# Gravel vs Poke

Gravel and Poke are both AI assistants you text. Both read the email and calendar you connect and message you first. This page compares them on channels, mailboxes, approvals, memory, data and price, using public information, and lists every source.

## How do Gravel and Poke compare?

Both are assistants you text that read the email and calendar you connect and message you first. The main differences are availability, which channels work today, the price model, and how much each one states about approvals, memory and where data is stored.

**Compared on October 19, 2026 from public information.** Poke's facts come from poke.com, its docs and release notes, its privacy notice (last updated September 11, 2026) and Cognition's announcement. Gravel's facts come from this site. Gravel publishes this page, so check the sources at the end of it.

**What Poke is.** Poke is a personal AI assistant from The Interaction Company of California. You reach it by text, connect your email, calendar and other apps, and ask it to manage email, schedule meetings, set reminders and search the web. On July 23, 2026, the company joined Cognition, the maker of Devin. Cognition's announcement says Poke users can keep using the product as before.

**What Gravel is.** Gravel is a personal assistant that lives in your messaging apps. It reads the email and calendars you connect, notices what needs you, texts you first, and handles it when you say yes. It is in early access with a waitlist, and it works in Telegram and WhatsApp today. iMessage is coming. Gravel is built in Munich, and the planned price is [€12 a month](https://gravel.chat/pricing).

## How do Gravel and Poke differ, side by side?

They are close on the basic idea and differ in the details below. "Not stated" means the vendor's public pages we reviewed do not say. It does not mean the feature is missing.

| Topic | Gravel | Poke |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | In your messaging apps, with no app to install | In your messaging apps. Your account and integrations are managed on poke.com |
| Channels | Telegram and WhatsApp in early access. iMessage is coming | Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp and RCS, per Poke's docs. A February 2, 2026 release note said WhatsApp was temporarily unavailable outside Italy and Brazil, so check it in your country |
| Email and calendar | Gmail and Outlook with Google or Microsoft sign-in. iCloud Mail, GMX, WEB.DE, T-Online, freenet, mailbox.org, Posteo and other IMAP mailboxes with an app password. Calendars: Google, Outlook, iCloud and any CalDAV calendar | Gmail and Outlook inboxes, calendars and contacts. Poke's FAQ says there are no immediate plans for iCloud or Yahoo Mail. Other apps, such as Notion, Linear and GitHub, connect through recipes or custom MCP servers |
| Texts you first | Yes. Quiet hours from 10 PM to 7:30 AM by default, at most a few unprompted messages a day, and a morning brief for anything that can wait | Yes. Cognition says Poke "messages you first". Quiet hours and message limits: Not stated |
| Confirmation before acting | Tells you exactly what it will do before it acts, and one yes covers the whole plan. You pick one of four levels for each kind of action. It starts read-only | Not stated as a general rule in the pages we reviewed. Release notes mention approvals when drafting emails |
| Memory controls | Ask "what do you know about me?" to see it, and tell Gravel to forget anything | Poke uses a memory, per its home page and docs. Whether you can view or edit it: Not stated |
| Data location | Encrypted with a key that belongs to your account. Hosted and processed in the EU, except the mail or calendar provider you connect and the messaging app you choose | Not stated. The privacy notice says data may be stored or processed in other countries, "including, but not limited to, the United States" |
| Model training | Gravel does not train AI models on your data, and neither do its providers | The privacy notice lists training AI models among the uses of data. Data from users who select Maximum Privacy is not used for training |
| Price | €12 a month planned price for the paid plan, with everything included. A limited free plan | Free ($0, no credit card required), Pro at $19 a month, Ultra at $199 a month. US dollars, monthly billing |
| Availability | Early access, by waitlist | Poke's docs say it is available in all regions worldwide. Generally available without a waitlist since March 19, 2026 |
| Made by | Gravel, Munich, Germany | The Interaction Company of California, part of Cognition since July 2026 |

## Where is Poke the better fit?

Poke is the better fit if you want an assistant in Apple Messages today, want to start for free, or want a wide set of connected apps and a person for real-world tasks.

- **Apple Messages and RCS today.** Poke lists Apple Messages and RCS among its channels. Gravel's iMessage is not available yet.
- **A free plan and no waitlist.** Poke's Free plan costs $0 and needs no credit card. It has a small usage allowance, and Poke keeps working in a lighter mode after you reach it, according to its usage docs. Gravel is in early access, and its free plan is limited.
- **Recipes and a wide app library.** Poke's recipes are prebuilt setups that bundle integrations, automations and prompts, and users can share them. Its docs list integrations such as Notion, Linear, Todoist, Asana, GitHub, Vercel and Ramp, and any MCP-compatible server can be added. Gravel also connects apps like Notion and Todoist over MCP, which is a newer feature in early access.
- **A person for real-world tasks.** On the Ultra plan, Poke Human sends a real person to make restaurant reservations, phone calls and orders, and passes real-world costs on at cost. Gravel does not phone anyone for you.

## Where is Gravel the better fit?

Gravel is the better fit if you want your data hosted in the EU, a memory you can read, approvals you set for each kind of action, or a mailbox beyond Gmail and Outlook.

- **Data hosted in the EU.** Gravel encrypts your data with a key that belongs to your account, and hosts and processes it in the EU. Poke's privacy notice does not name a storage location.
- **A memory you can inspect.** Ask Gravel "what do you know about me?" and change or remove anything. Poke's public pages do not describe how to view or edit its memory.
- **Approvals you set per kind of action.** Gravel starts read-only, asks for more access the first time it needs it, and offers four levels: just do it, only when I ask, ask me first, or hand it to me. See [autonomy levels](https://gravel.chat/learn/autonomy-levels).
- **More kinds of mailbox.** Poke's FAQ names Gmail and Outlook as supported and says there are no immediate plans for iCloud or Yahoo Mail. Gravel also connects iCloud Mail, GMX, WEB.DE, T-Online, freenet, mailbox.org, Posteo and other IMAP mailboxes with an app password. See [integrations](https://gravel.chat/integrations).
- **One price in euros.** The planned price is €12 a month on a single plan.

Gravel is newer. It is in early access with a waitlist, its free plan is limited, and it does not work in iMessage yet. Features such as reading photos and PDFs you send, watching prices and pages, and connecting apps over MCP are new in early access.

## How do the prices compare?

Gravel's planned price is €12 a month on one plan. Poke has a free plan, Pro at $19 a month and Ultra at $199 a month. Poke lists its prices in US dollars with monthly billing.

- **Poke Free, $0.** No credit card required, with a small usage allowance.
- **Poke Pro, $19 a month.** Adds frontier models for complex tasks, real-time automations running in the background, higher rate limits and priority support.
- **Poke Ultra, $199 a month.** Adds frontier models for every action, the highest rate limits, the highest-priority support and pay-as-you-go usage beyond its credits. Poke Human is included.
- **Gravel, €12 a month.** One paid plan with everything included, plus a limited free plan.

Poke's pricing page also shows a yearly option. We could not see yearly prices on the page we reviewed. The plans are not like for like: Poke's tiers differ in models, usage limits, background automations and support, while Gravel has one plan. See [Gravel's pricing](https://gravel.chat/pricing).

## How do Gravel and Poke handle privacy?

Gravel states that your data is hosted and processed in the EU. Poke's privacy notice does not name where data is stored, and says it may be processed outside the country where it was collected.

What Poke's privacy notice says:

- **Who is responsible.** For users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, the controller is Interaction, a US company in Palo Alto, California.
- **Transfers.** Transfers outside the EEA rely on adequacy decisions, standard contractual clauses and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
- **Training.** Training AI models is listed among the uses of data. Data from users who select Maximum Privacy is not used for training. The notice does not describe that setting.
- **Google data.** Poke says humans do not read your Google user data, such as Gmail messages, except where you agreed to view specific messages or files, for security reasons, to comply with law, or where the data is aggregated for internal operations.
- **Deleting your account.** You can delete your account in Poke's settings. The process can take up to 24 hours, and removal from backups may take longer.

What Gravel says:

- **Your key.** Your data is encrypted with a key that belongs to your account only.
- **Staff access.** If a person ever has to look, for example because you asked support for help, it is written to your activity log before they can.
- **Export and deletion.** You can export all your data with a one-time link. When you delete your account, your key is destroyed, so nothing left can be read.
- **No training.** Gravel does not train AI models on your data, and neither do its providers.

More on [security](https://gravel.chat/security) and the [privacy notice](https://gravel.chat/privacy). For what to ask any assistant before you connect your inbox, read the [privacy checklist](https://gravel.chat/learn/ai-assistant-privacy-checklist).

## Questions

### Is Gravel an alternative to Poke?

Gravel does a similar job: it lives in your messaging apps, reads the email and calendar you connect, and texts you first. The differences are that Gravel is in early access, works in Telegram and WhatsApp with iMessage coming, hosts data in the EU, and has a planned price of €12 a month. Poke is available now, works in Apple Messages, and has a free plan.

### Is Poke free?

Poke has a free plan at $0 with no credit card required. Pro costs $19 a month and Ultra costs $199 a month, according to Poke's pricing page. Gravel has a limited free plan, and its paid plan is planned at €12 a month.

### Where does Poke store my data?

Poke's privacy notice does not name a location. It says personal data may be stored or processed in a country other than the one where it was collected, including, but not limited to, the United States. Gravel hosts and processes your data in the EU, except for the mail or calendar provider you connect and the messaging app you choose.

### What does Poke joining Cognition mean for users?

On July 23, 2026, The Interaction Company, the maker of Poke, joined Cognition, the company behind Devin. Cognition's announcement says Poke users can keep using the product as before, and that Cognition's models and infrastructure are expected to make it faster and more reliable.

### Can Poke read my iCloud Mail?

Poke's FAQ says it fully supports Gmail and Outlook and has no immediate plans for other mail services such as iCloud or Yahoo Mail. Gravel connects iCloud Mail with an app password, along with Gmail, Outlook and other IMAP mailboxes.

### Does Poke work in Germany?

Poke's docs say it is available in all regions worldwide, and its privacy notice has a section for users in the EEA, UK and Switzerland. We did not find a country-by-country list. A February 2026 release note said WhatsApp was then limited to Italy and Brazil, so check the channel you plan to use.

## Sources

- [Poke docs: Welcome to Poke (channels, regions)](https://poke.com/docs)
- [Poke docs: Release notes (Apple Messages, general availability, WhatsApp, Cognition)](https://poke.com/docs/release-notes)
- [Poke: Pricing](https://poke.com/pricing)
- [Poke: FAQs (mailboxes, Poke Human, account deletion)](https://poke.com/faq)
- [Poke docs: Managing integrations](https://poke.com/docs/managing-integrations)
- [Poke docs: Usage and resets](https://poke.com/docs/usage-and-resets)
- [Poke: Privacy Notice (last updated September 11, 2026)](https://poke.com/privacy)
- [Poke: Home page](https://poke.com)
- [Cognition: Welcoming The Interaction Company (July 23, 2026)](https://cognition.com/blog/interaction)

## Related

- [Gravel vs ChatGPT dots](https://gravel.chat/compare/chatgpt.md)
- [What to check before giving an AI assistant your inbox](https://gravel.chat/learn/ai-assistant-privacy-checklist.md)
- [How Gravel works, step by step](https://gravel.chat/how-it-works.md)

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Gravel · https://gravel.chat/compare/poke · Updated 2026-10-19 · Status: Early access, €12 a month