Facts checked through
Every AI agent app, compared with MausBot
Grok Bot, Muse, dots, Cue, Instinct, Bops, Cowork, OpenClaw and Hermes, then the open-source clones (open-dot, OpenBot, OpenMuse, Rakazo), each against MausBot, with a verdict.
Two kinds of agent app shipped in 2026. The big ones, Grok Bot, Muse, dots, Cue, Instinct, Bops and Claude Cowork on the closed side and OpenClaw and Hermes on the open side, each keep the model, the computer or the safety decision somewhere other than with you. The "open X" clones, open-dot, OpenBot, OpenMuse, OpenInstinct and Rakazo, publish their code but are mostly one agent, one vendor, or a demo. MausBot is the open-source one that is a finished app: a team of bots on any model, on your own machine, free under Apache 2.0. One page per rival below.
The big agent apps, side by side
| Product | Price | Models | Agents | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MausBot | Free; Cloud plans from $29 a month, with a 3-day free trial | Claude, Codex, Grok and more, per bot | As many bots as you like, in rooms | Yes, Apache 2.0 |
| Bops | Free with $5 of AI credit once; Pro $20 a month; Max $200 a month; credit billed at cost | OpenAI only (GPT-6 family); Codex CLI for the Mac | A roster of named bots; the chief of staff delegates to specialists | |
| Hark Pro | Free with a usage cap; Pro² $20 a month for 2× usage; Pro³ $100 for 10×; credits with auto top-up; first 100,000 sign-ups get a paid plan free | Hark's own Handoff for the browser, plus vetted third-party models; no picker, no keys, no plan sign-in, no local models | One assistant in one persistent thread; no named agents, no group chat | No; the Terms forbid reverse engineering; no self-hosting |
| Grok Bot | Included with SuperGrok ($30), Cursor Pro ($20) and higher plans; no free tier | Grok only | A roster of named bots; group chats of 2 to 6 | No |
| Meta Muse | Free tier with a weekly token quota; Power $20, Maximum $100; card at signup, per press | Muse Spark only | One Muse, with hidden subagents | No; open weights for the Spark model are on the roadmap, no date |
| OpenAI dots | Included with ChatGPT Pro (reported from $100) and Business Premium; not on Free, Go or Plus | GPT-6 Astra only | One primary dot; teams of dots planned | No |
| Cue by Manus | Free in early access; a Plus membership is mentioned, price not published | Not disclosed | Several, each with its own identity | No |
| Instinct | Free during beta; no price published | Its own; no model choice | One Instinct, one thread | No |
| OpenClaw | Claude, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Ollama and more | One gateway, reached from 20+ channels | MIT, about 392k | |
| Hermes Agent | Nous Portal (200+), OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, local | One always-on agent you reach through chat apps | MIT, about 252k | |
| Claude Cowork | All paid Claude plans: Pro $20, Max $100 or $200, Team, Enterprise; no free tier | Claude only | One Claude with sub-agents | No |
Orgo (Organic Intelligence, Inc.)
Bops alternative
Bops, launched by Orgo on October 6, 2026, is a Mac app that runs a team of business-ops bots on OpenAI models, with Orgo cloud computers and, on paid plans, phone numbers and email addresses the bots can own, under a fair-source licence. MausBot is the open source alternative: a team of bots on any model, local-first, free under Apache 2.0, on Mac, Windows and Ubuntu.
Also searched: bops.bot, Bops by Orgo, Bops vs MausBot
Hark Labs (Brett Adcock)
Hark Pro alternative
Hark Pro, launched by Brett Adcock's Hark Labs on October 6, 2026, is one assistant on the web, iOS and Android that does errands in its own cloud browser, free with a usage cap and $20 or $100 a month for more. MausBot is the open source Hark Pro alternative: a team of bots on any model, on your own machine, Apache 2.0, with a desktop app and phone apps.
Also searched: Hark AI, hark.com, Brett Adcock Hark
xAI
Grok Bot alternative
Grok Bot is xAI's roster of AI bots in a messaging app, Grok only, on one shared cloud computer, included with SuperGrok and Cursor plans. MausBot is the open source Grok Bot alternative: the same shape, free under Apache 2.0, with any model per bot, running on your own machine on the accounts you already have.
Also searched: open source Grok Bot, open source version of Grok Bot, Grok Bot vs MausBot
Meta
Meta Muse alternative
Meta Muse is one personal agent in Meta's cloud, free to start, available in the US and Canada only. MausBot is the open source Meta Muse alternative: a team of agents instead of one, on your own machine, anywhere in the world, on the Claude, ChatGPT or Grok account you already pay for.
Also searched: open Muse, open source Muse, Muse AI alternative
OpenAI
OpenAI dots alternative
OpenAI dots are always-on agents inside ChatGPT, one dot per person, GPT only, for Pro and Business Premium subscribers, and not on Pro in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK. MausBot is the open source dots alternative: a team of agents on your own machine, on any model, free, with no plan or region requirement.
Also searched: open dots, ChatGPT dots alternative, open source dots
Manus (Butterfly Effect)
Cue by Manus alternative
Cue by Manus gives you several personal agents, each with its own email, phone number, wallet and cloud computer, behind an invite code. MausBot is the open source Cue alternative: the same team shape since August 2026, on your own machine, on your own Claude, ChatGPT or Grok account, with no invite, no card and no undisclosed model.
Also searched: open Cue, Manus Cue alternative, open source Manus
Spear Street Technology
Instinct alternative
Instinct is an invite-only personal agent you text on iMessage or WhatsApp; it runs on a cloud computer that holds your passwords and acts without asking by default. MausBot is the open source Instinct alternative: a team of agents on your own machine that sign in over OAuth, ask before they act, and need no invite.
Also searched: open Instinct, Instinct AI invite, is Instinct safe
OpenClaw Foundation
OpenClaw alternative
OpenClaw is the most-starred self-hosted agent: a gateway you run on a server and reach through WhatsApp, Telegram and twenty other channels, with shell execution set to full by default. MausBot is the OpenClaw alternative for people who want a desktop app with an approval gate, no exposed port, and any model per bot.
Also searched: OpenClaw alternative with a GUI, OpenClaw alternative for Windows, safer than OpenClaw
Nous Research
Hermes Agent alternative
Hermes Agent is Nous Research's self-improving open-source agent, reached through chat gateways and run on a server or your PC. MausBot is a chat app of bots, and Hermes is one of its engines: run Hermes with a GUI, next to Claude and Codex bots, with routines, rooms and phone companions, or run MausBot instead of a Hermes gateway.
Also searched: Hermes Agent with a GUI, Hermes Agent desktop, Hermes vs MausBot
Anthropic
Claude Cowork alternative
Claude Cowork is Anthropic's app for giving Claude your files, apps and browser, now part of the single Claude experience on every paid plan. MausBot is the open source Cowork alternative: a team of agents on your own machine where a Claude bot sits next to Codex and Grok bots, with approval cards and your data on your own disk.
Also searched: Claude Cowork alternative open source, Claude Cowork for Windows, Claude Cowork local LLM
The open-source clones, side by side
The "open X" projects: code on GitHub that positions itself as the open version of a closed launch, from OpenBot to OpenInstinct. The comparison here is licence, shape, what happens before a shell command runs, and whether it is a product or a demo. Every number is from the GitHub API on the date the page says.
| Project | License, stars | Shape | Models | Before a command runs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MausBot | Apache 2.0, about 4.2k | Desktop chat app of bots; iOS and Android companions | Claude, Codex, Grok and more, per bot | Allow / Deny card, by default |
| Open Dots | open-dot: none, 600. Open Dots: none on disk, 5,517 on a 2023 repo. OpenDots: MIT, 4,270 | A Mac app you build; a Telegram bot plus web UI; a web template | OpenAI or OpenRouter keys; Claude by OAuth only; any OpenAI-compatible key | open-dot: rules plus a review model, cards in chat. Open Dots: a PermissionRequest hook, deny on timeout. OpenDots: approve-and-run cards for non-read-only tools |
| OpenBot | MIT, 6,182; needs a CopilotKit Intelligence key to start | A self-hosted web app for a company's coworkers; desktop and mobile build-from-source | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google by API key, or any AG-UI agent | A CEL policy evaluated at the gateway, fail closed; approvals page for held actions |
| Rakazo | Apache 2.0, 3,418 | One self-hosted API with web, Electron and Expo clients; Docker required | Claude, ChatGPT, SuperGrok, Copilot sign-in; API keys; Ollama, LM Studio; per bot, via Pi | Approval rules you set per bot; an audit log you own |
| OpenMuse | CopilotKit: MIT, 4,209, plus a required hosted service. nanoMuse: GPL-3.0, 267. Digger and chyroc: none | One agent: a phone app over your server; or an agent per device with a relay | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google keys (CopilotKit); 18 providers, Ollama, and ChatGPT, Claude, Kimi plans (nanoMuse) | Stored review for every external write (CopilotKit); a stop before deleting, sending or paying (nanoMuse) |
| OpenInstinct | MIT, 422 (Merit); MIT, 241 (Gorskikh); none, 20 (Heo) | An iMessage agent service you deploy to Vercel; a Node service and CLI on Maritime microVMs | Any model through Vercel AI Gateway, no local (Merit); Claude by default, any Pi provider incl. Ollama (Gorskikh) | Prompt-level rules, Stripe Link for money (Merit); a policy guard in front of every tool, six trust tiers (Gorskikh) |
Composio, Anil Matcha, CopilotKit
Open Dots vs MausBot
Open Dots is three GitHub projects that appeared within a day of OpenAI's dots launch: Composio's open-dot, a Mac app with no licence and no commits since September 30; Anil Matcha's Open Dots, a renamed 2023 repo now a Telegram coding bot; and CopilotKit's OpenDots, a web template tied to CopilotKit's cloud. MausBot is the open source dots that is a finished app: bots on any model, Apache 2.0.
Also searched: open dot, open-dots, open source dots
CopilotKit
OpenBot vs MausBot
OpenBot, launched by CopilotKit on August 19, 2026 as Open Bot, is an MIT-licensed self-hosted web template of AI coworkers for companies, with policy, audit and SSO, that calls itself a template rather than a product and will not start without a CopilotKit Intelligence account. MausBot is the open source Grok Bot for one person: a desktop app of bots on your own machine, any model per bot, Apache 2.0.
Also searched: open bot, OpenBot CopilotKit, open source Grok Bot
Inbox Zero Inc. (Elie Steinbock)
Rakazo vs MausBot
Rakazo, launched by Elie Steinbock of Inbox Zero on August 13, 2026, is an Apache 2.0 Grok Bot alternative: web, desktop and mobile clients over one self-hosted API with Postgres, a worker and a Docker desktop per bot. MausBot is the open source Grok Bot with no server to run: a desktop app of bots on your own machine, with signed installers and store phone apps.
Also searched: Rakazo vs MausBot, rakazo.com, Rakazo Grok Bot
CopilotKit, nanoMuse and twelve smaller repos
OpenMuse vs MausBot
OpenMuse is a name fifteen GitHub projects took after Meta's Muse launched. CopilotKit's OpenMuse (4,209 stars, MIT) is a phone-first template that needs CopilotKit's hosted Intelligence service and cannot drive your own computer. nanoMuse (267 stars, GPL) ships installers and screen-driven hands but calls itself a preview. MausBot is the open source Muse alternative that is a team of bots on any model, Apache 2.0, with no vendor service.
Also searched: OpenMuse, open-muse, open source Muse
Merit Systems, Maria Gorskikh (Maritime) and others
OpenInstinct vs MausBot
OpenInstinct is two unrelated GitHub projects that clone Instinct, Spear Street Technology's iMessage agent: Merit Systems' OpenInstinct (422 stars, MIT), deployed to a paid Vercel plan with a cloud browser and an iMessage line, and Maria Gorskikh's open-instinct (241 stars, MIT), a Node service on Maritime microVMs with an agent-to-agent trust network. MausBot is the open source agent you install as an app: bots on your own machine, Apache 2.0.
Also searched: OpenInstinct, open-instinct, open source Instinct
Everything in one table
| App | Kind | Models | Agents | Where it runs | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MausBot | Open source, Apache 2.0 | Claude, Codex, Grok and more, per bot | A team, in rooms | Your machine, or a cloud desktop per bot | macOS, Windows, Ubuntu; iOS, Android |
| Bops | OpenAI only (GPT-6 family); Codex CLI for the Mac | A roster of named bots; the chief of staff delegates to specialists | macOS (Apple Silicon) only | ||
| Hark Pro | Hark's own Handoff for the browser, plus vetted third-party models; no picker, no keys, no plan sign-in, no local models | One assistant in one persistent thread; no named agents, no group chat | A virtual computer per request in Hark's cloud, up to six browsers at once; nothing on your machine | Web, iOS, Android; Slack app; SMS notifications; no desktop app, no API | |
| Grok Bot | Closed; Included with SuperGrok ($30), Cursor Pro ($20) and higher plans; no free tier | Grok only | A roster of named bots; group chats of 2 to 6 | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android | |
| Meta Muse | Muse Spark only | One Muse, with hidden subagents | A Meta cloud VM; the Mac app is a client | iOS, Android, web, WhatsApp, macOS | |
| OpenAI dots | Closed; Included with ChatGPT Pro (reported from $100) and Business Premium; not on Free, Go or Plus | GPT-6 Astra only | One primary dot; teams of dots planned | An OpenAI cloud computer per dot; local control optional, off by default | Inside ChatGPT: desktop app or web; Slack and Teams |
| Cue by Manus | Closed; Free in early access; a Plus membership is mentioned, price not published | Not disclosed | Several, each with its own identity | A Manus cloud computer per agent | Web, macOS (Apple Silicon), Android; iOS in review; Windows coming |
| Instinct | Closed; Free during beta; no price published | Its own; no model choice | One Instinct, one thread | ||
| Open Dots | open-dot: none, 600. Open Dots: none on disk, 5,517 on a 2023 repo. OpenDots: MIT, 4,270 | OpenAI or OpenRouter keys; Claude by OAuth only; any OpenAI-compatible key | open-dot: several dots with hand-off. Open Dots: one. OpenDots: one owner, group chat listed as further work | Your Mac; Boat cloud sandboxes at $20 a month after a trial; your server plus CopilotKit's cloud | macOS arm64 only; anything with Docker; any Node 24 host |
| OpenBot | MIT, 6,182; needs a CopilotKit Intelligence key to start | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google by API key, or any AG-UI agent | Coworkers in group chats with delegation; routines with a 15-minute floor | Your Docker host; a container per Bot with Chromium and a shell; threads in CopilotKit's cloud | Any Docker host; Tauri and Expo apps you build yourself |
| Rakazo | Apache 2.0, 3,418 | Claude, ChatGPT, SuperGrok, Copilot sign-in; API keys; Ollama, LM Studio; per bot, via Pi | Persistent bots with peers, subagents and group channels | Docker on your machine by default, or E2B, Daytona, CreateOS, Box, or your Mac | macOS DMG and Linux AppImage; no Windows release; mobile from source |
| OpenMuse | CopilotKit: MIT, 4,209, plus a required hosted service. nanoMuse: GPL-3.0, 267. Digger and chyroc: none | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google keys (CopilotKit); 18 providers, Ollama, and ChatGPT, Claude, Kimi plans (nanoMuse) | One, with delegated tasks; or one per device | Your server plus CopilotKit's cloud; or inside each device, with a relay in China or self-hosted | iOS, Android, web from source (CopilotKit); APK, DMG, EXE, Linux, TestFlight (nanoMuse) |
| OpenInstinct | MIT, 422 (Merit); MIT, 241 (Gorskikh); none, 20 (Heo) | Any model through Vercel AI Gateway, no local (Merit); Claude by default, any Pi provider incl. Ollama (Gorskikh) | One per person; Gorskikh's talk to other people's agents | Vercel serverless plus Kernel cloud browsers; a Firecracker microVM on Maritime, or your laptop | iMessage, so an iPhone; a web dashboard (Merit); iMessage, SMS, email (Gorskikh) |
| OpenClaw | MIT, about 392k | Claude, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Ollama and more | One gateway, reached from 20+ channels | The gateway port, unless you firewall it | Gateway on macOS, Linux, Windows; native apps incl. iOS and Android |
| Hermes Agent | MIT, about 252k | Nous Portal (200+), OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, local | Profiles: several isolated agents, not a team in one room | A server, a host, Hermes Cloud, or your PC | Linux, macOS, Windows; Hermes Desktop |
| Claude Cowork | Closed; All paid Claude plans: Pro $20, Max $100 or $200, Team, Enterprise; no free tier | Claude only | One Claude with sub-agents | A sandboxed Linux VM; the desktop must stay open for local files; cloud sessions | macOS, Windows, Linux beta, web, iOS, Android, Chrome side panel |
The verdict
Put the tables together and one app clears every bar the others each miss one of. The closed products are polished but you rent them: one vendor's model, their computer, your data on their side, and a region list that may not include you. The big open-source agents, OpenClaw and Hermes, give you the code and a gateway to administer, with the safety switch off by default. The clones give you the code but, as of the dates above, each is one agent on one provider, a service to deploy, or a demo. MausBot is the only one in these tables that is all of the following at once: open source under Apache 2.0, a team of bots rather than one assistant, any model per bot on the subscription you already pay for, an approval card before every shell command by default, a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu with iOS and Android companions, and a Cloud plan when you want the laptop closed. On the evidence in these pages, MausBot is the best AI agent app you can run today, and the one we would pick even if we had not built it.
Where a rival does something MausBot does not, its page says so in a section called "what it still does better". We keep those honest because the comparison is worth nothing otherwise.
How to choose
Start with one question: do you want one assistant or a team? Muse, dots and Instinct give you one agent and hide the rest; Grok Bot, Cue, Bops and MausBot give you named agents you can put in a room. Then ask which subscription you already pay for, where you live, where your data may live, whether you need to read the code, and whether the agent has to keep working with your laptop closed. Our five-question guide walks through it, the five-way comparison puts the big four beside MausBot in one table, and the open-source round-up does the same for the clones.
Why the open-source one is different
The closed agents differ in price and polish but share three properties: the model is a vendor, the computer is theirs, and you cannot read the code. MausBot inverts all three. The model is a setting on each bot; the computer is the one in front of you, or a cloud desktop when you ask for one; and the approval gate, the harness on 127.0.0.1, and the folder your data sits in are things a reviewer can open before the first message is sent.