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Raegan vs get-alfred (AI Chief of Staff)

September 7, 2026 · Comparisons · 8 min

By Anton Gulin, founder of Raegan

TL;DR: An AI chief of staff triages your inbox, drafts replies in your voice, builds a morning brief, and tracks follow-ups so you stop being the bottleneck. get-alfred (alfred_) does this inside one web app for $24.99/month, connecting Gmail or Outlook over OAuth. Raegan does it across 20+ channels like WhatsApp and Slack, runs self-hosted on your own server, and learns your business over time, from $300/month. Both keep a human approval gate before email sends.

Disclosure: Raegan publishes this comparison. We have kept every get-alfred claim to facts stated on get-alfred's own pages or in independent coverage, and we cite each one. Raegan is one option among several.

Two products answer the same question for an owner who is drowning in email: can software do the chief-of-staff work without you doing it yourself? get-alfred and Raegan take different routes. This page lays out what each one is, where it runs, and who each one fits, using only facts from each product's own pages and Tier 1-3 coverage.

What is an AI chief of staff, and what do these two do?

An AI chief of staff is software that monitors your calendar, triages email, drafts replies in your voice, surfaces the few decisions that need you, and tracks follow-ups, so the owner stops being the bottleneck. get-alfred markets itself as an "AI Executive Assistant" that "handles email, calendar, tasks" and wakes you to "3-5 things that need your brain today" [1][2]. Raegan describes itself as a "self-hosted AI personal assistant and chief of staff for business owners" that triages email, drafts in your voice, returns a sourced brief, and meets you on voice, text, or email [4].

The jobs overlap heavily. The differences are in where the assistant lives, how it reaches you, who owns the data, and what it costs. Those four lines decide which one fits a given owner.

Raegan vs get-alfred: the feature table

The table below compares only verifiable facts. Where get-alfred's own pages and independent coverage describe a capability differently, the note column says so.

Two facts stand out. First, the price gap is large and deliberate: get-alfred is a low-cost single app, Raegan is a managed, hosted-for-you service positioned against the cost of a human EA. Second, both keep a human in the loop on outbound email. Neither sends customer-facing replies without your approval [2][4].

How much time is actually at stake?

The interaction worker spends about 28% of the workweek reading and answering email, according to the McKinsey Global Institute's 2012 report "The social economy," a figure later popularized in Cal Newport's "Deep Work" [7]. That is the chunk of the week both products are trying to win back. The chart shows where a typical knowledge-work week goes, by McKinsey's breakdown.

Email 28%

Searching for info 19%

Internal comms 14%

Role-specific tasks 39% Source: McKinsey Global Institute, "The social economy," 2012.

The point of either tool is to shrink that 28%. The question is how far you want the work moved out of your inbox, and onto whose infrastructure.

Where get-alfred fits, and where Raegan fits

The honest split is about scope, channels, and ownership, not about quality. Each product is built for a slightly different owner.

Choose get-alfred if: you want a low-cost, zero-setup app that lives next to Gmail or Outlook, you are comfortable doing the work inside one dashboard, and $24.99/month with a free trial is the kind of low-risk start you prefer [1][2][6]. An independent review notes it covers roughly the email-and-calendar core well, with the trade-off that "the work stays inside its own app rather than flowing through existing tools" and it asks for approval on "every single send" [2].

Choose Raegan if: you want the assistant to reach you on the channels you already use, like WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, and Telegram, rather than a separate app, and you want it self-hosted on your own server with data that is "Never shared. Never sold." [4]. Raegan is built on Hermes, an open-source agent from Nous Research, and runs on hosting set up for you during onboarding, so you do not become a sysadmin [4][5]. It carries persistent memory of your business and is priced as a managed service against the cost of a human chief of staff, not as a low-cost app [4].

Raegan's wedge is the combination: multi-channel reach, private self-hosting, and memory in one service. get-alfred's wedge is simplicity and price. Both are legitimate answers depending on what you value.

What is genuinely uncertain

A fair comparison should flag what cannot be fully verified. get-alfred's SMS reach is described slightly differently across sources: its own features page lists "Text your assistant" over SMS, while an independent review notes the SMS product covers iMessage and RCS with an autonomy layer and references a gap between the marketing page and the help-center docs, with proactive texting "on the roadmap, not live" [2]. get-alfred's product pages also do not describe a persistent memory of your business, so we do not claim one for it. Raegan is pre-launch and onboarding in small groups, so its claims here trace to its own site and the brand brief rather than to long-run public reviews [4]. Treat both products' newest features as moving targets and confirm on their live pages.

For the wider field, see our roundup of the best AI assistants for business owners in 2026, and our Raegan vs Lindy comparison for a different style of agentic assistant. If you are still defining the category, start with what an AI chief of staff actually is, or read how a private AI personal assistant differs from a chatbot.

FAQ

Is get-alfred an AI chief of staff or an AI executive assistant?

get-alfred markets itself primarily as an "AI Executive Assistant" for email, calendar, and tasks, and maintains a separate "AI chief of staff" page in its footer navigation [1][2]. The core jobs, inbox triage, drafted replies, and a morning brief, are the same work the chief-of-staff label describes, so the difference is mostly naming rather than function.

How much does get-alfred cost compared to Raegan?

get-alfred is $24.99/month, or $249/year, with a 7-day free trial and no card required [1][3][6]. Raegan is a managed, self-hosted service starting at $300/month for Core and $500/month for Pro, with custom Concierge pricing, at early-supporter rates [4]. The gap reflects different models: a low-cost single app versus a hosted, multi-channel service.

Does either tool send emails without my approval?

No. Both keep a human approval gate on outbound email. get-alfred states "You review them with one tap: send, edit, or skip" and "You stay in control of every message that goes out" [2]. Raegan applies an approval gate before anything customer-facing is sent [4]. Neither is fully hands-off on customer replies by default.

Can I self-host get-alfred like Raegan?

Not according to its public pages. get-alfred is a cloud app that connects to Gmail or Outlook over OAuth 2.0 and states "We never see or store your email password" [2]. Raegan is self-hosted on your own server, built on the open-source Hermes agent from Nous Research, with data "Never shared. Never sold." [4][5]. Hosting is handled for you during onboarding.

Which channels can I reach each assistant on?

get-alfred is used through its web app plus SMS, marketed as "Text your assistant" [2]. Raegan is reachable across 20+ channels including WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, Telegram, SMS, email, and Teams, so you delegate from wherever you already work [4]. Channel breadth is one of the clearer differences between the two.

Which one is better for a business owner?

It depends on what you weigh most. If you want a cheap, simple app next to Gmail, get-alfred fits [1][2]. If you want multi-channel reach, private self-hosting, and an assistant that remembers your business, Raegan fits [4]. There is no single winner; match the model to how you actually work.

Sources

1. alfred_ (get-alfred), "AI Executive Assistant | Automate Email, Calendar & Tasks," 2026. https://get-alfred.ai/ai-executive-assistant
2. alfred_ (get-alfred), "Features – Email Triage, Calendar Intelligence & Task Automation," 2026. https://get-alfred.ai/features
3. eesel AI, "alfred_ AI review (2026): is get-alfred.ai email assistant worth it?," 2026. https://www.eesel.ai/blog/alfred-ai-review
4. Raegan, product homepage, 2026. https://raegan.ai
5. Nous Research, "Hermes" (open-source agent), 2025-2026. https://nousresearch.com/
6. alfred_ (get-alfred), "Best AI Assistant Under $25/Month in 2026," 2026. https://get-alfred.ai/blog/best-ai-assistant-under-25
7. McKinsey Global Institute, "The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies," July 2012. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-social-economy

Want a chief of staff that reaches you on WhatsApp and Slack, runs on your own server, and learns your business? Get early access to Raegan.