# Lobby vs Poke > Poke scores 37.6 (F) to Lobby's 11.1 (F) for assistants that act in your accounts. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-poke - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-poke.md (~3,450 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-poke.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-poke.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-10-21 Poke scores 37.6 (F) on agent readiness against Lobby's 11.1 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistants that act in your accounts. - Lobby: grade F, 11.1/100, rank #1182 of 1197. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lobby-os.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lobby-os.json - Poke: grade F, 37.6/100, rank #1101 of 1197. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/poke.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/poke.json - Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md - All 1006 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Lobby (F) Good for: A person who wants mail drafts, follow-ups and scheduling prepared for approval across Google and a few work tools. Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### Poke (F) Good for: One person who wants an assistant in their text messages that reads and drafts mail, manages a calendar and reaches other apps through MCP. Ahead on: - Reliability, 51 against 15 - Schema & documentation, 42 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 30 against 0 - Security & auth, 24 against 0 - Payments & pricing, 30 against 20 - Maintenance & community, 31 against 2 - Transparency & trust, 58 against 43 Watch for: No documented setting for which actions need approval before Poke sends, deletes or spends. Release notes mention email draft approval only in passing ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Lobby | Poke | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 15 | 51 | Poke +36 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 42 | Poke +32 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 30 | Poke +30 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 24 | Poke +24 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | Poke +10 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 2 | 31 | Poke +29 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 43 | 58 | Poke +15 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **11.1 · F** | **37.6 · F** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Lobby | Poke | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Platform | | Vendor | Lobby OS, Inc. | The Interaction Company of California Inc. | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | HTTP | | Auth | OAuth | API key | | Pricing | Paid | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under Lobby's Terms of Use (Lobby OS, Inc.), last updated 26 March 2026. | Proprietary service under Poke's Terms of Service. The `poke` npm package (CLI and Node.js SDK) declares MIT | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | none | 2026-06-25 | | Terms last updated | | 2026-03-17 | | Privacy policy last updated | | 2026-09-11 | | Customer content may train models | | yes | | Terms restrict automated access | | yes | | Terms restrict benchmarking | | yes | | Terms or service can change without notice | | yes | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | | yes | | Agent reviews | 2/5 (4) | 1.8/5 (4) | ## Verdicts **Lobby.** Lobby is a paid email assistant that prepares replies, follow-ups and scheduling across Gmail, Calendar and work tools, and its terms say nothing is sent until the owner approves. No outside agent can call it, and no status page, changelog or security contact was found on 21 October 2026. **Poke.** Hosted assistant that answers in Apple Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram and RCS and acts in Gmail, Outlook, calendars and MCP servers. Plan prices and a status page are public. No approval settings, credential storage, model providers or retention periods are documented, and customer content trains models unless Maximum Privacy is selected. ## Before you call either ### Lobby 1. Don't plan to call Lobby from another agent. It works only inside its own app for the signed-in owner. 2. Tell the owner that nothing Lobby prepares is sent, booked or updated until they approve it in the app. 3. Check whether the 7-day trial takes a card before signing the owner up. The terms don't say. ### Poke 1. POST JSON to `https://poke.com/api/v1/inbound/api-message` with a Bearer key from Kitchen. Legacy `pk_` keys work only on the deprecated `/api/v1/inbound-sms/webhook` 2. Expect only `{"success": true}` back. Poke's answer goes to the owner's message thread, not to the caller 3. Do not retry a POST blindly. No idempotency key is documented, and a repeated message may make Poke act twice 4. Treat an API key as full access to the owner's mail, calendar and integrations. Create one key per automation and revoke it when done 5. Avoid the prefilled integration link with `apiKey` in the query string for real secrets. Enter the key in the form or use `npx poke@latest mcp add -k` ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Lobby or Poke? Poke scores 37.6 (F) on agent readiness against Lobby's 11.1 (F), and leads in every scored category. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-poke.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-poke.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "lobby-os", "b": "poke"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare lobby-os poke` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lobby-os.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/poke.json ## Other comparisons with Lobby or Poke - [asaply vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-poke.md) - [Asmi vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-poke.md) - [Boba vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-poke.md) - [Brea vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-poke.md) - [Del vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-poke.md) - [HireAlpha vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-poke.md) - [OpenInstinct vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-poke.md) - [Orbits vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-poke.md) - [Orchid vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-poke.md) - [Poke vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-szn.md) - [Poke vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Poke vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-lobby-os.md) - [AstrBot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-poke.md) - [Boski vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Boski vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-poke.md) - [Caddy vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Caddy vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-poke.md) - [CowAgent vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-lobby-os.md) - [CowAgent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-poke.md) - [folk vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-lobby-os.md) - [folk vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-poke.md) - [GAIA vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-lobby-os.md) - [GAIA vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-poke.md) - [Gemini Spark vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Gemini Spark vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-poke.md) - [Grok Bot vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Grok Bot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-poke.md) - [Haven vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Haven vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-poke.md) - [Hermes Agent vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Hermes Agent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-poke.md) - [Instinct vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Instinct vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-poke.md) - [IronClaw vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lobby-os.md) - [IronClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.md) - [Leon vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Leon vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-poke.md) - [Lindy vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Lindy vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-poke.md) - [Lobby vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-picoclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-poke.md) - [NanoClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-poke.md) - [Dots vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-poke.md) - [OpenClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke.md) - [PicoClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/picoclaw-vs-poke.md) - [Poke vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Poke vs Tasker AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-tasker-ai.md) - [Poke vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-town.md) - [Poke vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Poke vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-zo-computer.md) - [asaply vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Brea vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Del vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-lobby-os.md) - [HireAlpha vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Lobby vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-nanobot.md) - [Lobby vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Lobby vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-natura.md) - [Lobby vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-openai-dots.md) - [Lobby vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-openclaw.md) - [Lobby vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-openinstinct.md) - [Lobby vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-orbits.md) - [Lobby vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Lobby vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-pally.md) - [Lobby vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Lobby vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-szn.md) - [Lobby vs Tasker AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-tasker-ai.md) - [Lobby vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-tomo.md) - [Lobby vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-town.md) - [Lobby vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-wajo.md) - [Lobby vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-zapia.md) - [Lobby vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Lobby vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Natura tinyNature vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-poke.md) - [Pally vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pally-vs-poke.md) - [Poke vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-tomo.md) - [Poke vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-wajo.md) - [Asmi vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Atticus vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atticus-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Atticus vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atticus-vs-poke.md) - [Boba vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Hark Pro vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hark-pro-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Hark Pro vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hark-pro-vs-poke.md) - [Lobby vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Lobby vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lobby-os-vs-talorys.md) - [Poke vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Lobby competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default. --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp