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Head to head · Assistant proactive · October 2026 research run

GAIA vs Instinct

GAIA scores 49.5 (D) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistant proactive.

Best AI personal assistants that act for one person · All 190 assistants comparisons

GAIAThe Experience Company · Platform D49.5/100#813 of 986 InstinctSpear Street Technology, Inc. · Platform F11.4/100#984 of 986

Which one, for what

GAIA D

Best 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 5
  • Schema & documentation, 51 against 3
  • Agent ergonomics, 54 against 5
  • Security & auth, 54 against 25
  • Payments & pricing, 20 against 0
  • Maintenance & community, 78 against 3
  • Transparency & trust, 60 against 51

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.

Instinct F

Best for A consumer assistant for one adult who wants errands done by text or phone call, such as bill disputes, gifts, groceries, appointments and travel, and who accepts that it acts and spends as their agent.

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where GAIA loses 5 points for them

Watch for

No price is published. The terms say fees may apply to certain functions, are charged in US dollars and are non-refundable

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runGAIAInstinctEdge
Reliability16%20675GAIA +62
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.2513GAIA +48
Agent ergonomics13%16.2545GAIA +49
Security & auth14%17.55425GAIA +29
Payments & pricing10%12.5200GAIA +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8783GAIA +75
Transparency & trust7%8.86051GAIA +9
Negative events≤15-50
TotalD 49.5/100F 11.4/100

Facts side by side

FactGAIAInstinct
KindPlatformPlatform
VendorThe Experience CompanySpear Street Technology, Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuthOAuth or key
PricingPaidPaid
x402nono
LicencePolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0Proprietary service under Instinct's Terms of Service, which grant personal use only
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-09-14none
Terms last updated2026-08-142026-08-26
Privacy policy last updated2026-08-072026-08-26
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textyes, with an opt-out
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesyes
Popularity308 starsnone

Verdicts

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.

Instinct

The terms and privacy policy are specific about connected accounts, model training and the risks of autonomous actions, and security.txt is valid. No price, documentation, status page, changelog or programmatic interface is published, and customer content trains AI models unless the owner opts out.

Before you call either

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.

Instinct

  1. Do not plan on calling Instinct from a program. No API, MCP server or key was found, and the terms forbid automation software and benchmarking
  2. A person signs in at app.instinct.com with a phone number and a one-time code by text, and may wait for a place when the service is at capacity
  3. Tell the owner to opt out of model training at app.instinct.com/settings before connecting mail or files, since training is on by default
  4. Disconnecting an account does not delete what was indexed from it. Delete that data at app.instinct.com/workspace
  5. Treat purchases and bookings as final. The terms say actions may not be reversible and that confirmation controls are not guaranteed

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, GAIA or Instinct?

GAIA scores 49.5 (D) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category.

Other comparisons with GAIA or Instinct

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