# GAIA vs Dots

> GAIA scores 49.5 (D) to Dots's 28.3 (F) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openai-dots
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openai-dots.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openai-dots.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openai-dots.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: 2026-10-12

GAIA scores 49.5 (D) on agent readiness against Dots's 28.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do assistant proactive.

- GAIA: grade D, 49.5/100, rank #813 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gaia.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gaia.json
- Dots: grade F, 28.3/100, rank #973 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-dots.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-dots.json
- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md
- All 190 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md

## Which one, for what

### 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 3
- Schema & documentation, 51 against 41
- Agent ergonomics, 54 against 22
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 78 against 38
- Transparency & trust, 60 against 31

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.

### Dots (F)

Good for: A ChatGPT Pro or Enterprise user who wants ongoing work tracked across mail, documents, code and Slack with approval before sends.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where GAIA loses 5 points for them

Watch for: Beta. The admin setting is labelled Use dots (Beta), access is rolling out gradually, and Teams access is an invite-only alpha


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | GAIA | Dots | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 3 | GAIA +64 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 41 | GAIA +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 22 | GAIA +32 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 58 | Dots +4 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 10 | GAIA +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 38 | GAIA +40 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 31 | GAIA +29 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.5 · D** | **28.3 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | GAIA | Dots |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Platform | Platform |
| Vendor | The Experience Company | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | PolyForm-Noncommercial-1.0.0 | Proprietary hosted service. The governing terms were not read |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-14 | 2026-10-09 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-14 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-07 | no document linked |
| 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 | 308 stars | none |

## 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.

**Dots.** Actions that affect accounts or share information pass an automatic review, and custom rules can require approval or a hand-off. Dots is a beta on Pro plans from $100 a month, and no status page, terms, privacy policy or way to delete individual saved notes was found in the pages we could read.

## 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.

### Dots

1. Say what may be sent. Asking a dot to draft replies does not permit sending them, and an action outside a stated scope needs another decision
2. Stop three things separately. Pause stops the main task only, delegated tasks stop in Activity and recurring tasks in Scheduled, and completed actions are not undone
3. Connect each thing separately. A messaging channel grants no access to an inbox, an app or a computer
4. Sign out of websites and disconnect apps yourself when removing access. Revoking dots access or disconnecting an app does not delete information already obtained
5. Keep the connected computer online with the ChatGPT app open for local work. Only one personal computer can be connected at a time

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, GAIA or Dots?

GAIA scores 49.5 (D) on agent readiness against Dots's 28.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with GAIA or Dots

- [AstrBot vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-gaia.md)
- [AstrBot vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [CowAgent vs GAIA](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-gaia.md)
- [CowAgent vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openai-dots.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 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 ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [GAIA vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-zo-computer.md)
- [Gemini Spark vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Grok Bot vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Haven vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Hermes Agent vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Instinct vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [IronClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Leon vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Lindy vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [nanobot vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [NanoClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openai-dots.md)
- [Dots vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw.md)
- [Dots vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-picoclaw.md)
- [Dots vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-poke.md)
- [Dots vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-qwenpaw.md)
- [Dots vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-zeroclaw.md)
- [Dots vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-zo-computer.md)