Poke vs Sauna

Poke

• People who would rather text an assistant than open another app
• Handling email, calendar and reminders from a message thread
• Developers who want to add their own tools through MCP

Sauna

• People who want to message an agent from iMessage, Slack or email
• Small teams that want one agent sharing context and memory
• Recurring briefings and follow-ups that should run while you are offline

Poke

• Poke has no app of its own: it works through Apple Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram or RCS, with settings managed on the website.
• Email support covers Gmail and Outlook only; Poke says it has no immediate plans for iCloud or Yahoo Mail.
• The Free plan has a small usage allowance, and background automations and frontier models start at Pro.
• Poke Human is included only with Ultra at $199 a month, and expenses paid on your behalf are deducted from your credit balance.

Sauna

• The Lite plan runs only on the Sauna Lite model; access to all LLMs starts at Basic for $99 a month.
• Billing is monthly only, with no annual option and no trial period on paid plans.
• Usage is metered in credits with no published per-operation rates, and unused daily and monthly allowances do not roll over.
• Shared folders need Pro, and Brain Access and browser automation are listed only on the $999 Team plan.

Poke

Works inside messaging apps

You use Poke by texting it in Apple Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram or RCS, including by voice message, and you can choose which channel it texts you on.

Email and calendar

Reads, searches and drafts email and schedules meetings, with full support for Gmail and Outlook inboxes, calendars and contact sync.

Recipes

Recipes set up integrations and automations in one step and can be shared with others. The directory covers apps such as Notion, GitHub, Linear and Oura.

Reminders and proactive updates

Creates reminders and gets a head start on tasks from a text, then draws on connected services and its memory to message you when something needs attention.

Custom integrations and API

Developers can add custom integrations through MCP servers, and the Poke API lets scripts, webhooks and other tools send messages to your assistant.

Poke Human

On Ultra, real-world tasks such as restaurant reservations, phone calls and orders are dispatched to a person, who sees only the details needed for that task.

Sauna

One agent on several surfaces

The same agent and memory are available in the web app and iOS app and by iMessage, Slack, email and Superhuman, including by forwarding a message or copying Sauna on a thread.

Persistent memory

Keeps workspace notes for lasting preferences and conventions alongside a searchable history of past conversations, so a new session starts with context.

Scheduled tasks

A saved prompt can run once, hourly, daily, on weekdays or weekly, with the result delivered to the web dashboard, iMessage or email.

Connections

A library of thousands of apps that allows several accounts per app, plus custom connections added with an API key or an MCP server URL.

Spaces, Brain Access and Shared Folders

Spaces are shared project workspaces. Brain Access opens your whole Sauna to one person, and Shared Folders share one slice of your knowledge, read-only or read and write.

Apps

Sauna builds small custom apps, such as a CRM or an expense approvals tool, on top of your connected data, with a docked chat for changes and sharing through Spaces.

Poke

• Free$0

  Connect apps, email and calendar with a small usage allowance; when it runs out, Poke answers in a lighter mode until it refills.

• Pro$19

  per month, billed monthly

  Frontier models for complex tasks, automations that run in the background, higher rate limits and priority support.

• Ultra$199

  per month, billed monthly

  Frontier models on every action, a monthly credit pool with pay-as-you-go top-ups, Poke Human and highest-priority support.

Sauna

• Free$0

  100 credits per day, or 200 with a verified payment card on file, and no monthly allowance.

• Lite$29

  per month, billed monthly

  Runs on the Sauna Lite model, with iMessage and Slack connect, 3,000+ integrations, cloud storage and persistent memory.

• Basic$99

  per month, billed monthly

  Everything in Lite plus access to all LLMs. Sauna's guide and terms both list 6,000 credits a month.

• Pro$299

  per month, billed monthly

  Everything in Basic plus shared folders and custom models. The guide lists 24,000 credits a month; the terms list 18,000.

• Team$999

  per month, billed monthly

  Everything in Pro plus Brain Access, expanded custom models and browser automation, with 60,000 credits a month shared across the team.

Poke

No public discounts listed.

Sauna

• Other savings

  1,000 credits for each accepted invite

  Sauna's terms say that when someone you invite creates an account and accepts, you and the recipient each receive 1,000 credits in your balance.