Tether vs. Verity
Reviewed by Jacob Reed, founder of Verity · ·
Short answer
Tether is a free, anonymous checker: you paste messages, can add a short safety checklist, and see the patterns it finds, such as gaslighting, DARVO and coercive control, with links to help. Verity reads a whole exported conversation in your browser and turns it into a dated record for a lawyer. Tether helps you name what is happening. Verity helps you document it.
The two tools sit at different points of the same road. One is for the moment you are still asking whether something is abuse; the other is for when you need the history in order.
1.What each one is built to do
Tether
Help you see whether what you are living with is abuse. Its analyzer looks for patterns such as gaslighting, DARVO, coercive control and escalation in messages you share, and the site adds a self-assessment checklist, plain-language education and a list of hotlines.
Verity
Organize a whole conversation for a lawyer or a hearing: patterns across months of messages, with each flagged message quoted and dated, and a numbered list of every message.
2.How you give it your messages
Tether
Paste messages into the analyzer, adding more boxes as needed, with an optional safety checklist. No account.
Verity
Upload the app’s export of the conversation, or pick screenshots. No account for the free preview. For a few messages, paste them into its free text check, which also runs in your browser.
3.Where your messages go
Tether
Its site says messages are not stored or shared and no identifying information is collected. The analyzer is hosted on Hugging Face, and the site says the analysis runs through Hugging Face’s API.
Verity
The file is read and analyzed in your browser. The messages are not uploaded, including when you buy.
4.What you get back
Tether
An on-screen reading of the patterns in what you shared, alongside safety resources.
Verity
A free on-screen preview with the patterns found and one flagged message in full. Paid PDFs: a numbered list of every message in date order, and reports quoting the flagged messages with their dates.
5.Price
Tether
Free.
Verity
Free preview. One-time: $19 numbered message list, $99 Standard report, $149 Detailed report.
6.Safety features
Tether
A quick-exit bar on every page, and crisis lines on the site. It calls itself a reflection tool, not a diagnostic service.
Verity
A quick-exit button, and the domestic violence hotline in the footer. Its reports are supporting documentation, not a diagnosis.
Which one fits your situation?
If you are still working out whether what you are living with is abuse, Tether's checklist and education pages are a gentle place to start, and they cost nothing. If you already know you need the history organized for a lawyer or a hearing, Verity reads the whole conversation and gives you a dated record. For the wider field, see apps that check text messages for manipulation.
If you are in danger now, call 911. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.
This is general information, not legal advice, and Verity is not a law firm. We make Verity. Tether's features and data handling are as its own site described them on October 20, 2026, and can change; check usetetherai.com before relying on them.
See what Verity finds in a whole conversation
Try it on a sample conversation, or check your own export free. It is read in your browser and is not uploaded.
See a sample result →