Google Agentspace vs. Glean: The Enterprise AI Search Decision That Will Define Your Next Five Years

Which Platform is Right for Your Business?

I've been getting asked quite a bit by clients about both Google Agentspace and Glean as potential AI platforms for their businesses. "Which one should we choose?" "What's the real difference?" "Are we making a mistake if we pick the wrong one?"

So I decided to do a deep dive of Google Agentspace vs. Glean to help folks figure out which might be best for their particular situation. Both are excellent options – let me be clear about that upfront – but there are important nuances and specific scenarios where one makes significantly more sense than the other.

This comparison is intentionally written as a non-technical breakdown. You don't need to be a developer or IT expert to understand and use this information. Whether you're a CEO, department head, or someone tasked with researching these options, this guide will help you understand what you're actually buying and what it means for your business.

Let's dive into these platforms and figure out which is best for your organization.

First, Let's Talk About the Problem They're Both Solving

Here's something that might sound familiar: your employees spend a huge chunk of their time just looking for information. Research shows they're hunting through documents rather than actually using them. Your company's knowledge is scattered across Slack, Google Drive, SharePoint, Salesforce, and probably a dozen other tools.

This is annoying AND expensive. It kills productivity, leads to duplicated work, and means your best ideas stay trapped in silos where nobody can find them.

Both Google Agentspace and Glean promise to fix this with AI-powered search and automation. But here's the crucial part: they're solving it in completely opposite ways.

The Fundamental Choice: Deep Google Lock in or Flexibility

Google Agentspace is like getting married to the Google ecosystem. If you're already using Google Workspace and Google Cloud, Agentspace becomes the AI brain that connects everything together. It's not really a standalone product – it's the front door to Google's entire AI empire, including their Gemini models and Vertex AI platform.

Glean is like staying single and playing the field. Founded by former Google search engineers (yes, the irony isn't lost on me), Glean says "We don't care what systems you use – Microsoft, Google, AWS, whatever – we'll search across everything and stay neutral." They call themselves the "Switzerland" of enterprise AI.

Platforms at a Glance

What We're Comparing	Google Agentspace	Glean
Basic Philosophy	Deep integration with Google's ecosystem	Works with any combination of tools
Best For	Companies already using Google Cloud/Workspace	Companies using multiple cloud providers
Main Strategy	Make Google services more valuable together	Be the neutral connector for all your tools
Biggest Selling Point	Seamless Google integration and cutting-edge AI	Best search results and flexibility
How They Price It	Clear tiers but additional cloud costs	Custom quotes only (no public pricing)

Breaking Down What Each Platform Actually Does

Google Agentspace's Three Levels

Think of this like a video game where you unlock new powers as you level up:

Level 1: NotebookLM Enterprise (~$9/user/month)

• Upload specific documents to a private workspace

• Ask questions about those documents

• Generate summaries and even podcast-style audio overviews

• Good for focused research on specific topics

Level 2: Agentspace Enterprise (~$25/user/month)

• Search across your entire company's connected data

• Understands text, images, videos, and charts

• Provides answers with links to source documents

• This is your "Google for work" tier

Level 3: Agentspace Enterprise Plus (~$45/user/month)

• AI agents can take actions (send emails, schedule meetings, update tickets)

• Access to pre-built "expert" agents like Deep Research (runs hundreds of searches automatically)

• Build your own agents without coding

• This is where it gets really powerful

Glean's Tool Suite

Glean keeps things modular but connected:

Glean Search: The foundation that searches everything, understanding your company's unique language and acronyms

Glean Assistant: Ask questions in plain English, get answers with proof (citations to actual documents)

Glean Agents: Build automations using simple language – no coding required

Glean Protect: The security layer that prevents data leaks and misuse

Feature Comparison: What Can Each Platform Actually Do?

What You Want to Do	Google Agentspace	Glean
Search Capabilities
Search text, images, video	✓ Excellent (native capability)	✓ Good (mainly text-focused)
Get personalized results	Based on Google activity	Based on your work relationships and projects
See real-time updates	Instant for permissions, delayed for content	Some delay due to indexing
Verify AI answers	✓ Shows source links	✓ Core feature with citations
Building AI Agents
Build agents without coding	✓ Agent Designer tool	✓ Natural language builder
Build complex agents with code	✓ Powerful developer tools	✓ APIs and integrations available
Use pre-built agents	"Deep Research" and "Idea Generation"	30+ department-specific agents
Agents working together	Ambitious A2A protocol (future)	Limited (one agent at a time)
AI Flexibility
AI models used	Google's Gemini only	Your choice (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.)
Switch between models	Limited	✓ Full flexibility
Connections
Google tools integration	Perfect (it's built for this)	Good (one of many)
Other tools integration	Growing but limited	100+ connectors available

Let's Talk Money (The Part Nobody Wants to Discuss)

Google's Pricing: Transparent but Tricky

What You See	What You Pay
NotebookLM Enterprise	~$9/user/month
Agentspace Enterprise	~$25/user/month
Agentspace Enterprise Plus	~$45/user/month

The Hidden Costs: Those prices are just for the software licenses. You'll also pay for:

• Data storage in Google Cloud

• Processing power for AI agents

• API calls to AI models

• Data indexing costs

Think of it like buying a car – the sticker price doesn't include gas, insurance, or maintenance. Companies often budget for the license fee and get surprised by these additional costs.

Glean's Pricing: Mystery Box

Glean won't tell you their prices publicly. You have to call them. Based on market reports:

What We Know	Reported Costs
Starting price	$50+ per user/month
Typical contract	~$66,000/year
Support fees	~10% extra (mandatory)
Proof of concept	Up to $70,000 (yes, you pay to try it)

The shock factor: many companies report paying $70,000 just for the trial period. That's not a typo.

Security: Both Are Enterprise-Ready

Both platforms take security seriously, but handle it differently:

Security Feature	Google Agentspace	Glean
Major Compliance	HIPAA, SOC 1/2/3, ISO standards	SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA
Where Your Data Lives	Your Google Cloud account	Their cloud or yours (you choose)
Respects Existing Permissions	✓ Real-time	✓ Real-time
Your Data Trains Their AI	No	No (contractual guarantee)

Translation: Bob from accounting can't suddenly see the CEO's files just because he learned to use AI search. Both platforms respect your existing security rules.

Who Should Choose What? (The Decision Framework)

You Should Choose Google Agentspace If:

✓ You're already using Google Workspace/Cloud heavily

✓ You prefer dealing with one vendor for simplicity

✓ You have technical teams who can build sophisticated solutions

✓ You like knowing prices upfront (even if total costs are complex)

✓ You believe Google will win the AI race

You Should Choose Glean If:

✓ You use a mix of Microsoft, Google, AWS, and other tools

✓ Avoiding vendor lock-in is a top priority

✓ You want non-technical staff to build their own automations

✓ You're willing to pay more for the best search results

✓ You need flexibility to switch AI models as the market evolves

Questions to Grill the Sales Teams With

Ask Google:

1. "Give us a realistic total cost including ALL the hidden Google Cloud charges for a company our size"

2. "Show us agents from different companies actually working together through your A2A protocol" (They probably can't yet)

3. "How do we get our data OUT if we want to leave?"

Ask Glean:

1. "Lock in our pricing for three years in writing"

2. "What happens to real-time data if indexing is delayed?"

3. "Why should we pay $70k for a trial when competitors offer free trials?"

The SWOT Reality Check

Google Agentspace

What's Great: Incredible Google integration, latest AI tech, massive scale, clear pricing tiers

What's Concerning: Major lock-in risk, needs technical expertise, limited third-party connections, sneaky extra costs

Glean

What's Great: Works with everything, amazing search quality, easy for anyone to use, choose your AI model

What's Concerning: Expensive with hidden fees, mainly a search tool (automation is newer), indexing delays, can't create content

Where This Market is Heading

Based on the research, here's what's likely to happen:

The market will split in two. Large companies already committed to one cloud provider (Google, Microsoft, or Amazon) will use that provider's native AI solution. It's simpler and more integrated.

But there's a huge market, especially in healthcare, finance, and other regulated industries, that will never accept being locked into one vendor. They'll pay Glean's premium prices to stay flexible.

The wild card? Google's Agent2Agent protocol. If they actually create a world where AI agents from different companies can work together, it changes everything. But I've seen enough "revolutionary standards" fail to be skeptical.

The Bottom Line

This isn't really about choosing a search tool. You're choosing your AI strategy for the next five years.

Choose Google Agentspace if you want maximum power through deep integration with one provider and you're comfortable with that commitment.

Choose Glean if flexibility is worth the premium price and you want to keep your options open.

Whatever you decide, don't treat this as a small decision. The platform you choose today determines how your entire company will work with AI tomorrow. And switching later? That's going to be painful and expensive.

Take your time, ask the hard questions, and choose based on where you want your business to be in five years, not just what seems easiest today.

What's your take on this choice? Are you leaning toward the all-in approach or staying flexible? I'd love to hear how other organizations are thinking about this decision.