing.

Gorgias is another paid customer-support option, with a free plan and trial. OpenServe is worth comparing for a free self-hosted option with unlimited conversations, or a BYOK hosted plan at $600 a month. Intercom may suit buyers who prefer a paid support suite with a free trial; its Essential plan is $19 a month, billed annually per seat/month.

Pega Customer Service is an alternative for teams prepared to request a demo for pricing. Agentforce Vibes offers a freemium route, including an included option through Salesforce Foundations. Yellow.ai has a free plan with a stated allowance of 500 per month and one AI agent, making it a comparison point for teams evaluating a capped entry tier.

Verdict

Choose Stept if you want one platform for AI-assisted support, human inbox work and product tours, and you value model control or can operate a self-hosted service. Its free MIT plan is the strongest reason to start, while its operational demands and unsettled cloud pricing are the reasons to look elsewhere if you need managed support with a predictable paid price today.