Siri vs Koi on a Mac: what each one is for

Keep Siri for what it does best: it's free, built in, wakes when you say its name, and sends messages, makes calls and works inside Apple's apps. Koi is the Siri alternative for Mac when you want help with what's on your screen: it points at the answer, draws it, rewrites your text and clicks for you, on Intel Macs and on macOS 14 and later, in whatever language you speak.

Plenty of people will want both, since they don't overlap much. Where Koi falls short of Siri:

• It costs money. There's no free plan, only a trial, and Siri is free.
• It never sends a message, makes a call or posts for you. Siri does.
• It has no wake word. You tap two keys to call it.
• It's on the Mac only. Siri is on your iPhone and iPad too.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Siri's details come from Apple's own Mac User Guide, checked October 16, 2026.

Yes, with Siri AI. Apple's guide says Siri can use Visual Intelligence to ask questions, take action and search based on what's on your Mac screen. Press Command-Shift-Space to pick a window, or Command-Shift-6 and drag to pick part of the screen. In the Finder, Control-click selected files and choose Ask Siri.

The limits are in the small print of Apple's Siri AI page. It's in beta on macOS 27 or later. It needs an Apple Intelligence Mac, M1 or later, or the MacBook Neo, and it's available in English to start. Features that use Apple's server models have daily usage limits, and Apple says expanded access will cost a fee in the future.

Koi sees the screen differently. Tap Fn + ⌘ and ask; a picture of the screen goes with each question, unless you switch that to only when you ask, or never. Then it answers on the screen itself: a circle round the button, a highlight on the sentence, a diagram or a worked sum drawn over the screen, gone once it's done its job. It works on any Mac with macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon or Intel, and answers in whatever language you talk to it in.

Quite a lot, and it's worth being clear. Apple's Siri guide lists requests like these:

• Send an email, read your messages, call someone or start a FaceTime call.
• Set a reminder for when you get home, or a meeting at 9.
• Open an app or a setting, turn on VoiceOver, change the brightness.
• Add items to a list or songs to a playlist inside your apps.
• Control your home, with a home hub and Apple Home accessories.

Koi won't send, call or post for anyone, by design: it drafts and lets you press Send. And Siri wakes on its name, if you turn that on, where Koi waits for its keys.

What Koi does instead is work inside whatever is on your screen. Say “click Skip” or “open YouTube and search for lo-fi” and it uses real clicks and keys, with subtitles saying what it's doing. Select text in any app and say “make it shorter”; ⌘Z takes it back. It never buys, pays, sends, posts, deletes, signs in or types a password, and that's enforced in the app. Our guide to an AI that controls your Mac goes through the line.

Siri's typing partner is Apple Dictation, which is free and built in. Koi has its own: tap Fn + ⌥ in any app and Whisper turns your speech into text on your Mac, offline, in 57 languages it tells apart by itself, with a list of your own words. If dictation is the main thing you want, see Apple Dictation alternatives or Apple Dictation vs Wispr Flow.

Koi also records calls with no bot: tap Fn + ⌃, pick Online call or In person, and You and Them are written down apart on your Mac. And it keeps documents, flashcards and its own calendar on your Mac. Siri does none of that, and doesn't try to.

Apple's guide says you must be connected to the internet to use Siri, and that with Location Services on, your Mac's location is found at the time of each request. Siri AI's server features have daily limits, which tells you some of the work runs on Apple's servers.

Koi's AI is online too. During a call, your voice goes to the AI provider with no id for your account, and the screen picture goes only as your setting allows. Koi's server keeps what the call cost, not what was said or shown, and dictation never leaves the Mac. Our trust page has the full list.

• You want something free with nothing to install? Siri.
• You want messages, calls and reminders hands free? Siri.
• You're on an Intel Mac, or on macOS 14 to 26? Koi; Siri AI's screen features need macOS 27 and an M1 or later.
• You speak a language other than English? Koi answers in yours; Siri AI starts in English.
• You want it to show you the button, or press it for you, in any app? Koi.

Koi's Pro is $20 a month after a 3-day trial, and Lifetime starts at $59 for the first 25 buyers; see pricing. For more assistants, see the best AI assistants for Mac, or what Koi does on a call.