# Boba vs GAIA > GAIA scores 49.5 (D) to Boba's 10.3 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gaia - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gaia.md (~3,250 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gaia.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gaia.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 GAIA scores 49.5 (D) on agent readiness against Boba's 10.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Boba leads on payments & pricing. Both do assistants reached by message. - Boba: grade F, 10.3/100, rank #1004 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/boba.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/boba.json - GAIA: grade D, 49.5/100, rank #816 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gaia.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gaia.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 ### Boba (F) Good for: Groups who want a free assistant inside a shared chat for planning, drafting and images. Ahead on: - Payments & pricing, 30 against 20 Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card - No incidents deducted, where GAIA loses 5 points for them Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### GAIA (D) Good for: It suits one person who wants mail triage, meeting briefs, todos and scheduled workflows from one assistant reachable on WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord or iMessage, and who wants to read the source. Ahead on: - Reliability, 67 against 15 - Schema & documentation, 51 against 0 - Agent ergonomics, 54 against 0 - Security & auth, 54 against 0 - Maintenance & community, 78 against 2 - Transparency & trust, 60 against 39 Watch for: The default approval mode in the source is `always_allow`, commented as nothing gated, while the privacy policy and the 26 August release notes say destructive actions wait for approval. ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Boba | GAIA | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 15 | 67 | GAIA +52 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 51 | GAIA +51 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 54 | GAIA +54 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 54 | GAIA +54 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Boba +10 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 2 | 78 | GAIA +76 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 39 | 60 | GAIA +21 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | | | **Total** | | **10.3 · F** | **49.5 · D** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Boba | GAIA | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Platform | | Vendor | humans& ai, inc. | The Experience Company | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | | | Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth | | Pricing | Free | Paid | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under Boba's Terms of Service (humans& ai, inc., last updated 5 October 2026). | PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | no | yes | | Last release | none | 2026-09-14 | | Terms last updated | | 2026-08-14 | | Privacy policy last updated | | 2026-08-07 | | Customer content may train models | | not found in the text | | Terms restrict automated access | | yes | | Terms restrict benchmarking | | not found in the text | | Terms or service can change without notice | | yes | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | | yes | | Popularity | none | 308 stars | ## Verdicts **Boba.** Boba is a free texting assistant for one-to-one and group chats over iMessage, RCS and SMS, started by sending one message with no card or app. No outside agent can call it, its privacy notice uses inputs and outputs to train its models with no opt-out found, and no status page or security contact was found. **GAIA.** GAIA's source is public, so its approval gate, memory store and token handling can be read. Three approval modes and per-tool overrides exist, but the default mode in the source runs every action unasked, which the privacy policy and release notes do not say. Pro costs $30 a month and self-hosting is limited to noncommercial use. ## Before you call either ### Boba 1. Don't plan to call Boba from another agent. It answers only text messages in the Messages app. 2. Tell people in a group chat that messages sent to Boba may be used to train its models. ### GAIA 1. Set Settings > Approvals to Always ask or Auto before connecting mail. The default in the source runs every action, including send and delete, without asking. 2. Expect no public API on the hosted service. The backend turns off its OpenAPI document in production, so reach GAIA through its apps, bots or CLI. 3. Check the plan before relying on the hosted service. The README and docs describe a Free plan, and the pricing page says GAIA is a paid product. 4. For self-hosting, prepare Docker, Node.js 20, a WorkOS account and a model key first, and confirm the use is noncommercial under the licence. 5. Add outside tools as MCP servers by URL on the Integrations page. GAIA asks before adding a server in every approval mode. ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Boba or GAIA? GAIA scores 49.5 (D) on agent readiness against Boba's 10.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Boba leads on payments & pricing. ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gaia.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gaia.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "boba", "b": "gaia"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare boba gaia` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/boba.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gaia.json ## Other comparisons with Boba or GAIA - [asaply vs Boba](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-boba.md) - [asaply vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-gaia.md) - [Asmi vs Boba](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-boba.md) - [Asmi vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-gaia.md) - [AstrBot vs Boba](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-boba.md) - [Boba vs Boski](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-boski.md) - [Boba vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-brea.md) - [Boba vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Boba vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-cowagent.md) - [Boba vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-del.md) - [Boba vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-folk-nozomio.md) - [Boba vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-grok-bot.md) - [Boba vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-haven.md) - [Boba vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [Boba vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-hirealpha.md) - [Boba vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-instinct.md) - [Boba vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Boba vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-lindy.md) - [Boba vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-nanobot.md) - [Boba vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Boba vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-natura.md) - [Boba vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-openai-dots.md) - [Boba vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-openclaw.md) - [Boba vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-openinstinct.md) - [Boba vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-orbits.md) - [Boba vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Boba vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-pally.md) - [Boba vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Boba vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-poke.md) - [Boba vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Boba vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-szn.md) - [Boba vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Boba vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-tomo.md) - [Boba vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-town.md) - [Boba vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-zapia.md) - [Boba vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Boba vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Brea vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-gaia.md) - [Del vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-gaia.md) - [GAIA vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-hirealpha.md) - [GAIA vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openinstinct.md) - [GAIA vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-orbits.md) - [GAIA vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [GAIA vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-szn.md) - [GAIA vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-tab-bot.md) - [GAIA vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-gaia.md) - [Boski vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-gaia.md) - [Caddy vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-gaia.md) - [CowAgent vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-gaia.md) - [folk vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-gaia.md) - [GAIA vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [GAIA vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-grok-bot.md) - [GAIA vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-haven.md) - [GAIA vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [GAIA vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-instinct.md) - [GAIA vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.md) - [GAIA vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-leon.md) - [GAIA vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-lindy.md) - [GAIA vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanobot.md) - [GAIA vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [GAIA vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openai-dots.md) - [GAIA vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw.md) - [GAIA vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-picoclaw.md) - [GAIA vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-poke.md) - [GAIA vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [GAIA vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-town.md) - [GAIA vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [GAIA vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-zo-computer.md) - [GAIA vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-natura.md) - [GAIA vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-pally.md) - [GAIA vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-tomo.md) - [GAIA vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-wajo.md) - [Boba vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [Boba vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-leon.md) - [Boba vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-talorys.md) - [Boba vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-wajo.md) - [GAIA vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Boba 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.