Cluely alternatives for work meetings

Cluely made the real-time AI overlay famous: a window on your screen that listens to the call and suggests what to say next. Most people searching for an alternative want one of three things: a lower price, an open-source version, or answers that come from their own material instead of a general model.

This post is for work calls: sales, renewals, client meetings, negotiations. If what you want is to be undetectable in a job interview or an exam, Savvy is not that tool and this post will not help you choose one.

What Cluely does, and what it costs

Cluely is a desktop overlay that listens to your meeting and answers on screen. You can upload files to give it context. Its plans, from cluely.com/pricing in October 2026:

• Starter: free, with limited AI responses and up to 3 uploaded files.
• Pro: $19.99 a month, with unlimited responses and files.
• Pro + Undetectability: $149.99 a month, which adds hiding the overlay from screen-sharing software.

That last tier says a lot about who the product is priced for. If you only need help in calls where everyone knows you use an assistant, you are paying for features you do not need.

The alternatives, by what you want instead

You want it open source: Pluely or Savvy

Pluely calls itself the open-source alternative to Cluely. It is GPL-3.0, runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, and is free if you bring your own API keys; paid plans start at $15 a month. Like Cluely, it markets being invisible on screen shares. It is a general overlay: you ask, it answers.

Savvy is MIT-licensed and free. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs (a Windows 11 build is in preview). It does not have a hidden mode, by design; why we chose that is its own post.

You want answers from your own documents, not a general model

This is the real difference between Savvy and the overlays.

Before the call, you point Savvy at the folder for a client or deal. It reads the documents and writes a one-page brief: objective, positions, red lines, what you must not claim. During the call it shows a card when the other side asks a question, when someone touches a red line from the brief, or when you press Advice. Each card says what to say, what to avoid, and which of your files says so.

A general overlay answers from the model's knowledge plus whatever you uploaded. That is fine for "what is a good reply to this objection". It is weaker when the right answer is in your pricing sheet or last quarter's contract, and you need to know which document it came from. How Savvy decides when to speak explains the triggers.

You want it cheaper

• Savvy with your own providers: the app is free. It uses the Claude Code or Codex CLI you already pay for, so there is no model markup, and you pay Deepgram or AssemblyAI per audio minute for transcription. Deepgram or AssemblyAI covers the cost.
• Savvy managed: $79 a month for 10 meeting hours and 20 briefs, or a $29 pack of 3 hours, if you would rather not hold your own keys. See pricing.
• Pluely: free with your own keys.
• Hedy: a real-time meeting assistant with a free plan of 5 hours a month, where live suggestions run for the first 30 minutes of each session. Pro is $12.99 a month, $99.99 a year, or $299 once. It runs on phones, Mac, Windows and the web. Source: hedy.ai/pricing.

You want a record of the meeting, not live help

Then you are not really looking for a Cluely alternative. A note taker such as Otter, Fathom or Granola gives you transcripts and summaries after the call. Our Granola AI alternatives and Otter alternatives posts cover that side.

What Savvy will not do

• It does not hide from screen sharing or from the other people on the call. Tell them you are using it.
• It is not a team record. Guidance is for one person, live.
• It is not offline. Audio goes to your transcription provider, and document excerpts go to the model provider your CLI is signed in to. Local audio and transcripts are deleted after 30 days.

Short version

• Want an open-source overlay on any platform: Pluely.
• Want a real-time assistant on your phone too: Hedy.
• Want live guidance from your own documents in work calls, on a Mac, with the source behind every card: try Savvy.