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Ways to get AI teammates into Slack
There are three common ways to put AI teammates in Slack: run Squadmates in an AWS account in your organization, build your own Slack bot, or subscribe to a SaaS AI assistant for Slack. They differ in where your data goes, who builds the controls, and how access is scoped for each job.
At a glance
Three approaches.
A qualitative comparison. SaaS assistants differ a lot from vendor to vendor, so check each vendor's own documentation for where it runs and how it scopes access. For one of them compared row by row, with a source for every fact, see Squadmates vs Viktor.
| Squadmates in your AWS account | Build your own Slack bot | SaaS AI assistant for Slack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | An AWS account in your AWS Organization with a white-glove install (self-hosting coming soon), or an AWS account Agentifiers runs for you | Wherever you deploy it | Usually the vendor's cloud |
| Controls | Routing gate, permission cards, audit log, pause, and versioned releases, included | Your team builds and maintains each one | The vendor decides which controls exist |
| Identity per job | One teammate per job, each with its own @handle and a named owner | Whatever you design | Varies by vendor |
| When it acts | Only in conversations an owner or admin approved, and only when mentioned | Whatever you design | Varies by vendor |
| Audit | Every routing decision recorded, without message text | You build it | Varies by vendor |
| Models and keys | Amazon Bedrock in your account, or OpenAI or OpenRouter on your own keys | Your choice | Varies by vendor |
| Code | Source available under FSL-1.1-ALv2. Source release coming soon. | Yours | Varies by vendor |
| Getting started | A white-glove install by Agentifiers | Your team's time | Often a self-serve signup |
Which fits
Which one fits.
Each approach is the right answer for someone. Squadmates has no self-serve signup today: installs are booked by email, managed access is invite-only, and self-hosting is coming soon.
Squadmates in your AWS account
Fits when a security review matters, when several jobs each need their own owner and only the access they need, and when conversations should stay in your own AWS account. Read the security overview or what the install covers.
Building your own Slack bot
Fits when you need one bot for one channel, have no audit needs, and have engineers to maintain it. See Squadmates vs building your own Slack bot.
A SaaS AI assistant for Slack
Fits when you want to try something today with a self-serve signup, and a vendor holding your Slack conversations passes your review. Viktor is one example: see Squadmates vs Viktor.
Head to head
Two comparisons, in depth.
Each page compares Squadmates with one alternative, row by row, and says when the alternative is the better fit.
vs building your own Slack bot
What a Slack AI bot needs before a whole company uses it: a routing gate, an identity and owner per bot, access policy, a secrets vault, an audit log, a pause switch, and versioned releases. Read Squadmates vs building your own Slack bot.
vs Viktor
Viktor is one shared AI coworker for Slack and Microsoft Teams, with a self-serve signup and a long list of integrations. The page compares the identity and access model and where each one runs, says when Viktor is the better fit, and links every Viktor fact to Viktor's own pages. Read Squadmates vs Viktor.
Beyond Slack
More ways to implement AI agents.
Squadmates is one way to run AI agents. For a wider comparison of how to implement AI agents, read Agentifiers on ways to implement AI agents.
See it in your AWS account.
A white-glove install puts Squadmates and the Deployments.ai platform in an account in your AWS Organization.