---
title: "What is the difference between ‘No Reply Needed’ and ‘Close Conversation?’"
slug: "what-is-the-difference-between-no-reply-needed-and-close-conversation"
description: "You have multiple options to specify Action in a Rule for a Conversation but let's point out the difference between two seemingly similar Actions."
updated: 2026-04-30T16:39:03Z
published: 2026-04-30T16:39:03Z
canonical: "help.gladly.com/what-is-the-difference-between-no-reply-needed-and-close-conversation"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gladly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is the difference between ‘No Reply Needed’ and ‘Close Conversation?’

You have multiple options to specify Action(s) in a Rule for a Conversation, but let's point out the difference between two seemingly similar Actions:

- [Close Conversation](https://help.gladly.com/docs/close-a-conversation)
- [No Reply Needed](https://help.gladly.com/docs/mark-a-conversation-as-no-reply-needed)

![Menu options for closing conversations and marking no reply needed in a chat interface.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/No-Reply.png)

> [!WARNING]
> Rules do not apply to closed Conversations
> 
> Rules will not trigger actions on closed Conversations.

## Close Conversation

Use **Close Conversation** Rule *Action* if you want to indicate that no other follow-up or communication is needed with the Customer. It means the issue/question is solved.

## Mark No Reply Needed

Use **No Reply Needed** Rule *Action* if the issue/question is not solved but may not require a reply from an Agent.

For example, if the Customer replies with "thank you" to acknowledge the last message the Agent sent about further researching an issue, the issue/question is still open, but it doesn't require the Agent to respond. Marking the Conversation as *No Reply Needed* stops the SLA, which tracks how long it takes for Agents to reply to a Customer.

- **Best practice –**If you are using *Mark No Reply Needed* in a Rule to clear the SLA on a spam or auto-closed Conversation, always pair it with the *Close Conversation* Action. Without *Close Conversation*, the Conversation remains in a Waiting state indefinitely. Conversations in Waiting status do not appear in active queues, cannot be acted on by Agents, and can accumulate over time, leading to inflated open Conversation counts and potential reporting blind spots.

If your goal is simply to close the Conversation, you can use *Close Conversation* alone. Closing a Conversation also fulfills the SLA, so *Mark No Reply Needed* is not required as a prerequisite for closing.

You don't need to use [No Reply Needed](https://help.gladly.com/docs/mark-a-conversation-as-no-reply-needed) in order to close a Conversation with Rules as it's duplicative.