# AstrBot vs Town

> AstrBot scores 58.8 (C) to Town's 48.7 (D) for proactive personal assistants. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-town
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-town.md (~3,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-town.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-town.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-13

AstrBot scores 58.8 (C) on agent readiness against Town's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Town leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do proactive personal assistants.

- AstrBot: grade C, 58.8/100, rank #585 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/astrbot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/astrbot.json
- Town: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #834 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/town.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/town.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 834 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### AstrBot (C)

Good for: Someone who wants one self-run bot answering on QQ, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Lark or WeCom, in private or group chats, with scheduled tasks, a knowledge base and plugins.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 81 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 62 against 33
- Agent ergonomics, 54 against 49
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 60

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No approval step before any tool call. The agent sends messages, creates scheduled tasks and calls MCP tools without asking

### Town (D)

Good for: An owner who wants a mail and calendar assistant whose routines other systems can trigger.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 79 against 44
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 40

Watch for: The privacy policy describes training with an opt-out and the trust page says training is opt-in.


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | AstrBot | Town | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 81 | 35 | AstrBot +46 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 33 | AstrBot +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 49 | AstrBot +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 79 | Town +35 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 30 | AstrBot +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 81 | 60 | AstrBot +21 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 40 | 63 | Town +23 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **58.8 · C** | **48.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | AstrBot | Town |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Platform |
| Vendor | AstrBotDevs | Town.com, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0-or-later | Closed service under Town's Terms of Service (Town.com, Inc., updated 21 July 2026). |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-27 | 2026-10-10 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-12 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked |  |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | 42k stars | none |

## Verdicts

**AstrBot.** Fourteen official messaging adapters, scheduled tasks and scoped API keys come in one AGPL-3.0 program with releases most weeks. No tool call asks for approval, no mail, calendar or long-term memory connector is built in, and usage statistics, including the machine's hostname, are sent by default.

**Town.** Town is a hosted assistant that works across the owner's mail, calendar and work apps, and other systems can start its routines through per-routine webhooks with rotatable secrets, idempotency keys and documented errors. A caller can't read a run's result. The privacy policy and trust page disagree on whether training is on by default.

## Before you call either

### AstrBot

1. Set `ASTRBOT_DISABLE_METRICS=1` before the first start. Statistics, including the hostname, are sent to tickstats.soulter.top by default
2. Set `dashboard.host` to 127.0.0.1 in `data/cmd_config.json`, or the `DASHBOARD_HOST` variable, unless remote access is intended. The default is 0.0.0.0
3. Create an `abk_` key in Settings, OpenAPI with only the scopes needed, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer` or `X-API-Key`
4. Include `username` in every `POST /api/v1/chat` body. Without the `chat:admin` scope an administrator ID is rejected
5. Check Extensions, Future Tasks after asking for a schedule. One-off tasks are deleted after their run even when the run fails

### Town

1. Start a Town routine with POST to its webhook URL, Authorization Bearer whsec_ secret, and application/json or text/plain. Expect 202 only.
2. Send X-Town-Idempotency-Key with a stable event id on every retry so Town doesn't start a second run.
3. Treat 404 as wrong secret, disabled endpoint or missing endpoint alike, and ask the owner to check Routine Settings rather than retrying.
4. Send account_email only if the owner allowed the override. It must match a connected account in full and can't widen the routine's scope.
5. Ask the owner to keep routines that act on webhook input in approval-required mode, as Town's own docs advise.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, AstrBot or Town?

AstrBot scores 58.8 (C) on agent readiness against Town's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Town leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

### Are AstrBot and Town open source?

AstrBot is open source (AGPL-3.0-or-later). No open-source release is listed for Town.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-town.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-town.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "astrbot", "b": "town"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare astrbot town`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/astrbot.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/town.json

## Other comparisons with AstrBot or Town

- [asaply vs AstrBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-astrbot.md)
- [asaply vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-town.md)
- [Asmi vs AstrBot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-astrbot.md)
- [Asmi vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-town.md)
- [AstrBot vs Boba](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-boba.md)
- [AstrBot vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-brea.md)
- [AstrBot vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-del.md)
- [AstrBot vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-hirealpha.md)
- [AstrBot vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-natura.md)
- [AstrBot vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openinstinct.md)
- [AstrBot vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-orbits.md)
- [AstrBot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-orchid-ai.md)
- [AstrBot vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-pally.md)
- [AstrBot vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-szn.md)
- [AstrBot vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-tab-bot.md)
- [AstrBot vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-tomo.md)
- [AstrBot vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-zapia.md)
- [Boba vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-town.md)
- [Brea vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-town.md)
- [Del vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-town.md)
- [HireAlpha vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-town.md)
- [OpenInstinct vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openinstinct-vs-town.md)
- [Orbits vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orbits-vs-town.md)
- [Orchid vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orchid-ai-vs-town.md)
- [szn vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/szn-vs-town.md)
- [Tab vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tab-bot-vs-town.md)
- [Town vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/town-vs-zapia.md)
- [AstrBot vs Boski](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-boski.md)
- [AstrBot vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-caddy-app.md)
- [AstrBot vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-cowagent.md)
- [AstrBot vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-folk-nozomio.md)
- [AstrBot vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-gaia.md)
- [AstrBot vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-gemini-spark.md)
- [AstrBot vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-grok-bot.md)
- [AstrBot vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-haven.md)
- [AstrBot vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-hermes-agent.md)
- [AstrBot vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-instinct.md)
- [AstrBot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-leon.md)
- [AstrBot vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-lindy.md)
- [AstrBot vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanobot.md)
- [AstrBot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanoclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [AstrBot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-picoclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-poke.md)
- [AstrBot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [AstrBot vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [Boski vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-town.md)
- [Caddy vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-town.md)
- [CowAgent vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-town.md)
- [folk vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-town.md)
- [GAIA vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-town.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-town.md)
- [Grok Bot vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-town.md)
- [Haven vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-town.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-town.md)
- [Instinct vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-town.md)
- [IronClaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-town.md)
- [Leon vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-town.md)
- [Lindy vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-town.md)
- [nanobot vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-town.md)
- [NanoClaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-town.md)
- [Dots vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-town.md)
- [OpenClaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-town.md)
- [PicoClaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/picoclaw-vs-town.md)
- [Poke vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/poke-vs-town.md)
- [QwenPaw vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwenpaw-vs-town.md)
- [Town vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/town-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Town vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/town-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [Natura tinyNature vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/natura-vs-town.md)
- [Pally vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pally-vs-town.md)
- [Tomo vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tomo-vs-town.md)
- [Town vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/town-vs-wajo.md)
- [Talorys vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/talorys-vs-town.md)
- [AstrBot vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-talorys.md)

## Disclosure

- Town competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.