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Endearist vs Nat.app
A fair, specific comparison — written so you'd be comfortable if a Nat.app engineer read it.
Fairness pledge
Nat (nat.app) had one of the sharpest insights in the category: you shouldn't have to log anything, because your inbox already knows who you're losing touch with. It analyzes Gmail metadata and Google Calendar to surface fading relationships, automates meeting-prep notes, and offers one-click bulk follow-ups on unanswered threads — automation no manual-entry CRM (including Endearist) matches. The honest part: Nat is no longer the consumer "stay close to your friends" product it launched as. As of June 2026 it markets itself squarely to consultants, company owners, and freelancers, with pricing to match ($9–29/month, with a reported $370/year top tier). If you found this page searching for the personal-life Nat of the Show-HN era, that product has pivoted — which is precisely why a fair comparison is worth writing.
Where your data lives
Nat: a cloud web app built on top of your Google account — it connects to your Gmail and Google Calendar and runs its relationship analysis on Nat's servers (Nat describes the email analysis as privacy-preserving, working on metadata rather than message content). There is no offline mode and no non-Google path. Endearist: your device first, no email access at all — sync optional via your own cloud (Google Drive, iCloud, WebDAV) or Endearist Cloud (EU-hosted), end-to-end encrypted.
How AI is accessed
Nat's intelligence is the product: always-on, server-side analysis of your Gmail metadata and calendar — you can't switch it off and still have a useful app, and there's no bring-your-own-key option. Endearist inverts this: the app fully works offline with no AI, the warmth score is computed from what you choose to log, and AI is opt-in — your own key (GPT, Claude, Gemini) or Pro Cloud Light (~250 EU-routed actions/mo, €4.99) / Pro Cloud (~600 actions/mo + voice, €9.99).
3-year total cost
Nat: $9/month entry, $12/month mid tier, $29/month business — roughly €300 to €960 over 3 years depending on tier (a $370/year plan has also been reported). Endearist Pro Lifetime: €69 once. Endearist Pro Cloud: €9.99/month (~€360 over 3 years) for the full AI tier — still below Nat's business tier.
What we don't do
We don't read your inbox — which means we can't do Nat's headline trick of detecting fading relationships automatically from real email activity. Endearist's warmth score only knows what you log. We also don't send email at all: no bulk follow-ups, no automated meeting-prep notes. If your relationships live in Gmail and you want the software to do the noticing, Nat does something we deliberately don't.
Feature matrix
Side-by-side.
| Feature | Endearist | Nat.app |
|---|---|---|
| Local-first data storage | Yes — your device is the primary store. | No — a web app on top of your Google account; analysis runs on Nat's servers. |
| End-to-end encrypted sync | Yes — AES-256-GCM, you hold the key. | No — the service must read your Gmail metadata to function. |
| Mobile native apps (iOS / Android) | iOS, Android (native Flutter). | None we could find — web-first. |
| Desktop native apps | macOS, Windows, Linux (native). | Web only — no native desktop client. |
| AI features | Opt-in: bring your own key (on-device) or Pro Cloud Light (~250 EU-routed actions/mo) or Pro Cloud (~600 actions/mo + voice). | Always-on, server-side email-metadata analysis — it's the core product, not an option. |
| Active development & support | Actively developed — paid tiers fund the roadmap; source-release pledge if we ever shut down. | Online and maintained, but repositioned: Nat now sells to consultants and founders, not personal use. |
| Self-host option | Not currently — the desktop app is the local store. | No. |
| Pricing | Free up to 25 contacts. Pro Lifetime €69 once, Pro Cloud Light €4.99/mo, or Pro Cloud €9.99/mo. | $9 / $12 / $29 per month tiers; a $370/yr plan has been reported. No lifetime. |
| Open source code | Source-release pledge on shutdown/acquisition. | No — proprietary. |
| Plain-Markdown export | Yes — readable without any app. | No Markdown; your contacts live in Google Contacts (exportable there), Nat-side notes need a manual exit. |
| Voice-note transcription | Yes — on Pro Cloud (60 min/mo) or your own key. | No. |
| Journal / reflection | Built-in journal + weekly ritual + appreciation prompts. | Interaction log + notes; no journal surface. |
| Relationship depth (how-we-met, pets) | How-we-met, pets, custom pronouns, life events, debts, attachments. | Professional-shaped: follow-ups, meeting prep, losing-touch flags. Reviewers note you can't even edit contacts — no pets, no how-we-met. |
| Calendar / messenger integrations | Read-only calendar (Google/Apple/Outlook); manual share-sheet capture for messenger context. | Deep Gmail + Google Calendar integration — its core strength. Google-only; nothing outside that ecosystem. |
When to pick Nat.app
When Nat.app is the better fit.
If you're a consultant, founder, or freelancer whose relationships genuinely live in Gmail, and the thing you want is software that notices for you — who's going quiet, which threads went unanswered, what to know before the next meeting — Nat is the best inbox-driven relationship tool we know, and no manual-entry app will match that automation. Pick Nat when your network is professional, Google-based, and high-volume, and the per-seat price earns its keep in billable relationships. It's the wrong tool for your personal life: it can't see the friends you text instead of email, and its post-pivot pricing is hard to justify for staying close to your sister.
Switching
Coming from Nat.app?
The good news: Nat builds on your Google account, so the bulk of your data was never locked in. Export your people from Google Contacts (contacts.google.com → Export → Google CSV or vCard) and import the file into Endearist via Settings → Import — contacts land in one step, and Endearist's dedup cleans up the multi-account overlap Gmail tends to accumulate. Notes and interaction logs you created inside Nat itself are the manual part: copy the ones that still matter across, or email team@nat.app and ask for a data export before you cancel. From there, set per-person cadences in Endearist to replace Nat's losing-touch detection — it's you doing the noticing now, by design.
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Prices and positioning verified 2026-06-10.
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