Sabi vs Poke comes down to one line: Poke manages your life, and Sabi runs your business. Both live in your texts, but Poke AI is a free-to-start personal assistant with a friend-like personality, while Sabi is an AI executive assistant built for business owners, backed by a human team. This comparison covers price, iMessage, integrations, and support as of September 2026.

What is the difference between Sabi and Poke?

Sabi is an AI executive assistant for founders and owners: she triages your inbox, books meetings, chases leads, and reports on your numbers from a text thread. Poke is a personal AI assistant that texts you first, remembers you, and handles email, reminders, and everyday life tasks.

Poke's home page calls it "your new favorite contact" and "proactive, private, personal, and right in your texts." Its recipe directory is sorted into Health, Home, Shopping, Students, Travel, Developer, and similar categories. Nothing on it is aimed at running a company.

We built Sabi for the other half of your day. You text her "send last month's Stripe revenue and follow up with the three leads from Tuesday," and she does both.

Poke AI is a personal assistant that makes your life easier over text; Sabi is an AI executive assistant that runs your business admin over text.

	Sabi	Poke
Category	AI executive assistant for business owners	Personal AI assistant for everyday life
Main job	Runs the business admin: inbox, calendar, follow-ups, reporting	Manages your life: email, reminders, calendar, recipes for health, home, travel
How you use it	Text and iMessage, email, Slack, web	iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, RCS
Who it is for	Founders and owners doing $10K to $100K per month	Anyone who wants an assistant in their texts
Company	Inovo Studios, United States	The Interaction Company of California, Palo Alto, owned by Cognition since July 2026

How much does Poke AI cost compared to Sabi?

Poke AI pricing starts at free, and Sabi retails at $295 per month; a founding member special running now brings Sabi's price down significantly. The gap reflects the buyer: Poke prices like a consumer app, and Sabi prices against the cost of hiring help for a business.

Pricing	Sabi	Poke
Retail price	$295/mo, month to month; currently running a founding member special that brings this down significantly	$0 Free, $19/mo Pro, $199/mo Ultra
Founding offer	Founding member special open now: significant savings for early users	None listed
Usage limit	Unlimited credits on Pro: put her to work as much as you want, no usage caps	Rate limits rise by tier; Ultra adds pay-as-you-go overflow
Add-ons	None	Poke Human (real people for reservations, calls, orders) included on Ultra
Free start	Free starter credits, no card	Free forever plan, no card
Human support	AI-human hybrid: a human touches every ticket, and Sabi texts you when it is picked up and when it is fixed	Priority support on Pro, highest-priority on Ultra; email and X DMs

A full-time US executive assistant costs $84K to $144K a year plus benefits, so both sit far below that line. Poke's numbers come from its pricing page and FAQ as of September 2026.

Poke AI costs $0 to $199 a month and prices like a consumer app; Sabi is $295 a month, and a founding member special running now brings that down significantly.

What can the Poke AI assistant do for a business owner?

The Poke AI assistant covers the personal layer of work well: it reads, searches, and drafts email in Gmail and Outlook, manages calendars and reminders, and connects to developer and productivity tools. Its integrations doc names Linear, Todoist, Notion, Asana, GitHub, Vercel, Netlify, Webflow, and Ramp, plus any MCP server you connect yourself.

What it does not list is the sales and money stack most owners run on. HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, QuickBooks, and Slack do not appear in that doc.

Sabi connects to 200+ tools and acts in them, including the CRM and finance tools where leads and revenue live.

Integrations	Sabi	Poke
Count	200+ live connections	No count published; recipe directory plus MCP
Email	Gmail, Outlook (read and send)	Gmail, Outlook (read, search, draft)
Calendar	Google Calendar, Outlook (book and move)	Calendar and availability management
CRM	HubSpot, Salesforce, HighLevel, Jobber	Not listed
Money	Stripe, QuickBooks	Ramp (read only)
Dev and projects	GitHub, Linear, Asana, Notion	GitHub, Linear, Asana, Notion, Vercel, Netlify
Personal life	Oura, Strava available	Health, home, travel recipes
Custom tools	We build it for you	Self-serve MCP and Poke Kitchen for developers

Poke's documented integrations lean personal and developer; Sabi's 200+ connections include the CRM, payments, and accounting tools a business owner lives in.

If you are weighing other text-first assistants for business work, see how Sabi compares to Toyo and how Sabi compares to Martin.

Is Poke on iMessage the same experience as Sabi?

Both feel like texting a person, and Poke has the edge on channels. Poke runs on iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, and RCS, and Cognition's acquisition post calls it "the only AI agent approved to text natively on Apple Messages."

Poke is tuned to be fun: TechCrunch describes it using humor and slang, "more like a friend than a tool." Sabi is tuned to be your business's memory.

In your texts	Sabi	Poke
Channels	iMessage and text, email, Slack, web	iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, RCS
Personality	Sharp, friendly colleague	Playful friend
Memory	Learns your clients, voice, and SOPs; Sabi Brain carries it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor (rolling out)	Remembers you inside Poke; no export to other AI tools listed
Model training	No training on customer data	Trains on user data unless you pick Maximum Privacy (privacy policy)
Team use	Single-user today	No team plan listed

Poke wins on channel reach with WhatsApp and Telegram; Sabi wins on business memory, with no training on your data and Sabi Brain rolling out to carry context into other AI tools.

What do you get with Sabi and Poke besides the software?

With Sabi you get a team; with Poke you get a product. For a non-technical owner, that is the real split. Text-based AI assistants are getting common, so the layer around the assistant is what you are really choosing:

AI-human hybrid. The AI does the work, and real people stand behind her. A human touches every support ticket, and Sabi texts you when someone picks it up and again when it is fixed.
Unlimited credits. Sabi Pro is one of the only unlimited credit options: put her to work as much as you want, with no usage caps. Poke's tiers come with rate limits.
A private community. A network of business owners and entrepreneurs using AI in your industry.
High-level consulting. Pro members get weekly live calls with founders Stephen Diaz and Bruce van Zyl, real humans who know you by name.
Step-by-step courses. AI Certification 1.0 and 2.0, sold for $1,000+ on their own, plus AI trainings built for your industry. Pro members can bring their team to the live team trainings.

Beyond the app	Sabi	Poke
Who you talk to when stuck	A human on every ticket; Sabi texts you when it is picked up and when it is fixed	Email or X DMs; priority support on paid tiers (FAQ)
Live consulting	Weekly live calls with founders Stephen Diaz and Bruce van Zyl for Pro members	Not listed
Community	Private network of business owners using AI in your industry	A Discord community
Courses and training	AI Certification 1.0 and 2.0 plus industry AI trainings; team trainings for Pro members	Docs; no courses listed
Onboarding and education	Free AI trainings like the 1st AI Hire Challenge, open as soon as you start chatting with Sabi; weekly office hours and community calls for Pro members	Docs and a Discord community
Custom connections	White-glove: we build the connection you need	Self-serve MCP for "advanced users"
Built-in playbooks	Business playbooks from a team with $55M+ in online sales	Recipes for health, home, travel, students, shopping
Memory in other AI tools	Sabi Brain (MCP), rolling out	Not listed

One example: a pool service owner needed Sabi to work with the specialized software only pool companies use. There was no connector for it, so we built one for him. Most tools, Poke included, hand you an MCP field and leave the integration to you.

Our team has grown its own online businesses past $55M in sales (Inc. 5000 #148), and those playbooks are built into Sabi.

Sabi is an AI-human hybrid that pairs the assistant with a human on every ticket, unlimited credits on Pro, weekly founder calls, a private community, courses, and custom-built connections; Poke pairs it with docs, a Discord, and self-serve MCP.

What changed when Cognition bought Poke?

Cognition, the company behind the Devin coding agent, acquired Poke's maker on July 23, 2026. Its announcement says users "can continue using the product just as before," with Cognition's models set to make Poke faster.

TechCrunch reported the deal at a "low nine figures," and co-founder Marvin von Hagen told it Poke had been expensive to run, making it difficult to turn a profit. Poke's privacy policy was updated September 11, 2026, so read it again before you connect a work inbox.

Poke is now a Cognition product, so its roadmap follows a coding-agent company; Sabi's roadmap follows business owners.

Who should pick Poke instead of Sabi?

Pick Poke if you want a personal assistant for your life, not your company. It is free to start, it lives on WhatsApp and Telegram as well as iMessage, and its recipes for workouts, travel, and household tasks are fun and fast.

Poke also wins if you want real-world errands handled. Poke Human on the Ultra plan dispatches a real person for reservations, calls, and orders, which Sabi does not offer. And if you are a developer who wants to wire up MCP servers yourself, Poke Kitchen is built for you.

Pick Sabi if the pain is the business: 300 unread emails, leads going cold, a P&L nobody has read. That needs CRM and payment connections and a team to call.

For the rest of the field, see our full AI executive assistant comparison.

Poke fits people who want a fun, free assistant for everyday life; Sabi fits business owners who want the admin done and a human team behind it.

How to choose between a personal AI assistant and a business AI assistant: step by step

Use the Life-or-Business Test: sort the tasks you would hand off into "life" or "business," and pick the assistant built for the bigger pile.

Write down ten things you would text an assistant this week. Include the dentist and the overdue invoice.
Label each one "life" or "business." A dinner reservation is life. Following up on a proposal is business.
Circle the business tasks that touch a CRM, Stripe, or QuickBooks. Those need an assistant that connects to your revenue stack.
Ask who you call when it breaks. If the answer matters, pick the one with humans behind it.
Check where your data goes. Read each privacy policy for model training before you connect a client inbox.
Run the Life-or-Business Test again after a week. If business tasks won, you need Sabi; if life tasks won, Poke is a great fit.

Common mistakes owners make comparing Sabi and Poke

Picking on price alone. Free is the right price for dinner reservations. It is the wrong frame for the follow-up that closes a $5,000 deal.
Assuming "connects to Gmail" means business-ready. Poke drafts email well, but its integration docs list no CRM or Stripe. Check the tools where your money moves.
Skipping the privacy setting. Poke trains on user data unless you pick Maximum Privacy. Sabi does not train on customer data.
Expecting a team tool. Sabi is single-user today, and Poke lists no team plan. If you need shared seats, look at how Sabi compares to Lindy.
Ignoring the human layer. Many owners know they want help but need ideas on where the ROI is. We teach that in free AI trainings like the 1st AI Hire Challenge, and in weekly sessions for Pro members; an app alone does not.

FAQ

Q: What is Poke AI? A: Poke is a personal AI assistant that lives in iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, and RCS. It texts you first, remembers you, and handles email, reminders, and everyday tasks. Cognition acquired its maker in July 2026.

Q: How much does Poke AI cost? A: Poke has a free forever plan, Pro at $19 per month, and Ultra at $199 per month with pay-as-you-go overflow and Poke Human included. Sabi retails at $295 per month, month to month, and a founding member special running now brings that down significantly.

Q: Does Poke work on iMessage? A: Yes. Cognition calls Poke the only AI agent approved to text natively on Apple Messages. Sabi also works over iMessage and text, plus email, Slack, and web.

Q: Is Poke good for running a business? A: Poke handles email and calendar well, but its integration docs list no CRM, Stripe, or QuickBooks, and its recipes focus on personal life. Sabi connects to 200+ tools, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, and QuickBooks.

Q: What makes Sabi different from Poke? A: Sabi is an AI-human hybrid assistant for business: the AI does the work, and a human touches every support ticket. Pro adds unlimited credits with no usage caps, weekly live calls with the founders, a private community, and step-by-step AI courses. Poke is a fun, free-to-start assistant for personal life.

Q: Can I use Sabi and Poke together? A: Yes. Keep Poke for personal errands and Sabi for the business. They do not share memory, so keep client work in Sabi.

TL;DR

Poke manages your life; Sabi runs your business. Both live in your texts.
Poke AI costs $0, $19, or $199 per month; Sabi retails at $295 per month, and a founding member special running now brings that down significantly.
Poke's integration docs list no HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, or QuickBooks; Sabi connects to 200+ tools, including all four.
Poke reaches more channels, including WhatsApp and Telegram, and its Ultra plan adds human operators for errands.
Sabi is an AI-human hybrid: a human on every support ticket, unlimited credits on Pro, weekly founder calls, a private community, courses, free AI trainings like the 1st AI Hire Challenge, and custom-built connections.
Use the Life-or-Business Test: if business tasks win the list, pick Sabi.

The Better Pick for Business Owners: Sabi

Poke is a great life assistant. If the list you want gone is business work, Sabi is built for it: she acts across your business tools over text. Around the software you get:

Unlimited credits on Pro: put her to work as much as you want, with no usage caps.
An AI-human hybrid: a human touches every support ticket, and Sabi texts you when it is picked up and when it is fixed.
Weekly live calls with founders Stephen Diaz and Bruce van Zyl for Pro members.
A private community of business owners using AI in your industry.
Step-by-step courses: AI Certification 1.0 and 2.0, plus the free 1st AI Hire Challenge when you try Sabi.

She is $295 a month flat, and a founding member special running now brings that down significantly.

More comparisons: Sabi vs Toyo, Sabi vs Martin, Sabi vs Catch, Sabi vs Lindy, Sabi vs Ollie, the OpenClaw alternative

If your list came back mostly business, meet Sabi or text her. Setup takes about 60 seconds, and the first credits are on us.

Sabi vs Poke AI: Which Text Assistant Runs Your Business?