Enterprise AI is reshaping how teams search, collaborate, and make decisions. In this guide, we compare Glean, a fast-growing AI knowledge platform, with Amazon Q for Business, the latest AI offering from AWS. Whether you're evaluating tools for internal knowledge management or scoping future partnerships, this head-to-head breakdown will help you decide.
Why the Glean vs Amazon Q for Business Comparison Matters
As AI becomes the backbone of workplace productivity, organisations face a crucial decision: which platform will best unify data, accelerate insights, and empower teams to do their best work?
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Glean is purpose-built for knowledge discovery and enterprise search.
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Amazon Q for Business (launched in 2023) brings generative AI into the AWS ecosystem with chat-based data access.
With so much riding on your AI stack—security, integrations, usability—this isn’t just a technical choice. It’s a business-critical one.
Glean: A Unified AI Search Engine for Work
Glean connects to all your workplace apps—like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, Jira, and more- to surface relevant, contextual answers via a single AI-powered interface. It's known for:
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Deep search relevance: Understands your language and context.
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Personalised results: Knows who you are and what you need.
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Fast time to value: Deploys quickly with minimal overhead.
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Enterprise-grade security: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, and more.
Glean isn’t just a chatbot. It’s a layer of intelligence across your company’s digital workspace.
Amazon Q for Business: AWS’s Generative AI Assistant
Amazon Q for Business is designed to answer work-related questions and generate content based on enterprise data. Built on Bedrock and other AWS services, it offers:
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Secure access to business data via integrations and APIs.
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Generative AI capabilities like summarisation and task generation.
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Built-in integrations with AWS tools and some third-party systems.
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Developer flexibility with support for custom plugins and agents.
It’s a powerful addition for companies already embedded in the AWS ecosystem, but it may require technical resources to configure and maintain effectively.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Glean | Amazon Q for Business |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Enterprise search + knowledge AI | Generative AI assistant for work |
| Ease of deployment | Fast, low-code setup | Requires AWS configuration |
| App integrations | 100+ workplace tools | AWS-native + custom plugins |
| Search quality | Best-in-class contextual search | Improving, but less tailored |
| Security & compliance | SOC 2, ISO, GDPR, etc. | AWS-grade security tools |
| Customisation | Low-code customisation options | Deep AWS developer flexibility |
| Use case fit | Mid-large orgs, fast growth | AWS-heavy enterprises |
Which Is Better: Glean or Amazon Q for Business?
Choose Glean if you want a plug-and-play AI platform focused on unlocking value from your existing knowledge base with minimal technical overhead.
Choose Amazon Q for Business if your infrastructure already runs on AWS and you have internal dev teams to build and customise experiences.
What This Means for You
If you're exploring AI tools for internal search, productivity, or data governance, Glean offers speed and simplicity with powerful results out of the box. For AWS-native companies, Amazon Q for Business is promising, but more of a builder's platform.
📩 Want to see Glean in action? Book a demo with Generation Digital and explore what’s possible.
Summary
Glean and Amazon Q for Business are both built to improve enterprise knowledge access using AI. Glean excels in search and simplicity; Amazon Q is flexible but complex. Your choice depends on how fast you want value, and how much you're willing to build.
FAQ
What is Amazon Q for Business?
Amazon Q for Business is AWS’s generative AI assistant designed to help employees access company data, automate tasks, and generate content securely.
Is Glean better than Amazon Q for Business?
It depends. Glean is ideal for quick deployment and powerful search. Amazon Q suits complex, AWS-native environments needing developer flexibility.
Can I use both Glean and Amazon Q together?
Technically, yes, but it's rare. Most organisations standardise on one platform to avoid overlap.
