Facts checked · Spear Street Technology
Instinct alternative: MausBot
An Instinct AI alternative you can download today: open source, signs into your apps over OAuth instead of holding passwords, and asks before it acts.
Instinct is an invite-only personal agent you text on iMessage or WhatsApp; it runs on a cloud computer that holds your passwords and acts without asking by default. MausBot is the open source Instinct alternative: a team of agents on your own machine that sign in over OAuth, ask before they act, and need no invite.
What Instinct is
Instinct is the personal agent from Spear Street Technology, founded by Noah Shinn. There is no app: you text it on iMessage or WhatsApp, or call it, and it works from a persistent cloud computer with your logins cached. It went viral in late August 2026 and raised $350 million at a $2.5 billion valuation by August 26. Invites were paused in mid-September while the company scales compute.
Launched: Viral launch, late August 2026 (invite-only beta). Sources: TechCrunch: Instinct's assistant raises privacy and security concerns; Instinct.
Why people look for a Instinct alternative
- You cannot get in: invite only, and invites were paused in mid-September.
- Its terms grant a perpetual, sub-licensable licence over what you share, screen captures included, as TechCrunch reported on August 24.
- It holds your passwords on its cloud computer.
- It acts without asking by default; first-week reports included an email sent without approval and a prompt injection through an email.
- One thread for everything, no parallel conversations.
Instinct vs MausBot
The Instinct column comes from the vendor's own pages and the press cited above, checked on September 22, 2026. Where the vendor has not said, the cell says so.
| Instinct | MausBot | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get in | Invite only; invites paused mid-September 2026 | Download |
| Price | Free during beta; no price published | Free. Model usage on the Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok account you already have. |
| Interface | iMessage, WhatsApp, phone calls; a web dashboard | A desktop chat app, plus iOS and Android companions |
| Models | Its own; no model choice | Claude, Codex, Grok, and other CLIs, chosen per bot; switch mid-conversation |
| How it signs into your accounts | You hand over usernames and passwords, or a 1Password vault | OAuth per app over Composio; tokens stay on your disk |
| Before it acts | Acts without asking by default | Allow / Deny cards for shell commands and file edits; answer cards for questions |
| Agents | One Instinct, one thread | As many bots as you like, in group rooms |
| Where your data lives | Its cloud computer; a perpetual licence over your materials in the terms | ~/.openmausbot on your disk; nothing leaves unless you send it |
| Open source | No | Yes. Apache 2.0, app and harness, on GitHub |
What MausBot is
MausBot is a free, open-source chat app where every contact is an AI bot with its own model, its own computer, and its own connected apps. Bots run on the claude, codex, and grok CLIs installed on your own machine, with your existing logins, so one bot can be on Claude and the next on ChatGPT. Shell commands and file edits surface as Allow / Deny cards before they run, bots share group rooms and hand work to each other, and your data stays in ~/.openmausbot on your disk. It is published on GitHub under Apache 2.0, with iOS and Android companions, and paid Cloud plans from $29 a month keep bots working with the laptop closed.
What Instinct still does better
- Lives in iMessage and WhatsApp, so there is nothing to install.
- Phones businesses for you through Instinct Concierge.
- Keeps working on every task with your phone in your pocket.
Other Instinct alternatives
MausBot is the open-source option. The other agents in this category, each with its own comparison page:
- Bops by Orgo (Organic Intelligence, Inc.): Bops is a macOS app from Nick Vasilescu, co-founder of Orgo, the cloud-computer company.
- Grok Bot by xAI: Grok Bot has been in beta since August 11, 2026.
- Meta Muse by Meta: Muse launched on September 8, 2026 from Meta Superintelligence Labs.
- OpenAI dots by OpenAI: Dots launched at DevDay on September 29, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I get an Instinct invite?
- Through the waitlist on instinct.com or from an existing member. As of mid-September 2026, invites are paused. MausBot has no invite.
- Is Instinct safe to use?
- That depends on your tolerance: its terms grant a perpetual licence over what you share, and early users reported an unapproved email and a successful prompt injection. MausBot's answer is structural: the agent runs on your machine, signs in over OAuth, and asks before it acts.
- Does MausBot need my passwords?
- No. Apps connect over OAuth through Composio, so a bot gets a scoped token you can revoke, never your password.
- Can MausBot text me on iMessage?
- No. MausBot is its own chat app, on desktop with iOS and Android companions.
Read more
- Instinct AI alternative: open source, no invite needed: the full comparison this page summarises.
- Meta Muse vs Grok Bot vs Instinct: which agent to pick
- AI agent memory: who keeps it, and can you delete it?