OpenAI Dots Competitors: Muse, Grok Bot, Claude and More

Six weeks separated Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok Bot and OpenAI's Dots, and all three sell the same idea: an agent with its own computer that keeps working after you close the app. The OpenAI Dots competitors below are the ones that already ship, with the price, the platform and the one thing each does that the others do not. Prices are from each vendor's pages or reporting cited in the section, checked on 15 October 2026.

OpenAI Dots competitors at a glance

Agent	Company	Launched	Entry price	Where it runs	Reach
Dots	OpenAI	29 Sep 2026	ChatGPT Pro, from $100/mo	Own cloud computer	ChatGPT, Slack, Teams, voice
Muse	Meta	8 Sep 2026	Free; Power $20, Maximum $100	Muse Secure VM	iOS, Android, muse.ai, WhatsApp
Grok Bot	xAI	11 Aug 2026 (beta)	Bundled with SuperGrok tiers	Cloud computer	Desktop, iOS
Computer	Perplexity	26 Feb 2026	Max, $200/mo	Cloud sandbox	App, phone, Slack
Claude (Cowork)	Anthropic	12 Jan 2026	Pro, $17/mo annual	Desktop plus cloud continuation	Desktop, web and mobile beta
Gemini Spark	Google	May 2026 (US beta)	AI Ultra, $100/mo	Google Cloud	Gemini app

Dots' plan details are in our OpenAI Dots explainer; what follows is each rival.

Meta Muse: the free one, if you are in the US

Meta's launch post of 8 September calls Muse "a secure, private personal AI agent that proactively helps with people's goals and suggests ideas." It runs on a dedicated cloud virtual machine Meta calls the Muse Secure VM, on the Muse Spark model, and it can send email, book travel, fill in forms, negotiate and buy through Link by Stripe. A separate Sentinel agent on the same machine must approve any internet access, and "Muse has no visibility into people's passwords or payment methods."

The price is the headline. Meta says it is "free for most of what people need", and its help centre lists Power at $20 a month for 500 million Muse tokens a week and Maximum at $100 for 3 billion, with subscriptions in limited testing. The reach is the catch: the US only, on iOS, Android, muse.ai and WhatsApp, with AI glasses promised. Sensor Tower estimated 3.4 million downloads by 24 September, per The Rundown. Against Dots, Muse wins on price and WhatsApp and loses on Slack, Teams and business workspaces, which it does not have.

xAI Grok Bot: teammates that run in parallel

xAI shipped Grok Bot in beta on 11 August with the line "AI teammates you can give real work to." Each bot has its own cloud computer, signs into your tools and, in xAI's words, bots "finish jobs end to end, and only come back when something needs your approval." The examples are commercial: updating a CRM after calls, processing invoices from email, running outbound sales and marketing campaigns. Users run several bots at once, often with one managing the rest, which Dots does not yet offer to individuals.

Access comes with SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus and SuperGrok Heavy, and with Cursor's Pro, Pro+, Ultra and Teams plans, with Grok Bot usage metered separately. xAI has not listed a standalone price, enterprise customers are on a waitlist, and the apps are desktop and iOS. Pick it if you already pay for Grok or Cursor and want more than one agent working at once.

Perplexity Computer: many models, one worker

Perplexity launched Computer on 26 February 2026 as "a general-purpose digital worker" that splits a goal into subtasks and routes each to one of 19 models, per VentureBeat: Claude Opus 4.6 for orchestration and code, Gemini for deep research, Veo 3.1 for video, Grok for quick jobs, GPT-5.2 for long-context search. It runs in a cloud sandbox, works in the background and can be started from the phone, the app or a Slack message. Browser work is built on Perplexity's Comet technology.

It costs the most. Computer is included with Perplexity Max at $200 a month, with Pro and Enterprise access promised to follow; some reports say Pro users now have credit-limited access, which we could not confirm on Perplexity's pages. It is the choice for research-heavy work rather than inbox chores; our Perplexity review and ChatGPT vs Perplexity comparison cover the underlying product.

Claude: scheduled tasks instead of a persona

Anthropic's approach is the least like Dots. Cowork, launched as a research preview on 12 January 2026 and now folded into Claude itself, is a desktop agent that works through the folders and tools you choose. "You choose the folders and tools. Claude can't reach anything else," the product page says. Tasks can be scheduled on any cadence and run unattended, and a job started from the phone keeps running in the cloud after the laptop closes. Deleting anything needs your approval, and computer use is a research preview that prefers connectors over screen control.

The price is the lowest of the group: Pro at $17 a month billed annually or $20 monthly, with Max tiers at $100 and $200 for heavier use, and Cowork uses limits faster than chat. There is no named always-on persona, no Slack or Teams presence and no proactive mode. Choose it for document and file work on your own machine; our ChatGPT vs Claude comparison covers the rest.

Google: Gemini Spark for people, the Gemini agent for work

Google announced Gemini Spark at I/O on 19 May 2026 as "a 24/7 personal AI agent that runs on Google Cloud", working while the phone is locked or the laptop closed, with examples such as finding hidden subscriptions in card statements and flagging school deadlines from the inbox, per TechCabal. It shipped as a US-only beta on the $100-a-month AI Ultra plan with third-party apps via MCP to follow over the summer.

For companies, Google introduced a "universal" Gemini agent at Gemini at Work on 8 October 2026 that combines chat, an autonomous worker and a coding agent, runs in Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Slack, and can act as a coworker with its own Gmail address and calendar, per Reworked. Google says it comes at no extra charge where Gemini Enterprise is available, and admins can set a hard spending cap per project. That cap is a feature none of the consumer agents offer.

Microsoft Agent 365: the control plane, not a rival

Microsoft is not selling a dot. Agent 365 is "the control plane to observe, secure, and govern AI agents", priced at $15 per user per month and included in Microsoft 365 E7. It gives agents an identity in Entra, least-privilege access, a registry and audit logs, and it already lists Manus and n8n among partner agents. OpenAI is integrating its enterprise specialist dots with it, so for an IT team the question is less Dots versus Microsoft Copilot and more which agents Agent 365 will govern.

If you will not pay $100 a month

Every agent above except Muse and Claude sits behind a $100-plus plan. Two cheaper routes exist. Lindy builds single-purpose email, CRM and meeting agents on credit-based plans, and Zapier agents trigger on events across its app catalogue. Neither has its own always-on computer, but both act in your apps, and our ranking of AI automation tools compares them with Make and n8n.

Which of the OpenAI Dots competitors to pick

• Cheapest always-on agent: Meta Muse, if you are in the US and live in WhatsApp.
• Several agents at once: Grok Bot, if you already pay for SuperGrok or Cursor.
• Research and multi-model work: Perplexity Computer, at $200.
• Files and documents on your own machine: Claude, from $17.
• Google Workspace shops: the Gemini work agent, with a spending cap.
• Slack and Teams, plus enterprise governance: Dots, and plan for Agent 365.

FAQ

Is Meta Muse better than OpenAI Dots?

For a US consumer, Muse is cheaper, works in WhatsApp and gates every internet action through its Sentinel agent. Dots are stronger for work: Slack and Teams, Codex for code, business workspaces and a Microsoft governance path. Muse has no business tier beyond Muse for Small Business.

Which always-on AI agent is free?

Meta Muse has a free tier Meta describes as enough "for most of what people need", US only. OpenAI Dots, Grok Bot, Perplexity Computer and Gemini Spark all require a paid plan.

Does Claude have an always-on agent?

Not a persona like a dot. Claude's Cowork features run scheduled tasks unattended and continue cloud tasks started from the phone, on the $17-to-$200 Pro and Max plans.

Can I use OpenAI Dots in India?

Yes, on Pro or Business Premium. OpenAI's exclusions at launch are the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Meta Muse and Gemini Spark are US only, and Grok Bot has no stated country limit.

Which agent works in WhatsApp?

Only Meta Muse. Dots reach Slack, Teams and SMS (US beta), Perplexity Computer takes Slack messages, and Claude and Gemini Spark use their own apps.