Runtime vs Runbear
Runtime is the agent harness for payment teams, with agents that investigate on their own computers in your cloud. Runbear is a no-code way to put AI agents in Slack and Teams.
TL;DR: Runtime is the stronger choice for payment and risk operations, where agents investigate on their own computers, touch sensitive data in your cloud, and need approvals and an audit trail. Runbear is a fast, no-code way to answer questions in Slack and Teams.
| Feature |  Runtime |  Runbear |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Agent harness for payment and risk ops | No-code AI agents in Slack and Teams |
| Setup speed | Days with a forward-deployed engineer | Minutes, no-code |
| Slack and Teams | Built in, plus email, SMS, and voice | Core product |
| Each agent gets its own computer | Yes: browser, terminal, files | No |
| Runs in your cloud | Yes, or fully self-hosted | Hosted platform |
| PCI and PII handling | Masking, local open models | General |
| Approvals on money movement | Built in | Not the focus |
| Audit trail | Every query, tool call, approval, and cost | Conversation history |
Runbear and Runtime at a glance
Runbear is a no-code platform for building AI agents that live in Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Discord. Agents answer questions from tools like Notion, Linear, and HubSpot, automate requests in shared channels, and can be set up in minutes without engineering.
Runtime is the AI agent harness for payment teams. From payment ops to risk, compliance, and support, anyone on the team can build agents that work their queues on their own computers inside your cloud, called from Slack, Teams, email, SMS, or voice, with approvals and a full audit trail.
Runbear is for teams that want answers in chat, fast. Runtime is for payment and risk teams that want the work done behind the chat.
How they differ
Answers versus investigations
Runbear agents answer questions from the knowledge in your SaaS tools. Runtime agents do the investigation: a merchant asks in Slack where a payout is, and the agent checks the ledger, the processor, and the bank file on its own computer, then drafts the reply and the fix.
Payments depth
Runtime is built for money movement: processor reason codes, ACH returns, disputes, reserves, and recon breaks. Agents follow your SOPs and reach tools through APIs, databases, CLIs, MCP servers, and a browser for portals with no API.
Your cloud, your sandbox, your models
Runbear runs as a hosted platform. Runtime agent computers run in your AWS, GCP, or Azure account, or fully self-hosted, with your own sandbox provider and any model, including open-weight models in your cloud. Routing and fallbacks keep agents running when a model provider goes down.
Approvals and an audit trail in the same channel
Runtime agents start read-only and ask for approval in Slack or Teams before anything moves money. Every run records the trigger, every query and tool call, the approval, the cost, and the result. A forward-deployed engineer with a payments background sets up the guardrails with your team.
Where Runbear is stronger
- Setup speed. No-code agents in Slack or Teams in minutes, without engineering.
- Chat-native. Slack, Teams, and Discord are the core product.
- SaaS knowledge. Answers from tools like Notion, Linear, and HubSpot.
- Lightweight requests. Good at Q&A and simple automations in shared channels.
Which should you choose
Choose Runbear if
- You want AI answers in Slack or Teams in minutes, without engineering
- The work is mostly Q&A and lightweight requests
- Your data lives in common SaaS tools
- Sensitive financial data isn't involved
Choose Runtime if
- Requests in Slack or Teams need investigation across ledger, processor, and bank data
- Card data or PII has to stay in your cloud
- You need approvals on money movement and an audit trail your sponsor bank will accept
- You want one platform for every team that touches a transaction
See Runtime on your busiest queue
Bring one SOP. A forward-deployed AI engineer builds the first agent with your team, inside your cloud.
Frequently asked questions
Is Runbear good for fintech teams?
Runbear is a fast way to answer questions and automate lightweight requests in Slack, Teams, and Discord from tools like Notion, Linear, and HubSpot. For payment, risk, and finance work on sensitive data, Runtime adds agent computers in your cloud, approvals, and a full audit trail.
Can Runtime agents work in Slack and Teams?
Yes. Runtime agents are called from Slack, Teams, email, SMS, voice, or the dashboard, and approvals happen right in Slack or Teams.
What is the best Runbear alternative for payment operations?
For Q&A over common SaaS tools, Runbear works well. For investigations across your ledger, processor, and bank files, with approvals before money moves, Runtime is built for payment and fintech teams.
Can Runtime run in my own cloud?
Yes. Runtime agent computers run in your AWS, GCP, or Azure account, or fully self-hosted, with your own sandbox provider and models if you prefer.
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