Aeralis vs Gmail "Help me write" in 2026: Honest Comparison

TL;DR: First question: what Gmail do you have? Help me write is a Google Workspace feature. It's bundled with Workspace Business Standard ($14/user/month) or higher. It doesn't work on personal Gmail. If you already pay for Workspace Business Standard, Help me write is free in the sense that you're already paying for it, and it's good enough for generic drafts. If you're on personal Gmail or Workspace Business Starter, Aeralis ($14/month on its own, free tier) is the better path. Even on Workspace Business Standard, Aeralis adds things Help me write doesn't: style learning, multiple profiles, grounding on your own documents.

Aeralis vs Gmail Help me write: at a glance

	Aeralis	Help me write
Price	Free tier + $14/mo Pro	Bundled with Workspace Business Standard ($14/user/mo minimum)
Works on personal Gmail	Yes	No, Workspace only
Where it lives	Gmail sidebar (add-on)	Inline in compose window
Generates full drafts	Yes	Yes
Reply generation with thread context	Yes	Limited
Style learning	Yes	No
Multiple profiles	Up to 10	No
Grounding tools	Context URLs, Search, Maps, Files	None
Outlook support	Yes	No
AI model	Google Gemini 3	Google Gemini

Both tools use Google Gemini. What differs is everything around the model — who can use it, whether it learns your voice, whether it supports multiple contexts, whether it can ground on your own data.

The account question first

Help me write requires Google Workspace Business Standard or higher. That's $14/user/month minimum. On Business Starter, personal Gmail, or the free Gmail that anyone can sign up for — Help me write isn't available.

If you're on personal Gmail, the realistic options are:

1. Upgrade to Workspace Business Standard to unlock Help me write. That's $14/user/month, and you'd need to migrate your email setup to Workspace.
2. Install Aeralis. It's $14/month Pro, works on personal Gmail without any migration, and has a free tier so you can start immediately.

For solo users and small teams on personal Gmail, Aeralis is the much simpler answer. Same price point, no migration, free tier to test.

If you're already on Workspace Business Standard or higher, Help me write is included in what you pay. The question then becomes: is it enough for your work?

Where Aeralis goes beyond Help me write

Style learning

Help me write produces generic drafts. Gemini is a good model, but it doesn't know how you specifically write. Every draft starts from scratch with no memory of your voice, your patterns, or your preferences.

Aeralis has explicit style learning. Forward three of your sent emails to a profile address. The AI reads your greetings, your sign-offs, your sentence length, your level of formality, and starts writing drafts in that voice. Forward more over time and it keeps improving.

Generic AI drafts are easy to spot. "Dear [Name], I hope this email finds you well" reads like a bot wrote it. Drafts in your own voice read like you did.

Multiple profiles

Help me write is one tool, one voice. Same output regardless of whether you're writing to a client, a teammate, or a sales prospect.

Aeralis lets you run up to ten profiles. Each one learns its own style and has its own grounding. In practice, users set up separate profiles for "Client A", "Internal", "Sales outreach", "Personal" — and switch between them with one click in the Gmail sidebar.

If you write to meaningfully different audiences, one voice doesn't cover all of them well.

Grounding tools

Help me write uses Gemini's built-in knowledge. Useful for general drafts, limited for anything specific to your work.

Aeralis grounds on data you provide:

• Context URLs. Up to 20 per profile. Your pricing page, your FAQ, a help doc — drafts can cite them.
• Google Search. Live web grounding for current information.
• Google Maps. Location-based grounding for hospitality, real estate, field services.
• File Search (Business). Upload PDFs, policies, documents; the AI references them.
• MCP servers (Business). Connect CRM, inventory, custom APIs.

If your drafts need to reference specific policies, prices, or documents, Help me write can't do that. It has no access to your sources.

Reply generation

Help me write is primarily a composition assistant. Give it a prompt, get a draft. Reply features exist but are less focused on thread context.

Aeralis reads the full thread you're replying to — not just the last message, the whole conversation. It writes replies that actually understand the back-and-forth. Most of your daily email is probably replies, not new drafts, so this matters.

Outlook

Help me write is Gmail-only. Aeralis has an Outlook add-in with Azure AD SSO.

If any part of your team uses Outlook, Help me write doesn't cover them.

Where Help me write actually wins

Being fair:

You already pay for it. If your organization is on Workspace Business Standard or higher, Help me write costs nothing additional. Adding a $14/month Aeralis subscription on top is duplicate spend unless you specifically need what Aeralis adds.

It's simpler. If your drafting needs are generic and you don't care about style learning or multi-profile support, Help me write's inline compose experience is the lowest-friction option. No extra tool to install, no profiles to configure.

Google-native. Help me write is built by Google, benefits from Google's infrastructure and compliance posture. For organizations that prefer to minimize third-party add-ons in their stack, that's a real consideration.

Who should pick Aeralis

You're on personal Gmail or Workspace Business Starter, where Help me write isn't available. You want drafts that sound like you. You write to multiple audiences and need separate profiles. You ground drafts on specific URLs, documents, or locations. Your team includes Outlook users. Privacy-sensitive work where real-time processing (no storage) matters.

Who should pick Help me write

You're already on Workspace Business Standard or higher. Your drafts are generic enough that style matching isn't valuable. You want the simplest possible AI — inline in compose, nothing to configure. You trust Google-native features.

Using both

They don't conflict. Help me write lives in the compose window. Aeralis lives in the sidebar. You can use Help me write for quick generic drafts and Aeralis when voice matters or you need grounding.

A reasonable workflow for Workspace Business Standard teams: start with Help me write for two weeks. If people keep asking for features it doesn't have (style learning, profiles, document grounding), add Aeralis on top.

The honest cost comparison

The trap in this comparison is treating it as "free vs paid." It's not.

Already on Workspace Business Standard or higher: Help me write is bundled. Aeralis is $14/month additional, which you'd only add if your writers specifically want what it has.

On personal Gmail or Workspace Business Starter: Help me write requires a Workspace upgrade that costs at least $14/user/month. Aeralis is $14/month as-is with a free tier. For solo users or small teams, Aeralis is cheaper and easier to adopt.

On a mixed Gmail/Outlook team: Help me write doesn't work for the Outlook side. Aeralis covers both.

Bottom line

Help me write is a solid baseline AI draft tool if you already pay for Workspace Business Standard. It's good enough for generic drafts and you don't have to make any buying decision.

Aeralis is the better tool for people who want drafts that sound like them, work across multiple audiences, ground on specific documents or URLs, or are on personal Gmail where Help me write isn't an option.

For email-heavy professionals on personal Gmail — solo founders, recruiters, sales reps, consultants — Aeralis is the easier path. For Workspace Business Standard teams, start with what you already have and add Aeralis only where people need more than Help me write offers.

Related reading

• 7 Best Gmail Smart Compose Alternatives in 2026
• Aeralis vs Fyxer AI
• Aeralis vs Superhuman
• AI Email Tools Comparison