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Endearist vs folk
A fair, specific comparison — written so you'd be comfortable if a folk engineer read it.
Fairness pledge
folk is the cleanest pipeline + relationship CRM for agencies, freelancers, and small business owners — its LinkedIn one-click capture, Notion-feeling table UI, AI message drafting, and pipeline view make it the best “boutique CRM” in the category. If you run a consulting practice, a recruiting shop, or a small agency and your relationships are also your revenue, folk is a strong choice and we say so. It is, however, designed around deals and clients — not the people you sit next to at family dinners. Endearist, still in development, is being built for the personal side of that line. AI credits are bundled into every folk plan, so there is no separate AI surcharge to hold against it.
Where does my data live with folk versus Endearist?
folk: cloud-hosted on EU/US infrastructure with GDPR-compliant data processing — your contacts, deals, and pipelines live in folk's database. Endearist: not publicly available yet. The primary copy is intended to stay on your device. End-to-end encrypted sync over storage you run yourself — a local or shared folder, or a WebDAV server — is planned for v1. Google Drive as a destination is not decided yet. Managed sync on Endearist Cloud is planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only.
How does each tool access AI?
folk's AI (message drafting, enrichment, summarisation) is bundled into every plan as a monthly credit allowance — Standard includes ~500 email enrichments and ~2,000 magic fields per month, Premium roughly double that. It is processed on folk's servers via third-party LLM APIs. Endearist's AI is planned as strictly opt-in: your own key, or managed AI in a proposed Pro Cloud subscription. AI with your own key: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised.
What do folk and Endearist cost over three years?
folk Standard: €27/member/month billed monthly, or €22/month billed annually (€259/year) — €777 over 3 years. folk Premium: €54 monthly, or €43/month billed annually (€518/year) — €1,554 over 3 years. AI Assistants and Magic fields are included in both plans, not a separate add-on. Endearist's €69 Pro Lifetime and €9.99/month Pro Cloud are proposed pre-launch prices, not products you can purchase today. folk's EUR prices were checked directly on 25 September 2026; the calculator withholds savings claims after their review date.
What doesn't Endearist do?
We don't have folk's deal pipelines, sales-stage automations, Gmail/Outlook two-way sync, or LinkedIn one-click capture extension. folk is built for billable work where each contact is potentially a client. Endearist is being built for the opposite: contacts where no transaction is ever planned.
Feature matrix
Side-by-side.
| Feature | Endearist | folk |
|---|---|---|
| Local-first data storage | Designed so the primary copy lives on your device, not on a server. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — cloud-only on folk's servers. |
| End-to-end encrypted sync | End-to-end encrypted sync over storage you run yourself — a local or shared folder, or a WebDAV server — is planned for v1. Google Drive as a destination is not decided yet. Managed sync on Endearist Cloud is planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only. | Server-side encryption; folk holds the keys. |
| Mobile native apps (iOS / Android) | Flutter apps in development; nothing to install yet. Native Android app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native Windows app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native iPhone and iPad app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native macOS app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native Linux app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. | Source check for folk (2026-10-08): Listed platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web. Native availability for Linux is unverified. Contacts by folk requires a folk account. The French App Store page presents the app as iPhone-only and has a separate Apple-silicon Mac compatibility line; it does not establish iPad compatibility. Check current availability and account/region limits with the vendor. We have not tested the apps ourselves. |
| Desktop native apps | Native desktop apps in development; nothing to install yet. Native Android app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native Windows app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native iPhone and iPad app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native macOS app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native Linux app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. | Source check for folk (2026-10-08): Listed platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web. Native availability for Linux is unverified. Contacts by folk requires a folk account. The French App Store page presents the app as iPhone-only and has a separate Apple-silicon Mac compatibility line; it does not establish iPad compatibility. Check current availability and account/region limits with the vendor. We have not tested the apps ourselves. |
| AI features | Planned as strictly opt-in — your own key, or managed AI in a proposed Pro Cloud subscription. AI with your own key: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised. | Bundled into every plan as a monthly credit allowance — message drafting, enrichment and summaries on folk's servers. |
| Self-host option | No — there is no server component to host; the local store is meant to be the app itself. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — SaaS only. |
| Pricing | Proposed, not purchasable yet: free up to 25 contacts; Pro Lifetime €69 once, Pro Cloud Light €4.99/mo, or Pro Cloud €9.99/mo. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local core and data export. The proposed 25-contact limit is not a confirmed entitlement. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local app and AI with your own key (planned for v1). Sync over your own storage is planned for v1. Managed cloud services are not a lifetime feature. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised. | Per member, in USD: Standard $30/mo ($24 billed annually), Premium $60/mo ($48 billed annually). AI included. |
| Open source code | Pledged source release if we ever shut down or get acquired. | No — proprietary. |
| Plain-Markdown export | Planned — plain Markdown you can read without any app. Markdown, CSV and vCard export: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. The documented implementation has a separate readable ZIP export with media and a report of omissions; legacy exports remain partial. This is not device or release acceptance. | CSV export of contacts and pipelines; no Markdown export. |
| Voice-note transcription | Planned — on-device, or with your own key. On-device transcription: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No. |
| Family / multi-vault share | Family sharing: not decided yet. Multiple vaults: not decided yet. | Team workspaces for agencies; not a household / family construct. |
| Journal / reflection | Journal, weekly ritual, and appreciation prompts are meant to be built in, not built by you. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — folk is a pipeline tool, not a journal. |
| Relationship depth (how-we-met, pets) | Designed with ready-made fields: how-we-met, pets, custom pronouns, life events, debts, attachments. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | Custom fields possible, but defaults are deal-stage, company, role — not personal-life depth. |
| Calendar / messenger integrations | Deliberately light, and not decided yet: a read-only calendar overlay and manual share-sheet capture for messenger context are ideas, not commitments. Read-only calendar overlay: scope and availability are not confirmed. Status: not decided yet. Share-sheet capture: scope and availability are not confirmed. Status: not decided yet. | Strong — Gmail/Outlook two-way email sync, calendar sync, LinkedIn one-click capture via extension. |
When to pick folk
When is folk the better choice?
If you run a small agency, freelancing practice, or consulting shop where every relationship has a deal attached, folk is the most modern, least-CRM-feeling CRM available. The LinkedIn one-click capture is genuinely best-in-class for sales-adjacent work. Pick folk when “relationship” means “client” and you can absorb roughly €22–54 per member per month as a business expense. We're not trying to be a CRM for billable work — we're trying to be where you remember why your friend's daughter likes blue.
Switching
How do I switch from folk to Endearist?
If you've been using folk to track personal relationships alongside work pipelines: export your contacts as CSV from folk (Settings → Export) and keep that file. Endearist is not released yet; CSV import is planned, but how folk's columns map to Endearist fields has not been verified. Deal-stage fields have no place in Endearist, which is being built without a pipeline concept. Many people will reasonably keep folk for client work either way — the two are meant to have no overlap. vCard and CSV import: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1.
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Prices and positioning verified 2026-09-25.
Platform information updated 2026-10-08; source-check dates are shown in the table.
Sources for the platform review
Endearist is in development.
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