Glean review 2026: features, pricing, pros & cons, and Workativ comparison

Enterprise teams are increasingly turning to AI-powered search to cut through fragmented workplace knowledge, and Glean has emerged as one of the most visible players in this space. Technically, Glean excels at indexing, permission-aware retrieval, and surfacing answers across enterprise tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Jira, and Confluence. However, at its core, Glean remains a search and discovery platform. It stops short of executing end-to-end workflows or taking real actions such as resolving tickets, updating systems, or completing employee requests autonomously.

This search-first approach makes Glean well-suited for large enterprises with mature knowledge ecosystems, but its opaque pricing, setup effort, and limited actionability often raise questions for fast-moving teams and SMBs. For organizations looking beyond answers toward execution, Workativ offers a more flexible, no-code, action-oriented alternative designed for real operational outcomes.

Glean is an AI-powered enterprise search platform built to help employees quickly find information spread across internal tools and documents. It connects to workplace systems like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Jira, Confluence, and ServiceNow, then indexes content in a permission-aware way so employees only see what they’re allowed to access.

At its core, Glean is designed for finding and understanding information, not for completing tasks or executing workflows. It surfaces answers, documents, and context based on employee queries, role, and past usage—but it does not take actions such as resolving tickets, updating records, or automating requests.

This makes Glean especially effective for large enterprises with complex knowledge ecosystems and heavy documentation. For teams looking to move beyond search toward action-driven employee support and automation, Glean’s scope can feel intentionally limited.

Glean works by acting as an intelligent layer between employees and the many systems where enterprise knowledge lives.

Data ingestion from enterprise systems

Glean connects to tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Jira, Confluence, and ServiceNow. It continuously pulls in documents, tickets, messages, and wiki content, so information stays up to date.

Indexing and permissions-aware access

All ingested data is indexed with strict permission controls. Employees only see results they are authorized to access, which is critical for enterprise security and compliance.

Orchestration and retrieval approach

When a user asks a question, Glean orchestrates a search across multiple systems at once, ranking results based on relevance, freshness, and user context rather than keyword matching alone.

Answer surfacing vs action execution

Glean excels at surfacing answers, documents, and links. However, it does not perform actions such as creating tickets, updating systems, or completing end-to-end requests.

Role of AI models

AI models help Glean understand user intent, interpret natural language, and rank the most relevant content.

Key limitation:

Workflow execution and task completion remain outside Glean’s core capability, making it search-first rather than action-driven.

Feedback on Glean in 2026 largely comes from verified G2 reviews shared by IT leaders, HR teams, and enterprise operations professionals working in large, complex organizations. These reviewers typically manage extensive tool stacks, strict access controls, and high volumes of internal knowledge.

What users like:

 Simplified enterprise knowledge discovery

Reviewers say Glean makes finding information effortless by answering natural language questions with clear, trustworthy summaries. It pulls context from tools like SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, and internal docs without forcing users to search each system separately. Users note that this reduces back-and-forth with teammates and saves significant time in large, complex enterprise environments.

High-performance search accuracy and everyday workflows

Glean is frequently described as intuitive and easy to use, especially when navigating large volumes of internal knowledge. Reviewers highlight its ability to pull specific resources and generate clear summaries, making it easier to cross-check information for accuracy. Many note that it removes the need to sift through countless wiki pages, resulting in smoother and more efficient daily workflows.

Smooth integration into everyday workflows

Reviews highlight how Glean becomes part of daily work by integrating directly into the browser as a new tab. Users appreciate that it instantly surfaces what they’re currently working on, without needing extra clicks or setup. This simple, intuitive experience encourages frequent use and makes Glean feel like a natural extension of the employee’s workspace rather than a separate tool.

Relevant information discovery across tools

Reviewers consistently point out that Glean excels at pulling relevant information from multiple workplace tools into one place. Instead of searching across different systems, users can find what they need quickly through a single query. This ability to unify knowledge across tools is frequently cited as a major time-saver in complex enterprise environments.

Where users struggle:

Limited customization and inconsistent relevance

Some reviewers note that Glean offers limited customization, especially when tailoring search behavior to specific teams or business needs. Others mention that search results can occasionally feel irrelevant, requiring additional effort to refine queries or manually verify information.

Search results can feel too broad

Glean can return overly broad search results, requiring extra steps to narrow down the most relevant information. Users also note that more advanced filtering and refinement options would improve precision and reduce the time spent fine-tuning searches.

Occasional incorrect answers and AI hallucinations

Some users report that Glean occasionally provides incorrect answers, with AI-generated responses that do not always align with source data. This can reduce trust in critical situations, especially when employees rely on accurate information for IT, HR, or operational decisions.

Security constraints can limit full adoption

Some reviewers note that strict enterprise security policies can prevent Glean from being fully utilized. In organizations where tools like Slack or email are not approved for integration, Glean’s value is limited because it cannot index all relevant knowledge sources. As a result, adoption may remain partial until security teams are more comfortable expanding access.

Based on Glean’s AI Agents offering, Glean positions its capabilities around intelligent knowledge access rather than end-to-end execution:

• AI agents for enterprise search: Glean’s AI agents are designed to answer employee questions by searching across connected tools and summarizing relevant information, not by taking actions inside systems.

• Knowledge engine: Continuously indexes enterprise data from apps like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Jira, and Confluence, while enforcing strict permissions and access controls.

• AI Copilot experience: Allows employees to ask natural language questions and receive contextual answers, explanations, and summaries grounded in company knowledge.

• AI Studio: Enables administrators to configure how AI agents behave, including relevance tuning, source prioritization, and response quality controls.

• Knowledge Studio: Central place to manage data sources, permissions, freshness, and governance of organizational knowledge.

• Agentic workflows: Supports guided, multi-step information retrieval, but stops short of executing workflows like ticket resolution, approvals, or system updates.

While Glean is widely adopted for enterprise knowledge discovery, user feedback and product capabilities reveal clear strengths as well as practical limitations. Understanding both helps teams evaluate whether Glean fits their operational needs.

Pros:

• Deep enterprise integrations – Connects reliably with large, complex tool stacks while respecting permissions and access controls.

• Strong search relevance – Surfaces contextual answers and summaries that reduce time spent hunting for information.

• Enterprise-ready security – Designed for organizations with strict governance, compliance, and data access requirements.

• Natural language experience – Allows employees to ask questions conversationally instead of relying on keyword-based search.

Cons:

• Search-first, not action-driven – Cannot execute workflows or complete tasks end to end.

• Limited customization – Tuning relevance and behavior can feel restrictive for specific team needs.

• Occasional accuracy gaps – Users report inconsistent relevance and AI-generated inaccuracies at times.

• Opaque pricing model – Makes cost forecasting and ROI evaluation difficult, especially for growing teams.

Glean is most effective in departments where fast access to accurate information matters more than executing actions. Its use cases are largely search- and insight-driven.

• IT service management (ITSM)

Used by IT teams to search across tickets, runbooks, past incidents, and documentation stored in tools like ServiceNow, Jira, and Confluence. Glean helps agents find answers faster, but ticket resolution and system updates still happen outside the platform.

• Customer and internal support

Support teams use Glean to quickly surface product documentation, internal knowledge articles, and historical conversations. This reduces response time by improving context, though workflows remain manual.

• Sales teams

Sales teams rely on Glean to find pitch decks, pricing docs, CRM notes, and past customer conversations across tools like Salesforce, Slack, and Google Drive—helping reps prepare faster without switching between systems.

Glean continues to follow an enterprise-first, quote-based pricing model in 2026. Pricing is not publicly listed and typically varies based on organization size, number of users, connected data sources, and required security controls.

Cost and plans

Glean is usually sold through annual contracts tailored for large enterprises. Pricing discussions often start at the organizational level rather than at the team level, which can make it harder for smaller groups to adopt incrementally.

Hidden costs to consider

Beyond the license, customers often factor in onboarding time, configuration effort, and internal resources needed to tune relevance, permissions, and integrations. These indirect costs can add up during rollout.

Real cost drivers

Total cost is influenced by employee count, number of indexed apps, data volume, and ongoing maintenance, as systems and permissions change.

What is missing

Despite the cost, Glean does not include end-to-end workflow automation or action execution, which means additional tools are still required to complete tasks and requests.

While Glean is strong at enterprise search and knowledge discovery, many teams outgrow it once they need execution, not just answers. This is where Workativ stands out as a more complete, action-oriented alternative.

Addressing Glean’s limitations directly

Glean primarily surfaces information and points employees to the right documents or links. Workativ goes several steps further by converting employee intent into completed outcomes. Whether it’s resolving IT requests, updating HR systems, triggering approvals, or closing tickets, Workativ automates the entire journey from question to resolution—without requiring manual handoffs.

Pricing flexibility and predictability

Glean’s enterprise-only, quote-based pricing often makes it difficult for teams to forecast spend or measure ROI. Workativ uses transparent, predictable pricing aligned to actual usage and outcomes. This allows organizations to scale automation confidently, without cost surprises as adoption grows.

Broader and deeper integrations

Glean integrates mainly to retrieve and index information. Workativ integrates to act. It integrates deeply with ITSM, HRIS, IAM, and core business systems to support real operations,  such as creating tickets, provisioning access, updating records, and syncing workflows across tools, eliminating manual follow-ups.

Customization without engineering

Workativ is designed for business and IT teams, not developers. Teams can configure workflows, decision logic, and responses using a no-code interface, without relying on engineering resources or professional services. This makes ongoing changes faster and far less costly.

Higher AI accuracy for intent and action flows

Workativ is optimized to understand user intent and map it to the correct workflow. Instead of just answering questions, the AI accurately determines what needs to be done and takes the right action, reducing errors, rework, and the need for human intervention.

Faster time to value

Glean deployments can take months due to setup, tuning, and enterprise rollout cycles. Workativ is built for speed—most teams go live in weeks, start automating quickly, and see measurable impact early.

Action-oriented by design

Where Glean is fundamentally search-first, Workativ is execution-first. Every interaction is designed to move work forward, not just provide information.

100% no-code ownership

With Workativ, internal teams fully own their automation stack. They can iterate, expand, and optimize workflows independently—without vendor dependency—making the platform scalable and future-proof.

Selecting the right AI platform comes down to how much responsibility you want the system to take on. If your biggest challenge is helping employees find the right document, policy, or past conversation, a search-first platform like Glean can improve discoverability across a complex enterprise stack. It works well when information access is the primary bottleneck and execution already happens elsewhere.

However, as employee expectations rise, answers alone are rarely enough. Teams increasingly need AI that can do the work—resolve IT and HR requests, trigger workflows, update systems, and close the loop without manual intervention. This is where action-driven platforms deliver far greater operational impact.

Workativ is built for this next phase of employee support. With faster deployment, transparent pricing, deep integrations, and 100% no-code ownership, Workativ enables IT and HR teams to move from information access to real outcomes—quickly and at scale.

If your goal is to reduce support load, improve employee experience, and automate work end to end, Workativ is the platform designed to get you there.

👉 Book a demo with Workativ to see how quickly you can go live and start automating real employee support workflows—without enterprise friction.