The honest version

What else you could do instead.

There are four reasonable ways to handle a difficult conversation, and one of them is a person rather than software. Here is what each is actually good at, and where OnBetterTerms is different.

A general AI assistant

Best for

Genuinely good at the question in front of it, available instantly, and it will help you draft almost anything.

Typical limitation for a disagreement

It has one account of what happened — yours. There is no second participant, no boundary between what you would say out loud and what you would not, and no memory of whether last month’s suggestion actually worked.

A group chat or a shared document

Best for

Everybody already has it, and it is where the arrangement usually gets made in the end.

Typical limitation for a disagreement

No structure when it heats up, no way to write something private, and the record of what was agreed is buried in the same thread as the argument about it.

A relationship or wellbeing app

Best for

Good at habit, prompts and shared exercises, and at keeping two people gently in contact with the state of things.

Typical limitation for a disagreement

The category is generally built around a couple doing the same activity together. This one is built around a disagreement, with each person holding their own private context — including material the guide can use and never repeat.

A mediator, counsellor or therapist

Best for

A trained human, accountable, and better than any software at the situations that actually need one. If you are choosing between this and that, choose that.

Typical limitation for a disagreement

Scheduled, expensive, and not available at eleven at night when the argument is happening. Some people use both, and this is designed to sit alongside rather than replace it.

Deliberately no feature table for other products. We cannot verify how somebody else’s software works, and a comparison that asserts it anyway is a claim we would be asking you to take on trust — on a site whose whole argument is that you should not have to.

What this one does, and does not

Only our own column, because it is the only one we can stand behind line by line.

CapabilityDetail
YesUse it entirely on your ownMost of it works with nobody else invited.
YesIndependent PerspectivesEach account is written before either is read. Then both, at once.
YesPrivate context per personYours, usable by your guide, invisible to everyone else.
YesContext the guide can use but never repeatNever quoted, summarised, counted or hinted at.
YesA shared space per relationshipOne space, one relationship, any number of people in it.
YesGuidance that adapts to youLength, directness and style, from your ratings and settings.
YesLearns from what actually workedDebriefs record outcomes, not just whether you liked the answer.
YesBring history from another AI toolExports from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, this product, or plain text.
YesPreparation before the conversationThe part that needs nobody else’s agreement.
YesDraft the difficult messageYour words, said more carefully. Kept only if you keep it.
YesStructure during a live argumentOne issue at a time, the rest parked explicitly.
YesAgreements with an owner and a dateWhat you agreed to try, revisited later.
YesCheck-ins and patterns over timePrivate by default, and honest about how little three points prove.
YesSpeak instead of typingWhere a transcription provider is configured.
NoA verdict on who was rightNo score, no tally, no winner. Deliberately.
NoA clinician, or clinical treatmentNot therapy, and it does not claim the evidence base of therapy.
NoAnything reported to an employer or a courtAccounts belong to people. Nothing is sent to anybody.

Try it against the thing you are actually dealing with.

Free, no card, and everything you write can be exported or deleted.

How this compares — OnBetterTerms