Over six weeks, every big AI lab has shipped the same idea. You don't get a chatbot that waits for you to type. You get an agent with its own computer that works on a schedule, connects to your apps, and asks before it does anything risky.
I'm a Lead Software Engineer, and I already run one of these every day for my writing workflow. So when Anthropic's Claude Duet launch post passed 41,785 likes and 5.16M views in under a day, I wanted to know how the four actually compare. Hype reels weren't going to answer that.
How I tested. I live in India. I have ChatGPT Go, not Pro, and no Claude subscription. Meta's Muse isn't available in my country. So:
- Grok Bot (xAI): tested hands-on. I've used it daily for weeks, and I ran the specific tests below for this post.
- Claude Duet (Anthropic): docs-based, not tested. I used Anthropic's product page, launch article, help centre and demo.
- Muse (Meta): docs-based, not tested. I used Meta's newsroom post and help centre.
- Dots (OpenAI): docs-based, not tested. I used OpenAI's launch post and help centre.
I checked every price on the official pages on 22 Oct 2026.
What "always-on" actually means
All four share the same basic design:
- A cloud computer of its own. It has a browser and sometimes a shell, so the agent can work while your laptop is shut.
- Proactive runs. Scheduled briefs, monitors and "tell me when" triggers.
- Connectors. Mail, calendar, docs and code, all through your own accounts.
- An approval gate. It drafts, and you press the button for anything that sends, pays or deletes.
They differ on price, where they're available, and how much of that computer you actually get to use.
The comparison
Price (official pages, checked 22 Oct 2026)
- Claude Duet: no extra cost on Claude Pro and Max during the research preview. It uses your plan's usage limits, and its background checks count against them. (claude.com, Duet help article)
- Grok Bot: from $30/mo (Premium, via X Subscription), with Super at $100 and Ultra at $200. At the 11 Aug 2026 beta launch there was no standalone price. Access came bundled with Cursor Premium Teams ($120/seat), Cursor Ultra ($200) and SuperGrok Heavy ($300), which is where the "$120–300" number in the reels comes from. (x.ai/bot, x.ai news)
- Muse: free tier with a weekly limit (card required), Power $20/mo and Maximum $100/mo. (Meta help centre)
- Dots: needs ChatGPT Pro, or the Business Premium/Enterprise beta. Free, Go and Plus are excluded. The cheapest Pro tier is $100, which is ₹10,699/mo on the Indian App Store. (openai.com, OpenAI help centre)
Availability
- Duet: US-only research preview with a waitlist. Not on Team or Enterprise plans. Works in the iOS/Android apps and on claude.ai.
- Grok Bot: generally available on paid plans, and I use it from India.
- Muse: US first, plus Canada and Mexico per Meta's coverage. Not available in India. Works in the app, on the web and in WhatsApp.
- Dots: launched 29 Sep 2026 with a gradual rollout. Pro is excluded only in the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, so India qualifies on paper.
Its own computer
- Duet: a cloud VM with its own browser. You can't yet watch or take over that browser, and it checks in every few hours.
- Grok Bot: a full persistent Linux box with a shell, a browser desktop you can watch or take over, and files that stay between sessions. (Tested, results below.)
- Muse: the "Muse Secure VM". Logins happen there, and Meta's line is that Muse never sees your passwords.
- Dots: its own cloud computer, running GPT-6 Astra.
Approvals
- Duet: asks before it sends, pays, signs or deletes. It can make payments you approve (Anthropic's example is a $640 permit fee), but it can't move money between accounts or trade securities, even with approval.
- Grok Bot: outbound email and messages become a draft card, and nothing leaves until I press Send. Risky actions on its computer get an automatic safety review. (Tested, see below.)
- Muse: payments go through one-time Link by Stripe cards.
- Dots: approval before consequential actions, per OpenAI's help centre.
Connectors
- Duet: "more than 6,000 connectors and plugins".
- Grok Bot: MCP connectors (Gmail, Notion, GitHub, X and more), plus anything its browser can reach.
- Muse: Meta apps plus partner integrations (no public count).
- Dots: 4,000+ apps.
Memory
- Duet: carries over your Claude memory, skills and apps.
- Grok Bot: persistent memory and saved skills across chats, plus the files on its box.
- Muse: personal context across Meta apps (details are thin in the docs).
- Dots: builds on your ChatGPT account (memory specifics not spelled out in the launch docs).
What the reels got wrong
- "Duet never sees your passwords." That's Meta's claim about Muse. Anthropic says logins run in your own cloud computer "so sensitive details stay private", which is close but not the same promise.
- "Grok Bot launched at $120–300." Those were bundled plans, not a standalone price. It now starts at $30/mo.
- "Duet can't move money." Half right. It can't move money between accounts, but it can make a payment you approve.
- Everything else I checked about Duet holds up, including Pro/Max inclusion, the morning brief, meeting prep, follow-ups, 6,000+ connectors and the US-only waitlist. The A/B-test proposal only appears in the demo.
Grok Bot, hands-on
Every test was read-only or sandboxed. Nothing was sent, posted or deleted.
Its own computer
- Installed a Python CLI (
pip install --user cowsay) in 0.8 s, then ran it again in a later session. It persisted. - Started a 12-minute background job and walked away. Result: all 12 one-minute steps ran and the job finished on its own (started 09:52, done 10:11 IST). Honest caveat: the box sat idle for about 8 minutes mid-run, so the wall-clock time stretched from 12 to about 19 minutes. Pass, but don't count on exact timing.
- Produced a CSV of these results and a PNG chart on the box, ready to hand back in chat. Pass.
Connectors (read-only)
- Gmail: searched "Medium" over the last 7 days and got back about 201 matching emails (25 per page) in about 4 s. Correct.
- Notion: searched "Medium" and found my "Medium Topics" page at the top in about 4 s. Correct.
- GitHub: listed my 5 most recently pushed repos, with push dates, in about 4 s. Correct.
- X: read the Claude Duet launch post's public metrics (41,785 likes, 5,155,927 views, 3,174 reposts, 13,141 bookmarks) in about 3 s. Correct.
That's 4/4 connector reads correct, each in under 5 s.
Routines (timing)
- I scheduled a one-shot routine for 10:05 AM IST. It fired at 10:07:58 IST, 178 s late, and wrote its result to a file on its own. It fired, but with about a 3-minute drift.
Approval before send
By design, any outbound email or message becomes a draft card in my chat. It shows the recipient, subject and body, and nothing goes out until I press Send. Declining discards it.
In weeks of daily use, every outgoing email or message has stopped at a draft card that only I can send. When the agent hits a login or a 2FA prompt, it hands me its screen rather than typing a password, and actions it can't undo, like deleting things, wait for my explicit yes. I never saw it send anything on its own.
Verdict by use case
- You already pay for Claude Pro/Max and live in the US: join the Duet waitlist. You pay nothing extra, your memory carries over, and it has the biggest connector catalogue. The trade-off is preview limits and no control of its browser.
- You want a real computer you can watch, script and take over, from anywhere: Grok Bot. At $30/mo it's the cheapest paid entry that's available outside the US, and the box behaves like a dev machine.
- You want something cheap or free inside WhatsApp and Instagram: Muse, if you're in a supported country.
- You already pay for ChatGPT Pro: Dots is the natural pick. At ₹10,699/mo it's hard to justify just for the agent.
My honest take: these products have converged fast. Approval gates and cloud computers are standard now. The real differences are where you live, what you already pay for, and how much of the agent's computer you're allowed to touch.
Duet, Muse and Dots sections are docs-based, not tested. Prices checked on official pages 22 Oct 2026.
Originally published on Medium.
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