Carly AI vs Jace: Email-and-SMS EA vs a Gmail-First Assistant (2026)
Carly is an AI-powered scheduling assistant that works over email and SMS. Unlike traditional booking links or calendar tools, Carly reads messy email threads she is cc'd on, understands context, and sends real invites that keep the conversation natural. You can forward Carly an email, send her a text, or send screenshots and images for her to process and add to your calendar. It's built for busy professionals who want a human-like assistant that just works, handling coordination and calendaring so you don't have to. ChatGPT could never be this useful.
Jace launched as something different than it is today. Zeta Labs built it around AWA-1, a proprietary “Autonomous Web Agent” that drove a browser to book trips, pay invoices, and fill out forms on your behalf. In 2026 the product has repositioned: Jace now markets itself as an AI executive assistant that lives inside your Gmail, drafts replies, labels your inbox, and runs email-triggered workflows. That puts it in the same category as Carly instead of a category away.
So this is a fair head-to-head between two AI executive assistants that work over email. The real differences are channel, calendar coordination, platform parity, and how each one prices. Below is what each does today, verified against Jace’s current site.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Carly | Jace |
|---|---|---|
| Primary interface | Email + SMS/text | Gmail web app + browser extension |
| Gmail support | ✅ | ✅ |
| Outlook support | ✅ | Partial (Gmail-optimized) |
| SMS / text scheduling | ✅ | ❌ |
| Inbox drafting & triage | ✅ | ✅ |
| AI labeling & smart rules | Partial | ✅ |
| Meeting scheduling & coordination | ✅ | Partial (Google Calendar) |
| Click-to-book links | ✅ | ❌ |
| Smart time zone detection | ✅ | Partial |
| Acts on triggers autonomously | ✅ | ✅ |
| Persistent memory | ✅ | ✅ |
| Integrations | 200+ via bring-your-own API key | Custom integrations & MCPs (Pro tier) |
| Pricing | Starts at $35/mo (flat) | Plus $20/mo, Pro $40/mo, Enterprise custom (credit-metered) |
| Setup time | ~2 min | ~30 sec onboarding |
Jace’s price entry is genuinely lower, and its Gmail-native labeling and smart-rules experience is polished for people who live in the Gmail web client all day. The trade-offs show up in channel, calendar coordination, and how usage is metered.
Why Carly is the Better Choice
Carly works over SMS, not just email. Jace is an inbox tool: you connect Gmail and it works inside that web app and a browser extension. Carly reads the email threads you CC it on and also takes instructions and coordinates over text message. When you are away from your desk, you can text Carly “move my 3pm to Thursday” and it handles the back-and-forth. Jace has no SMS channel, so everything routes through the inbox.
Scheduling is a first-class job, not an inbox side effect. Carly is built to coordinate meetings the way a human EA does: click-to-book links, negotiating times over both email and SMS, automatic time zone detection, and follow-ups when someone goes quiet. Jace integrates with Google Calendar and can suggest times or create events from your inbox, but it is calendar-assisted email rather than an assistant that owns the full scheduling loop end to end.
Gmail and Outlook get equal treatment. Jace is Gmail-first. Reviewers consistently flag that Outlook users are effectively out of luck, and the whole experience is tuned for Gmail. Carly treats Google Calendar and Outlook as equals, which matters if you or the people you schedule with live in Microsoft 365.
Flat pricing instead of a credit meter. Carly starts at $35/month. Jace runs on monthly credits: 10,000 on the $20 Plus plan and 20,000 on the $40 Pro plan, resetting each billing period, with heavier use pushing you toward Pro or custom Enterprise pricing. Credit models make cost hard to predict when your volume spikes. Carly’s flat entry price means a busy week costs the same as a quiet one.
200+ integrations without waiting for a tier. Carly connects to 200+ tools through a bring-your-own-API-key setup and acts on triggers, so it can update a CRM, post to Slack, or file a document as part of a workflow. Jace supports custom integrations and MCPs, but those land on the Pro plan. For a broader look at the category, see the best AI executive assistants and best AI personal assistants.
If you live entirely in Gmail, want AI labeling and smart rules on top of your inbox, and prefer the lowest entry price, Jace is a reasonable pick, and it is worth weighing against other options in Jace AI alternatives. If you want an assistant that handles scheduling over both email and text, treats Outlook as a first-class citizen, and charges a flat rate instead of metering credits, Carly is the better fit.
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
