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Pally vs Poke
The two assistants that live in your texts, and how to choose between them.
If you've decided you want an assistant you can text instead of another app to open, you've probably narrowed it down to Poke or Pally. Good news: both got the big thing right. Poke lives in Apple Messages, WhatsApp, and Telegram, connects to your email, calendar, and 30+ apps, and runs scheduled recipes and background automations. Pally lives in the thread your phone opens most. Just text a number, and it pulls your messages, email, calendar, files, tasks, and the web into that one conversation.
The difference is in the feel, and in what happens after you hit send. Texting Pally feels like texting a person, typing indicators, read receipts and all; Poke's Apple Messages channel goes without them. And where Poke is built around chat and automations across your connected apps, Pally is built to finish things: it watches the inboxes you connect, including your own WhatsApp, completes web bookings and purchases you approve, and makes real phone calls on Max.
Status: Poke was acquired by Cognition in July 2026. The assistant and its pricing remain live.
The short version
So, Poke or Pally?
The case for Poke
The clean way to choose: if you want to message your assistant over WhatsApp or Telegram, pick Poke. It treats those apps as home, and it's a polished product with a cheaper Pro tier.
Visit PokeThe case for Pally
Otherwise, pick Pally. The conversation feels more natural, with typing indicators and read receipts where Poke's Apple channel has neither. And Pally goes further after you hit send: it watches your inboxes including your own WhatsApp, it's an assistant you can call and one that calls people for you on Max, and it takes a text like "find me a flight and book it" all the way to booked.
Feature by feature
What each assistant can actually do.
| Feature | Poke | Pally |
|---|---|---|
| Email triage and alerts | YesEmail and calendar connections start on the free plan. | YesFlags what needs you, summarizes the rest, alerts you in your texts. |
| Calendar and scheduling | YesCalendar connections, scheduling, tasks, and reminders. | YesChecks availability, books and moves events, preps your day. |
| Daily brief | YesScheduled recipes can send you digests. | YesA morning brief across email, calendar, and messages, on every plan. |
| Native texting feel | PartialApple Messages, but without read receipts or typing indicators. | YesNative texts on iPhone and Android, typing indicators and read receipts included. |
| Your WhatsApp, watched | NoWhatsApp is a place to text Poke, not an inbox it manages for you. | YesConnect your own WhatsApp: catch-ups, alerts, approved replies. |
| Real phone calls | NoVoice notes, not calls made on your behalf. | YesOn Max: a number you can call, and it calls businesses for you. |
| Shopping and checkout | NoPoke works across your connected apps. It doesn't shop or check out for you. | YesFinds it, compares prices, and completes checkout you approve. |
| Travel and flights | Not a focusPoke doesn't find or book flights. | YesFlight search, price watching, flight-day alerts, and check-in. |
| Location reminders | Not a focusReminders tied to places aren't something Poke does. | YesReminders pinned to places, firing when you actually arrive. |
| People memory | PartialPoke remembers context. It doesn't keep a profile of each person in your life. | YesRemembers the people in your life and what matters to them. |
Credit where it is due
Where Poke shines.
Genuinely texting-native
Poke isn't a dashboard with notifications bolted on. Messaging is the whole interface, and with WhatsApp and Telegram in the mix, you can reach it from more chat apps than most assistants.
Automations you can see and name
Poke Recipes give repeated requests a visible identity. If you like the feeling of building a little system, scheduling it, and watching it run, Poke makes that genuinely satisfying.
A cheaper Pro tier
Poke Pro costs $19 a month, less than Pally Pro. If your channels and needs fit inside what Poke covers, that difference is real money over a year.
Big backing
Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent, acquired Poke in July 2026. The product is live and now has the resources of a much larger AI company behind it.
Different by design
Where Pally is different.
A contact in WhatsApp, or your WhatsApp handled
You can text Poke from WhatsApp the way you'd text any contact. Pally goes the other direction: connect your own WhatsApp and it catches you up on what you missed, flags what needs you, and drafts replies you approve, right alongside your email and calendar.
Texts that end in phone calls
Pally Max gives you an assistant with its own phone number: you can call it, and it can call the restaurant, the contractor, or the clinic for you and report back. Poke's world is voice notes and digital automations. It doesn't pick up the phone.
The open web, not just your apps
Both can act across connected apps. Pally also researches the live web on your behalf, and it completes real bookings and purchases, showing you exactly what it's about to do before it does it.
Telling you versus handling it
Poke is proactive too, and its recipes are a genuinely nice way to make automations feel like yours. The difference is what proactive gets you. Poke tells you what's happening in your apps. Pally picks the loose end up: the message you forgot to answer arrives with a draft, the thing you promised Sam comes back with a plan.
Pricing
Compare the plan, not just the price.
Poke pricing
Poke has a free plan, Pro at $19 a month, and Ultra at $199 a month.
Check Poke's latest pricingAs of August 5, 2026
Pally pricing
- Free$0
- Pro$25/mo (or $250/yr - 2 months free)
- Max$200/mo (or $2,000/yr - 2 months free)
Questions
Pally vs Poke FAQ.
Is Poke cheaper than Pally?+
Poke Pro is $19 a month, Pally Pro is $25. Both have free plans, so the cheapest honest answer is to try both free tiers and see which one you keep texting.
Do Poke and Pally both work without an app?+
Yes. Neither asks you to install anything, and both talk to you over the texts you already use. Pally also connects your own WhatsApp as an inbox it watches for you.
What happened to Poke?+
Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent, acquired Poke in July 2026. The product is still live and sold on its own site. Cognition's main business is coding agents, so where Poke goes next is an open question.