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Glean vs Onyx

A side-by-side comparison of Glean and Onyx, two Assistant tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.

Compared from listings verified as of

Glean

Assistant

Work AI: enterprise search, assistant, and agents over your apps.

View Glean

Onyx

Assistant

Open-source, self-hosted AI chat and enterprise search over your own docs.

View Onyx

At a glance

Feature comparison of Glean and Onyx
AttributeGleanOnyx
CategoryAssistantAssistant
Pricing (differs)PAIDFREEMIUM
License (differs)ProprietaryOpen core
Deployment (differs)CloudSelf-host
Platforms (differs)Web, Browser extensionWeb, API
Model supportMulti-modelMulti-model
Vendor (differs)Glean TechnologiesOnyx
Capabilities (differs)
  • Workflow orchestration
  • Multi-agent orchestration
  • Unified search
  • Knowledge graph
  • RAG pipeline
  • AI app builder
  • Agent framework
  • Chat with documents
  • Unified search
  • RAG pipeline
  • Cited answers
  • Knowledge graph

The honest brief

Glean

Permission-aware knowledge graph that no-code agents can act on, not just search across your enterprise apps.

  • Indexes 100+ enterprise apps
  • Enforces each user's existing permissions
  • No-code custom agents
  • Strong onboarding/knowledge ROI
  • Opaque, sales-only enterprise pricing
  • High seat minimums (~100 users)
  • IT-heavy to deploy and maintain
  • Limited to supported connectors

Onyx

Formerly Danswer — MIT-core enterprise search/RAG over your own apps, self-hosted, optional features under open-core.

  • Data stays on your own infrastructure
  • Connects to company docs and apps
  • Works with any LLM, incl. local
  • MIT core, free
  • Some features under separate license
  • Self-host ops overhead
  • Connectors need configuration

When to pick which

Both cover Unified search, Knowledge graph, and RAG pipeline.

Pick Glean if you need Workflow orchestration, Multi-agent orchestration, and AI app builder.

  • Workflow orchestration (primary capability)
  • Multi-agent orchestration (secondary capability)
  • AI app builder (secondary capability)

Pick Onyx if you need Agent framework, Cited answers, and Chat with documents.

  • Agent framework (secondary capability)
  • Cited answers (primary capability)
  • Chat with documents (secondary capability)

They share capabilities, but each leads with different ones as a headline job:

Glean is built around Unified search.

  • Unified search (primary capability)

Onyx is built around RAG pipeline.

  • RAG pipeline (primary capability)

They also differ on:

Pricing
PAID · FREEMIUM
License
Proprietary · Open core
Deployment
Cloud · Self-host
Platforms
Web, Browser extension · Web, API
Glean detailsOnyx detailsAll Assistant apps