HireNinja: Blog

• Scan competitor coverage from the past 1–6 weeks to spot what’s trending.
• Map audience intent: founders, e‑commerce, and tech leads choosing an agent platform.
• Identify gaps: we lack a cross‑vendor buyer’s guide.
• Do quick SEO and SERP checks around platform names and standards (A2A, MCP, AP2).
• Publish a practical comparison + a 14‑day evaluation plan with guardrails and KPIs.

Why this guide and who it’s for

2025 really is the year of the agent. Every week brings new launches and claims—great for innovation, confusing for buyers. If you lead product, engineering, or e‑commerce, this guide helps you select a platform to standardize on for the next 6–12 months, not just the next demo.

For context, mainstream outlets are framing this as a step‑change—from chat assistants to autonomous workflows that act on your behalf. That hype comes with real risks (reliability, spoofing, attribution), but the opportunity is material. citeturn0news12

The short list: four platforms you’ll hear in every RFP

• OpenAI AgentKit — Visual agent builder, ChatKit UI, evals, connector registry; designed to take agents from prototype to production on OpenAI’s stack. Ideal if you’re already on ChatGPT Enterprise or the OpenAI API and want first‑party evals and UI. citeturn9search0
• Salesforce Agentforce 360 — An enterprise agent platform baked into Customer 360/Slack with governance, hybrid reasoning, and deep GTM integrations; strong fit for sales/service ops in SFDC shops. citeturn10search4
• Google’s Project Mariner — A research‑to‑early‑access browser agent system (multi‑tasking, computer‑use) shipping via AI Ultra, Gemini API, and Vertex; compelling for browser automation and Google‑centric stacks. citeturn13search2
• Amazon Nova Act — A browser‑automation agent + SDK with IDE integrations and Bedrock tie‑ins; good for teams standardizing on AWS and needing robust, scriptable browser agents. citeturn12search6

Quick buyer snapshots

OpenAI AgentKit

Best for: product teams that want a first‑party build‑measure‑iterate loop (builder + evals) and embedded chat UIs. Standout: unified evals, visual workflows, and a connector registry simplify production hardening. Watch‑outs: plan for data governance across connectors and clear SLOs for agent actions. citeturn9search0

Salesforce Agentforce 360

Best for: companies already invested in Salesforce who want agents in Sales, Service, IT, and Slack with enterprise controls. Standout: governance and deep app surface area. Watch‑outs: vendor lock‑in and license complexity; evaluate model choice and integration costs. citeturn10search4

Google Project Mariner

Best for: teams that need safe, scalable browser agents and plan to build on Gemini API/Vertex. Standout: multi‑task computer‑use, rolling into developer surfaces. Watch‑outs: phased availability; validate latency and success rates on your critical flows. citeturn13search2turn13search5

Amazon Nova Act

Best for: AWS‑first orgs with web workflows (portals, forms, procurement) that need policy‑enforced browser automation. Standout: SDK + IDE extension and Bedrock integration. Watch‑outs: early previews require hands‑on validation and guardrails. citeturn12search6turn12search5

Open standards that reduce platform risk

• A2A (Agent‑to‑Agent): a Linux‑Foundation‑hosted protocol for agent interoperability—discover, delegate, and collaborate across vendors. If you expect multi‑agent workflows, prioritize vendors shipping A2A support. citeturn8view0
• MCP (Model Context Protocol): a fast‑maturing standard for agent‑to‑tool access (auth, structured outputs, security best practices). Prefer platforms that expose MCP so your agents can use the same tools everywhere. citeturn2search9
• AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol): Google’s open protocol for verifiable, agent‑led purchases using cryptographically signed “mandates” (intent → cart → payment). If you plan to transact, require AP2‑style proofs and audit trails. citeturn5view0

How to choose (in 10 questions)

1. Primary surface: chat UI, browser automation, API automations—or all three?
2. Governance: can you set SLOs, eval loops, and escalation policies per agent?
3. Security: does it support signed mandates, identity, and action tracing?
4. Interoperability: native A2A/MCP support, and import/export of agent definitions?
5. Observability: step traces, OpenTelemetry, red‑team logs, and replay?
6. Human‑in‑the‑loop: approvals, reversible actions, and role‑based controls?
7. Data control: tenancy, PII redaction, vaults, and bring‑your‑own‑keys?
8. Cost model: eval/browsing/tool costs; human review; infra egress; storage.
9. Ecosystem: registries/marketplaces for agents and tools; enterprise connectors.
10. Roadmap risk: GA vs preview, vendor lock‑in, and migration paths.

A 14‑day side‑by‑side evaluation plan

Run two finalists against the same tasks and KPIs. Keep humans in the loop.

1. Day 1–2: Scope & guardrails. Pick 3 real tasks (e.g., refund flow, invoice intake, restock alerts). Define success (completion rate, time‑to‑complete), risk (bad action rate), cost ($/successful task). Add AP2‑style approvals for any payment or account change. citeturn5view0
2. Day 3–6: Build. Implement once per platform. Use MCP tools where possible to keep portability high; wire OpenTelemetry traces. citeturn2search9
3. Day 7–10: Run + measure. 100 task trials per use case; capture success, latency, human interventions, and production‑like errors.
4. Day 11–12: Evals. Grade step traces, regress with test datasets, and red‑team indirect prompt injections on web data. citeturn13search5
5. Day 13–14: Decision. Compare KPI deltas and governance fit. Document migration path via A2A/MCP to reduce lock‑in. citeturn8view0turn2search9

Real‑world fits by use case

• Customer support automation: Agentforce 360 if you’re deep in Salesforce; AgentKit if you want granular evals and custom UIs; Nova Act or Mariner if your support flows live across browser‑only portals. citeturn10search4turn9search0turn12search6turn13search2
• E‑commerce tasks (restock, pricing, promotions): Mariner or Nova Act for browser actions; AgentKit where you need fast custom chat surfaces and evals; pair with AP2 for safe checkout. citeturn13search2turn12search6turn9search0turn5view0
• Sales/RevOps orchestration: Agentforce 360 for Slack + CRM loops; consider A2A to collaborate with partner/marketplace agents. citeturn10search4turn8view0

Standards and governance: non‑negotiables for 2025

We recommend you mandate three things in every RFP:

1. Interoperability: A2A + MCP support so agents talk to other agents and tools without glue code. citeturn8view0turn2search9
2. Payments trust: AP2‑style mandates any time money moves. citeturn5view0
3. AgentOps: SLOs, incident playbooks, and eval loops with trace‑level observability. If you need a primer, see our AgentOps guide.

Related playbooks from HireNinja

• Browser Agents vs API Agents (Mariner, Nova Act, AgentKit)
• Agent SEO (AEO) with NLWeb, MCP, AP2
• Agent System of Record: A2A, MCP, AgentKit
• Stop Agent Spoofing (AP2 + MCP + OTel)
• Customer Support AI Agents: What to Buy

SEO snapshot (quick)

• Primary keyword: AI agent platforms (buyer intent).
• Secondary: AgentKit, Agentforce 360, Project Mariner, Nova Act, A2A, MCP, AP2, enterprise AI agents.
• SERP leaders today: OpenAI product page (AgentKit), Salesforce press/GA posts (Agentforce 360), Google blog (Mariner), AWS posts (Nova Act), TechCrunch coverage. We target a practical compare‑and‑decide angle not covered in those announcements. citeturn9search0turn10search4turn13search2turn12search6turn0search0

Bottom line

If you want the fastest path to production with built‑in evals and UI, start with AgentKit. If your revenue stack lives in Salesforce, Agentforce 360 will feel native. If your biggest gap is reliable browser work, pilot Mariner or Nova Act. Whichever you pick, reduce lock‑in with A2A + MCP, and require AP2‑style proofs before agents touch money. citeturn9search0turn10search4turn13search2turn12search6turn8view0turn2search9turn5view0

Call to action: Need help choosing and piloting? Talk to HireNinja. We’ll run your 14‑day, two‑platform bake‑off with A2A/MCP/AP2 guardrails and deliver a go‑live checklist. Subscribe or contact us to get started.