Assistly vs Cluely: an honest comparison (2026)
By The Assistly team ·
Cluely is the most famous tool in this category. It went viral with a "cheat on everything" tagline, raised a $15M Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, and put real-time AI overlays on the map. If you're comparing options, you're almost certainly comparing against Cluely — so here's a straight look at where it's strong, where users run into trouble, and how Assistly is different.
At a glance
| Assistly | Cluely | |
|---|---|---|
| Invisible to screen share | OS-level capture exclusion, included on every plan | Yes — but reliable anti-detection is a paid add-on |
| Price for the undetectable tier | $14.99/mo (everything included) | Pro ~$20/mo; "Pro + Undetectability" listed at $149.99/mo |
| Free plan | 5 full sessions/month, 45 min each | Limited (reviewers cite ~5 AI responses/day) |
| Multi-speaker context (who said what) | Yes | Not reliably |
| Works with headphones (captures call audio) | Yes | Reads screen + system audio |
| Personas tuned to your résumé/context | Yes | Limited |
| Notes & action items after every session | Yes | Notetaking on higher tiers |
| Platforms | Native macOS & Windows | macOS, Windows, iOS |
Pricing for both moves around; check each site for current numbers. Cluely's figures here are as reported across review sites in mid-2026.
What Cluely does well
Credit where it's due. Cluely's overlay genuinely doesn't appear in a standard Zoom, Meet, or Teams screen share — the architecture is sound and corroborated by independent technical writeups. It has broad use cases (sales objection handling, meeting notes, follow-up emails), CRM integrations for sales teams (Salesforce, HubSpot), an enterprise tier with SSO, and the widest brand awareness in the category. If you want a sales-enablement suite with a big name behind it, it's a real option.
Where users run into trouble
The recurring complaints in public reviews cluster around money and reliability:
- The undetectability paywall. The signature feature — the thing the brand is built on — sits behind a "Pro + Undetectability" tier reported at $149.99/month month-to-month. The cheaper Pro plan doesn't reliably include it.
- Billing complaints. Cluely's Trustpilot rating sits around 1.8/5 (small sample), dominated by reports of surprise annual charges, refunds denied by default under the terms of service, and charges continuing after cancellation.
- Latency and accuracy. Despite an advertised ~300ms response, independent testers reported 5–10+ second delays under real interview pressure, plus transcription errors and, in Business Insider's testing, fabricated résumé details.
- Not reliably undetectable where it counts. Reviewers report Cluely being flagged within seconds on coding-interview platforms like CoderPad and HackerRank, and proctoring vendors explicitly market the ability to flag it.
- Trust. In March 2026, founder Roy Lee publicly admitted (to TechCrunch) that the $7M ARR figure he'd given the previous year was fabricated.
We're citing these because they're documented in public reviews and reporting, not to dunk — every tool has rough edges. But if you're paying for "undetectable," the price of that tier and its real-world reliability matter.
How Assistly is different
- Make it yours — and harder to flag. Rename the app and swap its icon so it doesn't appear as a recognizable assistant in the process list or Activity Monitor, set custom knowledge modes for your own context, and bind your own hotkeys.
- Undetectability isn't a $149 upsell. The overlay is excluded from screen capture at the OS level on macOS and Windows for every user, including the free plan. Pro is a flat $14.99/month for unlimited sessions — there's no separate "anti-detection" tier.
- It tracks who said what. Assistly separates your voice from the other participants and follows multiple speakers, so its guidance answers the right person on a busy call — context Cluely doesn't reliably keep.
- It works with headphones on. Assistly captures the call's own audio, so it follows the conversation whether you're on speaker or wearing earbuds.
- It sounds like you. Build a persona from your CV, notes, and docs, and Assistly tailors every answer to your background — instead of generic model output that can invent details.
- You're in control of the overlay. Configurable hotkeys let you show, hide, and drive it without touching the mouse.
- Clean record afterward. Every session ends with an organized summary and a clear list of action items.
Which should you choose?
If you want a sales suite with CRM integrations and don't mind paying premium prices for the undetectable tier, Cluely is the established name. If you want the same OS-level invisibility included by default, multi-speaker context, résumé-aware guidance, and a flat, honest $14.99/month, Assistly is built for you.
It's free to try — 5 sessions a month with the full feature set. Get started for free, or read more on what's actually detectable in 2026.