One costs $729 a year and sits on your counter. The other costs $120 a year and lives on your phone.
ElliQ and coley both aim to solve senior loneliness. But they approach it from fundamentally different directions — different form factors, different price points, different safety philosophies.
ElliQ is a physical tabletop robot with an integrated screen. Designed by Fuseproject. Sits on a counter, plugs into a wall, uses WiFi. The physical presence is a genuine differentiator — people name it, put scarves on it, interact with it like a companion in the room.
coley is a software-only app on the smartphone your parent already owns. No hardware to buy, ship, set up, or troubleshoot. Voice and text. No physical presence, but also no counter space, no power cord, and it travels everywhere.
One costs $729 a year and sits on your counter.
The other costs $120 a year and lives on your phone.
ElliQ: $249 device + $39.99/month = $729 year one, $480/year after. coley: $0 upfront + $9.99/month = $120/year. Free tier available. Family plan: $29.99/month split among siblings.
ElliQ: Partial romance guardrails. No documented on-device PII protection. Data processed in the cloud. coley: Identity Edge on-device PII detection. Structural romance guardrails. Financial guardrails: cannot send links, process transactions, or request account numbers. Family dashboard shows engagement patterns, never conversation content.
Choose ElliQ if physical presence matters and budget is not a concern. Choose coley if safety architecture is a priority, cost matters, and you want a companion that travels everywhere their phone does.