Side by side

Ari vs Cal Autobot

Both stand on ai scheduling assistants. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Ari

Free plan iPhoneMacWeb

Ari combines email-based scheduling with calendar actions and meeting tools on Mac and iPhone. Review proposed times before confirming, and check the plan limits if you expect to schedule frequently.

Visit Ari

Cal Autobot combines email-based scheduling, calendar conflict checks, and event extraction. Its wind-down status is important: new customers cannot sign up, and existing customers can continue only while the service remains available.

Visit Cal Autobot

The facts

	Ari	Cal Autobot
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	iPhone, Mac, Web	Extension, Web
Lowest paid plan	Basic: $24 a month	Power Users: $12 per user a month
Plans published	3	3
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	justcc.to	calautobot.com
On ai scheduling assistants	#1 of 25	#2 of 25

Ari: what it does well

Can create, update, and cancel calendar events with permission.
Supports email, calendar, and meeting services listed by the maker.
Mac and iPhone apps record and transcribe meetings.
macOS recordings and transcripts stay on-device unless cloud features are used.

What to know first

Free plan is limited to 10 meetings total.
Free plan includes only one Google and one Microsoft calendar.
Users must review and confirm proposed meetings.
Email content is sent to Anthropic’s Claude API for processing.

Cal Autobot: what it does well

Schedules meetings from email threads.
Monitors multiple calendars for conflicts.
Booking page syncs with email bookings.
Extracts event details into Google Calendar.
Free Gmail extension adds availability or booking links.

What to know first

No longer accepts new customers.
Continued access for existing customers depends on service availability.
Several Power Users features are marked “Coming soon.”

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