Dex vs. Mesh
Dex is published by Dana HQ, Inc. and has been on the App Store since 2021-03-30. Mesh is published by Clay Software, Inc. and has been available since 2019-11-07 — its listing notes it was formerly called Clay. Both are personal CRMs that build a picture of your contacts from your email, calendar and social accounts. They differ most on how you start: Dex has no free tier, and Mesh’s free tier asks for a card. This comparison is built from what each developer publishes — App Store listings and both companies’ own pricing pages — with every claim sourced and anything unverifiable listed as such.
Everything below comes from published sources, checked on 2026-08-12 and linked in each section. Where the sources don’t answer a question, it’s listed under What we couldn’t verify rather than guessed at.
Dex
A personal CRM built around keep-in-touch reminders and LinkedIn sync, sold entirely by subscription with no free tier.
Mesh
A contacts app and lightweight CRM that assembles contact cards automatically from your accounts, free up to a contact limit.
Mesh lets you keep using it without paying, as long as your address book stays under its limit — though it wants a card on file to start. Dex does not have a free tier at all; after the trial you subscribe or you stop. If you want to try a personal CRM without committing, that difference is the whole decision.
At a glance
| Field | Dex | Mesh |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | Dana HQ | Clay Software |
| Price | No free tier; Premium $12/month billed annually, $16 quarterly or $20 monthly, Professional $20/$27/$34, each with a 7-day trial, per Dex’s pricing page on 2026-08-12 | Free for up to 1,000 contacts, credit card required; Pro $10/month, Team $40 per seat/month, per Mesh’s pricing page on 2026-08-12 |
| App Store rating | 4.42 from 253 ratings | 4.42 from 761 ratings |
| Current version | 3.71.0, updated 2026-08-25 | 2026.5.1, updated 2026-08-07 |
| First released | 2021-03-30 | 2019-11-07 |
| Install size | 172.2 MB | 211.1 MB |
| Minimum iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 |
| iPad support | Yes | Yes |
Pulled from the App Store on 2026-09-04. Prices, versions, ratings, install sizes and OS requirements change — check the current App Store listing before relying on any of these values.
Feature comparison
| Field | Dex | Mesh |
|---|---|---|
| Differs: Free tier | None. Its App Store description states Dex is a paid subscription service; every plan starts with a 7-day trial, per its pricing page | A free Personal plan with all core features, up to 1,000 contacts, requiring a credit card, per Mesh’s pricing page |
| Differs: Entry price | Premium at $12/month billed annually, $16 billed quarterly or $20 billed monthly | Pro at $10/month; the free Personal plan is the entry point |
| Differs: Contact limits | LinkedIn sync covers 2,500 connections on Premium and 9,000 on Professional | 1,000 contacts on the free plan, unlimited on Pro |
| Differs: LinkedIn sync | LinkedIn sync and network updates on both paid plans, with the connection cap rising on Professional | Imports from LinkedIn among other sources, with no cap stated for LinkedIn specifically |
| Data sources | Phone and email contacts plus a browser extension covering Facebook, Messenger, Twitter and Gmail, with WhatsApp and messaging sync and email and calendar integrations | Email, calendar, address book, LinkedIn, Twitter and iMessage, assembled into contact cards automatically |
| What it remembers for you | Notes, groups, custom tags, custom fields and a map view, with search across notes | Contact cards carrying profile photos, bios, education and work history, location and social profiles, updated automatically |
| Staying in touch | Configurable regular reminders, birthday notifications, and a view of people you have not seen in a while | Reconnection cadences, reminders, birthday notifications and news articles about people you know |
| Team plans | Not stated on its pricing page; both plans are described as per user | A Team plan at $40 per seat/month for up to four members, and an Enterprise tier quoted by sales |
| Platforms | Mobile, browser extension, web and desktop, per its pricing page | Not enumerated on its App Store listing |
Sources for this section: Dex App Store listing, Dex pricing page, Mesh App Store listing, and Mesh pricing page. All four were checked on 2026-08-12. Published feature lists change — check the current pages before relying on any row above. A heavier amber rule marks a row where the two apps meaningfully differ.
Where each one fits
Dex has the deeper LinkedIn integration, at 2,500 connections on Premium and 9,000 on Professional, and it adds a browser extension covering several social networks, custom fields, a map view, and clients on mobile, web, desktop and browser. Against that, there is no free tier at all, it starts at $12 a month even billed annually, and it requires iOS 18.0 where Mesh runs on 17.0.
Mesh has a genuinely free plan with the core features and a 1,000-contact ceiling, assembles contact cards automatically from six sources, and charges $10 a month on Pro if you outgrow it. Against that, the free plan asks for a credit card up front, and its listing does not say which platforms it runs on beyond iOS. A 1,000-contact free tier without the card requirement is what Contacts+ offers in Contacts+ vs. CircleBack.
What we couldn’t verify
These are questions the published sources do not answer. They are listed here unresolved rather than guessed at.
- Whether Mesh’s $10 Pro price is the monthly or the annual-billed rate; its pricing page carries a monthly/annual toggle and shows a −50% badge next to that figure
- What Mesh charges a free user who exceeds 1,000 contacts, which its pricing page does not describe
- Whether Mesh’s free plan charges the card on file at any point, or only holds it
- Whether Dex’s browser extension is required for the social sources it lists, or optional
- How completely either app’s automatic contact enrichment works in practice, which no published source establishes
Ownership disclosure
AppMatchup is operated by Fogarty Holdings LLC, which publishes its own iOS apps.
Neither app on this page is one of them. Dex and Mesh are published by Dana HQ, Inc. and Clay Software, Inc. respectively, and Fogarty Holdings LLC has no stake in either.
Where a comparison on this site does include an app published by Fogarty Holdings LLC, that fact is labeled on that comparison page itself, next to the app it concerns.