Coming from MaiAgent?
MaiAgent offers agents with knowledge retrieval, tools and deployment choices. Its guide describes an approved 14-day Enterprise trial, then a Free plan with zero monthly AI credits; AI execution requires a paid plan. Whenever offers a custom workflow you describe and supervise through summaries and sample results. Optional model replies use runtime AI and can vary; free AI building has weekly limits. The file is yours.
What you get on Whenever
Test each integration before you publish
Connect the authorised integrations the job needs and define which actions the bot may take. Account permissions, provider plans and network reachability still apply; a connection is not a guarantee that every operation is available.
Map, summary, run history and code
Review the workflow map, summary and run history. Run and step logs are retained for 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro. The code can be downloaded and handed to a developer; that is not a guarantee that a reported action succeeded in an external service.
What one Whenever plan covers
One plan can run bots and other workflows within its live-workflow, run and AI-spend limits. At a limit, contact Whenever about a larger plan; external services may bill separately. Hobby permits one active workflow.
A concrete decision
Illustrative scenarios, not customer results or recorded runs.
Greg: answer an order question safely
Illustrative decision, not a recorded customer run: Greg wants a team-chat bot to look up an order ID and report shipping status, without issuing refunds. He specifies the allowed lookup and tests found, missing and ambiguous orders with authorised accounts. He checks the returned provider status and run history, not a model’s unsupported “done” message or source code. A failed lookup should be reported as unconfirmed, not as a shipped order. Choose a custom procedure for that cross-tool rule; keep a specialised helpdesk if its ready-made experience fits. Model-written replies can vary and use runtime AI; this example is not proof of a delivered customer action.
Jaunius: choose the trigger before pricing it
Illustrative calculation, not observed traffic: a 15-minute schedule requires Pro and runs 96 times a day, or 2,880 times in a 30-day month, even when nothing arrives. A supported inbound trigger counts the executions it starts: for example, WhatsApp Business messages or Discord slash commands, buttons and modals. Scheduled workflows can also call channel APIs. Jaunius chooses the trigger and tests duplicate events and tool permissions. Compare the subscription, run and AI allowances and external charges; 2,880 checks are not automatically 2,880 messages or a saving.
Compare trials, credits and deployment terms.
MaiAgent documents an approved 14-day Enterprise trial followed by Free with zero monthly AI credits; paid plans are required for AI execution. Compare that with Whenever run and runtime AI allowances.
MaiAgent
Subscriptions + credits
Plan credits and deployment-specific terms
Check the current SaaS plan or request deployment terms; do not infer that trials or credit billing are unavailable.
MaiAgent pricing describes SaaS and licensed deployment options; its guide documents trial, subscription and credit billing, and says plan upgrades are handled by its sales team. Confirm model costs, credits and deployment terms for the plan you choose.
A run is one execution of one workflow, start to finish. AI building and editing are free within weekly usage limits; runs are metered separately.
A closer look
What changes when you describe the job in plain language and code runs it: to build, to run, and to keep.
Repeatable execution logic
MaiAgent
MaiAgent agents use a selected model and configured knowledge. Paid plans provide AgentOps testing before launch and monitoring.
Whenever
The published code sets the bot’s allowed tools and execution limits. Review its rules and sample results; source-code inspection is optional. A model can choose wording and offered tools, so identical messages need not produce identical replies. Restrict permissions as well as the offered tools.
Runs per dollar
MaiAgent
Compare the applicable MaiAgent subscription, credits and deployment terms. The guide describes trial and billing options; a contact-sales page alone does not establish the absence of a free trial or a usage meter.
Whenever
Pro includes 10,000 runs per month; see current US dollar subscription pricing. Each workflow execution counts once within its call budget. Scheduled API checks count even when idle; supported inbound events count when they start a workflow. Runtime model usage draws on the plan’s included AI spend in runs. If you reach a run or AI-spend limit, contact Whenever about a larger plan; no self-serve overage price is published. AI building has separate weekly limits.
What you can express
MaiAgent
Configure an agent’s response mode, knowledge bases and tools without code; connect tools over MCP and REST APIs.
Whenever
Describe the bot’s allowed actions and handoff rules in plain language. Its tools can use 1,400+ integrations or a documented API, subject to permissions, provider-plan support and network reachability from Whenever’s hosted runtime. Review and test the results before publishing.
Export and portability
MaiAgent
MaiAgent offers SaaS and private-cloud/on-premises licences. SaaS Standard and Professional use MaiAgent-provided model options; local models such as Ollama and vLLM are listed for licensed deployments with customer GPU compute. Air-gapped deployments exclude third-party chat channels and web search.
Whenever
The bot is a TypeScript file: its loop, its tools and its rules. Read it, export it, hand it to a developer. Moving it to another runtime can mean adapting managed connections and triggers.
Debugging a failed run
MaiAgent
MaiAgent lists AgentOps testing and monitoring on paid plans, with audit logs on Enterprise. Confirm the plan-specific API and diagnostic features required.
Whenever
Use the workflow map, summary and run history to inspect what happened, then ask for changes in chat and test representative messages. Run and step logs are retained for 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro. Code is available when you or a developer want to inspect it.
Where the AI cost lands
MaiAgent
MaiAgent documents model-dependent credit use. Private-cloud or on-premises deployments can add provider token or local compute costs. A reply is not guaranteed to equal one model call or one credit.
Whenever
Optional model-written replies use the plan’s included AI spend in runs. At a run or AI-spend limit, contact Whenever about a larger plan; no self-serve overage price is published. Non-AI API operations do not require model inference, but external services may bill separately.
Where the bot talks
MaiAgent
MaiAgent lists Web Chat, LINE, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Teams, Slack, email and API access. Third-party channels are unavailable for air-gapped deployments; automated AI replies require a paid plan.
Whenever
Supported inbound events include Slack app events, Telegram bot updates, WhatsApp Business messages through a Meta app, and Discord slash commands, buttons and modal submissions. A scheduled workflow can also call the channel API; each scheduled run counts even when it finds nothing. This does not promise push delivery of ordinary Discord channel messages. Whenever does not host a website chat widget.
Building from your coding agent
MaiAgent
MaiAgent documents a dashboard, developer APIs, an Agent Builder toolkit and an MCP section. This comparison did not test building its agents from a coding agent.
Whenever
Connect Claude Code, Cursor or Codex to the Whenever MCP server. Your coding agent can write and test the workflow and save it as a draft; complete Setup and publish after reviewing the result.
When to keep MaiAgent
MaiAgent
Consider MaiAgent for knowledge retrieval, model choice and deployment requirements. Its guide advertises ISO 27001 and ISO 27701; confirm the certificate and contractual scope for your deployment rather than treating this comparison as independent certification.
Whenever
Use Whenever for a team bot written as a workflow that calls the integrations you authorise, on a plan with a published price. It is hosted only, and the platform picks the model.
Sources and scope
Official sources captured on the date shown below. These describe published features and billing rules, not independent performance tests. Check the linked documentation for current modes, plans and limits. No competitor dollar price is asserted.
Checked
Bots to start from
Starter briefs for related jobs, not recorded runs. Connect authorised accounts, confirm trigger and plan requirements, then review and test the workflow before publishing.
Build this workflowRun an async standup in SlackAsks your team the three standup questions every weekday morning, posts one summary with who has not replied, and logs replies to a sheet.
Build this workflowSend form submissions to TelegramDelivers a formatted Telegram message with the submitted details every time your form is filled in.
Build this workflowAsk a Telegram bot for your agenda and inboxReplies to /today with your calendar and open tasks and to /inbox with a one-line summary of each unread email. After publishing, you pick a secret token in Whenever and pass it with the webhook address to Telegram's setWebhook; one bot serves one workflow.
Build this workflowSchedule Telegram channel posts from a sheetPublishes due rows from your posting sheet to Telegram on the cadence you choose, then marks each row Posted.Build this workflowGet Telegram alerts on big price movesChecks your tickers every hour and messages you on Telegram when one moves more than your threshold within that hour.
Build this workflowStart with one bot.
Describe the bot. Whenever writes it as code you keep, and the first plan is free.
Pick one request your team repeats
A lookup, an update, a status question your other tools can answer.
Describe it
Say where requests arrive and which tools the bot may use. Whenever writes it; review the summary and test its outputs before publishing.
Test it, then publish
Try it on real requests, including the ones it should refuse, then put it in the channel.