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WHY CORE · COMPARE AGENT PLATFORMS

A tale of
two builds.

What does it take to ship agents inside your app? Compare what Core connects for you and the work your team would own with other agent services.

Compare all five platformsEstimate the engineering
SAME AMBITION. DIFFERENT WORK.

Where does your
engineering go?

Both routes start with a working agent. The difference is how much of the surrounding product platform your team needs to connect.

CHAPTER I / THE ASSEMBLY ROUTE

The platform becomes your project.

Your agent works. Now connect everything your customers need around it.

  1. Bring customers in.

    Join your sign-in, customer roles, sessions and tool permissions.

  2. Keep the work moving.

    Connect databases, workflows, approval screens, schedules and channels.

  3. Make it a business.

    Attribute usage, enforce product entitlements and operate the connections.

Your team owns every join between the services.
CHAPTER II / THE CORE ROUTE

Your product stays the project.

Your agent works. Core connects it to the platform your customers need.

  1. Sign them in. Keep their scope.

    Core carries the user, customer and role through runs, data and tool calls.

  2. Give the work a home.

    Agents and workflows use shared controls. Managed databases and chat channels are planned.

  3. Build the experience they buy.

    Embed the UI, define the business rules and see usage by customer.

Your team owns the product your customers came for.

Roll out to the next customer.

Reuse scoped client identity and AI usage reporting. Managed database partitions are planned; your application supplies its business-data storage and access rules today.

Shared context for your integration.

Recover when a write times out.

The reviewed proposal, effect identity and uncertain outcome stay connected. Your operators get a recovery path, and your engineers have fewer failure-handling systems to invent.

Less recovery code to own.

Chat channels are planned.

The planned channel integrations would reuse published work, approvals and customer identity. Embedded web components and API integration are implemented for preview evaluation.

Web integration in preview.
THE DIFFERENCE, SIDE BY SIDE

What’s built in.
What’s left to build.

Compare capabilities in the named products. Select a row to see what your team would build or connect. Engineering estimates are in the separate scenario below.

  • IncludedProvided by the named product
  • Not built inYour app supplies the feature
  • Extra servicesConnect additional services
  • Provider-limitedLimited to the vendor’s models
Capability coverage for Core, Claude, OpenAI, Microsoft and AWS
CompareCoreAgent platformClaudeManaged AgentsOpenAIAgents APIMicrosoftMSFoundryAWSBedrock AgentCore
PreviewSigned user contextNot built inCustom tool authorizationNot built inRoles for custom functionsNot built inTenant context in toolsNot built inSession ownership in Instances
PreviewReview and effect trackingNot built inCustom action reviewNot built inBusiness write recoveryExtra servicesConnect review and recoveryNot built inBusiness review and recovery
PlannedManaged partitions (planned)Extra servicesAdd an operational databaseExtra servicesAdd an operational databaseExtra servicesConnect a database serviceExtra servicesConnect a database service
Preview + plannedAI usage; billing plannedNot built inCustomer usage and plansNot built inCustomer usage and plansNot built inCustomer usage and plansNot built inCustomer usage and plans
Preview + plannedShared identity and controlsExtra servicesAdd UI and chat adaptersExtra servicesConnect ChatKit and chatExtra servicesConnect web and chat controlsExtra servicesAdd UI and channel routing
PreviewMultiple providersProvider-limitedClaude modelsProvider-limitedOpenAI modelsIncludedFoundry model catalogIncludedMultiple providers

This table describes capability coverage. Your existing infrastructure, chosen integrations and product requirements determine the engineering work.

Explore an illustrative build-versus-configure scenario
Sources and comparison scope

Coverage applies to each named product and the requirements shown. Reviewed against official documentation on November 8, 2026.

AN ILLUSTRATIVE ENGINEERING SCENARIO

Build the platform.
Or configure it.

One hypothetical application, two implementation routes. Adjust the scope and team rates to explore the work involved. These are planning assumptions, not measured vendor comparisons.

01 BUILD VERSUS CONFIGURE

A customer request-review app.

One-time team labor in USD. Headline costs are rounded; the role breakdown below shows the calculation.

Both routes start here

  • An existing application and working agent, with identity and customer access policies in place.
  • Three ready business APIs, approved model credentials, and a team able to integrate them. Core access is assumed for its route.
  • The supplied Core UI meets the product’s needs. Domain logic, data selection and business authorization stay with the application.

The rollout being estimated

Review a request, draft a response, ask a reviewer, and submit the approved response. Add customer-scoped data, embedded web UI, one registered chat app, staging and production checks.

Includes planned capabilities: managed databases, chat channels and paid billing. This models an intended future rollout. See current availability.

New APIs, bespoke UI, data migration, model evaluations and formal compliance certification are outside both estimates. Subscriptions, usage and provider charges are separate.

BUILD · Assemble the surrounding platform≈ $85K–$150K712–1,260 h of total team effort

Build and verify the selected platform capabilities around an agent service.

CONFIGURE · Integrate Core≈ $1K–$2.1K9–18 h of total team effort

Configure the selected capabilities and complete application-specific release checks.

Illustrative task estimates, not measured benchmarks. Existing internal systems can reduce the assembly work; deselect capabilities you already have below.

Starts with Growth’s $599/month base, billed monthly. Add your expected usage. The model assumes Core provides platform deployment, operations and platform QA. Your app-specific release checks are estimated below. See platform pricing

ILLUSTRATIVE EFFORT DIFFERENCE17.4–31.3

person-weeks across development, DevOps, QA and security

ILLUSTRATIVE INITIAL COST DIFFERENCE≈ $83K–$150K

694–1,251 h valued at each role’s own rate

MAINTENANCE VALUE LESS CORE BUDGET≈ $2K–$6.7K

22–62 h of maintenance capacity, less your Core budget

ROLE / INITIAL EFFORTASSEMBLE WITH AGENT SERVICESCORE ROLLOUT & APP CHECKS
Development

Application code, configuration and integration

Assembly route420–752 h$52,500–$94,000
Core rollout4–8 h$500–$1,000
DevOps / SRE

Environments, deployment, monitoring and recovery

Assembly route92–160 h$11,500–$20,000
Core rollout1–2 h$125–$250
QA

Regression, customer boundaries and failure-path checks

Assembly route144–248 h$12,240–$21,080
Core rollout3–6 h$255–$510
Security review

Permissions, credentials and sensitive action review

Assembly route56–100 h$8,400–$15,000
Core rollout1–2 h$150–$300
Include the capabilities your wider rollout needs.
Assemble128–220 h
With Core1.5–3 h
Assemble152–272 h
With Core2–4 h
Assemble136–236 h
With Core1–2 h
Assemble88–168 h
With Core0.8–1.5 h
Assemble120–212 h
With Core2–4 h
Assemble88–152 h
With Core1.8–3.5 h
Total team effort for selected capabilities712–1,260 h9–18 h
Setup, rollout and cost assumptions

The 30–120 minute setup estimate is for one working end-to-end agent in an existing app. It includes agent publication, an existing sign-in bridge, the supplied UI, one ready tool endpoint and a smoke test. It is a planning target, not a measured onboarding benchmark.

The hypothetical rollout includes customer data, three ready business APIs, a registered chat app and release checks. Managed databases, channels and paid billing are planned. Its Core development allowance is 4–8 hours; DevOps, QA and security add their own hours in the role table. The model assumes the service supplies platform hosting, database operations, platform tests and platform security work.

Both wider-rollout columns start with an existing agent service. The assembly route covers the additional customer platform, its deployment and its verification. Each workstream assigns hours to individual roles; there is no QA or DevOps percentage surcharge on top of hours that already include them. Existing internal systems can reduce the work: deselect capabilities you already have.

Initial cost is the sum of each role’s hours × its rate. Rates are editable planning inputs. Savings use the assembly route’s low estimate minus Core’s high estimate at the low end, and the reverse at the high end. A person-week is 40 hours of effort, not a promised calendar week.

For all selected capabilities, monthly maintenance is 32–67 h for the assembly route and 5–10 h with Core. Monthly value uses each role’s maintenance hours and rate, then subtracts your Core budget. It can be negative. This values team capacity and does not imply payroll reductions.

New business APIs, bespoke product UI, data migration, model evaluations, procurement and formal compliance certification are outside both rollout estimates. Model tokens, other cloud services and channel fees depend on your workload. Add Core usage to the budget. These task estimates are not vendor benchmarks or a complete total-cost-of-ownership quote.

02 A SMALLER STARTING POINT

First-agent setup.
A separate planning target.

30–120minutes of development effort

Publish an agent, connect your existing sign-in and tool, add the supplied UI, and run the complete journey.

$63–$250 of development effort at your selected development rate.

See the integration steps
  1. Publish the agent5–15 min
  2. Bridge existing sign-in5–20 min
  3. Add the supplied UI5–20 min
  4. Connect an existing tool10–35 min
  5. Run the end-to-end smoke test5–30 min

Starting conditions: an existing application, Core access, sign-in, an approved model account and one ready lookup API. Use the supplied UI to explain one support request, then smoke-test the journey. This task estimate is not a measured onboarding time.

BUILD THE NEXT CHAPTER

Put your engineering
into your advantage.

Your customer experience. Your domain expertise. Core behind it.

See how Core fitsTry the experience