Ontora and ClearWork both use AI agents to interview the people who do the work. Ontora uses those interviews to find, build and measure AI initiatives, with its own engineers helping implement. ClearWork goes deep on a chosen process area, down to every step, decision, exception, system and requirement, signed off by process owners and traced to its source.
ClearWork makes one of the tools in this comparison. We've described Ontora as fairly as we can from its own site and Y Combinator pages, as of the date above. If something is out of date, tell us at [email protected].
We compared both platforms on seven criteria that matter to private equity operating teams and enterprise transformation leaders:
Ontora describes itself as "the discovery layer for AI transformation." Its AI agents hold focused conversations with the people doing the work, ask follow-up questions, and let people share their screen while they explain a task. The interviews run in parallel, and Ontora says they don't require existing documentation.
From those conversations, Ontora builds process maps that connect each step to the people, tools and evidence behind it, then produces a prioritized AI roadmap and a business case for the first initiative. Its product also keeps transcripts and knowledge documents and can feed company context into AI tools such as Claude. Unlike a pure software vendor, Ontora's engineers work with the client's team to implement the chosen initiatives and measure the return.
Ontora is a young company, founded in 2026 and backed by Y Combinator (Spring 2026), with offices in Berlin and San Francisco. Its published case study, Pilot Group, describes six AI initiatives scoped in two weeks from more than 200 employee conversations.
Best for: companies and PE portfolios whose goal is to identify and ship AI initiatives with a partner that implements them.
ClearWork is an AI discovery platform for processes and requirements. Its agent, Clarity, runs async AI interviews, by voice or chat in about 20 minutes, with the people who do the work, and people can add screen recordings to show how a task is done on screen. It also ingests the documents that already exist, so interviews fill gaps instead of repeating what's written down.
ClearWork is built for depth. Pick a process area and it goes down to the level of detail the work needs: each step and its variations, the decisions and business rules behind them, exceptions and workarounds, handoffs between roles, and the systems and data each step touches. It covers more than the process map: the same discovery produces the requirements and the system picture a change needs. When a first round leaves gaps, you run another round on the same area, and the process owners validate each one.
Findings go back to the process owners to validate and sign off, and every step in the process map, every SOP line and every requirement is traced to the person or document it came from. The outputs are current-state process maps, SOPs, requirements, traceability matrices, fit-gap analysis, and improvement and AI opportunities by role.
ClearWork doesn't run the engagement or build the solution for you. It gives your team, or the vendor and partners you choose, a confirmed starting point. Engagements start with a 30-day focus-area sprint, then move to annual contracts. Discovery takes one to four weeks depending on scope and complexity.
Best for: operating partners and transformation teams who need every step, system and requirement of a specific process area, confirmed by the people who own it.
Depth versus breadth. Ontora is built to surface AI opportunities quickly and then build them. ClearWork is built to go as deep as one process area needs: every step, decision, exception and handoff, the systems and data each step touches, and the requirements that follow. When the first round leaves gaps, you run another round on the same area until the picture is complete.
Different end products. Ontora's discovery leads to AI initiatives it helps build. ClearWork's discovery leads to documentation you own: SOPs, requirements and traceability matrices. Ontora doesn't list SOPs or system requirements among its outputs.
Existing documents. Ontora emphasizes that no documentation is needed. ClearWork ingests what already exists and uses interviews to test and complete it, which helps when a company has partial SOPs or a prior consultant's maps.
Validation. Both link findings to their sources. ClearWork adds a formal sign-off by process owners before anything enters the record.
Maturity. Ontora is new and moving quickly, so expect its product and positioning to keep changing.
Choose Ontora if your main goal is AI adoption, you want one partner to find the opportunities, build the solutions with your team and measure the result, and you don't need formal SOPs or system requirements along the way.
Choose ClearWork if you need to go deep on a specific process area: every step and exception, the systems and data behind it, and the requirements to change it, confirmed by the people who own it and refined over as many rounds as it takes. See our private equity offer, how ClearWork supports transformation teams, or how ClearWork works.
Yes. Its site says clients implement with Ontora's engineers and then measure impact against a baseline.
No. Process mining reads system event logs and task mining records desktop activity. ClearWork interviews the people who do the work, adds their screen recordings and existing documents, and produces validated, traced deliverables.
Yes. Ontora's agents interview employees and support screen sharing. ClearWork's agent, Clarity, runs async voice or chat interviews of about 20 minutes, and people can add screen recordings; both are combined with existing documents.
ClearWork. SOPs, requirements and traceability matrices are core outputs. Ontora focuses on AI roadmaps, business cases and implementation.
As deep as the process area needs: every step, decision, exception and handoff, the systems and data each step touches, and the requirements that follow. You can run further rounds on the same area until the detail is complete, and process owners validate each one.
Neither publishes prices. ClearWork starts with a 30-day focus-area sprint, followed by annual contracts.
Ontora facts were checked on November 13, 2026 at ontora.com (home, /product, /solutions/private-equity, /solutions/companies, /company/about) and on its Y Combinator company and launch pages.