SignalScope Competitor snapshot Competitor Snapshot · USD 69
Relay: the quiet move into the tier you own
One competitor, read from public evidence over 90 days. What changed, what it signals, and what needs an answer before your next planning cycle.
You asked for a read on Relay because they turned up in three lost deals last quarter. The interesting thing is not that they are winning deals. It is that every public change they have made since June points at the mid-market tier you have had to yourself, and none of it has been announced.
Relay has repriced, opened a partner programme, hired against a role profile they have never hired for, and quietly removed the seat cap from their middle plan. Individually each is routine. Together they describe a deliberate move up-market into your segment, roughly two quarters out.
Profile
Who Relay is today
Founded 2021, roughly 85 people by headcount on public profiles, three funding rounds with the most recent announced in March 2026. Positioned as a support inbox for high volume consumer teams.
The public thesis has been consistent for two years: be the cheapest credible option for a support team of five to twenty, win on time to first value, and stay out of procurement. Everything in section 02 is a departure from that thesis, which is why this brief exists.
| Dimension | Relay, as stated publicly | Semble, for comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Stated customer | Consumer support teams, 5 to 20 agents | B2B support and success, 15 to 120 agents |
| Entry price | USD 24 per agent | USD 39 per agent |
| Value metric | Agents | Agents, with a resolution tier above 200 |
| Deployment | Self serve only, no sales contact | Self serve to 25 agents, then sales |
| Security posture | SOC 2 Type I, published | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 |
| Public integrations | 18 | 34 |
| Stated differentiator | Live in an afternoon | Resolution quality on complex queues |
The row that matters is security. It is the one gap Relay cannot close quietly, and it is the one that decides deals above roughly 60 seats.
Movement
What actually changed
Every entry is dated from the public record and carries its source. Changes noticed but not datable are excluded rather than estimated.
- 3 Jul 2026
Seat cap removed from the Team plan
The pricing page stopped listing a 20 agent ceiling on the middle tier. No announcement, no changelog entry. The cap had been in place since launch and was the main reason larger teams moved off Relay.
Pricing page, captured 2 Jul and 4 Jul
- 21 Jul 2026
Nine roles opened, six enterprise facing
Solutions engineer, two enterprise account executives, a security compliance manager, a partner manager and a technical writer for documentation. Relay has never previously advertised a solutions engineer or a compliance manager.
Careers page and three job boards
- 12 Aug 2026
Partner programme page published
Referral tiers, a co-sell motion and a listed margin. Aimed at implementation agencies, which is a channel that only pays back on larger contracts.
relay.example/partners, first indexed 12 Aug
- 4 Sep 2026
Annual billing discount raised from 10 to 20 percent
Effective price at 50 agents falls roughly 18 percent against July. The headline per agent price did not move, so this does not appear as a price cut anywhere.
Pricing page and checkout flow
- 18 Sep 2026
SOC 2 Type II listed as in progress
A trust page now shows Type II observation underway. Type II typically completes three to twelve months after observation starts, which sets the outer bound on the timing in the verdict.
Trust centre page
Five entries, none of them announced through a blog post, a launch or a press release. A competitor that is moving quietly is usually moving deliberately.
Packaging
Where the two of you now overlap
Effective annual cost per agent at three team sizes, after the September discount change. Bands show the spread between the cheapest and most expensive plan that a team of that size could reasonably buy.
Relay's price stops climbing because they have nothing above the Team plan. That is a gap today and a weapon the moment they fill it, because the buyer will anchor on the flat number they have already seen.
| Relay | Semble | |
|---|---|---|
| SSO and SCIM | SSO only | Both |
| Audit log export | Not offered | Standard |
| SOC 2 Type II | In progress | Held |
| Data residency choice | US only | US and EU |
| Published uptime SLA | None | 99.9 |
| Implementation support | Hiring for it | Included above 25 |
| Time to first value | Same day | 3 to 10 days |
| Effective price, 50 agents | Lower | Higher |
You hold six of eight. Five of the six are exactly the items Relay's new compliance manager and solutions engineer hires exist to close, and none of them take more than three quarters to close with funding.
Reading
What this most likely means
Three readings of the same evidence, with what would confirm or kill each. The first is the one the evidence best supports, which is not the same as the one that is true.
A deliberate move up-market
Cap removed, enterprise hires, partner channel, annual discount, Type II started. Five independent signals pointing the same way inside 90 days is a strategy, not a coincidence.
Defending against churn at the top of their base
The same moves fit a company whose best customers were outgrowing the seat cap and leaving. This version is less dangerous to you, because it stops at retention.
Preparing for an acquisition or a raise
Compliance and partner pages are common pre-diligence tidy-ups. It does not fit the enterprise AE hires, which are expensive and slow to unwind.
Action
What needs an answer, and by when
Nothing here says change your roadmap. It says close three questions before the next planning cycle, because if the first reading is right you will want the answers already written down.
- This week
Re-read the three lost deals against this
You lost them on price, or you lost them on time to value. The two require completely different responses and your own notes already contain the answer.
- Within a month
Decide your floor at 50 agents
Relay's effective annual price at 50 is now inside your range. Decide in advance what you will and will not match, because the decision gets made badly in a live deal.
- Within a month
Put security in the first call, not the third
Audit log, data residency and Type II are the six of eight you hold. They currently appear late in your cycle, which is after the price anchor has already been set.
- Ongoing
Monitor four pages, not the whole company
Pricing, trust centre, careers and partners. Every change in this brief came from one of those four, and nothing of value came from their blog or their social accounts.
- A Business or Enterprise tier appears on the pricing page
- SOC 2 Type II completes and is published
- A named enterprise logo appears in their customer list
- Data residency outside the US is offered
- An audit log or SIEM export ships
- The partner programme lists its first implementation agency