Comparison · Checked on
Polabot vs Grok Bot
Grok Bot is xAI’s product for a “team of always-on agents”: Bots with a name, a job and their own memory, sharing a persistent cloud computer with a browser, files and a terminal. It left beta with version 1.0 on 2 November 2026. Polabot has the same idea, a team of bots that keep working, but the bots run on your own Mac or PC and use the AI subscriptions you already pay for. Here is how they differ, from both companies’ own pages.
Who each one is for
Polabot is for
People who already pay for Claude Code, ChatGPT (Codex), Gemini or Grok and want bots that run on their own computers, next to their own files and apps, with no per-token bill and a free plan to start.
Grok Bot is for
People who want bots that keep working in the cloud with nothing to install or keep switched on, who already pay for an X Subscription at Premium or above, or teams that want shared bots inside Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Polabot | Grok Bot |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A desktop and iPhone app for a team of always-on AI “bear bots” that work on your own computers. | xAI’s “team of always-on agents”: Bots that share a persistent cloud computer with a browser, files and a terminal. |
| Made by · license | Polabot, an independent product. The desktop app is built on the open-source OpenMausBot (Apache-2.0), with parts adapted from Nuphos (Apache-2.0). | xAI. Sign-in uses a Cursor account (Grok Business seats sign in with Grok), and the Bots run on Cursor-hosted cloud computers. Open-source status: not stated. |
| Computers | macOS and Windows apps. Also runs headless on a Mac mini or a cloud PC. | Desktop apps for macOS, Windows and Linux. |
| Phone | iPhone app, through TestFlight first. It can watch and take over a computer’s screen. | iPhone and iPad (iOS 18+) and Android (9+) apps. |
| Where you talk to it | The Polabot app on desktop and iPhone: a chat per bot, group chats, and a sessions board for every running session. | The Grok Bot desktop and phone apps, X Chat, and Slack or Microsoft Teams for Team Bots. Voice chat with one Bot; phone calls in the US only. |
| AI models and who bills them | Runs the official Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and Grok tools on your computer, signed in to your own subscriptions. Several accounts with automatic failover. No per-token bill from Polabot. | Grok Bot picks the model for each task, an xAI model or a third-party provider’s; there is no model picker and no way to bring your own subscription. Usage comes from the X Subscription’s weekly pool. |
| Several bots, group chats | Yes. Each bear has a class, its own instructions, tools and AI account. Bears talk to each other in group chats. | Yes. A primary Bot coordinates the others; group chats of two to six Bots; shared Team Bots on Team and Enterprise plans. |
| Schedules and triggers | Daily, every few minutes or a cron line. Webhooks and an API; while the computer sleeps, deliveries wait up to 72 hours. | Routines on a schedule (at least five minutes apart) or set off by Slack, email, GitHub, Linear, Sentry, PagerDuty or webhooks. Up to 50 routines per Bot. |
| Connected apps and MCP | Gmail, Outlook, GitHub, Cloudflare, Railway, Notion, Slack, Stripe, Google Calendar, Discord, X and more. Anything else through MCP. | Gmail, Notion, Slack, Linear, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Stripe, X, Asana, Zoom, 1Password and more, plus custom MCP servers. |
| Using a computer and browser | A bot can look, click and type on the computer and in a browser when there is no API. | Bots use the shared cloud computer’s browser and terminal. Running commands on your own Mac or Windows PC is a separate opt-in that asks every time by default. |
| Where your data lives | Bots, their work and your files stay on your computers. Polabot Cloud keeps your sign-in, devices and synced bot settings and memory, and relays requests. | In the cloud: “Grok Bot runs only on Cursor-hosted cloud computers”, located in the United States. With Privacy Mode on, customer data is not used for training. |
| Self-hosting | The bots always run on your own machines. Polabot Cloud (sign-in, sync, relay) is a hosted service; there is no self-hosted version of it. | Not supported. On-premises and bring-your-own-image deployment are “not supported today”. |
| Price | Free ($0, one computer). Pro $12 a month ($9 billed yearly). Max $29 a month ($22 billed yearly). Cloud PC add-on from $25 a month. | Included in the X Subscription Premium ($30 a month), Super ($100) and Ultra ($200); not in Free or Plus ($8). Usage is a weekly pool shared with Grok and Cursor; extra usage can be bought. |
Pricing
Polabot. Free costs nothing and covers one computer. Pro is $12 a month (or $108 a year) for three computers, remote access and social automations; Max is $29 a month (or $264 a year) for ten computers, five spaces and the ads suite. Every new account starts with a 14-day Pro trial without a card. Your AI subscriptions are billed by their providers, not by Polabot.
Grok Bot. Grok Bot comes with the X Subscription: Premium at $30 a month ($300 a year), Super at $100 and Ultra at $200; Plus ($8) and Free do not include it. Paid Cursor plans from before the change, and a linked SuperGrok or X Premium+ subscription, also include it. One weekly usage pool covers Grok, Grok Bot and Cursor, and every Bot reply counts, including replies in groups and messages between Bots. When the week’s usage runs out, Grok Bot stops unless you buy extra usage. The exact weekly amounts are not stated.
Privacy and where your data lives
Polabot. The bots run on your computers, so their conversations, files and what they do on screen stay there. Prompts go straight from your computer to your AI provider under your own account. Polabot Cloud stores your account, devices and the bot settings and memory you choose to sync, and relays requests; webhook payloads are held only while queued, for at most 72 hours. See the privacy policy.
Grok Bot. Grok Bot runs only on Cursor-hosted cloud computers in the United States, and your Bots share that computer’s files and sign-ins. The docs say that with Privacy Mode enabled, customer data is not used for training, and that training opt-out follows your Cursor account’s privacy settings. Grok Bot needs cloud data storage, so Cursor’s older no-storage Privacy Mode is not supported.
Self-hosting
Polabot. You run the bots yourself, on a Mac, a Windows PC, a Mac mini that stays on, or a cloud PC. The cloud part (Google sign-in, sync between devices, remote access and the webhook relay) is run by Polabot and cannot be self-hosted.
Grok Bot. Not available: xAI’s security page says on-premises deployment, deployment inside your own perimeter and bring-your-own-image deployment are not supported today.
Platforms
Polabot. Desktop apps for macOS and Windows, and an iPhone app (TestFlight first). There is no Android or Linux app.
Grok Bot. Desktop apps for macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows (x64 and Arm64) and Linux (x64 and Arm64), phone apps for iOS 18+ and Android 9+, plus X Chat, Slack and Microsoft Teams. Testing a routine needs the desktop app.
When to choose Grok Bot instead
- You want bots that keep working in the cloud with your laptop closed, and no machine of your own to keep on.
- You need Android, Linux, shared Team Bots in Slack or Teams, Bots that join meetings, or phone calls (US).
- You already pay for an X Subscription at Premium or above, so Grok Bot is included.
When Polabot fits better
- You want to use the subscriptions you already pay for, such as Claude Code or Codex, and pick the model for each bot.
- You want the bots, their work and your files on your own computers rather than a shared cloud machine.
- You want to start free, or pay a fixed $12 a month for Pro, with no usage pool to run out.
Sources
Checked on 14 November 2026 on each vendor’s own website, documentation, repository and app store listing. Products change often; if something here is out of date, write to hello@polabot.app and we will fix it. “Not stated” means we could not find it on the vendor’s own pages.
- xAI — Grok Bot x.ai/bot
- xAI — Introducing Grok Bot (11 Aug 2026) x.ai/news/introducing-grok-bot
- xAI — Grok Bot 1.0 (2 Nov 2026) x.ai/news/grok-bot-1-0
- xAI docs — Grok Bot overview docs.x.ai/grok-bot
- xAI docs — Get started docs.x.ai/grok-bot/get-started
- xAI docs — Bots docs.x.ai/grok-bot/bots
- xAI docs — Chat and collaboration docs.x.ai/grok-bot/chat-and-collaboration
- xAI docs — Skills, routines and automations docs.x.ai/grok-bot/skills-routines-and-automations
- xAI docs — Computer and apps docs.x.ai/grok-bot/computer-and-apps
- xAI docs — Team Bots docs.x.ai/grok-bot/team-bots
- xAI docs — Mobile docs.x.ai/grok-bot/mobile
- xAI docs — Security docs.x.ai/grok-bot/security
- xAI docs — Approvals, security and privacy docs.x.ai/grok-bot/approvals-security-and-privacy
- xAI docs — FAQ docs.x.ai/grok-bot/faq
- xAI docs — The X Subscription: pricing docs.x.ai/x-subscription/pricing
- Polabot: this website’s home page, pricing and privacy policy.
Product names belong to their owners. Polabot is not affiliated with or endorsed by xAI, Cursor, the OpenClaw Foundation, Nous Research, NanoCo, the Agentic AI Foundation or the OpenMausBot project.