Alternatives › Mesh
vs
Ciao! vs Mesh
Mesh: Contacts + CRM, by Clay Software, Inc.
A smart address book, called Clay until its rename, that builds a card for each person from your email, calendar and social accounts, with notes, groups and reminders.
1,144 ratings in the App Store, October 2026. Also on Android, the web, Mac, Windows and Vision Pro. Owned by Automattic since June 2025.
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Ciao!
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Mesh
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| What it costs | One payment $9.99 |
Free up to 1,000 contacts. Pro is $10 a month on its site, or $19.99 a month or $119.99 a year in the app |
| Free tier | 3 friends | 1,000 contacts, after a 14-day Pro trial that needs a card |
| Account needed | None | Yes |
| Where it runs | iPhone | iPhone, Android, web, Mac, Windows and Vision Pro |
| Where your notes live | Your phone and your own iCloud | Mesh’s servers |
| A creature for each friend | 15 animals, 6 moods | No |
| A weekly swipe deck | Yes | No. Reminders, plus a Home feed of updates about people |
Every row comes from Mesh’s own App Store listing or website, read on 2 October 2026. Nothing here is taken from another app’s reviews.
Sources: Mesh on the App Store · Mesh on AlternativeTo · Mesh’s website
Where Mesh wins
- •It fills itself in. It pulls people from your email, calendar, iMessage, LinkedIn and X, and keeps job and location changes up to date.
- •You can search the way you remember someone, in plain words, across your notes and their profiles.
- •It runs on almost anything, from Android to Windows, and you can share contacts with a team.
Where Ciao! wins
- •It holds only the friends you choose. Mesh is built for your whole network, work included.
- •No account. Mesh’s App Store privacy label lists your contacts and what you write as data linked to you. Ciao! keeps it on your phone and in your own iCloud.
- •An animal for each friend and a timer since you last talked, so you see who is drifting without reading a feed.
Which one should you actually get?
If you want one place for everyone you know, work and personal, filled in for you, Mesh does far more, and its free plan covers 1,000 contacts. Ciao! is the smaller tool. Pick it for the handful of friends you want to keep, with no account and nothing to connect.
