{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "instinct", "name": "Instinct", "vendor": "Spear Street Technology, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://instinct.com", "kind": "platform", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "Hosted personal assistant from Spear Street Technology, Inc., trading as Instinct, that a person texts or calls. It acts in connected accounts such as Google Workspace and on websites, including purchases and bookings.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instinct", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instinct.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instinct.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instinct.json", "license": "Proprietary service under Instinct's Terms of Service, which grant personal use only", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "A person signs in at app.instinct.com with a phone number and a one-time passcode sent by text. The terms also allow an account linked to Apple, Facebook or Google. Google Workspace is connected through Google's APIs and can be revoked in settings or by asking the assistant. The owner may also give the assistant usernames and passwords for other sites. No API key, token or other credential for a program was found (https://instinct.com/legal/sms-terms.html; https://instinct.com/terms; https://instinct.com/privacy-policy).", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No price is published. The terms say fees may apply to certain functions, are charged in US dollars to a card through a payment processor and are non-refundable. Whether any use is free was not established, and sign-up may put a person on a waiting list (https://instinct.com/terms, section 4; https://instinct.com/legal/sms-terms.html, checked 2026-10-12).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 on the home page, terms or privacy policy, and no API was found (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.accounts", "assistant.memory" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "sms", "voice-call", "google-workspace", "computer-use", "waitlist", "no-public-pricing", "no-api", "security-txt", "trains-on-data-by-default" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 11.4, "grade": "F", "agentReady": false, "rank": 984, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 20, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 5, "maintenance": 3, "payments": 0, "reliability": 5, "schema": 3, "security": 25, "transparency": 51 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "low", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "The privacy policy lists the Google Workspace products accessed and says that data is not used to train or improve AI models", "Training on customer content has an opt-out at app.instinct.com/settings, and material placed in the Vault is excluded from training", "Indexed data from connected services can be deleted at app.instinct.com/workspace, and Google access revoked in settings or by asking the assistant", "security.txt is valid until 18 February 2027 and names a contact address", "The privacy policy states the risks of unintended payments, unintended messages and misleading instructions from third parties" ], "weaknesses": [ "No price is published. The terms say fees may apply to certain functions, are charged in US dollars and are non-refundable", "No documentation, API, MCP server, status page or changelog was found on instinct.com", "Customer content trains the vendor's AI models by default, and content flagged for safety review may be used after an opt-out", "The terms appoint the assistant as the owner's agent to make purchases and accept third-party terms, and leave responsibility for every action with the owner", "The owner may hand over usernames, passwords and card details. Where they are stored is not stated", "The terms forbid bots, scrapers and benchmarking, and limit the service to personal use" ], "agentNotes": [ "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", "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", "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", "Disconnecting an account does not delete what was indexed from it. Delete that data at app.instinct.com/workspace", "Treat purchases and bookings as final. The terms say actions may not be reversible and that confirmation controls are not guaranteed" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "low", "grade": "F", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 11.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 5, "maintenance": 3, "payments": 0, "reliability": 5, "schema": 3, "security": 25, "transparency": 30 }, "provenanceScore": 72 }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/instinct" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Spear Street Technology, Inc. d/b/a Instinct", "domain": "instinct.com", "domainRegistered": "1997-05-20", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://instinct.com/terms", "privacy": "https://instinct.com/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, both last revised 26 August 2026, name Spear Street Technology, Inc. d/b/a Instinct. No postal address is given on the pages read. The terms are governed by California law with San Francisco courts.", "The terms cover the website, its subdomains and the apps, so they govern the assistant itself and are not website-only terms. An Acceptable Use Policy (20 August 2026), SMS/Text Messaging Terms (17 August 2026) and an SMS/Text Messaging Privacy Statement (6 July 2026) supplement them.", "instinct.com/.well-known/security.txt gives Contact support@instinct.com, Expires 2027-02-18 and a Canonical line. It has no Policy line.", "RDAP at Verisign gives a registration date of 1997-05-20 for instinct.com, NameCheap, Inc. as registrar and a last change on 2 September 2026. The domain is older than the product's 2026 legal documents, so its age says little about the vendor.", "No status page and no changelog are linked from the home page, the terms or the privacy policy.", "The sign-in and the web app are at app.instinct.com, on the vendor's domain. The home page gives comms[at]instinct[dot]com as a contact." ], "score": 72 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instinct.json" }, "answer": "OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "openclaw", "name": "OpenClaw", "vendor": "OpenClaw Foundation", "vendorUrl": "https://openclaw.ai", "kind": "harness", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "Open-source personal AI assistant that runs as a Gateway on the owner's own computer and answers in WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, iMessage and other chat apps, with desktop and mobile apps. The OpenClaw Foundation maintains it under the MIT licence.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json", "repo": "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "openclaw" }, { "registry": "oci", "name": "ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "No OpenClaw account exists. The owner supplies model provider API keys or signs in with a ChatGPT or Claude subscription, and adds a bot token, QR pairing or OAuth grant for each channel and account. Clients reach the Gateway with a token or password (`gateway.auth.mode`), or through a trusted proxy, and paired devices hold their own tokens. Operator scopes (`operator.read`, `operator.write`, `operator.admin` and others) apply to paired clients, but a shared-secret bearer token on `POST /tools/invoke` gets full operator access whatever scopes the caller sends (https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/tools-invoke-http-api; https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/operator-scopes).", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under the MIT licence, with no paid tier, hosted service or subscription. The owner pays the model provider for usage, or nothing with a local model, plus any search, speech or media API they configure (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw; https://docs.openclaw.ai/reference/api-usage-costs).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 391800, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.openclaw.ai", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.openclaw.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.accounts", "assistant.memory", "assistant.self-hosted", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "local", "free", "foundation", "llms-txt", "docker", "typescript" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-12", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.1, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 270, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 60, "reliability": 75, "schema": 84, "security": 74, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": -8, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-09-11. The project's security page and GitHub advisory list show 722 advisories published between 31 January and 11 September 2026, 14 critical, 249 high, 390 medium and 69 low, 39 with a CVE. The largest groups are Gateway auth and scopes (182) and exec, sandbox and approvals (160). The project says all 14 critical issues are fixed and disclosed and reports no known compromise of its infrastructure. Fixed and published, which decays the deduction, but the volume and the two areas affected bear directly on an assistant that holds its owner's accounts, -8. https://openclaw.ai/security; https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/security/advisories" ], "verdict": "Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with state, memory and credentials kept on the owner's machine and no paid tier. A fresh install runs tools on the host with full access, no approval prompt and no sandbox, and the project has published 722 security advisories since January 2026, 14 of them critical.", "bestFor": "A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with their choice of model and files they can read and delete.", "strengths": [ "State, memory and credentials stay under `~/.openclaw` on the owner's machine, and the project sells no hosted service or paid tier", "Memory is plain Markdown files in the workspace, and `openclaw memory forget` removes what a named session contributed", "Four session permission modes (`read-only`, `guarded`, `workspace`, `full`), exec approvals and an optional Docker or Podman tool sandbox", "Unknown direct-message senders get a pairing code by default and are ignored until the owner approves them", "Telemetry is documented field by field. Feature statistics are opt-in and `update.checkOnStart: false` stops every automatic request", "13 stable releases in the 90 days to 12 October 2026, with npm provenance attestations on the published package" ], "weaknesses": [ "Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off", "Agents with the message tool can send across conversations and channel providers by default, with no approval step for a send", "722 advisories published between 31 January and 11 September 2026, 14 critical and 249 high, per the project's own security page", "Credentials sit in files and SQLite databases under `~/.openclaw`, protected by file permissions unless the owner configures a secret provider", "The project's own maturity scorecard rates the product at 68 per cent, labelled Alpha", "The privacy policy covers the mobile apps, the Chrome extension and website analytics, and says it does not cover the Gateway" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval", "Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default", "Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation", "Route incoming mail to a restricted reader agent, as the IMAP and Gmail guides show, and deny `gateway`, `cron`, `sessions_spawn` and `sessions_send` for it", "Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 60, "reliability": 75, "schema": 84, "security": 74, "transparency": 82 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash # or: npm install -g openclaw@latest --allow-scripts=openclaw \u0026\u0026 openclaw onboard --install-daemon" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/openclaw" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "OpenClaw Foundation", "domain": "openclaw.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The README and the `LICENSE` file name the OpenClaw Foundation, described as an independent 501(c)(3). Its site at www.openclaw.org gave no address, registration number, board or filings on the page we read.", "No terms of service were found for the software, so the MIT licence stands in.", "The privacy policy at openclaw.ai/privacy, effective 2 August 2026, covers the iOS and Android apps, the Chrome extension and website analytics, and says it does not cover the gateway, server or AI provider the owner connects. It is not linked here for that reason.", "openclaw.ai/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 12 October 2026. The repository has a SECURITY.md with private GitHub reporting and security@openclaw.ai.", "There is no hosted endpoint. A Gateway answers on its owner's own host. The daily update check goes to telemetry.openclaw.ai.", "The domain registration date was not looked up." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.json" }, "facts": [ { "a": "Platform", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Spear Street Technology, Inc.", "b": "OpenClaw Foundation", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Paid", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under Instinct's Terms of Service, which grant personal use only", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2026-10-12", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-08-26", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-08-26", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes, with an opt-out", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "392k stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Instinct or OpenClaw?" }, { "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Instinct. OpenClaw is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are Instinct and OpenClaw open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": [ "No incidents deducted, where OpenClaw loses 8 points for them" ], "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "instinct", "watchFor": "No price is published. The terms say fees may apply to certain functions, are charged in US dollars and are non-refundable" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 75 against 5", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 84 against 3", "Agent ergonomics, 77 against 5", "Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 25", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 0", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 3", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 51" ], "also": [ "Open source" ], "goodFor": "A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with their choice of model and files they can read and delete.", "slug": "openclaw", "watchFor": "Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off" } ], "job": { "capability": "assistant.proactive", "name": "Assistant proactive" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-instinct.json", "title": "AstrBot vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "AstrBot vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-instinct.json", "title": "CowAgent vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "CowAgent vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-instinct.json", "title": "GAIA vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "GAIA vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-instinct.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-instinct.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-instinct.json", "title": "Haven vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Haven vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs Instinct", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-leon.json", "title": "Instinct vs Leon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-leon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-lindy.json", "title": "Instinct vs Lindy", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-lindy" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanobot.json", "title": "Instinct vs nanobot", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanobot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openai-dots.json", "title": "Instinct vs Dots", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openai-dots" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-poke.json", "title": "Instinct vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "Instinct vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zo-computer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Leon vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Lindy vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "nanobot vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "Dots vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "OpenClaw vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zo-computer" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 70, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 5, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "openclaw": 75, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 81, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 3, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "openclaw": 84, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 72, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 5, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "openclaw": 77, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 49, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 25, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "openclaw": 74, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 60, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 0, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "openclaw": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 83, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 3, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "openclaw": 86, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 17, "edge": "openclaw", "instinct": 51, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "openclaw": 68, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistant proactive.", "verdicts": { "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.", "openclaw": "Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with state, memory and credentials kept on the owner's machine and no paid tier. A fresh install runs tools on the host with full access, no approval prompt and no sandbox, and the project has published 722 security advisories since January 2026, 14 of them critical." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.min.md" }, "markdown": "OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistant proactive.\n\n- Instinct: grade F, 11.4/100, rank #984 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instinct.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instinct.json\n- OpenClaw: grade B, 67.1/100, rank #270 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json\n- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md\n- All 190 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Instinct (F)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No incidents deducted, where OpenClaw loses 8 points for them\n\nWatch for: No price is published. The terms say fees may apply to certain functions, are charged in US dollars and are non-refundable\n\n### OpenClaw (B)\n\nGood for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine across many chat apps, with their choice of model and files they can read and delete.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 75 against 5\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 84 against 3\n- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 5\n- Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 25\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 0\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 3\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 51\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Open source\n\nWatch for: Without configuration the default is full access. Host exec runs with no approval and sandboxing is off\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Instinct | OpenClaw | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 5 | 75 | OpenClaw +70 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 3 | 84 | OpenClaw +81 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 5 | 77 | OpenClaw +72 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 25 | 74 | OpenClaw +49 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 60 | OpenClaw +60 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 3 | 86 | OpenClaw +83 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 68 | OpenClaw +17 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -8 | |\n| **Total** | | **11.4 · F** | **67.1 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Instinct | OpenClaw |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Platform | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Spear Street Technology, Inc. | OpenClaw Foundation |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Paid | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under Instinct's Terms of Service, which grant personal use only | MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | none | 2026-10-12 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-26 | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | |\n| Popularity | none | 392k stars |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**OpenClaw.** Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with state, memory and credentials kept on the owner's machine and no paid tier. A fresh install runs tools on the host with full access, no approval prompt and no sandbox, and the project has published 722 security advisories since January 2026, 14 of them critical.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Instinct\n\n1. 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\n2. 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\n3. 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\n4. Disconnecting an account does not delete what was indexed from it. Delete that data at app.instinct.com/workspace\n5. Treat purchases and bookings as final. The terms say actions may not be reversible and that confirmation controls are not guaranteed\n\n### OpenClaw\n\n1. Set a session permission mode of `guarded` or `workspace`, or `tools.exec.mode`, before connecting mail. The default runs host commands without approval\n2. Turn on `agents.defaults.sandbox` for any agent that reads mail, web pages or attachments. Sandboxing is off by default\n3. Set `tools.message.crossContext.allowAcrossProviders` and `allowWithinProvider` to `false` to confine sends to the current conversation\n4. Route incoming mail to a restricted reader agent, as the IMAP and Gmail guides show, and deny `gateway`, `cron`, `sessions_spawn` and `sessions_send` for it\n5. Run `openclaw security audit` after setup, and treat the Gateway token as an owner credential. `POST /tools/invoke` accepts it with full operator access\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Instinct or OpenClaw?\n\nOpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category.\n\n### Are Instinct and OpenClaw open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Instinct. OpenClaw is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"instinct\", \"b\": \"openclaw\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare instinct openclaw`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instinct.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openclaw.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Instinct or OpenClaw\n\n- [AstrBot vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-instinct.md)\n- [AstrBot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [CowAgent vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-instinct.md)\n- [CowAgent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [GAIA vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-instinct.md)\n- [GAIA vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-instinct.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-instinct.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Haven vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-instinct.md)\n- [Haven vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs Instinct](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-instinct.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-leon.md)\n- [Instinct vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-lindy.md)\n- [Instinct vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanobot.md)\n- [Instinct vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openai-dots.md)\n- [Instinct vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-poke.md)\n- [Instinct vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-zo-computer.md)\n- [IronClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Leon vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Lindy vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [nanobot vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [Dots vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-dots-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-poke.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [OpenClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openclaw-vs-zo-computer.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-12", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Instinct vs OpenClaw", "url": "" } ], "description": "OpenClaw scores 67.1 (B) to Instinct's 11.4 (F) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Instinct F 11.4", "OpenClaw B 67.1", "scores" ], "h1": "Instinct vs OpenClaw", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-instinct-vs-openclaw.png", "path": "/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Instinct vs OpenClaw for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-12", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-openclaw" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2600, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }