---
title: Compare Agent Builder and AI Assistant
description: Learn about the differences between the AI Assistant and Agent Builder chat experiences and how to switch between the two.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/ai-features/ai-chat-experiences/ai-agent-or-ai-assistant
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elastic Observability
  - Elastic Security
  - Kibana
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview
  - Elastic Stack: Preview since 9.3
---

# Compare Agent Builder and AI Assistant
<admonition title="Requirements">
  - Elastic Stack users: an **Enterprise [subscription](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/deploy-manage/license)**.
  - Elastic Security Serverless users: the **Security Analytics Complete** or **Elastic AI Soc Engine (EASE)** feature tier.
  - Elastic Observability Serverless and Elasticsearch Serverless users: the **Complete** feature tier.
</admonition>

[Elastic Agent Builder](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/ai-features/elastic-agent-builder) is a powerful and flexible platform for building AI agents, tools, and workflows. Agent Builder comes with built-in agents and [tools](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/tools) for common use cases, and lets you create custom agents and tools for your specific needs.
Agent Builder powers the AI Agent chat experience.
- <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Planned</applies-to> <applies-to>Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available</applies-to> Agent Builder is the default chat experience for all solutions, replacing AI Assistant.
- <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Generally available in 9.3, Elastic Stack: Preview in 9.2</applies-to> Agent Builder is the default for Elasticsearch solution users. Elastic Observability and Elastic Security solution users can [switch from AI Assistant to Agent Builder](#switch-between-chat-experiences) to opt in.

You can switch between the two experiences at any time.
While Agent Builder offers expanded functionality compared to AI Assistant, it does not yet support a number of AI Assistant features. If you rely on AI Assistant capabilities today, consider the differences between each experience before opting in.
Use this page to learn about:
- [How to switch between the AI Assistant and Agent Builder chat experiences](#switch-between-chat-experiences)
- [Feature differences between AI Assistant and Agent Builder](#feature-differences-between-agent-builder-and-ai-assistant)


## Switch between chat experiences

<important>
  Agent Builder cannot access your chats, prompts, or knowledge base entries from AI Assistant. However, this data remains accessible if you switch back to the AI Assistant chat experience.
</important>

Kibana will prompt you to switch to the Agent Builder chat experience if your deployment supports it and you have sufficient privileges. You can opt-in from this prompt immediately.
You can also switch chat experiences at any time:
1. Use the [global search field](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects) to find [**GenAI Settings**](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/ai-features/manage-access-to-ai-assistant).
2. Toggle between the two experiences under **Chat Experience**.
3. Click the **Save changes** button.

<tip>
  For connectors and tested models, refer to [Configure access to LLMs](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/ai-features/llm-guides/llm-connectors).
</tip>

To learn more about the chat UI modes, refer to [Chat UI modes in Elastic Agent Builder](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5867/explore-analyze/ai-features/agent-builder/standalone-and-flyout-modes)

## Feature differences between Agent Builder and AI Assistant

Agent Builder doesn't yet support all AI Assistant features. The specific differences vary by solution:
<tab-set>
  <tab-item title="Elastic Security">
    | Feature                                | Agent Builder | AI Assistant |
    |----------------------------------------|---------------|--------------|
    | **Knowledge Base**                     | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Data anonymization**                 | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Time awareness**                     | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Chat sharing**                       | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Citations**                          | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Audit logging**                      | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Quick prompts**                      | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **In-chat previews of attached data**  | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **AI insights**                        | ✅             | ✅            |
    | **Use-case specific agents**           | ✅             | ❌            |
    | **Custom agent creation**              | ✅             | ❌            |
    | **Custom tool selection**              | ✅             | ❌            |
    | **Integration with Elastic workflows** | ✅             | ❌            |
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Elastic Observability and Search">
    | Feature                            | Agent Builder | AI Assistant |
    |------------------------------------|---------------|--------------|
    | **Knowledge Base**                 | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Data anonymization**             | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Chat sharing**                   | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Chat duplication**               | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Chat archiving**                 | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **Alerting rule connector action** | ❌             | ✅            |
    | **AI insights**                    | ✅             | ✅            |
    | **Use-case specific agents**       | ✅             | ❌            |
    | **Custom agent creation**          | ✅             | ❌            |
    | **Custom tool selection**          | ✅             | ❌            |
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>


## API differences between Agent Builder and AI Assistant

Each AI chat experience has different APIs. To learn which actions each option supports, refer to:
- [Agent Builder](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/kibana/group/endpoint-agent-builder)
- [AI Assistant for Security](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/kibana/group/endpoint-security-ai-assistant-api)
- [AI Assistant for Observability](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/kibana/group/endpoint-observability_ai_assistant)