dots vs Grok Bot: how the two agents differ

Both are always-on agents that run work on their own cloud computer, but they differ on one concrete architectural decision: Grok Bot uses one computer per user, shared across all your bots, while dots gives each agent its own computer.

The difference that matters: where the work lives

This is the most useful distinction in the whole comparison, and almost nobody mentions it.

	dots	Grok Bot
Company	OpenAI	xAI
Launch	29 September 2026	August 2026
Cloud computer	One per dot	One per user, shared across all their bots
Agent model	One dot per responsibility	Named bots running routines
Apps	Desktop, web, mobile, Slack, text	Desktop and mobile

Why it matters: with a shared computer, isolation is between you and the outside world, not between your own agents. With a computer per agent, each dot’s work stays separate from the others — which is why opening one dot’s computer shows you only that dot’s work.

It is not that one option is automatically better. It is that they are two different answers to the same question, and which suits you depends on whether you will run several agents in parallel on topics that should not mix.

The incident that connects them

During dots’ launch day, searching the product’s name redirected to Grok Bot’s page. It was not a typo or a minor coincidence: it combined with the failed demo and the executive’s “Muse” slip to turn the day into a textbook example of what happens when brand search is not controlled.

That detail matters to anyone evaluating the product: the naming confusion around dots is a documented phenomenon, not a subjective impression.

Channels and usage surface

Here dots has a clear, verifiable difference in its own documentation:

• dots is used from ChatGPT on desktop, web and mobile, plus Slack, text messaging (beta, US only) and Teams messages.
• Local computer access is optional and starts turned off.
• You cannot create a dot on mobile: the desktop app is required for setup.

Grok Bot has desktop and mobile apps. Beyond that, we have not verified its channel detail.

What we will not say

You will not find a benchmark table here, nor Grok Bot latency, nor an integration count, nor a claim about which is more capable. We do not have xAI’s primary documentation at the level required to support that.

That is our limitation and we say so: the public comparison between these two products is dominated by speculation. We would rather publish three verifiable, honest differences than fifteen invented ones.

How to decide with what you do know

1. Are you in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK? dots is out on the Pro plan. That may end the discussion.
2. Will you run several agents at once? If isolation between them matters, the computer-per-agent architecture is a real argument.
3. Which ecosystem do you use? dots lives inside ChatGPT, Codex and ChatGPT Work. Grok Bot lives in xAI’s.
4. Do you need auditable documentation? Today OpenAI publishes far more: a getting-started guide, a privacy and safety FAQ, and detailed approval rules.