Carly vs Tab: Which AI Agent Should You Text?
Tab is an AI agent you text in iMessage or WhatsApp. It has its own phone number, computer and wallet, so it calls the doctor’s office, books the flight and pays once you approve the total. It came out of stealth on October 6, 2026, at a $300 million valuation. Carly is an AI assistant and agent builder that works inside your email, calendar and the apps your business runs on, and you can text it too.
Both live in your phone. They take different jobs off it.
The quick answer: Tab if you have a spot off the waitlist and want a texting agent for calls, bookings and purchases. Carly if the job is your inbox, calendar and clients, on Gmail or Outlook, available today and starting on its own when an email lands. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
Carly vs Tab at a glance
| Carly | Tab | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Email, calendar, CRM and team workflows | Life admin: calls, bookings, purchases |
| Availability | Open now | Waitlist |
| How you reach it | Text, web, email, ChatGPT, Claude | iMessage, WhatsApp |
| Email and calendar | Every Gmail and Outlook account, every calendar | Google sign-in; no Outlook found |
| Starts work | On an event, a schedule or a request | On a text, plus reminders and recurring checks |
| Phone calls | Carly Phone answers and returns calls on a business line | Calls businesses for you and waits on hold |
| Teams | Agents and workflows for a whole team | One Tab per group chat |
| Pricing | Free workflows; agents from $35/mo | No price published |
What Tab is built for
You text Tab like a capable friend: book me a flight, call the hotel and move my reservation, turn this PDF into a spreadsheet. It calls businesses and waits on hold for up to an hour, logs in to sites with accounts you save, and runs reminders and recurring checks. Before buying anything it shows you the item, the total and the payee, and charges nothing until you say yes.
One Google sign-in connects Gmail, Calendar, Drive and the rest of Google Workspace. We found no mention of Outlook or Microsoft 365.
What Carly is built for
Carly’s day starts in your inbox. Connect every Google and Microsoft account you have and it triages, drafts replies in your voice and sends them from the right address. It finds times across all of your calendars, with booking pages for the people who need a slot. The deal moves in HubSpot, the task lands in Asana, the note lands in the Carly CRM.
Then come workflows. An email from a key client, a form submission, a new booking, a Monday at 8am: each can start a run with an AI step in the middle. The agents you build each get their own email address.
Texting both
Tab is a texting product first. Carly takes a text too, and the text reaches everything Carly is connected to. Marcus runs a roofing company from his truck. Between jobs he texts Carly, “move Thursday’s inspection to Friday morning and tell the homeowner.” Carly finds a slot on his Outlook calendar, moves the event, emails the homeowner from his business address and adds the change to the job in his CRM. He gets one text back.
Outlook and the work inbox
If your work runs on Microsoft 365, Tab’s Google sign-in does not reach it. Carly connects every Gmail and Outlook account at once, shared mailboxes included, so a business address, a personal address and a client’s tenant all sit in one place.
Phone calls
Tab’s standout is calling businesses for you: the doctor’s office, the hotel, the vendor. Carly’s phone side faces the other way. Carly Phone gives a business line a voice agent that answers calls in English or Spanish, texts back the calls you miss, and calls new leads. If your customers are the ones calling, that is the half that pays.
Pricing
Tab has no price yet, and its terms say joining the waitlist does not guarantee future pricing. Carly runs Zapier-style workflows free, and AI agents start at $35 a month. Get started here.
Which should you choose?
- You want a texting agent to call businesses, book travel and buy things you approve: Tab, once you are off the waitlist
- Your work runs on Outlook or Microsoft 365: Carly
- You want texts to reach your inbox, calendar and CRM: Carly
- You want work to start when an email or booking arrives: Carly workflows
- You need a voice agent on your business line: Carly Phone, book a call
The wider field, including Wajo’s Fo, Instinct and Poke, is in Tab alternatives.
FAQ
Can I text Carly like Tab?
Yes. Text Carly instructions from your phone and it acts across every inbox, calendar and app you connected. You can also reach it on the web, by email, and through the Carly plugin in ChatGPT or the Carly connector in Claude.
Does Tab work with Outlook?
We found no mention of Outlook or Microsoft 365 in Tab’s materials; it connects Google accounts through one sign-in. Carly works with every Gmail and Outlook account you have.
How do I get Tab?
Sign up at tab.bot with your mobile number and send Tab one text to verify. Friends who join through your link move you up the waitlist. See what Tab is.
Is Carly available now?
Yes. Carly is open today, with free Zapier-style workflows and AI agents from $35 a month.
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."
