GleanEnterprise AI that understands your company
vs
ShelfNext-generation knowledge and governance platform for accurate GenAI answers.
Comparison · Knowledge Management · weekly run Nov 3
Glean vs Shelf
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Glean is the stronger AI pick in Knowledge Management: it has a visibility score of 16.2 versus 1.5 for Shelf, and ranks ahead in 67% of the answers that name both.
Choose Glean if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (16.2 vs 1.5)
- You need ISO 42001 or HIPAA or TX-RAMP Level 2 or ISO 27001 coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (501–1,000 employees)
- Enterprise search across many connected apps
Choose Shelf if…
- AI answers describe it more positively (67% vs 56% positive)
- You need CCPA coverage
- Recommended by analysts for knowledge management
- Suited to customer-service and contact-center knowledge management
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Glean | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 16.2% | 1.5% |
| Change vs last week | New | New |
| Rank in Knowledge Management | #6 | #38 |
| Share of voice | 4.1% | 0.7% |
| Mentions this run | 22 | 4 |
| Positive in AI answers | 56% | 67% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Glean 0pp · Shelf 0pp over 0 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Glean leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
GleanShelf
Head to head in AI answers
3 engine answers name both brands
2Glean ranked higher
1Shelf ranked higher
| Prompt | Engine | Glean | Shelf |
|---|---|---|---|
| Which Knowledge Management vendors do analysts recommend? | ChatGPT | #5 | #13 |
| Which Knowledge Management vendors do analysts recommend? | Perplexity | #9 | #5 |
| Official website of the top knowledge management tool vendors | ChatGPT | #5 | #15 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Glean | Shelf |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Per-customer search model stored in the customer's VPC | Cloud-hosted on AWS, with data centers in the US, Canada and EU |
| Integrations | 250+ | — |
| Compliance | ISO 42001, HIPAA, TX-RAMP Level 2, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR | SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, CCPA |
| Support | Help Center | Contact form on the website, Developer portal with API specs, cookbooks and SDKs |
| Founded | 2019 | — |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY, United States |
| Employees | 501–1,000 | 51–200 |
| Funding | Seed or early-stage round (emerged from stealth) · $765M raised | Series B · $61M raised |
| Best for | Large enterprises that want AI answers and agents grounded in their own permission-aware company data | Business and knowledge management teams that need governed enterprise knowledge, and technical teams that want a data layer under their own AI applications. |
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Glean
- Enterprise search across many connected apps
- Seen as a market leader in enterprise search
- Finds answers and internal experts quickly
- Recommended for enterprise-wide knowledge search
Shelf
- Recommended by analysts for knowledge management
- Suited to customer-service and contact-center knowledge management
- Recommended for vendor landscape and competitive intelligence databases
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Glean vs Shelf”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/glean-vs-shelf, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.