Genesys Cloud Agentic Virtual Agent vs Stept

Genesys Cloud Agentic Virtual Agent is a paid virtual-agent offering designed to resolve complex customer tasks across journeys while keeping context across channels. Its agents use large action models to plan and execute multi-step workflows with approved tools and guardrails. They can be configured in Genesys Cloud AI Studio to combine voice and digital interactions with actions in back-office systems.

Genesys describes no-code design, unified context and cross-channel orchestration. When an agent encounters missing data, an off-script situation or changing context, it can re-plan and choose another action. Genesys says autonomous actions are planned, validated and logged, with explainable decisions and auditable outcomes; agents can hand off context to humans and escalate when needed. Supported channels include voice, email, web chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, X direct messages, Apple Messages for Business and open messaging. Virtual agents are listed in all four Genesys Cloud CX editions. Listed annual-billing prices are $75.00, $115.00, $155.00 and $240 a month for CX 1 through CX 4 respectively. Certain features require AI Experience tokens, and usage-based pricing may apply.

Stept is an open-source customer-support platform with a shared inbox, AI agent, help center, product tours, and automation. Its AI agent can read company documents, guide visitors through an interface, and act on a page after the visitor opts in. Teams can select a model, configure the agent’s persona, and decide which tools run automatically, require approval, or stay off. Sensitive actions can require human approval; password fields are excluded, and actions are capped per run. Knowledge sources can be crawled, uploaded, or synced, then re-indexed on a schedule. The shared inbox includes assignment, snoozing, tags, notes, SLAs, macros, and team collaboration. Channels include email, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, LINE, a web widget, and API. Self-hosting is MIT-licensed and supports Postgres or SQLite, offline operation with a mock AI provider, and unlimited seats. Stept Cloud is free during early access; the listed Cloud and Business prices are marked as upcoming.