8 Best Joshu Alternatives in 2026
Joshu is an AI executive assistant with its own desk: a cloud computer you can screen-share into, its own email address and its own phone number. You copy it on a scheduling thread, ask it for a “last thirty days” research report, or drop files in a folder and let it answer questions from them.
The price is one flat $95 a month after a 14-day trial, hosted, with no token fees or caps. The box stack is open source under AGPL, so you can also run it yourself and pay nothing.
The catch is the same one every own-identity assistant has: the reply comes from Joshu’s address, not yours.
The quick answer: Carly is the best Joshu alternative for work. It sends from your own Gmail or Outlook, works across all of your inboxes at once, starts on events instead of waiting to be copied in, and carries each request through your calendar, CRM, tasks and files. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Connect your inbox here.
Quick comparison
| Alternative | Best for | Sends email as | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Work email, calendar, workflows and team agents | You | Free workflows; agents from $35/mo |
| Wajo Fo | Errands with human assistants on the calls | Its own address | Free with a daily cap; Pro unpriced |
| szn | An iMessage agent with its own name, email and number | Its own address | Free early preview |
| Ako | An AI employee inside Slack and WhatsApp | Its own address | Free credits; $19, $49, $199/mo |
| Lindy | Building your own agents from templates | You | Plus $29.99/user/mo |
| Howie | Scheduling by CC | Its own address | From $25/mo in credits |
| Hermes Agent | The open-source stack Joshu is built on | You configure it | Free, self-hosted |
| OpenClaw | Maximum control on your own machine | You configure it | Free software, your API bills |
1. Carly: the work alternative
Carly is an AI assistant and agent builder for the same jobs Joshu lists, scheduling, research and follow-up, done inside the accounts you already have.
Connect Google or Microsoft and Carly reads the thread, drafts the reply in your voice and sends it from your address. It finds times, sends invites and moves meetings on your real calendar and the other side’s. One request covers all of your inboxes at once, both providers, so nothing is “mingled” and nothing is missed either.
Joshu waits to be copied in. Carly workflows start on their own: a lead form arrives, an email lands from a particular client, a meeting ends, a Monday comes around. Each one runs a sequence with an AI decision in the middle, and the agents you build carry those workflows for the whole team instead of one desk per person. Carly connects to thousands of apps, from HubSpot and Salesforce to Slack, Linear and Notion, through official connections.
You can also work with Carly where you already are: text it, email it, add the Carly plugin to ChatGPT or the Carly connector to Claude.
- Best for: professionals and small teams who want email, calendar and operations handled in their own accounts
- Pricing: free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month
- Limitations: no shared desktop to screen-share into; Carly works through app connections
2. Wajo Fo
Fo is the personal agent from Wajo that went public on September 28. It calls, emails and books, checks out on single-use cards, and hands the calls the model cannot finish to a human executive assistant on Wajo’s staff. Like Joshu, it emails from its own address.
- Best for: errands: the dentist, the plumber, the hold music
- Pricing: Fo Mini free with a daily task cap; OG Fo invite only; Pro unpriced
- Limitations: built for life admin, not your inbox. See Wajo Fo alternatives.
3. szn
szn is the iMessage agent from ex-Siri engineer Nikhil Gupta, launching in October. Each customer gets an assistant with its own name, email address and phone number that browses, buys and talks to vendors, which is Joshu’s identity model without the desk.
- Best for: iPhone users who want the assistant inside Messages
- Pricing: free during the early preview
- Limitations: not generally available yet, and replies go out from the assistant’s address. See szn alternatives.
4. Ako
Ako is an AI employee for teams. It joins Slack, WhatsApp and email as a colleague with its own handle and address, takes tagged, scheduled or goal-based work, and builds reports and dashboards from the tools you connect.
- Best for: teams that want one shared agent in Slack
- Pricing: free with 2,000 one-time credits; Lite $19, Starter $49, Pro $199 a month
- Limitations: credit-metered, and heavy tasks burn hundreds of credits each. See Ako alternatives.
5. Lindy
Lindy is a template-driven agent builder: pick an email triage, meeting prep or lead outreach template, connect the apps and let it run. It sends from your connected accounts rather than its own.
- Best for: people who want to assemble agents from templates
- Pricing: Plus $29.99 per user a month, Pro $99.99, Max $199.99, each with a credit allowance
- Limitations: credits run out, and each agent needs configuring. See Lindy alternatives.
6. Howie
Howie is the CC-to-schedule specialist. Copy it on a thread and it negotiates the time and sends the invite, with a human team behind it for the hard cases.
- Best for: people who only want scheduling handled
- Pricing: credit plans from $25 a month
- Limitations: scheduling only, and Google-first. See Howie alternatives.
7. Hermes Agent
Hermes Agent is the open-source agent framework Joshu is built on. If what draws you to Joshu is the AGPL stack and the “never pay us” option, this is the layer underneath it, without the hosted desk, phone number and trained chief-of-staff skills.
- Best for: developers who want the raw stack
- Pricing: free, self-hosted, your own model costs
- Limitations: you assemble everything Joshu packages. See Hermes Agent alternatives.
8. OpenClaw
OpenClaw is the other self-hosted route: an agent that runs on your own machine, talks through your messaging apps and does what you wire it to do.
- Best for: people who want the agent on their own hardware
- Pricing: free software; users report $300 to $750 a month in API bills
- Limitations: you are the operator and the security team. See Carly vs OpenClaw.
How to choose a Joshu alternative
- Email, calendar and follow-up from your own accounts: go with Carly
- Errands with a human on the phone: Wajo Fo
- An assistant living in iMessage: szn
- One shared agent for a Slack team: Ako
- Templates you assemble yourself: Lindy
- Scheduling only: Howie
- The open-source stack underneath Joshu: Hermes Agent
- An agent on your own machine: OpenClaw
If the phone number is the part of Joshu you want, Carly Phone gives a business its own numbers, calling, texting and an AI receptionist, set up by the Carly team. Book a call to scope it.
FAQ
How much does Joshu cost?
Joshu is $95 a month for the hosted service after a 14-day trial, with no token fees or usage caps. The open-source box stack can be self-hosted for free. Carly runs Zapier-style workflows free, and its AI agents start at $35 a month.
Does Joshu send email as me?
No. Every Joshu gets a dedicated email address so its work is kept separate from yours, which means a client sees the assistant’s address on the reply. Carly sends from your own Gmail or Outlook, and one request covers all of your inboxes.
Is Joshu open source?
Yes. The box stack is published under AGPL, it is built on the Hermes Agent framework, and you can export your assistant’s knowledge and skills through its Portable Soul format. Hosting is in the United States and Joshu says it does not train models on your data.
What is the best Joshu alternative for a team?
Carly. Joshu is one desk for one person. Carly agents and workflows run for a whole team, on events, inside the accounts the team already uses.
Ready to automate your busywork?
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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."
