OpenBot vs Instinct: A Private, 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, and Cline with your Cline account. OpenCode runs free models, or your own model on any OpenAI-compatible server, also one on your computer. You choose the provider, the model and the reasoning effort for each agent. When you move an agent to a different provider, it keeps its role, workspace and conversation.

Instinct does not say which models it uses, and you cannot choose one. Its privacy policy names third-party AI model providers among the parties that get your data. Instinct publishes no price: it is in private access, and its terms say that you pay the fees that apply and that it can change its prices at any time.

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. 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.

Instinct works on its own service, which its terms say it operates in the United States, so no computer of yours must stay on. It connects to your email, messaging apps and calendar, and to the screen, audio and location of your devices. Instinct says that it can use a phone and a computer in the same way that people do.

OpenBot agents show a draft before they send a message for you. They send it after you approve it, or when you or a routine that you set up tells them to send. Before a payment, an agent reads back the item, price and total and asks you to confirm. Auto approve is on for a new agent: it accepts the agent's requests for more access, such as to run a command. Turn it off for an agent, and that agent asks you first; you answer in the chat or from a notification on your phone. Turbo mode, for every agent, is off until you turn it on.

Instinct's terms authorize it to take the actions that it decides answer your request, and appoint it as your agent to enter into agreements, commitments or transactions for you. Those bind you as if you had entered into them yourself. Testers told TechCrunch that Instinct sent an email for one of them without checking first, and found a sign-up code in another's inbox to complete a booking.

The OpenBot apps for iPhone and Android connect to the computer that runs your agents. From anywhere, you chat with them, follow their progress, approve their actions and send files. 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. Agents can also answer in Slack, Discord and Telegram. Remote access needs an OpenBot account.

You talk to Instinct by text message or WhatsApp, or you call it; there is no Instinct app to install. You sign in on the web with your phone number and a code, and you manage connected apps and your data there.

In OpenBot, each agent is a full coding agent: Codex, Claude Code, Gemini, Grok CLI, Cursor CLI, Cline or OpenCode, 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.

Instinct is one personal assistant for each person. It describes no teams of agents and no shared workspace.

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.

Instinct's privacy policy says that it can use your information to train the AI models behind its products. You can opt out, but models already trained on your data stay, and data flagged for safety review can still be used. It does not use data from Google Workspace to train models. Disconnecting an app does not delete the data that Instinct collected from it; you delete that data on the web. When you delete your account, Instinct may delete your materials, but it does not have to. A tester told TechCrunch that Instinct still summarized her inbox after she disconnected it, and that it said it kept the emails in plain text.