The best AI executive assistant depends on where your day leaks. If it leaks in the inbox, pick a tool that triages and drafts. If it leaks in the calendar, pick a scheduler. If it leaks across email, Slack, projects and approvals at once, you want something closer to an AI chief of staff. This guide compares eight options on the work a CEO actually hands an assistant.
Key takeaway: Motion and Reclaim are calendar tools, not inbox tools. alfred_, Marblism's Eva and Sintra's Vizzy are personal assistants built around email and calendar. Lindy is a builder you configure. Saner is a notes-and-tasks assistant. Agently ranks what needs you across mail, Slack, Linear, Jira and pending approvals, and drafts replies that send only when you approve.
We build Agently, so read this with that in mind. This is a feature-and-fit comparison drawn from each vendor's public product pages in September 2026, not a benchmark: we did not run a scored test of every product, and we say so wherever a column is uncertain. Prices change often. Treat every number below as a starting point and check current pricing on the vendor's site.
What a CEO needs from an AI executive assistant
A human executive assistant protects your time. Software can take over a surprising share of that job, but only the parts it can see. Before comparing products, decide which of these you are hiring for:
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Inbox triage. Separate what needs you from newsletters, cold pitches and FYIs, without you reading all of it first.
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Meeting prep. Know who you are meeting, what you last discussed and what is still open before you walk in.
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Follow-up tracking. Notice who has been waiting on you, and what you are waiting on from others, before it goes stale.
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Approvals. Draft the reply or the action, then wait for your yes. For a CEO, an assistant that sends on its own is a liability.
The rest, calendar scheduling, voice, price, decides between tools that pass the first four.
Comparison table
| Tool | Inbox triage | Meeting prep | Follow-up tracking | Approval before sending | Calendar | Voice | Starting price (check current pricing) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agently | Outlook today; Gmail is send-only | Yes, from calendar and company brain | Ranked to-do list across mail, Slack, Linear, Jira | Yes, drafts wait as approval cards | Google Calendar, Outlook | Yes (browser and Mac app) | Free tier; $39/mo |
| alfred_ | Yes; Gmail, Outlook, IMAP | Daily briefing | Yes, per its site | Drafts for review | Google, iCloud | Texting, not voice | ~$29.99/mo |
| Lindy | Via workflows you build | Meeting notetaker; prep via workflows | Via workflows | Configurable per workflow | Yes | Phone agents | ~$29.99/mo |
| Motion | No | Scheduling, not briefing | Tasks and projects | Not applicable | Core feature: auto-schedules tasks | No | ~$19/seat/mo |
| Reclaim | No | No | Tasks as time blocks | Not applicable | Core feature: focus time, habits, smart meetings | No | Free plan; ~$10/seat/mo |
| Sintra (Vizzy) | Summaries from email | Daily email and calendar summary | Limited | Chat-led; you act on output | Yes | No | ~$97/mo list, often discounted |
| Marblism (Eva) | Yes; Gmail, Outlook | Meeting notes | Limited | Drafts in your voice | Yes | Phone receptionist (Rachel), separate role | ~$24/mo |
| Saner | Turns email into tasks (Gmail) | Search across notes and meetings | Reminders | Not a focus | Google Calendar | Voice capture for notes | Free plan; paid tiers |
"Limited" and "via workflows" mean the capability is possible but not the product's centre of gravity, based on what the vendor publishes. If one of those cells decides your choice, test it in a trial.
The eight options
Agently
Agently is an AI chief of staff rather than a single-inbox assistant. It sweeps your Microsoft 365 inbox, Slack mentions, Linear and Jira issues assigned to you, pending approvals and stalled tasks, then keeps one to-do list ranked by who is waiting, for how long, and what is at stake. New mail goes through rule-based noise removal and then one batched triage pass. Where a real person asked you something, it drafts the reply in the thread, and the draft waits as an approval card: approving sends exactly what you read.
It also writes a morning brief from your mail, calendar, Slack, tickets and CRM, preps meetings from what the company brain knows about each attendee, runs scheduled routines such as an investor update draft or a pipeline review, and takes requests by voice through Jarvis in the browser or the Mac app.
Watch-outs: inbox triage reads Outlook today; Gmail connects for sending only. It has no meeting recorder or phone agent. It is built for a CEO and a small team, so a solo user who only wants a smarter Gmail may find it more than they need.
Price: free tier with 100 credits, then $39, $99 or $199 a month. See pricing.
alfred_
alfred_ is the closest direct match to "AI executive assistant" as most people mean it. Its site lists email triage, drafting and archiving, a daily briefing, follow-up tracking, task extraction from messages, and texting so you can reach it away from your desk. It supports Gmail, Outlook and IMAP mailboxes and Google and iCloud calendars.
Choose it if your day lives in email, possibly across several accounts, and you want one assistant for those inboxes. Look elsewhere if your work also arrives through Slack, issue trackers and internal approvals it does not see. Credit-based plans start around $29.99 a month; check current pricing.
Lindy
Lindy is a no-code platform for building your own agents, with a strong assistant template: Gmail drafting, a meeting notetaker that joins Meet, Zoom and Teams, scheduled briefs, and phone agents. Almost anything is possible, because you design the workflow. That is also the cost: you are building the assistant before it works for you. We cover the trade-off in detail in our Lindy AI alternative comparison.
Choose it if you want granular control, meeting recordings, or phone automation. Credit-based plans start around $29.99 a month; voice and heavy workflows consume credits faster.
Motion
Motion is an AI calendar and project manager. It schedules your tasks into open time, re-plans when things slip, and adds meeting booking, docs and project views for teams. It is excellent at "when will this get done" and does not try to read or answer your email.
Choose it if your problem is too many commitments for the week, not too many messages. Around $19 per seat a month, less billed yearly.
Reclaim
Reclaim defends time on your calendar: focus blocks, recurring habits, buffers between meetings, smart one-on-ones that move themselves, and scheduling links. It integrates with task tools such as Asana, Linear, Jira and Todoist to time-block work. Like Motion, it is not an inbox tool.
Choose it if you mainly need your calendar to stop eating your deep work. There is a free plan, and paid seats start around $10 a month.
Sintra (Vizzy)
Sintra bundles twelve AI helpers, and Vizzy is the virtual assistant: calendar help, meeting scheduling, trip planning and daily summaries from your email and calendar. The model is chat-led: you ask a helper and take its output from there. See our Sintra AI alternative comparison for how that plays out across a team.
Choose it if you want many helpers for a low price and are comfortable directing each one. The list price is $97 a month and the site usually shows a discount; check current pricing.
Marblism (Eva)
Marblism packages six named AI employees, and Eva is the executive assistant: she drafts replies in your voice, filters junk, manages your calendar and takes meeting notes, with Gmail and Outlook support. Rachel, a separate employee, answers the phone. It is a bounded, affordable roster. Our Marblism alternative article covers where teams outgrow it.
Choose it if you are a solo founder who wants an inbox assistant plus other roles at a low entry price, historically around $24 a month.
Saner
Saner is an AI personal assistant aimed at people with ADHD and busy professionals. It captures notes by text or voice, turns email and loose thoughts into prioritised tasks, syncs with Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack and Google Drive, and lets you search across all of it. It organises your own information more than it answers other people for you.
Choose it if your bottleneck is keeping track of your own notes and tasks. There is a free plan and paid tiers; check current pricing.
Who should pick what
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You live in email across several accounts: alfred_, or Marblism's Eva if you also want other AI employees at a low price.
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Your calendar is the problem: Motion if you want tasks planned into your week, Reclaim if you want focus time defended.
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You want to design the assistant yourself, or need phone and meeting recording: Lindy.
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You want your own notes and tasks organised: Saner.
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You are a CEO whose work arrives through mail, Slack, issues and approvals, and nothing should send without you: Agently. Read what an AI chief of staff does for the day-to-day.
How to evaluate in one week
Pick two tools, connect the real inbox and calendar, and run them side by side for five working days. Each evening, count three things: messages you still had to read yourself, drafts you sent with little or no editing, and anything that slipped. The assistant that wins on the slip count is the one to keep, even if another one writes nicer drafts. Our guide to triaging an inbox with AI has a rubric for the first number.
