Kerna vs Lavender

Kerna is an AI email assistant for Gmail and Outlook on macOS, Windows, and the web. At a user’s request, it sorts open messages into categories such as Urgent, Respond, Invoice, Waiting, and Notification; users can also set custom categories and industry taxonomies. It drafts replies based on the full thread, with controls for intent and tone, and makes structured thread summaries for conversations of up to 50 messages. It can summarize attachments, extract selected fields into exportable tables, and translate inbound messages and outbound replies in 45 languages. Integrations include Calendar, Contacts, and Sheets as well as Gmail and Outlook. Kerna says it acts only when a user initiates a request, processes content in memory, discards it afterward, and redacts personal data before it reaches the inference provider. Its trust information reports TLS 1.2 or higher in transit and AES-256 encryption at rest. Kerna has a free plan; paid plans start at €12/mo. Outlook requires a Microsoft-hosted mailbox; POP or IMAP and on-premises Exchange are unsupported.

Lavender helps users improve sales and other professional emails through analysis and personalization. Its Email Coach scores emails and templates, suggests improvements and uses AI to address issues that may hurt replies. The Personalization Assistant brings prospect data into the inbox and offers suggestions for tailoring messages. Managers can use the Coaching Dashboard to track team performance, ROI, what is working and where people need help. Listed integrations include Gmail, Outlook, Outreach, Salesloft, HubSpot, Apollo, Groove and Gong. Lavender describes the Email Coach as a tool for SDRs and account executives, and also says recruiters, jobseekers and customer success managers can benefit. The Basic plan is free forever, with analysis and personalization for five emails per month each. Starter costs $27 a month when billed annually; Individual Pro costs $45 a month when billed annually, and Team Plan costs $89 a month when billed annually. A seven-day trial includes all integrations and requires no card. Lavender says email content is deleted after analysis and assistance are complete.