Poke vs Instinct
Short answer: Poke is the one with a published price and a clear training opt-out (Maximum Privacy). Instinct publishes no price list and describes a broader assistant that calls, texts and uses devices for you, so check what you would be agreeing to. This comparison uses only each vendor's own pages, read on 6 October 2026. We have not used either product.
Side by side
| Question | Poke | Instinct |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An assistant in Apple Messages, Telegram, WhatsApp and RCS for email, scheduling, reminders, web search and connected apps, built by The Interaction Company of California. | A personal assistant you text or call. Instinct says it connects to email, messaging, screen, audio, location and more, and that it uses a phone and a computer the way a person does. |
| Price published | Yes. Free $0, Pro $19 a month, Ultra $199 a month (monthly billing view, read 6 October 2026). | No price page found. instinct.com/pricing returns "Page not found". The terms say you may owe fees in US dollars for paid features, with no price list. |
| What the paid tiers add | Pro: frontier models, background automations, higher rate limits, priority support. Ultra: highest limits, pay-as-you-go beyond included credits. | Not stated on the pages we read. |
| Connecting apps | Via Recipes and the integrations page; you can disconnect each integration there. Docs list Linear, Todoist, Notion, Asana, GitHub, Sentry, Vercel and others. | Connects to the services you authorise. The terms say you authorise it to take Actions on your behalf, including purchases. |
| Approval before actions | Docs we read do not describe approval steps for sending or writing. Treat as unknown. | Terms say Actions may not be reversible and that safeguards or confirmation requirements may exist but are not guaranteed to prevent unintended actions. |
| Training on your data | Privacy notice (updated 11 September 2026) says content may be used to improve services, including training AI models. Users who select Maximum Privacy are not used for training. | Terms allow training on your Materials, with an opt-out at app.instinct.com/settings. Vault materials are excluded. Content flagged for safety review may still be used. |
| Real-world help | Pricing table lists "Poke Human for real-world tasks"; we did not find what it covers. | Vendor examples include arranging a ride and booking a handyman. These are vendor claims. |
| Our testing | None. | None. |
Which fits what
- You want a known monthly cost: Poke lists its prices. Instinct does not, so you only learn yours at signup.
- You mainly want email, calendar and reminders in a chat app: that is what Poke's docs lead with.
- You want an assistant that also calls and texts on your behalf, or uses your devices: that is how Instinct describes itself. It is also the case where its terms on unintended and irreversible Actions matter most.
- You care about training on your messages: both allow it by default. Poke offers Maximum Privacy. Instinct offers a settings opt-out with a safety-review exception.
Questions to ask before connecting accounts
- What will it do without asking, such as sending email or buying something?
- What is the exact price for your account, and what happens when you pass the plan limits?
- Have you turned on Maximum Privacy (Poke) or the training opt-out (Instinct)?
- How do you disconnect each service, and is stored data deleted afterwards?
Records: Poke and Instinct. A wider view of permissions and retention is in Instinct vs Muse vs OpenAI dots. See also the Poke integrations guide and the personal assistant agents guide.
Sources: Poke pricing, Poke docs, managing integrations, Poke privacy notice, Instinct, Instinct terms. Spot a change? Tell us.