Carly vs Cicada
Carly is an executive assistant you email, CC or text, with agents that each get their own email address, and a phone line. Cicada is the agent your team texts on iMessage and WhatsApp, names in a group chat or Slack thread, and sends to your meetings.
Pick Cicada if your team works in iMessage, WhatsApp and Slack and you want an agent that answers in those threads, joins your calls itself and handles sites with no app. Pick Carly if your work runs through email and you want agents with their own addresses that people outside the company can simply email.
What Cicada does that Carly doesn't.
It answers in the thread
Mention Cicada in a Slack channel or name it in a WhatsApp or iMessage group and it replies right there, with every message and file in the group kept for later. Carly's own Slack page says you don't talk to it inside Slack: you email or text it, and it posts where you tell it.
On iMessage and WhatsApp
Send Cicada a voice note, a photo of a delivery slip or a PDF on iMessage or WhatsApp and it answers in the same chat. Carly takes email, SMS and calls; iMessage wasn't something we could find, and WhatsApp is an app it posts to.
It joins the call itself
Cicada joins your Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex calls and texts you the decisions and actions when it ends, with the transcript kept. Carly works from what your notetaker captured, from Fathom, Fireflies, Gong and others.
Sites with no app
When a supplier portal has no integration, Cicada opens it in its own browser, signs in with the login you saved in your vault, and you can watch or take over. We couldn't find a browser in Carly.
- What it is
- An executive assistant you email, CC or text, with agents that each get their own name and email address. Made by Carly.
- Where it works
- Email (email, CC or forward), SMS, a web app and other AI tools through its MCP server; calling as a paid add-on
- What it costs
- Free plan with MCP access only; Personal $35 a month with 200 credits; Organization $35 a seat a month; Enterprise priced on request
- Worth knowing
- Not in iMessage or WhatsApp that we could find, it posts to Slack rather than talking there, and it works from your notetaker's output instead of joining calls.
Checked against Carly's own pages on 31 October 2026. See every Carly alternative.
A team of agents for a team of people.
Carly's Organization plan adds shared agents, shared knowledge and pooled credits. Cicada's agents work as a team.
Agents for every person
Each person in your workspace gets their own agents. The apps the team shares are connected once; personal ones, like your inbox, stay under your own login.
A coordinator and specialists
A big job is split between specialists that work at the same time, and you get one answer back from the agent you asked.
Agents that work together
Teammates' agents know what each other covers, use each other's fresh figures and check with each other through the apps you share, never through anyone's private notes. Ask yours to message someone who uses Cicada, at your company or another, and their answer comes back to you.
Know-how the whole team shares
What one agent learns about the business, every agent in the workspace knows, and a skill one agent proves is shared with the rest.
Cicada and Carly, feature by feature.
| Feature | Cicada | Carly |
|---|---|---|
| Agents across your team | Every person gets their own agents, a coordinator running specialists, and they work together across the team | Unlimited agents per person; shared agents and pooled credits on the Organization plan |
| Where you use it | iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, email and a web app | Email (email, CC or forward), SMS, phone, a web app, and inside AI tools through its MCP server |
| Group chats and Slack | Works in iMessage and WhatsApp groups (speaks when named) and Slack channels | Posts to Slack, Teams, WhatsApp and Telegram; its own pages say you don't talk to it inside Slack |
| Works on its own | Schedules, app events and proactive checks | Scheduled workflows and event triggers (new email, calendar change, form, meeting ended) |
| Joins your meetings | Yes, Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex, notes by text | No: it works from your notetaker's output (Fathom, Fireflies, Gong and others) |
| Connected apps | 1,000+, plus any MCP server | 258+ listed, plus any app with a public API or MCP server |
| Sites with no app | Its own browser with logins from your vault, which you can take over | Not that we could find |
| Permissions | Per app: Full, Ask first or Read-only, plus the autonomy level you set | Per-agent tool toggles; send directly or draft for a teammate |
| Memory you can see | Read and edit what it knows about you in the app | Remembers preferences and context; viewing or editing it not that we could find |
| Access and price | 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. | Free plan without AI credits; Personal $35 a month with 200 credits; Organization $35 a seat |
Carly details checked against its own site and docs on 29 October 2026. Products change fast; see the sources below.
Your messages, or your inbox
Carly lives in email: you email it, CC it on a thread or forward something, and each agent can have its own address on your domain. Cicada lives where your team talks: you text it on iMessage or WhatsApp, name it in a group chat, DM it in Slack, or email it. It answers in the thread it was asked in.
It joins the call
Carly reads what your notetaker captured and does the follow-up. Cicada joins your Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex calls itself, takes the notes with who said what, and texts you the decisions and actions when the call ends.
Sites with no app, and a lock on each app
Cicada has its own browser for the sites with no integration, signs in with the logins you saved in your vault, and lets you watch or take over. Any member can set each connected app to Full, Ask first or Read-only for every agent in the workspace.
Where Cicada is stronger
- Every person on the team gets their own agents, and they work together.
- You text it on iMessage or WhatsApp, including in group chats, and it works in Slack threads.
- A notetaker that joins your meetings itself.
- Its own browser for sites with no app, which you can watch and take over.
- 1,000+ apps with a Read-only or Ask-first lock on each.
- What it knows about you is on a page you can read and edit.
Choose Cicada if your team works in iMessage, WhatsApp and Slack, and you want an agent that answers in those threads, joins your calls and uses sites with no app.
Where Carly fits
- Agents with their own email addresses, on your own domain on Enterprise, that customers can simply email.
- A phone line you can call, and an AI receptionist add-on with missed-call text-back.
- An MCP server with 148 tools that puts your email, calendar and CRM inside other AI apps.
Carly may suit you if you run most of your work through email and want agents with their own addresses that people outside the company can email.
Carly vs Cicada, answered.
Is Cicada a Carly alternative?
Yes, for a team that works in its messages. Carly is built around email; Cicada gives every person on a team agents that work together in iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack and email, and join their meetings.
Can I text Carly on iMessage or WhatsApp?
Carly supports SMS and a phone line; iMessage as a channel was not something we could find, and WhatsApp is listed as an app it posts to. Cicada answers on iMessage and WhatsApp, in one-to-ones and group chats.
Does Carly join meetings?
No. Its own pages say your notetaker captures the call and Carly takes the output. Cicada joins Meet, Zoom, Teams and Webex itself and texts you the notes.
Does either train on my data?
Carly's privacy policy says your data is never used to train AI models. Cicada doesn't use your workspace content to train models either.
Sources, checked 29 October 2026
- Carly homepage
- Carly pricing
- Carly integrations
- Carly Slack integration
- Carly MCP
- Connect a meeting notetaker to your CRM (Carly, 25 Aug 2026)
- Carly privacy policy
Spotted something out of date? Tell us at support@cicadalabs.io and we'll fix it.
One teammate. The output of a team.
Works nights, remembers every decision, answers in the thread. Start free with 300 credits.