Kelu vs Mendable
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Mendable was one of the first chat-with-your-docs platforms. The team behind it now builds Firecrawl, a web data API, and Mendable's public changelog has had no entry since January 2024. Mendable's site is still online and lists a free plan. Teams looking for an actively developed AI knowledge assistant use this page to compare Kelu on retrieval, sources, surfaces and pricing.
Choose Mendable if you already run it and it covers what you need; note that its changelog stopped in January 2024. Choose Kelu if you want a docs assistant that is still actively developed, with hybrid search, an enforced abstention gate, and answers in Slack, Microsoft Teams, MCP and your helpdesk.
Feature comparison
Mendable facts come from Mendable's own site and docs, Firecrawl's about page and the Mendable GitHub organization.
Where Kelu focuses differently
An actively developed docs assistant
The Mendable team now builds Firecrawl, and Mendable's public changelog stops in January 2024. Kelu is in active development, and its public changelog lists what changed and when.
More surfaces on one plan
Widget, Slack, Microsoft Teams, MCP, Support Ticket AI in your helpdesk, and the support form deflector all come with Pro. One knowledge base, every surface.
Hybrid retrieval + abstention
Vector search is combined with PostgreSQL full-text search, an LLM rewrites the query before search, and a cross-encoder reranks the results. When your sources don't cover a question, Kelu says it doesn't know and shows no citations. That gate is enforced in code, not only asked for in the prompt.
Broader source coverage
24 source types, including Confluence, OneDrive, Jira, Linear, Discourse, Stack Overflow, Salesforce Cases and Zendesk tickets, on top of the websites, GitHub, Notion, Google Drive, YouTube and Zendesk sources Mendable lists.
Got questions?
Frequently asked questions
Is Mendable still being developed?
Mendable's team now builds Firecrawl. Firecrawl's about page says the team previously built Mendable, the Mendable GitHub organization reads "Mendable AI is now Firecrawl", and a co-founder wrote in June 2025 that they shut Mendable down and pivoted. Mendable's site is still online and lists a free plan, but its public changelog has no entry after January 2024.
Can I migrate from Mendable?
Yes. Add the same sources in Kelu (websites, GitHub repos, Notion, Google Drive, Zendesk, YouTube or files), then swap Mendable's component for Kelu's widget script tag. The first sync starts as soon as you add a source.
How does retrieval quality compare?
Mendable doesn't document its retrieval in detail. Kelu combines vector search with PostgreSQL full-text search using reciprocal rank fusion, rewrites the query with an LLM before search, and reranks with a cross-encoder. That helps with exact-match queries such as error codes and SKUs, which vector-only search can miss. When the sources don't cover a question, Kelu says it doesn't know and shows no citations.
How does pricing compare?
Kelu publishes its prices: Free (100 questions a month), Pro at $99 a month or $79 a month billed yearly (1,000 questions, 5 knowledge bases, 14-day free trial), and Enterprise custom. Mendable's pricing page lists a free plan with 500 message credits a month and a custom Enterprise plan.
Do you support the same integrations Mendable had?
Mostly. Kelu has sources for websites, GitHub, Notion, Google Drive, Zendesk, YouTube and files, plus Confluence, OneDrive, Jira, Linear, Salesforce, Discourse and Stack Overflow. Kelu has Slack and Microsoft Teams bots. Its Discord bot is switched off for now, so if you used Mendable's Discord bot, use the widget, Slack or Teams instead.
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