--- title: "Viktor alternative: a squad of permissioned AI teammates | Squadmates" description: "Viktor is one shared AI coworker for your team. Squadmates gives each job its own teammate, @handle, owner, and permission card, in your AWS account." url: https://squadmates.com/compare/viktor --- Compare # Squadmates vs Viktor Viktor is one shared AI coworker your whole team uses in Slack or Microsoft Teams, with a self-serve signup. Squadmates is a squad: each teammate gets its own @handle, one job, a named owner, and its own permission card. With a white-glove install, it runs in an AWS account in your AWS Organization. [Book an install](mailto:hello@squadmates.com?subject=White-glove%20install\&body=How%20did%20you%20hear%20about%20Squadmates%3F%20If%20from%20an%20AI%20assistant%2C%20what%20did%20you%20ask%20it%3F%0A%0A) [Read the security overview](https://squadmates.com/security) The short answer ## The short _answer._ Viktor does a lot well. One coworker serves the whole workspace and keeps shared context, anyone an admin allows can mention it, it connects to more than 9,800 tools by its own count, and a team can sign up and add it to Slack or Microsoft Teams without a sales call. Squadmates answers a different question: which agent did what, with whose access, and where the data went. Each job gets its own teammate with an @handle, a named owner, and a permission card. With a white-glove install, conversations, credentials, and audit logs stay in an AWS account in your AWS Organization. Squadmates is also narrow today. Its first teammate, [@triage](https://squadmates.com/support-escalations), drafts replies and has no tools, and there is no self-serve signup. Side by side ## How they _differ._ Every Viktor cell paraphrases Viktor's own public pages, links its source, and was checked on October 19, 2026. The Squadmates cells come from this site. Viktor's pages are the authority on Viktor, so check them for anything newer. | | Squadmates | Viktor | | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Shape | A squad: one teammate per job, each with its own @handle, a named owner, and its own agent deployment. | One coworker shared by the whole team. Viktor says all team members on a plan share the same Viktor instance and context. [Viktor home page](https://viktor.com/), [AI coworker page](https://viktor.com/ai-coworker) | | Access per job | A permission card per teammate: can read, can remember, can do, must ask. Anything not on the card is off limits, and access lives in policy an admin controls. [Permission cards](https://squadmates.com/security#permission-cards) | Set at the workspace level, in Viktor's words. Admins choose who can connect integrations; each tool can be off, run automatically, or ask for confirmation; a connection can be shared with the team or kept to chosen people. In Slack, Viktor acts as the person asking and reads only what that person can see. [Integration permissions](https://viktor.com/docs/integration-permissions), [Data and privacy](https://viktor.com/docs/data-and-privacy) | | When it acts | Only in conversations an owner or admin approved, and only on messages that mention it. Other messages are ignored. [Routing gate](https://squadmates.com/security#routing-gate) | Replies to every direct message and to @mentions in channels it has joined, and may answer unmentioned replies in threads it started or was mentioned in. It keeps unmentioned channel messages as context, runs scheduled tasks, and checks recent workspace activity twice a day unless that task is paused. Sensitive actions wait for approval. [Talk to Viktor](https://viktor.com/docs/talk-to-viktor), [Proactive updates](https://viktor.com/docs/proactive-updates), [Viktor home page](https://viktor.com/), [Security](https://viktor.com/security) | | Where it runs and where data lives | With a white-glove install, an AWS account in your AWS Organization: conversations, credentials, and audit logs stay in that account. On the invite-only managed plan, an AWS account Agentifiers runs for you. [Where your data lives](https://squadmates.com/security#data) | Viktor's hosted service, which its Slack Marketplace listing calls cloud-hosted and multi-tenant. Its security page says data is hosted on AWS us-east-1, EU data residency is available on Enterprise contracts, and each workspace runs in its own sandbox. [Security](https://viktor.com/security), [Slack Marketplace listing](https://slack.com/marketplace/A0A2VN5TR5K-viktor) | | Models and keys | Amazon Bedrock in your account, or OpenAI or OpenRouter on your own keys. Provider keys live in a KMS-encrypted vault. [Models and keys](https://squadmates.com/security#models-and-keys) | Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, and Google Gemini, under agreements Viktor says rule out training on your data. Model use is billed as credits the workspace shares. [Security](https://viktor.com/security), [Pricing](https://viktor.com/pricing) | | Where people use it | Slack first. The Squadmates codebase also includes a Microsoft Teams connection with the same activation and routing rules. | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and a web app. [Viktor home page](https://viktor.com/) | | Source | Source available under FSL-1.1-ALv2. Source release coming soon. | A managed product with no self-host option, in Viktor's words. Whether its source code is available is not stated on viktor.com. [Viktor vs n8n](https://viktor.com/blog/viktor-vs-n8n) | | Integrations today | Narrow by design. The first teammate, [@triage](https://squadmates.com/support-escalations), drafts replies and has no tools. | More than 9,800 tools by Viktor's count, plus custom integrations for any REST API or remote MCP server. [Viktor home page](https://viktor.com/), [Custom integrations](https://viktor.com/docs/custom-integrations) | | How you start | A white-glove install by Agentifiers, booked by email. Managed access is invite-only, and self-hosting is coming soon. [What the install covers](https://squadmates.com/install) | Self-serve signup with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Discord, with free starter credits and no credit card. Enterprise plans go through sales. [Getting started](https://viktor.com/docs/getting-started), [Pricing](https://viktor.com/pricing) | The honest answer ## When Viktor is _the better fit._ Squadmates is not the right answer for every team. Viktor fits better when: - You want one coworker the whole team shares, with shared context, rather than separate teammates for separate jobs. - You need many integrations now. Viktor lists more than 9,800 tools. Squadmates is narrow by design, and its Triage teammate has no tools. - You want to start today. Viktor has a self-serve signup with free starter credits. Squadmates has none: managed access is invite-only, self-hosting is coming soon, and a white-glove install is a project you book with Agentifiers. - Your team works in Microsoft Teams or Discord as much as Slack. Viktor works in all three today; Squadmates puts Slack first. - A vendor holding your conversations in its own cloud passes your security review. Where Squadmates differs ## When Squadmates _fits._ Squadmates fits when the question is who can do what, and where the data goes. Read the [security overview](https://squadmates.com/security) for the details. - A security review has to approve each agent. Every teammate has a named owner and a [permission card](https://squadmates.com/security#permission-cards), and its name, icon, or instructions never grant access. - Each job should get only the access it needs. A teammate can use only what its card allows, and anything not on the card is off limits. - Conversations, credentials, and audit logs should stay in your own AWS account. A [white-glove install](https://squadmates.com/install) deploys Squadmates with OpenTofu into an account in your AWS Organization. - You want an [audit log](https://squadmates.com/security#audit-log) of every routing decision without the message text, and a pause switch for each teammate. - You want to read the code. Squadmates is source available under FSL-1.1-ALv2, and the source release is coming soon. Getting started ## From one shared assistant _to a squad._ You don't have to move every job at once. Start with one job that needs a clear owner and a tight scope, such as support escalations. [@triage for support escalations](https://squadmates.com/support-escalations) is the example: mention it in a thread in #support-escalations and it drafts a structured triage. It reads only the threads it is mentioned in, remembers nothing between threads, and has no tools. Then recruit the next job the same way: name the job and the owner, and fill in its permission card. Each teammate keeps its own @handle, so people can see which one they asked. See [how recruiting works](https://squadmates.com/#how-it-works). Sources ## Every Viktor fact, _sourced._ Each Viktor statement on this page comes from one of these pages, all published by Viktor. Viktor's pages are the authority on Viktor and may have changed since they were checked. - [Viktor home page and FAQ](https://viktor.com/) (viktor.com): the shared instance, where people use it, scheduled tasks, integrations, and access. Checked October 19, 2026. - [AI coworker](https://viktor.com/ai-coworker) (viktor.com/ai-coworker): one coworker shared by the whole team. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Security](https://viktor.com/security) (viktor.com/security): hosting, data residency, sandboxes, models, and approvals. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Pricing](https://viktor.com/pricing) (viktor.com/pricing): free starter credits, shared workspace credits, and Enterprise. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Docs: Getting started](https://viktor.com/docs/getting-started) (viktor.com/docs/getting-started): signing up with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Discord. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Docs: Talk to Viktor](https://viktor.com/docs/talk-to-viktor) (viktor.com/docs/talk-to-viktor): when Viktor replies. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Docs: Proactive updates](https://viktor.com/docs/proactive-updates) (viktor.com/docs/proactive-updates): the twice-daily check-in and pausing it. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Docs: Integration permissions](https://viktor.com/docs/integration-permissions) (viktor.com/docs/integration-permissions): tool levels and private connections. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Docs: Data and privacy](https://viktor.com/docs/data-and-privacy) (viktor.com/docs/data-and-privacy): what Viktor reads for each person. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Docs: Custom integrations](https://viktor.com/docs/custom-integrations) (viktor.com/docs/custom-integrations): REST API and remote MCP server integrations. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Blog: Viktor vs n8n](https://viktor.com/blog/viktor-vs-n8n) (viktor.com/blog/viktor-vs-n8n): Viktor as a managed product with no self-host option. Checked October 19, 2026. - [Viktor's Slack Marketplace listing](https://slack.com/marketplace/A0A2VN5TR5K-viktor) (slack.com/marketplace/A0A2VN5TR5K-viktor): a cloud-hosted, multi-tenant service. Checked October 19, 2026. ## Put a squad in _your AWS account._ A white-glove install sets up Squadmates and the Deployments.ai platform in an account in your AWS Organization and recruits your first teammates with you. [Book an install](mailto:hello@squadmates.com?subject=White-glove%20install\&body=How%20did%20you%20hear%20about%20Squadmates%3F%20If%20from%20an%20AI%20assistant%2C%20what%20did%20you%20ask%20it%3F%0A%0A) [Read the security overview](https://squadmates.com/security)