Ellie
Ellie connects to Gmail or Outlook and drafts email replies overnight in your voice, with browser extension and Outlook add-in support.
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What is Ellie?
Ellie is an AI email assistant that automates reply drafting for Gmail and Outlook. It connects to your inbox, learns your unique writing voice and tone from your sent emails, and works overnight to draft replies to threads that need responses. The drafts appear in your existing Drafts folder in Gmail or Outlook, ready for you to skim, tweak, and send without ever leaving your normal email workflow.
Key features include personalized voice learning that captures your sign-offs, opener patterns, and writing style; a knowledge base that crawls your website, help docs, and pricing pages to factor company facts into replies; and structured data integrations that pull live CRM data like renewal dates, seat counts, and ticket status per reply. Ellie also offers Roles for teams, allowing different knowledge bases and tones for Customer Support versus Sales functions.
Ellie is designed for busy professionals, solo consultants, founders, head-of-operations roles, and teams who want to stop spending their first hour each day on email replies. It's also helpful for people with reply anxiety, dyslexia, or those who struggle with writing in English or other languages. The tool has 9,000+ Chrome installs, 2.3M replies drafted, and saves users 42 minutes per day on average.
Ellie pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Free for 7 days with no card needed. The free tier has a limit on the number of replies because training AI and generating content costs money. Users can sign up for paid plans to get more replies. Specific paid plan prices and what they include are not detailed on the website, but the company states they are an independent team without investors who charge for their work.
Ellie pros
- Automatically drafts replies overnight while you sleep
- Learns your unique writing voice from sent emails
- Drafts appear in your existing Gmail/Outlook Drafts folder
- No new app or workflow to learn
- Supports Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, Exchange Online
- Browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox available
- Native Outlook desktop add-in for classic and new Outlook
- Knowledge base crawls your website and help docs automatically
- Re-indexes knowledge base weekly automatically
- Pulls live CRM data per reply (renewal date, order number, plan tier)
- Roles feature lets teams have different tones per function
- Refuses to make up facts not in source material
- 4.0 star rating on Chrome Web Store
- Saves 42 minutes per day on average
- Email content never used to train AI models
- You can disconnect account anytime from dashboard
- Drafts sit in Drafts folder, nothing sends until you approve
Ellie cons
- Limited number of replies on free plan
- 7-day free trial required to use
- Primary focus on English language writing
- API integrations for CRM/helpdesk still coming soon
- Small team without external funding
- Only supports Gmail and Outlook, not Apple Mail or Fastmail fully
- Browser extension requires manual popup for non-supported clients
- No mobile app mentioned
- Structured data requires CSV/spreadsheet upload instead of direct sync
Frequently asked questions about Ellie
Does Ellie read my emails?
Yes — with your permission, Ellie reads the threads in your connected Gmail or Outlook so she can categorize them and write replies in your voice. Drafts sit in your Drafts folder, and nothing sends until you say so. Ellie does not store your email content on their servers, share it with anyone, or use it to train AI models. Each thread is read at draft time and discarded once the draft is written. You can disconnect your account at any time from your Ellie dashboard.
How do I get Ellie set up?
The fastest way is to connect your Gmail or Outlook in their webapp — Ellie will start drafting replies into your Drafts folder automatically. You can also install the browser extension (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) or the native Outlook desktop add-in if you'd rather trigger replies on demand. See the downloads page for all options.
Which email clients are supported?
Auto-drafts via connected accounts work for Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook.com, Microsoft 365, and Exchange Online. The browser extension covers Gmail Web and Outlook on the web. The Outlook desktop add-in covers classic Outlook for Windows, the new Outlook desktop apps, and Outlook on the web. For other clients like Apple Mail or Fastmail, use the extension's popup to generate a reply and paste it in.
Why is there a limit on the number of replies?
Training AI and generating content costs a fair amount of money. Ellie is built by a small team without external funding so they have to charge for their work. You can sign up for one of their paid plans to get more replies.
Why did you make Ellie?
Email is one of the most useful inventions ever, but the deal is rigged: anyone can put anything in front of you, and the only person who pays for that is you, in time. Ellie was built to flip that — by drafting your replies in the background, in your voice, so the inbox stops being the first hour of your day. Some people use Ellie to overcome reply anxiety, or as a tool to help with dyslexia, or just because writing in English doesn't come easily to them.
How does teaching Ellie new information work?
Documents and websites: point Ellie at a file (PDF, DOCX, TXT, etc.) or a URL and she'll read or crawl it, summarize the policies and product details, and use that information when a reply needs it. Re-indexing happens automatically. Structured data uploads: upload a CSV, spreadsheet, or export from your CRM, helpdesk, or order system. Ellie keeps the per-record structure so she can look up specific facts cleanly. API integrations are coming soon to connect tools directly so Ellie pulls the live record at draft time.
I don't want you to read my private emails!
Your email content is never used to train AI models — not theirs, not OpenAI's, not anyone else's. It's only used to generate the draft you're asking for, and never leaves their secure backend. They don't store your email content on their servers, and they promise never to share, sell, or do anything shady with your data. They are independent developers with no investors and no incentive to do otherwise.
Does Ellie ever send emails automatically without my approval?
No. Drafts sit in your Drafts folder and nothing sends until you say so. You skim the draft, tweak a word if needed, and press send yourself. Ellie works quietly in the background to prepare drafts but never sends anything without your explicit approval.
How does Ellie learn my writing voice?
Ellie reads your sent mail and picks up on tone, sign-offs, and the patterns of how you actually write — never the same reply twice. It learns small tells like how long your openers run, when you say 'cheers' vs 'thanks', how you sign off with clients versus friends, whether you use em-dashes or semicolons, and how many words you keep client replies under. No rigid templates, just a reflection of the way you already write, scaled to every thread.
Can teams use Ellie with different roles or tones?
Yes. Roles let teams who wear different hats give Ellie a different knowledge base and tone per role. For example, a Customer Support role with help docs attached plus a Sales role with pricing and proposal templates. Ellie picks the right role per email or you can switch manually. This ensures the right facts and tone appear in each draft based on the context of the email.