The open-source alternative to Glean

Omni is an open-source, self-hosted AI agent that connects your company tools to any model of your choice. Glean is a managed workplace AI platform with search, company context, and agents. They both solve a similar problem through different operating models: one you can self-host and extend as needed, the other you buy and operate with a vendor.

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Open source and self-hosted

Run the software, data, and model endpoints in infrastructure you control, including air-gapped and sovereign-cloud environments.

Start at your scale

No Community software fee or seat minimum; begin with one team or use case.

Extend the whole stack

Customize connectors, permissions, retrieval, and agent execution in source.

Omni vs Glean: at a glance

Operating model

Omni
Open-source and self-hosted; you control the deployment
Glean
Glean Hosted or Glean-operated Customer Hosted in AWS/GCP

Search and agents

Omni
Agent-native search, files, code, MCP, and connector actions
Glean
Enterprise Graph, hybrid search, personalization, and agents

Integrations

Omni
25+ built-in connectors plus open SDKs in Python, TypeScript, and Rust
Glean
Broad native catalog plus API, MCP, web-history, and partner integrations

Pricing and entry point

Omni
No Community software fee or seat minimum; $10/mo per seat for enterprise features
Glean
Quote-based per-user licensing and usage-based FlexCredits

01 / Open source

Does Glean have an open-source version?

No. Glean offers a fully hosted service and Customer Hosted deployments in AWS or GCP, but describes Customer Hosted as not a traditional self-hosted model: Glean still deploys and operates the platform, retains support access, and controls upgrades and architecture changes. Customers gain infrastructure and data-residency control, but the software remains proprietary and licensed per user. Omni’s Apache 2.0 Community edition can be inspected, modified, forked, and operated independently. Its permission path can also be reviewed against the ACL model in your environment before rollout.

  • Customer Hosted is not the same as software your team can modify and operate independently
  • Inspect ACL reconciliation and run reproducible permission tests against your own data
  • Fix permission edge cases in source code, tests, and deployment under your control

Feature comparison

Omni vs Glean: feature comparison

The table below puts the most important differences in one place. Omni’s strengths are control, extensibility, and an agent runtime you can operate yourself; Glean brings its own product depth and managed operating model.

See the Omni connector catalog for current source coverage and extension options.

Search and knowledge

Omni
Postgres-native BM25 and vector retrieval with filters, citations, and people search
Glean
Enterprise Graph, hybrid search, expert discovery, and personalization

Agents and actions

Omni
Retrieval, files, Bash/Python, web access, MCP, connector actions, and background agents
Glean
Auto and Workflow agents with triggers, branches, loops, hand-offs, and sub-agents

Connectors

Omni
25+ built-in connectors with open connector SDKs
Glean
99 documented connector entries and a broader 275+ integration claim

Custom integrations

Omni
Modify connectors, permissions, retrieval, and the agent runtime at source level
Glean
Indexing API, Python SDK, APIs, and MCP

Model choice

Omni
Commercial APIs, Bedrock, Vertex, Azure, OpenAI-compatible, and local services
Glean
Managed providers and BYOK, depending on deployment and configuration

Deployment

Omni
Self-hosted Docker Compose or customer-controlled cloud infrastructure
Glean
Glean Hosted or Glean-operated Customer Hosted in AWS/GCP

Data and support access

Omni
Operator controls infrastructure access and configured model endpoints
Glean
Data stays in the selected tenant environment; Glean retains operational access

Permissions

Omni
Query-time public, user, and group filtering with connector-specific behavior
Glean
Source ACL mirroring and enterprise governance with connector-specific limits

Pricing and entry point

Omni
Community is free to self-host; Business is $10/user/mo billed annually
Glean
Quote-based per-user licensing plus usage-based FlexCredits

Operational footprint

Omni
Can begin on a single-node, Postgres-first deployment
Glean
Glean manages provisioning, upgrades, monitoring, and scaling

02 / Pricing

Omni vs Glean pricing

Glean does not publish pricing. Public estimates put it at roughly $40–60 per seat per month (as of September 2026). A Glean-commissioned Forrester study from September 2024 modeled $40 per user per month for Glean Hosted, and Vendr’s 2026 procurement data says enterprise commitments often begin around 100–250 users. At 100 seats, the reported range implies roughly $48,000–$78,000 annually before usage credits, implementation, support, or customer-hosted infrastructure. Omni Community has no software fee and no seat minimum, and the enterprise edition costs $10 per user per month billed annually. Self-hosting costs (infrastructure, models, etc.) are extra, but teams can begin with one use case rather than an enterprise-wide commitment.

  • Glean: quote-based per-user licensing plus usage-based FlexCredits
  • Omni Community: $0 software license, self-hosted
  • Omni Business: $10/user/month billed annually

03 / Deployment

A self-hosted alternative to Glean

With Glean Hosted, Glean runs the infrastructure, upgrades, monitoring, and scaling. Customer Hosted moves the isolated environment into your AWS or GCP account, providing more data-residency and network control while Glean continues to operate the software and retain support access. Omni is a self-hosted alternative to Glean: your organization controls the application, database, object storage, network, credentials, and model endpoints, including local models in an isolated environment. With internally mirrored dependencies and local data sources, Omni can also support environments that need to be air-gapped or sovereign. The trade-off is straightforward: Glean removes most of the operational burden and provides established compliance programs, while Omni provides greater software and infrastructure control. With Omni, the customer owns security hardening, backups, monitoring, upgrades, and availability, and enterprise controls such as SSO, SCIM, and audit logs require a commercial license. Omni Cloud is coming soon for teams that prefer a managed deployment.

  • Glean removes most operational burden and provides a managed enterprise path
  • Omni provides greater software and infrastructure control, including air-gapped and sovereign-cloud options
  • With Omni, the customer owns security hardening, backups, monitoring, upgrades, and availability

04 / Pilot and migration

How to try Omni or switch from Glean

An Omni pilot can start with a single-node Docker Compose deployment, one model provider, and a few key data sources. A basic Community deployment can start in roughly an hour, while a fuller evaluation can be running within a day. Production readiness still requires permission testing, backups, monitoring, and security hardening. Moving from Glean means reconnecting original sources and building a new index; permissions, agents, actions, and unsupported sources must be reconfigured.

  • Start with one team or use case and compare answers on your own documents
  • Run both systems in parallel during an evaluation
  • Plan explicitly for connector, permission, and agent reconfiguration
Deploy Omni with Docker Compose ↗

Choosing between them

Which is the better fit for your team?

Choose Omni if you value:

Omni is likely the better fit when code auditability, data sovereignty, transparent entry pricing, or an agent runtime you can modify are hard requirements.

  • You need to inspect, modify, or audit the code handling company data
  • Data sovereignty, private networking, local models, or isolated and air-gapped deployment are hard requirements
  • Your company is below Glean’s reported 100–250-user enterprise range, or you want to begin with one team
  • You want published entry pricing and direct control over infrastructure and model spend
  • You want an open agent runtime where files, sandboxed Bash and Python, MCP, and connector actions can be customized
  • You need to modify connector behavior, permission mapping, retrieval, or agent execution at source level
  • You have platform-engineering capacity and prefer operational ownership over vendor dependency

Choose Glean if you need:

Glean is likely the better fit when you want a polished, managed enterprise platform and its broad integration and governance capabilities immediately.

  • You are planning an organization-wide rollout across 1,000 or more employees
  • You need Glean’s broad 275+ integration catalog immediately
  • Enterprise Graph personalization, expert discovery, desktop and mobile applications, or embedded experiences are priorities
  • You need mature SSO, SCIM, audit, governance, and compliance capabilities out of the box
  • You want Glean to operate, patch, monitor, and scale the platform
  • A vendor support agreement and SLA matter more than source-code access

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

Is Glean open source?

No. Glean is proprietary software. It offers a Customer Hosted deployment in AWS or GCP, but Glean still operates and updates the software. Omni’s Apache 2.0 Community edition can be inspected, modified, and self-hosted independently.

Can Glean be self-hosted?

Glean offers Customer Hosted deployments in your AWS or GCP account, but describes this as different from traditional self-hosting. Glean deploys and operates the platform, retains support access, and controls upgrades. Omni gives the customer responsibility for operating the software as well as control over it.

How much does Glean cost?

Glean does not publish pricing and sells through an enterprise quote process. Public estimates place pricing at roughly $40–60 per seat per month (reported range, as of September 2026), but packages and dates vary, so treat that range as directional rather than guaranteed pricing. Omni offers a free self-hosted Community edition and publishes its Business tier at $10 per user per month billed annually.

Does Glean have a minimum seat count?

Glean does not publish a standard minimum on its public pricing pages. Public procurement reports describe enterprise commitments that often begin in the roughly 100–250-user range, but buyers should confirm the current minimum and contract terms directly with Glean.

Is Omni free?

Omni Community has no software license fee and no seat minimum, but self-hosting is not cost-free to operate. Teams pay for infrastructure, model usage, backups, upgrades, and engineering time. Business and Enterprise tiers add commercial features and support.

Which has more integrations?

Glean has the broader integration catalog. Glean publishes a large integration count across native, API, MCP, web-history, and partner connections. Omni currently ships 25+ built-in connectors, with open SDKs that let teams build and modify connectors in Python, TypeScript, or Rust.

Can Omni match Glean’s search quality?

Omni delivers near-best-in-class performance on EnterpriseRAG-Bench, scoring 68.07 across 500 workplace questions and placing in the top cluster of published results. See the full methodology and results in our benchmark write-up. Read the benchmark

Ready to evaluate?

Put company context under your control

Start with Omni Community, connect the systems your team uses, and evaluate a self-hosted company-wide agent on your own data.

View Omni on GitHub
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