Comparison
Whisply and Cluely, two different categories
Cluely opened the AI-overlay conversation. Whisply went deep on macOS. The pages below break down where each one fits and why we built Whisply the way we did.
Cluely is a cross-platform interview and meeting overlay. Whisply is Mac-only, deeper into macOS, with Computer Use and proctor-resistant capture isolation built in.
- Cluely runs on Mac and Windows. Whisply ships only on macOS 13 and later, on Apple Silicon and Intel, and uses that focus to go deeper into the OS.
- Whisply summons with Cmd+Return from the menu bar, sees the screen, hears the meeting, and on Pro Undetected can act on the Mac through Accessibility.
- Whisply's overlay sets its window sharing type to none by default, so it stays out of screen sharing, screen recording, and most proctor capture frames.
Whisply's overlay window uses NSWindow.sharingType set to .none on macOS, which keeps it out of the system capture stream that screen sharing, screen recording, and most proctoring tools read from. That choice is baked into the window, not a setting users have to remember.
Whisply vs Cluely, at a glance
| Whisply | Cluely | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | macOS 13+ only, Apple Silicon and Intel | Mac and Windows |
| Bot in your call | No bot, captures audio locally on your Mac | Overlay-based, no participant bot |
| Computer Use | Yes on Pro Undetected, via Accessibility permission | Not a shipped feature |
| Capture isolation | Window sharingType set to .none by default | Standard overlay behavior |
| Proctor support | Out-of-box on Pro Undetected for a published list | Not positioned around proctored exams |
| Models | Included, no BYO API key | Bundled, check their site for current terms |
| Pricing entry point | Free tier, Pro $11.99/mo annual, Pro Undetected $44.99/mo annual | Tiered subscription, see cluely.com |
Where each one fits
Cluely is the brand that pulled real-time AI assist into the open. It ships on Mac and Windows, sits over your meetings and interviews, and has built a clear story around being helpful in the moment. If you split your week between a Mac and a Windows machine and want the same assistant on both, that breadth is the right answer.
Whisply went the other direction on purpose. We picked one platform, macOS 13 and later on Apple Silicon and Intel, and spent the surface area on going deeper. The overlay lives in the menu bar, comes up on Cmd+Return, reads the screen through Screen Recording permission, hears meetings through Microphone permission, and on Pro Undetected can move the mouse and keyboard through Accessibility. It is a different shape of product for a different kind of user.
Neither one is a knockoff of the other. Cluely is broader. Whisply is deeper on one OS. The right pick is the one that matches the machine you actually work on and how invisible you want the overlay to be.
Mac-native vs cross-platform
Cross-platform overlays have to find the common denominator across Windows window managers, macOS Spaces, accessibility APIs that work differently on each OS, and capture systems that behave nothing alike. That is real engineering work and it has a real cost: features that exist on only one OS tend to get smoothed away so the product feels consistent everywhere.
Whisply does not have to make that trade. The window uses AppKit primitives, lives above normal windows without stealing focus, and respects Spaces and Stage Manager the way a native Mac app should. Hotkeys hook in through the standard macOS event system. Permissions follow the macOS prompt model, not a custom shim. None of that is glamorous, but it is the difference between an overlay that feels like part of the Mac and one that feels like a port.
If you live on a Windows laptop, Whisply is not the right tool. We do not pretend otherwise. If you live on a Mac, the focus shows up in every interaction.
Computer Use and the menu-bar overlay
Cluely's surface is mainly assist: it sees and hears, then suggests. Whisply has that too. The Cmd+Return overlay shows a single answer in a small panel, listens to the meeting going on in the background, and reads what is on your screen when you ask it to.
Pro Undetected adds Computer Use. With Accessibility permission granted, Whisply can move the cursor, type into fields, switch apps, and complete real tasks on the Mac. That is not a feature Cluely currently ships, and it is the reason a meaningful share of Whisply users moved up tiers. You are not just asking the overlay what to do, you are asking it to do the thing.
Both surfaces matter. The assist overlay is what you reach for during a call. Computer Use is what you reach for when the answer is not enough and you want the work done.
Capture isolation, proctors, and the screen-share question
This is the area where the two products are most clearly in different categories. Whisply sets the overlay window's NSWindow.sharingType to .none by default, so the panel does not appear in the system capture stream that Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, QuickTime, OBS, and most proctoring suites read from. That property is set on the window itself, so it is on the moment the overlay appears.
On Pro Undetected, Whisply ships out-of-the-box support for a list of proctored exam environments we have tested against: LockDown Browser, Safe Exam Browser, Examplify, OnVUE, VUE Lock, Prometric, Honorlock, Guardian, Proctorio, Hawkes, Inspera, LMI Rescue, Meazure, Digiexam, Exam.net, SecureBr, ProctorTrack, ProProctor, Examity, Kryterion, Surpass, NBME, and Gradescope. A one-time $500 whitelist tier covers TestNav, ACT, and Edvistas. We use privacy framing, not evasion language: Whisply stays private to you and out of the captured frame.
Cluely is positioned around interview and meeting assist and does not market itself around proctoring. If proctor-resistant capture isolation is what you need, that is a Whisply category, not a Cluely category.
Pricing, bots, and what is actually included
Whisply has three tiers. Free covers core meeting-assist with a daily message limit. Pro is $19.99 a month on monthly billing or $11.99 a month on the annual plan and lifts the limits. Pro Undetected is $149.99 a month on monthly or $44.99 a month annual, and that is where Computer Use, the proctor-resistant capture mode, and the longer permission surface live. Models are included. There is no BYO API key, no token meter to babysit, no separate inference bill at the end of the month.
Whisply never joins your call as a bot. There is no second participant tile, no recording-bot name in the list, no notice to the other side. The audio is captured locally on your Mac through Microphone permission, and the overlay is only visible to you. That is a deliberate choice we wrote about in our post on meeting bots and surveillance.
Cluely has its own pricing and its own bot story, and the right move is to read it on their site before you decide. Pricing changes more often than comparison pages do, and we would rather you trust the source than a number we wrote on a Tuesday.
Full feature matrix
| Feature | Whisply | Cluely |
|---|---|---|
| Operating systems | macOS 13 Ventura or later | macOS and Windows |
| Apple Silicon support | Yes, native | Yes |
| Intel Mac support | Yes | Yes |
| Lives in | Menu bar, summoned with Cmd+Return | Floating overlay |
| Joins meetings as a bot | No | No |
| Audio capture | Local, via Microphone permission | Local capture |
| Screen reading | Yes, via Screen Recording permission | Yes |
| Computer Use | Yes on Pro Undetected, via Accessibility | Not shipped |
| Overlay capture isolation | NSWindow.sharingType = .none by default | Standard overlay |
| Out-of-box proctored exam support | Yes, on Pro Undetected | Not positioned for proctored exams |
| Free tier | Yes, limited daily messages | Check current site |
| Entry paid price | Pro $11.99/mo on annual, $19.99/mo on monthly | See cluely.com |
| Top tier | Pro Undetected $44.99/mo annual, $149.99/mo monthly | See cluely.com |
| Models included | Yes, no BYO key | Bundled |
| Real-time meeting assist | Yes | Yes |
| Post-call summaries | Yes | Yes |
| Hotkey summon | Cmd+Return | Configurable hotkey |
| Stays out of screen sharing | Yes, by default | Varies by capture method |
| Whitelist tier for specialty environments | $500 one-time covers TestNav, ACT, Edvistas | Not offered |
| Web app version | No, Mac app only | Cross-platform clients |
When to pick Cluely
Pick Cluely if you split your work between a Mac and a Windows machine and want the same overlay on both. Pick Cluely if you have already built workflows around their product, your team standardized on it, or their interview-prep flow fits how you practice. Cluely opened this category in public and they keep improving it. If cross-platform reach matters more than deep macOS integration, Computer Use, or proctor-resistant capture isolation, Cluely is the honest answer and we will not pretend otherwise.
Related questions
Is Whisply a Cluely clone?
No. Whisply and Cluely sit in different categories. Cluely is a cross-platform real-time assistant focused on interviews and meetings. Whisply is Mac-only, goes deeper into macOS through Screen Recording, Microphone, and Accessibility permissions, adds Computer Use on Pro Undetected, and ships out-of-box capture isolation for proctored environments. The product surfaces look similar from the outside because both are overlays, but the engineering tradeoffs and the user we built for are different.
Can I import my data from Cluely into Whisply?
There is no direct import flow today. Whisply does not store the kind of long-term meeting archive that an import would migrate, because most of what the overlay does happens live on your Mac and is not persisted to a cloud history. If you have notes you exported from Cluely, you can paste them into Whisply during a session and the overlay will use them as context, but there is no one-click migration.
Does Cluely work on Mac?
Yes, Cluely ships a macOS client alongside Windows. That is part of why it is a reasonable pick if you want one assistant across both operating systems. Whisply only runs on macOS 13 and later, so on a Mac-only setup you have both options and the decision comes down to how much you value Computer Use and the capture-isolation behavior Whisply ships by default.
Why does Whisply not put a bot in my call?
Because a bot in the call records everyone, not just you. We wrote about this in our post on meeting bots and surveillance. When a notetaker bot joins, your colleagues and clients are on the record whether they wanted to be or not, and the recording lands in a third-party cloud you do not control. Whisply captures audio locally on your Mac through Microphone permission and helps only you. No participant tile, no recording bot, no surprise for the other side.
Does Whisply work in screen sharing or screen recording?
Whisply's overlay window sets its NSWindow.sharingType to .none by default. That means the panel stays out of the system capture stream that screen sharing in Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams reads from, as well as screen recording in QuickTime and most other capture tools. You see the overlay, the people on the other side see your shared window or screen without it. This is on by default, not something you have to enable.
Can Whisply do the things Computer Use claims?
On Pro Undetected, with Accessibility permission granted, yes. The overlay can move the cursor, type into fields, switch apps, and complete multi-step tasks on the Mac. It is not a hypothetical roadmap item, it is a shipped tier. Cluely does not currently ship a comparable Computer Use feature, so if that is the capability you came for, Whisply is the product that has it today.
What about proctored exams?
Pro Undetected ships out-of-box support for a list of proctored environments we have tested against, including LockDown Browser, Safe Exam Browser, Examplify, OnVUE, Prometric, Honorlock, Proctorio, Inspera, Meazure, Examity, Kryterion, Surpass, NBME, and Gradescope among others. A $500 one-time whitelist tier covers TestNav, ACT, and Edvistas. Cluely is not positioned around proctored exams, so this is a Whisply category rather than a head-to-head feature.
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Mac only. macOS 13 or later. No bot in your calls.