Kizuna as a Clay (now Mesh) alternative for friends and family, not networking
Clay became Mesh after Automattic acquired it in 2025. If you liked the idea but not the networking framing, the price, or the automatic syncing, here is what Kizuna does differently.
Updated 2026-09-09
If you searched “what happened to Clay”: it is now Mesh (me.sh). Automattic acquired it in June 2025, having raised over $9 million and, by its own account, managing more than 150 million relationships. It is a serious, well-built product, and if your goal is keeping a professional network warm across email, calendar and LinkedIn, it is probably the right tool.
Kizuna is for a different feeling: the people you would call in a bad week, not the people you met at a conference. That changes almost every design decision.
Side by side
| Clay / Mesh | Kizuna | |
|---|---|---|
| Framing | Discover, organise and deepen relationships — strong professional-network flavour | Friends and family; nobody is a lead |
| Where contacts come from | Synced from email, calendar, LinkedIn, Twitter and more | Only what you type. Nothing is imported or scraped |
| Relationship graph | Rich profile pages per person | A map of who knows whom, with you at the centre; distance shows recency |
| Reminders | Keep-in-touch reminders and updates about contacts | Key dates with lead time; open threads you close when done |
| AI | Assistant features around your network | One person’s profile → five-line card, or an optional conversation deck; sent only when you ask |
| Privacy stance | Cloud-synced by design | Local-first: stays in your browser until you sign in |
| Price | Reported at $10/month (TechCrunch, June 2025); check current pricing | Free |
| Company | Part of Automattic since June 2025; “over 150 million relationships” | One developer, small on purpose |
Clay/Mesh details from public reporting and me.sh as of September 2026; features and pricing change — check their site.
Why “only what you type” is a feature
Automatic syncing gives you everyone. Everyone is not the point. A map with four hundred nodes is a database; a map with the thirty people you actually love is a picture of your life, and you can hold it in your head. Kizuna makes adding someone cheap — name and relationship — so that the map stays small because you chose it, not because it was hard.
Choose Clay / Mesh if
- Your network is professional and you want it maintained with minimal typing.
- You want automatic enrichment from email, calendar and social accounts.
- You want a company-backed product with a team behind it.
Choose Kizuna if
- You want a small, private, hand-made record of the people who matter.
- You want to see how your friends and family connect to each other, not just to you.
- You would rather remember three true details than sync three hundred contacts.
- You want free, and you want to try it without an account.
Remember what matters to the people who matter.
Free. Works without an account.
Try Kizuna →