Ellie vs ForthWrite

Ellie is an AI email assistant that drafts replies in a user’s writing style using email-thread context. Connected to Gmail or Outlook, it can read incoming messages, categorize them, and save draft replies for review; it does not send messages without the user reviewing and sending them. Ellie learns tone, sign-offs, and writing patterns from sent mail. Users can add website URLs and upload PDF, TXT, DOCX, PPTX, or MD files to provide factual context, while roles set different personas, knowledge bases, and tones for different email types. Ellie supports connected Gmail and Outlook accounts and on-demand drafting in Gmail Web and Outlook Web. It is available on the web, Windows, and through Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge extensions, as well as a native Outlook desktop add-in. The free plan allows 10 draft replies per day but has no auto-drafts. Paid plans start at $19 a month. A 7-day trial is listed. Ellie says email content is processed by OpenAI and/or Azure OpenAI and is not used to train general models.

ForthWrite drafts email replies using a writing profile learned from a user's sent email. The free plan works with Gmail and Outlook on the web, while an Outlook add-in is available for Outlook desktop on Windows or Mac. Free accounts get 10 drafts per week; the plan excludes custom persona, auto-draft, batch drafting, coaching, analytics, and dictation. Pro includes unlimited drafts, auto-draft, batch drafting, custom persona, RAG, and dictation. It is listed at $24 a month billed annually, and the page also shows $29/mo. Teams has a two-seat minimum and includes Pro features, a shared team persona, Prompt Lab, review records, and team analytics. Slack drafting requires Standard or Pro. A Claude connector can produce a draft or contact summary, but does not send mail or open a mailbox. ForthWrite says it passed Google's CASA Tier 2 assessment for its restricted Gmail read-only scope. Its privacy policy says routine thread content is not kept after a draft is returned, while sent-email snippets are stored to learn the user's voice. Attachments are not currently read or analyzed.