# Orbits vs Poke > Poke scores 37.6 (F) to Orbits's 15.6 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-poke - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-poke.md (~3,250 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-poke.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-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 - Updated: 2026-10-13 Poke scores 37.6 (F) on agent readiness against Orbits's 15.6 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Orbits leads on maintenance & community. Both do assistants reached by message. - Orbits: grade F, 15.6/100, rank #997 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orbits.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orbits.json - Poke: grade F, 37.6/100, rank #960 of 1010. 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 834 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Orbits (F) Good for: Families who want one shared assistant for calendars, lists, meals, chores and household email. Ahead on: - Maintenance & community, 54 against 31 Watch for: No public agent API, as llms.txt states. ### 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 - 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 | Orbits | 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) | 54 | 31 | Orbits +23 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 43 | 58 | Poke +15 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **15.6 · F** | **37.6 · F** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Orbits | Poke | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Platform | | Vendor | Nemus AI, Inc. | The Interaction Company of California Inc. | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | HTTP | | Auth | OAuth or key | API key | | Pricing | Paid | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under the Orbits Terms of Service (Nemus AI, Inc.). | 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 | 2026-10-13 | 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 | ## Verdicts **Orbits.** Orbits is a family household app whose assistant, Bit, runs shared calendars, lists and meals, reads household email and places restaurant calls after approval, with iOS releases every week or two. No outside agent can call it, prices appear only as App Store in-app purchases, and no status page, security contact or named subprocessors were found. **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 ### Orbits 1. Don't plan to call Orbits from another agent. llms.txt says no public agent API is offered. 2. Tell the owner the assistant needs an Orbits subscription bought in the app, and that any trial appears only at purchase. ### 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, Orbits or Poke? Poke scores 37.6 (F) on agent readiness against Orbits's 15.6 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Orbits leads on maintenance & community. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-poke.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-poke.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "orbits", "b": "poke"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare orbits poke` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/orbits.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/poke.json ## Other comparisons with Orbits or Poke - [asaply vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-orbits.md) - [asaply vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-poke.md) - [Asmi vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-orbits.md) - [Asmi vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-poke.md) - [AstrBot vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-orbits.md) - [Boba vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-orbits.md) - [Boba vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-poke.md) - [Boski vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-orbits.md) - [Brea vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-orbits.md) - [Brea vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-poke.md) - [Caddy vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-orbits.md) - [CowAgent vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-orbits.md) - [Del vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-orbits.md) - [Del vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-poke.md) - [folk vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-orbits.md) - [GAIA vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-orbits.md) - [Grok Bot vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-orbits.md) - [Haven vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-orbits.md) - [Hermes Agent vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-orbits.md) - [HireAlpha vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-orbits.md) - [HireAlpha vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-poke.md) - [Instinct vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-orbits.md) - [IronClaw vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-orbits.md) - [Lindy vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-orbits.md) - [nanobot vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orbits.md) - [NanoClaw vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-orbits.md) - [Dots vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-orbits.md) - [OpenClaw vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-orbits.md) - [OpenInstinct vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-orbits.md) - [OpenInstinct vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-poke.md) - [Orbits vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Orbits vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-pally.md) - [Orbits vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Orbits vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Orbits vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-szn.md) - [Orbits vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Orbits vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-tomo.md) - [Orbits vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-town.md) - [Orbits vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-zapia.md) - [Orbits vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Orbits vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-zo-computer.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 Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-poke.md) - [Boski vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-poke.md) - [Caddy vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-poke.md) - [CowAgent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-poke.md) - [folk vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-poke.md) - [GAIA vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-poke.md) - [Gemini Spark vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-poke.md) - [Grok Bot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-poke.md) - [Haven vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-poke.md) - [Hermes Agent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-poke.md) - [Instinct vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-poke.md) - [IronClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.md) - [Leon vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-poke.md) - [Lindy vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-poke.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 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) - [Gemini Spark vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-orbits.md) - [Leon vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-orbits.md) - [Natura tinyNature vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-orbits.md) - [Natura tinyNature vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-poke.md) - [Orbits vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-wajo.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) - [Orbits vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-talorys.md) - [Poke vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Orbits 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.