If you've already decided to switch, this Dex alternative guide is for you. It walks through the reasons people actually move, and the step-by-step plan for getting your data and your habits across. Written by the Regards team. Honest about both sides.
Key takeaways• People look for a Dex alternative for mobile workflow, voice capture, AI quality, proactive networking, social listening, and pricing predictability. • How to migrate from Dex: export your contact data, import into Regards, rebuild tags by tier, and run the first 7 days deliberately. • Email/calendar interaction history is on the Regards roadmap. If that's mission-critical today, run both in parallel for a quarter. • The habit clicks in week one when you make the daily priority list and voice notes part of your morning. |
Mobile workflow
Dex is desktop-first with a mobile companion. Realtors, recruiters, agency owners, and consultants who do their actual work between meetings find the mobile experience doesn't fit the tempo. The most common Dex alternative ask is "something built for my phone first."
Voice capture and AI follow-up extraction
Typed notes don't get typed when you're walking out of a meeting with five minutes to the next one. The reason to switch from Dex is often this single feature: dictate a sentence, and the AI extracts the follow-up date, the names, and the context onto the right contact card.
AI quality and AI-native architecture
Dex's AI is additive — Copilot, AI Assist, Messaging Dex layered on top of an older data model. Regards' AI is native: voice-to-context, conversation starters from posts, a daily priority engine, natural-language contact search. The Dex alternative case is sharpest on AI quality.
Proactive networking vs downloading thousands of contacts you never use
Most Dex users we talk to imported 1,800 contacts on day one and stopped opening the app in week three. The problem isn't the data. It's that the tool waits for you to open it. Regards' daily priority list of 5–8 reach-outs is the difference between a database and a habit.
Social listening that actually surfaces key inputs
Dex notifies you on job changes. Regards listens across LinkedIn for the broader set: promotions, fundraising, M&A, hiring posts, milestones, podcast features, post activity. Each surfaces as a reason to reach out, with a starter line attached.
Pricing predictability
Dex is $12/month, $144/year. Regards is $20/month, $192/year, with a $150/year promo currently running and a free trial that doesn't ask for a card. Sticker price favors Dex; the promo brings it close.
How to migrate from Dex: exporting your Dex data
Dex supports a contact export from settings. You'll get a CSV with your contact records, notes, and tags.
What comes through cleanly when you export from Dex: names, emails, phone numbers, company, role, tags, notes, last-contacted dates.
What needs rework: cadences and keep-in-touch board states — those are concept-specific to each tool. You'll rebuild them in Regards in about 20 minutes.
How to migrate from Dex: importing into Regards
Regards imports the Dex CSV directly. You can also import from a LinkedIn export, your phone contacts, and Gmail.
Practical advice: don't try to import 1,800 contacts and tag them all on day one. Start with the people who actually matter — your top 50. Tag them by tier (clients, prospects, mentors, peers, vendors, referral partners). The rest can come in untagged and get tagged as you encounter them.
How to migrate from Dex: rebuilding tags and cadences
Five tags do most of the work for most users:
Tier A — top 20 names, monthly cadence
Tier B — next 50 names, quarterly cadence
Tier C — broader network, twice-yearly cadence
Referral partners — quarterly cadence with a different message style
Dormant warm leads — re-engagement queue, surfaced when a trigger event hits
On top of these, Regards' daily priority engine surfaces 5–8 names every morning with a reason for each. You don't have to remember to open the app. The list is there.
The first 7 days on your Dex alternative
Day 1: import contacts, tag your top 50, install the mobile app.
Day 2: dictate ten voice notes from memory — the last ten meaningful conversations you had. Watch the AI extract follow-ups and context.
Day 3: set cadences for Tier A and Tier B.
Day 4: check the daily priority list and act on three of them.
Day 5: connect your LinkedIn. Watch the social listening start to surface triggers across your network.
Day 6: at your next meeting, dictate the post-meeting voice note before leaving the parking lot.
Day 7: review what stuck. Most users feel the habit click in this week.
What you'll feel different after the switch from Dex
The biggest practical change is the daily priority list. Dex gives you reminders; Regards tells you the five people to reach out to today and gives you a reason and a starter line. For people who say "I know I should network more but I don't know who to call," that's the difference between a feature and a habit.
The second is the voice notes. The habit of dictating a sentence after every meeting is what makes the system actually full of context six months in.
Why we built Regards
I’m bad at staying in touch. Not because I don’t value people. Its a lot of work, and I didn’t have a system. This started as my fix. A quiet assistant that helped me nurture relationships thoughtfully. When people noticed the difference and asked what I was doing, it slowly evolved into a product. And the love has been incredible. Regards, Khuze
Can I run Dex and Regards in parallel?
Yes, for a month or two. Many users do during a switch. It's not a long-term setup.
Will I lose my Dex notes?
Your notes export with the CSV. They land in Regards on each contact card.
What about Dex's LinkedIn browser extension?
Regards doesn't have one yet. The social listening surfaces what the extension would show you, but proactively in a daily list instead of inline on a profile.
Is there an onboarding call for the Dex alternative migration?
Yes. The Regards team offers a 15-minute call to map your Dex tags to Regards tiers.
