PlainAgent / Tools for building AI agents

Tools for building AI agents

There's no single best tool. Pick by trigger and by where the agent needs to act. This is a plain overview, not a ranking, and we have no affiliate deals with these vendors. Features and pricing change; check each vendor's site.

Chatbots that answer from documents

• Custom GPTs (ChatGPT): instructions plus uploaded files, shared by link. Good for internal helpers.
• Claude Projects: project knowledge and instructions for a team.
• Microsoft Copilot Studio: chatbots inside Microsoft 365 and Teams.
• Voiceflow, Botpress: design and deploy chatbots to websites and channels, with handoff.
• Help-desk bots (Intercom Fin, Zendesk AI and similar): if you already use that help desk.

Agents that react to events and act in apps

• Zapier: large app catalogue; AI steps and agents.
• Make: visual scenarios with AI modules.
• n8n: open-source, self-hostable; AI agent nodes. Ready-made workflows on RecipeAgents.

For developers

• OpenAI Agents SDK, LangGraph, CrewAI, and model provider APIs with tool calling.

How to choose

1. Chat is the trigger and the output is an answer → chatbot builder.
2. An email, form, file or schedule is the trigger → automation platform.
3. You need custom logic, testing and deployment control → code framework.

Whatever you pick, plan the agent first with the agent planner.