OpenAI Dots vs Grok Bot: Which AI Agent Is Better in 2026?

OpenAI dots vs Grok Bot: what's the short answer?

Grok Bot is the cheaper way in and the natural pick for developers; dots is the more polished pick for teams already living in ChatGPT, Slack or Microsoft Teams. Both are serious work agents. Both run on their own cloud computer and keep working after you close your laptop.

OpenAI launched dots at DevDay on September 29, 2026. It's an always-on agent built into ChatGPT, powered by GPT-6 Astra, with its own cloud computer and browser and connections to 4,000+ apps. SpaceXAI, the company behind Grok, launched Grok Bot as a beta on August 11, 2026, running on Grok 4.6 and pitched as "AI teammates" with a name and a defined job.

One detail explains Grok Bot's pricing: SpaceX acquired Cursor's parent company, Anysphere, in June 2026, so Cursor and Grok are now the same company. That's why the cheapest route to a Grok Bot is a $20 Cursor Pro subscription, while the cheapest dot is $100 on ChatGPT Pro.

The table below is the full side-by-side, limited to what each company has confirmed as of September 29, 2026. Where a company hasn't said, we say so.

How do dots and Grok Bot actually get work done?

Dots leans on official integrations; Grok Bot works through the same screens you do. Both run on a cloud computer, but they reach your tools in different ways, and that difference shapes what each one is good at.

A dot connects to 4,000+ apps through OpenAI's plugin ecosystem. It can also sign into supported websites using saved passwords the model never sees, and with your permission it can use your own laptop. It learns your preferences, standards and working habits from feedback, and remembers context whichever channel you message it from. Its proactive research scans connected apps in the background with read-only access, so it can flag things before you ask.

A Grok Bot is a durable teammate with a name and a job. It runs on a persistent cloud computer with a browser and a terminal, and signs into your websites and apps with your real logins, the way a person would, through their interfaces rather than APIs. You connect accounts such as Google Workspace, Slack, Notion, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, GitHub, Jira, Figma, HubSpot or Canva. When a site wants a password, passkey, 2FA code or CAPTCHA, you step in.

Grok Bot's party trick is the team. Several Bots can run at once and share what they know, and Routines let them run on a schedule or when an event happens. SpaceXAI's own examples: overnight sales research, pulling expense receipts out of email, and fixing bugs.

Dots has matching party tricks. Inside OpenAI, a bug posted in Slack sets dots investigating, and dots have turned a design into a working app. You can also tag a dot into a shared ChatGPT Space page, and enterprise pilots are testing specialist dots with their own organizational identity. OpenAI talks about "teams of dots working together on your behalf", but at launch your plan includes one dot.

How much do dots and Grok Bot cost?

Grok Bot starts at $20 a month through Cursor Pro or $30 through SuperGrok; dots start at $100 a month through ChatGPT Pro. Neither is on a free plan, and neither sells a standalone subscription.

Dots come included with every ChatGPT Pro tier: Pro Standard ($100), Pro More ($200) and Pro 500 ($500), plus Business Premium at $100 per seat per month billed annually or $125 monthly. Chatting with your dot doesn't count toward usage limits, but tasks it runs in Codex or ChatGPT Work do. For the first month, dot usage doesn't count toward plan allowances. More dots, extra speed and more workload will cost extra later, at prices OpenAI hasn't disclosed. Our OpenAI dots price guide has every tier.

Grok Bot launched only on the top plans: SuperGrok Heavy ($300 a month), Cursor Ultra ($200) and Cursor Teams Premium ($120 per seat). On August 26, 2026 SpaceXAI opened it to all SuperGrok ($30) and Cursor Pro ($20) subscribers. SuperGrok Plus ($100) and Cursor Pro+ ($60) also qualify. Cursor Teams Standard ($40 per seat) gets only the trial or on-demand usage. Bot usage is separate from your normal Grok chat or Cursor editor quota.

Here's the part to read twice. Each Grok Bot plan includes a weekly usage allowance, and SpaceXAI hasn't published the numbers. Past that, eligible accounts can add on-demand usage billed by model and token cost, and there's no Grok Bot-specific spend cap yet. So $20 is the entry ticket, not necessarily the monthly bill. Our Grok Bot price breakdown digs into each plan.

The fair summary: Grok Bot is cheaper to start, dots is easier to predict. A dot's base price covers chatting without touching limits, while a busy Grok Bot on on-demand billing can run past its sticker price.

Where can you use them: apps, channels and countries?

Dots meets you in ChatGPT, Slack and Microsoft Teams; Grok Bot meets you in its own desktop and phone apps. That sounds minor. In practice it decides whether the agent fits into your day or becomes one more place to check.

You reach a dot in the ChatGPT desktop app, on the web and in the mobile app, including voice, plus Slack and Microsoft Teams. There's a limited SMS beta for US Pro users, where carrier charges may apply. The catch is setup: you must create your dot on the ChatGPT desktop app or desktop web, not on your phone. After that, mobile works fine.

You message a Grok Bot from its desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux, or from iOS and, since September 2, 2026, Android. Grok Bot can work inside Slack as one of your connected accounts, but its home is the Grok Bot app. There's no SMS and no WhatsApp channel. And don't mix it up with the Grok chatbot on Telegram: that's Grok chat for Telegram Premium users, not Grok Bot.

Countries split the two sharply. Pro dots exclude the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK at launch, with no timeline, while Business Premium gets dots in all supported ChatGPT regions, Europe and the UK included. SpaceXAI hasn't published a country list or regional restrictions for Grok Bot. That's not a promise it works everywhere; it just means there's no official list to check.

Two more fit checks. Grok Bot requires cloud data storage and isn't compatible with Cursor's Legacy Privacy Mode, which matters for privacy-strict dev teams. Dots require you to be 18 or older, and for Business, Enterprise and Edu, OpenAI says workspace content isn't used to train models by default.

Which one is safer: approvals and controls

Both let you require approval before risky actions; dots ships more of its safety system on by default. With either agent, the settings you choose on day one matter more than the brand.

Dots uses Custom Rules: allow an action, require approval, or block it entirely. An auto-review system checks consequential actions, sensitive tasks such as changing passwords always stay with you, and proactive research is read-only. The Activity View shows what your dot is doing under In progress, Scheduled and Completed, and you can step in, pause or reset it. A monitoring system can also pause or stop a dot over safety concerns.

With Grok Bot, you can require approval before a Bot sends a message, publishes, makes a purchase, transfers funds or deletes something. Its Auto Review feature is in limited rollout, so not everyone has it yet. Because a Bot logs in with your real credentials, you'll handle passwords, passkeys, 2FA and CAPTCHAs yourself, which is annoying and also a useful checkpoint.

Both companies are upfront that their agents get things wrong. OpenAI admits dots can make mistakes. SpaceXAI says Bots can hallucinate or misunderstand scope. Grok Bot adds a money risk on top: with on-demand billing and no Bot-specific spend cap, a runaway Routine can cost you, not just embarrass you.

Who should pick dots, and who should pick Grok Bot?

Developers and Cursor users should start with Grok Bot; ChatGPT-first and Slack or Microsoft Teams teams should start with dots. Both are strong enough that the right answer is mostly about where you already work.

Pick Grok Bot if you already pay for Cursor or SuperGrok, your work lives in GitHub, Jira, a CRM and a dozen browser tabs, and you want several agents running Routines overnight. It's the cheapest way to try a serious cloud agent. Just set approvals, keep an eye on on-demand usage, and remember that SpaceXAI hasn't published a country list.

Pick OpenAI dots if your team already uses ChatGPT, Slack or Microsoft Teams, you want 4,000+ official integrations rather than screen-driving, and you value a mature approvals system and an Activity View. You'll pay $100 a month or more. On Pro you need to be outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK; Business Premium covers Europe and the UK.

Pick neither if what you actually need is smaller. A cloud computer that writes code overnight is overkill for "remind me to invoice on Friday" and "chase the supplier about the quote". Heavy agents are great at heavy work. Most people's week is made of light, frequent jobs that land in their chats.

Neither lives in WhatsApp. What should you use there?

If your clients, suppliers and team talk to you on WhatsApp, neither dots nor Grok Bot will be in that chat, and a WhatsApp-native assistant like Agent Sonic fills that gap. WhatsApp isn't a dots launch channel, OpenAI gave no date for other messaging apps, and Grok Bot has no WhatsApp channel at all.

It's not just the agents. Since Meta changed its WhatsApp Business API terms on January 15, 2026, ChatGPT on WhatsApp isn't available in the US, the UK, India or most of the world. It came back only in the EEA, in July 2026, after an EU antitrust order. Here's the irony: in the EEA you can chat with ChatGPT on WhatsApp but can't get a dot on Pro, and in the US you can get a dot but can't use ChatGPT on WhatsApp.

Agent Sonic is a personal AI assistant that lives entirely inside WhatsApp. No app, no dashboard, no desktop setup: you save it as a contact and message it.

What that looks like in a work week: "Remind me to send the Acme invoice every month on the 28th." "Ask Omar if the shipment left today and tell me what he says", and Sonic messages Omar and reports back. In the team group: "Every Friday at 4, remind everyone to submit timesheets." Forward a contract PDF and ask "What's the notice period?" Or send a voice note: "Put the supplier call on my calendar Thursday at 11", and it lands in Google Calendar.

It also keeps your to-dos, notes and personal memory, searches the live web, creates and edits images, and logs things to Google Sheets and Docs. It writes in your language, English, Hebrew, Arabic or Arabizi, and can reply with a voice note.

Honest limits: Sonic doesn't make purchases, doesn't have 4,000 integrations, doesn't run a cloud computer for hours of autonomous coding or research, and isn't in Slack or Teams. For that, pick dots or Grok Bot. For the admin that lands in your chats, Sonic is the lighter tool. Get access at tryagentsonic.com/contact.

Frequently asked questions