Can I migrate from a unified API without disrupting my customers?

Yes. Ampersand supports OAuth token import, so your existing customers don't need to re-authenticate. You can migrate integrations incrementally. Start with one connector and expand over time.

Does Ampersand support the same integrations as unified APIs?

Ampersand covers a number of categories, including CRM, ERP, HRIS, ticketing, marketing, and more. Unified API providers often focus on broad coverage across categories; Ampersand has deep coverage in CRM, ERP, and GTM systems. If you need a connector Ampersand doesn't have, their team can build it quickly.

What does "sub-second webhooks" actually mean?

When data changes in your customer's CRM or ERP, Ampersand's event-driven architecture detects and delivers that change to your application in under one second. This is critical for AI agents, voice products, and real-time workflows.

How does pricing work at scale?

Ampersand prices on actions. You pay for the infrastructure, not per customer connection. Unified APIs typically charge per linked account or API call.

What if I need custom objects in Salesforce or NetSuite?

Ampersand supports custom objects and custom fields natively on every tier. You can read, write, and sync any object — standard or custom — without workarounds.

Is Ampersand suitable for AI and agentic use cases?

Ampersand was built with AI agents in mind by providing sub-second webhooks across a number of providers. Additionally, the declarative YAML format is machine-readable and machine-writable. Ampersand works well when paired with your favorite coding agent.

Integration Infrastructure Comparison

Ampersand vs Unified APIs: Integration Infrastructure vs Abstraction

Ampersand delivers real-time, native integrations for AI agents and enterprise workflows. Unified APIs offer broad coverage with a single abstraction layer. Here's how they compare for teams building integrations that enterprise customers actually need.

Talk to an engineer Read the docs

TL;DR — The Key Differences

Ampersand gives you native API access with full custom object and field support on every plan. No abstraction layer to bypass. Read and write any object or field, standard or custom.
Ampersand is the native integration infrastructure for AI agents. Sub-second webhooks for all tiers, agentic tools for integration maintenance, and declarative config that agents can read and write make Ampersand agent-ready out of the box. Polling-based unified APIs can leave agents acting on stale data or introduce latency into workflows that require real-time reads and actions if native webhooks are not available.
Ampersand lets you own and export your OAuth credentials . Many unified API platforms manage customer OAuth credentials on your behalf, though some vendors support customer-managed credential storage.
Ampersand delivers sub-second webhooks via event-driven architecture which is critical for AI agents, voice products, and real-time workflows. Real-time behavior in unified APIs varies by provider and object. Where native webhooks aren't available, vendors may fall back to scheduled syncs or polling.
Ampersand prices off infrastructure consumption. Unified APIs typically charge per linked account, API call, or a mix of various dimensions.
Ampersand is built as a declarative framework to make your product integrations extensible, bi-directional, and configurable by your customers. Unified APIs normalize data into common models. Vendor-specific objects and capabilities that fall outside those models may require custom-object abstractions, raw fields, metadata APIs, or passthrough requests.

Where Ampersand wins

The advantages that matter most when you're selling to mid-market and enterprise customers.

Sub-second real-time sync

Ampersand delivers near-instant event notifications through Subscribe Actions on supported providers. Unified API architectures vary: some rely on scheduled synchronization, while others provide live API access or native webhooks. Where polling or scheduled syncs are required, data latency can make conversational AI, voice agents, and other real-time workflows harder to support.
Full custom object support

Ampersand lets you read and write any object or field — standard or custom — on every tier. Unified APIs normalize data into common models with varied practices to manage custom objects.
Built for AI agents

Ampersand's Declarative YAML configs are machine-writable, making building alongside your agent in Claude Code or Cursor simple.
Declarative, version-controlled

Ampersand lets you define integrations in amp.yaml files that live in Git, integrate with CI/CD, and go through pull requests. Your infrastructure team works in the same workflow as everything else. No context-switching to a separate dashboard.
Transparent, predictable pricing

Ampersand prices on infrastructure consumption. Unified APIs typically charge by linked account, API calls, or other dimensions.

What Customers Say

"Using Ampersand, we cut Julian's response time from 60 seconds to 5."

Muizz Matemilola, Engineering — 11x

"We chose Ampersand because we want to build an integration that we don't need to rebuild, and we want to meaningfully accelerate our upmarket journey."

Kshitij Grover, CTO — Orb

"Ampersand is the first developer platform that gets it right."

Eric Engoron, Engineering — Clay

"Ampersand is core to how we grow."

John Peña, CTO — Hatch (acq. by Yelp)

"Ampersand is helping Square connect to more upmarket Sellers, driving strong revenue growth."

Max Friz, Partnerships Lead — Square

When to Choose Each Platform

We believe in being honest. These tools solve different problems — most teams will eventually want both.

Choose Unified APIs When You Need…

Standardized integrations across categories
Common-model use cases where normalized cross-provider access is more important than provider-specific API depth
Quick setup for customers with vanilla configurations
A single unified API for category-wide coverage
Batch data sync and calls where latency may be acceptable

Choose Ampersand When You Need…

Deep CRM/ERP integrations with custom objects and fields
Real-time, sub-second data for AI agents
Per-customer field mappings for every tier
Bi-directional sync with conflict resolution
Infrastructure consumption-based pricing
Declarative config that AI coding agents can understand
Mid-market and enterprise customers with complex systems
An integration you don't need to rebuild as you scale

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I migrate from a unified API without disrupting my customers?

Yes. Ampersand supports OAuth token import, so your existing customers don't need to re-authenticate. You can migrate integrations incrementally. Start with one connector and expand over time.
Does Ampersand support the same integrations as unified APIs?

Ampersand covers a number of categories, including CRM, ERP, HRIS, ticketing, marketing, and more. Unified API providers often focus on broad coverage across categories; Ampersand has deep coverage in CRM, ERP, and GTM systems. If you need a connector Ampersand doesn't have, their team can build it quickly.
What does "sub-second webhooks" actually mean?

When data changes in your customer's CRM or ERP, Ampersand's event-driven architecture detects and delivers that change to your application in under one second. This is critical for AI agents, voice products, and real-time workflows.
How does pricing work at scale?

Ampersand prices on actions. You pay for the infrastructure, not per customer connection. Unified APIs typically charge per linked account or API call.
What if I need custom objects in Salesforce or NetSuite?

Ampersand supports custom objects and custom fields natively on every tier. You can read, write, and sync any object — standard or custom — without workarounds.
Is Ampersand suitable for AI and agentic use cases?

Ampersand was built with AI agents in mind by providing sub-second webhooks across a number of providers. Additionally, the declarative YAML format is machine-readable and machine-writable. Ampersand works well when paired with your favorite coding agent.