Last updated: 2026-07-01
Modern is a 2026 AI-native IT service management (ITSM) platform that closes 50% of IT tickets within 30 days by running AI agents directly inside Slack, Teams, email, WhatsApp, and Telegram instead of a separate ticketing portal. It automates access provisioning, onboarding, and offboarding with SOC 2 audit trails and built-in policy enforcement.
About Modern
Modern launched in 2026 as a Y Combinator company, built as an AI-native IT service management platform meant to replace legacy tools like ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, and Ivanti. CEO and co-founder Seb Poole previously built Frankie, later renamed Unmind, which raised $100M; co-founder Aleks Tomovski's background includes Wix and Canva. The core difference from a traditional service desk is architecture. Instead of the months-long, rigid workflow setup that legacy ITSM tools require, Modern generates automations from plain-language descriptions and the patterns already sitting in your ticket history, then carries them out through deterministic, auditable actions. Reasoning stays separate from execution so every step is governable, with SOC 2-grade logging and policy checks built into the workflow rather than added afterward. Modern connects natively to 14 enterprise systems, including ServiceNow, Zendesk, Jira Service Management, Datadog, Microsoft Graph, Google Workspace, Workday, BambooHR, SAP, Salesforce, Atlassian, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco Meraki, so IT stays in one system of record instead of a dozen admin consoles. Customers using the platform report a 62% drop in ticket handling volume and 74% faster response times. There is no self-serve signup or public price list; every deal goes through Modern's enterprise sales team at getmodern.ai.
Pricing
No public pricing disclosed as of May 2026. Enterprise pricing only via contact at getmodern.ai. Available as standalone ITSM or overlay on ServiceNow/Jira SM. Modern Managed (full-service option) available at custom pricing.
Key Features
- End-to-End IT Request Automation: Automates 80%+ of routine IT requests, including access provisioning, software installs, and hardware requests, end to end, with ticket closure climbing to 70% by day 60 of rollout.
- Native Chat Integration: Runs inside Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, voice, WhatsApp, and Telegram, so employees ask for IT help in the same tools they already use for everything else.
- Access Management with Just-in-Time Provisioning: Grants, reviews, and revokes access automatically with a policy check at every step: onboarding a new hire saves about 10 hours of manual IT work, and offboarding runs to completion (100% automated in customer deployments) without a human follow-up.
- Natural Language Workflow Creation: IT teams describe a request pattern in plain English instead of configuring rules through code, and Modern suggests new automations based on patterns it sees in tickets that are still being handled manually.
- Policy Enforcement and Audit Trails: Every automated action is logged to a SOC 2-grade audit trail with a policy check applied first, so security and compliance teams can review AI decisions without adding a separate audit tool.
- Enterprise Integration Layer: Pre-built connectors cover all 14 native integrations, so an admin sets an access rule once in Modern and it applies consistently everywhere, no custom API work required.
Pros
- The steepest automation ceiling we've seen claimed for an ITSM tool, which could meaningfully cut the headcount a busy IT service desk needs if the case-study numbers hold at your scale.
- SOC 2 audit trails and policy checks are built into every workflow instead of bolted on as a separate compliance layer, which matters for regulated-industry IT teams evaluating AI automation for the first time.
- Runs inside the Slack and Teams channels employees already have open, so adoption doesn't depend on training people to use a new self-service portal.
Cons
- No public pricing page: teams must go through a demo and sales cycle before they can compare true cost against self-serve competitors like Freshservice.
- A two-person founding team fresh out of YC means enterprise SLAs, dedicated customer success managers, and a public roadmap are not yet formally documented.
- The headline automation and ticket-reduction figures come from individual customer case studies; independent, cross-customer benchmarking isn't published yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do you pay for Modern?
Modern does not publish pricing; every deal goes through an enterprise sales process with a demo and a scoped proposal. It is available as a standalone ITSM platform, as an AI overlay on top of an existing ServiceNow or Jira Service Management deployment, or as Modern Managed, a fully managed option that adds an operations team on top of the platform. Contact the team directly at getmodern.ai for a quote.
Can you use Modern without paying?
No public trial exists for Modern; the platform is priced and sold entirely through an enterprise sales process. Evaluating it starts with a demo request at getmodern.ai, which leads to a scoped pilot discussion rather than instant self-serve access. Freshservice and Atomicwork are lower-cost alternatives that do publish pricing and offer trials of their own.
Which tools compete with Modern in 2026?
Freshservice publishes its pricing openly, starting around $19 per agent per month with a 21-day free trial, which suits teams that want self-serve signup instead of a sales call. Atomicwork is a similarly AI-native platform built for agentic resolution inside Slack, also with public pricing. Jigso is the lightest of the three: a Slack-native assistant for surfacing SaaS alerts and simple requests rather than full ITSM automation.
Is Modern better than ServiceNow?
ServiceNow is the entrenched enterprise ITSM standard, with a 100,000+ customer base, deep change-management tooling, and a typical $100K-$1M+ annual cost with a 6-12 month implementation that needs certified administrators. Modern is a 2026 entrant built to deploy in weeks: it generates workflows from plain-language descriptions and runs them inside Slack instead of a separate portal, and it markets a far higher automation rate than ServiceNow's typical 30%-40%. Pick ServiceNow for a mature ecosystem and complex change management; pick Modern for faster rollout and less administrative overhead.
How do you set up Modern?
Start by requesting a demo at getmodern.ai; the Modern team runs an onboarding call to map your current IT workflows and integrations. From there, Modern connects to your existing ITSM, HRIS, identity, and collaboration tools through native integrations, with no code required for systems like Workday, BambooHR, and Google Workspace. Describe your most common IT request in plain language and Modern generates the workflow, applies policy checks, and starts handling requests inside Slack or Teams.
Top Alternatives
- Zendesk: Zendesk offers proven multi-channel ticketing backed by a large, established app marketplace. Modern skips the ticketing queue entirely, resolving IT requests end-to-end inside Slack with no human routing step.
- Jigso: Jigso stays lightweight: a Slack-native assistant that monitors SaaS apps and surfaces alerts. Modern is the heavier build, handling full IT request automation with access management and compliance baked in.
- Hyper: Hyper solves a different problem: a context layer aggregating company tools into AI coding workflows. Modern is a full AI-native ITSM built to replace a legacy service desk outright.
HokAI guides covering Modern
- Jigso vs Modern: Which Should You Use in 2026?: Jigso pushes proactive Slack alerts for $18.99 a seat. Modern replaces the IT ticket queue via enterprise-only sales. See which job fits your team in 2026.