Dust and Glean both let organizations build AI agents connected to company knowledge, but they sit at different points on the self-serve-to-enterprise…
Best for Dust: Teams wanting a non-technical agent builder that connects to common tools like Slack, Notion, and Drive, with flexibility to run on multiple LLMs via MCP, without necessarily going through an enterprise sales process.
Best for Glean: Large enterprises needing permission-aware search across many named systems (Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, Salesforce, GitHub), extensive compliance certifications (HIPAA, ISO 42001), and support for 35+ LLMs.
At a Glance
Dust
Glean
Primary category
AI
AI
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Freemium
Usage-based
Starting price
Free (500 credits/month); paid plans from $30/month
Contact for pricing (est. $45-50/user/month + AI add-on, 100-user minimum)
Free plan
Yes
Not documented
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Web
Web
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Yes
Yes
Public API
Yes
Yes
Key Differences
Pricing Model & Transparency
Dust: Listed as Freemium, implying some self-serve tier, though detailed self-serve pricing tiers could not be independently confirmed from the official site.
Glean: Custom/Enterprise only, requiring a sales demo for any quote with no published pricing.
The ability to self-serve or try before buying differs significantly.
Compliance Certifications
Dust: Enterprise controls documented as SSO, SCIM, SOC 2, and an optional zero data retention mode.
Glean: Holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance.
Regulated industries like healthcare and finance require specific certifications such as HIPAA that not all vendors carry.
Enterprise System Integrations
Dust: Knowledge connectors to Slack, Notion, and Google Drive, plus native integrations like Zendesk and a Chrome extension.
Glean: Integrates with a named list of enterprise systems: Slack, Google Drive, Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, GitHub, and Salesforce.
The specific systems a company already uses may determine which platform can actually plug into its existing knowledge base.
Multi-LLM Breadth
Dust: Supports multiple leading models such as GPT and Claude, without a specific count documented.
Glean: Supports 35+ different LLMs.
Broader model choice can matter for cost optimization or capability requirements across use cases.
Company Transparency
Dust: No founding year or headquarters is documented in the available facts.
Glean: Founded in 2019, headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Company background can factor into vendor trust and due diligence for enterprise buyers.
Feature-by-Feature
Agent Building & Knowledge
Feature
Dust
Glean
No-code agent builder
Available
Available
Knowledge connectors (Slack/Drive/etc.)
Available
Available
MCP tool support
Available
Not documented
Permission-aware search
Not documented
Available
Workflow automation
Not documented
Available
Multi-model support
Available
Available
Enterprise Security & Compliance
Feature
Dust
Glean
SSO / SCIM
Available
Not documented
SOC 2
Available
Available
HIPAA / GDPR / ISO 42001
Unavailable
Available
Zero data retention mode
Available
Not documented
Pricing & Company Info
Feature
Dust
Glean
Public/self-serve pricing
Not documented
Unavailable
Pricing model
Available
Available
Founding year/HQ published
Unavailable
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Dust
Free — $0/month Monthly
Pro — $30/month ($24/month billed yearly) Monthly or annual
Max — $150/month ($120/month billed yearly) Monthly or annual
Founding team's background at Google Search and Rubrik brings strong technical credibility
Rapid growth to roughly 200 million dollars in annual recurring revenue reflects strong market validation
Glean Apps and APIs extend the platform beyond search into a full enterprise AI agent builder
Well-capitalized with roughly 765 million dollars raised, supporting continued R&D investment
Cons
Pricing is not transparent and typically requires enterprise sales engagement
Total cost of ownership can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for larger deployments
Typical 100-seat minimum puts it out of reach for small and mid-size businesses
Faces direct competition from Microsoft Copilot, which has natural distribution advantages inside Microsoft 365 shops
Implementation and integration complexity can add significant upfront cost and time
Use Cases
Choose Dust: Teams wanting a non-technical agent builder that connects to common tools like Slack, Notion, and Drive, with flexibility to run on multiple LLMs via MCP, without necessarily going through an enterprise sales process.
Choose Glean: Large enterprises needing permission-aware search across many named systems (Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, Salesforce, GitHub), extensive compliance certifications (HIPAA, ISO 42001), and support for 35+ LLMs.
Need both: An organization piloting lightweight, team-level agents in Dust while separately running a company-wide, compliance-heavy knowledge search and automation layer in Glean could reasonably use both for different scopes of work.
Dust
Customer support triage agent — Support teams deploy an agent grounded in Zendesk and Notion knowledge bases to triage and resolve tickets faster.
Sales research and account-prep assistant — Sales teams use agents connected to Salesforce and HubSpot to prepare account research before calls.
Internal knowledge search agent — Operations and knowledge workers query an agent connected to Slack, Notion, and Google Drive to find internal information quickly.
Glean
Enterprise knowledge search — Employees use Glean to search across dozens of disconnected workplace tools from a single interface and get relevant, permission-respecting results.
AI-assisted answers grounded in company data — Teams use Glean Assistant to get natural-language answers synthesized from internal documents, wikis, and tickets instead of manually searching multiple systems.
Custom AI agent development — Enterprises use Glean Apps and APIs to build custom AI agents that securely leverage the company's permissioned knowledge index.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is pricing public for Dust or Glean?
Neither publishes full self-serve pricing. Dust's pricing model is listed as Freemium, but detailed self-serve tiers could not be confirmed from the official site. Glean requires a sales demo for a custom quote and has no published pricing.
Which platform supports more LLMs?
Glean states it supports 35+ unique LLMs. Dust supports multiple leading models, including GPT and Claude, without a specific count documented.
Which tool offers permission-aware search?
Glean explicitly provides permission-aware search that preserves each user's existing access controls. This isn't documented as a Dust feature.
What compliance certifications does each hold?
Glean holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 42001, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance. Dust's enterprise controls include SSO, SCIM, SOC 2, and an optional zero data retention mode.
What company background is available for each?
Glean was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA. No founding year or headquarters is published for Dust in the available facts.