Carly vs Lava AI: Which Agent Should Run Your Work?
Lava is a Mac and Windows app that opens your work apps as live tabs beside an agent that reads the screen and acts through each app’s API. Carly is an AI assistant and agent builder that works inside your email, calendar and the apps your business runs on, from wherever you already are.
Both are built for work. They disagree about where the work should happen and what should start it.
The quick answer: Lava if you want to watch an agent operate your apps on a desktop, pick the model, and pay by the call. Carly if you want your inbox, calendar and follow-up handled from your own accounts, with workflows that start on their own when something happens. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
Carly vs Lava at a glance
| Carly | Lava | |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in | Email, text, web, ChatGPT and Claude | A Mac or Windows desktop app, plus Slack |
| Starts a task | On an event, a schedule, or your request | When you type a task, or a saved workflow you trigger |
| Sends email as | You, from your Gmail or Outlook | You, through the Gmail connector, after an approval card |
| Before it sends | Runs the workflow you set up | Pauses for approval by default; Auto mode runs unattended |
| Model | Managed by Carly | Your pick: Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini or Grok |
| Connects to | Thousands of apps through official connections | Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, QuickBooks, LinkedIn and more, plus a gateway of API providers |
| Team use | Shared agents and workflows | Each person’s own account; enterprise provisioning on a call |
| Pricing | Free workflows; agents from $35/mo | Prepaid wallet, per model call and per provider call |
What Lava is built for
Lava’s own example is the whole product in one line: summarize this thread, draft a reply, and update Salesforce. The agent reads the open Gmail tab, drafts the reply, shows an Approve action card, and after you click, sends through the Gmail connector and updates the CRM. Repeated tasks can be saved as workflows and triggered with a slash. The same agent answers in Slack, running on your own account.
The design choices are deliberate. You see the work happen in live tabs. You choose the model and can switch mid-task. And every high-stakes action waits for you unless you switch to Auto mode.
What Carly is built for
Carly’s day starts in your inbox. Connect Google or Microsoft and it triages, drafts replies in your voice and sends them from your address, across all of your inboxes at once. It finds times, sends invites and reschedules on your real calendar, with booking pages for people who need to grab a slot. Every request carries through the rest of the stack: the deal moves in HubSpot, the task lands in Linear, the note files in Notion. Carly connects to thousands of apps.
Then there are workflows. A form submission, an email from a particular sender, a meeting ending, a Monday at 8am: each can start a sequence of steps with an AI decision in the middle, and it runs whether or not you are at your desk. The agents you build carry those workflows for a whole team.
The desk question
Lava’s agent lives in an app you keep open, and its documentation says long, tool-heavy work still runs best there, where you can watch it. That is the right call for Lava’s design, because watching is part of the trust model.
Carly is built for the hours you are not at a desk. Josh runs a two-person consultancy. When a prospect fills in his website form at 11pm, Carly enriches the lead, creates the HubSpot record, drafts the intro email from Josh’s address and books the discovery call from his calendar. He reads the summary on his phone in the morning. Nothing waited for an approval card, because he set the rules once when he built the workflow.
The bill question
Lava has no subscription. You add funds, from $10 to $10,000, and each task draws down the balance: at least one model call, plus a provider call for each API request to a connected app. Lava’s documentation says plainly that cost per task varies with complexity, and if the balance runs low mid-task, the task stops.
Carly is a monthly plan. Zapier-style workflows run free, and AI agents start at $35 a month, so a busy week does not surprise you at the end of it. Get started here.
Which should you choose?
- You want to watch an agent operate your real apps on a desktop: Lava
- You want to pick the model yourself: Lava
- You want your inbox, calendar and CRM handled from your own accounts, nothing to install: Carly
- You want work to start on its own when a lead comes in or a meeting ends: Carly workflows
- You want one agent for a whole team: Carly agents
- You want a business phone line answered and dialed for you: Carly Phone, book a call to scope it
The wider field, including Lindy, Viktor, Ako and Manus, is in Lava alternatives, and the product itself is in what Lava AI is.
FAQ
Is Lava the same company as Lava Payments?
Yes. Lava raised a $5.8 million seed in August 2025 as an AI billing gateway, and Lava Desktop, launched in June 2026, runs on that gateway. The per-call wallet pricing comes from the same infrastructure.
Does Lava work with Outlook?
Lava’s connector documentation lists Gmail and Google Calendar. Carly connects Google and Microsoft accounts side by side.
Can Carly wait for my approval like Lava?
Yes. A Carly workflow can pause for a review step before it sends, or run end to end on the rules you set. You decide per workflow, so the routine work runs unattended and the sensitive sends wait for you. Build one here.
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."
