Compare
Endearist vs Queue
A fair, specific comparison — written so you'd be comfortable if a Queue engineer read it.
Fairness pledge
First, a correction to what some comparison sites claim: Queue (queue.community) is not dead. As of June 2026 it's alive, cared for, and good — an iPhone personal CRM by indie developer Jeremy Lubin that 9to5Mac spotlighted in June 2025. Its import story is the best in the lightweight class: pull people in from your Google Calendar meetings, Gmail threads, LinkedIn, and iPhone contacts, then get gentle reminders to reach out and a place for catch-up notes. It even ships a one-tap export of all your data, which most subscription apps never bother with. The honest trade-offs are structural, not quality: it's iPhone-only, it's a hosted service whose $4.99/month explicitly keeps the servers running, and it's built and operated by one person — wonderful while it lasts, with a bus factor of one.
Where your data lives
Queue: a hosted service — your reach-out queue, imports, and notes live with the app's backend (the subscription, in the developer's own words, keeps the service running), with the iPhone app as the window. The redeeming feature: a one-tap export of all your data, anytime. Endearist: your device first — sync optional via your own cloud (Google Drive, iCloud, WebDAV) or Endearist Cloud (EU-hosted), end-to-end encrypted with a key only you hold.
How AI is accessed
Queue has no AI features that we could find as of June 2026 — its pitch is deliberate simplicity, and reminders are schedule-based rather than LLM-driven. Endearist's AI is opt-in and the app fully works offline without it: bring your own key (GPT, Claude, Gemini), or use Pro Cloud Light (~250 EU-routed actions/mo, €4.99) or Pro Cloud (~600 actions/mo + voice transcription, €9.99).
3-year total cost
Queue: $4.99/month after a one-week free trial — ~$180 (~€165) over 3 years, no free tier, no lifetime. Endearist Pro Lifetime: €69 once. Endearist Pro Cloud Light: €4.99/month (~€180 over 3 years) — the same monthly shape, but it adds Android, desktop, and EU-routed AI.
What we don't do
We don't have Queue's automatic import from Gmail threads or LinkedIn — Endearist's intake is read-only calendar plus manual share-sheet capture, which means more typing on day one. Queue is also simply lighter: if you want one screen, one habit, and nothing else, our journal, warmth score, and depth fields are weight you didn't order. And paying Queue directly supports an indie developer, which is a real reason some people choose it.
Feature matrix
Side-by-side.
| Feature | Endearist | Queue |
|---|---|---|
| Local-first data storage | Yes — no servers required: your device holds the primary copy. | No — a hosted service; the subscription funds the servers. |
| End-to-end encrypted sync | Yes — AES-256-GCM end to end, and the key stays with you alone. | Not advertised — imports are processed service-side. |
| Mobile native apps (iOS / Android) | Both platforms: native Flutter apps for iOS and Android. | iPhone only — no Android. |
| Desktop native apps | Proper desktop clients: native on macOS, Windows, and Linux. | No desktop client — the iOS app runs on Apple-silicon Macs. |
| AI features | Available, but only opt-in: your own key (on-device), Pro Cloud Light (~250 EU-routed actions/mo), or Pro Cloud (~600 actions/mo + voice). | None found — deliberately simple, schedule-based reminders. |
| Active development & support | In active development, funded by the paid tiers — with a source-release pledge should we ever shut down. | Yes — actively developed (9to5Mac spotlight, June 2025), but by a single indie developer: bus factor of one. |
| Self-host option | Not currently — the local store lives inside the desktop app. | No. |
| Pricing | A real free tier (up to 25 contacts), plus a lifetime option: Pro Lifetime €69 once, Pro Cloud Light €4.99/mo, Pro Cloud €9.99/mo. | $4.99/mo after a one-week free trial. No free tier, no lifetime. |
| Open source code | Should Endearist shut down or be acquired, the source gets released — that's a pledge. | No — proprietary. |
| Plain-Markdown export | Yes — exports land as plain Markdown, readable with no app at all. | One-tap export of all your data — genuinely good; no Markdown though. |
| Voice-note transcription | Included on Pro Cloud (60 min/mo), or transcribe with your own key. | No. |
| Journal / reflection | Goes beyond notes: built-in journal, weekly ritual, appreciation prompts. | Catch-up notes per person; no journal surface. |
| Relationship depth (how-we-met, pets) | Rich by design: how-we-met, pets, custom pronouns, life events, debts, attachments. | Deliberately minimal: people, cadence, notes, search. |
| Calendar / messenger integrations | Leaner intake: read-only calendar (Google/Apple/Outlook) plus manual share-sheet capture for messenger context. | Best-in-class import: Google Calendar meetings, Gmail threads, LinkedIn, iPhone contacts. |
When to pick Queue
When Queue is the better fit.
If you live on an iPhone, want exactly one habit — "reach out to the next person in the queue" — and love that your Google Calendar, Gmail, and LinkedIn populate the app for you, Queue is the most frictionless start in the category, and supporting an indie developer with your $4.99 feels good. Pick Queue when simplicity is the feature and you're comfortable with a hosted service run by one person (the one-tap export keeps that bet reasonable). We're the heavier tool: journal, depth fields, desktop, Android, local-first storage. If you don't need any of that, Queue does the core job with less.
Switching
Coming from Queue?
Queue makes leaving unusually easy for a subscription app: use its built-in one-tap export (in the app's settings) to pull all your data — people, cadences, and notes. Endearist imports the file via Settings → Import; contacts and notes map across, and Queue's reach-out cadences become Endearist's per-person reminder rules. If anything in the export doesn't map cleanly, your people are also still in iPhone Contacts, which Endearist reads on first run. Allow a few minutes for a few hundred contacts to settle on the first device before enabling sync — and consider cancelling the Queue subscription only after you've confirmed the import looks right.
More comparisons
Comparing against another tool?
Prices and positioning verified 2026-06-10.
Ready to try Endearist?
Start free with 25 contacts. No credit card. Migrate from Queue anytime.
Start free