Craqly vs Cluely: Features, Pricing, and an Honest Comparison

The Elephant in the Room: Cluely's Data Breach

I'm going to lead with the biggest issue because it would be irresponsible not to. In mid-2025, Cluely experienced a data breach that exposed the personal data of over 83,000 users. Names, email addresses, usage data — all compromised.

For a tool that people use during job interviews, where sensitive career information and conversation transcripts are involved, this is a serious concern. It's not a theoretical risk. It actually happened. And while Cluely has certifications — SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA — those certifications clearly didn't prevent the breach.

I'm not saying this makes Cluely unusable. Companies get breached. But it's a fact you should weigh when deciding which tool gets access to your interview audio and career data. Now let's get into the rest of the comparison.

What Each Tool Does

Cluely positions itself as a live AI assistant for meetings. It provides real-time responses, transcription in 12+ languages, pre-call research on meeting participants, and follow-up email generation. The translucent overlay never joins as a meeting bot, which is a nice design choice. It's available on Mac, Windows, and iOS.

Craqly is broader in scope. While it also handles real-time AI assistance during meetings and interviews, it bundles eight products together: Interview Copilot, Mock Interviews, Sales Assistant, Meeting Copilot, Auto Notes, Resume Builder (with ATS scoring), Mobile Copilot, and Code Assistant supporting 20+ programming languages. It works on Windows, Mac, and any mobile browser.

The key difference? Cluely is primarily a meeting tool that happens to be useful for interviews. Craqly was built specifically for interviews and expanded into meetings and sales. That focus shows in the feature depth.

Response Time: Marketing vs. Reality

This one genuinely frustrated me during testing.

Cluely's marketing materials claim a 300-millisecond response time. That's incredibly fast — faster than most people's reaction time. When I ran Cluely during a mock interview on Google Meet, the actual delay was consistently between 5 and 10 seconds. Not 300 milliseconds. Five to ten seconds.

In a real interview, 5-10 seconds is an eternity. If someone asks you a question and you sit there for 10 seconds waiting for your AI to generate a response, that's noticeable. You can't disguise a 10-second pause as "thinking about the question."

When I tested Craqly's interview copilot in the same setup, responses came back in under 3 seconds. That's still not instant, but it's fast enough to glance at while you're naturally pausing to formulate your answer. The difference between 3 seconds and 10 seconds might not sound like much on paper, but in practice, it's the difference between useful and useless.

Why the discrepancy?

I suspect Cluely's 300ms claim refers to something specific — maybe initial transcription latency or the time to start processing, not the time to deliver a full, useful response. But that distinction isn't made clear in their marketing, and it sets expectations that the product can't meet.

Comparison Table

Feature	Craqly	Cluely
Real-time AI responses	Yes (<3 sec)	Yes (5-10 sec real-world)
Stealth/Invisible mode	Yes (Pro+Stealth plan)	Translucent overlay (Pro+Undetectability $75/mo)
Interview-specific features	Interview Copilot + Mock Interviews + Code Assistant	General meeting assistant
Meeting tools	Meeting Copilot + Auto Notes	Pre-call research, follow-up emails
Sales support	Sales Assistant	Not available
Resume builder	Yes (with ATS scoring)	Not available
Coding support	Code Assistant (20+ languages)	Not available
Mobile support	Browser-based Mobile Copilot	iOS app
Transcription languages	Multiple	12+ languages
Desktop platforms	Windows + Mac	Windows + Mac
Free tier	Yes (15 minutes)	Yes (limited)
Pro pricing	Affordable Pro plan	$20/mo
Stealth pricing	Pro+Stealth plan	$75/mo
Data breach history	None reported	83,000+ users exposed (mid-2025)
Compliance certifications	Not specified	SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA

Pricing: $75/Month for Stealth Is Steep

Cluely's pricing breaks down into three tiers: Free (limited functionality), Pro at $20/month, and Pro+Undetectability at $75/month. That last tier is what most interview candidates actually need — if you're using an AI copilot during a real interview, you want it invisible during screen sharing.

$75 per month is a lot. Especially when you consider that a typical job search might last 2-4 months. That's $150 to $300 just for the stealth feature.

Craqly offers its stealth mode at a more accessible price point with the Pro+Stealth plan. The free tier gives you 15 minutes to test everything out before committing. It's a simpler pricing structure without the dramatic jump between tiers.

The Founder Controversy

I'll mention this because it comes up in every discussion about Cluely and it's publicly documented: Cluely's founder was expelled from Columbia University for using AI to cheat on academic work. This was widely reported and confirmed.

Does a founder's past necessarily mean the product is bad? No. But it does raise questions about the company's relationship with ethical boundaries, especially when the product itself is designed to provide real-time answers during high-stakes evaluations. Some users find this ironic. Others find it concerning. Make your own call.

Product Scope: Meetings vs. Everything

Cluely does one thing well — it's a meeting assistant. The pre-call research feature is genuinely useful: before a meeting starts, it pulls information about the participants so you have context. The follow-up email generation saves time after calls. For someone who spends all day in meetings, these are practical features.

But Cluely doesn't have a resume builder. No coding assistant. No mock interview practice. No mobile copilot for phone screens. It's not trying to be a career toolkit — it's a meeting productivity tool.

Craqly covers the full spectrum. When I was testing both, I used Craqly's Resume Builder to optimize my test resume, practiced with Mock Interviews, then used the Interview Copilot during a simulated Zoom call. That end-to-end workflow isn't possible with Cluely alone.

Response Quality

When I ran Cluely during a mock behavioral interview, the responses I got felt generic. Multiple users have described Cluely's output as "just like GPT for free" — meaning you could get similar quality by having ChatGPT open in another tab. The AI didn't seem to deeply understand interview context; it gave general-purpose responses that happened to be about the topic.

Craqly's responses were more interview-aware. For a question about handling disagreements with a manager, Craqly suggested a STAR-format response tailored to the specific scenario being discussed. Cluely gave me a general paragraph about conflict resolution that could've come from any business communication guide.

To be fair, response quality can vary depending on the specific question and context. But across my testing, Craqly consistently produced more targeted, interview-specific responses.

AI Freezing and Stability

Both tools had moments where the AI needed a beat to process complex questions. But Cluely had two complete freezes during my week of testing — the overlay stopped updating and I had to restart the app. During a real interview, that's catastrophic. You've suddenly lost your assistant and now you're distracted by troubleshooting instead of answering questions.

Craqly's overlay stayed responsive throughout. No freezes, no restarts needed. The sub-3-second response time was consistent even during longer sessions.

Who Should Pick Cluely?

If your primary use case is meetings — not interviews — Cluely has some genuinely useful features. The pre-call research and follow-up email generation are meeting-specific tools that Craqly approaches differently through its Meeting Copilot and Auto Notes. If you're already established in your career and just need a smarter meeting assistant, Cluely's Pro plan at $20/month is reasonable.

Just go in with your eyes open about the data breach history and the gap between marketed and actual response times.

Who Should Pick Craqly?

If you're preparing for interviews, actively job hunting, or want a tool that covers more than just meetings, Craqly's the stronger choice. The interview-specific features are deeper, the response time is meaningfully faster, the stealth mode is more affordable, and you get eight products instead of one.

The mobile copilot is a particularly big advantage. Phone screens are often the first step in hiring processes, and having AI assistance on your phone without installing anything is something Cluely doesn't offer on Android.

The Verdict

Cluely has some interesting meeting-focused features and strong compliance certifications. But the data breach, the misleading response time claims, the generic answer quality, and the $75/month stealth pricing are all real concerns.

Craqly delivers faster responses, broader product coverage, more affordable stealth mode, and hasn't had a data breach. For interview preparation specifically, it's not close.

Want to see the difference for yourself? Download Craqly and test it free for 15 minutes — no credit card, no commitment.