textagent.io vs Poke

Poke, from Interaction Co., raised $15M to put an assistant in iMessage and has earned the attention it's getting. If you're weighing the two, here's the honest version, including where they beat us.

What's the same

Both live in text messaging. No app to install, no dashboard, no new habit to build. Both connect to your email and calendar and act on them. Both are proactive, which is the thing that actually separates this category from a chatbot: they reach out when something needs you rather than waiting to be asked.

If you only want to know whether an assistant you text is a real thing that works, the answer is yes, from either of us.

Where they diverge

Poke is built for your life. Public descriptions cover daily planning, calendar, health and fitness tracking, smart home control, even photo editing. It's broad on purpose, and that breadth is the product.

textagent.io is narrow on purpose. It does email, calendar and the work around them, for people whose missed email costs them money — a lead that went to whoever answered first, a lender condition found on Monday, a quote request that sat overnight. No smart home, no fitness tracking. The vertical pages for realtors and home services exist because that's who this is for.

What's the same and what isn't

Mailbox support. Both connect Gmail and Outlook. Poke's FAQ lists Microsoft Outlook alongside Google, so mailbox support doesn't separate these two anymore. On the calendar side, textagent.io books to Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple iCloud Calendar.

Pricing. Poke publishes three plans: Free, Pro at $19 a month and Ultra at $199 a month, each with usage limits. textagent.io is one plan at $299 a year, about $25 a month, with 14 days free and no card to start. On price alone, Poke's free and Pro plans cost less. What you get here is the narrow job, email and calendar, done carefully.

Checked October 28, 2026 against Poke's own FAQ and pricing pages. textagent.io is built by Keith Eddleman, so read this as the founder's comparison. If something here is out of date, email [email protected] and it gets fixed.

The thing we won't do

No email goes out under your name without you approving it. It drafts, it reads the draft back over text, and it sends when you say send. People ask for the fully automatic version regularly and the answer stays no, because the first time a client gets an email you never saw, the leverage becomes a liability.

That's a design stance, not a limitation we're working around. If you want an assistant that handles exchanges end to end while you sleep, we're the wrong choice and you should say so early.

Who should pick which

Pick Poke if you want one assistant across your whole life, the breadth is the appeal, or you want to start on a free plan. Pick textagent.io if your problem is specifically the email you're losing money on and you'd rather have something narrow that never sends anything without asking.