What are Dots and Muse?
Dots are always on agents that live inside ChatGPT. OpenAI announced them on September 29, 2026, at its DevDay event. Each dot is an agent with its own cloud computer and browser that keeps working on your tasks between conversations, and checks back with you when it has something to show. A pricing breakdown that checked OpenAI's pages on September 30, 2026, describes dots as agents that run in the background, keep context across sessions, and can be reached from ChatGPT, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and a voice call.
Muse is Meta's personal AI agent. It launched in the US on September 8, 2026, as a standalone app for iPhone, Android, Mac, and the web, with a version inside WhatsApp as well. Muse connects to the apps you already use, learns your routines and preferences, and acts on your behalf: it can plan, shop, book, call businesses, and prepare briefings, asking first before it sends anything or spends anything.
The simplest way to think about the difference is where each agent starts. Dots starts from ChatGPT. If your work already lives in ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams, a dot extends the tools you already open every day. Muse starts from your life. It is a separate app with its own home, its own memory of your routines, and its own connections to your email, calendar, messages, and social apps. Neither approach is wrong. They fit different days.
Both agents belong to the same new category: the always on personal agent. A chatbot waits for you to ask. An agent keeps going after you close the app. It researches in the background, follows up on open threads, prepares things before you ask, and comes back when it needs a decision. Dots, Muse, Claude Duet, and Grok Bot all launched within weeks of each other in the autumn of 2026, and they are all still changing fast. Anything you read about them, including this guide, is a snapshot dated November 13, 2026.
What does each agent actually do?
A dot does ongoing work. You give it a standing job, such as watching a market, tracking a project, or preparing a weekly summary, and it keeps at it between conversations. Its proactive background research is read only, which means it can gather and prepare but does not act on your accounts without you. Dots connect to more than 4,000 apps through plugins, and you can reach a dot from ChatGPT on the web, on mobile, or on desktop, from Slack or Teams, or by voice call. Texting a dot is coming, according to launch coverage.
Muse does errands and life admin as well as work. It can shop with your approval, call businesses to book tables and appointments, plan trips, draft messages, and build custom screens called Spaces that track the things you care about. It also does computer work on a Mac, where it can operate apps on your behalf with your permission. The breadth is the point: Muse is built to be the one agent for your whole day, not only your workday.
The overlap is large. Both agents research topics, plan projects, draft documents and messages, follow up on threads, and prepare summaries. The difference shows up at the edges. Dots leans toward work that lives in ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams, with plugins reaching into business tools. Muse leans toward life that lives in your phone: shopping, calls, messages, social apps, and family logistics. If you want a fuller four way picture, read our Muse vs Dots vs Grok Bot comparison, which adds xAI's agent to the same frame.
- Research and monitoring. Both agents watch topics and prepare summaries in the background. Dots does this inside ChatGPT with read only research. Muse does it across your connected apps and brings the result to chat.
- Messages and follow ups. Both draft replies and chase open threads. Dots reaches you in Slack and Teams. Muse reaches you in its own app, in WhatsApp, and by voice.
- Shopping and booking. Muse shops and calls businesses with your approval, and has done since launch. Dots is built around work tasks, and shopping is not its headline job.
- Documents and projects. Both prepare documents, track projects, and keep context across sessions. Dots keeps working between ChatGPT conversations. Muse keeps a memory of your routines and preferences across chats.
How does background work differ between them?
A dot has its own cloud computer and browser. That is the core idea: the agent is not a chat window, it is a worker with a machine. It keeps your tasks running after you close ChatGPT, and it can browse, gather, and prepare while you do other things. When it needs you, it checks in through ChatGPT, Slack, Teams, or a voice call. The proactive research it does on its own is read only, so background work prepares rather than acts.
Muse runs your tasks on a dedicated cloud machine too, and it reports back in chat when the work is done or when it needs a decision. The difference is what Muse is allowed to do while you are away. With your permission, Muse can send messages, place orders, and make calls on your behalf. That is why its permission model matters so much: Muse asks before sensitive actions, and you choose whether an approval lasts once or always. Read our guide to Muse permissions and the Allow Always setting before you grant broad approvals.
Dots adds an automatic review on top of your own rules. OpenAI describes a review step that decides whether an action is safe to take, in addition to whatever rules you set. In practice, both agents still need you. In the nine task test covered later in this guide, every agent needed human nudges, and none of the four ran fully on its own. Treat background work as supervised help, not as a replacement for checking. The agent that asks too often is annoying. The agent that asks too rarely is dangerous. The right balance depends on the job.
One practical difference is where the work surfaces. A dot surfaces inside tools you already use for work, which is good when the job is a work job. Muse surfaces in its own app, which is good when the job spans your whole life and you want one place to see it all. If you live in Slack all day, Dots meets you there. If you want an agent that also handles dinner, travel, and family logistics, Muse meets you in your pocket.
What does each one cost?
Dots has no free path. Your first dot is included with a ChatGPT Pro plan: Pro 100 at $100 a month, Pro 200 at $200 a month, or Pro 500 at $500 a month, on monthly billing only. The other route is a Business Premium seat at $125 per user a month on monthly billing, or $100 per user a month billed annually, with a minimum of two users per workspace. Launch coverage of Dots pricing confirms the same plan ladder, and notes that the Free, Go, and Plus plans get no dot at all.
That makes the cheapest way to try Dots $100 a month for a Pro 100 plan. The Business Premium route costs more for a small team: a two person workspace is at least $250 a month on monthly billing, or $200 a month billed annually. Extra dots, and more speed for the dots you have, are not priced yet. OpenAI says that pricing comes later. Enterprise, Education, and Healthcare workspaces can get dots as an admin enabled beta, with no public price.
Two pricing details are worth knowing because they show how unsettled Dots pricing still is. OpenAI halved the Pro 200 plan allowance at DevDay, then cancelled the cut on October 29, 2026, after pushback, according to coverage of the reversal. And dots usage is exempt from plan allowances for the first month after launch, with later terms unpublished. If you buy a plan for Dots, check the current terms on OpenAI's pages before you commit, because the terms have already changed once.
Muse is free to start, with a weekly usage limit. Its paid plans buy more usage, not more features: Power at $20 a month, and Maximum at $100 a month. A free user and a paying user get the same agent, the same connectors, and the same features. Paying only buys more room to run. On top of that, a new account that redeems an invite code within 48 hours of joining gets 1 billion Muse tokens, shared with the person who gave the code.
Put side by side, the gap is stark. Dots starts at $100 a month. Muse starts at $0. A year of the cheapest Dots plan costs $1,200. A year of Muse Power costs $240, and a year of Muse free costs nothing. That does not make Dots bad value: if your team already pays for ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium, the first dot is included in what you already spend. But if you pay nothing today, Muse is the only one of the two you can try without opening your wallet.
Where is each one available?
Dots has a notable gap. The Pro plan rollout excludes the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK. OpenAI gives no reason and no date for expanding it. Business Premium, by contrast, is available in all supported regions, so a team on Business Premium in London or Berlin can use dots while an individual on Pro 100 in the same city cannot. The pricing breakdown that checked OpenAI's pages lists the exclusion plainly. If you are in the UK, the EEA, or Switzerland, check your plan type before you assume Dots is available to you.
Muse is live in five countries: the US since September 8, 2026, Canada since September 18, Japan since October 23, Singapore since October 28, and Mexico since November 5, 2026, the first launch in Latin America. No other launch is confirmed, and Meta has published no country list or timeline. If you are outside those five countries, you can join a waitlist, but you cannot use Muse yet.
Neither agent is global, and the gaps fall in different places. Dots reaches more of the world through ChatGPT, but shuts out Pro users in Europe and the UK. Muse is open to anyone in its five countries, including free users, but shuts out everyone else entirely. A reader in London can use neither on an individual plan today: no Dots on Pro, no Muse at all. A reader in Toronto can use both, if they pay for Dots. A reader in Mexico City can use Muse, and can use Dots on an eligible plan. Where you live decides a lot here, so check availability before you compare features.
On devices, Dots travels with ChatGPT: web, mobile, and desktop, plus Slack, Teams, and voice calls. Muse travels with its own apps for iPhone, Android, Mac, and the web, plus a version inside WhatsApp. Both agents work across your devices, and both keep context as you move between them. The device question matters less than the country question and the price question, but if you do most of your work in Slack, Dots has a home field advantage that is hard to ignore.
How do you get started with each one?
To start with Dots, you need an eligible plan first. Check that your ChatGPT plan is Pro 100, Pro 200, or Pro 500, or that your workspace is on Business Premium, and that your region is covered for your plan type. Then create a dot inside ChatGPT, connect the apps it needs through plugins, and give it a standing job. A setup guide published at launch walks through creating a dot, connecting apps, and reaching it from Slack, Teams, and voice calls. Enterprise, Education, and Healthcare users need an admin to enable the beta.
To start with Muse, download the app in one of the five launch countries and create an account. Redeem an invite code within 48 hours of joining and both you and the person who shared it get 1 billion Muse tokens. Then connect the apps you want Muse to use, such as email and calendar, and describe your first task in plain language. There is no waitlist inside a launch country, and no payment needed to begin.
The time to a first useful task is minutes for both, once you are eligible. The gate is different. For Dots, the gate is the plan and the region. For Muse, the gate is the country. If you clear the gate, setup is the same shape in both: connect apps, describe the job, watch the first result, and adjust. Start with one low stakes job, such as a daily summary or a research brief, and see how the agent handles it before you hand over anything that touches money or other people.
One more setup note for Dots: there is no Dots API as of October 3, 2026, according to developer coverage from early October. That means you cannot build your own software on top of Dots yet, or wire a dot into a custom workflow with code. Muse has its own developer surface through the Meta Model API and Muse Code, but that is a separate product from the consumer app, and it is aimed at developers, not at everyday users.
Which agent fits which job?
Pick Dots when your work already lives in ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams. A dot fits standing research briefs, project tracking, sales preparation, and operations work that repeats every week. It fits teams on Business Premium who want an agent that shows up where the team already talks. And it fits anyone who already pays for ChatGPT Pro, because the first dot is included in the plan they already have.
Pick Muse when your day is bigger than your job. Muse fits shopping with approval, calling businesses, planning trips, family logistics, and the small business morning briefing that pulls your day together before you start. Our guide to the Muse morning briefing shows what that looks like for a small business owner. Muse also fits anyone starting from $0, anyone in the Meta ecosystem of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and anyone who wants one agent for work and life in a single app.
Some jobs fit both, and the honest answer is to use whichever you already have. Research briefs, planning documents, follow up drafts, and project summaries are table stakes for both agents. If you already pay for ChatGPT Pro and you live in one of Muse's five countries, you can run both and let each handle the jobs it suits. There is no rule that says one agent must do everything.
If you are choosing blind, with no existing plan and no strong habit either way, start with Muse. It costs nothing to try, it covers more of everyday life, and you will learn what you actually want from an agent before you spend $100 a month. If you outgrow the free tier, Power at $20 a month is still a fifth of the cheapest Dots plan. You can always add Dots later if your work moves into ChatGPT and Slack.
What did the nine task test find?
The most useful head to head evidence so far is not a benchmark, it is a real world test. Claire Vo, host of the How I AI podcast, ran four personal agents through nine of her real tasks in an episode published on October 28, 2026: a Slack reply, a short video cut, a bug fix, a Figma thumbnail, inbox triage, a family newspaper, a homework explanation, shoe shopping, and a product launch video. The episode notes record the results task by task.
Grok Bot won overall with a score of 93 percent, followed by Muse, then Dot, then Claude Duet last at 79 percent, according to a review that scored the episode. Muse won three jobs: the video cut, the family newspaper, and the homework explanation. Grok Bot won the Figma thumbnail, the inbox triage, and the shoe shopping. Dot came closest to the intended bug fix, and Duet produced the best launch video. Muse was fastest on four of the nine tasks, and Duet asked for permission four times, against once for each of the other agents.
Read the caveats before you read the ranking. The judging was not blind, and Vo said so on camera. Muse had no Slack or GitHub connected, because Vo does not use it for work, so it skipped the Slack and coding jobs and completed seven of nine tasks, the same as Duet, while Dot and Grok Bot completed all nine. Duet was in its first week, before Anthropic added Claude Code sessions to the app. And every agent needed human nudges. None of the four ran fully on its own.
The takeaway is not that one agent is best. It is that access, speed, format, and permission handling decided each win, more than raw ability. The agent with the right apps connected, the fastest turnaround, and the least friction won the job in front of it. That is why this guide keeps coming back to the same advice: pick the agent that fits the apps you already use, connect those apps properly, and judge it on your own jobs, not on someone else's scoreboard.
What are the limits and risks?
Dots has three limits to weigh. The price is high, and the terms are still moving: the Pro 200 allowance was cut and then restored within weeks, and dots usage terms after the first month are unpublished. The Pro rollout excludes the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK, with no date for a change. And there is no Dots API, so developers cannot build on dots yet. Extra dots and more speed are unpriced, which means you cannot plan the cost of scaling beyond one dot today.
Muse has its own limits. It is live in only five countries, so most of the world cannot use it yet. The free tier has a weekly usage limit, and heavy users will hit it. Shopping has real gaps: Amazon blocked Muse checkout in September 2026, and some announced retailers have not gone live. And broad permissions can go wrong: granting Allow Always instead of Allow One Time has already caused one public incident, covered in our Muse safety guide and in the timeline in our Muse safety incidents guide.
Both agents share the risks that come with acting on your behalf. They can misunderstand a request, act on stale information, or take a step you would not have approved if you had seen it first. Both are young products with changing terms, changing prices, and changing availability. The safe way to use either one is the same: start with low stakes jobs, check the work before it reaches other people or money, keep approvals narrow, and read the current terms on the vendor's own pages before you rely on anything you read here.
Privacy deserves its own line. Both agents need broad access to be useful: your messages, your calendar, your files, your accounts. That access is the product, and it is also the risk. Read what each vendor says it collects, what it uses for training, and how to turn training use off. For Muse, our safety guide covers the data controls and the correct setting names. For Dots, read OpenAI's own privacy pages, because third party summaries go stale fast in a product this new.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Dots if you already pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium, your work lives in ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams, and you want an agent that shows up where your team already talks. The first dot is included in the plan you already have, the plugin reach into business apps is broad, and the background research model suits standing work briefs. Just confirm your region is covered for your plan type first, especially if you are in the UK, the EEA, or Switzerland.
Pick Muse if you want to start free, you live in one of the five launch countries, and you want one agent for work and life: shopping, calls, planning, messages, and briefings in a single app. Muse is the only one of the two with a free tier, the only one with a version inside WhatsApp, and the only one that calls businesses on your behalf. If you are starting from nothing, Muse is the obvious first try.
Pick both if you already pay for ChatGPT Pro and you live in a Muse country. Use Dots for the work jobs that live in Slack and Teams, and Muse for the life jobs that live in your phone. The nine task test ended in the same place: its host now uses Grok Bot for work and Muse for personal tasks, because different agents belong in different parts of life. There is no prize for loyalty to one agent. There is a prize for using the right one for the job in front of you.
And if you are in the UK, the EEA, or Switzerland, or anywhere outside Muse's five countries, the honest answer is that neither agent is fully open to you as an individual today. Dots is shut out on Pro plans in Europe, and Muse has not launched where you live. Join the waitlists, watch for the next launch wave, and use the comparison in this guide to decide in advance, so you are ready when the door opens. For the same question against Anthropic's agent, read our Muse vs Claude Duet comparison.
Get started
Muse is the agent in this comparison you can try today without paying. Open the app, connect the apps you use, and give it one small job. If you are new to Muse, redeem a free invite code within 48 hours of joining and both you and the person who shared it get 1 billion Muse tokens.
Get a free code from the community pool.
Frequently asked questions
- Is OpenAI Dots free?
- No. Your first dot is included with a ChatGPT Pro plan at $100, $200, or $500 a month, or with a Business Premium seat, while the Free, Go, and Plus plans get no dot at all. Muse, by contrast, has a free tier with a weekly usage limit.
- What is the cheapest way to get Dots?
- ChatGPT Pro 100 at $100 a month, on monthly billing only. The Business Premium route needs at least two seats, so a two person workspace costs at least $250 a month on monthly billing, or $200 a month billed annually. Extra dots and more speed are not priced yet.
- Is Dots available in the UK or Europe?
- Not on Pro plans. The Pro rollout excludes the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK, with no reason and no date for expansion published. Business Premium is available in all supported regions, so a team on that plan can use dots where an individual on Pro cannot.
- Is Muse free?
- Yes, with a weekly usage limit. Muse has a free tier, and its paid plans buy more usage, not more features: Power at $20 a month and Maximum at $100 a month. A new account that redeems an invite code within 48 hours of joining also gets 1 billion Muse tokens.
- Which is better, Muse or Dots?
- It depends on the job: Dots fits work that lives in ChatGPT, Slack, and Teams, for people who already pay for a Pro or Business Premium plan. Muse fits everyday life and small business work, and it is the only one of the two with a free tier. In Claire Vo's nine task test, Muse finished second and Dot finished third, with important caveats about connected apps.
- Can I use Muse and Dots at the same time?
- Yes, they are separate products from separate companies, and nothing stops you using both. Many people will: Dots for work jobs inside Slack and Teams, Muse for life jobs like shopping, calls, and planning. Use each where it fits, and keep approvals narrow on both.
Built with Muse is an independent community project. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta.