Poke

AI assistant you text on Messages, WhatsApp or Telegram to handle email, calendar and reminders; owned by Cognition.

From $19/mo Free tier

Visit Poke (opens in a new tab)

Bottom line

Poke is an AI assistant you simply text on Messages, WhatsApp or Telegram to handle email, calendar and reminders, with proactive updates and background automations. Free forever plan; Pro $19/mo, Ultra $199/mo. Owned by Cognition since July 2026.

Stands out for: Nothing to install and nothing to learn: you text it like a person. Its approval to text natively on Apple Messages and its friendly, proactive style made it one of the most used assistants of its kind, with 100 million messages in three months.

Watch out for: It is a personal assistant, not a team tool, and it reaches deep into your inbox and messages. Cognition bought it to shape its coding agent Devin, so the consumer roadmap may change.

Overview

Poke was built by The Interaction Company of California in Palo Alto and launched publicly in March 2026. Cognition, the maker of the Devin coding agent, acquired the company in July 2026.

You text Poke over Apple Messages, WhatsApp or Telegram, by text or voice note. It connects to your email, calendar and other apps, handles requests, sends proactive updates and, on paid plans, runs real-time automations in the background.

For recruiters on the move it can surface urgent emails, reschedule interviews, set reminders and draft replies without opening a laptop.

There is a Free forever plan with no card. Pro is $19/mo and Ultra $199/mo, with Ultra adding pay-as-you-go usage beyond its credits.

Who it's for

Best for

  • Recruiters who live on their phone
  • Solo recruiters who want email and calendar help by text
  • Anyone who wants to try an agent free

Not ideal for

  • Teams that need shared workspaces and admin controls
  • Companies with strict rules on connecting work email to consumer apps

Key features

Just text it. Works over Apple Messages, WhatsApp and Telegram, by text or voice note, with no app.

Email and calendar. Connects to your inbox, calendar and other apps to act on requests.

Proactive. Sends updates on its own and runs real-time automations in the background on Pro.

Recipes. Ready-made automations you can switch on.

AI features

What the AI doesPlan
Handles email and calendar requests by text Free
Frontier models for complex tasks Pro
Real-time background automations Pro

Only features named in the vendor's own documentation. Anything sold separately is marked as an add-on.

Pricing

Starting price $19/mo
Free tier ✓
PlanPriceWhat you get
Free$0Apps, email and calendar connected
Pro$19/moFrontier models, background automations
Ultra$199/moFrontier models on every action, pay-as-you-go

Poke has a Free forever plan with no card that connects your apps, email and calendar. Pro is $19/mo with frontier models for complex tasks and background automations, and Ultra is $199/mo with frontier models on every action, the highest limits and pay-as-you-go usage beyond its credits. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 16 Oct 2026. Vendors change prices without notice.

See current pricing on Poke (opens in a new tab)

Is Poke expensive?

Poke starts at $19/mo. We list 21 AI assistants tools in total. 18 have a free tier, and those with a public price typically start around $19 a month.

  • 2 quote-based
  • 18 free tier
  • 14 public price

Worked out automatically from every AI assistants listing, so it updates as the directory changes.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free forever plan
  • No app to install
  • Proactive updates by text

Cons

  • Personal use only, no team admin
  • Ultra is a big jump from Pro
  • Roadmap now tied to Cognition

Integrations

Apple Messages WhatsApp Telegram Gmail Google Calendar

From the vendor's own site (opens in a new tab).

What's new at Poke

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How Poke compares

See all Poke alternatives, with what each one does differently and a head to head for every pairing.

ToolFree tierFromMCPAPICompare
Poke (this tool) ✓$19/mo––
Lindy Also texts over iMessage, with Slack, team seats and approvals built in. –$49.99/user/mo–– Compare
Town Work assistant that drafts in your voice, with a free plan. ✓$15/mo–– Compare
Cue Agents with their own phone number and email, free during early access. ✓Quote–– Compare
Lindy

$49.99/user/mo

Also texts over iMessage, with Slack, team seats and approvals built in.

Town

$15/mo Free tier

Work assistant that drafts in your voice, with a free plan.

Cue

Quote Free tier

Agents with their own phone number and email, free during early access.

Your next step

Shortlisting Poke?

Frequently asked questions

What is Poke?
AI assistant you text on Messages, WhatsApp or Telegram to handle email, calendar and reminders; owned by Cognition. Poke is an AI assistant you text like a friend over Apple Messages, WhatsApp or Telegram, with no app to install. Poke is listed under AI assistants in the Work Insiders directory.
Is Poke free?
Partly. Poke has a free tier with paid plans above it. See all free recruiting tools. See free AI assistants.
Does Poke have an MCP server or API?
No. Poke does not currently list an MCP server or a public API.
What are alternatives to Poke?
Poke alternatives worth comparing are Lindy, Town and Cue. The comparison table above shows free tier, starting price, MCP and API side by side.