# Instinct vs Orchid (slim)

> Orchid scores 20.2 (F) to Instinct's 7.3 (F) for assistants reached by message. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-orchid-ai.md (~3,300 tokens) · this version ~580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-orchid-ai.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-orchid-ai
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-13

Orchid scores 20.2 (F) on agent readiness against Instinct's 7.3 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do assistants reached by message.

- Instinct: F 7.3, rank #1009 of 1010 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instinct.min.md
- Orchid: F 20.2, rank #992 of 1010 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orchid-ai.min.md
- Instinct, good for People who want to hand errands to an assistant by text or phone.
- Orchid, good for A founder or operator who wants Gmail and calendar triage by text with approval before anything leaves. Ahead on Reliability, 50 against 10; Schema & documentation, 10 against 0; Payments & pricing, 10 against 0; Maintenance & community, 24 against 2; Transparency & trust, 60 against 53.

| Category | Instinct | Orchid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 10 | 50 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 0 | 10 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 0 | 0 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 3 | 0 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 10 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 2 | 24 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 53 | 60 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Instinct | Orchid |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Spear Street Technology, Inc. (d/b/a Instinct) | Zero Email, Inc. |
| Licence | Closed service under Instinct's Terms of Service (Spear Street Technology, Inc. d/b/a Instinct, last revised 26 August 2026). | Closed service under Orchid's Terms of Service (Zero Email, Inc., last updated 16 January 2026). |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-26 |  |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |