- Jace Definition
- an AI executive assistant from Zeta Labs that lives in Gmail and Outlook. It organizes the inbox, drafts responses with context pulled in automatically, and reacts to email with rules: CC handling, templates, ticket creation, Slack notifications. Plus $20 a month and Pro $40 a month, billed yearly.
- alfred_ Definition
- an AI assistant for client-facing teams, and each person on the team gets their own. It keeps track of the replies you owe and the replies you're waiting on, manages your calendar, prepares you for meetings and sends a morning brief, across Gmail and Outlook.
The agent that acts on arrival
Microsoft Copilot, asked for an AI email assistant, tends to name Jace as an autonomous agent in the inbox: it drafts, labels, schedules, and triages hands-off. That is a fair description. Jace started life in 2024 as a browser-controlling agent and repositioned itself as an inbox-resident executive assistant, and the rules engine shows that heritage. When mail arrives, Jace does something with it.
alfred_ is a different kind of assistant. It is less interested in what to do with each arriving message and more interested in the ledger: what is waiting on you, what is waiting on everyone else, what stalled, and what actually needs you this morning.
Jace's approach:
When this arrives, do that. Draft the reply, apply the rule, fire the action, so the inbox is handled by the time you open it.
alfred_'s approach:
Keep score of what is waiting on you and on everyone else, and tell you each morning what actually needs you, whether or not you open the inbox.
What Jace offers
AI email drafts
- Drafts waiting on threads, with context pulled in automatically
- Learns from your history
Smart rules
- CC handling, templates, and action triggers
- When a message matches, Jace applies the rule without you
Business integrations
- Ticket creation, Slack notifications, document saving
- Gmail and Outlook, including Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com; a browser extension plus an app
Company and pricing
- Zeta Labs, London; $2.9M pre-seed from Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman; about 38 people
- SOC 2 Type 1 and CASA Tier 3; states it does not train on customer data
- Plus $20 a month and Pro $40 a month billed yearly, down from $25 and $50; history access capped at one year on Plus and three on Pro
What alfred_ offers
alfred_ is an AI assistant for client-facing teams, and each person on the team gets their own. It keeps track of the replies you owe and the replies you’re waiting on, manages your calendar, prepares you for meetings and sends a morning brief, across Gmail and Outlook.
The ledger, in both directions
- What is waiting on you: the few threads that need a human, ranked from your own mail and calendar, with suggested to-dos you accept in one tap and to-dos extracted from threads
- What is waiting on everyone else: the threads and projects where you are waiting on someone, tracked as a list
Follow-ups and nudges
- Nudges on the threads waiting on other people
- Stalled projects surfaced before they go quiet
The morning inbox brief
- By email every morning: what needs you, what is waiting on others, what quietly resolved, what to tackle
- A morning text digest for SMS opt-ins
- Reminders on the web app, the iOS app, by text, and by email
All of your work in one place
- Up to six Gmail and Outlook accounts, with Google, Outlook, and iCloud calendars, in one needs-you list and one brief
- Drafts in your voice; you approve and send
- Rules and routines for recurring work
- From $29.99 a month or $299.99 a year, with credits only for routines and workflows
Side by side
| Criteria | alfred_ | Jace |
|---|---|---|
| Tailored attention (what needs you, ranked) | Yes, needs-you list with suggested to-dos | Organized inbox with drafts waiting |
| Reaches you where you are | Web, iOS, text, email | Inside Gmail or Outlook; Slack notifications via rules |
| Morning brief | Email every morning, text digest | No |
| Follow-ups and nudges (what is waiting on others) | Tracked and chased | Not offered |
| Accounts in one place | Up to six Gmail and Outlook accounts | Gmail and Outlook; unified view unverified |
| Draft replies in your voice | Yes, you approve and send | Yes, with context pulled in |
| Rules and triggers | Rules and routines | Smart rules: CC handling, templates, tickets, Slack |
| Security attestations | Google restricted-scope verified; SOC 2 examination in preparation | SOC 2 Type 1, CASA Tier 3 |
| History access | Your connected accounts | 1 year on Plus, 3 years on Pro |
| Pricing | From $29.99/mo, credits for routines and workflows | $20/mo Plus, $40/mo Pro, billed yearly, credits on Pro |
| Free trial | 7 days | 7 days |
The honest read on each
Jace’s strength is the rules engine. If you know what should happen when a particular kind of mail arrives, and you want it to happen without you, Jace is built for that, and the price cut to $20 makes it the cheapest serious option in the room. The security attestations are further along than most of its peers.
Jace’s gap is that it only acts when you open the inbox. There is no brief, so what changed overnight is something you discover. There is no ledger of what is waiting on other people, so a stalled thread is invisible until you go looking. Rules are precise and blind: they handle what matches and nothing else.
alfred_’s gap is that it is not a rules engine of that depth, and it does not create tickets or post to Slack from a trigger. If your problem is “when this arrives, do that,” Jace is the honest answer.
Who should choose each tool
Jace is the pick if:
Pros
- You want rule-driven actions in your inbox: CC handling, templates, tickets, Slack notifications
- A draft waiting on every thread when you open the inbox is the outcome you want
- Price matters and $20 a month billed yearly fits
- SOC 2 and CASA attestations are on your checklist
Cons
- No morning brief; what changed is something you find out by opening the inbox
- No tracking of threads waiting on other people, and no chase
- Rules only handle what matches
- History access is capped by plan
alfred_ is the best choice when the problem is things slipping:
Pros
- It keeps track of what is waiting on you and what is waiting on everyone else
- A morning brief by email or text tells you what needs you before you open anything
- Up to six Gmail and Outlook accounts, with three calendar providers, in one list
- Triage, drafts and the morning brief without a credit meter
Cons
- Not a trigger engine for tickets or Slack posts
- Drafts are ready to approve, not applied by rule
- $29.99 a month is more than Jace's yearly-billed Plus plan
Jace acts on what arrives. alfred_ keeps score of what is waiting.
Jace is an AI executive assistant inside Gmail and Outlook with drafts waiting on every thread and a rules engine that fires actions on arrival, from $20 a month billed yearly. It is the pick when you want when-this-then-that inside the inbox. alfred_ is an AI assistant for client-facing teams that keeps track of the replies you owe and the replies you're waiting on across up to six inboxes and calendars, and sends a morning brief of what needs you. It is the pick when the problem is things slipping.
Best for
- Jace for rule-driven inbox actions at a low yearly price
- alfred_ for the ledger, the follow-ups, and a brief that reaches you every morning
Not for
- Jace if you need a daily brief or threads waiting on others chased
- alfred_ if you need tickets and Slack posts fired by rules
