OpenBot vs ChatGPT dots: A Local Alternative

OpenBot runs the provider tools you already use, with the plans you already pay for: Codex with your ChatGPT plan, Claude Code with your Claude plan, Gemini with your Google AI Pro or Ultra plan, Grok CLI with your Grok account or an xAI API key, Cursor CLI with your Cursor plan or a Cursor API key, Cline with your Cline account, and Muse Code with your Meta account or a Meta API key. OpenCode runs free models, or your own model on any OpenAI-compatible server, also one on your computer. Pi runs the providers you sign in to with /login, and Inception's Mercury models run with an Inception API key. Any agent that speaks the Agent Client Protocol, such as Goose, Qwen Code or GitHub Copilot, runs as a custom agent. You choose the provider, the model and the reasoning effort for each agent. When a plan reaches its limit or a provider is down, the agent can move to a backup model. When you move an agent to a different provider, it keeps its role, workspace and conversation.

A dot runs on GPT-6 Astra, and OpenAI names no other model for it. Your first dot is included in ChatGPT Pro or Business Premium at no extra cost; OpenAI says that you can add more dots later, but gives no price. Chats with a dot do not count toward your ChatGPT limits, but the Codex and ChatGPT Work tasks that it starts do. For the first month after the start, dots usage does not count toward plan allowances.

OpenBot runs on the computer that hosts it. Agent workspaces, conversations and app data stay on that computer, so it must stay on while its agents work. Run it on a desktop or a server that stays on, and your agents keep working while your laptop is closed. On macOS and Windows, Keep this computer awake stops sleep while the computer is on power, so routines run on time. If you do not want to keep a computer on, use a hosted OpenBot server. It is a Linux server in the EU (Germany, Finland or France), from €20 or $25 a month, and it keeps the workspaces and chats of its agents. Local-first is not offline: an agent that uses a hosted provider still sends its requests to that provider.

Each dot has its own cloud computer at OpenAI, with Linux and Chrome, where it browses, makes files and runs tools. It keeps working there while you are away, and it runs reminders and recurring tasks on a schedule. Access to your own computer is off at the start: you allow it, and revoke it, in the ChatGPT desktop app. A dot can then also use your local browser when its cloud browser is blocked.

OpenBot has no region lock: download it and run it in any country. The interface is in 12 languages. Hosted OpenBot servers run in the EU, and you can pay for them in euros, US dollars or Polish złoty. Each AI provider decides where its own plan works, so check that your provider is available in your country.

On ChatGPT Pro, dots started in the ChatGPT markets except the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK, and OpenAI gives no date for them. On Business Premium, dots are in all the countries where ChatGPT is available. You must be 18 or older, and access can take several days to reach your account. Texting a dot is a beta for Pro users in the US only.

The OpenBot apps for iPhone and Android, and the web app, connect to the computer that runs your agents. From anywhere, you chat with them, follow their progress, approve their actions and send files, and from the phone you can drive their browser. The connection goes directly between your devices when it can, it is encrypted, and no cloud stores your chats or files. You set up no VPN or tunnel. Turn on Private network, and devices connect only over Tailscale or the same Wi-Fi. The phone app locks with Face ID, Touch ID or a PIN. Agents can also answer in Slack, Discord and Telegram. Remote access needs an OpenBot account.

You create a dot in the ChatGPT desktop app or on the web on a computer, not on a phone. Then you talk to it in the ChatGPT mobile app, where mobile access is available, and in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Dots do not work on the mobile web. You can also talk to a dot by voice.

In OpenBot, each agent is a full coding agent: Codex, Claude Code, Gemini, Grok CLI, Cursor CLI, Cline, OpenCode, Pi, Muse Code or an agent of your own, each with its own job and workspace. A lead agent can give parts of a task to other agents in a shared channel. You follow their work and step in when a decision needs you. For a team of people, one computer runs the host and the others join it; the chats and files stay on the host. Roles set which agents each member can view, chat with or manage.

Today, each person starts with one primary dot, and OpenAI plans teams of dots that work together later. One dot works on several projects at the same time, and it can give work to other agents; its rules then apply to that work too. You can bring a dot into Slack and Microsoft Teams channels. Companies can preview specialist dots, each with its own identity.

OpenBot keeps workspaces, conversations, attachments and browser data in a SQLite database on the computer that runs it. OpenBot keeps no other copy. On a hosted OpenBot server, the database is on that server in the EU. An account holds your profile, team memberships, invitations, sign-in sessions, the settings that let devices find each other, and any agent templates that you publish. Product analytics, which never include chat content, are on by default and linked to your account when you sign in; you can turn them off in Settings.

A dot keeps what it learns from chats and connected apps for as long as you keep the dot. You cannot see, change or delete a single memory: only a reset of the dot deletes them, and the files and chats that it made stay. A dot shares memory with ChatGPT. On Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, OpenAI does not train on your data by default; on personal plans, the training setting also covers what a dot does. People at OpenAI can review content even with training off.