Jan 25, 2026

The Best Alternative to Reclaim.ai: Carly

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.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Carly	Reclaim.ai
AI-Powered Scheduling	✅	✅
Human-like Conversational Assistant	✅	❌
Booking Links	✅	✅
Click-to-Book (One-Click Scheduling)	✅	❌
SMS Integration	✅	❌
Natural Language via Email	✅	❌
Handles Incoming Invitations	✅	❌
Smart Time Zone Detection	✅	✅
Multiple Calendar Support	✅ (Google, Outlook)	✅
Task Auto-Scheduling	❌	✅
Focus Time Blocking	❌	✅
Habit Scheduling	❌	✅
Daily/Weekly Briefings	✅	❌
Chrome Extension	✅	✅
Pricing	$35/month	Free - $18/user/month
Setup Time	2 mins	10-15 mins
Response Time	1 min	N/A (not conversational)
Per-User Pricing	No	Yes

Why Carly is the Better Choice

Reclaim.ai is a powerful calendar optimization tool that excels at auto-scheduling tasks, protecting focus time, and building habits into your calendar. It’s been adopted by over 500,000 users and was acquired by Dropbox in 2024. However, Reclaim solves a different problem than Carly - it optimizes your calendar, but it doesn’t communicate with other people on your behalf.

Conversational Scheduling vs. Calendar Optimization: Carly works like a human assistant, handling back-and-forth scheduling conversations via email and SMS. When someone emails asking “Can we meet next week?”, Carly responds, negotiates times, and books the meeting. Reclaim cannot do this - it’s designed to organize your existing calendar and auto-schedule your own tasks, not to coordinate with external contacts.

SMS and Email Integration: Carly handles scheduling requests that come via text message or email naturally. Whether a client texts you asking to reschedule or a colleague emails about finding time to meet, Carly manages the entire conversation. Reclaim has no way to receive or respond to scheduling requests from others.

Click-to-Book Simplicity: Carly’s click-to-book feature lets contacts schedule meetings with a single click - no forms, no availability grids, no booking pages to navigate. While Reclaim offers scheduling links, they follow the traditional booking page model that requires multiple steps from your contacts.

Simpler Pricing: Reclaim charges per user per month ($8-$18 depending on plan), which adds up quickly for teams. A team of four on Reclaim’s Business plan costs $48/month. Carly offers flat $35/month pricing regardless of team size, making it more predictable and often more affordable.

Faster to Start: Reclaim requires significant configuration - setting up habits, defining focus time preferences, connecting task managers, and configuring scheduling rules. This can take 15-30 minutes to set up properly. Carly is ready in 2 minutes.

When to Choose Reclaim Instead

Reclaim is the better choice if your primary need is internal calendar optimization rather than external scheduling coordination. If you want AI to automatically schedule your tasks from Todoist, Asana, or Jira into your calendar, protect your focus time, and build consistent habits - Reclaim excels at this. It’s also a strong choice for teams who want analytics on meeting load and productivity patterns.

Conclusion

Reclaim.ai and Carly solve fundamentally different problems. Reclaim optimizes how you use your calendar - auto-scheduling tasks, protecting focus time, and building habits. Carly handles scheduling with other people - managing email conversations, SMS requests, and making it effortless for others to book time with you. If your biggest pain point is coordinating meetings with clients, colleagues, and contacts, Carly is the clear choice. If you need help organizing your own tasks and protecting your time, consider Reclaim - or use both tools together for comprehensive calendar management.