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Head to head · Assistants reached by message · October 2026 research run

Dots vs szn

Dots scores 28.3 (F) on agent readiness against szn's 7.3 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. szn leads on payments & pricing. Both do assistants reached by message.

Best AI personal assistants that act for one person · All 834 assistants comparisons

DotsOpenAI · Platform F28.3/100#980 of 1010 sznNomadic Futures · Platform F7.3/100#1010 of 1010

Which one, for what

Dots F

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

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 41 against 10
  • Agent ergonomics, 22 against 0
  • Security & auth, 58 against 0
  • Maintenance & community, 38 against 2
  • Transparency & trust, 31 against 23

Watch for

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

szn F

Best for A person who wants calls, emails and bookings done for them and has an access code.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 20 against 10

Watch for

Early access by access code only.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDotssznEdge
Reliability16%2035szn +2
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24110Dots +31
Agent ergonomics13%16.2220Dots +22
Security & auth14%17.5580Dots +58
Payments & pricing10%12.51020szn +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8382Dots +36
Transparency & trust7%8.83123Dots +8
Negative events≤1500
TotalF 28.3/100F 7.3/100

Facts side by side

FactDotsszn
KindPlatformPlatform
VendorOpenAINomadic Futures
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingPaidFree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary hosted service. The governing terms were not readClosed service. No terms of service were found on theszn.ai. A privacy policy and an acceptable use policy (both last updated March 2026) apply.
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-09none
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno document linked
Customer content may train models
Terms restrict automated access
Terms restrict benchmarking
Terms or service can change without notice
Arbitration or class-action waiver

Verdicts

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.

szn

szn is an errand assistant in early access that makes calls, sends emails and books for its owner, free during the preview for people with an access code. No outside agent can call it, no terms of service or legal entity appear in its policies, and its privacy policy says nothing on training.

Before you call either

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

szn

  1. Don't plan to call szn from another agent. It answers only its web app, iMessage, SMS and email for the owner.
  2. Tell the owner they need an access code to start, and that the acceptable use policy makes them responsible for confirming actions.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Dots or szn?

Dots scores 28.3 (F) on agent readiness against szn's 7.3 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. szn leads on payments & pricing.

Other comparisons with Dots or szn

Disclosure

szn competes with LocalGhost, which Anchor Terminal's founder builds. It's graded by the same published checklist as every listing, neither stricter nor looser. Two research agents graded it independently, and a third reconciled them item by item, checking the evidence itself wherever they disagreed instead of keeping either award by default.

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