# Claude Duet vs CowAgent > CowAgent scores 58.5 (C) to Claude Duet's 17.9 (F) for proactive personal assistants. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent.md (~4,000 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent.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 - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-10-25 CowAgent scores 58.5 (C) on agent readiness against Claude Duet's 17.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Claude Duet leads on transparency & trust. Both do proactive personal assistants. - Claude Duet: grade F, 17.9/100, rank #1162 of 1210. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-duet.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-duet.json - CowAgent: grade C, 58.5/100, rank #656 of 1210. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cowagent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cowagent.json - Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md - All 1051 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Claude Duet (F) Good for: A US Pro or Max subscriber who runs work or a small business through connected apps such as Gmail, Google Calendar, QuickBooks, Stripe, Gusto and HubSpot and wants a morning brief and approved actions. Ahead on: - Transparency & trust, 72 against 45 Also in its favour: - No incidents deducted, where CowAgent loses 5 points for them Watch for: No API, MCP server, A2A endpoint or connector lets an outside agent send Duet a task or read its results ### CowAgent (C) Good for: One technical owner who wants an assistant on WeChat, Feishu, DingTalk, Telegram, Slack or Discord with memory in local files and a choice of Chinese and Western model providers. Ahead on: - Reliability, 84 against 15 - Schema & documentation, 67 against 10 - Agent ergonomics, 59 against 0 - Security & auth, 43 against 14 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 10 - Maintenance & community, 83 against 37 Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card - Open source Watch for: Source and Docker installs default to full-access, and no mode asks the owner before a shell command, a file send or an MCP call ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Claude Duet | CowAgent | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 15 | 84 | CowAgent +69 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 10 | 67 | CowAgent +57 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 59 | CowAgent +59 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 14 | 43 | CowAgent +29 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 60 | CowAgent +50 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 37 | 83 | CowAgent +46 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 45 | Claude Duet +27 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | | | **Total** | | **17.9 · F** | **58.5 · C** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Claude Duet | CowAgent | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Platform | Agent harness | | Vendor | Anthropic, PBC | zhayujie | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | HTTP | | Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Paid | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Closed service. No Claude Duet terms were found. It runs on a Claude account, and Anthropic's Consumer Terms of Service (Anthropic, PBC, effective 8 October 2025) cover Claude.ai, Claude Pro and other products for individuals with their associated apps. | MIT | | Read-only variant documented | no | yes | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | Last release | 2026-10-24 | 2026-09-30 | | Terms last updated | | no document linked | | Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked | | Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | | | Terms restrict automated access | | | | Terms restrict benchmarking | | | | Terms or service can change without notice | | | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | | | | Popularity | none | 47k stars | | Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | none | ## Verdicts **Claude Duet.** Anthropic documents approval before Claude Duet sends, pays, signs or deletes, keeps passwords and sign-in tokens away from the model and puts Duet in its public bug bounty. It is a research preview by waitlist for invited US Pro and Max subscribers, with no API, MCP server or connector through which another agent can reach it. **CowAgent.** MIT software with seven releases in 90 days, memory kept as plain files in the owner's workspace and three per-session permission modes. Source and Docker installs default to full-access, no action asks for approval, and an open report of 31 July 2026 says group members could reach the owner's files through the bot. ## Before you call either ### Claude Duet 1. Don't plan an integration against Claude Duet. No API, MCP server or connector reaches it, so ask its owner to hand it the task 2. Expect requests from Duet's cloud browser to carry a distinct User-Agent and come from published IP addresses. The string and the list weren't found on the pages read 3. Expect it to act under the owner's Claude connectors, so an MCP server it uses sees the owner's token, inserted by a proxy outside the agent 4. Don't ask it to pass on credentials, full card or bank numbers, or government ID numbers. Its classifier blocks them even when the owner asks 5. Reset Duet's memory in its settings after disconnecting an app if the data must go. Disconnecting stops new access only ### CowAgent 1. Set `agent_permission_mode` to `workspace-write` or `read-only` before connecting any channel. Source and Docker installs default to `full-access` 2. Keep the bot out of group chats that include other people. Any member who mentions it reaches the same tools as the owner 3. Set `web_password` before changing `web_host` to `0.0.0.0`. The password is empty by default 4. Set `external_api_token` to enable `POST /v1/chat/completions`, and send `conversation_id` to keep one session. The `model` field does not select a model 5. Run it in a container for a hard boundary. The docs and the source both say the permission modes are not isolation ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Claude Duet or CowAgent? CowAgent scores 58.5 (C) on agent readiness against Claude Duet's 17.9 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Claude Duet leads on transparency & trust. ### Are Claude Duet and CowAgent open source? No open-source release is listed for Claude Duet. CowAgent is open source (MIT). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-cowagent.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "claude-duet", "b": "cowagent"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare claude-duet cowagent` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/claude-duet.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cowagent.json ## Other comparisons with Claude Duet or CowAgent - [asaply vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-cowagent.md) - [Asmi vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-cowagent.md) - [Boba vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-cowagent.md) - [Brea vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-cowagent.md) - [CowAgent vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-del.md) - [CowAgent vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hirealpha.md) - [CowAgent vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openinstinct.md) - [CowAgent vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-orbits.md) - [CowAgent vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [CowAgent vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-szn.md) - [CowAgent vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-tab-bot.md) - [CowAgent vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-zapia.md) - [AstrBot vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-claude-duet.md) - [AstrBot vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-cowagent.md) - [Boski vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Boski vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boski-vs-cowagent.md) - [Caddy vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Caddy vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/caddy-app-vs-cowagent.md) - [Claude Duet vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-folk-nozomio.md) - [Claude Duet vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-gaia.md) - [Claude Duet vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [Claude Duet vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-grok-bot.md) - [Claude Duet vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-haven.md) - [Claude Duet vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [Claude Duet vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-instinct.md) - [Claude Duet vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-ironclaw.md) - [Claude Duet vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-leon.md) - [Claude Duet vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-lindy.md) - [Claude Duet vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-lobby-os.md) - [Claude Duet vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-nanobot.md) - [Claude Duet vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [Claude Duet vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openai-dots.md) - [Claude Duet vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openclaw.md) - [Claude Duet vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-picoclaw.md) - [Claude Duet vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-poke.md) - [Claude Duet vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [Claude Duet vs Tasker AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-tasker-ai.md) - [Claude Duet vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-town.md) - [Claude Duet vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [Claude Duet vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-zo-computer.md) - [CowAgent vs folk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-folk-nozomio.md) - [CowAgent vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-gaia.md) - [CowAgent vs Gemini Spark](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-gemini-spark.md) - [CowAgent vs Grok Bot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-grok-bot.md) - [CowAgent vs Haven](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-haven.md) - [CowAgent vs Hermes Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hermes-agent.md) - [CowAgent vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-instinct.md) - [CowAgent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.md) - [CowAgent vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-leon.md) - [CowAgent vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-lindy.md) - [CowAgent vs Lobby](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-lobby-os.md) - [CowAgent vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanobot.md) - [CowAgent vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanoclaw.md) - [CowAgent vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openai-dots.md) - [CowAgent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw.md) - [CowAgent vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-picoclaw.md) - [CowAgent vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-poke.md) - [CowAgent vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-qwenpaw.md) - [CowAgent vs Tasker AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-tasker-ai.md) - [CowAgent vs Town](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-town.md) - [CowAgent vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-zeroclaw.md) - [CowAgent vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-zo-computer.md) - [asaply vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asaply-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Brea vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brea-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Claude Duet vs Del](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-del.md) - [Claude Duet vs HireAlpha](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-hirealpha.md) - [Claude Duet vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-natura.md) - [Claude Duet vs OpenInstinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-openinstinct.md) - [Claude Duet vs Orbits](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-orbits.md) - [Claude Duet vs Orchid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-orchid-ai.md) - [Claude Duet vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-pally.md) - [Claude Duet vs szn](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-szn.md) - [Claude Duet vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-tomo.md) - [Claude Duet vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-wajo.md) - [Claude Duet vs Zapia](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-zapia.md) - [CowAgent vs Natura tinyNature](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-natura.md) - [CowAgent vs Pally](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-pally.md) - [CowAgent vs Tomo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-tomo.md) - [CowAgent vs Wajo (Fo)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-wajo.md) - [Asmi vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/asmi-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Atticus vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atticus-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Atticus vs CowAgent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/atticus-vs-cowagent.md) - [Boba vs Claude Duet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boba-vs-claude-duet.md) - [Claude Duet vs Hark Pro](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-hark-pro.md) - [Claude Duet vs Tab](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-tab-bot.md) - [Claude Duet vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-duet-vs-talorys.md) - [CowAgent vs Hark Pro](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-hark-pro.md) - [CowAgent vs Talorys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-talorys.md) ## Disclosure - Claude Duet competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds, and Anthropic makes the models this research run and the review panel run on. 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. All three run on Claude, and every review of it carries a conflict label. --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp