Grok Bot (4.7) vs OpenAI Dots (GPT-6 Astra) vs Meta Muse: Which AI Agent Is Smartest Now? (2026)

September changed the scoreboard

Three weeks, two new frontier models, and every personal-agent comparison from August is out of date.

OpenAI released GPT-6 Astra on September 3. It's the model underneath OpenAI Dots, the personal agent OpenAI launched alongside it, and since September 25 it's also the default engine in ChatGPT. xAI released Grok 4.7 on September 21 and trained it specifically to run Grok Bot. Meta Muse didn't get a new model this month, but it's the one most people outside the tech bubble have actually heard of.

So the question people are asking now is simple: which agent is smartest? The honest answer has two parts. Which model is smartest, and whether that matters for what you'd actually hand off.

This comparison covers the model, where each agent runs, what it costs, who can use it, and what it's good at. Then it gets to the part the launch posts skip: the work that happens in WhatsApp.

The model underneath: Astra vs 4.7

If you only care about the engine, this is settled for now. Artificial Analysis puts GPT-6 Astra at 53 on its intelligence index at max reasoning and Grok 4.7 at 46 at its highest setting. OpenAI built Astra on its largest training run to date, and it leads on computer use, browsing, software engineering and professional-work benchmarks.

Grok 4.7's pitch is different. xAI says it matches or beats other frontier models on long-horizon professional tasks, the kind that take hours, and it does it at a lower per-token price ($2 in, $6 out per million tokens, the same as Grok 4.6). It was also trained to verify its own work more carefully, which matters more for an agent than for a chatbot: an agent that quietly fills in a wrong invoice number is worse than one that stops and tells you.

Meta Muse runs on Meta's own models. Meta doesn't publish comparable scores, and Muse is positioned as a helpful everyday assistant rather than a frontier reasoning engine. For 'find me a flight and book it' it's fine. For 'reconcile these three spreadsheets' it isn't the tool.

Verdict on the model: Astra, then 4.7, then Muse. The gap between the first two is real but narrower than the headline numbers suggest for agent work specifically.

Where each one lives

This is the part that decides whether you'll actually use it.

Grok Bot runs on its own always-on cloud computer with a browser, file system and its own logins. You talk to it through Grok Bot apps on desktop and mobile. That's what makes it the strongest of the three for jobs like 'go through the supplier portal and download every invoice from Q3'. It's also what makes it a separate place you have to go to.

OpenAI Dots lives inside ChatGPT. If you already open ChatGPT ten times a day, Dots is right there. OpenAI's own examples include filling in tax returns, ordering food and running a job search. Since Astra became ChatGPT's default on September 25, every Dots user is on the newest model automatically.

Meta Muse lives in Meta's apps. It's the most familiar interface for non-technical users, but it's only available in the US and Canada, which rules out most of Europe, Israel, India and Latin America. And despite living inside Meta, it doesn't work in WhatsApp; our 'Can Meta Muse work on WhatsApp?' piece covers exactly what it can and can't do there.

None of the three lets you message it from a WhatsApp chat, add it to a WhatsApp group, or have it post reminders into one. That's not a minor footnote if WhatsApp is where your customers, your team and your family already are.

Cost and access

Grok Bot has no subscription of its own. It's bundled with SuperGrok, SuperGrok Plus, SuperGrok Heavy, and paid Cursor plans, with its own weekly usage pool. No free tier.

OpenAI Dots needs a paid ChatGPT plan (Plus, Pro, Business or Enterprise). Astra itself is priced at roughly 2.5 times GPT-5.6 Sol on the API, which is why OpenAI reserves it for paid tiers.

Meta Muse has a free plan, plus paid Power and Maximum tiers. It's the only one of the three you can try without paying, if you're in a supported country.

Verdict on cost: Muse for free, Grok Bot for the best model-per-dollar, Dots if you already pay for ChatGPT.

What each one is actually good at

Grok Bot: browser-heavy, multi-step back-office work. Updating a CRM from call notes, processing invoices in Gmail, reproducing a bug and filing a ticket. With 4.7, it drifts less on long jobs and catches more of its own mistakes. If you'd otherwise hire a virtual assistant to click through portals all day, this is the closest thing.

OpenAI Dots: general-purpose thinking with computer use. It's the best of the three at understanding a vague request and figuring out what you meant. The trade-off is that it's inside ChatGPT, so the work it produces tends to land as something you then copy somewhere else.

Meta Muse: everyday consumer tasks for people who don't want to think about AI. Simple, friendly, limited. The 'Amazon blocked Meta Muse' episode showed the ceiling: when a site decides it doesn't want an agent shopping on it, Muse has no workaround.

What none of them is good at: the hundred small pieces of admin that happen in chat. "Remind the team about timesheets every Friday at 4." "What did the landlord say about the deposit?" "Read this contract and tell me the notice period." These don't need a cloud computer or a frontier reasoning engine. They need something that's already in the conversation.

The agent that's already in your WhatsApp

Agent Sonic isn't competing with Grok Bot on browser automation or with Astra on benchmark scores. It's a personal AI assistant that lives entirely inside WhatsApp, and it's built for the admin that happens there.

Reminders that actually fire. "Remind me to send the VAT report on the 10th of every month" sets a recurring reminder in your WhatsApp chat. "Every Sunday at 8pm, remind the family group about the rent" posts to the group automatically without you doing anything.

A memory of what you told it. Tell Sonic "the accountant said we can defer the payment to November" and next month ask "what did the accountant say about the payment?" It remembers, because it keeps a persistent memory of the things you tell it.

Documents in the chat. Forward a PDF contract, an invoice or a spreadsheet and ask "what's the cancellation clause?" or "total these by month." Sonic reads it and answers right there. Voice notes work both ways: send one while driving, get a text or a voice note back.

Outreach without the middleman. "Ask the three cleaners I saved who's free Thursday morning and tell me who says yes." Sonic messages them, collects the replies and reports back. It also searches the web for live answers, generates and edits images, and connects to Google Calendar, Sheets and Docs, so "add a dentist appointment Tuesday at 3" lands in your calendar.

What it doesn't do: operate your desktop software, click through a CRM, or reproduce a bug. If that's your job, Grok Bot on 4.7 is the better tool and we'd say so. If your job is the admin that happens in chat, Sonic does it where the chat already is, with nothing to install and no separate app to remember.

Agent Sonic is available now. Leave your details at https://www.tryagentsonic.com/contact and you get Sonic's number and onboarding; pricing is on the site.

Bottom line

Smartest model: GPT-6 Astra, so OpenAI Dots. Best value for hard, long agent work: Grok Bot on Grok 4.7. Easiest to try: Meta Muse, if you're in the US or Canada.

But 'smartest' only matters if the agent is where the work is. For back-office browser work, that's Grok Bot. For open-ended thinking, that's Dots. For the reminders, follow-ups, group coordination and document questions that happen in WhatsApp all day, none of the three is in the room, and Agent Sonic is.

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