Solution Comparison
Altify vs Backstory AI (formerly People.ai)
Altify vs Backstory AI (formerly People.ai) comes down to how each one operates inside Salesforce. Altify is the Account Planning AI Cloud, running as native Salesforce infrastructure; Backstory AI operates as a connected activity-capture layer that integrates with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Oracle.
Backstory AI is the current name for the vendor previously marketed as People.ai. That architectural difference shapes how much of the surrounding sales methodology and enablement each company supplies alongside its core product.
100% Salesforce-Native
Our solutions are 100% Salesforce-native. We provide the benefits of Salesforce’s own investment in its platform: a consistent user experience, real-time data access, scalability, infrastructure performance, data management, compliance, and security.
Because Salesforce stores account and deal records natively, that data doesn’t have to sync between two separate systems the way it does when a platform maintains its own copy outside Salesforce. Native storage removes the sync errors, data latency, and availability gaps tied to keeping two systems in agreement. That benefit applies to how Altify’s core product runs inside Salesforce.
MaxAI’s optional connections to external AI assistants (Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and ChatGPT) run through Altify’s own MCP server, a separate architecture from Altify’s core Salesforce-native storage. Confirm its exact data-handling scope directly with your Altify contact if that matters to your evaluation.
Backstory AI takes a different approach: it connects to Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Oracle as an integration layer, with its own data model running alongside each one.
AI Capabilities
MaxAI, Altify’s AI engine, runs natively inside Salesforce Agentforce. It also works inside Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and ChatGPT through Altify’s own MCP server, so the same guidance reaches sellers in whichever AI assistant their team already uses.
MaxAI filters live Salesforce data for the signals that matter most to a deal. It calls out a missing persona on a Relationship Map, a deal-risk signal, or a recommended next action, then applies Altify’s sales-methodology expertise to turn that signal into a specific coaching prompt.
Backstory AI’s AI layer works differently: it captures activity automatically across email, calls, and meetings, then answers deal-risk and forecast questions from that captured activity. MaxAI answers those same questions from data already living in Salesforce records.
Simple Salesforce Admin Reporting and Field Customization
The same Salesforce-native infrastructure that powers those AI insights also keeps admin reporting and field customization simple. Direct integration to Salesforce objects gives administrators real-time access to data inside Altify Accounts, so they can use native Salesforce report builders and object/field configuration tools without a second system to maintain.
That covers a wide range of report types, dashboard integration, report sharing, security controls, and audit trails.
Backstory AI’s reporting runs on its own platform, separate from Salesforce’s native report builders, since Backstory connects to Salesforce as an integration layer sitting alongside it.
Comprehensive Revenue Enablement Services
Software and admin infrastructure only cover a rollout so far. Revenue Enablement Services close that gap with virtual and on-site workshops and training, change management support, and sales best-practice coaching, delivered by Altify’s consultants and managed services teams.
Backstory AI’s own materials center on activity capture and generated answers; they don’t describe an equivalent enablement services program.
Embedded Sales Methodology
Enablement services reinforce a methodology; Altify also supplies the methodology itself.
We built Target Account Selling (TAS), our own IP, and embed it through Altify Sales Process. During implementation, we can also configure Altify around a team’s own existing methodology, such as MEDDIC, MEDDPICC, or Sandler.
Backstory AI takes the opposite starting point: it qualifies opportunities against frameworks a team already uses, such as MEDDPICC, without supplying a proprietary methodology of its own the way TAS does.
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions below cover the decisions those five differentiators most often feed into.
If you’re using Salesforce for your CRM, use a deal and account management solution that runs on native Salesforce infrastructure. That centralizes your data in one place, with one source of truth, and gives you the benefits of Salesforce’s own data infrastructure and security while you scale account management practices across your Revenue Team.
A solution outside Salesforce typically means data has to sync across two systems on a schedule or trigger; validate how often that sync runs and how conflicts between the two records get resolved before you commit.
Yes. MaxAI, Altify’s AI engine, runs natively inside Salesforce Agentforce and also works inside Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and ChatGPT through Altify’s own MCP server. It automates account research, finds missing key contacts on your Relationship Maps, and surfaces deal and account insights, so your sales team spends less time on administrative work and more time selling.
Software that reinforces selling best practices through a tech-supported sales methodology helps your sales team build larger deals, grow key accounts, and win more revenue over time.
Yes. Enablement is what keeps adoption compounding after rollout. Altify Revenue Enablement Services build seller skills and manager coaching effectiveness for your Revenue Team, establish a baseline to measure growth, and shift what you track from usage alone to outcomes like sales velocity, attachment rates, and customer lifetime value.
Testimonials
What Customers Say
Teams already running Altify natively inside Salesforce describe the difference in their own words.
Great account planning tool, achieving team collaboration
Altify provides easy access to account plans with a user friendly interface embedded in Salesforce. Ability to identify a strategy for relationship building within an account. Working with the implementation team and dedicated Success Manager has increased utilization throughout the users and provided proper support for the Sales Operation.
Gregg W.
Sr. Director, Global Sales Operations, Sales Onboarding & Education
Streamlining account planning across our Enterprise Sales Segments
The Altify Account Manager software is easy to use and configurable throughout the entire application, meeting our Enterprise sales team’s needs. It is a simple and organized experience to conduct account planning. Altify Account Manager integrates with Salesforce objects such as contacts, opportunities, and tasks, reducing duplication and entry, and it is a bi-directional sync with Salesforce.
Katy M.
Enterprise Sales Leader
Tool for Building Trust with B2B Clients
Altify has given our go-to-market team an easy-to-use, collaborative platform, native to Salesforce CRM (where they live), that allows them to manage every aspect of the trust equation. What are the key insights we learn about clients, and who are the people we need to build trust with? Where are the pockets of opportunities we can push on and develop over time? And more importantly, give the account/territory leader a collaborative platform to bring all the internal selling constituents into alignment, remove obstacles, and measure success.
Billy M.
Enterprise Sales Leader
Improved deal discipline with effective opportunity management
The methodology, structure, and process are easy to follow and have effectively increased win rates. It also serves as a way to identify earlier when to move on and not sink more time than required on deals that cannot be won or the payoff is not aligned with the amount of time and resources required to win.
Steve G.
Vice President Advanced Solutions Sales
Chosen by Teams That Execute and Deliver Results
