Stept

Stept is a customer-support platform for teams combining AI answers and visitor guidance with a human-run inbox. It suits organizations that want control over deployment and model choice, especially those equipped to self-host. Its broad toolkit is compelling, but cloud pricing is still in early access and self-hosting carries operational responsibility.

Overview

Stept brings an AI agent, shared inbox, help center, product tours and automation into one support platform. The agent can answer from company documents, guide visitors through an interface and, with a visitor’s explicit opt-in, act on a page. That combination is useful when support includes both routine questions and in-product guidance, while human handoff keeps a person in the loop when automation is not enough.

Teams can select a model, shape the agent’s persona and choose whether individual tools run automatically, require approval or stay disabled. Sensitive tools can be approval-gated; password fields are off-limits, and actions are capped per run. These safeguards support controlled automation, but the team still has to decide which actions are appropriate to enable.

Key features

Knowledge and support operations

Knowledge sources can be crawled, uploaded or synced, then re-indexed on a schedule with vanished pages pruned. Sources include Notion, Confluence, Google Drive, Zendesk, GitHub and Microsoft 365. This gives teams several ways to keep answers grounded in existing material, though maintaining useful source content remains part of the job.

The shared inbox supports assignment, snoozing, tags, notes, resolution, saved views, macros, SLAs and real-time collaboration. Listed conversation channels include email, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, LINE, a web widget and API. The range can help teams coordinate service across channels, while features such as macros and saved views address repetitive work rather than relying solely on AI.

Guidance, automation and controls

A Chrome extension records product tours, whose steps are described as self-healing when page markup changes. Rules, campaigns, webhooks and analytics for volume, resolution rate, CSAT and AI deflection extend the platform beyond answering individual queries. The range is useful to teams connecting support with customer guidance and measurement; it also means there is more workflow to configure than a simple chat widget requires.

Stept lists OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Ollama and OpenAI-compatible endpoints as model options. Security features include custom roles, an audit log, scoped API keys and encrypted provider secrets. Self-hosted data remains in the customer’s database; Cloud workspaces use EU infrastructure, and conversations are not used to train anything.

Pricing

The Self-hosted plan is free, billed Free MIT · forever. It includes every channel, unlimited seats, an AI agent using your own model key, knowledge base, RAG and help center, product tours, checklists and surveys, and Docker Compose with Postgres or SQLite. It is the strongest fit for teams able to operate their own deployment and supply a model key; unlimited seats avoid per-seat fees, but the team takes on hosting rather than buying a managed service.

Cloud is priced at $19 a month, billed $19 per seat / month. It includes everything in self-hosted, 500 AI resolutions / month, managed Postgres with nightly backups, automatic updates and email support. The managed infrastructure and updates suit teams that prefer not to run the platform, but the per-seat charge and resolution quota matter as usage and team size grow. Stept Cloud is free during early access; the displayed Cloud and Business prices are upcoming pricing, so the stated price should not be treated as the current early-access charge.

Business is $49 a month, billed $49 per seat / month. It adds 2,000 AI resolutions / month, custom roles and an audit log, SLA management and working hours, and priority support to Cloud. This is the more appropriate tier for teams needing those controls and support terms, but it costs more per seat and raises the included resolution allowance rather than removing a quota. Its displayed price is also upcoming.

Platforms

Stept supports API, extension, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web and Windows, with multichannel deployment. The self-hosted edition supports Postgres or SQLite and offline operation with a mock AI provider. Its MIT license and lack of seat caps make it adaptable for teams with deployment capacity; teams wanting managed hosting can instead consider Cloud.

Who it's for

Stept is a good match for support teams that want an AI agent alongside a shared human inbox, maintain their own knowledge sources and use product tours or automation in the same environment. Its model choices, self-hosting and uncapped self-hosted seats particularly suit technically capable organizations that value control. It is less suitable for teams seeking a straightforward, fully priced managed service today or unwilling to own setup and operational decisions.

Pros and cons

• Pros: The combination of knowledge answers, human handoff, inbox workflows and product tours covers more of the support journey than an answer bot alone.
• Pros: Self-hosting is MIT-licensed, supports Postgres or SQLite, permits offline operation with a mock provider and has no seat caps.
• Pros: Model selection, configurable tool approval, password-field exclusion and per-run action caps give teams meaningful control over agent behavior.
• Cons: Self-hosting requires the organization to run the software, which makes it a poor fit for teams seeking managed operations.
• Cons: Cloud and Business prices are upcoming, and Cloud’s 500 monthly AI resolutions and per-seat pricing make future costs difficult to plan around.

Alternatives

Enjo AI Support Agent is worth comparing for teams prioritizing unlimited seats and a free plan with 200 AI replies per month, shared inbox and Help Center. Dalo is a simpler option to consider for a chat widget, with a free tier of 100 monthly conversations and a Starter tier at $10 a month for 1,000 monthly conversations.

Freshdesk may suit teams considering a free program for 1-2 agents over 6 months or a Growth plan at $19 a month billed annually. Voiceflow is another option for readers comparing an agency-oriented plan with a free trial, usage-based billing and multi-client workspace management.

Webex App offers a free meetings plan with unlimited meetings up to 40 minutes and up to 100 attendees. Agentforce Vibes, Klaviyo and Yellow.ai are also alternatives to compare. Browse AI Customer Service Agents or Chatbot Builders for more options.

Verdict

Choose Stept if your team wants AI-assisted support, human workflows and product guidance in one platform, with the option to self-host and select its model. The self-hosted edition is its clearest proposition for organizations able to run it; choose elsewhere if you need predictable, established cloud pricing before committing.