Mainstay review

Mainstay, which began as AdmitHub, is less a help desk bot than an AI coach that texts students. Its platform page describes a coach for every student, with proactive messages that the vendor says prompt 70% of learner texts, a Conversation Copilot for staff, and insight dashboards with sentiment analysis so leaders can hear from the students who never email. Conversations follow Mainstay's SPARK model and pre-built libraries informed by behavioral science, and it runs on SMS, live chat, web chat and social media. Mainstay points to Georgia State's work on summer melt and retention, and Cal Poly Pomona staff supporting over 10,000 students weekly. The company has converted to a nonprofit and joined Lemnis. Mainstay does not publish pricing, and it fits outreach and persistence goals better than a catalog-style website Q&A bot.

Who it is for

Student success teams focused on summer melt, persistence and proactive outreach by text.

Price

See vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

• AI success coaching delivered by text message to each student's phone
• Conversation Copilot that helps staff reply faster
• Insight dashboards with sentiment analysis across student conversations
• SPARK model and pre-built conversation libraries based on behavioral research
• Channels including SMS, live chat, web chat and social media

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Research partnerships and published outcomes such as Georgia State's summer melt work
• Strength: Proactive outreach, not only answers to inbound questions
• Strength: Expert services help design the conversation strategy
• Weakness: No published prices
• Weakness: Built around texting and coaching more than a full website Q&A bot
• Weakness: Now a nonprofit inside Lemnis, so buyers should confirm product roadmap

Key facts

• Former name: AdmitHub
• Proactive share: 70% of learner texts reply to a proactive text, per the vendor
• Ownership: Nonprofit, part of Lemnis

Where it ranks

Mainstay is No. 5 in our Best Higher Education Chatbots verdict.