The best Pally alternatives

Pally is a free personal assistant with its own number and email address, phone calls both ways and a browser it uses for you. If you need it for a team, in your Slack channels or your calls, or with your data kept out of training, look at these.

Updated 31 October 2026. Every option is checked against its own site; sources are at the foot of the page.

Why look past Pally

What Pally doesn't do.

One Pally per person

Each person has their own Pally, and Trusted Pals lets two people's Pallys coordinate. There's no team workspace that we could find.

It trains on your data

Its privacy policy says it uses your data to train its models unless you opt out.

It reads recordings, it doesn't join calls

Pally reads Granola, Fathom, Fireflies and Plaud recordings; we couldn't find it joining a call.

Slack is an app it reads

You connect Slack for Pally to read; it isn't a channel where your team talks to it.

At a glance

7 Pally alternatives, side by side.

Option	Best for	Where it works	Price
Cicada	Anyone whose work happens in chats: a team, a group, or one person who wants an agent in their messages, apps and meetings.	iMessage and WhatsApp (one-to-one and group chats), Slack, email and a web app	300 free credits to start with a card at sign-up, then $25 for 200 credits when you run low, or plans from $99 a month. Credits are shared across the workspace and roll over.
Poke	One person who wants a proactive assistant in their texts, free to start.	iMessage, WhatsApp and Telegram	Free; Pro $19 a month; Ultra $199 a month, which adds Poke Human, a real person for calls and orders
Muse	One person in the US, Canada, Japan or Singapore who wants a free agent for errands, shopping and their own Facebook and Instagram business accounts.	The Muse app (iOS and Android), muse.ai and WhatsApp one-to-one	Free for most use, with paid subscriptions for more; in the US and Canada, and since late October in Japan and Singapore
Lindy	People who work in Slack, iMessage and Gmail and want meeting notes.	iMessage and SMS, Slack, email, meetings and a Chrome extension	Free to try with $50 of credits for 7 days; Team from $49.99 a month for every active user, credits pooled; Enterprise priced on request
Claude Duet	Claude users in the US who want a proactive personal agent running Opus 5.5 for $20 a month.	Its own app on iOS and Android, and claude.ai on the web	Included in Claude Pro ($20 a month), Max ($100) and Ultra ($200), sharing their usage limits; US only, by waitlist
Instinct	One person who wants errands, shopping and travel handled, and can wait for a place.	Text or call it (reviewers describe iMessage and WhatsApp), plus a web workspace for settings	In beta, with a waitlist described in its terms; no public pricing
OpenClaw	A technical person who wants an agent on their own hardware, with the model of their choice.	29 chat apps, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal and iMessage, in DMs and group chats	Free and open source (MIT), with no hosted or paid tier; you pay for your model, your machine and any extra services

Cicada

by Cicada Labs

Built for a team: every person gets their own agents, a coordinator splits big jobs between specialists, and what one agent learns the whole workspace knows. It's in Slack channels as well as iMessage and WhatsApp groups, joins your calls, and workspace content isn't used to train models.

What it is: AI agents you text on iMessage and WhatsApp, mention in Slack or email, and add to your group chats, where they keep every message and file and follow up on what people promised.
Where it works: iMessage and WhatsApp (one-to-one and group chats), Slack, email and a web app
What it costs: 300 free credits to start with a card at sign-up, then $25 for 200 credits when you run low, or plans from $99 a month. Credits are shared across the workspace and roll over.
Worth knowing: Built for work rather than personal shopping and errands, and phone calls are switched off for now.

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Poke

by The Interaction Company of California, now joining Cognition

The closest free personal assistant: proactive, in iMessage, WhatsApp and Telegram, with Pro at $19 a month.

What it is: A personal assistant you text in iMessage, WhatsApp or Telegram, that connects to your email, calendar and apps and gets in touch first.
Where it works: iMessage, WhatsApp and Telegram
What it costs: Free; Pro $19 a month; Ultra $199 a month, which adds Poke Human, a real person for calls and orders
Worth knowing: A personal assistant for one phone number; its FAQ doesn't describe group chats or team use, and its maker is joining Cognition.

Poke's site

Muse

by Meta

Meta's free agent in its app and WhatsApp, for errands and shopping, in the US, Canada, Japan and Singapore.

What it is: Meta's personal AI agent, in its own app and in WhatsApp, that keeps working toward your goals after you close the app.
Where it works: The Muse app (iOS and Android), muse.ai and WhatsApp one-to-one
What it costs: Free for most use, with paid subscriptions for more; in the US and Canada, and since late October in Japan and Singapore
Worth knowing: One-to-one only (no group chats or iMessage that we could find), and your chats train Meta's models unless you opt out.

Muse vs Cicada Muse's site

Lindy

by Lindy

An assistant in iMessage, SMS and Slack threads, with a meeting notetaker, for people at work.

What it is: An AI assistant you text, mention in Slack or email, with a meeting notetaker and a Chrome extension.
Where it works: iMessage and SMS, Slack, email, meetings and a Chrome extension
What it costs: Free to try with $50 of credits for 7 days; Team from $49.99 a month for every active user, credits pooled; Enterprise priced on request
Worth knowing: No WhatsApp that we could find, every active user is billed, and its docs say approvals apply in shared Slack threads, not in DMs, iMessage or SMS.

Lindy vs Cicada Lindy's site

Claude Duet

by Anthropic

Anthropic's proactive agent with a morning brief and its own cloud browser, in Claude Pro, if you're in the US.

What it is: Anthropic's proactive agent in its own app: a morning brief, then a check of your apps every few hours.
Where it works: Its own app on iOS and Android, and claude.ai on the web
What it costs: Included in Claude Pro ($20 a month), Max ($100) and Ultra ($200), sharing their usage limits; US only, by waitlist
Worth knowing: US-only waitlist, you message it in its own app rather than your texts, and it isn't on Team or Enterprise plans yet.

Claude Duet vs Cicada Claude Duet's site

Instinct

by Instinct

Another personal assistant you text or call for errands, shopping and travel, in a private beta with a waitlist.

What it is: A personal assistant you text or call to run your errands: shopping, travel and bookings.
Where it works: Text or call it (reviewers describe iMessage and WhatsApp), plus a web workspace for settings
What it costs: In beta, with a waitlist described in its terms; no public pricing
Worth knowing: Its terms allow personal use only, it's waitlist-only, and it trains on your data by default (opt-out available).

Instinct vs Cicada Instinct's site

OpenClaw

by the OpenClaw Foundation

If you'd rather run it yourself: free, open source, on your own machine, reached from WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage and more.

What it is: A free, open-source AI assistant you install on your own machine or server and reach from the chat apps you already use.
Where it works: 29 chat apps, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal and iMessage, in DMs and group chats
What it costs: Free and open source (MIT), with no hosted or paid tier; you pay for your model, your machine and any extra services
Worth knowing: You install, secure and update it yourself, there is no hosted version, and its docs say people who don't trust each other need separate gateways.

OpenClaw vs Cicada OpenClaw's site

How to choose

Start from what you need.

If you need	Look at
A workspace for your team	Cicada
Slack channels	Cicada or Lindy
It joins your calls	Cicada or Lindy
Free, just for you	Poke or Muse
Your data kept out of training	Cicada
Run it on your own hardware	OpenClaw

Questions

Pally alternatives, answered.

What is the best alternative to Pally?

For work and a team, Cicada. For another free personal assistant in your texts, Poke. For errands and shopping, Muse or Instinct. To run your own, OpenClaw.

Is there a Pally alternative for teams?

Yes. Pally is one assistant per person, with Trusted Pals for person-to-person coordination. In Cicada every person in the workspace has their own agents, and teammates' agents check with each other.

Is there a free alternative to Pally?

Poke has a free plan, and Muse is free for most use where Meta offers it. Cicada starts free with 300 credits; a card is taken at sign-up and nothing is charged until you run low.

Does Pally join meetings?

It reads recordings from notetakers such as Granola and Fathom; we couldn't find it joining calls, as of October 2026. Cicada joins Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex and texts you the notes.

Which Pally alternative doesn't train on my data?

Cicada doesn't use workspace content to train models. Pally, Muse and Instinct use your data for training unless you opt out.

Sources

Products change fast. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at support@cicadalabs.io and we'll fix it.

The full comparison

Pally vs Cicada, feature by feature

Other alternatives

One teammate. The output of a team.

Works nights, remembers every decision, answers in the thread. Start free with 300 credits.

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