Claude Duet vs ChatGPT dots vs Meta Muse vs Grok Bot: which always-on AI agent should a small business use?

The short answer: all four are new "always-on" agents. Each one works on its own cloud computer after you close the app and messages you when it needs a decision. None of them is the clear winner, and three are still in preview or beta. Pick by where your work already lives. Claude Duet suits approval-first office work (invoices, customer email, scheduling, reports) if you are in the US and already pay for Claude Pro or Max. ChatGPT dots suit teams that live in Slack or Microsoft Teams and pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium. Meta Muse suits shops, restaurants, salons and creators in the US or Canada who sell through Instagram and Facebook, and it has a free tier. Grok Bot suits software teams that want many bots at once. Whichever you try, start with one boring, repeating job and keep approval switched on for anything that sends, buys, signs or deletes.

Every fact below comes from the vendors' own announcement, help and pricing pages, linked where it is used, plus TechCrunch's launch report on Duet. None of the four companies has published test scores for these agents, so this compares what they do, where you can get them, what they cost and how they protect you, not how well they perform. Checked on 28 October 2026. OpenAI's pages block automated readers, so the dots figures are from our daily price check of OpenAI's help pages on 23 October.

What an "always-on agent" is

A normal chatbot waits for you to type. An always-on agent keeps working after you close the app. It watches the tools you connect, sends you a summary, flags what needs a reply and completes tasks on its own cloud computer. The question that matters is not how clever it is. It is what it is allowed to do without asking you.

Claude Duet (Anthropic)

• Status: research preview since 21 October 2026, by waitlist, starting with US Pro and Max subscribers. It runs as its own app on iOS and Android and on claude.ai (Anthropic).
• What it does: sends a short morning brief across your connected apps, checks them every few hours and messages you only when something needs attention. It can schedule meetings, build dashboards, financial or sales forecasts, and even web apps. It works on its own virtual machine, so your laptop or phone does not need to stay on. Anthropic says testers used it for invoices, customer support, marketing and accounting, for example reconciling invoices, flagging calendar conflicts and preparing a brief before a client call.
• Model and connectors: built around Claude Opus 5.5, with access to more than 6,000 connectors and plugins in the Claude Marketplace. Anthropic names Gmail, Slack, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto, LinkedIn, DocuSign, HubSpot, Canva and Shopify (TechCrunch reports the same count).
• Control: it reads, drafts and prepares on its own. Before it sends a message, makes a payment, signs a document or deletes anything, "it shows you exactly what it's about to do and waits for your approval." Trading securities and moving money between accounts are off-limits even with approval. Purchases use a one-time card tied to one merchant and amount through Link by Stripe or Shop Pay, so your real card number is not shared. Anthropic says Duet never sees your passwords, browser cookies or sign-in tokens (Anthropic: safety and privacy).
• Price: no separate fee. It is included in Claude Pro ($20 a month, or $200 billed yearly) and Max (from $100 a month) and "uses the same usage limits as the rest of Claude." Its background checks count toward those limits, and bigger jobs such as a financial model or a deck use them up faster (Anthropic pricing).
• Not yet: Team and Enterprise plans are not included, and no country outside the US is named. Anthropic's page does not state how long data is kept or whether it is used for training, and it describes no admin controls.
• Its own warnings: it "still might misread a thread or miscalibrate what's urgent," it is weaker at personal errands such as booking tickets, it cannot yet show you its browser, and Anthropic calls approval fatigue "a serious issue."

ChatGPT dots (OpenAI)

• Status: announced at DevDay on 29 September 2026 and rolling out gradually (OpenAI).
• What it does: a named agent inside ChatGPT with its own cloud computer and browser, running on GPT-6 Astra. It connects to apps through plugins, works in Slack and Microsoft Teams, takes voice calls in ChatGPT and can hand coding work to Codex (OpenAI help).
• Control: the most detailed rules of the four. With Custom Rules you decide, per kind of action, whether the dot acts alone, acts if pre-approved, asks first or hands the task to you. Risky actions are auto-reviewed, and you can Pause or Reset it. When it researches on its own it uses read-only tools.
• Price: the first dot comes with ChatGPT Pro, at $100, $200 or $500 a month depending on the tier, or with a Business Premium seat at $125 a month, or $100 billed yearly, with at least two paid seats (ChatGPT Pro tiers, Business billing). ChatGPT Plus does not include dots, and neither do Free or Go. Enterprise, Edu and Healthcare get a beta that an admin must switch on.
• Where: on Pro, dots are not offered in the UK, the EEA or Switzerland. Business Premium works in all supported ChatGPT regions.
• Usage: conversations with your dot do not count toward your ChatGPT limits, but tasks it starts in Codex or ChatGPT Work do. The extended limits are for the first month only, and OpenAI says it will share usage terms for each plan after that, so do not judge normal usage from your first month.

Meta Muse (Meta)

• Status: launched 8 September 2026, and Meta's 29 September post says it is available in the US and Canada. Meta's help centre says Muse is "in limited testing and isn't available in all locations yet" (Meta help). Press reports say a Japan rollout began on 23 October, which we could not confirm on Meta's own pages.
• What it does: a personal agent you message in the Muse app, on the web or in WhatsApp. It sends emails, books travel, fills in forms and keeps working after you close the app (Meta). Since 29 September, Muse for Small Business connects your Instagram professional analytics, Facebook Pages, Meta ad accounts and Canva, plus custom connectors (Meta).
• Control: it runs in a dedicated cloud virtual machine, and a separate agent called Sentinel must approve anything it sends out. It asks before it sends an email or buys, keeps an audit trail and pays with a one-time card through Link by Stripe. You choose each app's access level. Meta says Muse cannot see your passwords or payment methods and does not share your conversations with its ad systems, and you can opt out of training.
• Price: free with a usage limit, Power at $20 a month for 500M Muse tokens a week, and Max at $100 a month for 3B tokens a week. Meta does not explain the token unit in plain terms, so compare allowances with care.

Grok Bot (xAI)

• Status: public beta since 11 August 2026. Team Bots, shared by a whole team, followed in public beta on 28 September (xAI).
• What it does: each Bot gets a cloud computer with a browser and a terminal and signs into your apps, including sites with no connector. You can show it a routine once, and run many Bots in parallel in a group chat or in Slack. xAI does not say which model powers it.
• Control: a Bot comes back to you when something needs approval. In a Team Bot, each person's conversations stay private. The xAI pages we checked say little about training settings or how credentials are stored.
• Price: no standalone price. Grok Bot is included from the Premium tier of X Subscription at $30 a month, and in Super ($100) and Ultra ($200). The Plus tier at $8 does not include it. Team Bots are on Teams and Enterprise plans (xAI, xAI docs). Bot usage is separate from the subscription's own AI usage. One more thing to check: Cursor's old plans were folded into the X Subscription tiers, so older articles that say "Cursor Pro" are out of date.

The four side by side

What none of them can do yet

• All four are new. Expect rough edges and changing terms. Anthropic itself says Duet's approval and sign-in settings "are still changing."
• No price per agent. You buy a plan. Duet shares your Claude limits, Muse meters in tokens a week, dots promise terms after the first month, and Grok Bot sells usage inside X Subscription.
• Approvals are your job. An agent with your logins can make a mistake fast. Set the rules before you connect anything that sends messages, posts publicly or spends money.
• Privacy answers are uneven. Duet's page is silent on retention and training. Muse offers a training opt-out. OpenAI keeps Business content out of training by default. xAI says least. Read the terms before connecting customer data.
• Nothing here is a benchmark. Vendors publish features, not accuracy. Judge each agent on your own task.

Which one for which business

How to start safely

1. Pick one boring, repeating job. Sorting the inbox, chasing late invoices, a weekly ad summary. Not anything that pays, posts or signs.
2. Connect the fewest apps, read-only first. Allow drafts next, sending last.
3. Keep approval on for send, pay, sign and delete. Do not tick "don't ask me again" for those.
4. Watch the usage meter for a week. Background agents use allowance quietly.
5. Check the data terms. Where is memory stored, can you delete it, and is your data used for training?
6. Measure at the end of the week. Hours saved against the plan price. If it saved nothing, stop before you pay for a second month.

Our next guide walks through this business by business, with a first job for each: how to set up an AI agent for your business, with a plan for each type. For the earlier three-way comparison with more detail on dots, Muse and Grok Bot, see ChatGPT dots vs Grok Bot vs Meta Muse, and for background see Grok Bot explained.

Prices and our review of each: Claude Duet, ChatGPT dots, Meta Muse, Grok Bot.

Not sure which agent, or whether you need one?

Every business has a different bottleneck, and the right agent depends on it. Our free 2-minute AI plan finder shows where AI fits your business and what it could save. A Business AI Plan ($99 once, kept current by an optional $29 a month) turns that into a ranked list of jobs, says for each one whether you, AI or a plain tool does it, and picks the tools at four budgets, so you hand an agent only the work that is worth handing over.

Frequently asked questions

Is Claude Duet available outside the US? Not yet. It is a research preview by waitlist for US Pro and Max subscribers. Anthropic's pages name no other country.

Is Claude Duet free? There is no separate fee, but you need Claude Pro ($20 a month) or Max (from $100). Duet shares your plan's usage limits, so its background work can use them up sooner.

Is ChatGPT Plus enough for dots? No. ChatGPT Plus does not include dots. You need ChatGPT Pro or a Business Premium seat, and on Pro dots are not offered in the UK, the EEA or Switzerland.

Which agent is cheapest? Meta Muse, which is free with a usage limit, if you are in the US or Canada. Claude Duet costs nothing extra if you already pay for Pro. Grok Bot starts at $30 a month and dots at $100.

Which one is safest? None is risk-free. Duet and Muse both ask before sending, buying or deleting and use one-time cards. Dots give the finest control over what runs alone. Whichever you pick, test on low-risk work first and keep approval on.

Which agent works with Instagram and Facebook? Meta Muse, through Muse for Small Business.

Which agent works with QuickBooks, Gusto or Shopify? Claude Duet lists all three among its connectors. Check that your exact app and features are supported before you rely on it.

Can an agent replace an employee? Treat it as a fast assistant that still needs supervision. Anyone who gives it payment or signing access should keep approval switched on.

Sources: Anthropic: Introducing Claude Duet, Anthropic: Claude Duet safety, privacy and security, Anthropic: Claude Duet, Anthropic pricing, TechCrunch: Claude Duet, OpenAI: introducing dots, OpenAI help: getting started with your dot, OpenAI help: ChatGPT Pro tiers, OpenAI help: ChatGPT Business billing, xAI: introducing Grok Bot, xAI: Team Bots, xAI: X Subscription, xAI docs: Grok Bot, Meta: introducing Muse, Meta: Muse for Small Business, Meta help: Muse subscriptions. Checked 28 October 2026.

Disclosure: Dapols uses Claude, an Anthropic product, to help draft and research its articles. Verify details against the vendors' own pages before you buy.