tells
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tells vs Crystal Knows:
message analysis vs personality profiling

tells reads the actual signals in a specific message — no LinkedIn data required. Crystal Knows predicts DISC personality type for sales outreach. Two different questions, two different tools. Here is the honest comparison.

tells — use when
  • You want to read a specific message for intent, hesitation, and hidden signals
  • You need no LinkedIn profile or external data — just paste the text
  • You work as a coach, therapist, or communication practitioner
  • You want seven named relationship signals per message with structured interpretation
  • You need a free tier with no credit card and no account required
crystal knows — use when
  • You want to predict a prospect's DISC personality type before a sales call
  • Your workflow is LinkedIn-based prospecting and personalised cold outreach
  • You need communication style tips for adapting your tone to a predicted type
  • Your team needs a Chrome extension that surfaces personality overlays on LinkedIn
  • You need Enneagram or Big 5 personality predictions alongside DISC

feature comparison

feature tells crystal knows
Reads signals in a specific message✓ core function– no (profile-level only)
No LinkedIn / external profile needed✓ paste any text– requires LinkedIn profile
Hesitation & ghost-risk detection✓ yes– no
Boundary pattern & soft-yes/no signals✓ yes– no
DISC personality prediction– not the purpose✓ core function
LinkedIn profile overlay (Chrome)– no✓ yes
Designed for coaches & therapists✓ purpose-builtpartial (sales-team primary)
WordPress plugin available✓ free, wp.org approved– no
Free tier — no card, no account✓ 10 analyses/daylimited free (LinkedIn req.)
Pricing (entry plan)free / Pro from $29/mofrom ~$33/mo (Starter)
Real-time analysis (seconds)✓ yes✓ yes (profile lookup)
Works on intake form responses✓ yes– no

the core difference

Crystal Knows answers who is this person in general. It builds a DISC or Enneagram personality profile from LinkedIn posts, profile text, and writing history, then surfaces that profile as you browse LinkedIn or draft a message. The advice it gives is about adapting your communication style to match the predicted personality type of the person you are about to contact.

tells answers what is happening in this specific message. You paste a message — an intake response, a client text, a follow-up email — and tells returns seven relationship signals that describe what the message itself is carrying: how transparent the person is being, whether there is hesitation or avoidance, whether the intent is clear, whether boundary-setting language is present. The analysis is message-specific, not person-generic.

This distinction matters enormously in practice. A person who is typically confident and DISC-D under Crystal Knows may write a hesitant, avoidant message in a specific context — a crisis, a fear response, a manipulation pattern. tells reads that moment. Crystal Knows reads a generalisation about the person's usual style.

who each tool is for

Crystal Knows is built for sales teams and individual sales reps doing LinkedIn-based outreach. The product UI is a Chrome extension that surfaces personality overlay cards as you browse LinkedIn profiles. Its pricing tiers are built around CRM integrations, team seats, and contact enrichment. The use case is: I am about to cold-contact this person — how should I adapt my pitch to their personality type?

tells is built for practitioners who read a lot of incoming text — coaches reading client check-ins, therapists reviewing intake messages, executive coaches assessing self-reported situations, mediators reading conflict descriptions. The use case is: I have received this message from a client — what signals is it actually carrying that I should probe in our session?

If you run a coaching practice or therapy practice, tells is purpose-built for what you do. Crystal Knows is primarily a sales automation tool, and while some coaches use it for adapting style with prospects, it does not read the actual message content for practitioner-relevant signals.

The verdict: if your job is reading what a message actually means — not predicting who generally wrote it — tells is the right tool. Crystal Knows is excellent for sales teams personalising LinkedIn outreach. Coaches, therapists, and communication practitioners will find tells more directly useful for the messages they actually deal with.

try tells free — no account, no card

Paste any message, get seven relationship signals in seconds.

open tells →

frequently asked questions

What is the difference between tells and Crystal Knows?
tells analyses the signals in a specific message you paste — hesitation, boundary patterns, ghost-risk, soft-yes and soft-no framing — and returns seven relationship signals with structured interpretation. Crystal Knows predicts a person's DISC or Enneagram personality type from their LinkedIn profile and suggests how to adapt your communication style when reaching out to them. tells tells you what this message means right now. Crystal Knows tells you who this person generally is.
Does tells require LinkedIn or any social profile data?
No. tells analyses only the text you paste — a message, intake response, email, or any short text. It does not use LinkedIn profiles, social accounts, or any external data about the sender. Crystal Knows is built around LinkedIn profile data as its primary signal source. tells is text-first and works without any profile lookup.
Is tells useful for coaches and therapists, not just sales teams?
Yes — tells is designed specifically for practitioners who read client messages: relationship coaches, communication coaches, therapists, executive coaches, HR consultants, and facilitators. Crystal Knows is primarily a sales tool for personalising LinkedIn outreach based on DISC type predictions. If your job involves reading intake messages, between-session texts, or client communications for what is left unsaid, tells is the purpose-built tool.
How much does Crystal Knows cost compared to tells?
Crystal Knows starts at around $33 per month for its Starter plan and goes up to $99 per month for Business plans with team seats. tells is free for the web analyzer (up to 10 analyses per day) with no account required. Pro plans are available for higher volume. The tells WordPress plugin is free on wordpress.org with an optional paid embed license for practitioner intake use.
Can I use tells without signing up?
Yes. The tells web analyzer at tells.voiddo.com is free with no account required for the public demo. Paste a message, receive seven relationship signals. Crystal Knows requires both an account and a target LinkedIn profile to produce useful output.
What are the seven tells signals?
tells returns: transparency (how openly the person is disclosing), assertiveness (directness and confidence), emotional tone (warmth, tension, or neutrality), boundary awareness (signs of boundary-setting or avoidance), empathy index (signs of perspective-taking or emotional reciprocity), clarity of intent (how clear the actual ask or goal is), and escalation framing (whether the message carries urgency, pressure, or conflict escalation patterns). Each signal is explained structurally, not just labelled.
Does Crystal Knows work without LinkedIn?
Crystal Knows can generate a personality prediction from any writing sample, not only LinkedIn profiles — but LinkedIn is its primary design context and most of its UI surfaces are LinkedIn-overlay focused. tells works on any text regardless of where it came from or who the author is.