| Understudio | Cluely | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | macOS desktop app, Apple Silicon (arm64 — M1 and later). The download is not open yet. Windows and Linux after that. | macOS 10.15+ on Apple Silicon or Intel, Windows 11, and an iOS app. |
| Price | Pro $25/month, Max $65/month (less billed annually). Token packs from $9, no plan needed. | Pro $19.99/month. Pro + Undetectability $149.99/month. |
| Free tier or trial | Free to install. No free tier: solves and transcription spend tokens. | Free Starter plan with limited AI responses and notetaking. |
| Hears the call | Both sides of the call, live, as separate channels: every line is labelled You or Interviewer. | Listens in to the conversation. |
| Reads the screen | Screenshots on a hotkey, queued and solved together with what was said. | Answers questions about your screen. |
| Hidden from screen share | Asks macOS to keep the window out of screen shares and recordings. Best effort: on macOS 15.4+ some capture tools can still see it. | Only on Pro + Undetectability: “Completely hidden to meeting screen sharing software.” |
| Where your sessions are kept | On your Mac. The last 50 sessions are kept; nothing is stored on our servers. | The privacy policy does not say whether data stays on the device. It says Cluely does not sell your data or train on it. |
Where they differ
Cluely is now a general meeting assistant: notes, summaries and answers for any call. Understudio is built for technical interviews only: a worked solution to the question on screen, with the code and its complexity.
Hiding from screen share is a separate $149.99 plan on Cluely. On Understudio it is on by default on every plan, and we say where it stops: macOS treats it as best effort.
Cluely has a free plan and runs on Intel Macs, Windows and iOS. Understudio has no free tier and runs on Apple Silicon Macs.
Pick Cluely if
- You want one assistant for all your meetings, not only interviews.
- You are on an Intel Mac, Windows or iOS.
- You want a free plan to try it first.
Pick Understudio if
- You want answers shaped for technical interviews: the approach, the code and its complexity.
- You want hiding from screen share without a $149.99 plan.
- You want your sessions kept on your own Mac.
Sources
Everything in the Cluely column is from Cluely's own pages, read on 19 October 2026. Prices and features change; if one of these has, write to support@understudio.app and we will fix it.
Whether help of any kind is allowed in an interview is up to whoever runs it. See the acceptable use policy.