Grok Bot vs MausBot: a feature-by-feature comparison

The comparison, line by line

Price and license

Grok Bot is bundled into a plan. Since October 12, 2026 new customers get it with The X Subscription's Premium ($30 a month), Super ($100) or Ultra ($200) plan, not with Free or Plus. People already on SuperGrok or a paid Cursor plan keep it there, as Cursor's plans page explains. On The X Subscription its work draws on the weekly usage pool shared with Grok and Cursor, published only as multiples of Plus, not as a number. The product itself is proprietary. Full breakdown in Grok Bot pricing in 2026.

MausBot has no paid tier, no seat count, and no locked features. The whole app is Apache 2.0 licensed. Your only cost is the model subscriptions you already hold, paid to the providers directly, at whatever you pay them today. There is no markup in the middle because there is no middle.

Models

This is the sharpest split. Grok Bot chooses the model for each task, one of xAI's or a third party's, and has no model picker: you cannot choose or block one.

MausBot picks a model per bot. Claude, Codex, and Grok sit side by side in a provider rail, so a writing bot can run Claude while a refactoring bot runs Codex, in the same workspace, at the same time. You can switch a bot's model mid-conversation without losing the thread.

If you are happy to let the product choose, this difference is worth little to you. If you already pay for two or three of these and want to say which one does which job, it is the whole argument.

Where the agents actually run

Grok Bot's agents run on one cloud computer that all your bots share. You send a task up, it comes back down. They run commands on your own computer only if you allow it.

MausBot's agents run on your computer, on the claude, codex, and grok CLIs you have already installed and logged into. A single harness on 127.0.0.1 owns every agent process and normalizes each provider's protocol into one event stream. Nothing is proxied through a server we operate, because we do not operate one.

The practical consequences: your existing subscriptions and rate limits apply directly, there is no third party in the request path, and the app keeps working regardless of what our project does next.

Where your data lives

Grok Bot keeps your work in the cloud: it requires cloud data storage, under its vendor's terms.

MausBot's transcripts, keys, and events live in ~/.openmausbot on your own disk. Keys are write-only, so the interface never reads them back. If you need to self-host or run air-gapped, you can — it is the same app, not a separate enterprise build.

For anyone with a security review to pass, this is usually the row that ends the conversation. The whole codebase is public, so a reviewer can read every line before the first call is made.

Computers, apps, and approvals

Both products give bots a computer. Grok Bot's bots share one cloud computer per account. MausBot spins up a cloud desktop per bot with a live screen preview, or points a bot at your own Mac.

Both sign into your tools. MausBot does it through Composio: Gmail, Slack, GitHub, Notion, Linear and hundreds more. You OAuth once and every bot can use them as tools.

Both keep you in the loop, with a difference in default. Grok Bot pulls you in for judgment calls. MausBot surfaces an explicit Allow / Deny card for every risky action — shell commands, file edits, questions — in the chat, and behaves the same way whether the bot is on a cloud desktop or on your own machine.

Where Grok Bot is still ahead

Two rows in that table go to xAI, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.

Learning a workflow by watching you. With Teach a task, still rolling out, you show a Grok Bot agent a task once, up to ten minutes, and it drafts a skill it can run as a routine. MausBot has scheduled routines and webhook triggers, but you write them; nothing learns by observation yet.

Working with the laptop closed. Grok Bot's agents live in the cloud, so they keep going when your machine sleeps. That is the direct trade for running locally: MausBot's bots run on your computer, and a closed computer runs nothing. If you need work to continue overnight on a machine you are carrying home, this matters.

Grok Bot also ships on more platforms today: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. MausBot runs on macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu, with iOS and Android companions on the App Store and Google Play.

Which one should you choose?

Choose Grok Bot if you already pay for SuperGrok, Cursor or The X Subscription Premium, you are happy for it to pick the model, you want agents that run while your laptop is shut, and you are comfortable with your work living in the cloud.

Choose MausBot if you hold Claude, Codex, or Grok subscriptions and want to use them all, want a different model per bot, need your data on your own disk, have a security review to pass, or simply do not want to add another plan to run agents you are already paying for.

They are also not exclusive. MausBot is free, so trying it costs you an install and nothing else.

Grok Bot is no longer the only closed agent in this shape. Meta Muse, OpenAI dots, and Cue by Manus all launched in September 2026; we put all four beside MausBot in Muse vs Grok Bot vs Dots vs Cue, and if you are still deciding, Which AI agent should I use? walks through it in five questions.

Is there an open source Grok Bot?

Not from xAI. MausBot started life as OpenGrokBot, which is why "opengrok bot github" still leads here, and it remains the open-source Grok Bot in shape: a roster of bots in a messaging app, with the models, machine, and data moved to your side of the line.

Frequently asked questions

Is MausBot a clone of Grok Bot?

No. It takes the same shape — a messaging app where every contact is an agent — and changes what sits underneath: your models, your machine, your disk, under an Apache 2.0 license. The internals share no code with xAI's product.

Can I use Grok in MausBot?

Yes. The grok CLI is one of the three MausBot drives, alongside claude and codex. You can give one bot Grok and another Claude in the same workspace.

Do I need a Grok subscription to use MausBot?

No. Any one of the claude, codex, or grok CLIs is enough to start. You use whichever subscriptions you already pay for.

Which one is cheaper?

MausBot, in almost every case. For a new customer Grok Bot needs The X Subscription's Premium plan ($30 a month) or higher, and its work draws on that plan's weekly usage pool. MausBot costs nothing and bills nothing — you keep paying your model providers exactly what you pay them now.

Is MausBot affiliated with xAI?

No. It is an independent open-source project inspired by Grok Bot. Grok is a trademark of its owner, and MausBot has no token or cryptocurrency of any kind.

Is there an open source version of Grok Bot?

MausBot, formerly OpenGrokBot, is the open-source recreation of the Grok Bot shape, Apache 2.0 licensed on GitHub. xAI's Grok Bot itself is proprietary.

Try it yourself

The harness is embedded, so there is nothing else to install. Download MausBot for macOS, Windows, or Ubuntu, paste the keys you already have, and meet your first bot. If you want the longer introduction first, read the open-source alternative to Grok Bot, or read the source on GitHub. For xAI's own description of their product, see the Grok Bot announcement.