Always-on AI agents explained: Claude Duet, Grok Bot, Muse, dots and Gemini Spark
Agents that run on their own cloud computer, keep working after you close the app and ask before they act. What the five main products do, where they differ and what each costs to start.
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Between May and October 2026, five large AI companies shipped the same kind of product: an agent that has its own computer in the cloud, connects to your apps, keeps working after you close the app and checks with you before it does anything consequential. Google calls its version Gemini Spark, xAI calls it Grok Bot, Meta calls it Muse, OpenAI calls it dots and Anthropic calls it Claude Duet.
Each product has its own explainer, linked in the table below. Plan prices come from this site's subscription catalog and model rates from the pricing catalog.
Short answer
- An always-on agent is a chatbot with a persistent cloud computer, memory, connected apps and a schedule. It works toward a goal while you are away and asks for approval before sending, buying, signing or deleting.
- Typical jobs are morning briefs, inbox and calendar triage, follow-ups, invoices, price and status monitoring, bookings, purchases and research delivered as documents or decks.
- None has a standalone price. Each is included in a consumer subscription, and background work draws on that plan's usage limits.
- Entry points: Muse is free with a weekly limit, Gemini Spark comes with Google AI Pro ($19.99), Claude Duet with Claude Pro ($20.00), Grok Bot with Grok Premium ($30.00) and a dot with ChatGPT Pro ($100.00).
- Availability is narrow. Claude Duet and Muse are US only, and dots on Pro and Gemini Spark are not offered in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK.
What an always-on agent is
A chatbot answers when you type and stops when the reply is done. A coding agent works inside a repository while you supervise it. An always-on agent has a computer of its own: each product runs the agent on a cloud machine with a browser, some add a file system and terminal, and your laptop and phone can be off. You can hand it ongoing work, such as checking an inbox every morning or watching a price, instead of a single prompt.
It also remembers your preferences and works in Gmail, Slack, CRMs, calendars and other tools, through connectors or by using a browser the way a person would. It drafts and prepares on its own, then stops for your approval before steps that are hard to undo.
The vendors use different words for the same idea: proactive agent (Anthropic), AI teammates (xAI), personal AI agent (Meta and Google) and always-on agents (OpenAI).
Claude Duet, Grok Bot, Muse, dots and Gemini Spark compared
| Agent | Maker | Launched | Model | Entry plan | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Duet | Anthropic | Oct 21, 2026, research preview | Claude Opus 5.5 | Claude Pro $20.00 | US Pro and Max, by waitlist |
| Grok Bot | xAI | Aug 11, 2026, beta | Not named; Grok 4.7 was trained for its harness | Grok Premium $30.00 | Premium, Super, Ultra, Teams and Enterprise |
| Muse | Meta | Sep 8, 2026 | Muse Spark | Free; Power $20.00 | US |
| dots | OpenAI | Sep 29, 2026 | GPT-6 Astra | ChatGPT Pro $100.00 | Pro outside the EEA, Switzerland and UK; Business Premium |
| Gemini Spark | May 19, 2026 | Gemini 3.5 at launch, 3.6 Flash reported in October | Google AI Pro $19.99 | AI Pro and Ultra, outside the EEA, Nigeria, Switzerland and UK |
| Agent | Runs on | Agents per user | Where you talk to it | Approval model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Duet | Cloud VM with its own browser | One thread, with topic channels | iOS and Android app, claude.ai | Asks before messages, payments, signatures and deletions; blocks trading and transfers |
| Grok Bot | One shared cloud computer per account | Several in parallel | Desktop and mobile apps, @bot on X | Comes back when approval is needed; Bots in a thread hand work to each other |
| Muse | Muse Secure VM per user, with a Sentinel agent | One | Muse app, muse.ai, WhatsApp, Mac app | Asks before email and purchases; Sentinel approves all outbound traffic |
| dots | Cloud computer and browser per dot, optional local computer | One at launch | ChatGPT, Slack, Teams, voice | Four-level Custom Rules plus an auto-review agent |
| Gemini Spark | Google cloud, local Chrome or remote browser | One, with up to 15 tasks running | Gemini app on mobile, Mac and web | Confirms before sending, editing data, buying and submitting forms |
What they are used for
The vendors' own examples cluster into a few kinds of work:
| Kind of work | Examples from vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Daily brief and triage | Claude Duet's morning brief; dots reviewing your calendar each morning; Spark summarizing or archiving newsletters |
| Follow-ups | A dot noticing an invoice you forgot to send; Claude Duet drafting reminders for unpaid invoices |
| Monitoring | Spark watching flight and hotel prices; Grok Bot routines on a schedule |
| Multi-step admin | Muse filling forms and negotiating bills; Claude Duet preparing payroll in Gusto; Grok Bot processing invoices from Gmail |
| Bookings and purchases | Muse booking travel and paying through Link; Claude Duet buying through Link or Shop Pay |
| Work products | Claude Duet's forecasts, decks and dashboards; Spark's Docs, spreadsheets and PDFs; Grok Bot drafting outreach in your voice |
| Engineering | Grok Bot reproducing a bug and filing the ticket; dots creating Codex tasks |
Claude Duet targets professionals and small business owners. Grok Bot is built around a team of named Bots that learn workflows by watching you once. Muse targets everyday consumer errands and is the only one with a free tier. Dots live inside ChatGPT and reuse its plugins, memory and Codex. Gemini Spark is built around Gmail, Calendar and the rest of Google Workspace.
What they are not good at yet
- Sign-ins, CAPTCHAs and sites that block bots still need a person. Each product pauses and hands those steps back.
- Anthropic says Claude Duet may misread a thread or misjudge what is urgent, and OpenAI says a dot can make mistakes even when following your rules.
- On the open web, press testers reported Muse recommending restaurants that had closed, and a Spark promo code that did not work.
- OpenAI's own tests found scope violations in dots roughly doubled when the number of intervening tasks went from five to ten.
- Most launched in the US first, and several exclude Europe.
How the cost works
None of the five is sold separately. The price is the plan that unlocks it, and the agent uses that plan's allowance:
| Agent | Plans that include it | How usage is stated |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Duet | Pro $20.00, Max $100.00 or $200.00 | Shares Claude's usage limits; background checks count |
| Grok Bot | Premium $30.00, Super $100.00, Ultra $200.00 | Weekly allowance; Super 3.5× and Ultra 12× Premium |
| Muse | Free $0, Power $20.00, Maximum $100.00 | 100M, 500M or 3B Muse tokens a week |
| dots | Pro from $100.00, Business Premium $125.00 per seat | Chat with the dot is not counted; first-month allowance waiver, terms to follow |
| Gemini Spark | AI Pro $19.99, Ultra $99.99 or $199.99 | Gemini's compute-based limits, refreshed every five hours up to a weekly cap |
Only Meta publishes an absolute weekly number, and it is in Meta's own unit. The others state limits relative to a base plan or not at all. Background work counts too: an agent that checks your accounts every few hours or runs routines overnight uses the allowance while you are not typing. Anthropic gives this as the reason Claude Duet checks every few hours instead of continuously.
To compare a plan fee with API prices for the underlying models, see Claude Duet vs Grok Bot and the subscription vs API calculator.
Before you connect your accounts
- Read the approval rules. Know which actions run without asking. Dots let you set this per action; Gemini makes bulk changes in Google Tasks without confirmation.
- Check what is shared. All Grok Bots on one account share one computer and its logins. Dots share app permissions with ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex.
- Check how memory is deleted. A dot's memories can only be cleared by resetting the dot. Muse can be told to forget specific details, and Gemini lets you delete saved remote browser and computer data.
- Start with reads. Summaries, drafts and reports are easy to check. Purchases, sent email and deleted files are not.
- Watch the allowance for a few days before assigning large jobs, since background checks count.
Other agents in the same category
Every's comparison of personal agents also covers products outside the big five. Hermes Agent from Nous Research and OpenClaw are open source and run on your own or a managed host with a model you choose. Poke is a messaging-first assistant reached through Apple Messages, WhatsApp and Telegram. Instinct, from Spear Street Technology, works by text and phone calls and is in private beta. Inside the Claude and ChatGPT apps, Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work handle multi-step tasks on your files and connected tools.
Frequently asked questions
What is an always-on AI agent?
An AI agent with its own cloud computer, memory and connected apps that keeps working toward a goal after you close the app, runs scheduled checks and asks for approval before consequential actions.
Which always-on agent is cheapest?
Muse has a free tier with a weekly limit. Among paid entry points, Google AI Pro ($19.99) for Gemini Spark and Claude Pro ($20.00) for Claude Duet are the lowest, followed by Grok Premium ($30.00) and ChatGPT Pro ($100.00).
Which ones work outside the US?
Gemini Spark is offered wherever the Gemini app is supported except the EEA, Nigeria, Switzerland and the UK. Dots are available on Business Premium in all supported ChatGPT regions and on Pro outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. xAI's Grok Bot pages list no country restriction for the agent itself. Claude Duet and Muse are US only.
Do these agents need my computer to stay on?
No. All five run work in the cloud. Gemini Spark can also use your local Chrome, and that mode needs your device awake.
How are they different from ChatGPT or Claude chat?
Chat answers when you write and stops. These agents hold ongoing goals, act inside your apps, run on a schedule and message you when they need a decision.
Are they safe to connect to email?
Each vendor lists safeguards such as approval steps, credential isolation and prompt-injection defenses, and each also says the agent can make mistakes. Start with read-only tasks, keep approvals on for sending and buying, and connect only the accounts a task needs.
Which models power them?
Claude Duet uses Claude Opus 5.5, dots use GPT-6 Astra, Muse uses Muse Spark and Gemini Spark launched on Gemini 3.5. xAI does not name the model behind Grok Bot.
Sources
Read on Oct 22, 2026. Plan prices are USD per month and exclude taxes. Each product explainer lists its own sources.