Verke Editorial · Last verified: 2026-04-18

Verke vs. Abby: specialist coaching and a clinical study vs. a free AI companion app

Two honest angles: free and broad vs. paid and specialist.

Abby is a free, web-first AI chatbot that markets itself as “Your AI Therapist” and advertises 88+ supported languages, multiple method styles (CBT, DBT, PDT, Gestalt, Adlerian), and a single generic bot available around the clock. Verke is an AI coaching app with five specialist coaches — Anna (PDT), Judith (CBT), Marie (EFT/NVC for couples), Amanda (ACT/CFT), and Mikkel (executive) — phone-call-style voice coaching, end-to-end encryption, and an ongoing 3-arm randomized controlled trial at Stockholm University. The Stockholm study found that what users valued most was a non-judgmental, always-available thinking partner who remembered who they were and helped them break overwhelming feelings into steps they could actually take. Verke is an AI coaching app, not a therapy replacement — we call our specialists coaches because that's what they are.

Verke is an AI coaching app with five specialist coaches trained on evidence-based therapeutic methods (CBT, PDT, ACT, EFT, CFT, NVC). Chat in text or switch to voice for a phone-call-style session; pick up again days later with memory that survives across weeks and months. Conversations are end-to-end encrypted, signup is anonymous, and the product is available on iOS, Android, and Web in 55 languages.

The five coaches are differentiated on purpose. Anna works in a psychodynamic register — slower, pattern-first, interested in why the same kind of situation keeps returning. Judith is CBT — small experiments, thought records, gradual exposure. Marie supports couples through Emotionally Focused Therapy and Nonviolent Communication; Amanda blends Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Compassion-Focused Therapy for overwhelm and self-criticism; Mikkel is an executive coach for decision fatigue and leadership load. Users pick who fits the concern, rather than asking one bot to cover everything. In the Stockholm study, the participants who engaged most deeply described the coach as feeling coherent and personal across weeks — a thinking partner who remembered them, not a fresh chat session — and the psychodynamic arm in particular drew strong feedback for surfacing patterns people had not noticed about themselves.

Abby is a free, web-based AI chatbot at abby.gg that presents itself with the tagline “Your AI Therapist. 100% Free, Available 24/7.” It offers text (and, per Abby's marketing, voice) interaction through a single generic assistant that blends several method styles — CBT, DBT, PDT, Gestalt, and Adlerian. A Pro tier at $19.99/month removes message limits and adds mood tracking and deeper insights. Abby does not publish a clinical study or list specialist coaches, and describes its conversations as “encrypted and anonymized” without specifying the cryptographic model.

Abby is the honest pick if a free tier is essential — if you can't or don't want to pay anything to start — or if you need a language that isn't in Verke's 55 localized UIs and are comfortable interacting entirely in the browser. It's also the right choice if you want a method that Verke doesn't offer, like Gestalt or Adlerian, or if you value modality breadth from one general-purpose bot more than specialist depth across several coaches. Abby uses the “therapist” label; Verke uses “coach” — see our research page for why that distinction matters to us.

Verke is built for people who want a coach matched to a specific concern, not a generalist. If you're working on old relational patterns, Anna (PDT) sits with the feeling underneath the feeling. For structured CBT skills, there's Judith; for couples work, Marie; for acceptance and self-compassion, Amanda; for high-pressure leadership, Mikkel. Voice coaching in a phone-call format is core to the product, end-to-end encryption is built in rather than marketed, and Verke is the subject of an ongoing Stockholm University trial supervised by Professor Per Carlbring. Read the method explainer for Psychodynamic Therapy — Abby lists PDT too, and the comparison is a good way to see the difference in depth.

Two practical differences are worth calling out. First, memory: Verke uses a three-tier memory system so the coach remembers what you've been working on weeks later without you re-explaining yourself. Second, voice: Verke's voice sessions run up to twenty minutes, and a written summary posts back into the chat so you can pick up in text the next day. Both matter if you want a coach you actually return to, rather than a fresh conversation each time.

The Stockholm RCT also points to a less obvious reason to choose Verke. Across both method arms, what participants valued most was a non-judgmental space they could reach for in the moment — somewhere to be honest about how they actually felt, without performance pressure, and to break overwhelming feelings into smaller steps they could act on. A generalist chatbot can imitate the surface of that. A specialist coach with memory, voice, and a clinical study behind it is a different kind of partner, and the one Verke is built to be.