Grok Bot vs Muse vs Dots vs Claude Duet: Four Always-On Agents, Compared

Grok Bot vs Muse vs Dots vs Claude Duet: Four Always-On Agents, Compared

Four always-on AI agents shipped in ten weeks: Grok Bot from xAI on August 11, Muse from Meta on September 8, Dots from OpenAI on September 29, and Claude Duet from Anthropic on October 21. Each one is some version of the same promise: you hand it work, and it keeps working while you are offline.

The launches sound identical. The products are not. Here is what each one is, what it costs as of October 28, and who it fits.

What "always-on" actually means

A chatbot answers and stops. An always-on agent gets its own cloud computer, signs into the apps you already use, does multi-step work, and comes back when a step needs your approval. All four work this way. The real differences are where each one lives, what it optimizes for, and what it costs.

Grok Bot (xAI)

A team of agents you message like colleagues. Show a bot a workflow once and it saves the routine, then runs it on its own; bots can coordinate with each other in shared threads. Demo use cases include triaging team inboxes, filing expense reports, and reproducing bugs.

Pick it if: your team lives in Cursor and wants AI coworkers.

Price: Grok Bot is included from the Premium tier at $30 a month, on desktop and iOS.

Watch out: it launched in beta only two months ago, so expect rough edges and fast changes.

Muse (Meta)

A personal agent aimed at life admin as much as work: schedules, shopping, turning long-term goals into action plans. It can connect to other apps to send emails and make payments.

It is free with a weekly usage limit; Power is $20 a month and Maximum is $100, per Meta's subscription page.

Pick it if: you want help with everyday life, not only work, and want to try this category free.

Watch out: it launched in the US and Meta says availability is still limited by region. You must be 18 or over. And connecting Meta's agent to your inbox and payments is a trust decision, not a settings toggle.

Dots (OpenAI)

An agent that lives inside ChatGPT, reachable through Slack and Teams as well, with its own cloud computer and connections to over 4,000 apps.

Your first dot is included with ChatGPT Pro, which starts at $100 a month, and with Business Premium. OpenAI says dots are rolling out to Pro, Business Premium and Enterprise plans in "eligible markets," so availability depends on your plan and region - check your eligibility before counting on one.

Pick it if: your work already runs on ChatGPT and Slack.

Watch out: the rollout is gradual, creating a dot is desktop-only for now, and OpenAI does not list pricing for additional dots yet.

Claude Duet (Anthropic)

The proactive one. Duet sends a morning brief of what needs attention across your connected apps, checks in every few hours, and messages you only when something needs you.

Before it sends, pays, signs or deletes anything, it shows you exactly what it is about to do and waits. It is a research preview by US waitlist, included with Claude Pro at $20 a month and Max from $100, sharing your plan's usage limits.

Pick it if: you want an agent that spots problems before you ask.

Watch out: it is early - a waitlisted preview that can misread what is urgent. Because it shares your Claude limits, heavy agent work competes with your everyday Claude usage.

What they all share

Strip the branding and the same skeleton shows: a rented cloud computer, your app logins, a chat thread, and an approval gate before anything irreversible. They also share the open questions. Prices and plan structures in this category move fast, so check each vendor's page before you decide. And none of them removes the need for a human on money, contracts, or anything you would not want to apologize for.

How to start small

1. Pick one boring repeat task: chasing invoices, triaging the inbox, a weekly report.
2. Let the agent do it while you approve every step.
3. Expand only when it earns it. Keep a human on money and contracts.

What it means for operators (Jaden's take)

My read: the right question is not which agent is smartest. It is where your work already lives. If your day runs on Claude, Duet is the natural one to watch. If it runs on ChatGPT and Slack, that is Dots. The monthly price is noise compared to the cost of pointing the wrong agent at your inbox.

One honest caveat: nobody outside these companies has run all four for long, and I have not either. What is above is what the companies publish, checked on October 28. Prices and availability in this category move fast, so treat every number here as worth re-checking before you buy.

Start where your work already is. One boring task, full approval, expand from there.