7 platforms for giving AI agents business data and tools

Our recommendation: Combined for the business-data foundation

Start with Combined when your agent needs to decide which customers, deals or invoices matter. It gives the agent queryable business records, source freshness and SQL calculations across connected apps. For a workflow such as prioritizing CRM accounts using billing activity, that is the foundation we recommend. See why Combined leads this shortlist.

We build Combined. This shortlist starts with business-data decisions, then covers the action platforms that can carry those decisions into SaaS applications. We prioritize useful source context, the work your team must operate, scoped access and the required operations. If the whole task is creating or changing a record, start with the relevant action specialist instead.

Evaluating which tools combine data ingestion, storage and AI agent access? Start with the Combined row and the business-data selection exercise. It asks what records the agent needs, who keeps them current and how it calculates the answer. If you already have that data layer, evaluate the additional tool and authorization work your project requires.

Replacing an existing tool layer? Our Composio alternatives guide maps the capabilities to keep, replace or combine. If your shortlist is already down to two integration products, read Composio versus Nango for the difference between session tools, sync functions and a managed SQL data layer.

Combined: our pick for business data behind agent decisions

Choose Combined when your agent needs to understand the business before it takes action. It connects business sources, maintains the selected records and gives your existing agent a scoped SQL interface. Your team can build customer analysis, revenue reporting and account prioritization without separately operating the ingestion, storage and MCP query service. Source setup, Combined MCP tools.

The reason to put Combined first is the question behind the workflow: which customers need attention, what changed in the pipeline, or how much revenue belongs to each account? Schema discovery, joins, aggregates and explicit source freshness make those questions repeatable. For example, join HubSpot opportunities to Stripe invoices before deciding which accounts deserve a follow-up.

• Connect the business sources and datasets your question needs.
• Let the agent discover fields and calculate across the permitted records with read-only SQL.
• Keep the source freshness and calculation with the answer, so the next decision has a clear basis.

For CRM updates or other write operations, pair that result with the relevant action tool. Composio and the specialists below cover that part of the workflow. Combined is the recommended starting point here for the business-data foundation. See the Combined–Composio comparison and the HubSpot–Stripe walkthrough.

Start with one question about your own business. Try Combined with your first source. The initial 5-million-MAR allowance requires no card; afterward, pricing is $5 per million MAR with no monthly minimum. See pricing.

Composio: broad tool discovery and app actions

Composio centers a run on a user-scoped session. The session brings together connected accounts, authentication and tool execution, while meta tools let the agent discover relevant operations as the task develops. A direct-tools preset is available when the allowed toolset is already known. This makes Composio a useful action-layer option when an agent needs to operate several applications. Session architecture.

Configure the actual surface rather than treating the whole catalog as the agent's job description. Composio documents toolkit allowlists, individual-tool filters and behavior tags. Its sandbox is a separate control to review. The tradeoff is the design work around what the agent may do, which user account it uses and how the workflow verifies success. Session configuration, Restricted-session controls.

Pipedream Connect: embedded integration building blocks

Pipedream's MCP developer path includes managed user account connections and a remote server. Requests carry the application's external user identity and project environment; custom tools can extend the public integration surface. Put it near the top when a polished connection flow inside your application matters as much as the agent's tool call. Pipedream MCP developer guide.

During evaluation, use the production configuration you intend to ship and a user with more than one account for the same provider. Confirm that the correct account is selected and that reconnecting one customer does not alter another customer's behavior. These are acceptance checks, not reported Pipedream failures. For the data-layer decision, see Combined versus Pipedream Connect.

Arcade: authorization as a tool-level concern

Arcade handles authorization required by tools, including OAuth, API keys and user tokens. The developer can check authorization, obtain a user approval flow and then execute the tool for that user. Custom tools declare their authorization provider and required scopes. This is a strong choice when correctly connecting a particular operation to a particular user's authority is the main engineering requirement. Authorized tool calling, Custom tool authorization.

Keep application approval separate from OAuth. A user granting a service scope does not by itself decide whether a particular invoice should be sent or record changed. Your workflow should still define the business decision and the confirmation experience appropriate to that operation.

Paragon ActionKit: agent tools inside a broader integration experience

Paragon's ActionKit combines tools and triggers. Its documented surface includes list/search operations, a common filtering schema and the ability to refresh user-specific dynamic fields. It can power agent calls, an embedded workflow builder or ordinary interface features that use connected app data. Rank it higher when those integration experiences share one product roadmap. ActionKit.

Paragon also offers Managed Sync, so evaluate it as an ingestion contender when your product needs stored records. Your application's data model and query experience still need a design. Combined versus Paragon separates that downstream work from the pieces Paragon already manages.

Nango: integration behavior in code

Nango Functions run TypeScript integration logic with credentials scoped to a connection. They can execute on demand, on schedules or in response to webhooks; selected functions can become API or MCP tools. Nango also provides infrastructure such as retries, logs and records storage. Functions guide.

Its agent sessions, reviewed September 16, expose tenant-scoped MCP endpoints with tool search and execution. Agent sessions support action functions; sync functions use the separate sync path. Runtime discovery is therefore available in both Nango and Composio.

Move Nango higher if a connector's unusual behavior is part of your product advantage and your engineers want to own it. Keep it lower if maintaining provider-specific logic is exactly the work you are trying to remove. The distinction is ownership, not whether Nango supplies an integration runtime. Combined versus Nango.

Workato: turn existing enterprise workflows into agent tools

Workato can create remote MCP servers from project assets, API collections or external MCP servers. For an organization with useful recipes and established operational controls, that existing work is a reason to put Workato first in its own evaluation. Its position here reflects the assumed new product team without that installed base. MCP servers.

Check the identity path for the precise recipe. Verified-user access has documented restrictions, including behavior for nested recipe functions. Workato also offers Enterprise Context MCP for governed knowledge search and relationship traversal; current access is selective. Verified-user access, Enterprise Context MCP.

Choose a platform with one business-data question

Start with an answer you will use: “Which companies have open opportunities, what have they paid in the selected period, and which accounts have unresolved support conversations?” CRM, billing and support each supply different records. Define the customer map and reporting period before choosing the tool calls.

1. Identify the inputs. List the provider accounts, required objects and fields, reporting currency and maximum acceptable age of each source.
2. Assign the work. Record who handles authorization, ingestion, storage, customer mapping, query execution and ongoing failures. Include infrastructure you already operate.
3. Check one calculation. Run the CRM/billing fixture, inspect unmatched records and verify that multiple deals and invoices do not multiply totals. Evaluate support counts separately before combining results at the customer level.
4. Add the operation. If the result should trigger a CRM update or message, evaluate that action's account, fields and approval flow after the business-data answer is correct.

Download the business-data platform selection worksheet. It includes component ownership, answer checks and monthly usage inputs, with blank fields for your own results. It is an evaluation template, not a completed benchmark of these seven platforms.

The free business-data MCP planner turns your selected apps and analysis into relevant guides, mapping checks and an agent assignment. Save the plan as Markdown or JSON. Start from the HubSpot, Stripe and Intercom sample plan or explore the interactive HubSpot–Stripe join exercise. These planning tools require no account or customer-data upload.

Choose Combined to put that business-data plan into practice. Connect the selected sources, complete their sync and grant your agent access to the datasets needed for the question. The source setup guide takes you from the plan to the first queryable records.

Give every candidate the same action test

Pick one reversible test operation available in the connected test application. A useful example is creating one follow-up task for a specified CRM record. Define the intended account, record, fields and completion evidence before trying a platform.

1. Connect two test users and, for one user, two provider accounts. Confirm the intended account for the operation.
2. Expose only the selected read and create operations. Ask the agent to preview the proposed change and the record it targets.
3. Approve that test change, execute it once and read the resulting provider record back.
4. Exercise a retry path in a controlled test. Record the platform/provider behavior instead of assuming the operation is idempotent.
5. Revoke the connection and check that a new call no longer succeeds. Retain the scope, response and record ID as the evaluation receipt.

This is a reusable evaluation procedure. The rankings above do not imply these tests were run against each vendor.

Give the agent a calculation worth acting on

“Create a follow-up task” is straightforward once someone has chosen the customer. “Choose the accounts with large open opportunities and unpaid invoices” needs a defined population, matching customer identities and correct arithmetic first.

Combined gives the agent managed, synced business records and read-only SQL for that decision. Use the HubSpot–Stripe example to shape the calculation, then hand only the approved result to the action workflow. This is an architecture pattern; the exact agent's ability to use both connections still needs to be validated. Combined versus Composio walks through the split.

Start with the evidence behind the action. See how Combined connects your business data and try one useful question with your first source. The initial 5-million-MAR allowance requires no card. Pricing.

Sources and further reading

Explore the documentation behind this guide. Product details checked on September 16, 2026.

• Combined MCP tools
• Combined source setup
• Business-data platform selection worksheet
• Default business-data planner output
• Session architecture
• Session configuration
• Restricted-session controls
• Pipedream MCP developer guide
• Authorized tool calling
• Custom tool authorization
• ActionKit
• Functions guide
• Nango agent sessions
• MCP servers
• Verified-user access
• Enterprise Context MCP
• Pricing