# Brea vs nanobot > nanobot scores 62.4 (B) to Brea's 12.9 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot.md (~3,250 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot.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 nanobot scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Brea's 12.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do assistants reached by message. - Brea: grade F, 12.9/100, rank #1001 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/brea.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/brea.json - nanobot: grade B, 62.4/100, rank #446 of 1010. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanobot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanobot.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 ### Brea (F) Good for: An iPhone user who wants an assistant across many apps and websites with per-action approval. Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card - No incidents deducted, where nanobot loses 6 points for them Watch for: No API, MCP server or A2A endpoint for an outside agent. ### nanobot (B) Good for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with file-based memory and a free choice of model. Ahead on: - Reliability, 70 against 15 - Schema & documentation, 77 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 74 against 0 - Security & auth, 63 against 7 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 20 - Maintenance & community, 82 against 4 Also in its favour: - No key needed to call it - Open source Watch for: No per-action approval was found in the docs or source. The agent sends messages, runs shell commands and edits files without asking ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Brea | nanobot | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 15 | 70 | nanobot +55 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 77 | nanobot +67 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 74 | nanobot +74 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 7 | 63 | nanobot +56 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 60 | nanobot +40 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 4 | 82 | nanobot +78 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 48 | even | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -6 | | | **Total** | | **12.9 · F** | **62.4 · B** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Brea | nanobot | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Agent harness | | Vendor | Brea AI LLC | HKUDS | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | | | Auth | OAuth or key | None | | Pricing | Freemium | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service under Brea's terms (Brea AI LLC, last updated 2 July 2026). | MIT | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | none | 2026-09-15 | | Terms last updated | | no document linked | | Privacy policy last updated | | no document linked | | Customer content may train models | | | | Terms restrict automated access | | | | Terms restrict benchmarking | | | | Terms or service can change without notice | | | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | | | | Popularity | none | 49k stars | ## Verdicts **Brea.** Brea is an iMessage assistant with a free plan that needs no card, approval by reply before it sends, deletes or pays, and one-time Link cards for purchases. No outside agent can call it, paid prices sit inside the app, and no changelog or subprocessor list was found. **nanobot.** nanobot runs on the owner's machine under the MIT licence, with no telemetry found in its source and memory kept as files the owner can read and restore. No per-action approval step was found, and the shell sandbox and workspace restriction are off by default. Five security advisories were published between March and September 2026, all with fixes. ## Before you call either ### Brea 1. Don't plan to call Brea from another agent. It answers only the owner's iMessage thread. 2. Tell the owner that replying ALWAYS stops Brea asking again for that action. ### nanobot 1. Set `tools.restrictToWorkspace` to true and `tools.exec.sandbox` to `bwrap` or `seatbelt` before giving it real accounts. Both are off by default 2. Run 0.3.0 or later. Earlier versions carry the published SSRF flaw in web fetch (GHSA-vc5v-6vwm-wf9m) 3. Keep `allowFrom` narrow on every channel and never set `["*"]` on Email, which has no pairing 4. Write secrets as `${VAR}` references in `~/.nanobot/config.json`. Plain values are stored in clear text 5. Use `nanobot -m "..."` for a one-shot run, and keep `nanobot gateway` running for channels, schedules and heartbeat ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Brea or nanobot? nanobot scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Brea's 12.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. ### Are Brea and nanobot open source? No open-source release is listed for Brea. nanobot is open source (MIT). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanobot.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "brea", "b": "nanobot"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare brea nanobot` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/brea.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanobot.json ## Other comparisons with Brea or nanobot - [asaply vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-brea.md) - [asaply vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-nanobot.md) - [Asmi vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-brea.md) - [Asmi vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-nanobot.md) - [AstrBot vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-brea.md) - [Boba vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-brea.md) - [Boba vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-nanobot.md) - [Boski vs Brea](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-brea.md) - [Brea vs Caddy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-caddy-app.md) - [Brea vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-cowagent.md) - [Brea vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-del.md) - [Brea vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-folk-nozomio.md) - [Brea vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-gaia.md) - [Brea vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-grok-bot.md) - [Brea vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-haven.md) - [Brea vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [Brea vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-hirealpha.md) - [Brea vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-instinct.md) - [Brea vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Brea vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-lindy.md) - [Brea vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Brea vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-natura.md) - [Brea vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-openai-dots.md) - [Brea vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-openclaw.md) - [Brea vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-openinstinct.md) - [Brea vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-orbits.md) - [Brea vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Brea vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-pally.md) - [Brea vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Brea vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-poke.md) - [Brea vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Brea vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-szn.md) - [Brea vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Brea vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-tomo.md) - [Brea vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-town.md) - [Brea vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-zapia.md) - [Brea vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Brea vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Del vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/del-vs-nanobot.md) - [HireAlpha vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hirealpha-vs-nanobot.md) - [nanobot vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openinstinct.md) - [nanobot vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orbits.md) - [nanobot vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [nanobot vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-szn.md) - [nanobot vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-tab-bot.md) - [nanobot vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanobot.md) - [Boski vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-nanobot.md) - [Caddy vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-nanobot.md) - [CowAgent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanobot.md) - [folk vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/folk-nozomio-vs-nanobot.md) - [GAIA vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanobot.md) - [Gemini Spark vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-nanobot.md) - [Grok Bot vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-nanobot.md) - [Haven vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanobot.md) - [Hermes Agent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanobot.md) - [Instinct vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanobot.md) - [IronClaw vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.md) - [Leon vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanobot.md) - [Lindy vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-nanobot.md) - [nanobot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openai-dots.md) - [nanobot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.md) - [nanobot vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-picoclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-poke.md) - [nanobot vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [nanobot vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-town.md) - [nanobot vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [nanobot vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-zo-computer.md) - [Brea vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [Brea vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-leon.md) - [Brea vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-wajo.md) - [nanobot vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-natura.md) - [nanobot vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-pally.md) - [nanobot vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-tomo.md) - [nanobot vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-wajo.md) - [Brea vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-talorys.md) - [nanobot vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Brea 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.