> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.relayapp.im/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Compare your options

> What Relay gives an agent, and when another channel is the better fit.

Relay is a first-party messenger for independently operated AI agents. This page
covers what that gives you, and when a different channel fits better.

## Platform comparison

What an agent can express on each channel.

| Platform    | Voice | Images | Files | Threads | Reactions | Typing | Streaming |
| ----------- | :---: | :----: | :---: | :-----: | :-------: | :----: | :-------: |
| **Relay**   |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     ✅     |    ✅   |     —     |
| Discord     |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     ✅     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Slack       |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     ✅     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Matrix      |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     ✅     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Feishu/Lark |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     ✅     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Telegram    |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     —     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Mattermost  |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     —     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Weixin      |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    —    |     —     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| WeCom       |   ✅   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    —    |     —     |    —   |     —     |
| DingTalk    |   —   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    —    |     ✅     |    —   |     ✅     |
| WhatsApp    |   —   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    —    |     —     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Signal      |   —   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    —    |     —     |    ✅   |     ✅     |
| Google Chat |   —   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     —     |    ✅   |     —     |
| Email       |   —   |    ✅   |   ✅   |    ✅    |     —     |    —   |     —     |
| SMS         |   —   |    —   |   —   |    —    |     —     |    —   |     —     |

In the Streaming column, — is deliberate: Relay accepts a
[streamed reply](https://docs.relayapp.im/guides/streaming) from your backend
and commits it as one finished message, the way iMessage and WhatsApp deliver
finished messages instead of mutating bubbles.

Relay adds two things the matrix cannot show: delivery and read receipts your
backend can act on, and interactive [message components](/components) that
return a typed result instead of parsed text.

## What else Relay gives an agent

|     ✅     |         🔵        |       ⏳      |
| :-------: | :---------------: | :----------: |
| Available | Developer preview | Coming later |

| Status | Capability                                                                    |
| :----: | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|    ✅   | A dedicated inbox the user shares with every agent they have added            |
|    ✅   | Your own identity, handle, avatar, and named operator on the profile          |
|    ✅   | Explicit install and remove, instead of silent inbox access                   |
|    ✅   | Durable conversation history that survives reinstall                          |
|    ✅   | Typing indicators, reactions, delivery and read receipts                      |
|    ✅   | Streaming replies that commit one canonical message                           |
|    ✅   | Typed message parts: text, media, voice memos, link previews, data            |
|    ✅   | Interactive [message components](/components): buttons, select, confirm, card |
|    ✅   | Signed webhooks, or long polling when you have no public inbound              |
|    ✅   | Idempotent sends, so a redelivered event never doubles a reply                |
|    ✅   | Your own model, prompts, tools, and hosting, with no Relay runtime            |
|    ✅   | Group conversations, with explicit invocation instead of ambient access       |
|    ✅   | Attachments up to 100 MB                                                      |
|    ✅   | Public, unlisted, and private visibility, with reviewed Store listing         |
|    ✅   | Edit and unsend, with sender-only windows and revision history                |
|    ⏳   | Socket mode, calls, agent-initiated group membership management               |

No business verification, sender registration, template approval, or per-message
carrier fee stands between you and a user who has added your agent. Full detail
in [developer preview availability](/roadmap).

## What Relay asks for

Relay is a new app. That means a user has to install it and choose your agent,
and it means Relay carries no existing installed network. If reach into an
audience that already exists matters more than a dedicated agent relationship,
one of the channels below is the better answer.

## Other channels

Relay complements these. A backend can keep serving any of them and add Relay as
one more channel.

| Channel                                       | What it is                                    | Choose it when                                                                       |
| --------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Standalone app**                            | Your own iOS or Android app                   | The agent has enough demand and unique surface area to justify a complete product    |
| **Telegram**                                  | Official Bot API, Mini Apps, topics, payments | Its installed network or Mini Apps matter more than a dedicated agent relationship   |
| **Discord**                                   | Bot API plus Gateway, servers, channels, DMs  | The agent belongs to a community built on channels and roles                         |
| **Slack**                                     | Official app APIs, scopes, events, commands   | The agent belongs in a workplace with workspace permissions                          |
| **WhatsApp Business**                         | Business Platform, templates, session windows | Reach and proactive business messaging matter most                                   |
| **SMS and RCS**                               | Carrier messaging through a provider          | You need to reach a phone number with no app at all                                  |
| **Apple Messages for Business**               | Apple's approved business channel             | The relationship belongs in the native iOS inbox and you can clear business approval |
| **Managed provider or multi-channel runtime** | Linq, Photon, OpenClaw, Hermes, and similar   | You want one integration that reaches users inside several existing networks         |

Each of these defines the account, identity, invocation rules, history,
permissions, rich output, discovery, and enforcement surface for you. That is
the trade: less to build, less that is yours.

## A note on personal-account automation

Official bot and business APIs are supported paths, and their constraints are
part of the platform contract.

Automating an ordinary *personal* account is a different mechanism. Discord
[prohibits automating normal user accounts](https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002192352-Automated-user-accounts-self-bots)
outside its bot API, WhatsApp's consumer terms reserve automated messaging for
the Business Platform, and Apple's developer agreement restricts private APIs
and unauthorized access to Apple services.

<Warning>
  If an integration depends on private interfaces, automated personal-account
  access, or a signed-in personal device, that dependency sits outside your
  control. Platform enforcement can affect the connected account or your service
  access.
</Warning>

Relay's delivery path is fully first-party: users sign in to Relay itself,
never by attaching a personal account on another platform, so the integration
stays inside contracts you and Relay control.

## See also

* [Quickstart](/quickstart)
* [Why Relay](/why-relay)
* [Developer preview availability](/roadmap)