Comparison
Grais vs NOX (2026)
Grais vs NOX, checked October 2026. NOX, formerly RPLY, is a Mac unified inbox that drafts in a second window. Grais drafts inside the live web thread on Windows too.
- Facts checked
- October 1, 2026
- Rows compared
- 10
- Sources cited
- 9
The short answer
NOX is a Mac inbox for iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack and seven other networks. Drafts never auto-send. It used to be called RPLY. Grais drafts inside the live web thread, including on Windows. Pick NOX for one Mac window. Pick Grais when the reply belongs in the tab you already have open.
- Pick NOX when
- Pick NOX if you want one Apple Silicon inbox for iMessage and the rest of your chats, with local index and drafts that never send themselves.
- Pick Grais when
- Pick Grais if you need the draft in the live web thread, on Windows as well as Mac, with per-contact send trust that can rise to known-safe autonomy.
Side by side
NOX vs Grais, row by row
Rows won
- NOX
- 4
- Even or not scored
- 1
- Grais
- 5
| Comparing | NOX | Grais |
|---|---|---|
| Native macOS unified inbox | Yes NOX is a Mac app for Apple Silicon on macOS 14 or later, with one inbox across ten networks. Edge: NOX | No Grais is a Chromium extension. The Mac app is planned rather than shipped. |
| iMessage | Yes NOX reads iMessage from the local device database and drafts in the unified inbox. Edge: NOX | No Grais has no iMessage client and no Messages.app integration. |
| Local index and optional on-device AI | Yes Messages are indexed on the Mac. Cloud models are the default for drafts; settings can switch to on-device AI. Edge: NOX | No Grais drafts from the open web thread in a desktop extension, not from a local mail-style index. |
| Runs on Windows today | No NOX supports Apple Silicon Macs only. Intel Macs are not supported, and there is no Windows app. | Yes The extension runs on Chrome, Brave, Edge and Arc on Windows, as well as macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. Edge: Grais |
| Drafts inside the live web thread | No NOX drafts in its own inbox window. You still decide what sends; the composition does not happen in WhatsApp Web. | Yes Grais drafts inside the open WhatsApp Web, Telegram Web, Instagram, LinkedIn or Tinder window. Edge: Grais |
| Tinder | No NOX lists iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram, Signal, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Discord and Email. Not Tinder. | Yes Tinder is a supported Grais surface alongside WhatsApp Web, Telegram Web, Instagram and LinkedIn. Edge: Grais |
| Drafts never auto-send | Yes NOX is explicit: it drafts, you decide. Every suggestion is a starting point you can edit, approve or ignore. Edge: NOX | Partial Human review is the default, and trust can rise per contact to known-safe autonomy. |
| Trust that changes per person | No The send rule is uniform. Close friends and strangers both wait for you, every time. | Yes Trust is granted per contact and escalates from review, to voice approval, to known-safe autonomy. Edge: Grais |
| Entry price | Yes Free includes 10 AI-drafted replies. The pricing page sells Pro membership at $50 a month billed annually. | Partial Grais is invitation only. New accounts require approval; existing accounts keep their access. New purchases are paused. Edge: Grais |
| Best for | Yes Mac users who want one local inbox for iMessage and the rest of their chats, with drafts that never send themselves. | Yes People who want the draft in the live web thread, including on Windows, with per-contact send trust. |
Where they win
Where NOX is the stronger pick
If you want one Mac window for iMessage and WhatsApp, that is a real product and Grais does not ship it. NOX is a native macOS inbox for ten networks: iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram, Signal, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Discord and Email. It needs Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later. Intel Macs are out. There is no Windows build. On that hardware, the unified inbox is the whole point.
RPLY is the previous name, not a second product. TechCrunch covered RPLY in February 2025 as a Mac iMessage assistant. The heynox.com homepage now redirects to textcaspian.com, a page for Caspian, while the NOX pricing, download and integration pages still load on heynox.com. The membership-card image is still served as rply-card.webp, and /rply/download now forwards to /download. One page is enough. If you searched Grais vs RPLY, this is the comparison.
Privacy is a genuine difference, not a slogan. Messages are indexed on the Mac. AI drafting uses cloud models by default, with a settings switch to on-device AI, where message content never leaves the Mac. NOX says it does not persistently store message content on its servers, does not train on it, and never sends a draft without you. Grais does not offer a local-index Mac inbox, and it should not pretend to.
Grais is invitation only. New accounts require approval; existing accounts keep their access. New purchases are paused.
The difference
What Grais does differently
Grais is not a second inbox. It runs inside the conversation you already have open in the browser. You are on WhatsApp Web, Telegram Web, Instagram, LinkedIn or Tinder, looking at a real message from one specific person, and Grais reads that thread on screen and drafts the reply there. NOX pulls those networks into its own window. That is a good Mac product. It is a different place to type.
Windows is the blunt gap. NOX is Apple Silicon only. Grais is a Chromium extension on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If your work machine is not a Mac, this comparison is already over.
The network lists overlap and then split. Both cover WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram and LinkedIn. NOX adds iMessage, Slack, Signal, X, Discord and Email. Grais adds Tinder, and it does the work in the live web client rather than a mirrored inbox. Pick from the networks you actually use, not from a longer list.
Approval is where the philosophies disagree on purpose. NOX never auto-sends. That is a feature, and they say so in the FAQ. Grais starts at human review too, then lets trust rise per contact, through voice approval, to known-safe autonomy. If the idea of anything sending without a click makes you uneasy, NOX is the stricter default. If you are tired of re-approving people you already trust, Grais is built for that climb.
Grais is invitation only. New accounts require approval; existing accounts keep their access. New purchases are paused.
Also worth knowing
Not Pally, not Poke
Pally and Poke are assistants you text. NOX drafts as you, in a second inbox. That is closer to Grais than either of those, which is why this page exists. The remaining split is inbox versus in-thread, Mac versus Windows, and never-send versus per-contact trust.
What each costs
Pricing
Prices move. Each column prints the date those numbers were read, and links to a public page from the company itself. Where a company publishes no pricing page, the notes under its plans say where the numbers came from.
NOX
As of October 1, 2026
- Free$0
- 10 AI-drafted replies, unlimited search, and unified inbox access, per the NOX pricing and iMessage pages.
- Pro membership$50 / month
- Billed annually, with unlimited AI-drafted replies, unlimited conversation memory and search, and priority support.
- The NOX pricing page lists one paid figure: $50 a month billed annually. The iMessage integration page also lists Pro at $50 a month.
- The heynox.com homepage now redirects to textcaspian.com, a page for Caspian. The NOX pricing, download and integration pages still load on heynox.com.
- The membership card image is still served as /assets/rply-card.webp. RPLY is the 2025 name for the same product.
- NOX requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer) running macOS 14 or later. Intel Macs are not supported.
Grais
As of August 18, 2026
- Invitation onlyBy invitation
- New accounts require approval. Existing accounts keep their current access.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Is NOX the same product as RPLY?
Yes. RPLY was the 2025 Mac iMessage assistant. NOX is the current name for the unified Mac inbox. Its pricing, download and integration pages are on heynox.com, though the heynox.com homepage now redirects to textcaspian.com, a page for Caspian. The membership-card image is still rply-card.webp, and /rply/download now forwards to /download. This page is Grais vs NOX. A /compare/grais-vs-rply URL redirects here so the old name does not get its own article.
Does NOX send messages without asking me?
NOX says never. Drafts are a starting point you edit, approve or ignore. Grais also starts at human review, then lets trust rise per contact to voice approval and known-safe autonomy. If you want a product that will not climb that ladder, NOX is the stricter default. If you want the ladder, Grais is the one that has it.
Can I use NOX on Windows?
No. NOX is Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 14 or later. Intel Macs are not supported. Grais is a Chromium desktop extension on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If Windows is the machine you actually message from, Grais is the one that runs there today.
How much does NOX cost next to Grais?
Grais is invitation only. New accounts require approval; existing accounts keep their access. New purchases are paused.
Does Grais replace a unified inbox?
No. NOX is an inbox. Grais is an in-thread drafter for five web surfaces. It will not gather iMessage, Slack, Signal, Discord, X and email into one Mac list. If that list is the job, use NOX. If the job is the reply in the tab you already have open, including Tinder and Windows, use Grais.
Sources
- NOX pricing page
- NOX iMessage integration
- NOX privacy policy
- NOX WhatsApp integration
- NOX RPLY download path
- Caspian, where the heynox.com homepage now redirects
- TechCrunch: RPLY Mac iMessage assistant, February 2025
- Grais pricing page
- Grais product page
Facts checked October 1, 2026. NOX's features and pricing come from the public sources cited on this page. NOX is a trademark of its owner and is named here only to identify the product being compared.