Alternatives › Dex
vs
Ciao! vs Dex
Dex - Rolodex and Personal CRM, by Dana HQ, Inc.
A personal CRM for networking that pulls in contacts from LinkedIn, email, calendar and messages, and reminds you to keep in touch.
433 ratings in the App Store, October 2026. iPhone, Android, web, desktop and a browser extension.
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Ciao!
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Dex
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| What it costs | One payment $9.99 |
Premium from $12 a month billed yearly ($19.99 a month in the app). Professional from $20 a month |
| Free tier | 3 friends | A 7-day trial, card required |
| Account needed | None | Yes |
| Where it runs | iPhone | iPhone, Android, web, desktop and a Chrome extension |
| Where your notes live | Your phone and your own iCloud | Dex’s servers |
| A creature for each friend | 15 animals, 6 moods | No |
| A weekly swipe deck | Yes | No |
Every row comes from Dex’s own App Store listing or website, read on 2 October 2026. Nothing here is taken from another app’s reviews.
Sources: Dex on the App Store · Dex on AlternativeTo · Dex’s website
Where Dex wins
- •It fills itself in. It syncs LinkedIn, Gmail, your calendar and WhatsApp, so there is less to type. In Ciao! you log every contact yourself.
- •Dex Research builds a short briefing on someone: their background, their role, and what changed since you last spoke.
- •It is on every screen you use: phone, browser, desktop, plus a map of where your contacts are.
Where Ciao! wins
- •Ciao! is made for friends and family. There is nothing to connect and no LinkedIn.
- •$9.99 once. Dex Premium is $143.99 a year in the app.
- •No account. Dex keeps your contacts on its servers. Ciao! keeps everything on your phone and in your own iCloud.
Which one should you actually get?
If you network for work and want contacts from LinkedIn and email in one place, Dex does far more than Ciao! and the subscription is worth it. If you want to keep up with a few friends and family, without connecting accounts or paying every month, Ciao! is the smaller tool for that.
