| What the buyer gets | Software for building, configuring, and running agents | A working agent operation designed, deployed, and run by Marshal | Builder for software control; Marshal for operational relief |
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| Best-fit buyer | Team with a capable internal automation, RevOps, IT, or engineering owner | Founder-led business that wants one accountable external operator | Depends on internal capacity |
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| Who designs the workflow | Customer team, sometimes with templates, copilots, or onboarding help | Marshal, with the client defining outcomes, rules, and approval boundaries | Builder for direct design control; Marshal for delegated execution |
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| Who connects the systems | Customer team or implementation partner | Marshal connects the agent to the client's existing systems | Marshal when integration ownership is the constraint |
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| Who tests edge cases | Customer team | Marshal tests the managed scope and sets approval and exception paths | Marshal when the workload is production-critical |
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| Who operates it after launch | Customer team | Marshal | Marshal for day-to-day ownership |
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| Who maintains the platform | Software vendor | Marshal and its infrastructure providers | Comparable at the infrastructure layer |
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| Who fixes workflow drift | Customer team owns configuration, credentials, business rules, and edge cases | Marshal owns diagnosis, repair, retesting, and improvement inside the managed scope | Marshal for ongoing accountability |
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| Human control | Customer defines and implements approvals | Client holds approvals and rules; Marshal carries the work | Depends on desired operating model |
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| Customization | Direct access to templates, logic, nodes, code, models, and settings varies by product | Custom to the agreed workload and the client's current systems | Builder for hands-on control; Marshal for outcome-aligned customization |
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| Time to first useful workflow | Minutes to days for a simple use case when an experienced operator is available | Days when access, rules, and success criteria are clear | Builder for skilled DIY speed; Marshal when setup must be delegated |
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| Pricing model | Commonly free tier plus subscription, credit, action, task, or execution charges; self-hosting exists in some products | $0 until the agent completes real, verified work; Managed Operation is priced by workload and volume | Builder for lowest software entry price; Marshal for transferred operating responsibility |
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| Internal labor cost | Build, monitoring, troubleshooting, governance, and improvement remain internal | Marshal absorbs the operating work inside the managed scope | Marshal when internal time is scarce or expensive |
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| Ownership and portability | Workflow logic usually lives inside the selected platform; export and portability vary | Core systems, credentials, data, and outputs remain under client control; exact exit terms follow the agreement | Builder for platform-native control; Marshal for stack-native operation |
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| Main limitation | The buyer must supply the operator | Managed service costs more than entry-level software and is not designed for DIY control | Depends on whether the buyer wants to operate agents |
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