# Instinct vs QwenPaw

> QwenPaw scores 62.2 (B) to Instinct's 11.4 (F) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-qwenpaw.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

QwenPaw scores 62.2 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do assistant proactive.

- 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
- QwenPaw: grade B, 62.2/100, rank #454 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qwenpaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qwenpaw.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

### Instinct (F)

Good 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 QwenPaw loses 3 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

### QwenPaw (B)

Good for: One person who wants an assistant on Chinese and Western chat apps with scheduled digests, a consumer mailbox and file-based memory, on their own machine and with a model of their choice.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 5
- Schema & documentation, 68 against 3
- Agent ergonomics, 67 against 5
- Security & auth, 60 against 25
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 3
- Transparency & trust, 56 against 51

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Runs on your own machine
- Open source

Watch for: Usage data is on by default, `qwenpaw init --defaults` accepts it without a prompt, and the opt-out variable is absent from the README and docs


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Instinct | QwenPaw | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 5 | 70 | QwenPaw +65 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 3 | 68 | QwenPaw +65 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 5 | 67 | QwenPaw +62 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 25 | 60 | QwenPaw +35 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 60 | QwenPaw +60 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 3 | 73 | QwenPaw +70 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 56 | QwenPaw +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **11.4 · F** | **62.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Instinct | QwenPaw |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Platform | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Spear Street Technology, Inc. | AgentScope |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Instinct's Terms of Service, which grant personal use only | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-26 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-26 | no document linked |
| 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 |  |
| Popularity | none | 36k stars |

## 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.

**QwenPaw.** Mail tools ask for approval by default, automatic mail handling may not delete permanently, and the security docs list what each sandbox backend fails to enforce. Usage data is sent by default, the default approval level passes every tool call no rule flags, and no privacy policy or security advisory is published.

## Before you call either

### 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

### QwenPaw

1. Set `QWENPAW_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=true` before `qwenpaw init --defaults` or `qwenpaw app`. Both send usage data without asking
2. Set `approval_level` to `STRICT` or `SMART` in `agent.json`. The default `AUTO` runs every tool call no guard rule flags
3. Set `dm_policy` and `group_policy` to `allowlist` with `allow_from` on each channel. Both default to `open`
4. Set `QWENPAW_AUTH_ENABLED=true` before binding beyond 127.0.0.1. Requests from localhost skip login even then
5. Keep mail tools on `ask` for `send_message`, `delete_message` and `delete_thread`, and turn on Mail Access Control with automatic handling

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Instinct or QwenPaw?

QwenPaw scores 62.2 (B) on agent readiness against Instinct's 11.4 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Instinct and QwenPaw open source?

No open-source release is listed for Instinct. QwenPaw is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Instinct or QwenPaw

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